The Big 30 and the Big 300 (#300-306)

Well, we were mid-hike where I last left off...at #299...

I wasn't aware of it in the field, but I found my 300th bird out in the field, just one day before my 30th birthday. Turns out we found a lot of reasons to celebrate in Yelapa.

I'm not sure how the girl who set out to find 100 birds back in 2010 would feel about me finding #300.  But I think she'd be pretty impressed, and happy that something that started out as a little challenge became a full-blown passion. I think she'd marvel at the small, beautiful things I've found, the secret world I've been discovering, the knowledge I've gained, and the adventures I've had. I'm pretty sure she'd laugh at my unbridled nerdiness.

#300: San Blas Jay; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014

There are amazing jays in Mexico. I'm still waiting to spot a Green Jay...one day, on another adventure!

#301: Groove-billed Ani; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014
I had decided it was time to get moving a little faster (not as much fun when you aren't carrying the camera), but Matt was taking just forever and I was getting a little peeved. eventually I turn back to see where the heck he is, and I realize I totally missed out on a life bird. Luckily we found more soon after!

#302: Inca Dove; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014
The inca doves were pretty easy to spot, were often pairs, and quite tiny.

 We couldn't believe our luck when we spotted a green kingfisher perched by the river!
#303: Green Kingfisher; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014

#304: Common Black Hawk; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014
 Matt had a knack that day for wandering off when I just wanted to get going and seeing life birds so then I'd feel really bad. This beautiful hawk was perched over a very quiet marshy area, right beside a bunch of the ricketiest houses you ever saw. Seemed a bit of a shanty-town over there.

I had a feeling this Muscovy duck was domestic but we weren't sure and took a shot just in case. Wild muscovies have black and domestics have more white. Safe to say this one is domestic!
Confusing Domestic Ducks (and hybrids)
Manky Muscovy Ducks

How's it hanging squirrel? Got nuts?

Not sure about this one...there are so many yellow/grey/brown flycatchers in Mexico!

On my birthday, I wanted to hike to the big waterfall (there's a smaller but also awesome one right in the village). It was about a 2-hour hike each way so we had ample opportunity to bird along the way. I couldn't believe that I'd hit my 300th bird just the day before and really wanted to keep up my "birthday life bird" tradition (it would have been too perfect to find my 300th on my 30th, right? Maybe I'll find my 500th on my 50th, lol!). We'd heard that macaws were frequently seen on the way to the falls and I was so hopeful that we'd see them too.

Following the directions to the falls "crawl through the gate on the left"

We made it all the way to the falls and still hadn't seen the macaws. I was starting to feel that growing, heavy feeling of imminent disappointment...until we heard this crazy loud squawking and these small specks
wayyyyyyyy overhead. The macaws are massive birds (70cm), so for them to appear so small is really something...I really expected them to just be perched on a nearby branch...like in a pet shop or something...

Anyways, it was clear that we'd seen them (and I had my birthday lifer), but we only had the most disappointing of photos.

Luckily, on the hike back, a couple flew back quite a bit closer, close enough that you could see the bold sections of colour.

#305: Military Macaw; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014

While the quality of this shot is pretty far from spectacular, it made me oddly happy. Here are these birds that are at a high risk of being poached for the pet trade and there they are, up there, doing their awesome thing. It was sadly so odd to see them flying so high--because we only ever see them in cages. The reason this picture is not technically very good is the reason it's so awesome: because it's on the birds' terms. Here are two beautiful parrots, wild and free. And on my 30th birthday, I thought that that's pretty much the best thing you can be--wild and free. I can't say how good it is to hit a milestone and feel so immensely grateful, and to feel like maybe you've figured it out. To feel like the path is unfolding before you in the most wonderful way.

The day after my birthday I had a few hours to myself to roam around the village. It was generally pretty quiet, but I did spot this beauty...I'm not sure how, as it was sitting absolutely still.
#306: Russet-crowned Motmot; Yelapa, Mexico; February 2014

Later that day, on our last morning in Yelapa, we started out the day at Cafe Bahia. In addition to our first real coffees in several days and fantastic grub, I loved the view right out front pier, watching the water taxis come in, unload, load up and take off again. I love that on each post of the pier there was an awesome bird...magnificent frigatebird, brown pelicans, and black vultures around too. 

 

Me and my fave bird.

It's always fun watching the pelicans do their thing--dive bombing for fish, cruising, or taking a snooze on someone's rickety fishing boat. Also hilarious watching them try to turn the fish around to gobble them down whole, or take one that's just a bit too big.

As always lots of yellow/black birds that I could agonize over identifying them or I could just post the pics for you to enjoy.

Love these swallows and love the dramatic backdrop and how they lined up perfectly. Art in nature!

Well, it looks like I reached the end of Mexico 2014. I don't know what it is about that place, but it makes me feel more like me than I ever feel. It strips away all the distractions and everyone and everything is so real. it's vibrant, and confusing, and awesome.

It's so exciting birding away from home and seeing lifers it seems every day. The birding continues at home, but I don't always take my camera with me. but I'm out there, loving it as always.

catch ya later...
j

Kauai Part 2: All the magic seabirds that live by the sea... (#243-248)

So things are getting down to the grind...final assignment due this week, taxes due sometime soon...(?), photos to edit, social appearances to make, garden to get growing, trips to plan, guests to host...all to say I'm doing some mega-procrastinating and find myself here. at least I'm still getting something done that needs to get done, right?

So it's now a month ago but let's close our eyes and transport ourselves back to the beautiful island of Kauai, at the beginning of my trip. Need a refresher? Wave-crashed lava coast, secluded beaches, green mountains, smell of the ocean and freshness in the air, windswept and salty hair, awesome surf, teeny tiny bikinis and fresh avocados and papayas on the side of the red dirt road (oh wait! this calls for an INTERLUDE! i know I said we were only going back to Hawaii in March 2013, but let's actually go a little farther east circa 2003...just for a second!)

Right of the bat, on day one, we headed to Kilauea Lighthouse, which was close to where we are staying and a great spot because a) it is beautiful and b) it's a great spot to see seabirds. I should mention right away that Matt took almost all of these shots as I'm apparently quite useless photographing moving objects and he's quite useless shooting still ones...how's that for yin and yang?

ok, I took this one.

#243: Red-footed booby; Kauai, March 2013

Love the colours on the bill of this bird! There were so many of them at Kilauea, nesting on the cliffsides. 

#244: Laysan Albatross; Kauai, March 2013

Don't be deceived by this picture of a kind of average-looking bird. There is nothing average about it, with a six-foot wingspan, the Laysan has a big story to tell. I first became familiar with this bird when I watched the midway videos by photographer Chris Jordan. If you haven't seen them, you must, but you are fairly warned: they are heartbreaking. They will change how you live your life. Laysan are a threatened species. They have a large breeding colony on Midway in the middle of the ocean in abandoned navy buildings. Chicks eat chips of the lead paint from the buildings and are poisoned. The parents also mistake plastic floating in the ocean as food and feed it to their chicks, who them die because their bellies are full of plastic. It is horrifying. So STOP USING PLASTIC. NOW.

You probably can't see it in this web version of this image, but Albie here has a band on his leg. You can report sightings of banded birds to the U.S. Geological Survey/Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, which helps them monitor them. They break down the types of bands by material and colour and what those things mean for you. So rad! Go science!

Banded Bird Encounter Reporting

#245: Great Frigatebird; Kauai, March 2013
I had seen magnificent frigatebirds in Mexico, and they sure look similar but these are different. During our trip I had to have faith in the guidebook that there were no Magnificents in Hawaii so I knew for sure I was looking at a lifer. I like to know what I'm looking at because I can see all the identifiers, not just trust the map. Of course, we have to remember that the keys to identification work together, and ranges is one of those things (for more on the others, see Cornell's Birding Basics). I've just never really trusted maps because they can change, and if birds wander like I do you could never rely on a map.

I've done some more research and can now positively identify this as a female Great because of the white throat/breast. Not surprisingly, these birds were hanging around Kilauea, where there is a huge booby colony, whose nests they harass (means birds).

#246: Red-Tailed Tropicbird; Kauai, March 2013
I can't believe this amazing shot Matt took...it's like an angel...

#247: White-Tailed Tropicbird; Kauai, March 2013
White-tailed tropicbirds seemed fewer than red-tailed. And equally difficult to photograph.

Shearwater nesting sites are all around this part of the island. It's majorly difficult because of cats get at the ground nests, and people let their dogs of leash and they kill the birds too. The park staff said if we wanted to see thousands of shearwaters, all we had to do was come at dusk. Unfortunately we never made it...

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Later on in the week, we took a catamaran trip along the Na Pali coast. This wasn't really meant to be a birdwatching outing, but we still managed to get a lifer! Plus breaching humpback whales and the amazing scenery didn't hurt at all! This laughing gull hung around the back of our boat for a while, while a humpback was jumping beside us. I think everyone thought the camera was facing the wrong direction!

Laughing gull

And later on, around sunset, I saw this one off in the distance...a lifer! We didn't see these at Kilauea, so that was pretty exciting.

#248: Brown booby, Barking Sands/Na Pali Coast, Kauai, March 2013

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The day after Kilauea we headed to Hanalei Wildlife Refuge for marsh birds of Kauai. Also expect some local sightings coming up too. Stay tuned!

Kauai Part 1: Two Chickens in Paradise (#237-241)
Kauai Part 3: In a land called Hanalei...(marsh birds) (#251-256)
Kauai Part 4: Coming soon!
Kauai Part 5: Coming soon!