The Birder's Guide To The Internet, 2017 Edition

1994. That was the year I officially became a birder. It was a good time to be a birder, but everything was much, much harder. You think birding is hard now? Well back then, you could get lost! You got around using actual paper maps! You didn't have field guides and bird songs in your cell phones...people didn't even have cell phones! The only computer that would answer to your voice commands was aboard the USS Enterprise. It sounds like the stone age, and while the world didn't look that much different from today, the tools we have at our fingertips now seem light years ahead. The myriad of online resources available to birders have, for some, changed everything.

As the #7 birder in the United States (as ranked by the Global Birder Ranking System), I feel like I should lift up the birding community. I will pick you up and carry you on my back, like a birding horse. Even with so many tools these days, we must still be honest with ourselves...birders need so much help. Many birders just don't know what is out there, don't know that they can answer a great many of their questions themselves if they are willing to spare a few minutes of their time. They need to be uplifted, and that is why I am here today. In that spirit, here is a list of some of my fav websites that can help you learn more about birds, and help you see more of them.

Compulsively checking Sialia over and over again will eventually pay off for you in a big way...that is how seeing this MEGUH Marsh Sandpiper was made possible.

Sialia/ABA Birding News - Listservs are nothing new, but are still absolutely crucial. Most grizzled veteran birders know that if you find a rare bird, you don't put it on Facebook first, you don't put it on eBird first, you slap that thing on the listerv ASAP. Do you live in an area where multiple listservs have coverage nearby? Want to see all the listservs in one place? Check Sialia (my preference) or ABA Birding News. I've seen a number of fantastic birds here in northern California simply because I compulsively check Sialia for breaking news of Meguhs.

Xeno-canto - A vast and totally free library of bird vocalizations that grows on the daily. Most of the material is downloadable. Ace. Something like this was inconceivable 20 years ago.

Birdingpal - Travelling someplace? Want to have someone basically act as your guide for a minimal cost? Check out Birdingpal! Or you can just hit up a birder for the info you are looking for. You can also use this site to hire "real" guides for a nonminimal cost.

The more users eBird gets, the better it gets as a tool for birders. Among the many services it provides, eBird is rapidly becoming a great resource for birders looking to know where to get in the field south of the border...for example, without it we would not have had crippling looks at Rufous-bellied Chachalaca in Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico.

eBird - eBird is imperfect, it is flawed, and it is still the best thing since sliced bread...and you know how important sliced bread is. You also know what eBird is and what eBird can do for you already, so I'll leave you to it. eBird.

Cloudbirders and Surfbirds - Trip reports, trip reports, trip reports. If you are planning a birding trip someplace, not only do you want to utilize the tried and true "birder's guide", you want trip reports to find new information on an area. These two sites are great resources. Note that trip reports by some tour companies (both included on these websites, and elsewhere) vary in the amount of details provided...some tour companies will provide a lot of detail on where they bird (very helpful), while others lamely will keep their hotspots "secret", and may not even mention where they stay. Weak.

Last year the nerds and I stayed at the fantastic Rancho Primavera in El Tuito (Jalisco, Mexico), where we could nonchalantly watch a Blue Mockingbird pig out at a feeding platform from the deck of our rental house. I never would have found out about the place if not for coming across it in a blog post.

Blogs - Talk about old-fashioned...yes, even blogs like this one can still be resources for the birder! What do you think this post is for? Since birding blogs can and do cover all things bird, we can potentially help you with identification issues, trip report material, you name it. One of my favorite blogs is the vastly underappreciated Birds of Passage; if you are considering birding anywhere from Mexico to Ecuador, you need to read up on their material. The Budget Birders have traveled a lot and provide a lot of helpful information as well. Of course, Earbirding has a lot of great content on bird vox. Obviously, there are too many good blogs out there to list; check out the sidebar on the left for more.

Migration forecasts - We don't use these much here on the west coast (though there is a Portland site) due to the nature of migration here (the nature of which is incredibly boring compared to many states...but California gets the best vague runts, so it evens out), but in a large part of the country this is something worth getting addicted to during spring and fall migration. Maybe some of you eastern birders take it for granted by now, but I think it is incredible that there are people who can forecast how good (or bad) the birding may be on a particular day in a particular area using traditional weather radar. If you would have told 1997 me that this would be a thing, you probably also could have convinced me that aliens were real and that I was going to be abducted. Hey, I was watching a lot of X-Files at the time. Anyways, Birdcast is a good place to start, but there are multiple region-specific sites.

Google Streetview, which can be toggled on and off using Google Maps or Google Earth, is fascinating. Here is where I used to live on Midway! Yes, those are albatross in the yard.

Google Earth and Google Maps - These are great tools for planning a birding trip or scouting an area without being on the ground. Do you know how amazing it is to bring up sharp satellite imagery on command? I would have killed for that ability for some of my early field work back in the day. Want to know where I saw my first Short-tailed Albatross? Well put these coordinates (28.199202°, -177.383157°) into Google Maps, turn on the satellite imagery, and you can see exactly where I was. I think it's brilliant. Anyways, Google Earth is free to download and you can do even more with it than Google Maps, so check it out if you have much of a map fetish. You probably already look at Google Maps on the regular and have the app installed on your phone, but for the few of you who don't, you are missing out.

Reserve America - Wanna camp? Don't know where to go? Then this is the site for you. Find campgrounds all across the country, reserve your site. Though not all campgrounds are listed here, it's a good place to start.

Airbnb - Staying in a house is better than staying in a motel. That house might even have some good birding on the property. I've used Airbnb on birding trips to Colorado, Maine and Puerto Rico so far with great success, and I'm sure I'll be using it on many future trips. Use Airbnb for birding, business, family vacays, wild sex parties, it's your call.

Not every birding site is created equal, however. You will notice that I omitted Facebook groups - this was done on purpose. Though you certainly can get helpful information in these groups, as a general rule some of the most frequent posters (be it in regional groups, gull ID, etc.) are self-proclaimed experts whose advice can be counterproductive at best. Indeed, if you are a legend in your own mind, then there is no better place to broadcast your "expertise". Google Images are also dangerous to work with, which BB&B has previously covered in Adventures In Birding Online. I also have mixed feelings about the always-improving Merlin app; while it could be (already is?) incredibly helpful for rank beginners, I could easily see it becoming a crutch. It also requires the observer to have a reasonably good camera, which is definitely not necessary to get into birding. At any rate, neither you or I want our primary contribution to the birding community to be "ID please" posts, know what I'm saying?

I'm sure I left something out. If you have any other recommendations, please share! I may be #7, but only #1 knows everything.

Winter Mexican Tour Y2K16, Days 1-3: Lo De Marcos and Lower Singayta

Bat Falcons were easy to see in Lo De Marcos, on our first morning of birding. We never saw them again! Mexico is a mysterious place.

Nerds. Dweebs. Dork-sympathizers. I have returned from an eventful West Mexican bird trip. We birded the states of Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima, which are incredibly bird-rich states, as promised. Rather than just regurgitate mediocre photos from the trip, I'm going to try to write this all up in a way where it could actually be useful (!!!) to birders who may be heading that way in the next few years. The Howell birdfinding guide is still a fantastic resource, but Mexico changes...some hotspots are no longer accessible and new hotspots always seem to be popping up, as the whole area is definitely underbirded, with the exception of the areas immediately surrounding San Blas.

We wanted to rent an SUV originally, but the price was too rich for our blood, so we ended up getting a minivan for the five of us. This worked out quite well, since we had a little extra clearance (always a good thing in Mexico) and had enough space so things did not get too cluttered. We barged the van up every type of conceivable road and managed to put some dings in it...but were only charged $80 extra dollars! A Mexican miracle! If you are going to rent a vehicle, I would recommend National in Puerto Vallarta.

Here is how things played out:

January 2 - Fly into Puerto Vallarta, night in Lo De Marcos (Nayarit)
January 3 - Lo De Marcos, San Blas, night in San Blas
January 4 - Lower Singayta, Shrimp Ponds, night in San Blas
January 5 - La Bajada, Shrimp Ponds, Chacalilla, night in San Blas
January 6 - Cerro San Juan, night in San Blas
January 7 - Chacalilla, Rio La Tovara (boat trip), night in San Blas
January 8 - Lower Singayta, Isla Del Rey (Peso Island), night in San Blas
January 9  - Tecuitata, night at Rancho Primavera
January 10 - Rancho Primavera, Provincia Road, night at Rancho Primavera
January 11 - Racho Primavera, Barranca El Choncho, night in Autlan
January 12 - Puerto Los Mazos, night in Autlan
January 13 - Microondas San Francisco, Volcan de Colima (RMO Viboras and other stops), night in Ciudad Guzman
January 14 - Volcan de Colima (main access road and other stops), Laguna Zapotlan, night in Ciudad Guzman
January 15 - Vocan de Fuego, night Colima
January 16 - Colima to Laguna La Maria, night in Barra De Navidad
January 17 - Playa Del Oro, night at Rancho Primavera
January 18 - Rancho Primavera, Boca De Tomates, fly out of Puerto Vallarta

Sinaloa Crow (endemic!) was my first lifer of the trip. They are tiny, slender, like perching extremely close to one another, and sound like quail. This is my new favorite crow. Lo De Marcos, Nayarit.

Our first night we attempted to stay in San Francisco, which is on the way to San Blas. This was a mistake. The town may be mellow the rest of the year, but that first night there was a huge, raging party in town and it was a complete clusterfuck. Really, it was a disaster, and Flycatcher Jen was permanently affected. The silver lining was eating delicious tacos. The huge, raging Mexican party theme continued for over half the time we were in the country in multiple towns...Christmas seems to drag on forever, and then its another holiday (something to do with saints)...things didn't really settle down until January 11 or so. If I were to do this trip again, I would not schedule it between Christmas and mid-January unless you are into huge, confusing events that occupy the middle of towns and cause panic and despair if you are unlucky enough to be the one driving.

After our failure at San Francisco, we tried the next town over, Lo De Marcos. I had done some Google Earth scouting before the trip and saw that there was a lot of good habitat near the edge of town, so it seemed like a logical place to stay if we wanted some easy birding the next morning. We spent the night in some hella cheap bungalows (bung) on the main road into town off Highway 200. The beds were on raised cement platforms! Incredible.

Nerds study feverishly before our the first morning of birding.

The next morning we just walked southwest until we got into some birdable habitat, and were hugely rewarded. Turns out Lo De Marcos is not a bad place to end up if you wake up there with bird fever. It ended up being an extremely productive morning with lots of life birds...Russet-crowned Motmot, Yellow-winged Cacique, Happy Wren, Sinaloa Wren, Orange-breasted Bunting, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, etc. Camino a las Minitas (check Google Maps) was particularly good. Our eBird checklist is here.

Easily the best bird at Lo De Marcos was this Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, which was a lifer for everyone and the only one of the trip. HJ to Dipper Dan for this one. Brilliant bird, though obviously not something that wants to be photographed. I really like this photo of it, though I suspect you do not understand why.

Rufous-bellied Chachalaca (endemic!) were widespread and common in Nayarit, though this bird at Lo De Marcos was the only confiding individual interested in being crushed. It munched leaves quite casually next to the road.

I dig the big rhino tuft. A lifer for all.

Later that day we made it to San Blas, where we promptly checked in to El Bucanero for our entire stay there. We did this because it was really, really cheap. It was a step up from the bungalows in Lo De Marcos, but not a very big step up. Somehow, styrofoam was a part of one of the rooms, and actually had been painted. Anyways, it was walking distance to a lot of good places to eat (as well as the dock that has the pangas that will take you to Isla Del Rey), and it was right on the main drag, so the location was solid. People often were raging out on the street at night, but birding made us SO SLEEPY that it wasn't really an issue.

Mexican Parrotlets (endemic!) look like leaves. They are tiny, green, and adorable. I like them very much. Photographed at Lower Singayta, Nayarit.

The morning of Day 3 we hit lower Singayta, which was very birdy. Lifers galore. The eBird checklist is here. I'm not sure if it still earns the title as the best spot near San Blas (per Howell), but it's certainly worth birding. There's a solid diversity of birds here...raptors, waterbirds, flocks of wintering birds, and lots of regional specialties.

Crane Hawk was a solid lifer this morning...we would go on to not find another one the rest of the trip. Such pink legs! Such gray cere! I've waited a long time to see this bird...a long time.

Citreoline Trogon (endemic!) was another group lifer. We would end up seeing many of these yellow-bellied tree-beasts during our trip.

Pale-billed Woodpeckers are a fairly common bird down there, but they never fail to impress. This was a "Flycatcher Jen Only" lifer, one of many that she wracked up during our heroic birding tour.

We ran across many Elegant Trogons on the trip as well. What a nice bird to repeatedly run across....much easier to come by than in Arizona.

Something we didn't see a lot of was Scrub Euphonia. It turns out you can really appreciate euphonias when you don't see them constantly and have to remember a lot of field marks. It also helps when they just sit next to you and sing, giving none fucks, refusing to leave a favored tree. This is Godman's Euphonia, the subspecies endemic to West Mexico. Check out the white undertail coverts.

More from Nayarit to come soon, obvi.