Birding With Kyle

Birding Grand Cayman, Nov. 23-27, 2011

Hey everyone, birding in Grand Cayman was a blast!! I saw some fantastic birds, including Caribbean Dove and American Flamingo. All in all, I had 12 lifers and one North American Bird. Check out my flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawk-eagle/sets/72157628119735433/, for pics that I uploaded during my stay on the island.

Lifers: Greater Antillean Grackle, Antillean Nighthawk, Vitelline Warbler, Cuban Bullfinch, West Indian Whistling Duck, West Indian Woodpecker, Rose-throated Parrot, Thick-billed Vireo, Western Spindalis, Loggerhead Kingbird, Caribbean Dove, La Sagra's Flycatcher

North American Bird: American Flamingo

UPLAND SANDPIPER AND BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS!!

On September 3 I traveled with my friend Brian Bockhahn down to the NC coast. Target birds for the trip were Upland Sandpiper and Buff-breasted Sandpiper, as well as any rarities we might find at the Outer Banks. I had never seen these 2 shorebirds before, and they had been seen recently at a turf farm we were passing in Creswell, NC. After a quick stop at some morning birding, we headed down to the American Turf Farm.

As we were crossing a bridge I noticed from a distance some birds foraging on the grass below the road. (Little did I know that this grass was part of the American Turf Farm) We backed up until we had a clear view of the grass and birds and set our scopes up. Peering through the scope I shouted with joy: "Buff-breasted Sandpipers!", a lifer for me.
We drove until we reached the turf farm and started searching for the sandpipers. Immediately we found a flock foraging ahead. For the next 20 or so minutes I followed the flock around, trying to get better pictures. Every time I seemed to get close, the birds would fly, only landing further in front of or behind me. At last I was able to get some pretty good pictures of the birds as they flew directly over me. Here are the photos:




For the next hour or so we search for our other target bird, Upland Sandpiper. We did not have any luck, though we saw some other good birds, including Horned Lark and White-rumped Sandpiper (see below).
We were about ready to leave the farm when something caught Brian's eye. He took out his scope, focused on a bird, and told me to come over and have a look. I walked over and peered through, sensing what I was about to see. "An Upland Sandpiper!" Brian had spotted the Upland far out in the field, but instead of it being in its preferred habitat, which is brushy, taller grass, it was out on the turf. The bird was so strange looking in appearance, sort of reminding me of chickens. Here was this bird with a fat body, on long legs and having a small head on top of a long neck. For the next half hour to hour we drove around the area, trying to get closer to and have better looks at the sandpiper. It would seem though that every time I tried to get close enough to have a good picture, the Upland flew away. At last I was able to get some decent pics of the bird sitting in the grass, and get a very nice picture of the bird flying overhead.

After having our fair share of Upland and Buff-breasted Sandpipers, we continued down to the coast, stopping at Lake Mattamuskeet to search for migrants. We also heard Sora, but again we were not able to flush any (darn nemesis!). But what was pretty neat was coming across a family of four Northern River Otters.
Next we drove to the Outer Banks, where we were hoping to search for Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Hudsonian Godwit, and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. But Bodie Island, as well as Pea Island, were both closed due to damage and flooding from Hurricane Irene. We had to change our plans and instead walked along the beach at the northern part of Oregon Inlet. We encountered many shorebirds, gulls, and terns, keeping us very busy. Unfortunately no rarities, though we did find a few Marbled Godwits. My favorite though was Piping Plover, of which we saw several. These plovers were very cooperative and allowed me to get some excellent photos.

Afterwards we spent the evening birding at Alligator River before heading home. Overall an awesome trip, getting two very good lifers.

UNBELIEVABLE Pelagic Trip, July 17

On Sunday morning I set out once again with sombe birders and Brian Patteson and crew for the second day of my pelagic trip. The conditions were not as rough as the day before, but the oceans were still nowhere near calm. We started out the day seeing many of the same species as we saw the day before, and by the time the day was over had seen all of the previous day's sightings. We didn't have anything too exciting until 9:27 a.m. At this time the cry went up: White-tailed Tropicbird!!! i was at the front of the boat and was one of the first to see this tropical species flying in front of the boat. And there wasn't just one bird, but two! I had never seen this bird in ABA territory (had one in St. Lucia years back), but was just as excited to see these. We got great looks at the birds, as they flew around the boat. After enjoying these birds, we continued on. I spotted a group of shearwaters flying up ahead on the horizon and we made our way for that direction. As we were scanning the shearwaters a slimmer winged bird appeared out of the blue and flew by the boat at 9:48 a.m. TRINDADE PETREL!!! The shouts were heard across the boat as we gazed at this bird, a light morph individual. This species, not only being a lifer for me, is very uncommon in U.S. waters and seldom seen. The petrel continued to fly around the boat, attracted to the smell of our chum, iving us breathtaking views and allowing me to take some spectacular photos before it disappeared once again among the waves. Noticing that this was a great area for birds, we hung around and put out more chum, hoping for something else to come in. We soon found a sub-adult Pomarine Jaeger, the third for the total trip. This bird was much darker than the first summer birds from the previous day. Then, at 10:12, a cry went up from the back up the boat that another Trindade Petrel had been found, attracted to the chum. I ran to the back in time to spot the intermediate morph bird flying past the boat. I quickly took some photos before this bird was lost from view; it had only stayed in the area for less than a minute or so. But hey, TWO Trindade Petrels, in less than thiry minutes and on the same day!!! That was pretty amazing, and they were the first of the season seen for Patteson. After we had birded that area pretty well we continued further on. At around 11:30 or so I spotted the blows of a large cetacean far up ahead near the horizon. Alerting Brian, we headed over in that direction, watching the numerous spurts of water and realized it was a Sperm Whale, my first! We were treated to amazing views of this animal, as it showed off to us at the surface for over half an hour or so. We traveled a little further out, about 35 miles or so away from Hatteras and reached the furthest extent of our trip. We waited in the area to see if anything else would appear, and just as we were about to turn around one of the other birders shouted "SOUTH POLAR SKUA!!!" Sure enough, flying from the blue, a skua was coming towards our boat. It started to follow a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel and then an Audubon's Shearwater before landing in the water. We slowly edged up to the sitting bird, rewarded with spectacular views. The bird then took off and flew almost right over our heads, providing me with great photo opportunities. Another Lifer!!! We turned around and began to make our way back to shore, already having seen a lot of awesome birds and still having half the day left. We had 2 small pods of Short-finned Pilot Whales come to our boat and swim with us for some time, another lifer mammal for me. Then, at 1:30 p.m. I spotted another White-tailed Tropicbird, this one flying behind us and trying to keep up with our boat. The bird began circling us, and as I was photographing it the bird almost landed on me!! It came within four or so feet, so close that my camera couldn't even focus on it! I don't think I could have asked for a better look. But then, to our surprise and even more to Brian Patteson's surprise, as the tropicbird was flying away on the horizon it was attacked by a Black-capped Petrel! Brian had never seen this behavior before, and we watched in awe as the petrel chased the tropicbird. And then, after we had left this behind, an additional 2 tropicbirds were seen, one of which tried to land on the boat. As we neared the shore we found a massive flock of hundreds of shearwaters on the water: Great, Cory's, Audubon's, and Manx, as well as some Royal and Sandwich Terns. As we entered the inlet again and scanned the shorebirds I gazed at a small, pale gray bird that turned out to be a Piping Plover, my lifer achieved at last! This ended a fantastic, unbelievable, and amazing pelagic trip that I could not have asked much more for. We got fantastic views of all of the birds, and had some pretty rare birds too. Thank you Brian, Dave, and Kate!!!

Below is the list for the day, as well as many pictures and a link to my flickr photo album for the trip where you can view more photos and videos of the birds and cetaceans we saw.

Trindade Petrel ~ 2- LIFER!!!, both light and intermediate morphs

Black-capped Petrel ~ 17

Petrel sp. ~ 1

Cory’s Shearwater ~ 169-174

Great Shearwater ~ 270-280

Manx Shearwater ~ 2

Audubon’s Shearwater ~ 6-8

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel ~ 70

Leach’s Storm-Petrel ~ 1

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel ~ 5

White-tailed Tropicbird ~ 4-5, new for ABA for me!!!, and probably the day record for an NC pelagic

South Polar Skua ~ 1, LIFER!!!

Pomarine Jaeger ~ 1, sub-adult bird

 

Sperm Whale ~ 2, lifer!

Short-finned Pilot Whale ~ 15+, lifer!

Whale sp.~ 1

Dolphin sp. ~ 1

 
TRINDADE PETREL!!! Light morph
Pomarine Jaeger, sub-adilt bird
TRINDADE PETREL!!! Intermediate morph
Sperm Whale
 
 
SOUTH POLAR SKUA!!!
Short-finned Pilot Whales
White-tailed Tropicbird! This guy nearly landed on me!!
Black-capped Petrel chasing White-tailed Tropicbird
 
White-tailed Tropicbird! Fantastic photos of a bird trying to land on the ship

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawk-eagle/sets/72157627255348632/

NC Pelagic Birding, July 16

On the morning of July 16 I set out with a dozen or so other birders and Brian Patteson to search for pelagic birds off the coast of Hatteras on pretty rough waters. This is the best place on the east coast to see pelagic species, and the best place to find mega-rarities. After travelling for about 2 hours or so, and having left the coast far behind, we began to see our first pelagic species: Cory's and Great Shearwater. Soon we were able to get terrific looks at these shearwaters, and also saw some Audubon's. Our first storm-petrels of the day appeared, Wilson's, following our wake, and we began to see Black-capped Petrels. And then, to our surprise, a Jaeger was seen flying near the boat. We were only able to get distant looks at this bird, but were able to determine that it was a Pomarine Jaeger, a lifer for me. Jaegers are not commonly found off the east coast during the summer, but there are some individuals, mostly first summer birds, that will spend the summer in these waters: this bird was that case. As we reached our furthest extent for the day, we received even better looks of the species we had already seen, especially Black-capped Petrel, seeing a surprisingly large number of this endangered species. We also saw some Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, a species larger than Wilson's and flying much differently. I then spotted the only Leach's Storm-Petrel of the day, but this bird was only seen by a few and did not stick around for long. On our way back, we found another Pomarine Jaeger, this time much closer to us and allowing for better looks and photo opportunities. We were also visited by several small groups of Bottlenose Dolphins. As we were neaaring the shore again, a flock of shearwaters were spotted on the water. Hoping for something different, we went over to check them out. There was the usual Great and Cory's, but a smaller, black and white shearwater was spotted among the larger birds. A Manx Shearwater! Not a lifer for me, but a species that is not frequently encountered during the summer, preferring the winter more.

Below is a list of the species we saw today, as well as a bunch of photos.

    Black-capped Petrel ~ 13

    Cory’s Shearwater ~ 101

    Great Shearwater ~ 82

    Manx Shearwater ~ 1

    Audubon’s Shearwater ~ 13

    Wilson’s Storm-Petrel ~ 135-140

    Leach’s Storm-Petrel ~ 1

    Band-rumped Storm-Petrel ~ 6-9

    Pomarine Jaeger ~ 2- lifer!!!

     Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin ~ 9

 
Wilson's Storm-Petrels feeding
 
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins
 
Great Shearwater with some sort of fish in mouth
 
 
Pomarine Jaeger, first summer bird- LIFER!
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Black-capped Petrel, black-faced variety
Cory's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater

Oregon Inlet, July 15- searching for Piping Plovers

On July 15 I traveled down to Cape Hatteras along the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a weekend of pelagic birding with Brian Patteson. On the way I made a stop at Oregon Inlet to search again for Piping Plovers, a species I had still yet to see. I was walking along the side of the inlet when I noticed a rail walking on the side of a small 'stream' among the reeds. I stopped to get a better look at this rail when I noticed, to my astonishment, that there was another rail standing right in front of me, no more than 15 feet or so away. This rail, dark brown in color, was preening itself right in the open! It had a shortish bill, atleast in my opinion for a rail, and appeared to be a juvenile. I immediately began to take photos of the rail as it preened, before it turned around and disappeared in the reeds. After analyzing the photos later, I determined it was a juvenile Clapper Rail. Though not a new one, this was one of the best looks I have ever gotten of a Clapper Rail, or any rail as a matter of fact. And it was neat to be able to view it preening, out in the open (where rails are usually not found). Attached below is a photo of the Clapper Rail.

I then walked along the beach, seeing a large flock of Sanderlings and some Willets, and checked the roped off areas, only to find Least Terns. Alas Piping Plover eluded me once again, but not for too long....

 

Hoop Pole Creek, 6/9/11: Searching for Rails

After my failure to find Piping Plovers, I decided to try my luck with searching for rails. My target birds were King Rail and Black Rail, the latter of which I haven't seen before. I walked in the morning at Atlantic Beach to Hoop Pole Creek, a nice little area consisting of maritime forest, salt marsh, and mudflats. I walked out onto part of the marsh and trekked some distance into it. I heard a rail calling far off but was not sure what species. I then played the King Rail call and realized that this is what it was. I played my call repeatedly, stopping at intervals, and noticed that the rail out in the marsh was responding, coming closer each time. I was calling in a King Rail! That doesn't happen that often I bet. The rail's calls were now very loud, probably about 20 or so feet away from me. It then began to grunt, which was intersting to hear, as it walked around the area I was in. The rail began to move farther out though after some time, but as I was looking I suddenly saw it fly up out of the marsh and towards a spot a short distance away. Success! Shortly afterwards I saw the same rail with another individual flying out of the marsh. I was able to put my binoculars on them before they dropped back down again. At last I was lucky. After this I made my way to the mudflats, having made sure I come when it was low tide. There weren't that many shorebirds though, but I did manage to flush a Willet off of its nest, where I saw four large eggs. Below is a list of the species I saw.

Location: Hoop Pole Creek Natural Area
Observation date: 6/9/11
Number of species: 24

Great Egret 2
Tricolored Heron 1
Green Heron 3
Clapper Rail 1
King Rail 5
American Oystercatcher 8
Willet 12
Laughing Gull 6
Herring Gull 6
Least Tern 6
Common Tern 12
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 3
Blue Jay 6
Purple Martin 3
Barn Swallow 8
American Robin 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
Eastern Towhee 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Boat-tailed Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
House Finch 3
House Sparrow 2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Cape Lookout, 6/8/11: the search for Piping Plovers

On June 8 I traveled to Cape Lookout for much of the day. My goal was to find Piping Plovers, a species I had yet to see and that had escaped me for 5 or so years. I walked along the beach towards the tip of the island, seeing some good shorebirds along the way, especially Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones, and Black-bellied Plovers. I reached the enormous roped off section of the island where coastal birds nest, such as Piping Plover. My hopes were high, but as I walked around this enormous area and scanned like crazy my hopes began to dim. I saw bunches of Black Skimmers, Least Terns, Common Terns, Caspian Terns, and Royal Terns nesting, but no Piping Plovers. On the way back around the area I saw a baby plover chic walking around a little, being attached by nearby nesting Least Terns. I thought at first, "Piping Plover!", but later concluded that it was probably a Wilson's Plover chic. I did not have any luck with finding any Piping Plovers. Oh well, maybe next year. Below is the list of birds I saw.

Location: Cape Lookout NS--Cape Lookout
Observation date: 6/8/11
Number of species: 29

Brown Pelican 40
Snowy Egret 25
Little Blue Heron 8
Tricolored Heron 1
White Ibis 30
Black-bellied Plover 3
Wilson's Plover 2 Baby chick being attacked by Least Terns. It later just hid amongst the sand by plopping down and not moving.
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 12
Willet 25
Ruddy Turnstone 15
Red Knot 20
Sanderling 12
Laughing Gull 40
Herring Gull 15
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Least Tern 50
Caspian Tern 20
Common Tern 25
Forster's Tern 15
Royal Tern 30
Sandwich Tern (acuflavidus) 1
Black Skimmer 50
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 6
Barn Swallow 6
Eastern Bluebird 1
Blue Grosbeak 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 12

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

 

Birding Colorado: February 25, 2011

On February 25 we left Telluride to head back home. We drove from Telluride to Montrose airport. I saw many of the same species as I had seen coming in, but did see a group of Wild Turkeys on the side of the road, new for the trip. I also saw a couple Golden Eagles flying and some Eurasian Collared Doves. Below is the list of species that I saw during my last day in Colorado.

Location: San Miguel County, CO, US
Observation date: 2/25/11
Number of species: 12

Wild Turkey 6
Golden Eagle 2
American Kestrel 2
Rock Pigeon 30
Eurasian Collared-Dove 4
Black-billed Magpie 5
American Crow 15
Common Raven 15
Townsend's Solitaire 1
European Starling 30
Red-winged Blackbird 60
House Sparrow 2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Overall, I saw 31 species and had one lifer, the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Other excellent finds included Three-toed Woodpecker and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch.

Colorado Birding: February 24, 2011

Today I woke up very early in the morning to travel to Silverton, CO. My goal today was to find Brown-capped Rosy-Finch and Black Rosy-Finch. I had researched that the bird feeders in Silverton were some of the best places to find these alpine species in the winter. The ride was two hours long from Telluride. When we arrived at Silverton, the conditons were great (though it was a little cold!); it appeared to be a great day to find birds.

My driver Joab, who was phenomenal, drove me around town as we tried to find feeders. We were able to find some that appeared excellent, but they were being visited by many House Sparrows, with a couple Black-capped Chickadees and some Red-winged Blackbirds. We had been searching for over and hour and a half and I was beginning to doubt my chances of finding any Rosy-Finches.

We stopped at a store to ask the owner if he knew where to find the finches, and suddenly I noticed that there was a flock of birds in the top of a tree. I gazed at them and immediately realized that they were Brown-capped Rosy-Finches, a lifer for me. The store owner put some sunflower seed out behind his store for the birds, and after positioning myself, I waited for the birds to come in.

Slowly some Rosy-Finches at last flew over to the seed, and before I knew it the whole flock was feeding. I had amazing views and was able to take some fantastic photos and video. After viewing the footage later, I came to realize that there were a couple Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches mixed in with the flock too. I had a fantastic trip and checked off another species in my lifelist, one that is harder to find. Though I did not see any Black Rosy-Finches, being able to observe the Brown-capped up close was an amazing experience.

Below is attached the list of species that I saw today, as well as photos and a link to the video of the Rosy-Finches.

Download Birding Colorado Day 5

 
Brown-capped Rosy-Finches feeding
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

 
Brown-capped Rosy-Finches feeding and a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch on the far right

Video of Rosy-Finches foraging: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawk-eagle/5474275461/

Colorado Birding: February 23, 2011

Today I did not spend too much time birding, because I sprained my ankle and wanted to stay off of it as much as possible. But I did travel to town for an hour or so and had some good birds. I found a very vocal Brown Creeper, new for the trip, and also found a Dipper and Mallard in the creek. While watching the creeper I spotted a very distant Golden Eagle circling above town. In addition, I found a male and female Pine Grosbeak calling from different perches. The female was the yellow variant.

Below is a list of species I saw today, as well as a photo of the Brown Creeper.

Location: Telluride, San Miguel County, CO, US
Observation date: 2/23/11
Number of species: 11

Mallard 1
Golden Eagle 1
Black-billed Magpie 10
American Crow 10
Common Raven 2
Mountain Chickadee 10
Brown Creeper 1
American Dipper 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Pine Grosbeak 2
House Sparrow 40

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

 
Brown Creeper