The Yucatan, Should I Stay or Should I Go? Felipe Carrillo Puerto to Calakmul

We had a long day ahead. We were moving south, almost to the border of Belize, and then west to Calakmul. Despite the longish drive, we decided to give Vigia Chico Road another shot. Before we left, Dan ran across the street from the hotel to grab a cup of coffee and brought me a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice. I can't say enough about how good orange juice can be in the tropics!

We decided to work for the Black-throated (Yucatan) Bobwhite in the scrubby fields at the start of the road. We heard a few calls and walked out on a dirt road through one of the fields. Martin whistled a few times, but got no response. Despite the lack of visible quail, we really enjoyed the field. There was a lot of "blue", Blue Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings. Orioles were abundant. We had been looking for Orange Orioles, but had only seen Altamira's and Hoodeds. Finally, a group of three birds flew around us. Martin was concentrating on photographing something, probably dragonflies, and didn't see them. Dan and I both saw the birds had orange backs, one of the distinguishing field marks and less extensive markings on the face. We also had a Black-cowled Oriole, which was new for me.

At this point we started the discussion about what to do next. Should we continue down the road, or cut out and drive to Calakmul and try to maximize our birding there? Dan and I voted to go, but Martin wanted to stay a bit longer. Martin was driving, so we stayed. We drove on and found a few birds, including a Golden-olive Woodpecker. There was a another Gray-throated Chat and a few other nice birds, but it seemed slower than the day before. We finally all agreed it was time to go.

We started south, driving to Chetumal, where you can cross the border into Belize. We kidded around about crossing over to get our passports stamped, but decided it probably wasn't a good idea. Anyway, I am boycotting Belize because of their anti-gay laws. We turned west and headed to the Campeche province. Our base of operations was in the town of Xpujil, at the Hotel Calakmul. Neither Dan nor I could get the hang of pronouncing Xpujil. That X threw us for a loop. By the time we left, a day and half later, we sort of had it, but probably not quite. As we entered town there was a fabulous statue of a very strong looking woman. I have had no luck finding out who she is, but she looks like she could kick your butt!

We checked into our hotel, which was great, by the way. It was immaculately clean, very comfortable and had a beautiful sparkling pool, with the best pool rules ever. (See my photos for the day.) We got our things settled in and jumped back in the car for the drive to Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul.

When we talked about going to the Yucatan and I started doing research, Calakmul captured my imagination so throughly I really pushed to visit. It was way out of our way, but I just had to go. This is an area that is not well known to most Americans. The biosphere is massive, covering almost 15% of the state of Campeche. It is the site of the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul, an archaeological site comparable to Tikal in Guatemala, with 7,200 rements. The ruins are still mostly buried in the jungle, unlike the manicured Chichen Itza. The jungle holds five species of wild cats, including Jaguar, and well over 200 species of birds. Unfortunately, it is also very remote. The entrance road is 59 kilometers from Xpujil. After you turn on that road it is 20 kilometers to the first gate, then you drive another 40 kilometer to reach the ruins. The good part is the forest begins almost immediately after turning off of the highway. There is a lodge near the entrance gate, but it is very pricey, so we chose to drive from Xpujil.

We reached the turn off and found of local people manning a gate. They charged us an entrance fee and told us that gate is open all of the time. We turned in and started birding immediately. It was like the road at Felipe Carrillo Puerto; it was difficult to decide when to stop, as we were always wondering if it might be a bit better further on. We also wanted to make good use of the time scouting for the next day. The road was excellent, raised and dry. We had an agouti run across the road in front of us, so we stopped and hoped some predator would be chasing after it, but no. He was safe. We also found a Yucatan Squirrel. Then we had a wonderful surprise; a Great Currasow ran in front of the car! That was a very much wanted bird. We pushed on to the second gate, arriving right at 3:00PM, when the museum closes. We talked with the workers, who appeared to live there. They said there were Ocellated Turkeys behind the museum. We went back and one was walking around like a farm yard chicken, extremely tame and eating grain they threw out for it. It always seems a bit sleazy counting a bird like that, but I took it!

We worked our way back, birding along the way. A really awesome tarantula skittered across the road in front of the car. I was able to get some decent photos of it. A friend IDed it as a male Brachypelma epicureanum. We also had our best looks yet at Yucatan Jays, with a flock of adults and juveniles perching right by the road.  We got the main road, and headed back to the hotel. Dan took a quick swim before dinner, making me regret not bringing a swimming suit.

Here are my photos for the day-
www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157638154679814/

Bird list-
Road to Calakmul

Yellow-throated Euphonia      
Summer Tanager                
Black-throated Green Warbler  
Magnolia Warbler              
Black-and-white Warbler       
Wood Thrush                   
White-bellied Wren            
Yucatan Jay                   
Yellow-throated Vireo         
Great Crested Flycatcher      
Eastern Wood-Pewee            
Yellow-olive Flycatcher       
Northern Bentbill             
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 
Keel-billed Toucan            
Wedge-tailed Sabrewing        
Squirrel Cuckoo               
Roadside Hawk                 
Ocellated Turkey              
Great Curassow 
              
Felipe Carrillo Puerto

Plain Chachalaca              
Yellow-billed Cacique         
Orange Oriole                 
Yellow-tailed Oriole          
Black-cowled Oriole           
Great-tailed Grackle          
Melodious Blackbird           
Indigo Bunting                
Blue Grosbeak                 
Blue Bunting                  
Northern Cardinal             
Green-backed Sparrow          
Black-headed Saltator         
Thick-billed Seed-Finch     
White-collared Seedeater      
American Redstart             
Hooded Warbler                
Tropical Mockingbird          
Gray Catbird                  
Spot-breasted Wren            
Brown Jay                     
Mangrove Vireo                
White-eyed Vireo              
Masked Tityra                 
Couch's Kingbird              
Tropical Kingbird             
Social Flycatcher             
Barred Antshrike              
White-fronted Parrot          
White-crowned Parrot          
Olive-throated Parakeet       
Pale-billed Woodpecker        
Smoky-brown Woodpecker        
Ladder-backed Woodpecker      
Collared Aracari              
Cinnamon Hummingbird          
Buff-bellied Hummingbird      
Canivet's Emerald             
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl         
Groove-billed Ani             
Ruddy Ground-Dove             
Common Ground-Dove            
Eurasian Collared-Dove        
Rock Pigeon                   
Short-tailed Hawk             
Turkey Vulture                
Black Vulture                 
Cattle Egret                  
Snowy Egret                   
Black-throated Bobwhite - heard only       

The Yucatan. Felipe Carrillo Puerto. What's that light?

Sunrise comes a lot earlier in the Yucatan than it does in Texas. We thought if we started at about 600AM we could get some night birds. Not so! It was quite light out. There was a tiny cafe across from the hotel, where we grabbed coffee and I picked out a pan dulce from a plastic bag, choosing ones with the fewest ants. After knocking them off, it was really good. We got in the car and took off for Vigia Chico Road, just outside of town.

This 8 km road travels through a variety of habitats, starting with scrubby fields, into nice deciduous forest. Because of this, there is a large diversity of birds along the way. Almost immediately we spotted a Caribbean Dove, sitting on a stone wall under some large trees. I thought we had lost our chance for that species after leaving Cozumel, so I was really pleased. We heard some Black-throated Bobwhite calling; Martin tried whistling them in, but had no luck. A striking Turquoise-browed Motmot was sitting on a power line outside a farm house. Black-headed Saltators were calling. All of this and we had not even gone a half kilometer!

It is always difficult to know what to do. We knew the forest birding was better further down, but it is hard to drive off and leave birds. We decided to press on and drove further. A couple of kilometers down we were surprised to find another birder! We were even more surprised to find out he was from Kent, south of London. He and his wife had attended a destination wedding at Playa del Carmen and he had sneaked off for a day of birding. We joined forces for a while and "ticking" species off very quickly. Brendon, our new English friend, was really happy to have run into us, as almost all of his birding experience was in Asia, Africa and Europe. We got the scope out and scanned some distant trees, finding our first Keel-billed Toucans of the trip.

We all moved a bit further down and we found one of my goal birds, Rose-throated Tanager. That really sounds like a looker, huh? Wrong. They are really dull brown, with yellow under the throat on the females and a bit of rose on the male. We saw a number of these birds, but never a male. Then we found a bird that sounds dull, but is far from it, Gray-throated Chat. This bird is slate gray and white, with an incredible blaze of red down the middle of its chest. Unfortunately, it was very fast moving and I never even tried to get a photo. I was super excited about this, as it was probably my most wanted bird for the Yucatan. There were a bunch of other "color" birds, Blue-black Grosbeak, Gray-colored Becard, Rose-throated Becard, Lesser Greenlet and Green-backed Sparrow.

One of my favorite sounds on this road was the song of the Spot-breasted Wren. Almost all wrens have great songs. This one carried through the woods. It supplemented the song with a great call that sounded like someone running their thumb over a small comb. Northern Bentbills were calling all around us, with a crazy high pitched buzz. We even heard a Thicket Tinamou. There were many other calls that we never able to identify.

We went back to town for lunch and a little siesta. We planned on some after dark birding, so we wanted to be prepared. We drove back out on the road, dodging a few rain showers. We saw more mixed flocks and I photographed a few butterflies and a spectacular white, black and red day flying moth. After the sun set we started actively looking for eye shine on the side of the road.  We also listened intently. Our two targets were Yucatan Poorwill and Yucatan Nightjar. We finally saw a dot of red on the side of the road. We creeped up, and a bird flushed up in front of the car. Unfortunately, it had a long tail and white in the wing and tail, a Common Paraque. Then we heard a distant "will" call, the Yucatan Poorwill. That gave us a bit of hope. We continued cruising and spotted more eye glow, but it looked odd. As we came up we discovered it was a moth! The eye was large and reflecting red, just like a bird. None of us had ever seen anything like it. Finally, we saw more red eye, and found our Poorwill! We looked some more for the nightjar, but had no luck. Coming back into town we did have one more surprise. A Northern Potoo, one of the weirdest looking night birds in the tropic landed on top of a pole right in front of us. I tried to photograph it, but only got a weird shot that looks like a light on top of a pole.

Photos for the day-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157638098559915/

Bird list-

Scrub Euphonia                
Altamira Oriole
Hooded Oriole                 
Great-tailed Grackle          
Melodious Blackbird           
Blue-black Grosbeak           
Gray-throated Chat            
Summer Tanager                
Rose-throated Tanager         
Green-backed Sparrow          
Black-headed Saltator         
Thick-billed Seed-Finch       
Black-throated Green Warbler  
Magnolia Warbler              
Northern Parula               
American Redstart             
Hooded Warbler                
Common Yellowthroat           
Black-and-white Warbler       
Tropical Mockingbird          
Black Catbird                 
Clay-colored Thrush           
Spot-breasted Wren            
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 
Green Jay                     
Brown Jay                     
Lesser Greenlet               
Mangrove Vireo                
White-eyed Vireo              
Rose-throated Becard          
Gray-collared Becard          
Masked Tityra                 
Tropical Kingbird             
Social Flycatcher             
Boat-billed Flycatcher        
Great Kiskadee                
Dusky-capped Flycatcher       
Yellow-olive Flycatcher       
Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher  
Northern Bentbill             
Greenish Elaenia              
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper      
Olivaceous Woodcreeper        
Barred Antshrike              
White-fronted Parrot          
Olive-throated Parakeet       
Ladder-backed Woodpecker      
Yucatan Woodpecker            
Collared Aracari              
Turquoise-browed Motmot       
Blue-crowned Motmot           
Black-headed Trogon           
Cinnamon Hummingbird          
Canivet's Emerald             
Northern Potoo                
Yucatan Poorwill              
Common Pauraque               
Groove-billed Ani             
Squirrel Cuckoo               
Caribbean Dove                
White-tipped Dove             
Common Ground-Dove            
Eurasian Collared-Dove        
Rock Pigeon                   
Roadside Hawk                 
Turkey Vulture                
Black Vulture              
Thicket Tinamou               

The Yucatan, November 16/17. More cowbell!

I haven't done any birding blog posts in quite a long time. We just returned from the Yucatan and I thought it was a good opportunity to resume. We were there from November 16 to the 24. I am going to combine days when we did little birding due to travel, or we did some cultural stuff.

We arrived in Cancun just after noon on November 16. Our plan was to meet up with one of our favorite birding friends, actually favorite friends period, Dan Peak, grab a rental car and head to Cozumel to bird for at least part of the afternoon. One thing you learn in the tropics is to slow down, take a breath, and be very flexible. I won't go into detail, but we really should have checked to see if there was more than one terminal at the Cancun airport! Finding Dan took a little extra time, picking up the rental car took a LOT of extra time. By the time we left the airport, drove south and arrived at the ferry in Playa del Carmen, it was late afternoon. We did see my first life bird of the trip, Yucatan Jay, flying into a tree out side of town. Our only birding was at the ferry dock, where we had just a handful of terns, gulls and Magnificent Frigatebirds.

I had expected to do some sea birding from the ferry. The trip across to Cozumel is about 18 kilometers. Surely a few birds fly by. They probably do, but seeing them is not easily done. The ferry has benches and you can not get up and stand at the railing. It also started getting dark as we were going across. Instead of being entertained by dolphins on the bow wave and birds zipping by, we had to settle for a two ferry workers with a tape recorder and a cow bell, singing up front. The young man was very enthusiastic and not a bad singer. The Mexican passengers sang along. It was actually pretty entertaining. We were treated to a gorgeous full moon rise on the way.

We had a few more minor mishaps involving our original hotel, Hacienda San Miguel, which was flooded due to heavy rains earlier in the week. They moved us to their sister property, Vista del Mar, giving us sea view rooms. The rooms were fine, though being on the strip was a little noisy. The shower was wonderful. (This is a big deal to me.)

Now for the birding! We left at about 600AM. It was already light. We drove to an abandoned housing development mentioned in Steve Howell's book, A Bird Finding Guide to Mexico. This site was much better than I expected! This development was abandoned years ago and the forest has taken it back. The roads are still in decent shape, so it is the best of both worlds. . Because of its isolation as an island, Cozumel has a few endemic species and sub-species, not found anywhere else. It also is a good place to get Caribbean birds. We were the most interested in any bird with Cozumel in the name, Cozumel Vireo, Cozumel Emerald, a hummingbird, and Cozumel Thrasher, which unfortunately, is probably extinct. There is also a wren, Cozumel House Wren, which is possibly going to be split in the future from House Wren.

We found a fruiting tree and started racking up the species. I thought Black Catbird could be a problem, as they can be skulkers. Wrong! They were everywhere. They were joined by a pair of Western Spindalis, another new bird for me. Lots of warblers were in and out, padding my Mexico list with birds we normally see in Texas. A pair of Yucatan Woodpeckers were down the road, loudly calling. Yellow-lored Parrots, also called Yucatan Parrot, called and flew over. Yellow Warblers, of the golden sub-species, were in and out. We tore ourselves away and started driving side roads. Martin spotted a Cozumel Vireo, which is a really different looking vireo, similar to a Cassin's Vireo, but much browner. We also had Yucatan Vireo, which looks like a Red-eyed Vireo on steroids, along with the Cozumel sub-species of Bananaquit, Rufous-browed Pepper-shrike and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. We had no luck with the hummingbird or the wren.

We drove back into town, and headed north to the country club, which is supposed to be good for the hummingbird. We drove in and found a patch of promising looking flowers by the parking lot. I flushed a Common Paraque, and we found more warblers. A hummingbird darted in and we got decent looks at the Cozumel Emerald. I also got a terrible photo! On the way back to town we stopped along the way and saw quite a few birds in the woods by the side of the road.

We still needed the wren and were torn about what to do. We had a bit of a drive to our next location, after the ferry ride, and were not sure if we wanted to do it in the dark. We decided to keep birding and take the gamble. We drove out towards a set of Mayan ruins in the center of the island, which is known as a birding site, but when we turned down the road, it was really rough and the forest was cut well back, making it difficult to bird. We decided to go back to the abandoned housing development. Driving in we passed a stable with a group of carriages parked off the road. It was really scrubby and looked like a good spot for a wren. Sure enough, we were able to "pish" one out, so the gamble paid off.

The ferry departed at 500PM. We were, again, confined to the benches, so there was no birding. The same couple played the tape recorder and sang with the cow bell. Adding to the experience on the way back were the numerous very inebriated American passengers. What is it in tequila that makes people think they are fabulous dancers, even confined to narrow benches? We got back to Playa del Carmen, went to pick up our rental car with only a small incident with the key. (Note: if you rent a car in Cancun, you can't take it to Cozumel, even on the car ferry. There are secure parking lots in Playa del Carmen, where you can park. You can rent a car in Cozumel very cheaply. I recommend Isis. They have great reviews. We were quite happy.)

We had an uneventful, though rather slow drive to Felipe Carillo Puerto, where we checked into our hotel, El Faisan y El Venado, a decent clean hotel with an ok restaurant. 

Photos-http://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/sets/72157638045063913/

Bird List in reverse taxonomical order. (Sorry about that. I have some new birding software I can't figure out!)
  PAINTED BUNTING -
  WESTERN SPINDALIS
  YELLOW-FACED GRASSQUIT
  BANANAQUIT
  WHITE-COLLARED SEEDEATER
  BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER
  YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
  PALM WARBLER
  YELLOW WARBLER
  MAGNOLIA WARBLER
  NORTHERN PARULA
  AMERICAN REDSTART
  HOODED WARBLER
  NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH
  OVENBIRD
  GRAY CATBIRD
  BLACK CATBIRD
  BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
COZUMEL  HOUSE WREN
  RUFOUS-BROWED PEPPERSHRIKE
  YUCATAN VIREO
  COZUMEL VIREO
  MANGROVE VIREO
  WHITE-EYED VIREO
  MASKED TITYRA
  DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER
  EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE
  NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET
  YELLOW-LORED PARROT
  YUCATAN WOODPECKER
  COZUMEL EMERALD
  VAUX'S SWIFT
  COMMON PAURAQUE
  GROOVE-BILLED ANI
  MANGROVE CUCKOO
  WHITE-TIPPED DOVE
  RUDDY GROUND-DOVE
  EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE
  WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON
  ROCK PIGEON
  RUDDY TURNSTONE
  NORTHERN JACANA
  BLACK-NECKED STILT
  AMERICAN COOT
  BLACK VULTURE
  GREEN HERON
  CATTLE EGRET
  LITTLE BLUE HERON
Playa del Carmen
 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE
  TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRD
  YUCATAN JAY
  TROPICAL KINGBIRD
  WHITE-WINGED DOVE
  SANDWICH TERN
  ROYAL TERN
 LAUGHING GULL
  SANDERLING
  TURKEY VULTURE  GREAT EGRET
  BROWN PELICAN
  NEOTROPIC CORMORANT
  MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD

Put Down the Camera and Look at the Bird

When I first came up with the idea for this post, I used slightly stronger language, something to the effect of "Put Down the Freaking Camera and Look at the Gosh darn Bird." Fortunately, I re-thought that, but I am still thinking it.

You probably think I am anti-photography. Nothing could be further from the truth. I take photos. I take and post way too many photos. It is really enjoyable to get positive feedback on a photo of a bird. I also love looking at my pictures and remembering trips I have taken. So, why the negative title? Because I feel that photography has hurt my birding skills in some ways and I also feel it inhibits the progress of new birders. Let me tell you why.

When I was a new birder I remember more experienced people telling me to leave my field guide in the car. This seemed counterintuitive to me. If I didn't look at the book, how could I tell what the bird was? So this is what would happen-I would see a bird and grab the book, flipping through pages feverishly looking for a brown bird. I would look back up to see if the bird had a white throat and it would be gone. I would realize that I had missed all the important field marks. So, I started leaving the book in the car and made note of everything I could see on the bird. I also paid attention to how it moved, how it was shaped overall, it may sound weird, but how it felt. I started being able to say "Ok, this is a warbler," or "This is a sparrow." I didn't throw away the book. I spent hours pouring over it when I was at home. I didn't just look at the pictures, but I paid attention to the maps and actually read the text. It took time, but I improved.

How does this relate to taking photos? You may say, "But a picture captures the field marks better than my mind and it is easier to ID." Perhaps, but if you don't actually pay attention to what the bird is doing, how it moves, how it feeds, how it relates to other birds, you won't get to know the bird. It is kind of like the difference between a parent and a school photographer. You can tell who a child is by his photo, but do you know him? Would you recognize him in the mall, or running up to your car? I see a lot of new birders posting photos saying "What is this?" That is fine, but they are posting pictures of the same birds over and over. They don't seem to progress in learning that the dull winter warbler is an Orange-crowned, or that the hawk they see that doesn't look exactly like the photo in their one field guide is a Red-tailed. This is normal for a very new birder, but it seems to go on much too long in people who use a camera lens rather than binocular to look at birds.

I have even noticed this in my own birding. I sometimes pay way too much attention to getting a good shot, rather than enjoying and watching the bird. It takes time to get the exposure right, to set the correct ISO, to find the right composition.  I have started to lose the ability to get a glimpse of a bird and narrow it down quickly to a small number of species, or even the exact bird. I am hating that, so, I am trying to take fewer photos. The only time I make a big effort is if it is a bird that needs documenting or it is flirting, daring me to take its picture.  I don't want to regress. I want to really know the birds. I am a fairly experienced birder. So, if photography is an impairment to me, how much more an impairment is it to a newbie?

Birds are so worth knowing and loving. It is absolutely worth becoming a good birder. I wish I was better. I strongly encourage you to become a birder, not just a photographer. Spend 99% more time just looking at the birds, rather than photographing them, at least initially. You might miss a few IDs, but you will get to know the beauty of our avian co-inhabitants of this world. You will have fewer compliments on your camera skills, but you will have a wonderful relationship that will last your lifetime.

Because It's Fun

There are so many things I enjoy about birding. I love observing different behaviors. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I am able to identify a sparrow or a shorebird that was a challenge in the past. I love knowing where migrants came from and where they are going. I love feeling connected with the natural world. I also love chasing.

If you are not a birder you probably have no idea what I am talking about. Chasing, or twitching, as they call it in the UK, is when you hear about a rare bird that has turned up and you jump in the car with whoever you can find that wants to go and make the trip to see it. It might involve driving all night. It might even involve flights if you have the money or the frequent flyer miles. It is usually for a bird you have never seen, though I have chased birds that I just want to see again.

Why do I do it? The main answer is in the title of this blog, because it's fun. The trip out is always a mix of excitement, anticipation and dread that the bird won't be there. If you have the right companions the conversation is all over the map, usually about past chases and produces laughter to the point of tears. (If you don't have the right companions, you will at least have some stories to tell later about how awful they were, which can also be fun.) You have an excuse to eat fast food that is bad for you, but you secretly love, drink too much coffee and maybe even drive a bit too fast.

When you arrive at the spot, you look for other birders and the conversations start. Have you seen it? Was it seen yesterday? Where? Hopefully, it is easily seen and you can relax. Many times you have to work for it. There is nothing like being the first person in the crowd to see the bird early in the morning. The elation is almost palpable. On some chases it takes a long time. People trade cell phone numbers and go off looking in likely places nearby. If you phone rings, your heart almost stops. Sometimes you realize you aren't going to see the bird. That sucks. Big time.

In spite of that, it is still fun. It is great to run into old friends. The sense of camaraderie can lead to making new friends. Maybe someone is there you have always wanted to meet, a birding celebrity. (The fame of birding celebrities is pretty limited, by the way.) You can either share the joy or the agony. Information about other birding spots is exchanged, new equipment is discussed, even a little gossip is spread.

Another thing that happens is you get to bird in an area you normally don't get to visit. I really love it if it is someplace I have never been. Many times the influx of birders results in more good birds being found, something birders refer to at the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia_picnic_table_effect. The longest chase we have ever done was for an Ivory Gull in Plymouth MA. We had never even talked about doing a trip to the Boston area in winter, but because of the chase, we not only got the gull, but saw a bunch of alcids, a ton of gulls that we rarely get in Texas and some seals! (I don't just like birds and we don't get seals in Texas.)

Anyway, the reason I am writing this is I have seen a lot of disparaging remarks about chasers recently.  Today on Texbirds there was a post about woodpecker behavior that said "Not for chasers and listers", like we are so shallow that we don't care about other aspects of birds and birding. I would never think of adding "Not for people with bird feeders" or "Not for biologists" on my posts about rarities. I have seen people rail against chasers for any number of perceived sins, like not finding their own birds, being competitive and valuing their lists too much.  I say to these people, "So what? I enjoy it. I am not going to let your snobbishness spoil my fun."

Wow, I Didn't Expect to See That Bird!

We discussed where we wanted to start the day. Martin was pulling for Frijole Ranch to try again for the titmouse and Willie wanted to go back to Red Bluff. The winds were supposed to increase through out the day, so we decided that we should hit Red Bluff before they got out of hand. Red Bluff Reservoir is one of the best birding spots in Texas that hardly anyone visits. It the desert of west Texas water is at a premium and Red Bluff has plenty. It is way off the beaten track, but we try to get there at least once a year now.

We set up on the west side of the lake, where there is a picnic ground. The light was good and the wind was not bad at all. We quickly saw a handful of Common Mergansers by the dam. There were also some Hooded Mergansers and a few Red-breasteds. It is tough in Texas to find all three species in the same spot. Willie spotted a pair of Red-throated Loons; there was a pair two years before and we thought they might be the same birds. There was a massive raft of ducks at the north end of the lake. As they moved closer we could see it was almost all Common Mergansers. Martin and Willie estimated at least 1.900, which is more than any of us had seen at one time.  We decided to hit the east side of the lake, but were deeply disappointed to find the Sandy Beach area gated and locked. There is an huge amount of fracking going on around the lake, so we wondered if the land owner wanted to keep the workers out.

We went back around to the other side and scoped some more. The wind was picking up and it was fairly cold. We decided to hit the north side of the lake and drove down to the other entrance. As we were driving towards the lake edge a black, gray and white bird shot in front of us, a shrike. The bird lit and we were stunned to see it was an immature Northern, not the expected Loggerhead. We drove in as close as we could, but the bird was very skittish. Martin and Willie walked out into the field, circling around in order to not spook the bird, but trying to get a bit closer. I stayed at the car, in case it flew back to its original perch. Unfortunately, it eluded all of us, but Martin was able to get some record shots, which he has posted on his page. http://www.martinreid.com/Main%20website/NShrike.html The photos of our bird are on the bottom of the page. This bird was the first Northern Shrike recorded in the Trans-Pecos in 25 years! With the birds we had seen in the Panhandle in December, it was the seventh one in about a month. Considering we had never seen any in the state before, we were "gobsmacked", as Martin would say. When we had returned from the panhandle in December, I mentioned that with all of the birds we had seen, it looked like it was possibly going to be an irruptive year. With one that was seen in north central Texas yesterday, it appears that I was right.

We decided to spend the night in Alpine and started driving south. We made a stop at Lake Balmorhea, where we were very happy to see 37 more Common Mergansers. We hadn't seen any on this lake in a couple of years. Two Green-tailed Towhees popped up to check us out, glowing in the late afternoon sun.  We drove to the north side of the lake, where Western and Clark Grebes were in good numbers. The sun had set, so we started to head out. We were thrilled to see a Great Horned Owl sitting up on a dead tree. Any owl is nice, but this one was special. Tripp Davenport had found it a couple of months earlier. It was almost white, instead of the normal gray or brown. We had looked for it in November without any luck, so we were really happy to see it! It allowed us to get quite close and get decent photos, despite the low light. It almost trumped, but not quite, the Northern Shrike, as bird of the day.

January West Texas, Days 1 and 2- Great Birds and Snow!

I ended up with a few days off in January. I love starting the year off with some great birds, so it was obvious what I wanted to do. The question was where. West Texas has great appeal to me, but we had a great trip to the panhandle in December, so that was tempting, too. Martin and I discussed it and finally decided on hitting the Guadalupe Mountains. Our good friend Willie Sekula asked if he could join us.

We left on January 9 early in the morning in the rain. Our first stop was Red Bluff Reservoir, a under birded lake just south of the New Mexico border. I was trying to be Pollyanna Positive, watching the weather on my phone and saying it looked like the lake was not going to have rain. It is a long drive out and the weather didn't improve in the slightest. We arrived and the rain was steady and very cold, almost sleet. The wind was nasty and we were less than enthused. We scanned the lake from the west shore, but between the rain, the wind and the cold, we gave up pretty quickly. There were some gulls and ducks on the lake, but we figured it would be more productive to head to Frijole Ranch at Guadalupe Mountain National Park.

Martin's main target species was Juniper Titmouse. The Guads are the almost only place in Texas to get this species. He had tried numerous times without success. Frijole Ranch and the headquarters building are considered good places to see it. Unfortunately, the weather was just as nasty. We walked around the headquarters and saw a few Phainopeplas, some Western Scrub Jays and a few other expected passerines. A group of jays were mobbing a hawk that Martin flushed, but couldn't get a solid ID on. Frijole Ranch was just as cold and just as titmouse-less.  We drove up to Carlsbad to spend the next two nights.

The best place in the park for Juniper Titmouse is Dog Canyon. This is a tough area to reach. You have to drive almost 60 miles from Carlsbad, through New Mexico, to reach this area. The state line is the entrance to the park. This is where I got my Texas Juniper Titmouse a couple of years ago. The drive in was complicated by several inches of snow on the road in the higher areas. It was a bit nerve wracking, but we finally arrived. There was a couple inches of snow on the ground in the park. We got out and started working the area past the headquarters. Martin and I walked down hill, listening for his titmouse. Willie stayed up near the parking lot. I was really enjoying the snow!

We walked back up and found Willie, looking up at the top of a tree. Perched up high was a female Evening Grosbeak. This bird was recently put on the Texas review list, as they had become extremely difficult to find. It was a new state bird for me, so I was ecstatic! Unfortunately, the rest of the flock consisted of only Dark-eyed Juncos of various types and Chipping Sparrows. Martin had seen Evening Grosbeak in Texas, so while very happy to see this one, he still was most interested in finding a titmouse.

We decided to hike the trail up the canyon. We were rewarded with a good number of birds. Probably our favorites were a group of Stellar's Jays, a tough bird to see in Texas. We had a single Mountain Chickadee and tons more juncos. We also heard what we thought were a couple more Evening Grosbeaks. We probably hiked about three quarters of a mile when things got very quiet. We continued a bit further, but things were still very slow. We turned back and ran into some of the same birds going down hill.

When we neared the corral area, which is at the end of the trail, I was lagging behind a bit. I could hear Willie saying something to Martin, but couldn't make it out.  Then I heard a low slow tooting. I called out "Isn't that a pygmy-owl?" Willie had just said the same thing to Martin. The call sounded like it was about 100 yards from me. The sound was coming from some pine trees in an area that was rather difficult to get to. The calling continued for a couple of minutes, and then stopped. Martin and Willie worked their way downhill and I walked around the top of the ridge, searching the pines. Despite searching very diligently we couldn't find the owl. We had seen a bird fly from the pines, but only got a very brief, occluded view. It was more than frustrating. Northern Pygmy-Owl is a review species. We went back to the car and made lunch. We listened to a tape of the owl's call and agreed that it was what we heard. We returned again to the area, but never saw an owl.

We worked the area around the headquarters some more and still came up titmouse-less. Poor Martin wasn't very happy. Finally we decided to head back. Along the way we had huge flocks of Pine Siskins, Western Bluebirds, and more juncos. Luckily, the snow was almost gone on the road. We checked a lake in Carlsbad, but it was less than productive, with only coots and a few dabbling ducks.

I do need to add that Cameron Carver went back and heard the same call that we had. He recorded it on his phone. It turns out it might have been a Gray-footed Chipmunk. Several people are working on the tape and because of the questions, I am not counting the owl, yet. Gray-footed Chipmunks hibernate, so it seems doubtful to me, but I would rather err on the side of caution.