Category: Birding Trips

Getting out to look at the birds

Posted on in Bird Profiles, Birding Trips

Flammulated Owls, Part 1

life-list-11I’ve mentioned in the past how bad I am at spotting owls. (That might have something to do with my typical 8:30 pm bedtime.) Well, a couple of weeks ago a birding friend called, asking if I wanted to join her and some others for an evening with Colorado College researcher Brian Linkhart, who has been studying Flammulated Owls for the past 30 years. We’d be traipsing through the Manitou Experimental Forest (west of Colorado Springs) in the dark, accompanying Brian and his student researchers as they netted and banded the tiny owls.

Of course I said yes!

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park

golden-fronted-woodpecker_bentsen-riograndesp-tx_lah_4932Time was running out. I had one more day of birding paradise, and too many options remaining. Should I go to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge? Salineno, a 90 minute drive up the valley, was reporting Brown Jays. Maybe we should head there. Then I overheard someone mention that a Black-vented Oriole was hanging around the feeding station at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, just 20 minutes from our motel. The decision was made—I’d be chasing another lifer.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: A Large, Plain Estuary

“Have you seen the Rose-throated Becard? It’s at Estero Llano.”
“You still haven’t seen a Pauraque? You’ve got to go to Estero Llano Grande.”
“The birding here is good, but the best birding is at Estero Llano Grande State Park.”

After hearing all the comment, we just had to go check it all out for ourselves.

duck_esterollanograndesp-tx_lah_4363_filteredEstero Llano Grande State Park (which means “large plain estuary”) didn’t exist when I was in Texas five years ago—it was still a sorghum field and dry lake bed. Since habitat takes time to return to its natural state, I wasn’t sure that reality could possibly live up to all the hype. I forget that plants grow faster in south Texas than they do in high, dry Colorado!

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: Sabal Palms Sanctuary

sabalpalms-brownsville-tx_lah_4301I was a woman with a mission. On our previous trip to southern Texas (five years ago) I had added the Ringed Kingfisher to my life list, but the Green Kingfisher eluded me. In the following years, I’d hiked miles of southern Arizona, following tips from local birders, but still—no Green Kingfisher. Now that we were back in Texas, I was determined to not only see one, but photograph it as well.

With that goal in mind, we headed to Audubon’s Sabal Palms sanctuary. Situated near the mouth of the Rio Grande, mere yards from the border, this sanctuary protects one of the few remaining groves of sabal palms and the associated habitat. Plenty of trails lead through the thick undergrowth, and you can walk out to the edge of the river and gaze across at Mexico.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots, Nature

Birder Heaven: South Padre Island

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South Padre Island is full of hotels, restaurants, condos, fishermen,  and tourists. Since my husband and I were accompanied by some older, non-birding friends, we weren’t able to arrive until midday, definitely not the best time to go birding. Then, when I discovered that the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center now charges admission, I almost turned back. I’m glad I didn’t.

It had been years since our last visit, and things have changed. There is now a large nature center housing some excellent interpretive displays plus the usual nature-related souvenirs. You now have to go through the building (and pay your $5, less for children) to reach the boardwalks that extend out over the bay.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: Birding the Beach

bocachica-brownsville-tx_lah_3743The sun was already low in the sky when my husband and I arrived at Boca Chica beach, just north of Brownsville, Texas. We had spent most of the day at Laguna Atascosa NWR, and wanted to make the best of the few hours of daylight that remained.

bocachica-brownsville-tx_lah_3817Although it’s legal to drive on the packed sand, we opted to park at the entrance. Peeling off our shoes and socks, we rolled up our jeans and strolled down the packed sand. It was late December, but the temperature had reached the upper 70s that day, and the humidity retained the heat. The water was cool and refreshing, and two little girls were splashing in the surf. I had to try it out as well, but only ankle deep.

This was sure a lot more comfortable than birding in Colorado this time of year!

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds

Birder Heaven: Laguna Atascosa NWR

lagunaatascosanwr-tx_lah_3293Did you hear? There’s a Golden-crowned Warbler at Fontera! And there’s a Rose-throated Becard at Estero Llano… and an Anna’s Hummingbird at Sabal Palms, a Rufous Hummingbird at Estero… a Crimson-collared Grosbeak at Fontera… a Black-vented Oriole at Bentsen…

Birding the Rio Grande valley is like nowhere I’ve ever been. You could spend your entire trip chasing rarities from site to site. I overheard one man commenting that he’d seen four rare birds in one day. Where else can you do that?

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Posted on in Bird Profiles, Birding Trips, Birds

Mountaintop Birds

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My husband and I aren’t the only ones who escape the heat by fleeing to high altitudes. A number of bird species do the same thing. Instead of migrating to the arctic, they head for the hills.

I was a first-year birder, a mere fledgling. Our local Audubon chapter was offering a trip to the high country. Of course I signed up. Surely there were amazing birds to be seen at such rarefied heights. I was expecting something new and exciting— a Williamson’s Sapsucker, perhaps, or one of the rosy-finches. Maybe we’d even spot a well-camouflaged ptarmigan!

We piled out of the cars at the top of the first pass, and I raised my binoculars to scan the scattered patches of melting snow and dwarfed willows. There! What as that moving in that patch of wildflowers? It’s a… it’s a… robin? I came all the way up here to see a robin? I have plenty of robins in my yard, munching on my gooseberries and chokecherries!

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Nature

The CFO Convention: Part 3

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Saturday morning. Wakened by my alarm, I snuggled down into my sleeping bag and  listened. Trucks rumbled by on the nearby highway. The bird in the trees overhead kept up a constant chatter. But no drops were hitting the tent. The rain had stopped!

Thankfully, our field trip this morning departed at a leisurely 6:30 a.m., the first of two days photographing birds with Bill Schmoker. This was my primary reason for attending the convention, and I was eager to get started.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds

The CFO Convention: Part 2

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The saga continues…

The alarm on my phone chirped into the pre-dawn blackness. My friend Debbie and I both groaned. Between the 18-wheelers on near-by Hwy. 50 and the louder truck parked across the narrow driveway from us—the truck whose owner decided to idle for ten minutes, then rev the engine for another ten, and then finally to drive around the crunchy gravel loop a few times at 2:40 am!—we hadn’t slept at all well.

Still, an exciting day was waiting. We had each signed up for different trips, and mine was headed up Grand Mesa to look for (among other species) Chukar, Gray Flycatcher, Gray Vireo, eight warbler species, and Black-throated and Fox Sparrows. Since several of these would be new birds for me, the anticipation was enough to get me up at 4:30, and into the car by 4:45.

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