Crooked River State Park (Our first camper trip)

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This past weekend we took our new (to us) mini camper out for a trial run. We (I) wanted to go someplace fairly close to get the hang of hauling a trailer, little as it is, for the first time. Kara thought it would be cool to go to Georgia since she’d never been there except to drive through and since it’s less than 40 miles from our house to the GA border, I thought that would be a good distance – a few miles, but not too many.

First a little about our camper… ever since July when I saw this great tiny teardrop trailer while visiting my friend, Jenn, I’ve been looking at small trailers that might fit my car and my wallet.

Handmade tiny teardrop trailer I saw in Roanoke, VA this past summer.

One day while browsing Craigslist, I found our little guy (not a “Little Guy”) at a nearby pawnshop for a very reasonable price! It was about half what I expected to pay and is just last year’s model.  It’s a Signatour Venice model, which is about the middle of the line.  There’s no kitchen or bath facilities, but it’s got electricity, a folding queen-sized foam mattress, and a cabinet along the back wall which has proved very handy for storing our sleeping bags and pillows.  There’s also a small storage space in the front where we’ve been putting the camp chairs and stove.

Our Signatour Venice towed by the Matrix.

Of course, before we camped in it for the first time, we had to  buy a few necessary things for car camping and pimp it up a bit! I think the coolest thing I found was this stringof Coleman lantern lights. I only got one string, but we def need more! While I was at it, I bought us a “real” Coleman lantern, too so we could play cards or games at night.

Another cool thing we got, although it’s not nearly as cool as the lanterns, is a roll up table. There are a bunch of tables out there, but I picked this one because it got really great reviews and seems to be really stable. 

Pre-camping also included going through all my old camping stuff and sorting out the things we could take car camping and what stuff is strictly for backpacking, think tent, sleeping pads, water filter, etc. I bought 4 large, clear (so we could see the contents) Rubbermaid containers to put the “kitchen”, food, bathroom/first aid, and recreation stuff (games, cards, field guides, Frisbee, etc.). Kara and I had a lot of fun finding foodstuffs that would keep forever so we would have “emergency food.” So now we have food in case of a hurricane or Zombie attack as well! David installed some “D” rings on the sides of the camper so we can secure the containers with bungy cords while we’re traveling.

OK, OK, on with the trip! We arrived at Crooked River State Park off Exit 3 (!) in St Marys, Georgia on Friday afternoon right around 1 only to be informed that the campground would be full up that weekend. Luckily we had made a reservation and had gotten there early! We got a decent campsite, but it ended up being not as quiet as we would have liked. Much to Kara’s chagrin, the campsite next to us had 2 pretty hyper kids who were LOUD at 6am.  (As we got everything together, Kara decided that sleeping in the camper would be too confining for her, so she slept in the 2-person tent.) Luckily for the entire campground, they were fisher..people?, so they were gone most of the day Saturday! 

  

We pretty much just hung out Friday and Saturday, taking short walks to explore.  Here are some of the pictures we took around the campground:

Honest they were happier than they looked for the camera!

I should say here, that anyone who knows me knows this isn’t necessarily my kind of camping (showers and flush toilets, really?), but I did want our first experience in the trailer to be pleasant enough that David and Kara would want to do it again sometime. If they had to dig cat holes, I don’t think that would happen again in this century! As it was we played Scrabble and Uno, read and had awesome campfires complete with vegan s’mores. Our dinners included the infamous Velveeta and shells, veggie dogs, stir-fry noodles with veggies, and roasted asparagus. We certainly ate well! Here's one of our awesome campfires:

On Sunday, we traveled about an hour west to the OkefenokeeNational Wildlife Reserve near Folkston, GA. We took a 90-minute boat tour that should have been awesome, but with the weather only so-so, we had only a few birds and gators. The highlight for me was 2 red-shouldered hawk juveniles chasing and screaming at a red-tailed hawk. Those were quite some aerials that the pictures don’t do justice. We also got a very close look at 2 gators – the biggest I’ve seen in the wild yet! 

Spanish Moss

Red-shouldered Hawk

Great Egret

Gator! Yes, goodbye, head on out!

A beautiful Anhinga specimen

Yellow-bellied- Slider (I think - don't blame me, it doesn't have feathers!)

After a picnic lunch of vegan potato salad and cold veggie chick’n, we headed to down the road to check out the drainage ditches (more gators) and a green heron (apparently quite rare here at this time of year).  At the end of the road is the Chesser Island homestead. It was fun teasing Kara that we were going to buy this place and make her do all the cooking, cleaning, water pumping, canning, smoking (of tofu), feeding of animals, and making of syrup!

We then made our way back toward the campground. I won’t expound on the migraine I had, but let’s just say that my night was ruined. Monday morning saw a light drizzle – enough to make everything wet enough so that we packed up a few hours early and headed out. The consolation prize was breakfast at Waffle House with hashbrowns smothered, capped, and peppered! 

Salton Sea on New Year’s Day 2009

The first of the year: (Oh no, don’t let it be so!) Rock Doves outside the Best Western Date Palm Inn in Indio, CA.

On our return trip from Ontario, CA, David and I made several stops along Highway 111 at the Salton Sea. Our first stop at the northern end of the sea beside an abandoned hotel/ restaurant yielded a nice variety (and quantity) of water birds, including:

White pelican
Brown pelican
Black-necked stilt
Eared grebe
Great blue heron
Great heron
Snowy egret
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull

We then stopped at Visitor’s Center a few miles down the road. There we enjoyed the video after checking out the sea by the campgrounds. This area had even more birds than the previous stop and a few different species. House finch, Northern mockingbird, and Great-tailed Grackle hung around the visitor’s center. The birds came in pretty close so we were able to get good looks at the Western grebes, Caspian terns, and Killdeer. An American pipit gave us the best looks I’ve ever had of one as it stayed within 5 feet of us along the rocky edge of the water. The terns were catching lots of fish, but the gulls and pelicans almost always grabbed the prize away. A flock of about 50 or 60 Double-crested cormorants flew by and I added one lone Ruddy Duck to the day list. This was a lively place and we could have stayed a lot longer, but our hour of free bird watching was up and we needed to move on.

After canning a trip to Wister State Waterfowl area due to lack of change (there’s a $2.50 day usage fee), we headed to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife Refuge Area which, after a questionable start, was the very best of the day. Along the drive into the area, there were several European starling and American kestrels on the telephone poles scoping out their next meal.

We weren’t sure when we got there if it would be productive since there was only one viewing platform and fencing around the rest rooms. Even here though, there were quite a few birds including Gambel’s quail and a Greater roadrunner along with numerous Yellow-rumped warblers. We could see about a thousand Snow geese from the viewing platform, but they were kind of far away for picture taking. Eventually, we found the Rock Point trail and hit the jackpot.

The combination of salt and fresh water ponds in addition to the mesquite tree edge gives this area the variety of habitat needed to support a wide variety of birds. New species seen here:

American avocet
Marbled godwit
Long-billed dowitcher
Greater yellowlegs
American coot
Sanderling
Western sandpiper
American wigeon
Northern shoveler
Say’s phoebe
Black phoebe

As we came off the Rock Point trail back at the entrance, a female Cooper’s hawk landed in the trees near the parking lot causing all the songbirds to seek cover. A small (ah-hem) detour (AKA a “shortcut”) into the back roads on the other side of 111 yielded Cattle egret and Western meadowlark. Thirty-nine species in all and a very good start to a (hopefully) birdy 2009!

New Zealand and Fiji

October 13-20: New Zealand: South island

We left LAX on the 13th and flew non-stop to Auckland, NZ. My veg food didn’t get on board, but the staff was accommodating and I finally got some food. The individually controlled movies were a cool feature, but thank goodness for Ambien. I had a much better night’s sleep than I could have ever imagined. Since we flew across the International Date Line, we arrived in Auckland in the early morning on October 15. We then traveled by plane south to Queenstown which is known as the “Adventure Capitol of the World.” It rained much of the time there and there was even a little snow. It is very beautiful, sitting right on Lake Wakatipu with snow capped mountains called the Remarkables all around.

When we arrived, we went on a jet boat ride in the lake. We squished inside the boats as Mark, our guide explained the rules to us. It was fun getting some fresh air after all that time on planes and busses. Mark pulled many 360's on the water which got everyone very wet. After checking into our hotel, we met up and walked to the Skyline Gondola which rises steeply from Queenstown. The view from the top was awesome and we happened to catch a rainbow over the town.

That night a 6.7 earthquake shook me awake around 1:30am. The next morning, we found out that epicenter was about 38 miles west of our destination for that day. We were a little concerned about avalanches, but our bus driver, Dawn, assured us we would be OK.

We loaded on the bus and headed for Milford Sound. The drive to Milford Sound was filled with waterfalls and snow-capped mountains. Along the way I also saw lots of White-backed Magpies which looked very much like crows except for their brilliant white backs that shone when they flew.

Once we arrived at Milford Sound in the fjord lands, we went on a three-hour scenic/lunch cruise. While waiting for the cruise to leave, I was able to catch my first glimpse of New Zealand’s chaffinches which then seemed to be everywhere. The scenery on the cruise again filled with waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls would literally get blown away by the wind before they could reach the water below. The most exciting part of the trip for me though was the three Fjordland Crested Penguins we saw from the bow of the boat. They hopped among the rocks and jumped into the water. I had never expected to see penguins!

I had scheduled a birding trip on Lake Dunstan near Cromwell, but it was canceled due to the horrible weather we were having. Undaunted, I set out on Wednesday morning for some “lammie” pictures. I knew there was a farm just outside the town and decided to walk to it and get some pictures. I took my bins so that I could bird along the way. It turns out that I waked (according to Google maps) 9.8 kilometers one way which makes about 12 miles round trip. Wow! No wonder I was tired and had sore feet at the end of the day. But it was all worth it because this was the only real birding I got to do in New Zealand.

The first birds I saw were a small flock of silvereyes acting very warbler-ish at the ends of a tree. Among them I saw my first “Blackbird” which looks like a completely black robin. In the lake were some New Zealand Scaup and Australian Coots. Underneath a conifer tree was a single Song Thrush among several Redpolls. When I finally reached first a deer farm, then a sheep farm, and then a cattle farm all in the same general vicinity, I checked out the birds in the fields. Among the many White-backed Magpies were also some Island Pied Oystercatchers which looked and acted like typical oystercatchers. The sheep were quite shy and took their lammies with them almost as soon as I got close to the fence, but I did manage a few good shots while I had a bit to eat (some NZ cheddar, crackers, and a power bar). Tired, cool and wet, but happy, I headed back to the hotel. That night on the way to a bar called Minus Five Degrees (where they dress you in parkas, snow boots, and mittens, take you into a room make, quite literally, of ice and serve you a vodka drink in a glass made of ice – just what I needed after the cold and wet of the day!), I spotted a Yellowhammer and several Red-billed Gulls.

On Thursday we left Queenstown and started toward Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. Although the bus drove to the viewing point, we couldn't see Mt. due to the clouds. The next day we get a good view of it while driving towards Christchurch along Lake Pakaki. This lake is incredibly beautiful! It’s water is tropical blue and so clear. I wanted to jump in, but I’m sure I would have turned to a popsicle in a instant.

Our last stop in New Zealand was Christchurch. I loved this place even though we were only there less than 12 hours. It’s a very English city and was much warmer and sunnier than we’d experienced anywhere in New Zealand. A few of us spent some time exploring the pubs and found a terrific Thai restaurant that was so good I licked my plate clean!


October 20 – 26 (Fiji island)

On Saturday, we arrived into Nadi, Fiji Island. The Hideway Resort was our home here. Ahhhh! Warmth and relaxation! The sun didn’t really want to show it’s face for the first two days, but it was warm and I didn’t care. I didn’t get to do much birding here, but there were both Common Mynas and Jungle Mynas everywhere.

On Sunday, a few of us went to the Kula Ecopark which housed a whole bunch of caged birds. I got to see a lot of Fijian birds, but to me, they all looked sad to be there. The natural birds I the park where all well hidden in the trees, and, not knowing the vocalizations, I wasn’t able to ID any of them.

On Tuesday, some of us started on what we thought was to be a kayaking trip. It turned into “a three hour tor, a three-hour tour!”, Anyway, this story is better said by one of my fellow travelers, Pam West. Here’s the story blatantly stolen from her blog:

…nine brave souls embarked on the adventure of our entire trip. We had originally signed up for a kayaking trip, but because of all the rain the road leading to the river had been washed out. So the river company instead treated us to a whitewater rafting trip on the Upper Navua River.

The ride up to the river was the scariest thing I had ever experienced. It was a steep and very narrow mountain road and I just kept praying that the bus wouldn't slip off the edge into a deep gorge. Once we made it to the top, we had to walk about 20 minutes through a muddy slippery path to the river. We loaded up two rafts and off we went. Talk about awesome. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but the brochure referred to this river as the "Fiji's Grand Canyon" and I concur.

We rafted for 15 miles and then the "fun" began. We jumped on the bus to take us back but shortly after we started out, the bus became mired in mud. We jumped back out and the guides told us women to just start walking and they would pick us up. Inez, Joe & I followed their directions. About an hour or so later, Brian, Tony, Connie & Pier caught up to us. The monsoon rain soon started and after walking nearly 3 hours or approximately 7 miles in a jungle rain forest, the bus finally comes to our rescue. We were cold, thirsty & hungry, and our feet & legs were killing us. But it certainly didn't dampen our spirits. We laughed about it all the way back to the resort. And of course we became the talk of the group over the next couple days.

My only additions to Pam’s narrative would be the two birds I managed to see without binoculars while we were walking through the Fijian backcountry jungle: Golden Dove (totally unmistakable in its brilliantly golden plumage) and Scarlet Robin.

On Wednesday, a few of us took a cab ride to Suva to check out the Suva Museum which house the leather boot soles of Thomas Baker. He was a missionary who was cannibalized right down to his boots, but when they got to the boot soles, the cannibals found him inedible. His boot soles, along with the fork, cooking pot and other utensils used to consume him are house in the Suva Museum. We also did a little shopping here and ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant called (I believe) Gandhi’s Curry House. We then stopped at a Fijian Cultural Center on the way out of town. A lovely day!

After all that running around, I was glad to hang by the pool and soak up the sun on Thursday. It was a very quiet day as almost all of the others went on a sailboat trip for the entire day.

While not a birding trip specifically, I did get to add a few species to the world list and make a few friends in the process. Not sure I would go back to New Zealand unless it was later in the spring or in their summer months, but I would go back to Fiji in a second. The people there were so nice and the food was awesome!
You can check out my pictures from this trip at: Picasa

Puerto Rico June 13-15, 2007

Spent just a few days on the lovely island of Puerto Rico earlier this week. It was more a tourist trip than a birding trip, but I did manage to drag my friend along for some birding. This marks the start of my official world birding list.

June 13 – Old San Juan
Of course, the first bird spotted was the ubiquitous Greater Antillean Grackle* – bright yellow eyes and black shiny feathers. Also spotted a Brown Booby and Brown Pelican fishing the bay near El Morro. Hundreds of Rock Pigeons were hanging out at el Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park). These birds have apparently been here hundreds of years and are fed by tourists and local school children alike. Other birds in the old city included Common Ground Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove and House Sparrow. Here as well as for the whole trip, there were many Turkey Vultures in the sky.

June 14 – Guanica
Most of the day was spent driving from Ponce to Mayaguez, but we stopped near Guanica in southwest Puerto Rico for a few hours to eat and visit el Bosque Seco or dry forest. This forest gets just a small amount of rain fall each year, but the forest does seem to survive. It seemed to me that it must have rained here recently as the trees were very green with lots of new growth and the mosquitoes were very active.

Within minutes of entering the forest, we were greeted by a number of small birds. The first one spotted was the Puerto Rican Tody*. This little bird looks like a cross between a hummingbird and a kingfisher. It had a mechanical sound that I thought might be an insect of some sort at first. He sat in a tree for a while and let me get good looks as well as a couple of shots with the camera. The picture above is one I took myself.

Also in the trees that afternoon were Bananaquit*, Puerto Rican Flycatcher, Puerto Rican Vireo* (being quite vireo-like in his annoyingly constant singing and excellent hiding places!) and Adelaide’s Warbler*. There were probably many more, but the mosquitoes were also numerous and we hadn’t armed ourselves with any insect repellant. We practically ran for the car and the Benedryl it contained.

We stopped at a small inlet on the Guanica Bay and spotted a Magnificant Frigatebird* flying among the Turkey Vultures. There was also a youthful Little Blue Heron molting to adult plumage and stepping carefully on the clumps of water plants. At the restaurant, a Pearly-eyed Thrasher* checked out the patrons and foraged for scraps under the tables.

June 15 – Cabo Rojo

Just south of Mayaquez is Cabo Rojo and it was recommended as one of the best birding places in PR. When we got to (what we thought was) the entrance, the sign indicated that the gate did not open until 7:30. So we scouted around for somewhere to eat breakfast and found (what else) McDonald’s. At 7:30 we headed back and as we drove down the access road, a Gray Kingbird* was flycatching from the wires. He allowed me to get some good looks at him before we drove off to find the parking lot.

We had our choice of places to visit and decided to first explore the “dry bird” area which I took to mean as “land birds” and opposed to the “wet birds” of the opposite direction. Lots of Bananaquits here as well as great views of Yellow Warblers, a bird I haven’t seen a quite a few years. Also got good views of Puerto Rican Woodpecker* and Lesser Antillean Peewee* here and a fleeting look at a Black-faced Grassquit. Interestingly, there were lots of Eurasian-collared Doves here, but they aren’t listed on my Puerto Rican bird listing, so I guess, here as elsewhere they are extending their range.

As for the “wet birds” we found lots of Blue-winged Teal family groups, although the babies looked almost full grown; Great Egrets, Black-necked Stilts (who were obviously nesting and quite agitated by our presence); Common Moorhen; and American Coot. Someday, I think I would like to go back and bird this island seriously to find more of the specialties.

Around LA in December

Finally updating from my short trip to the LA area this past week. It was noteworthy from a birding standpoint only because there actually was bird life that didn’t look frozen and miserable. Lots of Common Ravens and Red-tailed Hawks in and around Edwards AFB/ Lancaster area where we first stayed. Moving westward to Rancho Cucamunga, there were more birds and more activity. In my daughter’s backyard, I saw a pair of Bushtits, a few House Finches, and an Anna’s Hummingbird that put on a spectacular display for “Kitty” and I. The trip was really too short to spend any significant time hunting for birds, but it was nice just to hear some bird calls and know that sometime in the distance future, spring will again come to Pennsylvania and the birds will return. For now, I must be satisfied with the Blue Jays and House Sparrows that come to the feeders. Everything else seems to have disappeared.

Cruising for birds II

Thursday:
If it’s Thursday, this must be Roatàn. This little island off the coast of Honduras is very lush-looking although the literature told us to expect a third-world country complete with begging children. The island is about 40 miles long and between 1 and 4 miles wide. Its population is about 30,000 and they speak mostly Spanish, however, most people are bilingual due to the amount of tourism on the island.

The weather started out bad and only got worse as a tropical depression turned to Tropical Storm Gamma. The sky was gray, it was raining, and the ocean was a sickly green. We could have cancelled our outing, but I was reluctant to do that as it would be our only time off the ship until Sunday night. We met our tour guide, Carmen, from Roatàn Island Tours and set off in a Mercedes minivan through the streets of Coxen Hole. Carmen is an islander who was very knowledgeable about the flora, fauna, and politics of the island. She also had the patience of a saint. The amount of ignorance shown by some of our fellow travelers was amazing. I hate being associated with the “gringos” who don’t realize that they traveled from one country to another during the night and that people in these two countries do not know each other nor do they know much about the other country. Why would one ask questions about Belìze in Roatàn? One woman asked how much such and such would cost in Belìze. That’s like asking someone here how much something sells for in Canada. How the heck should I know - ARGH!

We made several stops during the trip. The stop at the YUBU included native dances depicting the history of the islanders who are descended from the Black Carib Indians. We also stopped at Marble Hills farms were we found wonderful island jams and jellies made from fruits grown right at the farm. The Mutton Pepper (Habanero) jelly is to die for sweet and hot, hot, hot! The farm was loaded with small iridescent green hummingbirds called Canivet’s Emerald. Carmen was amazed to see my “magazine” of birds.

The juxtaposition of the island’s rich and poor was painfully obvious. The rich are mostly Americans and Canadians who live in opulent houses high up on the hills with fabulous vistas while the majority of inhabitants live in squalor. Small ramshackle houses line the city streets while the unemployed inhabitants sit on the windows or on the door steps. Carmen explained that while most of the people are trained in one or more occupations, most people derive a living from the tourist industry because there are so few jobs in other fields. They also live in trepidation of what the upcoming election will bring for them. The party currently in control has a history of using tax monies for the public good, while the opposition has a history of lining their own pockets. She had little confidence in the outcome of the coming election. She also told us that most children have been sent home from school because the start of the rainy season is coming and so many roads and homes are likely to be washed away, but also the children need to be at home because the upcoming election may trigger violence. It’s hard to imagine living in such unstable conditions. We don’t know how much we take for granted.

Our last stop on the tour was a four mile boat ride to see two shipwrecks. Both ships were abandoned by the companies that owned them. The first sank (I believe) after running aground in a storm and the second caught fire in the harbor. The companies didn’t even bother to pay for the crew to go home and many ended up staying on the island.

The weather got worse as morning turned to noon and we headed back to the ship. Roatàn left me with feelings of despair, yet a desire to help in some way.
We came back to the ship as soon as the tour was over. I needed a respite from the stupid gringos plus it was a good opportunity to watch the many Frigatebirds that were soaring in the skies above the ship. As the afternoon wore on, the weather became increasingly worse. The ship began to really pitch and roll so that it was difficult to stay on one’s feet. After the evening show, one of the passengers lost her footing and ended up on the floor.


Friday:
I woke up feeling nauseous either from the ship’s constant rolling, the rum I had last night, or maybe both. The crew placed barf bags all along the ship, but fortunately, I haven’t needed one! After breakfast, I went back to sleep, I’m quite sure it’s the rocking of the boat making me ill as the feeling comes and goes on different parts of the ship and eating makes it much better. This afternoon, the sea calmed a bit and we seem to have outrun the storm.

The chocolate buffet this afternoon was worth it if only for the fondue and fruit. Most of the other chocolate pastries were pretty tasteless. Although the food is mostly fabulous, they do have a problem with desserts here, especially the chocolate ones. I can’t believe that I am that spoiled by Hershey’s, Ghirardelli, and Godiva chocolates, but there you are!

No birds today :-(

Saturday:
Spent a wonderful day with calm seas and sun. I hid on the aft deck and enjoyed the warmth I won't feel again until next year. Only one bird today (this is after all a birding blog). A House Sparrow found a respite on the boat. How the heck he got all the way out there, I don't know, but hopefully, he stuck around and got a ride back to shore.

All in all, I enjoyed the trip. I definitely want to revisit Belìze soon!

For more trip pictures, go here: http://photobucket.com/albums/c378/iwhipple/

Cruising for birds, etc.

Sunday: After a long and exhausting flight from Philadelphia to Houston, we got to be scrunched into a bus with our carry-on bags under our feet for forty minutes. Then we got to wait again at the embarkation station and one more time to check onboard the ship. By the time we got to our room (which seemed too small), I was tired, hungry and very grumpy. But it was warm and sunny and after a piña colada or two, things started to look up. We have a nice private balcony that lets in lots of sea breezes. I then did the only thing a birder would do in a situation like this… I got out my bins.

There were three American coots swimming in the harbor all afternoon. Other bird life included a Great Blue heron and White egrets across the harbor and lots of sea gulls that I can’t quite ID without my scope. What kind of a birder goes on vacation and doesn’t bring her scope? (Answer: one who has packed too many shoes!)

The food here has been pretty good. Lunch was a buffet and I found a five bean salad, cucumber and yogurt salad, whole grain bread and cheese. I didn’t want to eat too much because I knew we would be having a big dinner, plus the piña coladas (did I mention the piña coloadas?) filled me up. We ate dinner at the Seven Seas for which we were probably very underdressed, but they lived with it J. I found polenta with green beans and peppers on the menu, but couldn’t have the corn and red pepper soup because they made it with chicken stock (idiots!). Later, we had dessert of chocolate ice cream and flambéed strawberries and then one of the waitresses talked me into chocolate cake, too!

After dinner, I chilled on the balcony. The sound of the ocean and the rocking of the ship is very soothing. I lined up the furniture and promptly fell asleep - going to bed after 11.

Monday: I decided I really needed to work off the ice cream and cake, so I went to the gym, but couldn’t get on a treadmill right away, so I settled for the bike. After a half hour of that, I switched to an empty treadmill and had an awesome run. I could have run a lot longer, but there was a line and a time limit of 30 minutes. After all that sitting yesterday, it really felt great to get moving again.

Yesterday the water was green and muddy looking. This morning it looked much darker, almost black, but when we went for breakfast at the back of the boat I could see how much bluer it was. Now it’s getting lighter and bluer by the minute. Although there were a lot of ships yesterday, I’ve only seen two today – one of which, a barge, is passing us right now. No birds today either. No seagulls following the ship, only the flying fish that have been our companions all day. They are skimming the water and stay airborne for at least 20 seconds. They look so much like birds, I thought they were at first.

Most of the passengers are Americans, but there are some French and Germans aboard as well. There are some really, really fat people here. Some need scooters to get around and they can always be found at the AYCE buffet tables. It’s incredible! I’m starting to get used to the constant rocking and rolling of the ship, although it can still be felt if you are looking for it. Sometimes, I get knocked off balance and I think, “Geez, I’ve had too much to drink”, but then I realize I haven’t had anything to drink! Showering takes a special skill :-)

Martes: Hoy visitamos Cozamel, Mexico! Pardon mi español. Yo no escribo muy bien pero yo hablo un poco de la manaña en Cozamel. Digo, "Un cerveza con limon, por favor" y "Eso chili relleno es muy bien!" y "¿Donde este el baño?" (It stinks only being able to speak/write in the present tense, but I'm learning).

After a very “wavy” night, we started the day with waiting (what else) while the ship got final confirmation to enter the bay. We were among the first groups of tourists allowed into Cozamel since Hurricane Wilma destroyed the place three weeks ago. There are a total of four cruise ships here today that will bring all the tourists there are here. There is no one in hotels because all the hotels are still closed.

It’s difficult to describe the place in words, but I’ll try. First every tree that is still standing is completely bare. After 48 hours of 150+ mile an hour winds, there are no leaves. It’s amazing there are any trees left, but lots are still standing. Some palms show signs of green, but leaves are still a good two months away.

Every single building on the coast, which is all we saw, is affected. Like the trees, many buildings are remarkably still standing, but whole chunks of the buildings are torn off and almost every window is gone. Our trip guide, Aldofo, told me that the island is very hard rock and builders can’t dig very far into the ground so they build up around the buildings which makes them very strong. So I guess given the magnitude of the storm, this could have been a lot worse. The inhabitants of Cozamel have been working non-stop for three weeks to rebuild. The government has apparently sent about 10,000 workers to help. Electricity and water have been restored although the cruise line told us not to drink the water because they couldn’t assure it was clean.

The coral reef where we went to snorkel is pretty much wiped out. Bob did see some nice fish while I stayed topside and viewed “un pàjaro” (a female adult Magnificent Frigatebird). I understood enough Spanish to overhear one crewmate say to the other that he saw that bird yesterday. He then waved his hand away as if to shoo it. Other than a few Turkey Vultures, that is about all the bird life to report here. I suppose any birds that weren’t wiped out flew to greener pastures. There aren’t even any seagulls flying around the docks or the ships for that matter. As this is my first time here, so I don’t know if this is unusual or not.

After the snorkeling excursion, we were taken to a still intact beach (the only one we saw) which is really a lagoon. We had free cuvasas and floated in the turquoise water for about an hour before returning to the city. We were treated to several dances like “YMCA”, “Machareña” and “The Electric Slide” by some of the crew (Aldofo and friends) and the passengers.

Once back at the dock, we wandered around for a bit. I bought some souvenirs and Bob bought some (ahem) “Cuban”cigars (for smoking here, of course). He caught the guy switching labels behind the counter, so who knows what kind of cigars they are. Haha! We ate at a little place where the guy out front assured me a meal “no con carne” and sure enough, I got a combo dinner to revival Alebreje at home. Actually, it was pretty darned good for tourist food. Now it looks as though we’ve made it back just in time to beat the afternoon rain.

Tomorrow should be the big birding day – Belìze!

Wednesday: We tendered the ship around 8:30am today and took a small craft to Belize City. Ah! This is more like what I pictured the scenery - very lush and tropical. Our tour guide was named Vel and he was this awesome little Mayan descendant who knew everything we wanted to know about Belize and more. He briefed us while we were on the bus headed for Tower Hill and the boats to take us to Laminai. On the way, Bob asked about the birds we might see and Vel told us to make sure we got to the front of the boat. Vel and his assistant, Orlando, made sure I saw any birds we passed. Orlando was a very sharp-eyed niño of 18 who spotted lots of birds and crocodiles at more than 1000 feet away.

Birds today (finally, a bird list!):
Magnificent Frigatebird
Little Blue Heron (in the picture above)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Limpkin*
Jabiru stork*
Black-necked Stilt
Great Black Hawk*
Turkey Vulture
Northern Jacama*
Parrot sp.
Gray-backed Trogan*
Keel-billed Toucan*
Red-throated Ant Tanager*
Mangrove Swallow*
Boat-tailed Grackle
Oriole sp.

We also saw several wild Howler monkeys which sound amazingly like jungle cats. There were some in the trees near the High Temple and I think Bob got some good shots of them. Speaking of Laminai, the temples were amazing. I’ll need to do a little more research on the Mayans, as they were even more advanced than I thought.

We had a traditional Belizian lunch of coleslaw (traditional food???), red beans and rice which was vegetarian and quite yummy, tortilla chips and a yellowish salsa, habanero peppers with onions and lime juice and coconut tart for dessert. It tasted like more, but I refrained from being a greedy gringo. :-) On the bus back to Belize City we each had a Belitan Beer. This is the only beer brewed in Belize. It wasn’t the best beer I ever had, but it was cold, refreshing and most welcome after a long day in the rainforest.

SFO July 2005

I’ve been in San Francisco on business this past week and now I know why people get so corny about leaving their heart there (or at least a little bit of it). Jody and I took a late start (a late start for a birder anyway) and the bus to Golden Gate Park. It took us a while to find some good spots, however we found a pair of Common Ravens almost immediately. In fact, we saw several pairs throughout the day – probably more than I’ve seen all put together. Among the Brewer’s Blackbirds and omnipresent Rock Pigeons were a single Red-winged Blackbird and a Steller’s Jay.

The best birding spots were among the automatic sprinklers scattered in the park. At the first sprinkler we had amazing looks at a female Anna’s Hummingbird who put on a show by hovering/ bathing in the sprinkler mist for at least ten minutes. With her were a dozen or so Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a Song Sparrow whose behavior initially confused me into thinking it was a different sparrow species. Shortly after that we spotted a mixed group of juvenile American Robins, a female yellow/ olive warbler sp., and several House Finches with an orange-variant male. It took several looks through the book to ID him as I never even knew there was an orange-variant!

A nearby sports field yielded Barn Swallows and an “Oregon” Dark-eyed Junco – technically not a lifer, but a first look at an Oregon. Another sprinkler brought in a California Towhee (lifer!) and a whinnying Downy Woodpecker. We crossed JFK Avenue (?) to the Botanical Gardens. This immediately produced a Western Scrub Jay and Western Gull. We couldn’t find the California Quail that a couple from North Carolina said they saw, but we ended with a fine specimen of a Red-tailed Hawk sitting stock still in a (I don’t know any of the trees out here) tree.

Didn’t get to the Japanese Gardens, but opted for lunch on Haight Street instead. Ate at a place called, Cha-cha-cha’s which was highly recommended by a random guy standing outside the restaurant waiting for the rest of his party. We shared a pepper and goat cheese sandwich, green salad, and black beans with rice. I do believe we ate it all.

As a side note, tonight we traveled to Chinatown, bought souvenirs, ate fried bean curd strips in lemon curd sauce (awesome!), pot stickers, and puffed wheat gluten with black bean sauce (chewy, but good). Almost time to go back to work, life and reality.

6 Days in Austin Texas

Dan Calloway and I by a Catus Wren's nest somehwere west of Austin, Texas.

Day 1: Arrival in Austin
Our trip started out pretty uneventful. Yvonne and I flew out of Philly (on time!) and arrived in Houston a half an hour early. Our quick flight to Austin was uneventful. From Austin we rented a car, drove to the hotel, checked in and promptly realized I had left my bag with my scope and my shoes lying in the rental car parking lot. We ended up going back to the airport and retrieving it after the airport police had confiscated and scanned it as an abandoned bag. Ah, traveling in the 21st century!

As for the birds, we started with Barn Swallows and Great-tailed Grackles at the Austin airport, followed by a dozen Common Nighthawks circling the Capitol building Wednesday night. The nighthawks were lifers for both Yvonne and I. It augured well for Austin. We dined at La Tattoria, a wonderful little Italian restaurant on Congress Ave. The salad had the tenderest greens enlivened by crushed hazelnuts and a citrus dressing. We both had fettuccini with porcini and cremini mushrooms followed by profiteroles! A glass of Pinot Grigio was perfect with it. After dinner, we went to see the 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed Bats leave the Congress Avenue Bridge. Incredible!

Day 2: Delightful Dan

Wednesday started at 6am with our guide, Travis Audubon Society member, Dan Calloway. Dan took us to several places north and west of Austin where we saw many Texas specialties. Some of the places we visited were Balcones Canyonland Park, Cow Creek Road, and LBJ Lake. Birds included (lifers marked by *) Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-Tailed Hawk, Wild Turkey (5 males displaying for one lucky female), Killdeer, Rock Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, *Inca Dove, Common Ground Dove, *Eurasian Collared Dove ( a grand slam home run+ of doves), Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, *Black-chinned Hummingbird, *Golden-fronted Woodpecker, *Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Eastern Wood Peewee, *Vermilion Flycatcher, *Ash-throated Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, *Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, *Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Purple Martin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, *Cave Swallow, Barn Swallow, Blue Jay, Western Scrub Jay, Carolina Chickadee, Black-crested Titmouse, *Canyon Wren, Carolina Wren, Bewick’s Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, *Loggerhead Shrike, European Starling, White-eyed Vireo, *Bells’ Vireo, *Golden-cheeked Warbler (in the scope!!!) (& only occurs in this section of Texas), *Yellow-breasted Chat, *Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, *Painted Bunting, *Canyon Towhee, *Rufous-crowned Sparrow, *Lark Sparrow, *Black-throated Sparrow, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow. Counting the Northern Bobwhite, Black-capped Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, and Field Sparrow which we heard plus the Pyrrhuloxia that Dan and Yvonne saw, but I didn’t, our list for the day totaled 66 species with 21 lifers for me and about as many for Yvonne!! A stellar day for sure. A Texas-sized Thank You to Dan for his tenacity and hospitality. We logged well over a hundred miles on his truck as well as more than 12 hours and he would have still done more if we would have asked him. He was all we could have wanted in a guide and more!

We returned to the hotel around 7pm. We were hot, sweaty, smelly, and tired, but very satisfied with our day. Upon our return we discovered a wet floor in our hotel room caused by an air conditioning malfunction. The hotel offered to let us change rooms, but we were so exhausted that the mere thought of repacking our stuff gave us both headaches. We told the guy to just go ahead and fix it. We then ordered room service and had no sooner done so when the hotel manager called to say that the hotel was picking up the dinner tab for our “inconvenience”. We dined in our jimmies on free pizza and salad. It tasted like heaven after a day of fast food. We retired at 9pm.

Day 3: The Wonderful World of Weberville!

We slept in on Friday (til 6am). We first went to the gym where Yvonne walked while I ran for 45 minutes. Yvonne found these wonderful chilled aromatherapy (mint and citrus) wash cloths. They were heaven! I’m going to have to do that at home. Anyway, we got a kind of late start on Friday, but headed east and still made it to the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Facility (a euphemism for “sewage treatment plant”) by 8:30 am. It wasn’t nearly as smelling as I thought it would be and the flies weren’t nearly as obnoxious as the green heads at Forsythe NWR or the stable flies at Point Pelee in August! Nearly three million of them (No, I didn’t count them all) got trapped in our rental car and suffered a death by overheating in the next few sweltering hours L. We first birded the “facility” by car, easily finding *Black-necked Stilt, *Western and Pectoral Sandpipers (couldn’t positively ID Least, although they were probably present), Snowy Egret, a gorgeous pair of Wilson’s Phalaropes, Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck, a single Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and Kildeer. We searched everywhere for the Black-bellied Whistling Duck that Dan said we would find easily, but to no avail. On the back side of the facility we got out of the car and birded the River Trail. There we found numerous Northern Cardinals, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Due to the lush leaf cover we heard rather than saw these birds. Also seen at the facility were several species of turtles that were sunning themselves on logs, rocks, and bed edges. They were possibly more numerous than the birds!

After another search of the pond we found Great Blue Heron, but still no Black-bellied Ducks. Both satisfied and somewhat disappointed, we left the facility. It was now almost noon and getting rather warm as we headed to Weberville for a trip to the county park. The first time we went through Weberville we actually missed it! Literally, don’t blink or you will miss it J We drove for a while before we realized we missed, but these things happen for a reason. As we stopped to turn around, we saw a Red-shouldered Hawk in a tree eating something (a squirrel?). We watched him for a good while and then moved on. We stopped at Mary’s Taco’s, apparently Weberville’s only restaurant except for the grocery store deli a few feet away. There I had the most excellent salsa and cheese enchiladas! Very good eats there. From Mary’s we (finally) found our way to the park. By this time, it was after one clock and most self-respecting birds (and birders) were taking a siesta, but not us. We heard a Belted Kingfisher and also got good looks at some adorable Carolina Chickadees. They seemed much smaller than the others we had seen (possibly juvies?).

After Weberville, we headed west back to Austin. We immediately headed for the pool, had a dip and a Lava Flow (Pina Colada with a strawberry swirl). Yvonne had an Austin Sunrise. Thus sunned, cooled and very relaxed, we went back to our room and took a nap. BTW, Yvonne slept on the most comfortable looking “cot” I’ve ever seen. It’s got a double thick mattress and an actual box spring to it. The Four Seasons is worth every penny I can’t afford to spend on it! After our naps, we explored Sixth Street which is a bit overrated if you’re not into loud music, booze and tattoos. The kids love it though. It reminded me a lot of South Street in Philly. We ended up eating at a wonderful little Thai and Vietnamese restaurant. We ate tofu satay as an appetizer. I had tofu red curry for dinner and Yvonne had shrimp Pad Thai. We skipped dessert (imagine that!).

Day 4: Roadrunners and more

Saturday started early (5 am, on the road at 5:45 am). We traveled west to Pace Bend at Travis Lake. On the way we used Dan’s directions that included a detour to Old Ferry Road. There we took a quick stop to see a deer and her fawn go into the brush, listen to a Barred Owl call “Who cooks for you?”, and then sat out the thunder/ rain storm that came upon us like a wall of water. We stopped to check out a bird and as we stepped out of the car, I told Yvonne to get back in. It rained cats and dogs. We waited out the storm in front of some corrugated metal storage spaces, talking to our husbands and then went to Lee’s where tips are greatfulLEE(y) accepted and the cashier is “Older than Dirt” or so her T-Shirt says. She recommended we have grilled onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes on our breakfast tacos which we did. They were hearty enough to lift our spirits a bit.

After breakfast we returned to Old Ferry Road to see if we had better luck. It was still raining, but not quite as hard. Suddenly, Yvonne slowly says, “Back up! Roadrunner!” I quickly backed the car up about 10 feet to see a *Greater Roadrunner prancing down a private driveway. We got about a 30 second look, but it was unmistakable. Finally, a roadrunner! After he was gone, we continued down to the end of the road (it ended in a dock), but without seeing anything one Red-winged Blackbird and a pair of Black-crested Titmice. We returned on the road from which we came and darned if the roadrunner wasn’t back at the front of the driveway. This time he took off a little more quickly, but we were very satisfied that we had seen a lifer!

From there we proceeded to Pace Bend Park, paid the $8 day use fee even though all the guide’s said that if you mentioned you were going birding they would waive the fee. We circled the park once and seeing only wet tent campers we pulled over and took a nap until the rain receded. It was 9:30 am when the rain stopped and the sky turned beautifully azure. Of course the first bird we heard was a mockingbird (I thought we had them all in Pennsylvania!). Soon a Western Scrub Jay flew to the top of a tree and started to preen himself. Two woodpeckers (golden-fronted) came out to play and finally there appeared a squat brown bird whose identity eluded us for a few minutes. However, as the bird fluttered out into the full sunlight to dry her feathers and we both got our scopes on her, we realized that this was a female *Northern Bobwhite. She stayed for at least 15 minutes! This is the bird for which I’ve been looking for almost all of my forty years of birding and there she was showing off for us. “Oh, you haven’t seen my right wing yet? Here! And the way I can reach my beak under my wing? See that?” It was fabulous: a bobwhite in a Juniper tree!

We then started to circle the park again and found ANOTHER roadrunner running on the side of the road (Where did roadrunners run before there were roads???). This one let us look at him for a bit before a short flight into the brush. Also seen at the park were Black-crested Titmouse and Golden-fronted Woodpecker, however, after the roadrunner and bobwhite, they seemed somewhat anticlimactic. We eventually headed back to Austin having decided to scrap a last chance for a Black-capped Vireo due to the lateness and heat of the day.

Heading back on Route 71, we decided to keep going straight to Hornsby Bend to check one last time for those (supposedly) easy *Black-bellied Ducks. We were also hoping for Dickessel and/ or Crested Caracara. We were barely inside the visitor area of Hornsby when we spotted three black-bellies one of which was standing right in the middle of the road! We watched for a long time and crept up on them getting better and better looks. Finally they flew off with flashes on white and black wings. That made three lifers in one day – not a bad day at all! We were happier than pigs in poop even though we didn’t see a single sparrow, much less a Dickessel.

On the way back to the hotel, we looked for Monk Parakeets at Zilker Park, but found nothing on any tall light standards. Feeling like Jane Hathaway look-alikes amidst all the runners, walkers, and street people on the trail, we decided to head back to the hotel. It was almost 4 pm anyway and Yvonne needed to pack yet.

We spent our last night’s dinner at Dona Emilia's South American restaurant and dined on goat’s milk cheese with small squares of corn “bread” (not your mother’s corn bread, but light and not at all crumbly – very delicate), roasted vegetables, black beans, roasted asparagus, and (Yvonne had) salmon. Dessert was an ultra-rich chocolate- chipotle torte topped with chocolate ganache, and raspberries. We each had two glasses of a wonderful apricot-ty Texas Chenin Blanc. A wonderful end to a wonderful birding trip! Thanks Yvonne – you are the greatest birding buddy a person could have!

Day 5: Blah!
I hate the first day of conferences, especially when I’m there by myself. ‘Nuff said about that day!

Day 6: Sorry Yvonne!

Rented a bike from the hotel and took a ride along the trail that runs behind the hotel and across the river. It was beautiful morning and the trail was exhilaratingly muddy after the rain we had again last night. Bringing the bike back I saw what I thought was a Great Blue Heron crouched down hunting near the hotel landing. There was no way to not scare him away so I approached as slowly as possible hoping he would find his prey before I moved him. When he did fly, I saw he was not a Great Blue, but a *Yellow-crowned Night Heron! Another lifer and it wasn’t even 7:15 am. Sorry Yvonne, but he flew right in front of me.


Life Bird count: 316