Florida Birding; May 5th, Part 1

May 5th was my first morning in Pensacola Beach, Florida, and my first extensive birding in the area. I started very early in the morning, and walked out to the entrance station for the Ft. Pitkins Park section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. There was a stiff breeze at my back as I headed out, and with sunrise and my about face, it strengthened into a full-on blow. Even so the birding was surprisingly good. I found myself in the midst of a Least Tern breeding colony coming to life with the increasing light.


From some after the fact reading I have learned that Least Terns have a diet that consists almost entirely of small 'baitfish' caught in the shallows near their colonies. Part of their mating ritual involves the giving of food to a prospective partner. At the time I wasn't sure if the interactions were sharing or thievery, but it seems likely that those exchanges were between pairs.


It was clear that the food source was small fish though, and they seemed to be returning frequently with fresh catches.


Cool birds though, I spent a few afternoons on the beach trying to capture their entertaining dives in still images - but relaxation and general difficulty capturing birds in high speed flight made that a lost cause. So instead an early morning shot of a bird cruising.


While Least Terns were by far the most numerous, there were a handful of other terns mixed in. They were Gull-billed Terns, which were just a bit larger in size, but had notably thicker black bills by comparison.


Stay tuned, more to come shortly from my images on the 5th, and my list of images to process from the 6th is daunting. Plenty to keep me busy through and beyond the CFO convention trip this weekend.

Falling Farther Behind!

Note to self: If you go on a trip and take thousands of photographs in the beginning of May don't expect to process through them anytime soon.

Note to readers: I now have a list of selected photos from the first two days of my trip to be cropped/processed. Two additional days, and some cropping and I'll be ready to post! In the meantime migration is too good not to be out in, and the images keep piling up. On Wednesday I realized that I would reach my anniversary at work over the weekend, and had a half day of vacation that would have burned, so Thursday morning, was a cold, rainy, snowy day...with some great birds.


A Fox Sparrow seems to have taken the place of some of the unusual wintering sparrows at the Red Rocks Trading Post, so my first stop was to check on the feeders there. I quickly located the Fox Sparrow as it occasionally emerged from the bushes on the far side of the garden. This was a bird I was glad to photograph. I had mis-identified one back in 2009 in the blog (an obvious Song Sparrow). I corrected the entry, but the keyword remained like a scarlet letter on the right side of my page. Ha. Anyways, it is good to actually add the species to the blog.


The Fox Sparrow may have been the main draw, but other birds quickly stole the show. Two Black-headed Grosbeaks mingled with the many Spotted Towhees, showing their similar color schemes.


I also hit the jackpot on Lazuli Buntings. I placed my count from early in the morning at 30. They were everywhere! Eight to ten would feed in a group, while other clusters would circulate into the trees.


Even soaking wet these guys are colorful. The large numbers of birds even attracted a Sharp-shinned Hawk to make a pass. It was unsuccessful, and only captured as an image of a faint dot disappearing in the clouds. Even so, cool to see 50 or sixty birds scatter all at once.


After over an hour at the site I decided I would head uphill and get a bit of my precipitation in solid form (almost 2.5 inches of slow steady rain in the high plains of Colorado was welcome, but tiring - we like our sunshine!). I feel that this Ruby-crowned Kinglet was really trying to show off his color against all that white. It worked! The rest of my visit to Golden Gate Canyon State Park was uneventful, two Mallards, a flicker, and a Lincoln's Sparrow completed my list.

So the backlog remains, but I'll deal with it someday! Next week ends with a trip to Grand Junction for the CFO convention. That should ensure that the backlog carries me well into June! As of now my counts stand at:

2011 Count: 159
Lifetime: 268

Coolest Evening of Birding in a Long Time

This afternoon work wrapped up a bit early, so I headed to Boulder County to get a visit in to one of the Spring migration hot spots, and just one of the coolest spots to visit in general - Gregory Canyon.


I arrived and was checking out the entrance road when another photographer walked up. He was trying to relocate a Black-throated Gray Warbler he had seen this morning. At the time it was fairly quiet and I had to settle for a Catbird, some Virginia Warblers, and displaying Broad-tailed Hummingbirds.


Around six o'clock I watched a Black-capped Chickadee move past some trees, and then did a double take at the 'reversed' chickadee. It didn't take long to realize that I had found the Black-throated Gray Warbler. Like most warblers it was distant, and the pictures aren't ideal - but I'll take distinguishable any day.


I had another surprise when I checked my email this evening - the following cheesy award was waiting for me:


The meat of it was really cool. Whenever I get through Florida pictures I will introduce Semipalmated Sandpiper JNT. I was amazed that I had been able to pull the code from a photograph of the tag - even more that they could tell me within 24 hours that I had found a bird that was banded back in 2004! How cool is that?

I will get posts up from my trip, but for my own future reference my year and lifetime totals stand at:

2011 Count: 153
Lifetime: 268

When Good Birds Go Bad

Fishermen watch your bait! Just flipping through few pics after getting back from Florida. I've got lists to update and pictures to process, but will try to get a few posts up along the way.

Greetings from Pensacola Beach

It's been too long since I have spent time at a beach. The sound of waves crashing outside my room, sky meeting water in the distance, great food, sugary sand between my toes, not much could be better. Then there are the birds.

They have been great! My only knock on the whole trip has been the low signal for my hotel wireless connection, so posting and updating lists has been more miss than hit, but I am filling up memory cards with pictures and should have plenty to post next week.

All my best to friends, family, and readers alike - have fun out there.

Tic-Toc

In 24 hours I will hopefully be minutes from departure. I am off for adventure with a couple of old school buddies, to explore a new locale and escape the reminders that Colorado keeps throwing out that winter isn't that far gone. So in the meantime a few more shots from Sunday. Nothing new from yesterday, I ran a couple of errands and moved 96Gb of pictures, (the first 1/3 of 2011), to external storage freeing up some space on the ol' laptop. The first shot (above) is a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Not a particularly well lit shot, but finding one perched as opposed to zooming around above a lake was worth noting. NRWS show that buffy arc across the top of their breast, which can also be a good field mark when looking at rows of swallows on power lines.


While looking for shorebirds at the edge of one pond, a bird decided I had gotten too close and took off across the water.

I just had to head along the bank to make sure the large bird that had just flown quietly away was what I suspected it to have been.


A Great Horned Owl. I backtracked, as I intended to take a different route through the maze of small ponds and having confirmed its identity I was content to leave the owl in peace rather than risking flushing it once again.

A lone Great Egret had set up shop in a pond which I was gradually working my way around. I believe that this was the same bird that had started my morning with a flyover as I parked.


Further along I heard dull tapping coming from a tree. I paused, and quickly realized that it was the sound of a woodpecker excavating a nest cavity. I circled the tree until I found the hole, and then waited....


Northern Flicker, maker of holes.

One of my real highlights from Sunday was this sight, Wood Ducks in the woods. After seeing the Wood Ducks last week in Wheat Ridge I had been hoping to find some roosting, and finally got the chance. They moved deeper into the trees when a nice couple walked up to me with their dog, but I got to follow their progress through two more flights.


Finally, a Great Blue Heron for kicks.


I had a great series of this bird taking off. Unfortunately I was aiming somewhat into the poor light, but fun to see them in their breeding finery.

So now I am back to watching the clock and ready for travel. My hotel will be a few minutes walk from a National Seashore, so I hope to get my bird on in the early part of the day, and my chill-axin' tourist on in the afternoon and evening. I already know the trip will be fun, and my first visit to a shoreline since beginning birding has my mind spinning with the new species I may get to see and photograph.

Heck of a day!

Sunday's ski plans fell through, so based on my success the day before I decided to head up to the Walden/Sawhill Ponds/Cottonwood Marsh complex in Boulder for the early morning hours. After Saturday's bright skies and bitter winds the calm overcast and quiet of Sunday was most welcome.


When I arrived I had the place to myself. The sun was just rising, but light would remain an issue for the morning due to the low clouds. Light and iffy photography aside I was in for a treat. By the time I left the park I had tallied 47 species, more than likely a new best for a solo bird walk of just a few hours in one location. Tops among everything I saw was this Long-billed Dowitcher, which I saw very early, just as I was crossing the boardwalk going into the complex. The bill shape narrowed down the possibilities, but I had my doubts after scrutinizing the first picture and checking the guidebooks. Shape and structure were great for the Dowitcher, but a Dowitcher in May should have a rusty orange breast in its breeding plumage. I felt better once I made it to this shot.


A longer exposure blurs the detail, but begins to show the coloration on the shaded side of the bird. Yet another example of how photographs can be misleading for identification. Fortunately, a bird with a long bill with a downward pointing tip doesn't have many options here.


A bit later I came across another shorebird to identify, this one I was more confident to guess in the field, and confirmed later as Solitary Sandpiper. The bird's shape, and the fine light specks on its dark back are good fieldmarks to set this sandpiper apart.



I was back home sorting through pics and wrapping up a few to-do items for my trip this week when I decided to check COBirds before running a couple of errands. Much to my delight I saw a message that was less than an hour old indicating a Black-necked Stilt was near Stearn's Lake, and a minute's detour from my route.


So two life birds in one day. One was produced by concentrated birding, looking for migrants at as known hotspot, and then using technology to record and reconfirm my sighting. The other, a word of mouth sighting that was incredibly easy to refind. BI was back home sorting through pics and wrapping up a few to-do items for my trip this week when I decided to check COBirds before running a couple of errands. Much to my delight I saw a message that was less than an hour.

Both were memorable, and filled out a very birdy beginning of May. I have a handful of potentially postable pictures, but may or may not get them listed in the next few nights. Although if the snow showers continue I may be looking for indoor activities to pass the time.

2011 Count: 128
Lifetime: 257