Bat Falcon!

Bats! Fuck! What is the deal with bats???? Well, bats aren't exactly a scientific enigma, but I don't see a whole lot of them. I was birding the Los Capitancillos Ponds recently when a big bat flew by in broad daylight. It was a hoary bat, one of the big bat species found throughout the United States. They stay active throughout the winter in the southern part of their range (many other species hibernate). I'm not sure what this individual was up to exactly, but it's diurnal adventure suddenly veered toward disaster right in front of my eyes.

The local American Kestrel that has been wintering here decided that the bat was a prey item - it went in for the kill! I was shocked. Kestrels typically seem so focused on little things on the ground, not this sort of hairy flying thing.

I rarely see kestrels go after anything as big as a hoary, and as you can guess I'd never seen a kestrel go after a bat of any kind. Even a kestrel in frenzied aerial pursuit is rare to see, that's much more of a Merlin thing.

This wasn't a playful chase on the kestrel's part, it was definitely a concerted effort to take the bat down. Horrifying for the bat, no doubt, but awesome to watch!

The kestrel did make contact with the bat at one point, but the bat persevered and was able to escape with its life. Kestrels are known to prey on bats, but this is the first time I'd seen it. Good aerial drama at the local patch!

Puerto Rico Winter Tour Y2K16: La Parguera, Maricao, Puerto Rican Nightjar, Laguna Cartagena

In the afternoon, we called it quits at Cabo Rojo and headed east to La Parguera for some good old-fashioned geri birding. The "hardware store" in La Parguera was easy enough to find, though not so easy to identify correctly. For anyone heading that way, this is what it looks like. You see, BB&B is here to help.

Why were we here? This was the easiest and most reliable place for Yellow-shouldered Blackbird. On the right side of the store, they toss out bread every day to feed the doves/icterids, and Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds are expected among the visitors. Well it turned out we got there way too early, but eventually the bread went out and the blackbirds came in.

Success! Another endemic down. We didn't see very many, and unfortunately 2-3 of the birds we did see (in other words, about half) had growths on their faces that looked a lot like avian pox. It was a bummer...I'm not sure what exactly it was or how they contracted their afflictions, but I suspect feeding them there may not be the best idea...they are endangered and not exactly thriving. We had a much better experience with them a couple days later someplace else, which I will get to in the next Puerto Rico post.

The next morning was just a total clusterfuck. There is no other way to describe it, although we did lifer Puerto Rican Vireo in the process. Not only did we get lost, we also definitely would have gotten ourselves stuck if not for being able to use 4X4. Google Maps was our enemy that day. We were trying to get to the Maricao forest, sanctuary of the Elfin-woods Warbler and supposedly one of the best places to bird...well it turns out getting there from the south is easy (go to Sabana Grande, take 120 all the way there), but that is the only way you can go! Don't even think about trying any other horseshit, unless it is from the town of Maricao itself (north of the forest).

We did finally make it, first stopping at a little unused track that goes north of 120 at the 13 km marker. We got great looks at Puerto Rican Vireos, which are not dissimilar from Eastern Bell's Vireo.

We couldn't ask for better looks really, so this was very satisfying. After getting vireo'd, the next bird we saw was a female Elfin-woods Warbler...holy shit! I thought those birds were supposed to be hard! A Green Mango was flitting around, and a little while later Dipper Dan and Officer Searcy found the male Elfin right on the main road.

If I was British, I would tell you that the views we had of this bird was superb. I'm not though, so the views we had were fucking sick. The bird was very cooperative, not being in any rush to get anyplace, and wasn't acting that much different than a typical warbler. Before I knew what was happening, it was already too late...I had birdgasmed.

I like this photo because it is confusing. Behold the No-headed Warbler ("No-faced" subspecies).

Though it lacks the power to melt face or cripple body and mind, seeing this bird well was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It is only found in higher altitudes on the island, and Maricao is the one really reliable place for it...had we missed it, we would have come right back up the next morning. It was first discovered in 1969, which is astoundingly recent. These idols of inconspicuousness managed to remain safely unidentified for an incredibly long time.

The rest of Maricao was...disappointing. It turns out middle of day is not always best time to make for greatest of bird. We had some mediocre road birding elsewhere, but the area around the ranger station was quite dead (though Officer Searcy did get another Elfin here), and we got kicked out of one of the recommended birding trails. There was some sort of bizarre operation going on that involved some biologists doing something bird-related who did not want to talk about what was happening, I don't know exactly what they were doing but it looked interesting. Which is not what needs to be talked about...the point is that I'm sure the birding is better earlier in the morning. We were bummed to not pick up anything else new for the trip (at this point, not seeing Lesser Antillean Pewee was getting stressful), but we got the bird that mattered most and headed down to roll the dice on Masked Duck.

Dipper Dan and I knew the fix was in even before we got out of the Jeep. We knew how the Masked Duck game works...the Masked Duck wins every time and anyone else playing eats shit. Simple. And so we made a long, hot walk through the mud (the roads were way too wet to drive) to the known Masked Duck pond in Lajas Valley. There were some crappy exotics, Least and Pied-billed Grebes, a Purple Gallinule (trip bird!), a rail that scurried over the aquatic plants that went unidentified (this is a good spot for Yellow-breasted Crake as well...dammit). No duck, as expected.

At least the incoming storm was nice to look at. I got stuck in the mud at one point on the way back (how embarrassing!), but at least we made it back to the Jeep before the rain really hit and no one had broken into it. Success? No.

Life is pain.

Maybe I will have another chance at Masked Duck in 2017. Or 2018. Does it really matter? I'm not going to see one.  Anyways, after our unsurprising failure we made the brilliant decision of quitting birding for the rest of the afternoon instead of hiking to another pond through the mud where we would not see Masked Duck again, and retreated to our place in Guanica. We got dinner fixins at a grocery store, chilled for an hour, then set the next nerdplan into action.

The good thing about staying where we were is that we were right next to the Guanica Dry Forest. El Seco is good for daylight birding and all, but what that really means is that we were staying right next to Puerto Rican Nightjars, which are pretty much endemic to this rare and restricted habitat type. Instead of looking for them where most people do, we turned east on 333 and slowly drove with the windows down, listening...we had them within 5 minutes! We heard multiple individuals and had great looks at one, though we lack photos to prove it...

The stretch of road around 17.957622, -66.869134 was quite good for them. I couldn't believe our luck, they were remarkably easy to find considering this species was thought to be extinct for a considerable span of time. How often do you get to see a species that has come back from the dead. Nocturnal [e]mission complete!

The next morning it was off to Laguna Cartagena, one of the best wetland sites on the island. White-winged Parakeet was a reluctant lifer en route. We approached from the only recommended entrance point, turning south off 101 at 18.028426, -67.109147. This is a straight shot down to the western access points of the refuge, but the road was covered in vast, deep puddles...it would not have been possible to barge this in a sedan, but we had no problem with the jeep. We made it to the trail to the tower without any problems.

There were a great many butterflies here...here is a buckeye thingy.

I think this here is a cracker thingy.

This American Kestrel (not a thingy) was following the trogon methodology of domain surveying.

When we first got to the tower, I was kind of disappointed...the laguna is highly filled in with sediment and vegetation, but with persistent scoping we found some ducks and gallinules in the smaller, more open pockets that hadn't been choked out by reeds and shrubs.

The tower really did provide a good view, as Officer Searcy demonstrates. Most importantly, it allowed us to find West Indian Whistling-Ducks (many!), which are very uncommon on Puerto Rico and not at all something that was guaranteed...this lifer helped make up for the lack of Masked Duck, which presumably can also be found in this large wetland. Dipper Dan even found a pair of whistling-ducks with ducklings, for bonus bird points. Other trip birds we got here included Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Sora.

[Insert caption here]

After the tower, we walked another trail from the entrance road out into the marsh (18.012569, -67.108868). The "trailhead" is well-marked, and a short distance north of the parking area for the tower. It is very overgrown but there was still some decent visibility toward the end. Fortunately, some West Indian Whistling-Ducks were holding things down, and although not hell of close I did my best to soak them in with my eyes.

West Indian Whistling-Duck and Glossy Ibis (trip bird!) combo. I really like that combo.

The marshes here are absolutely saturated with Purple Gallinules, I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place.

I've still never dealt one the crushing this species deserves, but I think you get the idea that these crippling blue bastards are just begging to be looked at. Why do they exist? How lucky are we to live in a world with Purple Gallinules?

Horrendously large numbers of butters here. Just terrible. Plagues of them. It was great.

Our eBird checklist for the morning is here. The birding had been very rewarding, and we were whistling-duck heroes...but there would be more heroics and more lifers before the day was done.

To Bird or To Rage? Todos Santos (Part 1)

Costa's Hummingbirds are the wee kings of cripple, tiny bastions of facemelt. Much sought-after by many birders, to find where they are truly common, one usually has to find oneself in the middle of some strange and random spot in the desert. For any birders who find themselves in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, any longings for Costa's Hummingbirds would be more than satisfied.

Baja California Sur. Most people go there with one thing in mind...raging. Cabo San Lucas is known worldwide for its rage opportunities and beaches (but mostly for rage). However, others go to BCS with something in mind besides forcefed tequila shots, and there is much more to see other than the debauchery in Cabo.

One such place is Todos Santos, just over an hour's drive northwest of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific side of the peninsula. It's not unknown by any means. Many gringos go there to both visit and live, as the town is known as a small art community and has an abundance of good food (which, to be fair, can be said of most Mexican towns). Birders make it there from time to time as well, and can get a decent fix while birding areas in and outside of town. Xantus's Hummingbirds, Gray Thrashers and Belding's Yellowthroats can all be found without difficulty in the pueblo, and many western migrants and desert residents lurk as well.

I almost felt bad crushing this fragile little gem...almost...

Of course, I have to point out the obvious fact that any birder travelling to Todos Santos is probably more interested in this hummingbird, the one found in Baja California Sur and no place else. Xantus's Hummingbirds (LIFER) are common in the lowlands in winter...and crushing them felt really, really good.

The avian community down in southern BCS is strange, at least for someone who has not been there before...a strange mix of species one would associate with California's coastal chaparral and the Sonoran desert, with some endemic passerines and a pygmy-owl thrown in. Crested Caracaras (above) are, thankfully, a regular sight in the desert and near the edges of town.

I was lucky enough to recently sample the BCS avefauna (truly, it was a sample, not a gorge), mostly while based out of Todos Santos. BB&B and 10,000 Birds (where the Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive will post) will have total coverage, and tips for any future visitors. It was a very interesting birdscape, and we did not even get into the Sierra de la Laguna or the sewage ponds at La Paz.

And for the record, I highly recommend both tequila consumption and debauchery, just do it on your own terms...unless you are in college, then all bets are off.

Mmmmmmm...another life bird, and a Baja endemic at that. Meet the Gray Thrasher, denizen of the peninsula's desert scrub.

We were lucky enough to have all three of the lowland Baja endemics lurking within walking distance of our house. Gray Thrashers were the least numerous of the three, which is kind of funny considering how globally rare the local subspecies of Belding's Yellowthroat is...more on them later.

Cactus Wrens roam around in small, raucous groups, bearing little resemblance to the smaller Troglodytes (that's wrens, not cave-dwellers) that are found throughout the U.S. Strangely, it was here in Todos Santos where I really got the feeling that these birds were behaving much like Rufous-naped and Spotted Wrens, other Campylorhynchus I've seen in other parts of Mexico.

I like this pose...the barred flight feathers melt easily into the barring on the tail. What is the significance? I'm not entirely sure, but a nerve has been struck.

Among the throngs of Common Ground-Doves in Todos Santos, the semi-aware observer can pick out Ruddy Ground-Doves as well. We saw two different birds on the trip, both along a random road in the north part of town. EBird has a couple of reports of substantial numbers of RUGDs in the area, so be vigilant.

Seemingly the most abundant bird in Baja California Sur, White-winged Doves are everywhere. They are thriving. They even invite American Kestrels into their flocks, for good or ill. It is worth mentioning that during our stay, we saw no Eurasian Collared-Doves in either Todos Santos or La Paz...in fact, eBird does not show any records for Todos Santos at all.

Behold, the White-winged Dove. Their wings may blind you in flight, but the face pattern allures.

It's been a while, so I am now dismayed to have the dishonor of presenting to you, yet again, a terrible photo of a good bird. This is a male Varied Bunting, photographed near Punta Lobos, just south of Todos Santos. These cripplers are uncommon in BCS, but not unexpected.

One afternoon we tried to get out into the desert to find a nice cactus forest to walk through. The road I chose was a poor choice (there was a lack of large cactus to admire), although we may have gotten somewhere interesting if our completely overpacked car had not overheated. Still a nice sunset though, despite the heaps of garbage and animal bones.

The Peregrine Fund's Kestrel Partnership

The American Kestrel is a bird familiar. Our smallest and most colorful falcon can be found throughout the United States, from coast to coast, Canada to Mexico and south into Central America. While common in many areas, breeding bird surveys have suggest a steep decline in many parts of the country. The Peregrine Fund, a leading nonprofit organization specializing in raptor research and conservation, has set up a program to encourage us (bird-loving citizens) to build kestrel nest boxes and monitor their breeding success. If you have access to land that would be suitable for nesting kestrels, then you should definitely check it out.

The Peregrine Fund’s new American Kestrel Partnership is a research and conservation project supported by birders, families, students, scouts, researchers, teachers, and anyone else inspired by the Western Hemisphere’s only kestrel species.  You can join the Partnership by creating a partner profile, building and hanging kestrel boxes, and then peering into them once every 1-3 weeks from April through July to record the numbers of eggs and nestlings.  

After collecting the nesting data, simply enter it on the American Kestrel Partnership’s website, and voila, you just contributed both kestrel nesting habitat and data to the largest kestrel research and conservation program in history.  NOW is the time to have a box-building party with your family, friends, or students, as kestrels will be busy selecting nesting sites and setting up home in the next couple of months.  

To participate and learn how to establish your kestrel box, check out the American Kestrel Partnership’s website. 

All photos and much information today provided by The Peregrine Fund.

Running Amok Around Garden Key

Running amok around Garden Key may or may not yield many birds...but there will always be Sandwich Terns. Well, in fall, at least.

I have crossed the Rubicon (or was it the Eel River?), and finally have returned to Humboldt County, where birds and birders and plentiful and everyone is high (especially the birders). I won't be here much longer, but its been good times. This place has been riddled with birders for years, and its been good to see a bunch of familiar faces again. My 2012 year list has grown to be even more corpulent in the last week, but with Bostick taking a trip to Hawaii, he is back in the lead again. Fuck. Maybe I will end up winning the year in the NIB category (that's Non-Introduced Birds, for you less nerdy people), but he may take the overall cake. Time will tell.

Here's some more scenes from the Dry Tortugas. Its easier to take pictures there than in Humboldt County.

Meet the first Swainson's Thrush to grace the pages of BB&B. This indelible Catharus of catharsis spent a day tamely hopping through our campsite, deftly avoiding the enormous hermit crabs that littered the ground.

Look at this White-eyed Vireo. It looks like it's teleporting into another dimension. That's where they really go in winter.

More teleporting. This one looks more like a Blue-eyed Vireo (***MEGA***).

The outer wall and moat at Fort Jefferson. Not a bad perch up there.

American Kestrels are another one of those birds that can be hard to talk about, because everyone knows what a kestrel is and how great they are. The roof of Fort Jefferson turned out to be a good place to get flight shots of them as they zoomed around having territorial battles.

Northern Parula sez: NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

A barracuda making faces.

What a sweetheart.

This was the lone Northern Harrier that made it to Garden Key during my trip. I found her in a frigatebird flock.

Magnificent Frigatebird. The first one you see will trigger an agonizing reappraisal of all the birds you have previously seen that you hold so dear...they can really put the kibosh down on any motivation to watch non-charismatic avefauna.