Under Clear Skies

Happy Hawkwatchers – Luke Tiller

When you tell most Americans that you are going to Georgia they don’t tend to imagine that your journey is going to take you via Istanbul. My Georgia trip however was to the country that is nestled between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, not the state that’s now famous for Donald Glover and voter suppression.

The Black Sea is two times larger than all of the US’s Great Lakes combined and as such creates an impressive barrier for migrating birds, especially raptors. The area came to raptor aficionados’ attention when a group of birders from Belgium and the Netherlands set up a count of migrating raptors in this bottleneck in 2008. It quickly became obvious that this count would qualify as one of just a handful of hallowed “million bird counts” that can be found across the globe, where one might hope to encounter over one million raptors over the season of the watch. This number put the count in the rarified company of Veracruz, Mexico, Cerro Ancon, Panama and Eilat, Israel and on the bucket list of many raptor fans.

Raptors in the Mist – Luke Tiller

As a hawkwatching fan, Batumi had been on my radar almost from the start and having a mother who had traveled extensively in Eastern Europe I already probably had a better idea of what Georgia would be like than your average Brit or American. In the ex-Soviet Union it was known for its beautiful scenery, great food and incredible wines – all additional selling points for me. I was therefore thrilled to be invited as part of an international group of raptor experts to visit the country as part of the Batumi Bird Festival in September this year.

Batumi itself is a resort town with a host of international visitors and hotels to accommodate them, ours had a really nice pool and its own little stretch of private beach which provided a nice little swath of habitat for morning birding. The birding in town reminded me a little of birding New York City or even Cape May, where little patches of shoreline habitat provided safety and comfort for migrating birds. The hotel grounds’ somewhat manicured gardens and adjacent beach turned up such beauties as Eurasian Hoopoe, Isabelline Wheatear, Rose-coloured Starling, Eurasian Wryneck and European Nightjar! Also, as with coastal New Jersey, Common Dolphin, Harbor Porpoise and Bottlenose Dolphin could all be found frolicking offshore.

Eurasian Wryneck – Luke Tiller

Unlike Cape May, the hawkwatch sites were outside town up in the foothills of the local mountains. Here one had fantastic views of the Black Sea below and the surrounding foothills of the Lesser Caucasus. At the watch sites the locals had embraced visiting birders: at one a café had been set up by an entrepreneurial Georgian which served cold beers and delicious food and at the other the local kids swung by with a bucket of cold sodas just at the height of the midday heat. The café and beer situation something more US hawkwatch sites need to encourage in my opinion!

Though the beers were a highlight, the passing raptors were pretty nice too: the flights included lots of Honey Buzzards and Black Kites as well as a nice mix of other species including Levant Sparrowhawk, Pallid Harrier, Montagu’s Harrier and Booted Eagle. While watching raptors we were serenaded by the lovely calls of passing European Bee-eaters (listen here) and if the migration slowed there was plenty else to enjoy. Local avian highlights at the watch included Rock Bunting, Mountain Chiffchaff and the stunning Black Woodpecker but there were butterflies, dragonflies and herps to enjoy as well.

Western Marsh Harrier – Luke Tiller

Being a group of raptor fans, it was hard to draw us away from the hawkwatch, but Batumi has much more to offer than good numbers and great selection of passing raptors. One of the local specialties, the rather adorable Kruper’s Nuthatch, seemed easiest to find at the Botanical Garden in town, along with a stunning collection of mixed migrants that included trees full of Golden Orioles and Spotted Flycatchers. Other local birding hotspots include Mtirala National Park, where one can find seven species of Woodpecker and White-throated Dipper and a variety of localized herps and plants, if you are really lucky you might even stumble upon a Brown Bear!

The shoreline of the Black Sea is dotted with migrant traps large and small. Birding gems among these included the beaches around Poti, where we uncovered a great mix of gulls, terns and shorebirds highlighted by Caspian Plover, White-tailed Eagle, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Little Gull and Little Tern. Another shoreline hotspot was the Chorokhi Delta (literally a stone’s throw from the Turkish border) which yielded over a dozen species of raptors including such goodies as Lesser Spotted Eagle and Short-toed Snake-Eagle. Here, among the dizzying array of old-world warblers were nice ones like Savi’s, Barred and Booted Warblers. Slightly more gaudy species included Citrine Wagtail, European Roller and Common Kingfisher.

Caspian Plover – Luke Tiller

The weather in Batumi was pretty fantastic too, and perfect for this Southern Californian: 70-80 degrees, but always with the chance of a nice shower or two thrown in for good measure. It was certainly enjoyable to pop down to the pool at the end of a day’s birding and have a refreshing swim. The food lived up to expectation, with great stews, salads, cheese, breads, tandoor oven cooked meat and cheese-stuffed bread!!! all washed down with as much wine and Chacha (the local firewater) as one could possibly hope to consume.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip to this amazing little country on the Black Sea, and writing the report reminds me of how eager I am to get back. The interior of the country promises a wealth of other exciting birds including Great Rosefinch, Caucasian Black Grouse, Caucasian Snowcock, Guldenstadt’s Redstart, Bearded Vulture and more. I’m hoping my next visit there will take in those special birds too. If you’d like to join me in 2019 for this adventure with European raptors, drop me a line. More on the Batumi Raptor Count on their website (here).

Blue-throated Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

Day one

We started our tour with pickups at the hotel for those that had arrived the night before the official tour start. I had arrived early morning of the tour on a red eye, as had one other participant who was already winging their way to Canopy Tower.

We arrived around mid-morning and after dropping bags, and grabbing some refreshments, we convened on the roof of the Canopy Tower to enjoy our initial views of the surrounding Soberania National Park, the Panama Canal and our first few birds of our week’s adventure. The day’s hawk flight was already underway, and our groups early arriving participant had already been treated to both Grey-headed and Swallow-tailed Kite!

Though the flight was a little slow, it was a nice pace for a refresher course on raptor ID and we soon had our first Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks of the trip under our belt – the former enjoyed most by the West Coast contingent and the latter by those from the middle of the country and points east. Among the migrants we soon had a couple of juvenile Mississippi Kites to workshop and resident raptors put on a nice show too including such goodies as King Vulture, Zone-tailed and Short-tailed Hawk.

With the flight somewhat lackadaisical we also had time to pop downstairs to check out the hummingbird feeders. Here among the throngs of Blue-chested Hummingbirds and White-vented Plumeleteers were a beautiful Long-billed Hermit as well as a less regular and stunning Violet-bellied Hummingbird.

Before we knew it, lunch was upon us and so we dragged ourselves away from the birds long enough to enjoy our first hearty meal of the trip.

After lunch, while awaiting the remainder of our group, we took a stroll down the entrance road to the Canopy Tower. Here we came upon our first little flocks of mixed passerines. Which included a couple of Manakins: Blue-crowned and Red-capped as well as our first antbirds: Dusky Antbird and Black-crowned Antshrike. The group working well to get each other on these skulky forest birds.

After that we stumbled on a productive fruiting tree which hosted several jaunty little birds including White-shouldered and Golden-crowned Tanager, Blue Dacnis and Green Honeycreeper. There were also a couple of nice migrants in the mix including Red-eyed Vireo and Chestnut-sided Warbler. While a few of the group caught a ride back up to the top of the hill with the final three arrivals from our group, those that walked were lucky enough to have a Great Tinamou stroll across our path. A Tamandua was only seen well by one of the group and a Stripe-throated Hermit only by myself so we had to hope for better views of that later in the tour.

We finished our day with an introduction to the Tower from our guide to the week Carlos Bethancourt and another fine dinner of Panamanian comfort food.

Red-legged Honeycreeper

Day two

We met bright and early on the deck of Canopy Tower to start another day’s adventures in Panama. One of the first birds of the tour was perhaps one of the least expected, a wayward Brown Booby careening out of the mist as it headed for the Panama Canal and hopefully back out to sea. This was just the second ever sighting for Canopy Tower and the first one in eBird it appears.

Early mornings at the tower can be great for forest-falcons though they are certainly much easier to hear than to see. Though we could hear both Slaty-backed and Barred, the Barred felt close enough to see and at least one or two of us thought we had the shadow of the bird pass through the forest below us.

As well as the skulkers, there were nice canopy denizens to be enjoyed around the tower including Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Yellow-margined Flycatcher and Green Shrike-Vireo (a real crowd pleaser). By mid-morning the migrant hawks were on the move and we had a nice little collection of local raptors up too. Highlights included a distant, but readily identifiable, White Hawk, three King Vultures and a Hook-billed Kite.

As we were settling in for lunch, we realized that there was a sudden push of raptors on the move including some thousands of Swainson’s and Broad-winged Hawks as well as numbers of Turkey Vultures too. We ran to the roof to catch some of the crazy push, but with thunderstorms closing in we decided the more sensible option would be to watch from the windows of the dining room. Here we watched as hundreds of swirling raptors filled the nearby valleys trying to continue their journey before mainly succumbing to the weight of the rainstorm and dropping in to the forest around us. An incredible and memorable raptor migration spectacle to rival any I had witnessed before.

With rain still coming down post lunch, Carlos decided to take us for a quick run down to the Canopy B&B in Gamboa so that we could at least watch some feeders from a protected spot. It turned out to be a fantastic idea and we soon had a nice mix of birds attending the bananas. The feeders were soon a cacophony of color including such brilliant birds as Red-legged Honeycreeper, Crimson-backed and Golden-hooded Tanagers as well as some greedy Orange-chinned Parakeets. The trees around the feeders also hosted a nice mix of birds including the rather nicely renamed Mistletoe Tyrannulet.

As we wheeled out of town the weather had eased enough to allow just a quick stop at Ammo Ponds. Here among the usual waders: Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Purple Gallinule and Wattled Jacana we picked up a couple of nice additional species including Yellow-tailed Oriole, Panama Flycatcher and a host of perched swallows including nice looks at a group of Mangrove Swallows.

Swainson’s Hawk – Luke Tiller

Day three

As the gringo guide on the tour it’s always nice to be able to add something to an itinerary and today was my turn to add something a little different to last year in the shape of a visit to Finca Bayano. I’d done a little research following last years tour and this wetland complex looked promising for some open country species of birds and raptors not likely in other places.

We hadn’t even arrived at El Jagua before we managed to pick up a couple of new birds for the trip. I’m not sure everyone was as thrilled as I was to get House Sparrow on the list, but they all count. More exciting admittedly though was a quick bathroom stop that yielded a few open country species, almost certainly highlighted by a dozen or so splendid Fork-tailed Flycatchers.

Finca Bayano turned out to be a great spot and Carlos quickly found us a host of new birds for the tour, many ones that we were not to see at other sites. Just along the initial stretch of the entrance road we added Striped Cuckoo, and a couple of dazzling new hummingbirds: Sapphire-throated Hummingbird and Black-throated Mango. The entrance road also produced a couple of nice new raptors including a couple of White-tailed Kites, but more importantly a stunning pair of often hard to find Pearl Kites. The Pearl Kites putting on quite the show as they were engrossed in a lizard that one of them had caught.

As well as the local hawks there were a bunch of migrant raptors starting to pick up from the surrounding forest: Broad-winged Hawks, Swainson’s Hawks and Turkey Vultures. As the kettles began to form local birds joined in the fun and we soon had Roadside Hawk and Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture joining the throng. The open expanses of wetlands here provided a great setting for watching migrating raptors and as we birded, so a stream of thousands of migrant raptors passed overhead.

The wetlands also hosted a wealth of great water birds too. As well as a host of common egrets and herons we also added a couple of less common ones including Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Cocoi Heron. There were interesting land birds to be found here too including jaunty little Pied Water-Tyrants and foraging Gray Kingbirds. “Rarest” of all though was a Wilson’s Snipe that we managed to pick up in flight over the wetlands, a new bird for me in Panama.

This open country spot also hosted a collection of cool falcons including Crested and Yellow-headed Caracara, but most excitingly a pair of Laughing Falcons that were perched above the road on the way out. Probably the highlight of the visit though personally were the great looks we had at several Savanna Hawks. This is a large, beautifully colored raptor that is always a crowd pleaser. Not to be completely outdone though were both a Great Black Hawk and a Grey-lined Hawk that were also fairly accommodating.

A great new stop with a bunch of great new birds and a host of sought-after raptors and it was only just time for lunch! We stopped in downtown which allowed us to have a nice relaxing (and airconditioned) meal, to sit out some of the heat of the day and for a few of us to satiate Starbucks withdrawal symptoms.

After lunch we stopped at a bay that is adjacent to the remains of the original Panama City. The flats were covered with shorebirds and in among the thousands of peeps (both Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers) and big groups of dowitchers (almost all Short-billed) we managed to eke out a nice mix of about another dozen species of shorebird including large numbers of rather spiffy looking Southern Lapwings. Other highlights picked out on the flats included both Black and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, our only White Ibis and a rare (but regular) Lesser Black-backed Gull. Just as I thought we were going to have to leave without one, a distinctive “Mangrove” Yellow Warbler finally put in an appearance and we picked up some Saffron Finches on a roadside verge.

Black Hawk-Eagle – Luke Tiller

Day four

We started our day back in the city at Parque Natural Metropolitano. This large city park hosts several nice species that are hard to find in other parts of the canal zone and is always a great place to visit. As well as the resident species we had a nice mix of migrants and species more familiar back home including Dusky-capped, Acadian and Great-crested Flycatchers as well as a smattering of warblers: Blackburnian, Bay-breasted and Chestnut-sided.

Again my luck with actually seeing Rosy Thrush-Tanager was as lousy as previous visits, but we did have incredible views of Orange-billed Sparrow that made up for it. Other highlight birds here included great views of gorgeous Crimson-crested Woodpecker, cute little Bat Falcons, garrulous but surprisingly difficult to see Black-chested Jays and the ever-adorable Lance-tailed Manakin! There were also a host of pretty butterflies and a show stealing group of Howler Monkeys as well as a poseur Agouti.

After lunch we ventured out to Summit Ponds. Just a short ride from Canopy Tower, this spot turned out to be a great choice for a somewhat overcast afternoon. Upon arrival we almost immediately managed to independently find two highly prized Boat-billed Herons. Following that we started to clean up on kingfishers: first Green, then Amazon and finally great looks at the incredibly aptly named American Pygmy Kingfisher!

As well as the water birds there was lots else to enjoy around the pond including nice looks at a pleasing Prothonotary Warbler, close encounters with a Lesser Kiskadee and great views of Southern Rough-winged Swallows. The swallows were both viewed in flight over the ponds and perched in snags around it, allowing us close study of both their pale rumps and rufous faces.

Wandering away from the group a little I stumbled upon an active group of mixed birds taking advantage of some fruiting trees. Here an incredible mix of local species and migrants chowed down on an abundance of fruit. These included a host of common tanagers: Crimson-backed, Golden-hooded, White-shouldered as well as manakins, euphonias, vireos migrant warblers and more. The hubbub of activity didn’t just attract my attention and we were amazed when a young Black Hawk-Eagle flew in just above us to check out the chattering flock. We were treated to amazing and extended views of this great bird before it disappeared back into the enveloping forest.

Even following that amazing encounter we weren’t done. Just taking the 100-yard walk back to the van we added such delights as Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Yellow-backed Oriole and perhaps most unexpectedly a cooperative Long-billed Starthroat which sat patiently enough to allow us prolonged scope views. Another fantastic end to a wonderful day birding.

Chestnut-headed Oropendela – Luke Tiller

Day five

We started our day venturing out towards the world-famous Pipeline Road. Though built to maintain a never activated pipeline that was constructed to allow oil transfer between The Caribbean and the Pacific during WW2, the road now acts solely as one of the most productive birding sites anywhere in the world.

After crossing the sparkly new bridge to Gamboa, our first port of call was the excellent Ammo Ponds where we were (this) close to actually seeing White-throated Crake (we could see rustling rushes but not the bird). From there we made our way to the entrance of the road picking up a few nice species along the way including White-bellied Antbird, Golden-collared Manakin as well as both Pied and White-necked Puffbird (two ends of the puffbird size scale). We also stumbled upon our first little mixed flock of antbirds too, which included a personal favorite or two: Spotted Antbird and a female Dot-winged Antwren.

Our journey down the road included a number of nice birds including Chestnut-headed Oropedela, Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant and Yellow-rumped Cacique. One particular highlight was stumbling upon a mixed flock that included a hard to find Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher (about five sightings on Pipeline this year) and finding a Great Potoo perched up in a favored tree.

After enjoying our lunch among the hummingbirds, Song Wrens, Gray-headed Tanagers and White-faced Capuchins at Panama Rainforest Discovery Center, the group ascended the canopy tower there for some more incredible birding. Highlights here included magnificent Blue Cotingas, uncommon and desirable Moustached Antwrens and a dazzling Masked Tityra. In all we had gathered well over 100 species along the road, a memorable visit to one of the world’s premier birding spots.

Crowned Woodnymph – Luke Tiller

Day six

We spent the whole of our fifth day at Cerro Azul. This little community in the foothills east of Panama City allows one to reach some nice forests at higher elevation without traveling too far from Canopy Tower. A change in elevations in the tropics generally mean a mix of different species, especially tanagers and hummingbirds. Our first stop in Cerro allowed our first encounters with jaw-dropping Bay-headed Tanager and not to be outdone a nice little group of “Black-backed” Lesser Goldfinch.

Closely related to the goldfinches are euphonias and our next little pull out provided a nice little mix of them. As well as the ubiquitous Thick-billed, we also added Fulvous-vented, White-vented and Tawny-capped to our growing trip list. Again, everyone apart from me missed the Stripe-throated Hermit, but we were lucky enough to get views of the almost endemic Violet-capped Hummingbird.

Though we were digging out a few quality species like Emerald Tanager and White-ruffed Manakin, the misty and drizzly weather was making it tough work. We therefore decided to cut our losses a little and head for an early lunch at the “Hummingbird House”.

Thanks to he generosity of a couple of expats that live in town we spent our lunchtime reveling in watching a host of well attended hummingbird feeders. As well as species we’d already enjoyed there were both huge numbers of and a great variety of new hummingbird species, from the giant Green Hermit to the tiny Violet-bellied Hummingbird. Other hummer highlights here included Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, Crowned Woodnymph and Snowy-bellied Hummingbird. Not to be outdone by the hummingbirds, the honeycreepers were putting on a good show with a constant tooing and froing of stunning Shining Honeycreepers as well as their Green and Red-legged brethren. Add to that mix Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Hepatic Tanager and Bananaquit and you had a variety and number of birds to keep everyone entertained. A great way to end our trip to Cerro Azul.

Common Potoo – Luke Tiller

Day seven

Our last full day together started with Alex as our guide as Carlos had to attend to a couple of other things. Though the plan had been to aim for the Gamboa, I thought it worth perhaps a quick stop at Pipeline Road for a couple of species we had missed yesterday. Of course, picking up missed species is always going to be a long shot, but we were soon finding a few new species for the trip including a couple of expected species that were inexplicably missing: Rufous Motmot and Gray-headed Chachalaca.

Alex was finding a number of great birds for us and the group finally all had good looks at Greater Tinamou and Stripe-throated Hermit. A couple of other seen but not heard species gave themselves up further down the road when a mixed flock yielded both Cinnamon Woodpecker and Purple-throated Fruitcrow (which were obliging enough to fly in to my whistled response). The only uncooperative bird was an uncommon Scaly-throated Leaftosser that vocalized regularly but refused to be viewed.

With that nice little mix of birds at Pipeline we moved back on schedule with a stop in Gamboa along the river. Here the birding highlights came thick and fast including an incredibly cooperative Great Black Hawk and a new raptor for the trip: Snail Kite, a bird that has expanded its range rapidly in the last twenty years to exploit the introduced Large Apple Snails that have arrived in Lake Gatun and surrounding waterways.

Nice little mixed groups of passerines also had us enthralled here which included new species like the stunning Flame-rumped Tanager and looks at previously unsighted birds like Barred Antshrike. Highlights of the mixed flock action though had to be a group of roving warblers and vireos which had hidden amid the mix a gorgeous Golden-winged Warbler and an eye-catching White-winged Becard.

Our final treat in Gamboa was a Common Potoo posed cryptically in a known roosting spot and a loafing Capybara taking in the scenery as we headed back to the main road. A suitably superb end to fantastic mornings birding.

After reconnecting with Carlos at lunchtime we traded one of the wonders of the natural world (Pipeline Road) for one of the man-made wonders of the world, The Panama Canal. The Miraflores Locks boasts a great museum covering the history of the construction of the canal and a viewing platform that boasts not just superb views of this incredible feat of engineering (including the passing boats) but also a good vantage point for observing local wildlife. Initial highlights included both birds: American Kestrel and Magnificent Frigatebird as well as mammals: Crab-eating Raccoons and White-tailed Deer.

As we were waiting for a boat to arrive and pass through the locks, Carlos and I started to pick up on a huge movement of migrating raptors out over Panama City. The flight was initially distant but obviously incredibly large. As the flight continued and developed it started to drift our way and soon a significant part of the flight was directly adjacent to the locks, proving great looks at passing Swainson’s Hawks of all shades and a huge number of Broad-winged Hawks and Turkey Vultures. Mixed in among the migrants were a handful of Mississippi Kites, a Short-tailed Hawk, a Peregrine Falcon and some Ospreys. There were a few passing swallows and a Common Nighthawk too. After the incredible day of migration the year before, it was hard to believe that this year’s tour could have rivaled that great day and yet here we were again watching hundreds of thousands of passing raptors. A fittingly incredible end for a tour aimed at witnessing the unbelievable spectacle of migration through the wonderful country that is Panama.

We ended our last full day together with a brilliant barbecue in the courtyard of Canopy Tower, a fun end to a memorable trip. We said our sad farewells to a few of the group who had early departures the following morning.

Green Honeycreeper – Luke Tiller

Day eight

Though a couple of people were already winging their way to the airport, most of us had enough time to enjoy a final tropical dawn chorus on the deck at Canopy Tower before the group finally had to split up, either on to new adventures in Panama or back home again.

Thanks to all of the participants on this trip for joining me for the adventure and to Carlos and all the Canopy Family staff for a wonderful introduction to this amazing country. In all the group totaled 295 species of birds including 34 species of raptors (Panama Species Checklist 2018). There are a few photos from the tour on my Flickr page (here). If you’d like to join me for an amazing week enjoying the miracle of migration in Panama I’ll be running the tour again with High Lonesome BirdTours in 2019 (details on their website).  I can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Young Birders Walk – Luke Tiller

Mid-August you will find me winging my way to Tucson for the excellent Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. The event run by Tucson Audubon captures what must rate as some of the premier birding at some of the premier birding locations to be found in the US.

With a base in Tucson, the festival hosts an amazing selection of tours including multi-day events to further afield sites as well as day trips to some of what must be the most famous birding sites in the US: Madera Canyon, Ramsey Canyon, Mt Lemmon etc. As well as usual early morning day trips there are events aimed at nocturnal denizens of The Copper State including insects, arachnids, mammals as well as birds. There are also lectures, live critters and all the other things you might wish for at a birding festival.

I arrived a day or so early to set up the festival, do a little scouting for my trips and just enjoy some great birding. Birding Arizona in August means early starts and early finishes, at least if you don’t want to spend your day hiking around in temperatures that seems to swing between hot, very hot and boiling. Siestas were invented for this kind of weather, so when in Rome…

Lucifer Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

I started my Arizona adventures down around the town of Sierra Vista. With a few targets on my list, I started my day driving up Carr Canyon. The nice thing about Carr is that it allows you to drive up to relatively high elevations rather than taking what can be quite strenuous hikes. Driving the road up, the rise in elevation sees a corresponding change in the makeup of bird species encountered from Phainopepla at the bottom, through Hepatic Tanager and Greater Pewee midway to Band-tailed Pigeons toward the top. The road up was as rough as promised (passable slowly in a sedan) but thankfully a little less hair-raising than some had suggested (being terrified of heights I was thankful for that)!

Half way up I ran into Brian and Rob from the Sabrewing Tour crew and we joined forces for some birding focused around the Reef Campsite area. Highlights included Zone-tailed Hawk and Plumbeous Vireo and my main target for the morning Buff-breasted Flycatcher: a particularly localized and charming member of the empidonax flycatcher family.

With temperatures rising I said good by to the Sabrewing crew and headed for some leisurely birding among the feeders of Sierra Vista. First stop was the Ash Canyon B&B. After paying my $10 sugar fund entrance fee I was welcomed to an incredible array of hummingbird feeders. Taking a pew in a nicely shaded section of the garden I quickly racked up a healthy collection of attractive hummingbirds. The feeders here are dominated by numbers of Broad-billed and Anna’s Hummingbirds but in among the throng a couple of local specialties lurk including my main target here: Lucifer Hummingbird. These must rank as one of the more spectacular species to be found in the US though I prefer the slightly more romantic and descriptive alternate common name for the bird: Lucifer Sheartail. Ash Canyon doesn’t just claim hummingbirds aplenty, and other feeders on site attract everything from Mexican Jays to Lesser Goldfinches.

After an hour or so soaking up all that Ash Canyon has to offer I decided to head for a little more relaxing mid-morning birding and photography at Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon. After laying down my $5 for the sugar fund I hiked up to enjoy the hummingbird feeders on site. Here among good numbers of newly christened Rivoli’s Hummingbird (previously Magnificent) I managed to eventually dig out great views of a much desired Violet-crowned Hummingbird. A little exploring up canyon from Beatty’s lead me to uncover an almost wholly unexpected Rufous-capped Warbler, that hadn’t been reported in over a month. An ABA area bird I had only previously encountered in Panama.

Rufous-capped Warbler – Luke Tiller

Day two of my Southeast Arizona adventures I decided to head up to Mount Lemmon mainly in search of warbler action. Though the west doesn’t promise the variety of warblers one can find in the east it does perhaps boast some of the more outstanding species. I essentially limited most of my birding to the Rose Canyon Lake area (fee area). It always appears to me that the best places to bird in the mountains are those with camp sites and picnic areas. Finding my first Painted Redstart by the bathroom block (see!) I then followed a roving flock of warblers and other passerines for over an hour, picking through to eventually uncover a wealth of great species: Olive, Grace’s, Townsend’s, Hermit, Black-throated Gray and eventually the star prize of Red faced Warbler. Beyond the warblers there was much more to enjoy here including Greater Pewees, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds and Bridled Titmice. Even better was that the temperature barely creeped into the high 60’s the whole time I was there, a wonderful relief from the summer sun of CA and AZ.

Heading back towards Tucson I stopped in some likely looking Saguaro rich habitat to pick off a couple of Gilded Flickers and ended my morning’s adventures at Agua Caliente Park. This park boasts a mix of manicured lawns, ponds and palm trees as well as some nice native habitat too. The mix of environments provided for a nice mix of birds which included Harris’s Hawk, Hooded Oriole, Purple Martin, Lucy’s Warbler as well as a huge covey of Gambel’s Quail and a couple of cool lizards.

Day three of my Arizona adventure took me south towards Tubac and Amado. First was a quick jaunt along the De Anza National Historic trail as it meanders down the San Pedro River. Here a myriad of localized flycatchers took advantage of insect hatch outs along the river. Highlights included: impressive and aptly named Thick-billed Kingbird, and mournfully calling Dusky-capped Flycatcher. Even the Tropical Kingbirds, so ubiquitous in points south of the US, take on a more exciting hue north of the Mexican border. Other highpoints included a family of Cooper’s Hawks, a couple of showy Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a couple of Bell’s Vireos that made for interesting comparison with the California “Least” version that I am used to living in Los Angeles.

With the monsoon now providing nice overcast conditions I decided to head to Montosa Canyon to see if I could try my luck at some bird photography. Target species, soon acquired, included a seemingly lonely Five-striped Sparrow and multiple stunning Varied Buntings. As well as the birds the other denizens of the canyon catching my eye included a rarely encountered White-nosed Coati (at least away from a couple of known feeders), several cryptically colored skipper butterflies and a rather stunningly iridescent Western Tiger Beetle!

Varied Bunting – Luke Tiller

On my fourth day I was in actual work mode, leading a tour for the festival at the world-renowned Madera Canyon, with excellent local guide Robert Mesa. First stop of the tour was along the entrance road to the canyon for a couple of special sparrow species Cassin’s and Botteri’s. Though somewhat featureless in plumage both birds make up for their drabness with their jaunty songs and in the case of the Cassin’s their beautiful skylarking display flights.

Next stop on the canyon tour was at the renowned Proctor Road. Here we uncovered another selection of fantastic birds including Rufous-crowned and Rufous-winged Sparrows, both male and female Varied Buntings and most excitingly killer views of a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, one of those species where the name is bigger than the bird itself!

As we ascended into the canyon we began to run into more exciting specialties including a couple of highly prized locals like Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Arizona Woodpecker. With Roberts expertise we soon found ourselves first hearing and then seeing our main target for the day: Elegant Trogon. Though neither individuals were particularly obliging we eventually managed to garner decent looks at both a young bird and then a dazzling adult male bird for the group.

The Zeiss crew returned to Madera that evening to join local guide extraordinaire Ken Blakenship and Bill Thompson III for a nocturnal bird prowl. We kicked off the trip with views of Mexican Whip-poor-will before encountering a couple of heard only species (the bark of an Elf Owl and the distinctive double toots of a “Mountain” Northern Pygmy Owl). We then had incredible views of a Whiskered Screech-Owl with prey item and a pair of Western Screech Owls (all while my camera was safely tucked away in the trunk of my car!!!) August isn’t the easiest time to see nocturnal owls in Arizona, so it was a very successful night. Almost as excitingly we’d managed to run across a huge Arizona Blond Tarantula on our way to meeting the group.

Arizona Blond Tarantula – Luke Tiller

Day five I was lucky to join Bill Thompson III again for a Zeiss sponsored walk at Sweetwater Wetlands with a bunch of young birders from the Tucson area. Zeiss always like to do what we can to support the next generation of birders and as part of our promotion for the festival we had promised to donate a pair of our awesome Terra binoculars to a young birder for every Victory SF that we sold.

The young birders were excellent and knowledgeable about local birds and much more: dragonflies, butterflies etc. so they were really keeping us on our toes. Bill did a great job entertaining the crowd and even enticed a Brazilian family to tag along with us for the morning. I think we managed to give them a nice introduction to birding with highlights including a brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher,  a flyby Peregrine Falcon, which came in and practically strafed our group, and a very cooperative Barn Owl that allowed us incredible close views and digiscoped photos. All the kids were very respectful of the sleepy nocturnal predator, making sure we didn’t disturb him from his mid-morning snooze. A fun walk and nice to see such an informed and, more importantly, enthusiastic group of young birders.

The banquet that evening boasted more hilarious entertainment from Bill. As part of the Zeiss Team that sponsored the event I got to share the table with the Mayor of Tucson. It was really great to see local officials recognizing the importance of birding and nature observation to the local economy.

Though not my seventh day, I did find myself resting on Sunday. I was finally exhausted by all the incredible birds and birding opportunities here. As I swung out of town after the show I had time for one last birding stop just outside of Phoenix to add a handful of introduced but incredibly beautiful Rosy-faced Lovebirds to my ABA list. A hot end to a great trip!

Rosy-faced Lovebirds – Luke Tiller

If you haven’t been before I’d highly recommend the festival. Great trips, great local leaders all at some of the countries most exciting birding hotspots. The dates are already up for the 2019 Festival: August 7-11, put them in your diary now and make sure to pop over to say hello to me on the Zeiss Booth. The festival website can be found (here) and a collection of photos from my time in AZ can be found on my Flickr page (click link here).

Ridgway’s Rail – Luke Tiller

Day 1

Spring in SoCal Tour. This tour took in more than just LA County has to offer, though all within a very manageable 200-mile radius of downtown Los Angeles , with the majority less than half that distance away.

We started our tour with pickups at airport hotels before winging our way over to Huntington Park, an urban part of the LA Basin where Spotted Doves hold on to perhaps their final mainland California bridgehead. We soon had the pretty pink dove lined up in my scope and in the surrounding neighborhood we managed to pick up a couple of colorful, if less countable, parrot species including Ring-necked, Yellow-chevroned and White-winged Parakeets.

Next stop involved a little hike through some native habitat, where stands of cactus hosted both Cactus Wrens and the more highly prized California Gnatcatchers. The jaunty little gnatcatcher certainly put on a nice show for the group. In addition to the target gnatcatchers, we also eked out a couple of nice supplementary, and not always easy to nail down, species: Scaly-breasted Munia and Hutton’s Vireo

Our next stop was a typically California coastal one replete with palm trees, where along with the beautiful sand beaches and the salt spray of the majestic Pacific Ocean we also enjoyed a couple of “rockpipers” in the shape of Black Turnstone and Surfbird.

Our next stop was Bolsa Chica, a real southern California birding jewel. Immediately we discovered a wealth of terns including name-definingly Elegant Terns and cute little Least Terns. Our main quarry here though was the relatively recently split Ridgway’s Rail. Sometimes seemingly easy, sometimes impossible but rarely anywhere in between we eventually had amazing point blank looks at this impressive and attractive west coast cousin of the Clapper Rail.

We rounded out our day with a quick stop at Huntington Beach Central Park for some fun introduced species, Orange-cheeked Waxbills, and some pretty migrants including Townsend’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers.

A great first day was rounded out with a fun stop at one of Southern California’s premier breweries: Pizza Port in Oceanside.

Brewer’s Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Day 2

We started our day bright and early as we swung south towards the Mexican border. Here along some rocky mountain roads we sought out a variety of specialists including striking Black-throated Sparrows and most importantly one participant’s bogie bird Gray Vireo. A quick roadside pause soon had us a singing Gray Vireo, which allowed us to work good views of a pair, while sparrow song rang out from the surrounding hillsides. There were also many migrants to be found dotted through suitable habitat including both Hooded and Bullock’s Orioles, stealing the show however was surely the breathtaking views of a male Scott’s Oriole. The only disappointment was that a couple of vocalizing Mountain Quail refused to be seen and were seemingly eventually spooked by some passing hikers: c’est la vie.

It would seem improper to just drive past a town called Jacumba Hot Springs without exploring properly and it wasn’t long before we were thankful that we had. As well as a few expected “desert” species like Brewer’s Sparrows, Costa’s Hummingbirds and White-winged Doves there was one west coast specialty making good use of the marshy wetlands found outside of town: Tricolored Blackbirds. As well as the blackbirds the wetlands and town were awash with migrants and we enjoyed a fun relaxed lunch break on a resort patio picking off Black-throated Gray Warbler, Warbling and Cassin’s Vireo and more in the surrounding trees while we ate.

After checking in at our hotel and sitting out a little of the midday sun we headed off for the south end of the Salton Sea to look for birds. First up after leaving our hotel we were granted great looks at a bunch of delightful Burrowing Owls along the agricultural fields south of the sea. The Salton Sea is a habitat that is sadly deteriorating rapidly. Though spring is not prime time for Yellow-footed Gulls there are often a handful that have hung in through the winter. This year there have been exactly zero reports since late fall. Whether this is an anomaly or whether this is the future of the Salton Sea is hard to say.

Though birds were somewhat few and far between generally it wasn’t all bad and we had a decent mix of shorebirds and waders if not numbers of any. Highlight though had to be the Gull-billed Terns that were coursing gracefully over fields and canals looking for insect prey and the stunning rosy-bellied Franklin’s Gulls loafing on the salty shoreline. In somewhat good news the smell was seemingly less intense than the last time I’d been at the sea too.

We ended our day at Cattle Call Park where several species make their most westerly appearance in the state of California. Here we worked looks at Abert’s Towhee, Gambel’s Quail and finally Gila Woodpecker. A good end to a long day

We ended our evening listening to The Smiths in a small bar in Westmorland, CA. Not a place I could have ever imagined listening to The Smiths to in my wildest teenage dreams.

Mountain Quail – Luke Tiller

Day 3

Our day started bright and early in Borrego Springs. Here the blessings of water can bring unlikely bird sightings. Equally, what birding tour worth its salt doesn’t visit a wastewater treatment plant? That’s where we found ourselves early Monday morning. Though thrashers were conspicuous by their absence we added a few nice desert specialties including Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Sparrow and Verdin.

Next stop was a little neighborhood golf course where we picked up a cute little Common Ground-Dove and a Sora that was bizarrely walking around on a lawn completely oblivious to our presence. Before leaving town, we made a quick stop at a renowned migrant trap where we dug up a Rufous Hummingbird and two dark lored White-crowned Sparrows presumably of the Rocky Mountain race Oriantha.

A quick break at the northwest corner of the Salton Sea was no more productive for gulls than the south end had been. It’s hard to find a bird that just isn’t there! We then got a taste of SoCal traffic when we ran into the tail end of clear out of the Coachella Music Festival. A two-hour drive to Pasadena rapidly became about a three-hour one, ugh! Still we cheered ourselves up on route with a quick stop for some lunch and most importantly a delicious date shake.

After an hour or two down time we met for our evening owl extravaganza. Driving up to the San Gabriel’s with our packed lunch we hiked off into the sunset to look and listen for crepuscular birds. As we were hiking to our owl spot I began to hear nearby Mountain Quail and was astounded to suddenly see one dash across the trail behind us, a sighting which sadly eluded all the participants. No worries though, as we sat and watched the area where the bird had crossed the trail I suddenly spotted a second bird creep out into the open and start calling. Over the next couple of minutes, we all had incredible views of this most elusive of southern Californian birds in the gathering gloom. Sadly, no time or much light for photos. As the sun set so nocturnal owls started to sound off, first a Western Screech-Owl winnowing away from a nearby tree, then the boisterous call of a nearby Common Poorwill, a Great Horned also called out too, all while we ate our packed dinner and celebratory bottle of wine. The wine tasted all the sweeter when we finally managed to pick out a Spotted Owl calling from the ridgeline above us. A wonderful moonlit hike with incredible nocturnal birds and a couple of Mountain Quail all thrown in for good measure. Magical!

Lewis’s Woodpecker – Luke Tiller

Day 4

With Mountain Quail under our belt and action in the mountains often slow to start, we enjoyed a late start to the morning’s activities. Kicking off at Charlton Flats Campground we actually had to work a little harder than usual to get good looks at our main quarry: Hermit Warbler. Though we lack numbers of warblers in the west I think we make up for that with their relative attractiveness and Hermit must be one of the prettiest.

Next stop turned out to be another memorable one when I quickly located one of the groups most hoped for species: Lewis’s Woodpecker. There had been a surprising influx of this species over winter and I was happy to see that at least a dozen birds had lingered into the spring season. Most incredible though had to be when another of our high-profile targets, White-headed Woodpecker, flew in and bumped one of these beautiful Lewis’s off of its perch!!! Two of North America’s most desirable woodpeckers interacting in the same binocular view! We even spotted another Mountain Quail at the same spot as it briefly popped up on the edge of a forest clearing!

After a little hot-high-noon down time at our hotel we headed out to explore the Antelope Valley in early evening. A windy hike around a local park yielded single lingering Ross’s, Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese as well as a couple of migrants: Gray and Ash-throated Flycatcher.  Some exploration of desert scrub netted us desirable residents in the shape of Bell’s Sparrow and even more excitingly a LeConte’s Thrasher spotted as a teed up driveby!!! Another nemesis bird down, and a great end to a fun day birding.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker – Luke Tiller

Day 5

When in Rome…. We started our day with a right of passage for Southern California Birders, a stop at one of the area’s top desert migrant traps Galileo Hill. Here out in the Mojave Desert exists a weird and wonderful spot that is generously opened to birders. On arrival we were inundated with a good number of arriving migrants including many Black-headed Grosbeaks, Western Tanagers and Western Wood-Pewees, however numbers tailed off a little as we explored further. That said there was still lots to enjoy including two Yellow-breasted Chats (including one that was very obliging), a female Calliope Hummingbird and a couple of Cassin’s Finches. The one real rarity we had, in the shape of a Hooded warbler, was disappointingly less cooperative.

Next stop was California City, the ghost town that refuses to die. Here migrants were tough to come by but at least the Yellow-headed Blackbirds were putting on their usual show. One vireo eluded definitive identification but looked too pale and concolorous for the more expected Cassin’s.

Though the day was warming up, we still had Lawrence’s Goldfinch on our target list and I decided that a midday drive out to Butterbredt Springs might be in order. Though remote and generally birdier at dawn, I thought the combination of interesting landscape, blooming desert flowers and a little natural water hole in the desert might provide us with an entertaining drive. We were not to be disappointed with the desert alive with fiddleneck, phacelia, brittlebush, chia and more in full bloom. There were also interesting animals too, including a beautiful Red Racer snake, a pretty Western Zebra-tailed Lizard and an adorable White-tailed Antelope Squirrel or two.

We arrived at the springs and I could almost immediately hear the tinkling bell like call of Lawrence’s Goldfinch. Of course, the little buggers didn’t want to give themselves up too easily and we spent quite a few minutes trying to pick out ones that would sit still long enough for the whole group to get their eyes on. Eventually though we had another target species in the bag. We then had time to just enjoy watching birds coming in to this desert oasis including Fox Sparrows, Lazuli Buntings and our only Olive-sided Flycatcher of the trip. We even picked up a nice Greater Roadrunner to add to our growing trip list.

After eating some amazing Pho at the kind of place that can probably only exist in the Mojave Desert, a Pho/Pizza/Donut joint, we headed back out to California City where we eventually garnered fantastic close up views of Lesser Nighthawks hunting. Another wonderful way to wrap up a day in the desert.

California Condor – Luke Tiller

Day 6

This morning found us winging our way west towards a late morning search for California Condors. This gave us a little time in the morning to stop and check a migrant trap for birds. Though the trap itself was a little underwhelming, we did manage to uncover a number of prized Tricolored Blackbirds with a handful of Yellow-headed Blackbirds mixed in to the flock.

As we headed up towards the mountains we picked up our first interesting raptor species of the day in the shape of two Swainson’s Hawks soaring northwards. Our first stop to scan for California Condors proved to be a good one when a cursory check picked up a handful of them soaring out over a distant ridgeline. After a while enjoying scoped views we decided to head to pastures new and hope that we could pick up another target bird.

As a tour leader finding time to just bird or picking up target birds in unexpected places is always a high point of any trip. I thought it worth exploring a spot for Yellow-billed Magpie that was closer to our condor spot than the regular one to see if we could track them down and allow us more flexibility on the rest of the day. This panned out very nicely when less than an hour later we found ourselves staring point blank at a beautifully yellow-billed black-and-white corvid and we even managed to pick up a fierce Prairie Falcon soaring overhead into the bargain.

With the magpie under our belt we now had free range to explore for the rest of the day. After a great authentic diner lunch, we headed back to our previous California Condor rendezvous spot. Here we soon picked up a condor overhead and with some nifty driving soon found ourselves surrounded by an incredible eight condors all of which performed magnificently for us. An unforgettable encounter with a species that had once been so close to extinction! Amazing!!!

With our desire for incredible condor encounters satiated, we headed to look for a couple of species that had previously eluded us in the mountains. Incredibly on route we ran across two more Mountain Quail (or more they ran across the road in front of us) for another sighting of these normally elusive birds.

Our stop in the mountains of Ventura were both fun and productive. First, we picked up the good looks at Green-tailed Towhee that had previously eluded us, then I heard the distinctive tooting of a Northern Pygmy Owl. We eventually managed to garner good looks at this adorably ferocious little diurnal owl at the top of a nearby conifer, though I hope participant’s shots turned out better than my digiscoped effort. Most excitingly the pygmy owl of the coastal mountains is one of those species that may find itself split off from those in the interior in the future. Let’s face it though, armchair tick or not, any owl sighting is always a fun one.

Leaving the mountains, a couple more allegedly elusive Mountain Quail scurried across our path and were even kind enough to pose for photos! Fifth time lucky! Another incredible moment.

We enjoyed a nice early end to the day’s proceedings before heading out to another great spot for more Californian beer and pizza.

Forster’s Tern – Luke Tiller

Day 7

We awoke to disappointing news that our boat to Santa Cruz Island, in order to look for Island Scrub-Jays, had been cancelled due to rough seas. A quick call in to friends connected me to a captain of one of the boats and we discovered that there was an outside chance that the boat might be on tomorrow though forecasts were less than ideal. That said there’s no point crying over spilt milk, so we got ourselves on the road and went out looking for birds.

We started off on the beach in Ventura where a couple of shorebirds added to the morning’s fun including Lesser Yellowlegs and a spectacular female Red-necked Phalarope that was doing its thing: spinning like a top in a pond looking for food. Also on site were a couple of nice Bonaparte’s Gulls and out on the water we picked up both Pacific Loons and Brandt’s Cormorants.

A drive along the Malibu coastline is always a nice one, especially when at the end of it you find yourselves looking at adorable little Snowy Plover chicks. We then shared our packed lunch inadvertently with a fearless Western Gull and got to see our second Sora of the trip just sauntering out on some mudflats. Add to that a couple of new gulls, including some chocolate brown young Heermann’s, and we’d had ourselves another productive stop.

A few more stops on the day included a quick one to pick up Wrentit, just in case we had no time for land birds tomorrow, and one to tick off the oddly missing Cassin’s Kingbird from our checklists. A place where I’ve had rails before turned up a lingering Golden-crowned Sparrow and a new place to explore provided nice looks at Forster’s Terns and swallows of various stripes.

Island Scrub-Jay

Day 8

We started our day with the good news: that the boat would run to Santa Cruz, but with the bad news that the seas could be pretty rough. Thankfully we had built in a clean up day for the tour which had now become our boat day. Spoiler alert: we made it out to the island and back without losing anything overboard – including our lunches 😉

We headed out onto the water with what I believe were about eight-foot waves. It wasn’t making for the greatest conditions for spotting small alcids, but it was definitely pretty good for spotting shearwaters – even if holding binoculars steady was somewhat challenging. We were soon enjoying great views of Sooty Shearwaters in good numbers and eventually managed to pick up a few Black-vented Shearwaters that were lingering late into the season.

As we got closer to Santa Cruz we had good looks at a winter plumaged Common Murre followed by a couple of Cassin’s Auklets and eventually one Scripps Murrelet that was sat on the water. Not bad for small birds on rough seas.

We had hardly had time to finish our orientation talk on the island before we had a couple of beautiful Island Scrub-Jay sightings. These handsome birds are a real highlight of the tour and distinct in plumage and size from their mainland cousins. We then had time to pick up a couple of Pigeon Guillemots, enjoy a little downtime, have our packed lunch and pick up an adult Bald Eagle soaring overhead before boarding the boat for the return journey.

The seas were perhaps rougher on the return journey, and we still needed Scripp’s Murrelet sightings for those that had managed to miss them on the way out. Just as we were giving up hope of spotting any Scripps’s Murrelets we picked up a pair on the water for what, under the circumstances, were great views! We enjoyed the last few minutes on the boat as flocks of hundreds of Red-necked Phalaropes passed us by and rafts of spectacular breeding plumaged Pacific Loons took off in front of us us. We arrived back in the harbor safe and sound, greeted by our first Black Oystercatchers of the tour.

A drive to Los Angeles and some fond farewells ended a fun and productive week-long tour of Southern California. Over the eight days we had picked up over 230 species of birds including those not countable under ABA rules. Highlights included a wealth of localized and sometimes difficult to find species including: Spotted Dove, California Gnatcatcher, Scaly-breasted Munia, Ridgway’s Rail, Gray Vireo, Tricolored Blackbird, Mountain Quail, Spotted Owl, LeConte’s Thrasher, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, California Condor, Yellow-billed Magpie, (Pacific) Northern Pygmy Owl, Snowy Plover (chicks), Black-vented Shearwater, Scripps’s Murrelet and Island Scrub-Jay as well as those myriad birds with California in their name. The great birds were complimented by great scenery, wildlife, food, beer and company.

California Quail – Luke Tiller

The past fours days I’ve been guiding a couple of birders from Illinois around Los Angeles County (with a couple of stops in The OC). Spring is a fun time to be birding in SoCal as migrants are arriving and birds are starting to sing. Mid to late April most birds are in and a few winter birds linger too, so it’s prime time to be here. We split the four days into a mountain day, a desert day an urban day and a cleanup day giving us a chance to see a variety of places, habitats and birds.

Day one started with a little birding in your typical oak chaparral  habitat, here among the California Towhee’s, Quail and Thrashers we picked up a nice little wave of migrants including Black-throated Gray Warblers, Lazuli Buntings and Pacific Slope Flycatchers.

Heading onward into the mountains we started to discover some of the sought out higher elevation species to be found  in Los Angeles County including stunning Hermit Warblers and desirable White-headed Woodpeckers. There was much else to enjoy too, though not a hoped for Mountain Quail encounter.

Great Horned Owl – Luke tiller

Day two was our desert designated day. Though we had missed Green-tailed Towhee up in the mountains (probably just a couple of days early for arriving migrants), we quickly found one on day two out at my favorite desert migrant trap: Rancho Sierra Golf Course. Rancho provided a nice mix of birds including a confiding Townsend’s Warbler and a pair?!? of stunning Vermilion Flycatchers.

Next stop we immediately found both our main morning targets: LeConte’s Thrasher and Bell’s Sparrow. It always seems like the lower the pressure from clients to get certain species the easier it is to find them. A short drive further down the road and a stunning Golden Eagle soared up over the car and gave us great views.

Next stop garnered us two new hoped for species in the shape of Tricolored Blackbirds and Lawrence’s Goldfinch. As well as the two targets we also cleaned up on Yellow-headed Blackbirds and a found a Great Horned Owl nest, replete with chicks. Even our lunch break was profitable as the trees around the restaurant we visited were covered in orioles, flycatchers and more.

We ended our second day with a nice mix of ducks, another Golden Eagle and a little group of migrant Swainson’s Hawks to round out a perfect day.

California Gnatcatcher – Luke Tiller

Day three found us driving through the concrete jungle that is LA in search of perhaps the last US mainland Spotted Doves. Without much fuss we soon had two of these pretty introduced birds under our belts. After enjoying hearing them sing and picking up some very untickable White-winged Parakeets in the same block, we were on to pastures new.

Stop two for the day was short, sweet and successful as well. Here we had a particularly obliging California Gnatcatcher and a couple of surprisingly skulky Scaly-breasted Munias.

Next we dipped our toes in the Pacific and picked up a few shorebirds including a couple of very co-operative Black Turnstones, some Surfbirds and a nice mix of migrant species: Western Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit and Sanderling,

Post lunch, a bucket-list satisfying stop at In-and-Out Burger, we stopped at the ever-wonderful Bolsa Chica. Literally the first bird we saw upon arrival was a Ridgway’s Rail, which quickly walked right underneath us on the bridge (too close to photograph)!

A couple of additional stops on our way home had us picking up some common parkland species like Cassin’s Kingbird and Lark Sparrow.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Our last day together and we had one glaring hole on our trip list: Mountain Quail. Of course these birds are notoriously hard to see and the nemesis of many a local birder let alone those just visiting for a few days. That said there wasn’t much else to aim for so we headed back the mountains to try our luck.

The second stop that we made on the day we quickly had contact from a bunch of Mountain Quail calling above and below us on the road. After 15 minutes though we were still hearing birds but seeing exactly nothing through the dense cover. We were going to get in the car and try another spot, when I heard what sounded like quail quite nearby. Another ten minutes and I saw one scuttle through the brush below us (unfortunately obscured from view from Gary and Marsha). Another few patient minutes however and one solo quail broke cover, dashing up the hill where Gary and I both spotted him. After pausing for what felt like an age behind a bush, the quail then scurried across the road in plain view for everyone: mission accomplished.

Driving back down towards La Canada we picked out another Golden Eagle (a rare bird in LA at this time of year), which was kind enough to give great views from the car but high-tailed it out of there when we bailed out for photographs.

A fun few days in SoCal which tallied about 170 species including all of our main targets: Mountain Quail, White-headed Woodpecker, Scaly-breasted Munia, Spotted Dove, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Tricolored Blackbird, LeConte’s Thrasher and more.

Altamira Oriole – Luke Tiller

Day 1

We started our tour rendezvousing at a hotel in San Antonio. As a Californian transplant I had already missed out on a couple of highlight species that the group had picked up in the parking lot: Blue Jay and Common Grackle. We were quickly on route, winging it eastwards to Warbler Woods in Guadalupe County. Not having been there before, and with no clues on eBird or the listserve, it wasn’t clear that this site needed some pre-arranged clearance to access the site. We therefore arrived at a frustratingly locked gate, not the ideal start to any tour. Luckily a couple of texts and a phone call later to Texan friends meant we were soon through the gate and enjoying some birds. Phew!

There were a couple of reasons for the stop here but mostly I had hoped that we might pick up a rare Golden-crowned Sparrow here though I was almost as excited to try see a more expected Harris’s Sparrow there too. As we walked out to the feeder set up there were other birds to enjoy along the way including a life birds for most involved: Black-crested Titmouse. It was a little quiet at the feeders, but we were soon eking out birds including nice looks at Inca and White-winged Doves. The feeders held a nice mix of sparrows with Lincoln’s, White-crowned, Field and after some wait a beautiful Harris’s appeared in the mix. We also added a couple of nice “western” birds in the shape of a Spotted Towhee and a Red-naped Sapsucker – I’ll await the email from the ebird reviewer about that one in 2019.

After picking up some Northern Bobwhite and with the day rolling on we eventually cut our losses on the Golden-crowned Sparrow and worked our way south ready for the next day. We ended our night in Three Rivers, TX which boasted some decent Mexican food and a rather average Rodeway Inn.

Red-billed Pigeon – Luke Tiller

Day 2

We had positioned ourselves in Three Rivers to place ourselves centrally, either to strike out eastwards to look for a returning Golden-crowned Warbler or westwards in the hunt for seedeaters and pigeons in Laredo. With a sighting of the intermittently witnessed Golden-crowned Warbler the day before we decided to give it a shot. The park in Refugio had been pretty banged up by Hurricane Harvey and lots of the site was even less accessible than last year. Though we had lots of nice birds at the park including Great Kiskadee and Golden-fronted Woodpecker it was a pair of beautiful Green Kingfishers that were vocalizing and chasing each other up and down the creek that really stole the show. In the end we left the park without another Golden-crowned bird species, a little disappointing, but not through lack of trying.

As we cruised across country there were lots of birds to enjoy and drive by stops included nice southern raptors like Crested Caracaras and a Harris’s Hawks. We found ourselves back in Three Rivers where a stop at Choke Canyon State Park helped us pick up a few new nice Texan species including our first stunning Green Jays. Though the jays are always scene stealers, there were lots of other enjoyable birds including some mixed passerine flocks that contained Black-and-White Warbler, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos. There were a couple of other nice Texan specialties too including great looks at often skulky Olive Sparrows and Long-billed Thrashers.

After putting a few more miles on the clock and a stop at the world’s slowest Subway we ended our day at the Max Mandel Golf Course. We worked hard for White-collared Seedeaters without joy, but as the day ended we were treated to the sights and sounds of a pair of Ringed Kingfishers roaming up and down river. Just as I was starting to wonder if we were going to end the day empty handed I spotted a group of a dozen Red-billed Pigeons across on the Mexican side of the river. The pigeons then flew across the river to the US side allowing us great binocular views and even a couple of photos. Red-billed Pigeon must rate as one of the hardest regularly occurring species in Southern Texas so any sighting is good, but one where the birds come to join you on the US side of the river is pretty special! A magical end to a long day right down on the Mexican border was rounded out when a Barn Owl flew slowly by the car as we drove back into Laredo.

White-collared Seedeater – Luke Tiller

Day 3

With Red-billed Pigeon under our belt, our next target along the river was White-collared Seedeater another potentially tricky specialist species. Where the last couple of days we had worked hard for our birds this morning everything was running smoothly again. A short hike along the river at Salineno soon garnered us several neat birds including a female Vermilion Flycatcher (which made for a nice ID challenge) and a couple of pretty Clay-colored Sparrows. Most excitingly in among the sparrow flocks we soon located a couple of spiffy little White-collared Seedeaters, first a young male gave good looks before a female put on quite the show as she perched in a nearby tree. We even managed to direct a group from the local state park onto the birds.

As we walked back to the feeder setup that Salineno is famous for I was mentioning the need to keep our eye open for Zone-tailed Hawks when I looked across the river to see a Zone-tailed Hawk soaring over the river. Ask and ye shall receive – or something like that. Another nice and potentially tricky bird on the list.

Settling in at the feeders at Salineno is always a pleasure. With lots of great birds to be enjoyed including potentially difficult to find ones like Audubon’s Oriole, and others that can just be tough to see in many places like Plain Chachalaca, Olive Sparrow and Clay-colored Thrush. Amazing to think that it was just a few years ago that the thrush was a mega rarity and now it is an expected, if not always easy to see, South Texas specialty. Just spending time at the feeders at Salineno and reveling in the common birds there is one of the great joys of the Rio Grande Valley, sad to think that it could end up on the wrong side of a border wall.

As we high-tailed it out of town, the birding gods were again on our side as a covey of Scaled Quail noisily moved through the cactus and desert brush as we slowed down to check out a small passerine that had zipped across the road. Scaled Quail are tough at any time in this part of Texas, so the appearance of these charming cottontops was a real treat.

Starr County Park wasn’t particularly productive, though a pale soaring Red-tailed Hawk was of the pretty and range-limited Fuertes’s subspecies and a Lark Sparrow was a treat. On the other hand Zapata Library Park was quite birdy and we turned up a nice little flock of passerines including both subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Gray and Black-and-White Warblers. A cooperatively photographable Green Kingfisher also added to the fun.

Green Kingfisher – Luke Tiller

After lunch we stopped in at Zapata’s Public Boat Launch. This is a spot that I’ve always liked for dry habitat species. It certainly didn’t disappoint, with Pyrrhuloxia, Black-throated Sparrow and Verdin all putting in an appearance. I also love this spot for the boisterous Cactus Wrens, who use the bandstand structure here to amplify their already ample voices. Highlight though had to be flushing a small, short-tailed nightjar from the ground a couple of times. Though views were brief, it was easy to rule out Pauraque and identify this as a rare and exciting, for the area, Common Poorwill. A nice and unexpected addition at a spot I feel I have at least played a small part in championing.

Next stop was another spot that I had eyed up initially on google maps and wanted to explore. At a little pond in Rio Grande City we eked out a handful of great birds including a beautiful Ringed Kingfisher, but more excitingly a stunning Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. A great spot of a much desired, but often tough to find, species during winter. Even with all the great sightings, this bird was our official bird of the day!

An incredible run of good birds was rounded out with us enjoying a rare White-winged Parakeet among the usual McAllen Green Parakeet flock.  Weirdly though, the expected grackles were something of a no-show. We ended our day at a great local restaurant where they were serving perhaps two of my favorite beers of all time: Avery Maharajah IPA and Founders Breakfast Stout. A fitting end to a great day.

Burrowing Owl – Luke Tiller

Day 4

You can’t really go to the Rio Grande Valley without visiting Bentsen, though I often wish I had. Not only was it resoundingly quiet during our visit, it also meant that we just missed a Blue Bunting sighting at Quinta Mazatlan by a few minutes on our arrival there. After we had stuck around for a couple of hours searching fruitlessly we decided to cut our losses and head for pastures new: a change is as good as a rest.

A quick look for Burrowing Owl wasn’t productive, so we moved on to Anzalduas to look for Sprague’s Pipits trying to get something in the bag. With us only being a small group, it was something of a relief to find a couple of stray birders from another tour group that were looking for the Sprague’s Pipits that they’d missed on their Texas tour. We quickly put them to use forming a manhunt style dragnet to sweep the field at Anzalduas and thankfully we soon tracked down three or four of our quarry. We first got nice looks at their distinctive flight style before eventually getting decent scoped views of a bird on the ground.

With our birding luck seemingly changing we headed back to Quinta Mazatlan and we were relieved just a few minutes after arrival when the Blue Bunting put in another visit to the bushes behind the feeder. I’m not sure I’ve ever been quite so relieved to see a bird! With that success under our belt we headed back out to Granjeno where the Burrowing Owl obliged us with an amazingly point-blank appearance. A day of tough birding and persistence finally rewarded by several excellent birds.

We ended our day a little early heading for a fun evening at a neat barbecue joint that I love.

Common Pauraque – Luke Tiller

Day 5

We started our day at a Rio Grande Valley gem: Estero Lllano Grande State Park. To my mind this park is the premier large park in the valley with a range of great habitat and great birds. The place certainly didn’t disappoint with lots of great species quickly racked up: Least Grebe, Roseate Spoonbill, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, White-tailed Kite and more. Highlight there had to be the opportunity to get up close and personal encounters with roosting Common Pauraque and our encounter this year did not disappoint. There was also a huge number of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons at a communal roost and some Black-crowneds and a Anhingha thrown in for good measure.

Next stop was at Progresso Lakes a little community that had been hosting both Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and occasionally a Fulvous Whistling Duck too. We arrived at the spot and pulled up on the side of the road to scan through what looked to be a good few hundred whistling-ducks. As we were setting up our scopes the owner of the house came out, and to my surprise asked us if we would like to head out to the back edge of their yard to get a better look at the assembled birds! As we rounded the corner of the house we were amazed to discover that the couple of hundred whistling-ducks we could see had multiplied into a couple of thousand! We sifted through this mind-blowing collection of ducks, eventually picking out four Fulvous Whistling-ducks which we would never had seen from the public road! Amazing!

Our continued morning run through Progresso allowed us to pick up a couple of other exciting new birds including some Cattle Egrets in a nearby cow field (surprise, surprise) and down at some local grain silos an incredible collection of blackbirds that included stunning Yellow-headed Blackbirds. The grain silo experience was a remarkable one, with thousands of birds swirling around the property and among the mainly Red-winged Blackbirds a few assorted other goodies like Bronzed Cowbird. An opportune stop at a recently burned sugar cane field yielded a couple of White-tailed Hawks, our first completely satisfying looks at this species.

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

After a great lunch at my favorite lunch spot in the valley, Nana’s, we moved on to Santa Ana. With the wind picking up, the birding conditions had become pretty tough. We didn’t give up though and were eventually rewarded with killer views of a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet eating bugs and generally putting on a show. Always nice to get such great views of a relatively tough to find bird.

A quick stop at the Alamo Inn allowed us to finally find a couple of Tropical Kingbirds that were kind enough to vocalize and while searching we had a fun flyover in the shape of a Long-billed Curlew. This was the first for the trip and definitely not a species I’d have expected to pick up there.

After a quick stop in at the hotel to drop bags, our last stop of our day was at Oliviera Park in Brownsville. Here we sought out the spectacular roosts of feral parrots that call the valley home. Like clockwork the parrots started to arrive at dusk and we ended up tallying five species of Amazona Parrot: Red-crowned, Red-lored, White-fronted, Yellow-headed and Lilac-crowned. Though only one species is countable it was great fun dashing around the park, trying to pin all five species down while trying to communicate though the cacophony of roosting parrot hordes. An fun end to the day was capped when we picked up a Barn Owl flyby as we headed home to our hotel.

Cassin’s Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Day 6

Our penultimate morning started at Old Port Isabel Road. Here we were greeted by the wonderful experience of hearing both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks calling. Most exciting though was a Cassin’s Sparrow popping up alongside the car and singing vociferously all of its own accord. Missing among the Long-billed Curlews, White-tailed Hawks and Peregrine Falcon however were the hoped for Aplomado Falcon’s.  I quickly rethought our strategy for this species and a few miles drive later we were looking at a beautiful gracefully gray Aplomado Falcon, a pretty, elegant falcon that exists in the US almost solely in this little corner of Texas. Another highly desired prize for our growing species list.

Next stop was at a windy Chachalaca Bend where howling winds conspired against us finding a regularly reported Rose-throated Becard. In fact, it was hard to see much of anything at all with the winds whipping through the trees though we each had glimpses of movement that could have been the bird.

After putting in some hard work we decided to head for pastures new and stopped at South Padre Island. Here we enjoyed “all the herons”, or at least most of them, and a bunch of other new bird species. Driving onto the beach we managed a little shorebird workshop and picked up a couple of beautiful pink flushed Franklin’s Gulls from a collection of Laughing Gulls. Another highlight here were the large groups of Black Skimmers lounging on the beach with their inimitable bill resting loafing style. As much as it was fun to add a bunch of new birds it was good to just do some birding rather than focus on twitching something rare. We ended our mornings birding with a trip to a favored burger joint before getting on the road to head north out of the valley.

After eating up some miles in order to be ready for our final day adventure, we ended our day at a comically windswept birding site in Corpus Christi before heading for our hotel in Port Aransas.

Whooping Cranes (adult and juv.) – Luke Tiller

Day 7

Our last real birding day started with a fun ferry ride from Port Aransas in order to connect with out boat trip out to Aransas Bay to look for one of North America’s rarest birds: Whooping Crane. These magnificent birds stand five feet tall and have an incredible seven-and-a-half-foot wingspan. In 1941 their population had plummeted precipitously to just 20 or so birds and though currently doing much better it is estimated that there are perhaps only as many as 700 in existence between both wild and captive populations. The birds that winter at Aransas are part of the only remaining migratory population, with these birds spending colder months in Texas before heading on a one-way migration that spans almost 3000 miles to Alberta.

Though you can see them from land, I always think part of the magic of seeing this species is to take a boat out into Aransas Bay to see the birds. Here from miles away one can see these large and surprisingly elegant birds. It’s always a huge pleasure to see them, and this year there was an added relief to see them doing so well after Hurricane Harvey. We ended up having about as good a view as I’ve ever had of these magnificent birds and were also treated to a nice mix of shorebirds and waterfowl along the way including Common Loons. American Avocets and Hooded Mergansers along the way.

A couple of quick stops on the way out of town also garnered us a few nice species. These detours included an American Oystercatcher and an accommodating Reddish Egret at Goose Island State Park as well as a small collection of Boat-tailed Grackles on State Highway 35 just north of Rockport.

Reddish Egret – Luke Tiller

With our time in Texas running out we decided to roll the dice once again and head to look for the Golden-crowned Warbler en route to San Antonio. The weather now was starting to conspire against us, however, so we had to sit out a few showers eating lunch before we could bird. Again, we ended up leaving town without the bird, though there was at least more general activity this time around at the park.

With light fading we made one quick last stop near san Antonio at Braunig Lake to see if we could scrape up one more life bird for almost everyone involved. Though the light was starting to go we picked up a large flock of hoped for Cave Swallows, eventually getting just about satisfactory looks at this lifer bird for many. We also managed to pick up our first Song Sparrows of the trip (one of those common US birds that is oddly missing birds from the Rio Grande Valley) and a group of dainty Bonaparte’s Gulls flying buoyantly out over the lake.

We ended our day with a fun meal, a few beverages and probably about three whole days’ worth of calories just in cheesecake alone. A really enjoyable end to a fun week in Texas.

In the end we tallied an impressive number of species (Texas Tour Checklist February 2018) including many of the harder to find local and winter specialties and one beautiful vagrant: Blue Bunting. Southern Texas must rate as one of the premier destinations for birdwatchers across the USA and deservedly so. I just hope that all the places that we visited along the way stay accessible to the public in future years, rather than finding themselves on the wrong side of an ill-conceived border wall. Thanks to Andrea, Linda, Janet and Nancy for a fun week.

Oh, and I even got my rather scruffy Blue Jay at the Gas Station fill up on the way to the rental drop off!

Rufous Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

On my usual Sunday morning birding run with David Bell we checked out a neat area in Duarte along the San Gabriel River which I’ve found can often be good for migrants. This year thanks perhaps to some additional rain there is a veritable forest of Tree Tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) growing at the north end of the canyon.

Rufous Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

This introduced plant species always seems to be a big hit with hummingbirds and sure enough we quickly found a large number of hummingbirds taking advantage of the bumper crop of yellow flowers. As well as the expected Allen’s and Anna’s Hummingbirds there were large concentrations of Rufous Hummingbirds and a good number of Costa’s too.

Rufous Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

Rufous Hummingbirds are one of those fairly early migrants and in my mind are one of the real signs of spring. It’s always nice when a spot that you’ve been exploring pays off, and bumper numbers of hummingbirds are never to be sniffed at. It was also nice to see them concentrated in somewhat wild (if not totally native) habitat rather than swarming around a feeder.

Rufous Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

That said it’s easier to shoot hummingbirds at feeders than having to stalk them through the undergrowth! Win some lose some.

Brown-capped Rosy Finch – Luke Tiller

The Southwest Birding Tour I created for Sunrise Birding incorporates beautiful scenery, incredible birding spectacle and some very special birds that are hard to find anywhere else in the country. The following is the report from our visit in January, 2018:

Day 1

After our first night in Albuquerque, spent at a traditional New Mexican restaurant, we started the birding element of our tour at a site just south of the Sandia Mountains. Here among in the suburbs of Albuquerque we sought out a host of Pinyon-Juniper woodland species. On site we were greeted by several frugivore species including numerous American Robins and Cedar Waxwings mainly flying high overhead. Soon though we were stumbling upon more desirable species including our first Western Bluebirds of the trip and following hot on the heels of that a small group of Mountain Bluebirds: the females providing an interesting ID challenge to discuss.

Signs that local mountains harbored a poor winter food crop were evident in the numerous montane denizens down at these lower elevations. We had both Steller’s Jays along with the expected Woodhouse’s Jays and highly prized Cassin’s Finches along with the expected House Finch. Another treat at our first stop were two Sage Thrashers and we got great scope views of this very mockingbird-esque thrasher species. It was nice to be able to compare this species with the much more typically thrasher-like Curve-billed Thrasher spotted in a neighborhood yard as we headed to our next stop.

Our next stop of our tour is always a highlight: Sandia Crest. Making this beautiful destination even more arresting was an overnight hoarfrost that had coated all the trees at Sandia Crest with a twinkling coating of little icy crystals. The ice, some blowing snow, blue sky and the incredible soft pinks of arriving rosy-finches making this site even more magical than usual. Among the numerous Black Rosy-Finches we slowly workshopped the identification of both Brown-capped and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches (sometimes a harder ID than most anticipate). Just for good measure we even added at least one of the striking “Hepburn’s” Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches to our sweep of these amazing birds. As well as these incredible birds we also managed to add an unexpected subspecies of Junco (Cassiar) to our previous tally of Oregon, Pink-sided and Gray-headed.

After a well-earned lunch, the rest of the day was spent out picking up more woodland species. The lack of food at higher elevations meant that birds were harder to come by than on previous years but over the rest of the day we added a mix of new birds which were highlighted by another Sage Thrasher, several neat Townsend’s Solitaires, more Cassin’s Finches and a pretty Red-naped Sapsucker.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Day 2

Day two started with a trip to Petroglyph National Monument. The day was off to a real bang when we spotted our third thrasher species of the trip in the shape of a subtle but stunning Crissal Thrasher! As well as the thrasher this site held a host of stunning sparrow species and we slowly worked good views of Black-throated, Sagebrush and Rufous-crowned Sparrows. Jaunty Rock and Canyon Wrens sang out from the hillsides and we also picked up a bonus flyover Prairie Falcon. All this while being surrounded by a collection of interesting and sometimes odd historical rock graffiti.

On the drive out we spotted an introduced, but no less beautiful for that, Ring-necked Pheasant. Hot on the heels of the pheasant was a brief pause for a tick-and-run American Dipper that was out of place on a suburban drainage ditch. This charismatic species put on quite the show for us as it hunted prey items under water as we watched: a highly successful twitch.

Next stop was our first of many along the Rio Grande. Here along the river we found ponds with a mix of new duck species including many stunning Wood Ducks. As well as entertaining us, the collected ducks had predators interested too, including a Bald Eagle that was lazily soaring up river looking for an easy meal. The riparian area also attracted a nice mix of land birds, which allowed us to study both Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies as well as add our first Bewick’s Wren to the trip list.

After a somewhat quiet visit to Water Canyon, we ended our day at the ponds just north of Bosque Del Apache. Here we arrived just in time to witness the arrival of numbers of both Lesser and Greater Sandhill Cranes. We also arrived just in time to witness an incredibly spectacular and dramatic sunset. As the sun set the sky lit up with flaming reds and yellows and bruised purples. A simply stunning setting for an end to a fun day.

Sandhill Cranes at Bosque – Luke Tiller

Day 3.

We kicked off our third day about twelve hours later at the exact spot we ended day two; Bosque Del Apache. The very same ponds from yesterday were now covered with thousands of mainly Snow Geese but with many pockets of Ross’s Geese too. There were also plenty of attractive ‘Blue Geese” to enjoy as well. Once considered a separate species, these “Blue Geese” are now recognized as just a color morph of Snow Goose.

We finally dragged ourselves away from the goose and crane show to check out the feeders at Bosque’s wonderful visitors center. From our warm perch inside the center we watched the crowds of White-crowned Sparrows under the feeders, picking out other species from the flocks. Highlights here included a Green-tailed Towhee, a pair of splendid Pyrrhuloxias and a couple of cryptic White-throated Sparrows teased out from the swarms of their White-crowned brethren.

A quick spin around Bosque heralded impressive numbers of Sandhill Cranes, geese and ducks. Among the hordes of waterfowl, we also found a few other interesting species ranging from the large (Wild Turkeys) to the tiny (Pine Siskins). We also completed our bluebird sweep when we added a half dozen Eastern Bluebirds to our expanding trip species list.

Our next stop on the day was a popular park along the Rio Grande River. Here at this river migrant trap we sought out winter songbirds. Highlights included a couple of locally breeding specialties: Verdin and Phainopepla however the star of the show was almost certainly a majestic Prairie Falcon that put on a show as it soared over our heads.

We ended our day in Las Cruces seeking out sparrows at one of my favorite birding sites in the picturesque Organ Mountains. Though initially passerines were keeping their heads down thanks to the attentions of a young Cooper’s Hawk, we eventually managed to run into a nice mixed flock of wintering sparrows. As well as the sparrows we enjoyed great views of Verdin and a pair of Ruby-crowned Kinglets that were busy chasing each other and furiously flashing their crimson headdresses. Investigating a large and varied flock of sparrows we uncovered a great mix of stunning sparrows including Green-tailed Towhee, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Black-throated Sparrow. New for the trip though were two spiffy Black-chinned sparrows, these great sparrows look like weird hybrids between Dark-eyed Juncos and Chipping Sparrows.

After teasing out our prized Black-chinned Sparrows we moved to some slightly more open habitat where we picked up another group of wintering sparrows. Pick of the bunch here were a roving flock of Brewer’s Sparrow, though just working through the identity of the various species: Savannah, Vesper, Brewer’s was part of the fun too. As were a couple of jolly Cactus Wrens that were singing away and coming to a water bowl placed out for a camper’s dog. We ended our day winging eastwards setting ourselves up for an adventure in deepest Southwestern New Mexico.

Blue-throated Hummingbird – Luke Tiller

Day 4

Dawn on day four found us cruising along the quiet roadways of Southwestern New Mexico. Here among the gobs of Red-tailed Hawks we uncovered two beautiful Ferruginous Hawks. As well as the spectacular buteos we also added another Prairie Falcon and our first confirmed Chihuahuan Raven’s complete with observed white base to feathers and more crow like call. We also got to hear some Eastern Meadowlarks for the first time on the tour too.

The renowned Willow Tank was quiet on the day, though the surrounding scrub provided thrasher species number four for the trip: Bendire’s Thrasher. We even had views of the bird in close proximity to a Curve-billed Thrasher, allowing for a robust comparison of the two very similar species.

We then headed into Portal to check out some feeder action. At Dave Jasper’s the quick of binocular spotted some Scaled Quail as they disappeared into the brush. We also added our first hummingbird’s of the tour including the big, beautiful and recently split Rivoli’s Hummingbird (until recently know as Magnificent) and a couple of Anna’s Hummingbirds.

Next on the itinerary was a favorite stop of the tour: Cave Creek Ranch. This incredible site is seemingly always dripping with birds, including a host of new ones for the trip list: Inca Dove, Blue-throated Hummingbird, Arizona Woodpecker, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Yellow-eyed Junco and Scott’s Oriole. The carefree titmice were a huge hit as were the woodpecker and the scary-eyed junco. Highlight of the stop though was perhaps the out of season Scott’s Oriole – a real desert beauty.

Post lunch we added our first Brown-headed Cowbirds for the trip, loitering ominously around town and had further good looks at Greater Roadrunner.

Our day ended in wonderful Willcox. A seemingly inauspicious golf course provided for a wealth of brilliant birds: In amongst the blackbirds coming to roost were a small flock of lovely Yellow-headed Blackbirds, the flocks of American Wigeon yielded one rare Eurasian Wigeon among them and flying over were a rare group of twenty Greater White-fronted Geese. One of the real highlights of the spot though had to be the calling Long-billed Curlews that flew in to at dusk. All this accompanied by the constant calls of multiple Sandhill Cranes as they headed to roost.

Rufous-winged Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Day 5.

Again, we started our day as we ended our previous one, on a golf course in Willcox. The site yielded little different than the night before, beyond some beautiful but untickable Peafowl, though a lone Gambel’s Quail did increase our tour species list by one. Driving local agricultural fields yielded several common open country species, but no views of the rarer ones we had hoped for. That said a brief stop to enjoy some more Yellow-headed Blackbirds uncovered a roosting Great Horned Owl and a stunning Vermilion Flycatcher.

After a brief stop at a quirky small-town coffee bar for an invigorating cup of joe and some homemade cookie,s we were back on the road looking for more birds. A quick stop at a waste water treatment plant (a mainstay of any arid region birding) yielded some beautiful Cinnamon Teal and our first Eared Grebe of the tour. Our next stop was another water treatment plant which provided more productive for passerines around the edge of the ponds, as we picked off both Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and the highly localized Rufous-winged Sparrow.

We ended our day looking for, but not finding, a couple of rare Mexican vagrants in Tubac though we did at least manage to get everyone looks at both Green-tailed and Abert’s Towhees.

Baird’s Sparrow – Luke Tiller

Day 6.

We started our day in the beautiful surroundings of the Las Cienegas. Here we were seeking out perhaps one of North America’s most sought after and hard to find sparrow species: Baird’s Sparrow. Surrounded by stunning mountain vistas amid a golden expanse of grassland we waited patiently for the birds to appear. Initial views were fleeting at best however and we eventually turned to a more proactive approach to finding the birds as the morning wore on. This manhunt approach, proved successful, eventually garnering amazing scoped views of this stunning sparrow species. In the fields around us flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs wheeled away and a cute little Grasshopper Sparrow popped up to try steal some of the Baird’s limelight.

The next field on our tour yielded a puddle of dirty water, a bunch of cowpats and more excitingly a group of beautiful Pronghorn. Targets here were the mixed flocks of larks, pipits and longspurs coming in to feed and drink at the pool. Though birds were swirling around and disappearing behind the cowpats as they landed we were soon able to uncover both Chestnut-collared and McCown’s Longspurs and some of the group were able to briefly get on the ‘rarer’ Lapland Longspur (though rare in AZ, it the world’s most abundant longspur species). As we got back on the road again, an eagle-eyed participant pulled out a pair of White-tailed Kites from amid the heat haze of a nearby field.

A stop at the renowned Paton’s Hummingbird Feeders provided at least one beautiful Anna’s Hummingbird which put on a real show for the group. As well as the expected Red-naped Sapsucker we also had what is being identified as a Red-breasted Sapsucker, though to my eye it looks more like a hybrid.

Most of our afternoon was spent back at Santa Gertrudis Lane. Though there was a lot of birds to look through (unlike the previous day) we still didn’t add any of the Mexican vagrants to our list. We did however uncover a bunch of new and somewhat uncommon species to our list including Wilson’s Snipe, Plumbeous Vireo, Black-and-White Warbler and Pacific-slope Flycatcher.

We ended our tour with a quick stop at our final wastewater treatment plant of the trip. Here we added a rare, but long staying, Brown Pelican as well as a bunch of egrets and herons and a southern specialty in the shape of a Bronzed Cowbird.

In the end we had a great trip with incredible scenery, beautiful birds and a variety of amazing birding spectacle. Highlights included ice dusted mountains, golden grasslands and spectacular fiery-skied sunsets. We had stunning Rosy-finches that rarely stray from their mountaintop homes and clouds of incredible geese at Bosque. A wonderful week with an equally wonderful and interesting group of birders from across the US.

You can see our species checklist from the week here: Southwest Tour Checklist.

Palm Tanager – Luke Tiller

Panama, not just a terrible Van Halen track! In November 2014 I had seen reports of a flight of raptors that had blackened skies around Panama City and closed the airport there for a couple of days. In total the flight had been calculated to include an incredible two million birds, all seen from the Cerro Ancon Hawkwatch in downtown. From there the seed of this tour with HMANA had been planted. With some help from Jenn, Carlos, Elba and the crew at Canopy Family that dream became a reality three years later.

With nature and hawkwatching there are no guarantees, but we had put ourselves in the time frame for a potentially interesting trip and with Carlos Bethancourt as our guide I was confident we would have a great week whatever happened.

Green Honeycreeper – Luke Tiller

Day 1

Our tour started Saturday morning with transfers from the airport, via a couple of hotels, to Canopy Tower. As you make your way through downtown Panama it’s hard to miss the three large and ubiquitous black birds circling constantly over the city: Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture and most excitingly Magnificent Frigatebird! There were a few other interesting birds as we wended our way through city streets including drive by glimpses of Fork-tailed Flycatcher and Wood Stork.

A little over an hour later we arrived at the world-famous Canopy Tower. It’s a fantastic one-of-a-kind lodge converted from an old US military radar installation. We arrived to a warm welcome from Carlos Bethancourt (our trusty guide for the week) and a selection of drinks and snacks. With some of the group arriving a little later in the day, the initial arrivals had a chance to grab some coffee and head to the lodge roof, home of Semaphore Hill Hawkwatch, for the first of many enjoyable hours spent observing birds above the canopy of Soberania National Park.

It didn’t take long before we were picking up our first interesting raptors of the tour in the shape of hunting Short-tailed and Zone-tailed Hawks. Though only found on the extreme edges of the USA, both of these species are at least possible to encounter in the US. There were a couple of non-raptor species around the tower that were more or less familiar to many of our group too including Red-eyed Vireo, Swainson’s Thrush, Tennessee Warbler and Eastern Wood-Pewee. It was however a novel experience to have Bay-breasted Warbler as the somewhat ever-present warbler species of the trip, dare one call something so pretty a trash bird even jokingly?

The remainder of the group arrived late afternoon from the airport and post introductions we headed out to the rooftop platform to enjoy the last few hours of sunlight. As well as the avian migrants from points north, the wandering flocks of wintering birds also contained many local delights, which included both the ever-present Palm and Plain-colored Tanagers as well as species that merely flitted in and out of our presence at the tower. These roving bird flocks comprised of both the cryptic: Plain Xenops, Olivaceous and Cocoa Woodcreeper as well as the dazzling: Bay-headed Tanager, Blue Dacnis and Green Honeycreeper!

A wonderful evening meal, a couple of bottles of wine and a bottle of Tequila brought in from Mexico by a participant helped cap a nice relaxing introductory day to the Canopy Tower.

White-whiskered Puffbird – Luke Tiller

Day 2

This morning we awoke to the usual reveille at the Canopy Tower: Mantled Howler Monkey and Great Tinamou. As the sun climbed above the local hills our group could be found drinking in both coffee and the sights and sounds of the forest surrounding us. As the trees lit up around us, so more species from home would appear: Summer Tanager, Chimney Swift and Blackburnian Warbler as would more exotic ones too like Mealy Parrot, Tropical Gnatcatcher and Black-breasted Puffbird.

As the day heated up we picked up our first migrating raptors of the trip, after zero movement the day before thanks to some blocking weather on the Costa Rican border. The inclement weather in Costa Rica seemed to have delayed much of the flight through Panama and so among the expected Turkey Vultures and Swainson’s Hawks were proportionally significant groups of Broad-winged Hawks, with even a few adults still in the mix. After breakfast we ventured from our canopy perch down to the base of the lodge tower where we picked up the resident hummingbird species attending their feeders: White-vented Plumeleteer, Blue-chested Hummingbird, White-necked Jacobin and a rather stunning Long-billed Hermit.

A hike down the road that leads to the lodge to the main road revealed many new species for the trip including some real crowd pleasers like White-whiskered Puffbird, Red-capped Manakin and Fasciated Antshrike. Before our return for lunch we also added another adorable hummingbird species to our day’s tally: Violet-bellied.

Post lunch we headed for Panama Viejo, which at first appears to be just a somewhat inauspicious parking lot over an expanse of mudflats. The mudflats however are alive with a wealth of shorebirds including the familiar: Western Sandpipers and the less familiar: Southern Lapwings. There was much else to enjoy too including stunning Cocoi Herons out on the flats and around us in the trees more avian treasures including Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, Saffron Finch and “Mangrove” Yellow Warblers.

There were also some signs of raptor movement overhead, mainly in the form of large kettles of Turkey Vultures streaming eastwards in the thousands. With the Turkey Vultures we picked up a couple of other migrants including a late juvenile Mississippi Kite and a couple of Peregrine Falcons. Though not migrating, a beautiful Common Black Hawk put in a quick appearance too.

This stop at Panama Viejo must rate among one of my favorite parking lot birding experiences of all time. As well as the birds it was also fun to share our birdwatching experience with the Panamanians visiting the museum and cultural center dedicated to the history of the area. Panama Viejo is the site of the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo – Luke Tiller

Day 3

Our day started with a Mottled Owl alarm call and coffee on the tower viewing platform. Post breakfast we headed for the world-famous Pipeline Road. This road and the pipeline it was built to provide access to were constructed during World War II but the pipeline never actually went into service. Now it is perhaps one of the premier birding areas in both Panama and the region generally.

First stop was at the Ammo Dump Ponds, a place where explosives were stored by the US Army and that is now an area used to store explosives for construction by the Panama Canal Authority. The little ponds there can be excellent for water loving species and we soon had a host of them including beautiful Rufescent Tiger-Herons (named for the cryptic plumage of the juvenile), Wattled Jacanas and Purple Gallinules. We could hear the rolling rattle calls of White-throated Crake too, but none appeared to particularly want to be seen.

In the trees and brush around the pond there were plenty of other birds to enjoy including an incredibly showy Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Along with Black-striped Sparrow and Variable Seedeater, another show stopper at the ponds was a singing Isthmian Wren. This somewhat localized and recently split wren species performed well for the group as we uncovered more and more new trip birds.

Behind us flowed the river chagres and coursing over it were a steady stream of swallows, including Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Mangrove Swallow and the ubiquitous Gray-breasted Martins. Joining the hirundines in the sky were a couple of highly desired raptors: White Hawk and Snail Kite. These two beauties were morning highlights for our raptor aficionado group.

We had barely arrived at Pipeline Road proper, when Carlos heard the mournful call of a Streak-chested Antpitta. Springing into action, our tour group all worked well together to make sure that all got great looks at this skulky and highly prized denizen of the forest floor. While we were patiently trying to eke out looks at this cryptic bird we also managed to get good looks at an easy to hear but difficult to see Great Tinamou, as one seemingly wandered in to see what all the excitement was about. A furtive forest dwelling twofer right at the entrance of Pipeline Road!

We had hardly made it around the first bend in the road before a mixed flock of species descended upon us. As birds swarm around you it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the action, as different birds appear within the melee. Again, our group worked hard to get everyone on the different birds as they flitted past us.

Antbirds are something of the draw on Pipeline and a bunch of them were passing through our patch of forest: Fasciated Antshrike, Black-crowned Antshrike and a personal favorite Dot-winged Antwren. For every enigmatic antbird, there was a much showier denizen of the forest appearing including Slaty-tailed, Black-tailed and the recently renamed Gartered Trogon. In the end we had walked less than a few hundred yards down the Pipeline Road, so thick was it with birds.

We ended our morning visit with an audience with a Great Potoo, perhaps the most cryptic resident of the local forest, found perched in a somewhat favored spot. All this and it was only just time for lunch!

After a hearty lunch we headed up to the platform at the Canopy Tower where we joined Semaphore Hill hawk counter Katrina Hucks for an outstanding little rush of hawk migration ahead of a storm front. Initially we had spotted a few very distant kettles of pepperspots, but within a few minutes we found ourselves being inundated by Turkey Vultures and Swainson’s Hawks as roughly 30,000 drifted northeastwards away from Panama City and over our platform aerie (Hawkcount data here). Among this rush of migrating birds, we picked out a few other desired raptors including a beautiful adult King Vulture and a Semiplumbeous Hawk that was perched atop a tree in the canopy out front of the platform. Having counted relatively large movements of raptors before it was amazing to be overwhelmed by such a compressed mass movement of birds riding ahead of the day’s rain.

We ended our day with another wonderful meal at the Canopy Tower which was accompanied by a spectacular Black-and-White Owl perched out in the forest surrounding the dining room. A magnificent end to another incredible day.

Vulture and hawk kettle – Luke Tiller

Day 4

With the previous day’s flight of raptors in our mind Carlos and I decided that our plan for the day should revolve around Panama City and our eyes should always be partly watching the skies for raptor movement.

After battling a little Panama City traffic, we started our morning at the Parque Natural Metropolitano near downtown. Here one can find a wealth of dry or pacific slope species including such prized birds as Golden-collared and Lance-tailed Manakin. Again, it didn’t take long to get into a mixed flock of birds and among the species revealed we found everything from the relatively prosaic: Northern Waterthrush and Chestnut-sided Warbler to the highly desired: Rufous-breasted Wren, Red-throated Ant-tanager and Panama Flycatcher. More exploring along the park’s trails also uncovered Red-crowned Ant-tanager and Orange-billed Sparrow. Highlights of our stop also had to include Whooping Motmot, our first Bat Falcon and a mammal in the shape of an adorable Rothschild’s Porcupine!

As we birded, I could tell Carlos’s raptor Spidey-sense was tingling as strongly as mine and we decided to head to look at what was happening with the hawk migration. As soon as we reached some open skies it was obvious what was happening; things were going bananas! Leaving the park, we paused briefly along the roadside at the Marcos A. Gelabert Airport to watch a growing liftoff of vultures that were surely grounded by yesterday’s afternoon rain.

From there Carlos steered our bus towards a downtown city park from which to watch the ever-growing kettles and streams of passing raptors. We arrived at Cinta Costera park just in time for the skies to be filled with raptors, and over the next couple of hours watched as Panama City tallied its second highest single day number of migrant Turkey Vultures of all time: 715,517 in total! Perusing Hawkcount when we got home, this was the just the third largest Turkey Vulture day ever recorded at any hawkwatch anywhere in the world! Hawk people talk reverentially of million bird hawkwatches and yet we had almost just seen that number in one single day!

As the skies filled with raptors, our minds were filled with conquistador descriptions of skies being blackened by birds as they surely witnessed this very same migration hundreds of years prior. Though the flight was somewhat homogenous we reveled in the sheer mind-blowing spectacle. In among the huge numbers of Swainson’s Hawks (134,260) there were good numbers of Broad-winged Hawks (27,646) and a smattering of other species: Mississipi Kites, Peregrines, Ospreys and Wood Storks. Even the seemingly unpromising downtown park around us was providing a bounty of nice birds including a handful seen only here on our trip: Boat-billed Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird and most excitingly, out on the bay, a gorgeous Blue-footed Booby or two!

We spent the next three hours reveling in this incredible spectacle while sharing our experience with park visitors: Panamanians and tourists alike. We even had a brief interview with journalists from a local blog that highlights things to do in Panama. The best part of the morning though was having Rosabel Miro from Panama Audubon join us for an hour or so to meet the group and talk about Cerro Ancon Hawkwatch.

Though hard to tear ourselves away, we headed for lunch downtown before heading off to the Quarry Heights area to enjoy the continuation of the flight. We finally left the continuing stream of birds in order to avoid getting stuck in the post work rush hour traffic. An incredible day that I’m sure will live long in the memories of those that witnessed it! There is some great video of the incredible day shot by one of the participants on youtube (here) and details of course on Hawkcount here!

Tiny Hawk – Carlos Bethancourt

Day 5

Our fifth day in Panama started with a bang, when pre-breakfast atop the tower we found ourselves face to face with a stunning Tiny Hawk! It seems like Carlos and I have incredible luck together when it comes to discovering difficult to find accipiters (last time we were together we found a very accommodating juvenile Bicolored Hawk) and I was amazed to find myself staring at this remarkable little raptor as it flew in to join us for morning coffee! It stuck around long enough for most of the group to rush upstairs to see it before disappearing off into the park below. A great start to the day!

Post breakfast we found ourselves hotfooting it from the hummingbird feeders at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center (where we had picked up Crowned Woodnymph and for a lucky few Purple-crowned Fairy) out to the entrance of the center. Here we found ant swarm that one of Carlos’s fellow guides had called us about. We spent the next hour or so watching as antbirds and more came in to pick off insects escaping the marauding army ants. Highlights around the swarm including amazingly accommodating Spotted and Bicolored Antbird, Northern Barred-Woodcreeper and a small flock of Gray-headed Tanagers.

Earlier in the morning Carlos had managed to tease both Song Wren and Black-faced Antthrush into view for us. Both are charismatic birds, with one mainly memorable for the way it struts around the forest floor, the other for it’s amazing refrain! Morning had also seen us add trogon number four to our trip list: a stunning male Black-throated Trogon. Before we left the Rainforest Discovery Center, we had just enough time to do a little shopping, have Carlos present the Discovery Center with a donated spotting scope and even pick up another great raptor for the tour: Hook-billed Kite. A wonderful action-packed morning of birds.

After lunch we finally had some rain catch up with us. It was green season, so I had anticipated getting a bit wet at least once on the tour. We’d had a fairly successful stop at Summit Ponds with both Boat-billed Heron and American Pygmy Kingfisher in the bag when Carlos, spotting the enveloping clouds, decided we needed to head for shelter. Unfortunately, our ride to the ponds was in an open top bus and as we hit the road homeward bound the heavens opened. Thus ensued a hilariously rain lashed ride back to the Canopy Tower with much laughter and “gallows” humor from everyone involved.  A little rain wasn’t going to get this great group down!

We ended our day, with the expert help of  one of our participants and a black light, exploring some of the remarkable moths and other nocturnal creatures that call Soberania National Park home (link to amazing moth photos here). An enjoyable end to another great day in Panama.

Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker – Luke Tiller

Day 6

This day saw us heading out early to visit the highlands of Cerro Azul. As we meandered across Panama City, we finally managed to knock House Sparrow off our Panama needs list. A huge relief to everyone involved I’m sure. The Cerro Azul Visitors Center provided for a welcome restroom and coffee break, but also saw us picking up some good birds in the nearby gardens including a bevy of beautiful tanagers: Golden-headed, Crimson-backed and Bay-headed.

Our morning birding basically involved short drives and stops at areas where birds appeared or looked productive for specific species. First up was an appointment with a highly prized Panamanian endemic: Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker. We were trying to work looks at one when a Merlin suddenly came careening through our patch of woods thoroughly spooking this beautiful green woodpecker. As if to compound matters a relatively rare Sharp-shinned Hawk circled the area putting everything else to flight. When we finally re-found the woodpecker, we were treated to an incredibly accommodating views of a male bird right at head height. An unusual but very welcomed situation!

Other opportune stops saw us adding more new species including Streaked Saltator, Yellow-faced Grassquit and a much puzzled over Acadian Flycatcher. It was really fun to work through the identity of this silent little empidonax flycatcher on its winter grounds.

After a little more stop-start driving, we reached an area where we parked in order to go on a little hike. As per usual though our hiking was abruptly halted by a mixed tanager flock. Here we uncovered a different selection of tropical jewels including Speckled, Black-and-yellow and Emerald Tanagers. Highlight personally though was the spiffy looking and obliging Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant that posed for our photos.

Next stop was the appropriately named Hummingbird House. Here a varied arrangement of feeders played host to not only hundreds of hummingbirds, but a wide variety of nectar, rice and fruit eating species. These included many stunning birds that comprised three types of Honeycreeper: Shining, Red-legged and Green. Also chowing down were Thick-billed Euphonia, Hepatic Tanager and a lonely Bananaquit. The hummingbirds were however certainly stars of the show. They included: Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer – a beautiful large hummingbird with bubblegum pink feet, Green Hermit another giant hummingbird with an amazing scimitar like bill, and perhaps most excitingly the near endemic Violet-capped Hummingbird. This array of birds was all enjoyed while devouring a delicious lunch on the porch of our generous hosts.

After the incredible hummingbird experience, we had just a little more time to enjoy a couple more roving flocks and a riverside stop to pick up a couple of Black Phoebes. We also enjoyed watching a few passing raptors soar overhead before setting off for home. A wonderful end to a productive day in the highlands.

Spotted Antbird – Luke Tiller

Day 7

Sadly our last full day together! As we gathered to head out for one last adventure on the Pipeline Road we were visited in the Canopy Tower parking lot by a couple of beautiful birds: precisely two Cinnamon Woodpeckers and one Green Shrike Vireo. A very nice start to the day’s proceedings.

After a quick stop along the route for a perched raptor, which turned out to be an adult Broad-winged Hawk, we arrived at Pipeline Road. This time we drove in a little way enjoying birds along the road, including nice looks at both Rufous and Whooping Motmots. The open top vehicle proving perfect for laid-back lazy birding.

We finally reached an area where we needed to walk to get any further. As we parked, we picked up the sounds of raucous Black-chested Jays. I wondered aloud whether they were mobbing something or simply jays being jays. With Carlos working the group closer to them we soon had our answer: they were mobbing. Target of the aforementioned mobbing was a stunning juvenile Collared Forest Falcon. Incredibly this had been top of at least one participants wish/hit list for our last day together. Again, in a difficult situation, our trusty group of leaders and participants worked diligently to get everyone on the bird. Though the falcon was moving around constantly, trying to avoid the pursuing corvid harassment squad, and even though we were momentarily distracted by a cool frog everyone finally got to see this secretive forest raptor.

Next on the day’s wish list was White-tailed Trogon. Without much ado, Carlos uncovered one for us: trogon number five for the tour. As we walked the Pipeline Road trail we ran into other desirable new species including a roving flock of Purple-throated Fruitcrows, a couple of tiny and adorable Pied Puffbirds and a quiet and secretive Russet-winged Schiffornis. With lunch beckoning we headed back to our parked vehicle. On the way to the truck we picked up another exciting new raptor: a pair of striking Gray-lined Hawks, a species recently split from the Gray Hawk which is found in southern extremities of the US.

Our tour began to draw to a close with us wishing fond farewells to our guide for the week, Carlos Bethancourt. The group and I then spent a fun afternoon at the amazing Miraflores Locks. While we soaked up the history of this incredible feat of engineering and listened in awe to the descriptions of the boats passing through the locks, we also carefully tallied 41 bird species from the lock observation deck. These included our first Gray-headed Chachalacas of the tour, nice views of a pair of Bat Falcons and perhaps best of all great looks at a Ringed Kingfisher that was pointed out by one of the lock museum staff.

We ended our day with a few cold beverages, another great meal and fond farewells to new friends who were departing early in the morning to catch their flights.

The Group – Luke Tiller

Day 8

This morning there was just enough time to spend another relaxing morning atop the Canopy Tower enjoying breakfast to the sights and sounds of the jungle before having to wish heartfelt goodbyes to the group. Half of the participants made their way to the airport, while others headed for some further adventures in Panama.

To summarize, we had spent a wonderful week at this one-of-a-kind lodge with a group of likeminded people who had now become friends. We had been lucky enough to witness amazing birds, intriguing flora and fauna and astonishing spectacles. Over the week the group had tallied an impressive 266 species of birds and seen flights that had tallied over one million migrating raptors. An amazing trip and one that I personally can’t wait to do all over again with Carlos at the Canopy Tower next year!

For details on next year’s tour, check my tours page (here). For more photos  from the tour check my Flickr page (here). PDF of bird species checklist from the tour (Panama Migration Spectacular Birds 2017).

Black Oystercatcher – Luke Tiller

This Saturday (Saturday, 16th) I took off from Dana Point on a pelagic that I had organized for Pasadena Audubon Society. We joined the R/V Sea Explorer on a boat used by The Ocean Institute as part of their educational work. There’s a nice video of the boat in action on Youtube (here).

Of course picking up our boat in Orange County meant that we had a little ride before we crossed the Orange Curtain into Los Angeles County waters. That said I think many of our participants were new enough to pelagic birding that we were more focused on seeing birds than worrying about the imaginary lines that divide our county lists.

Even before leaving the harbor we had a couple of nice sightings in the way of some Black Oystercatchers loafing on the jetty. Then with jumbo bags of  popcorn at the ready we were soon chumming our way out to sea, a steady stream of Heermann’s Gulls and Western Gulls following closely behind us.

Pink-footed Shearwater – Luke Tiller

Just off shore we were soon surrounded by our first “pelagic” birds, a nice stream of Black-vented Shearwaters. These birds predominantly nest in Baja California, are generally limited to the coastlines of Mexico and California and tend to like nearshore waters. Among them other shearwaters can be found as well and we soon had a couple of Pink-footed following behind the boat too. Later we added a couple of Sooty Shearwaters for our third shearwater species on the day.

As well as the shearwaters, we were soon picking up our first jaegers of the trip too. Pomarines were probably the most numerous and one very accommodating one decided to follow the boat for a while, allowing people to get good looks at both the structure, flight style and plumage of this rather magnificent avian pirate. We soon added Parasitic Jaeger, though the real highlight was picking up a Long-tailed Jaeger to complete our jaeger sweep. It’s currently peak season for Long-tailed Jaeger migration and though this species is the least commonly found jaeger in Southern California we managed to get two in Los Angeles County.

Pomarine Jaeger – Luke Tiller

There were plenty of other species to look at as we motored along including Elegant, Caspian and Royal Terns. We even had a few non-avian goodies including Mola Mola and flying fish. That was at least until we got to Los Angeles County waters. As we arrived in LA County it’s as if the bird tap was suddenly turned off (or at least to a trickle). Our flock of following gulls disappeared (probably because I took over chumming) and the fishing boats around Catalina seemed not to be drawing much avian attention.

Though sightings slowed considerably, the quality of sightings was good. The next couple of hours included stumbling upon a couple of nice rafts of Common Terns, our only storm-petrel of the day: Black Storm-Petrel, a couple of pretty Sabine’s Gulls and a complete sweep of three jaeger species.

Craveri’s Murrelet – Luke Tiller

Highlight of the whole trip had to be our luck with alcids. Not only did we manage to find a pretty cooperative Cassin’s Auklet, that sat for a while with us, but we also managed to find a pair of much sought after Craveri’s Murrelets.

Craveri’s Murrelet has a relatively small population and is one of those birds that is both difficult to find and tough to see well. Typical views are unidentifiable ones of their rear ends, as they take off from the water in front of your boat and Sibley even illustrates them as such in his guide. Amazingly the two, perhaps overly full, Craveri’s we found decided to sit on the water in front of us for over five minutes, This allowed for amazing looks, photos and even better amazing listens! I think this was the first time most, if not all on the boat, had ever heard the insect like twittering of these amazing little birds (listen here).

Craveri’s Murrelets

We ended our day heading back along the Orange County coastline where we ran into more Black-vented Shearwaters and a sizable pod of Common Dolphin. Judging from all the enthusiastic comments from participants I think we need to get another pelagic on the Pasadena Audubon Society schedule ASAP.

One of the best parts of the day was that everyone managed to see pretty much all of the birds that we found. This was testament to our excellent boat captain and the fantastic leaders on the day: David Bell, Tom Benson, Kimball Garrett, Brittany O’Connor and Justyn Stahl. Thanks to everyone for making it a fun day on the water.