COSTA RICA - DEC 3RD 2011

LA SELVA BIOLOGICAL RESERVE AND THE GARDEN AT HELECONIA ISLAND.

An early morning ramble in the gardens produced several new species for the trip: these included Green Ibis, Great Jacamar, Nicaraguan Seed-Finch, Wood Thrush, Pied Puffbird, Olive-backed Euphonia and Great Antshrike.

During breakfast we sat on the terrace and watched the feeders and bird tables where a plethora of birds gathered. We had great views of Green Honeycreeper,Blue Dacnis, Summer Tanager the beautiful Orange-billed Sparrow. BARRED ANTSHRIKE (male)

After a lovely breakfast we drove the short distance to La Selva where we spent the whole day. We hired a guide from the park to escort us and boy was he good. The trails from the main centre stretch for miles into the rain forest and these held many species of birds, including the Trogons, Motmots and woodpeckers shown here. There are several more pictures from today's trip posted on the next blog entry.

BLACK-HEADED TROGON


BLACK-THROATED TROGON

PALE-BILLED WOODPECKER

RUFOUS MOTMOT

COSTA RICA - DEC 2ND 2011

DAY 2 - SARAPIQUI VIA BRAULIO CARRILLO NATIONAL PARK - HELICONIA ISLAND

We got up early to explore the hotel grounds before taking breakfast at 6am! Our first birds were soon in the bag: Clay-coloured Thrush(the national bird of CostaRica), White-winged Dove and a Kisskadee. A few Martins flew over distantly, too far to identify. A Great-tailed Grackle flew over and a Varigated Squirrel ran passed our bedroom window.



Our guide for the week turned up on time at 6:30am after we had taken our breakfast. We were soon on the road to the cloud forest but first we had to negociate San jose. It was a nightmare, the traffic was horrendous and it took 2 hour sto pass through the city.
SPOTTED ANTBIRD





BALTIMORE ORIOLE

Once back on open roads we settled down and noted some birds, Grackles, Black Vultures and more Kisskadees. Our stop was just passed the entrance to Braulio Carillo Nature Reserve, it is a private site with forest walks. Our first ever Hummingbird was found, the Rufous –tailed variety. Next on the trail we found an ant swarm with some interestingbirds in attendance. We saw Barred Woddcreeper, Spotted Antbird and Ocellated Antbird, lovely birds.

SPECTACLED OWL

Then a small mixed-flock of tanagers flew by. Over the next couple of hours this type of birding was repeated several times and one particular mixed flock had close on 50 birds in it. Some species that stand out in my mind were: Passerine Tanager, Red-legged Honey Creeper, White Shouldered Tanager, Tawny Crested Tanager, Tawny Capped Euphonia, Yellow-crowned Euphonia, White-collared Manakin, Cinnamon Becard, Green Hermit…..oh the list goes on, you get the picture. The dense undergrowth held several species which we could not see and we walked over many lines of Leaf-Cutter Ants.

AMAZON KINGFISHER

After th great excitement of the morning we drove to a roadside restaurant for a lovely lunch of chicken, rice and beans. During lunch we sat on a terrace and logged Laughing Falcon, Bat Falcon, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Chestnut Headed Oropendola, Cattle Egret, House Sparrow, Long-tailed grackle.

Our last stop for the day was our next hotel which is located near Sarapiqui and is called Helconoia Island. It is literally an island hotel, surrounded by a triangle of two rivers and a stream. It has a fantastic 5 acres of stunning garden and a bird list to die for.

PASSERINI TANAGER (FORMERLY SCARLET RUMPED TANAGER)

What a time we had, we must have logged 30-40 species where we stood, it was fantastic. The garden was equally as good, there were many flowering plants which attracted all kinds of species and severalmammalstoo! We saw Monitor Lizards, Otters in the river, both the Tow and Three Toed Sloths, Howler Monkeys and several nice butterflies. Some bright birds spring to mind, Chestnut Mandibled Toucan, Red-lored Parrot, Collared Aracari, Amazon Kingfisher, Mangrove Swallow, Boat-billed, Social, Grey-capped and White-ringed Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tyrant, Bananaquit and many others. The star bird for me was the Spectacled Owl-what a beauty and what a garden.

TROPICAL KINGBIRD

HUDSON RIVER - NOVEMBER 30TH

I took an early morning walk along the East bank of the Hudson River at 7am this morning. It was very cold with a biting westerly wind, come back Spain!!! It was overcast at first then it brightened.

James, my son, could not come with me as he had broken his collar bone playing 5-a-side soccer the night before. He won't be lifting his bins or his camera for at least 6 weeks. Shame as he has become a good birder!

There was not much on the river, a few Cormorants and the following gulls were noted:

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL



AMERCIAN HERRING GULL



RING-BILLED GULL (IMMATURE)

RING BILLED GULL


RING BILLED GULL (adult + immature)


Along the tree-lined pathway I found several White-throated Sparrows, lots of Common Starlings, House Sparrows and a flock of Canada Geese. Up in the trees I saw a flock of some 15 Blue Jays and a smaller flock of Mourning Doves. Then breakfast beckoned!! Thus ened my birding in New York!



MOURNING DOVE

REFLECTION IN THE PARK - NOV 28TH

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY DAWN.

CENTRAL PARK - NOV 27TH 2011

WE GOT UP A LITTLE EARLIER THIS MORNING AND TOOK THE SAME ROUTE THROUGH CENTRAL PARK. THE WEATHER WAS JUST AS GOOD, A CLEAR BLUE SKY AND NO WIND WITH MILD TEMPERATURES.


WE ADDED A GOOD NUMBER OF SPECIES TO OUR PARK LIST: COMMON GRACKLE, RED-TAILED HAWK, BUFFLEHEAD, AMERICAN COOT, SONG SPARROW AND THE STAR OF THE SHOW A YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER(MALE).

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY JAMES BUCKLER EXCEPT THE WOODPECKER



AMERICAN ROBIN

WHITE THROATED SPARROW


SONG SPARROW

FEMALE NORTHERN CARDINAL

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN COOT

CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK - NOV 26TH 2011

OUR first morning in New York, it was a beautiful warm day, 16C and all day sunshine, I went to Central Park with my son James and we birded the 'Rambles' for an hour or so.

We found small, mixed flocks of common birds and one or two nice birds too! We started with House Sparrow and Common Starling, our gift to the US. But soon it got interesting. We moved into the quieter areas in the Rambles, it was a wooded area with open glades, on the pathway we found a flock of White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch, House Finch and Dark-eyed Juncos.

A White-breasted Nuthatch was very nice and so was a Red-bellied Woodpecker, we saw several Tufted Titmouse and more Sparrows.


DARK-EYED JUNCO (MALE) all photos taken by James because my batteries were flat

Later during the walk we added Cedar Waxwings, a flock of about 10 landed in nearby trees, a couple of Cardinals, including a lovely male, showed very well. We then found another flock of mixed species which contained a couple of Fox Sparrows, what a lovely little bird.

A VIEW OF MANHATTAN FROM THE PARK

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW

Other birds seen were Great Cormorant, MourningDove, Mallard, Blue Jay, Hermit Thrush, Amercian Robin
HERMIT THRUSH

In the afternoon we walked down to the East Hudson River where we saw many Ringed-billed Gulls and a nice surprise was a Bufflehead.

Salisbury - New Forest walk - Nov 23rd 2011

We went in search of Great Grey Shrike around the Pitt's Wood / Godshill area of the New Forest and found none! We did see Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit flocks and some beautiful Bullfinches.

We aslo found this 'Fairy Ring'



A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by sporocarps in rings or arcs, as well as by a necrotic zone (dead grass), or a ring of dark green grass. If these manifestations are visible a fairy fungus mycelium is likely to be present in the ring or arc underneath.

Fairy rings also occupy a prominent place in European folklore as the location of gateways into elfin kingdoms, or places where elves gather and dance. According to the folklore, a fairy ring appears when a fairy, pixie, or elf appears. It will disappear without trace in less than five days, but if an observer waits for the elf to return to the ring, he may be able to capture it.

There are two theories regarding the process involved in creating fairy rings. One states that the fairy ring is begun by a spore from the sporocarpus. The underground presence of the fungus can also cause withering or varying colour or growth of the grass above. Mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of fungi that poke their heads up out of the soil after rainstorms, tell only part of the fungi's story. Hidden in the soil is a huge network of threadlike mycelia. Mushrooms are not individual organisms. Rather, they are just one part of the mycelia lurking beneath the ground.[2]

The second theory, which is presented in the investigations of Japanese scientists on the Tricholoma matsutake species, shows that fairy rings could be established by connecting neighbouring oval genets of these mushrooms. If they make an arc or a ring, they continuously grow about the centre of this object.


WE ARE STAYING WITH FRIENDS, DEBBIE AND NICK, NEAR SALISBURY,THIS MORNING I OPENED THE CURTAINS TO VIEW THE GARDEN AND SAW TWO ROE DEER JUST BELOW ME, HOW COOL IS THAT?


TOMORROW (25TH) WE ARE OFF TO HEATHROW - THEN NEW YORK FOR 7 DAYS.

MID-NOVEMBER UPDATE

Since my last blog on the 1st of November I have spent very little time birding!!! On November 8th we set off for the UK in the car, we spent the first day driving to Zaragoza where we stayed for the first night in an hotel near Belchite. We visited the wonderful reserve at El Planeron in the morning of the 9th November. We saw Hoopoe, Lesser short toed lark, Thekla Lark, Crested Lark and a large flock of Calandra Lark also Red Kite, Common Kestrel and Raven.


VIEWS OF EL PLANERON PLAINS NEAR ZARAGOZA

From Zaragoza we travelled to the Pyrenees where we stoppe d at Astun for lunch. A large flock of Alpine Chough were eclipsed by an adult Lammergeier which drifted over us and landed about 100 meters fromus, my camera and scope were both in the car!!!

The Pyrenees at Astun on the French/Spanish border.

We made it as far as Bergerac before pulling over and finding a hotel for the night. On the 10th Nov we drove from bergerac to Calais and took an evening ferry to Dover and then drove the short distance to maidstone where we stayed for 3 days.

During our stay in Maidstone we visited Rye Harbour - it was a typical November day in the UK - no sunshine, dull, overcast, drizzling rain and cold. Oh how I love to be in England now that Novemver is here.

At Rye I was pleasantly surprised by the number of birds present - Golden Plover and Lapwing numbered in their hundreds, whilst lots of Curlew, Redshank, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Snipe and a good variety of gulls were present.









Over the last weekend we stayed in Somerset, near Dunster with friends on their Cider farm, hiccup!! Gill and Noel are birders and they took us out on Saturday when we made a visit to Steart Point in Somerset which was also dull, overcast, drizzly and cold!! Again we saw hundreds of Golden Plover and Lapwing, with Shelduck, Curlew, Wigeon, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Redshank and not a lot else.

However on the way back to the car park we stopped to look at some Curlews in afield and noticed a larger bird quartering the field behind the far hedge - it was a Short-eared Owl, fantastic. We walked nearer and the bird showed really well, a second joined it for a while before they clashed and the intruder was chased off. A superb Display and our bird of the day without a doubt.

We are now back in Crewekerne and we are off to Salisbury tomorrow to stay with more friends - who knows I may get down to the New Forest to see a Great Grey Shrike! Watch this space.