Category: Birding Trips

Getting out to look at the birds

Posted on in Birding Trips

Birding Down Under: Queensland Excursions

wongabelnp-qld-australia_lah_3794Tropical rainforests. That was why we had come to northeastern Queensland. I had romantic visions of colorful birds, stunning flowers, perhaps a python or two. Now that we were finally there, it was time to see if my fantasies had any basis in fact.

Our first excursion was to Eubanangee Swamp National Park, south of Cairns. The terrain was rolling grasslands and scrub interspersed with tracts of forest, mostly in the valleys. Cloud-shrouded mountains loomed in the distance. I figured that the edge habitat would be an excellent place to find birds, but the trails were so dark and the foliage was so dense, I was quickly frustrated. Clearly, I need to work on my “birding by ear” skills!

eubenangeeswampnp-qld-australia_lah_2694 (more…)

Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds

Looking for Spotted Owls

LosAlamos-NM_LAH_7135“You can’t always get what you want…”
“I heard that there two Spotted Owls are being seen in New Mexico. I’m going to go look for them—do you want to come? How soon can you leave?” My friend Susan (left) had done a Big Year last year, but she was still missing this species and was keen on adding it to her North America life list.

I reread her text. What she was really asking me was, do I want to drop everything, pack an overnight bag, drive six hours, then hike down a steep trail in the hopes that we will be able to locate an owl that looks just like the tree it is sitting in?

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Birding Down Under: Yamba to Brisbane

brahminy-kite_yamba-nsw-australia_lah_0779It was our final day on the coast of New South Wales, and I wanted to see shorebirds.  We had stayed in Yamba, so after breakfast we headed for the beach. It  was empty. No people. No birds. Just wind, and plenty of that.

Discouraged, I started to head back to the car when a large, blunt-headed black bird flew overhead, then landed in a near-by tree. I rushed over, camera in one hand and binoculars in the other. Yes, there it was—a  Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo! It gave me an indifferent look, then went back to munching on the flowers while I clicked away.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Hotspots

Birding Down Under: Fernbank Creek Road

red-browed-finch_fernbankcreek-qld-australia_lah_9901f(This post continues my series on birding in Australia; choose “Birding Trips” in the Category box at right to see my previous posts.)

The strip of coastline between Sydney and Brisbane is full of national parks. With some notable exceptions, Australian national parks are not as developed as the ones in the U.S., and could better be compared to our national forests. While Australia is similar in size to the United States, much of it is desert. There is a lot of pressure to develop the arable land along the coast, and the national parks play an essential role in preserving the natural environment. They also provide plenty of opportunities to pull off the road and look for birds. Using a combination of Australian birding sites and eBird lists, we picked a fairly random assortment of likely looking destinations and headed in their direction. (more…)

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Birding Down Under: Coastal Wetlands

(This post continues my series on birding in Australia… choose “Birding Trips” in the Category box at right to see my previous posts.)

I woke the next morning as soon as it was light and headed out the door, surprising several grazing kangaroos. I snapped their picture as they bounded away. Several Noisy Miners lived up to their name, making a racket in the early morning stillness. A pair of raptors landed on the top of a tall tree nearby. Pulling out my binos for a good look, I realized they were Ospreys—familiar birds. It seemed strange to see them so far from home.

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Birding Down Under: North from Sydney

lah_7828You can’t go to Australia and skip the beach. It would be unthinkable! That’s why, after spending a wonderful week in the Blue Mountains, we decided to drive north along the coast to Brisbane. Determined to allow plenty of time for birds and beach stops, we allocated three whole days. We could easily have spent a lot longer.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds

Pursuing a Purple Sandpiper

purple-sandpiper_dillonreservoir-co_lah_2314

Gelett Burgess may have avoided purple cows*, but a Purple Sandpiper is a different matter. During the last week of 2016, I was one of hundreds of birders who flocked to Dillon Reservoir, in the Colorado Rockies, for a glimpse of this misplaced bird. For a species that winters along the Atlantic coast and summers in far northern Canada and Greenland, an individual spending the holidays in Colorado was a bit out of the ordinary. Perhaps it was fooled by the unseasonable weather we had a month or so ago—or perhaps it simply got lost.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Media Reviews, Nature

A Down Under Carol

We’re all familiar with French hens, turtledoves, and partridges in pear trees, but do you associate Christmas with bellbirds, friarbirds, and currawongs? You might, if you live in Australia!

Having just visited this amazing continent (and we barely got a taste in three weeks!), I am delighted to share this distinctly Aussie Christmas carol with you. It was written by William Garnet James and John Wheeler, is sung by Bucko & Champs, and was posted to YouTube by Shirley Wookie.

Carol of the Birds

Make sure your sound is on. I’m afraid the quality is rather poor, so don’t make the screen too big. And for the record, “orana” means welcome in an Aboriginal tongue.
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At top: Currawong (Faulconbridge, NSW, left), and Helmeted Friarbird (Daintree, QLD).