Majestic Feathers / Plumas Majestic Amigos de las aves en todas partes/friends of birds everywhere

Majestic Feathers Costa Rica Birding Tour February 2012

2011-08-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

We have a great birding tour to Costa Rica coming up February 10 to 23, 2012. Here is a video telling you more about the tour.

This tour has filled. If you would like to have your contact information added to our email list for notifications of future tours, please contact me.

Our tour is 14 days long counting one day of travel to Costa Rica and one day of travel back to your home with 12 solid days of birding in the middle. On previous tours 12 days of birding have resulted in tallying: 427 species (2009) 389 species (2010, 3/12 tour) 395 species (2010, 3/26 tour) 436 (2011)!

Airfare is not included in the price of the tour.

Here is the link to the tour brochure containing the full itinerary, description of the life zones that we will bird, the cost of the tour, and how to contact me.

Majestic Feathers Tour Page

I look forward to hearing from you and PURA VIDA!

Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) : A Photo Study of Their Display and Mating

2011-08-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

This June I spent a good deal of time at the Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area photographing in particular the mating display of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds that adorn this great birding spot. The marsh is site number SW31 on the Idaho Birding Trail and I highly recommend birding there in the early spring through July. During the first part of June or late May depending on the weather, the Camas lily bloom is a sight to behold and it is wonderful to photograph birds among them.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are beyond plentiful at the marsh and I spend approximately 20 hours over the course of several days working to capture images that illustrated the contortions of their mating display. There was one fence line on the west end of the marsh that was a particularly good spot to stack out to get shots of the males displaying and the females responding to their bravado and earnest mating song.

These images are presented at resolutions ranging from 120 dpi to 200 dpi and all but the last one were taken along the same fence line.

She finally arrives!

The “cloacal kiss”, copulation the goal of all his efforts and gyrations only lasts a matter of seconds.

Voila! I am so handsome and studly they just can’t resist me!

The female builds the nest in the male’s territory. She usually lays 3 to 7 eggs and the incubation period lasts 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest between 9 and 12 days of age but they can’t fly until they are about 21 days old. The male helps with brood care.

A Photo Study of Roosting Common Nighthawks (Chordeilus minor)

2011-08-17T09:48:00.001-07:00

I have been fascinated by Nighthawks since I was a little girl. I would often spend a good deal of time perched on my grandfather’s haystack watching them. The evening sky was thick with them back in those days. Back then I had no idea that they were properly named, Common Nighthawks, in fact I had no idea there was any other kind of Nighthawk.

Since those days I know a bit more about these very interesting birds that summer here in North America and winter in South America. I have learned that they are Nightjars and are sometimes also referred to as “Goatsuckers” because once upon a time people thought that they flew into barns at night to suck the teats of goats! How bizarre and what active imaginations those people had. They don’t do this but they are strange looking birds that are active during the twilight hours before sunset and dawn; crepuscular, so I can see how people might think creepy things about them. During the darkest part of twilight you might not see them but could hear their “peents”, “booms” and “aug, aug” sounds. I suppose these sounds increased the eerie factor and added to the folklore about them.

Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) are 9.5” in length, they weigh 2.2 oz. (62 g), and their wingspan is 24”. Their flight is bat like and erratic which has led to another sort of nick name for them, “Bullbat”. To me their amazing aerobatic flight is more like a fighter jet or the alien fighter crafts like we see in the movies. I think that their maneuvers are simply breathtaking.

The plumage of the Common Nighthawk has evolved to make them pretty much invisible to diurnal predators. Their earthy hued feathers have a beauty all their own, they are really very striking. Male and female Nighthawks are almost identical but the male has a white band on the tail that the female does not have and the female’s throat patch is more of a buff brownish and the male’s is white.

In the southwestern part of the United States it is possible to also see the Lesser Nighthawk (Chordeiles acutipennis). I traveled to Saint George, Utah to go birding several summers ago and I saw my first Lesser Nighthawks there. The Lesser Nighthawk is slightly smaller overall and the main way to distinguish it is that like the Common it also has a white wing bar but the Lesser’s is paler and closer to the wingtip than the Common’s which is nearer to the base of the primaries.

Nighthawk numbers have been pretty good around this part of Idaho this year. I know over all there is concern for them because populations have decreased dramatically in some areas.

A friend of mine, Dee Smith and her husband were camping at the Hayspur Fish Hatchery about twelve miles south of where I live in July. Dee and I went birding one morning while they were there and she told me that the trees were filled with roosting Common Nighthawks. Indeed they were everywhere! It was a great opportunity to photograph them perched about in various stages of relaxed to full-on sound asleep.

A few days later I was at the hatchery again and the Nighthawks were still all over the place. The day was different in that the temperature was in the high 90’s and the birds were hot. They were roosting again on the tops of shaded branches in the Russian Olive trees but it was clear from their postures and behavior that they were doing everything they could to stay cool. Some were engaging in gular fluttering; panting to expel some of the heat. Others were standing to expose as much of their skin areas as possible. Wings were lifted here and there, and some of their positions were quite unique. Birds don’t have sweat glands but they can perspire through their skin and it was easy to see that they were trying to “air” out as much as possible. A few of them even appeared to be hugging their shaded branch as tightly as possible in hopes of soaking up some of the coolness of it.

Here is the photo study of them roosting on both days and I think you will be able to tell which images were taken on the really hot day. My images are presented at resolutions ranging from 100 to 150 which causes them to appear not quite as sharply in focus as they really are.

I hope you enjoy seeing these wonderfully roosting interesting Common Nighthawks.

Lewis's Woodpeckers (Melanerpes lewis) : A Photo Study

2011-08-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

During the month of July I spent many mornings videotaping and photographing Lewis’s Woodpeckers making delivers of various insects to their young in a nest cavity in an Aspen.

Here are a few photos from those peaceful mornings with the Lewis’s.

It was necessary to greatly overexpose the trunk of the Aspen in order for the combination of dark and light plumage of the woodpecker to be exposed correctly.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this images. Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Kathleen

A Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) Foraging a Photo Study

2011-07-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

I have been videotaping several species of cavity nesters in a grove of Aspens on the leeward side of the mountain top just east of my home for the last couple of mornings. My practice is to quickly set up my camera and microphone and then walk off to see what else is happening in the woods. Doing so greatly reduces the chance of interfering with the routine of the parents making deliveries of food to their young. This morning while the camera was trained on a Lewis’s Woodpecker cavity site I walked away and found this Hairy Woodpecker foraging. I filmed its’ nest site yesterday. Watching the woodpecker work was very entertaining, bark was flying and bugs were nervous!

Several Idaho Birders Attend the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival

2011-06-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

The Great Salt Lake Bird Festival was held May 12 to 16, 2011, Poo Wright-Pulliam, and Zeke and Michelle Watkins and I all traveled from our homes in Idaho to attend. It was the first time that any of us were able to go after many years of wishing we could get away to attend.

We had a great time and it was fun to meet Bill Thompson, III, Sharon Stiteler a.k.a. BirdChick, Jerry Liguori, and to catch up with Bill Fenimore, I hadn’t seen him for several years.

The festival was well attended and there were many very interesting field trips and workshops offered. Field Trips to Farmington Bay, Antelope Island which is located in the Great Salt Lake, 4 Mile Ranch, Deseret Ranch, and Jordnelle to name just few offered birders the opportunity to bird in diverse habitat. Workshops on digiscoping were given by Sharon Stiteler who offered her expertise and shared about Swarovski’s newest equipment. Other workshops included: Backyard Birding, Build Your Pond Right the First Time, Photographs with Impact, Butterflies for Beginners, Falcon Identification, and much more.

I was especially impressed with the workshops and activities for youth. These included: Making Birdhouses, Those Wild Wetlands, and live bird flight exhibits.

Two birds that were “spotlighted” at the festival were the Western Tanager, and Flammulated Owl, workshops and field trips focusing on these species were offered.

Forty vendors had displays and were very eager to share about their art work, photography, tours, books, and birding related optics.

In total over the course of the festival 180 species were reported in 1,622 separate sightings.

The Great Salt Lake Bird Festival is well organized, educational, and it is a great opportunity to get into some of the areas of Farmington bay that are generally closed to the public. I highly recommend attending this festival. You will enjoy spending time with the hard working people that organize it and you will enjoy being with birders from near and far. The dates for next year’s festival are: May 17 to 21, 2012. See you there!

You can learn more by visiting www.greatsaltlakebirdfest.com

Here are some images from the bird festival and from birding at Antelope Island and the Bird River WMA.

Bill Thompson III, pictured here with the spotting scope was the primary leader of the "Behind the Gates" field trip at Farmington Bay. Other leaders were Paul Lombardi and John Bellmon.

Bill Thompson III "scoping out" the Western and Clark's Grebes in the bay, Zeke Watkins and Poo Wright-Pulliam are behind him waiting for the report of what he is seeing.

There were many species to spot and observe on the Farmington Bay tour and there were many photo opportunities as well.

Zeke and Michelle having a quick conversation with another birder about the festival schedule.

Zeke, Poo, Michelle, and Robert Mortensen (he used to live in Idaho) enjoying the birding and discussion about the numerous species they were seeing. Check out Robert's Birding Is Fun blog, it's great!

This is a shot of Robert Mortensen and Bill Thompson III making sure that all the species are getting onto the trip list.

This small island in the bay had so many Great Blue Herons on it that a challenge was issued to see who could correctly count them.

The birds and the view of the bay and mountains were just great!

A California Gull soars past us.

Robert Mortensen took this shot of me scanning for waterfowl.

Bill was fun to bird with and he didn't mind a bit when we wanted to have our pictures taken with him. This is Poo with Bill. A close look at Bill’s binoculars reveals how he displays his annual “Duck Stamp”. The purchase of a Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation stamp is a great way to promote wetlands conservation. Birders should do this because since this program started in 1934 revenue from the sales of “Duck Stamps”, over $670,000,000 has made it possible to purchase or lease 5.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat that is now included in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The stamps are available for purchase at the Post Office for $15.

Zeke and Michelle Watkins with Bill.

In this shot Bill is signing my copy of, Identify Yourself, his book about the 50 most common birding identification challenges.

Jerry Liguori was also signing his book, Hawks from Every Angle. Bill Fenimore was signing his books too but my picture of him wasn't sharp. I took the book signing images with my cell phone.

Poo and Bill.

A flotilla of Red-necked Phalaropes off the Antelope Island causeway.

One of the live bird displays included this Bald Eagle. I learned from talking with the man who brought the eagle to the festival that the white feathers of Bald Eagles raised in captivity never turn completely white.

An energetic Golden Eagle.

This adorable Western Screech-Owl was a big hit with everyone.

Bill was the keynote speaker at the dutch oven dinner held on Saturday night. He spoke about his 40 years of identifying and feeding birds. Bill is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest. He is also an accomplished musician.

The crowd really enjoyed it when Bill sang, "Mother's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowbirds".

This is a shot of a Western Grebe that I took at the Bear River WMA on the way home after the festival.

The light was just perfect at Bear River to capture the iridescence of the feathers of the White-faced Ibises.

An ibis with one wing stretched out.

This is a Forster's Tern hunting over a flooded field in the Bear River WMA.

A closer view of a Forster's Tern.

Good views of American Avocets were possible at several swallows at Bear River.

This Black-necked Stilt struck an impressive pose and I was able to capture the moment before it continued foraging.

A Clark's Grebe was hunting small fish near one of the bridges at Bear River.

Blue on Blue...a Great Blue Heron lifts off with the Wasatch Range in the background.

A Birthday Tribute to Rachel Carson Born On May 27,1907

2011-05-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

This image and a shorter version of this brief bio were published on Facebook on May 27, 2011.

Happy Birthday Rachel Carson 5/27/07 to 4/14/1964. She was a Marine Biologist, Conservationist, author; Silent Spring 1962, and of many more volumes. She credited her mother with introducing her to the world of nature which became her lifelong passion.

Chemical companies fiercely railed against Ms. Carson’s book and her research denying the evidence that their products were poisonous to the environment and were killing birds. Raptors were especially negatively impacted by DDT. The female reproductive tract development of these large birds was hindered by DDT and this impaired eggshell quality which caused eagle and Peregrine Falcon populations in particular to plummet.

Ms. Carson posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Carter in 1980.

Thank you Rachel for all that you did for the world and for igniting a movement that persists today against great odds, the denial continues. Sadly it isn’t only the chemical companies that are deniers. Thankfully however, there have been victories along the way thanks to you and your inspiration.

The Majestic Feathers Blue Mug Participates in Birding By “Ear”.

2011-05-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Caption as posted on the Blue Mug's Facebook page May 26, 2011: I am birding by ear today.

Caption on my personal Facebook page May 26, 2011: Birding by ear today.

Over the course of the last two days we have been birding in various spots; some near to home and some further. We explored a burn in the Stanley Basin looking for my second nemesis (second after Gyrfalcon or put another way, my spring and summer nemesis) the Black-backed Woodpecker. We didn’t find it. The next day we swooped through the Silver Creek Preserve and then dashed out to Magic Reservoir. At Magic we added FOY Common Loon, Say’s Phoebe, Spotted Sandpiper, and Sage Thrasher.

Photographs and more information about these two days of birding will be posted “relatively” soon. I say relatively because I have to get back out there birding! I am sure I will miss something spectacular if I stay here and write.

Meanwhile the seed and fruit feeders are being mobbed by: Evening Grosbeaks, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Western Tanagers, Bullock’s Orioles, Lazuli Buntings, Cassin’s Finch, and Pine Siskins. Magpies are dropping by, and so are Eurasian Collared-Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds, and unfortunately Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Starlings…sigh.

In the trees Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers are sweeping through.

Blue Mug has been steadfastly holding yummy bird-friendly coffee for me on these adventures and has been learning about birding by ear.

It is all good! I hope your birding is great today and that the upcoming weekend will be filled with birds as well.

Kathleen

Some of the Blue Mug's May Adventures

2011-05-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

The Majestic Feathers Blue Mug continues to travel about promoting organic shade grown certified bird-friendly coffee, making new friends, being humorous, and of course continues to be the "drinking companion" of the author of this blog post. And thankfully so, because there are some days when I don't know how I would get through without a steaming mug full of bird-friendly coffee!

Here are a few of the recent pictures and captions of the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug as orginially seen on Facebook.

Caption on Facebook: 5/14/11 Today's Blue Mug: While birding with Bill Thompson III he was very sweet to pose with me and the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug. Remember everyone...please purchase and drink organic shade grown certified bird-friendly coffee. Thanks again Bill it was great to go birding with you this afternoon!

P.S. 5/24/11 Bill was the keynote speaker at the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival. What a fun event! The committee did a heck of a job!

Zeke Watkins took this picture of Bill and me. Thanks Zeke!

Caption on Facebook: ‎5/15/11 Today's Blue Mug: Bison basking but barely beware Blue Mug.

P.S. On Sunday May 16th, Poo Wright-Pulliam and I went birding on Antelope Island, an island in the Great Salt Lake, with my aunt Margaret and uncle Jim. Poo had never been there so she was quite excited to see bison roaming free. I heard from Birdchick Sharon Stiteler the next day that she had been their birding at the same time we were. Sadly we missed her. The birding is really great around and on this island.

Caption on Facebook: 5/19/11 Today’s Blue Mug: I had a great time this evening giving my multimedia presentation titled: ‘Migration the Tiny Heroes Journey’ at the Community Library in Ketchum. It was the inaugural unveiling of this topic for me and from the response of the audience it seems it went well.

On its own Facebook page the Blue Mug had this to say: The migration presentation is complete and presented…now let’s get back to being outside looking at birds and not the computer screen. I want to see the neotropical migrants not read about them.

Caption on Facebook: 5/2011 Today’s Blue Mug: If your apple tree is suffering from empty nest syndrome, put a mug in it!

And the Blue Mug had this to say from its prespective: “Gee Whiz the next thing you know some bird will come along and force a worm down my throat!”

P.S. 5/24/11 The nest is of course an empty Robin's nest from the 2010 breeding season.

Caption on Facebook: 5/22/11 Today’s Blue Mug: “Hey dude are you sure the lady said that the seeds in the mug were only for the male birds?” Said in the voice of female Evening Grosbeaks and a female Cassin's Finch.

Caption on Facebook: 5/23/11 Today’s Blue Mug: “Hey Blue Mug, on behalf of the Bullock’s Orioles I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for all that you have done to encourage people to drink shade grown organic certified bird-friendly coffee. Those poly-culture coffee plantations are a real life saver for so many of us Neotropicals.”

It was a dark and dreary day, in fact it was raining and the Bullock’s were the only bright spot in the yard at the moment I snapped this shot.

Thanks for dropping by and please keep on drinking bird-friendly cofffee and encourage your local coffee shops to purchase it as well.

Happy Birthday John J. Audubon

2011-04-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

4/26/11: Happy 226th Birthday to John J. Audubon (name at birth Jean Rabin) Born April 26, 1785 died Jan. 27, 1851. Birth place Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti). His life’s work was studying, sketching & painting birds. His masterpiece, The Birds of America containing 1,065 life sized paintings of birds in 4 volumes was published between 1827 & 1838.

He was a self-taught artist who was once scorned by ornithologists. Now he is legendary for his paintings which were the first bird studies depicting birds in their natural habitat. A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to John along with thanks from many generations of bird watchers!

I wanted my Bohemian Waxwing image to be more Audubon like in its painterly style; I applied a PhotoShop artistic filter but couldn’t come close to Audubon's style.

The Blue Mug is filled today with Mountain Ash berries instead of organic shade grown bird friendly coffee from Costa Rica. Mountain Ash berries are a favorite winter feast for the Bohemian Waxwings that visit our neighborhood often in flocks of several hundred, here in the Wood River Valley in Idaho. It is a thrilling sight and the sound is magical.

The Majestic Feathers Blue Mug Salutes John Muir

2011-04-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today's Blue Mug image and caption on Face Book.

4/21/11: Happy Birthday to John Muir born on this day 173 years ago in Dunbar, Scotland, to Daniel and Ann Muir. John’s father was fanatically religious and apparently believed that a rigorous work ethic was more Godly and important that taking the time to love and admire his makers creation. Thankfully his mother was more understanding and encouraging to him about his love of nature and adventure. We owe her a huge debt of gratitude. (There is a nice bio about Muir on the Sierra Club’s website and several other places on the Internet)

The Blue Mug filled with bird friendly coffee salutes John Muir, his wanderlust, love of beauty, and his dauntless work to conserve wild and breathtakingly beautiful places. Where would we be today without what he did, what would our planet be like without his vision?

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. John Muir

Bird Smart Wind Farms A Call to Action

2011-04-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today's Majestic Feathers Blue Mug Caption posted earlier today on Facebook:

So this is the carnage I’d see if I was placed in “wind farm”, how horrible! We are getting smarter and are drinking more and more bird friendly coffee which results in saving birds, so how about more thoughtful placement of Wind Turbines?

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 440,000 birds are killed by wind turbines each year and that number is expected to exceed one million by 2030 as the number of wind farms grows to meet increased demand. The American Bird Conservancy generally supports the development of wind energy, but it argues that wind farms should be “bird smart”, meaning…positioned so that they do not interfere with major migration paths or disturb breeding grounds, with their power lines buried to prevent collisions. Let’s all do our part to make the Wind Industry “bird smart”.

Higher bird deaths than predicted have prompted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to possibly reexamine the current voluntary guidelines for wind turbines related to their impact on birds and other wildlife. Wind power proponents say the guidelines are too strict as they stand already. The public is encourage to submit comments from now until May 19, 2011.

Please read this article to gain further information and the address for submitting your comments. Personally I think there should be mandatory standards not voluntary guidelines, and that there is nothing wrong with making wind power "smart" power.

Please read this article (link below) published by National Wind Watch and use the link provided by them to make comments to U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Thank you!

Click for National Wind Watch Article

Notes from Missoula

2011-04-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Since I have been in Missoula at my sisters I haven’t had time to do much birding, because I am here to care for her following some foot surgery. I am chief cook and bottle washer and I am generally keeping the household running for my nephews. My brother in-law is a coach and he is away with his team during spring break.

The little bit of birding I have done has been window birding and I took a walk as well. I have seen a precious Red-breasted Nuthatch excavating a good sized hole into a utility pole, and a pair of Black-billed Magpies is building a nest four doors down so there is plenty of “spring in the air”. Those poor home owners with the magpies don’t know the racket they are in for when the young arrive.

Here is my window and walk list; Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, House Sparrows, Coopers Hawk, Townsend’s Solitaires, Common Ravens, Crows, Red-tailed Hawk, Starlings, American Robins, Northern Flickers, and I have heard a Pileated Woodpecker.

On my drive up here from Idaho I kept an mph list and here are the results: Great Horned Owls on nests 5, Red-tailed Hawks on nests 4, and 30 seen total, Ferruginous Hawks 3, Rough-legged Hawks 8, Golden Eagles 7, Bald Eagles 5, Sandhill Cranes 5, Tundra Swans 59, Turkey Vulture 1 (seen 40 miles east of Missoula on March 29. I did not count ducks and geese…too hard at 65 to 75 mph.

In the mammal category: Pronghorn 83, Deer 73, and Elk 32.
I have of course continued to post a daily entry of the Majestic Feathers Blue mug. Here is today’s shot.

Caption on Facebook: Is that a delicious conscientious mug of organic shade grown bird friendly coffee? Deer I have a small sip?

Sure come on down, I deer ya!

I wish you all great birding and yummy mugs full of steaming bird friendly coffee.

To learn more about the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug scroll down. To read other blog postings continue to scroll down.

The Amazing Adventures of the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug

2011-03-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

The Majestic Feathers Blue Mug loves bird-friendly, earth-friendly, shade grown organic coffee!

Who am I? I am the drinking companion of a birder, birding tour organizer, photographer and videographer sharing day to day happenings, insights, nature adventures, and a love for bird-friendly, shade grown organic coffee. My worldwide mission is to get more people to buy and drink shade grown organic coffee.

As more and more forests disappear so that coffee can be grown, this habitat is lost forever to the birds and other life that used to thrive in the once lush habitat. One thing that humans can do to help is to purchase only shade grown organic coffee! Shade coffee is grown on coffee plantations that have a bright green, scrumptious canopy of tropical trees growing over the coffee plants. They are poly-culture farms and are a haven for birds, both the resident birds of the region and the wintering songbirds of North America. The more the economic demand for shade coffee rises the more likely it is that sun coffee plantations will be converted from mono-cultures to poly-cultures. So, you humans need to be filling your mugs with shade coffee! I have visited both a shade coffee farm and a sun coffee farm and you can take it from me there wasn't the sound of even one bird in the sun coffee. On the other hand, the shade coffee was teaming with life!

Here is a little more about me: Arabica shade grown organic coffee, especially freshly ground from beans harvested in Costa Rica, is my favorite brew. I also enjoy accompanying my companion on birding trips and adding caffeinated energy to long hours of planning and organizing for Majestic Feathers birding tours to Costa Rica and beyond. These activities keep me steaming and happy. I am especially fond of predawn hours in a photo blind near a Greater Sage Grouse lek in early spring when it is really chilly where I can be a hand warmer and a belly warmer. I like holding hot coffee while I am perched next to the computer station for consumption in the wee hours when a video editing deadline approaches. This is especially gratifying because seeing how all those hours seeking "just the right" shot come together is so cool. I have to say that accompanying my birder, photographer companion is quite the interesting daily grind, and I love it! Oh, and occasionally I like to throw in my two bits about current events. I really appreciate a good pun and, dang it, I just like getting my picture taken! I am quite the poser.

We have an awfully good time together traveling around and taking a picture of me every day and posting it on Facebook. We have been doing this since mid-July 2010, and we hope you will become a follower. We promise you lots of smiles, an occasional giggle, and relief from the stresses of the world.

Please join us on Facebook for our adventures, and please help us spread the word about shade grown organic coffee by telling your friends about us. Thanks for dripping...oops! I mean dropping by!

Click here to become a Facebook Fan of the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug Once you have clicked on this link and have arrived at the fan page "click" on the Like button and you are now a fan!

While you are on the Blue Mug's page check out Obama's State of the Union Address in which he heralded the importance of the Blue Mug in current affairs. The State of the Union Address is located in the photos file.

Here are few of the pictures that have been snapped of me since July 2010 along with some of the captions and comments from my Facebook fans.

Caption 2/14/11:
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Think it over “tawee tawee tawee-teeoo”
Think it over “jimp” “dzik” “prididit”

Yes think it over. In the U.S. we drink 300 million cups of coffee a day and import more than 3.3 billion lbs of coffee beans each year. Forests are cut down to grow coffee, but organic shade grown coffee plantations are more like natural forest and provide food and shelter for wintering and resident birds. So make your next mug a bird friendly shade grown organic brew and please ask for the same at your coffee shop. The more we drink shade grown organic coffee the more likely it is that monocultures will be converted to shaded polycultures. And the birds sang “zzip” “seeew” “prrreet” “dzt” “tawee tawee tawee-teeoo” thank you.

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Valentines day Blue Mug you rock!!!

Caption 11/17/10: Face Book sisters, don’t forget to consult with your physician about when you should start getting mammograms and how often you should have one. Brothers on Face Book please remind your loved ones about this as well. Isn’t it nice that the Blue Mug even got a pink ribbon!

Comments from Facebook Fans:

Funny girl

You must have had an awsome Mamo tech!!! This is great!

You are a brave little cup lying there so tenderly. You are a great example for all "cups"! Get it! Tee hee

I am honored to support your cup(s) ; ) 3 >---

to clarify ; ) 3 >---

Caption 11/11/10: Oh thank goodness I hope this gets the taste of BP crude and oil dispersants out of my baleen!

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Holy Spirit, out of the waters you brought forth life: plankton & fish, grasses & birds, dolphins & whales, levianthan for the sheer joy of it, and us as your stewards of your creation. But now our greed & carelessness have despoiled it, death belches up into the water, your creatures are perishing, the coastlands befouled. We pray for all the disaster's victims. Hear our grief, forgive our folly, give us courage for action and sacrifice, &, please, let not your beautiful creation be forever lost.

Caption 11/5/10: My worst fears have been confirmed, but I think I have figured out a way to make it so she will have to take me this time! Do you think it will work?

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Poor baby he looks so sad! It must me hard for him when you leave for one of the Costa Rica birding tours. I feel for him.

Caption 3/1/11: Oh my ghost! March has come in like a hoard of thirsty stale Halloween peeps anxious to take a dip in a steaming mug of shade grown coffee! What next!

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Ha ha ha..yep that little vacation was good for you kathleen...

Caption 2/16/11: Sometimes it is hard to decide if I should keep the binoculars trained on the birds or take a drink of delicious bird friendly coffee to warm up a bit.

Comments from a Facebook Fans:

Ok ..so give me the name of some bird friendly coffee so I can once again enjoy my morning cup...I almost feel criminal anymore drinking my maxwell house...probably toxic to all four legged an flying creatures.

me too, please ;-)

Just be careful: coffee in the eye hurts.

Caption 1/27/11: Recently this sign appeared on a route I take fairly frequently. I think the graphic is pretty interesting and decided that the Mug should pose with it. I wonder what the multiple choice descriptions for this sign would be on the drivers license test. Care to share some possible descriptors?

Comments from Facebook Fans:

Railroad that can fry you ahead... caution!

I have a mug that looks like that. Clever use of it. A descriptor choice could be "Truckers: Turn here to clean the snow off the bottom your trailer on the high railroad track"

‎"If you lay a flatbed trailer on this railroad track, you will get an electrical shock."

The shade grown coffee that comes out of this cup is SO awesome that it will knock a flat bed trailer right off it's tracks!!!

Caption 1/20/11: There is nothing like a steaming mug of organic shade grown coffee from Costa Rica and last Easter’s Purple Peeps aged to perfection! Yum…

Comments from Facebook Fans:

I have heard that Peeps get better with age. Not my cup of, well, organic shade grown coffee however, but that is the word on the street.

Up until now I thought the mug had taste but I suppose each one has some degenerate habit.

My mother in law always has holiday peeps for me at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and when she buys them, she immediately punctures the plastic so they will be stale when I get them! Gotta love Margie :)

Caption 3/14/11: SAVE THE CRANES! Tomorrow is the deadline for contacting the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to express your opinion about the proposed hunting season on Sandhill Cranes (the deadline was 3/15/11). Please send an email tonight or tomorrow morning. Please see my earlier Facebook posting with the link with more information about how and who to contact in Kentucky about this issue provided by Julie Zickefoose on blogspot. Thank you!

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

OMG! Why would anyone want to shoot a crane? The thought makes me so sad. What is wrong with people!

Caption 3/8/11: Today the Blue Mug is requesting captions from its Facebook Friends. Thanks in advance.

comments from Faccebook Fans:

I think, therefore I drink.

Good one Jim. It could also be I think, therefore I drink bird friendly coffee.

There's a Charlie Sheen joke here somewhere.

Caption 1 23 11: Blue on blue, heartache on heartache…if you are drinking bird friendly coffee good for you! If you are not please start ASAP and help to end the heartache of birds that have lost their habitat to unshaded monoculture coffee crops.

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Blue on Black
Tears on a River
Push on a Shove
It Don't Mean Much

Caption 1/10/11: Yippee! A new case of Costa Rican organic shade grown coffee has arrived!

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

Where do you get it and do they have decaf???

Caption 10/31/10: It is simply GHOULISH not to drink organic shade grown coffee! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Comments from Facebook Fans:

Organic, forest shade grown, free trade, every day!

VERY NICE. VERY IMPRESSIVE. YES, THE ONLY JAVA TO BUY/CONSUME!

Nice, Kathleen! Everybody at our house loved your pumpkin and we had costa rican coffee to toast it with for breakfast.

Caption 9/17/10: The air was filled with Red-tailed Hawks today at the Silver Creek Perserve. This one seemed not the least bit distracted from its "mouse watch" and content to be photographed with the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug.

Comment from a Facebook Fan:

A little known fact: hawks, ever nonchalant though vigilant, are accomplished practitioners of meditative disciplines.

Caption 9/3/10: Organic Shade Grown Coffee is good to the Last draaaawp!

comments from Facebook Fans:

So are you on the rim of the Snake River Canyon or what?

Very clever! I like it!

Very cool! Where is this?

Yes this was taken on the north rim of the Snake River Canyon real close to the Perine bridge. Thanks for your positive comments.

Caption 8/21/10: Okay gang the caption for this one is up to you! The Blue is posing with a visage from Teatro ZinZanni in this shot.

Comment from Facebook Fans:

Oh that was a good year!

Espresso Instead of coffee this morning?

Oooh, is that fresh-brewed, organic Costa Rican coffee? Mmmmm, my favorite!

Caption 12/26/10: I just loved being the scribe for the Jim Sage Christmas Bird Count today! Photo composition derived by Zeke Watkins today.

Comments from Facebook Fans:

Lucky you! What a rewarding and graceful task.

That is such a beautiful count. Spending a day with Zeke and a bunch of raptors isn't too bad either.

where exactly were you? --Ok - saw the rest of the pics -- my old stomping ground!

Can't wait to see the list!

Can't wait to hear what you scribbled! Looks like you had great birding conditions.

Caption 10/ 13/10: Thank you everyone that worked so hard to rescue these guys!

Comment from a Facebook Fan: Amen to that!

Caption 12/15/10: Have fun submitting captions for this one!

Comments from Facebook Fans:

Wake up and smell the coffee!

om, om, om!

Does this cup make my nose look big?

The pause that refreshes.

Mr potatohead plays teaparty with his kids doll toys...good grief kathleen..where
r u now?

‎"I just like a Sunday morning with coffee and the newspaper." from Pele the Conquer"

You dug me up from the bowels of the earth and coffee is all you are offering, and a thimble sized mug to boot!

Are you out of the country?

Nope!

Oh. I thought perhaps you had teleported with mug to Easter Island.

Caption 3/15/11: For the people of Japan, for all of us, for the birds and all creatures, for every living thing.

I hope you will become my fan! Become a Facebook Fan of the Majestic Feathers Blue Mug

It is easy! Just "click" the Like button next to: The Blue Mug heading on the Blue Mug's Facebook page.

A Follow-up and Participant’s Recap of our February 2011 Tour to Costa Rica

2011-03-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

Photo: While the group wiews a Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Edwin closely watches for a good view of a Blue-crowned Manakin. Photo by Susan Stern

Our Majestic Feathers February tour did not beat our all time total for the number of species seen (please see blog entry February 13, 2011) in fourteen days but they did establish the total to beat for future groups that go with us for 17 days of birding in Costa Rica, a total of 436 species seen. At the end of day fourteen their total was 412 species which is 15 species shy of the record held by the March 2009 tour of 427 species seen by the end of day fourteen. They came wonderfully close to meeting or exceeding this total and of course they had no idea that they were even in such a hunt…admittedly it is me that is the one interested in these numbers and even at that I am most interested in the quality of their over-all experience. From the sound of it they had a great time as they moved about the country seeking out the winged wonders of many types of habitat and I couldn't be more delighted for them.

I have received numerous emails from the February participants and here are a few samples sharing about their Majestic Feathers adventure with Edwin Ramirez.

Photo: The sign at "Los Cusingos" the refuge established by Alexander Skutch. Skutch a botanist and ornothologist acquired the land that is now known as Los Cusingos in 1941 and he lived and studied here until his death in 2004,just a week shy of his 100th birthday. Photo by: Susan Stern

3/1/11 Dear Kathleen,

We wanted to convey to you that we had a marvelous trip to Costa Rica with Edwin Ramirez and Enrique Gomez (our bus owner and driver). They were a great team and both of them are wonderful individuals and we think of them daily.

Edwin was incredible as he led us to 436 species of magnificent birds, 301 of which were life birds for us. In addition, his comprehensive knowledge of the total ecology of each life zone, the history and culture of the country and his obvious love, dedication and passion for his work overwhelmed us. Thank you for all that you did to make this trip-of-a-lifetime possible.

During conversations with Edwin, we got the impression that he may also guide trips to Peru and Ecuador. If these trips are done through Majestic Feathers, please keep us informed because we would be very interested in participating.

Once again thank you,

Paul and Nancy
California

2/23/11

Kathleen,

This is to let you know that the Costa Rica birding trip met all our expectations. Edwin is the consummate leader with expert birding skills and perceptive people skills. He was joined by his good friend, Enrique (Kike) Gomez, as our delightful driver.

The accommodations were fine and Edwin modified the itinerary as necessary - taking the birding opportunities and the participants' needs into consideration. Thanks for your role in organizing and planning the trip.

Edwin wore one of your Majestic Feathers hats in gray (with the toucan on the front) on some days. I would love to buy one if they are still available.

Pura Vida
Susan and Maury

Photo: With Edwin's assistance Susan Stern got this shot of a Great Green Macaw through Edwin's scope.

3/2/11 Kathleen:
I am writing you to thank you for the wonderful trip planning for my recent trip to Costa Rica. I tagged along with my sister's Audubon Club from California and had a once in a lifetime experience. You have located a diamond in the rough with the tour guide, Edwin! He has such a dynamic personality and exudes positive energy.

I would also like to add that the driver for our tour was the best too! Enrique Gomez was so attentive to our needs and concerned for our safety and welfare. These two men together made this trip so memorable. I know they have been close friends for many years but they work so well together---it makes it appear as though this is not a JOB to them!

Please add me to the ongoing communications about the Majestic Feathers trip upcoming trips to Galapagos, Ecuador and Peru with Edwin. This would be another place that I would love to experience and I cannot imagine going with a better guide. If I can’t work out going this year, I certainly would line it up for 2012. Please keep me posted.
Again, I thank you for all the hard work and orchestrating all the details! I am looking forward to my next trip!
Thank you,
Con mucho gusto,
Terri
Atlanta, GA

Photo: It is chilly in the cloud forest and Susan Stern snapped a shot of Edwin all bundled up to prove it!

2/24/11 Hugh’s Costa Rica Memories

The gardens at the Hotel Bougainvillea ● Nature Air flight to Palmar Sur ● Round rocks “ancient spheres” and birds in the nearby park ● Two owl species in the park—Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and a pair of Tropical Screech-Owls ● Old steam locomotive across the street from the park ● Cherrie’s Tanagers copulating and a Lineated Woodpecker excavating a hole near the “footbridge” on the way to La Gamba ● Green Vine Snake in Esquinas ● Baird’s Trogon pair at Esquinas ● American Pygmy Kingfisher at Esquinas ●Gray-necked Wood-Rails copulating at Esquinas ● Hot walk up a canyon for the endemic Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager ● Fiery-billed Aracari copulation at Esquinas ● A Tamandua Anteater at Esquinas ●Trip to Crested Oropendula nests and birding on the La Gamba Road ●Bar Los Cotrillos at La Gamba ● Platform Feeders at Wilson Gardens, Silver-throated, Speckled and Golden-hooded Tanagers ● Food and service at Talari with feeder platforms, Red-legged Honeycreeper ●Pearl Kite eating a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird near San Isidro de General ● Alexander Skutch’s House ● 11,000’ mountain pass above Georgina’s restaurant and hummingbird feeders ● The drive down to Savegre ● The news of Eugenia during our meetings with her ● The whole Savegre experience, especially the Resplendent Quetzal and Costa Rica Pygmy-Owl ● Afternoon birding in Savegre rain ●Miriam letting us use her bathrooms and then selling us coffee and rolls! ●Long-tailed Silky-Flycatchers ● Lunch at La Foresta Nature Resort in Quepos ● The Pauraque dance at Villa Lapas ● A Coatimundi seen at Carara NP and other places ●Mangos and watermelon after Carara●Boat ride on rio Tarcolis with mangroves—a 5-Kingfisher day ● Prothonotary and Mangrove Warblers, Northern Waterthrushes on the banks of the Mangrove channel ● Hundreds of Spotted Sandpipers moving down the Mangrove channel as the late afternoon tide rose. They were standing wall-to-wall on a rocky bar out by the river mouth of the rio Tarcolis ● Waiting in the bus at night for Edwin, during “Owling” after the boat ride—a family looking at us from their front door, a drive-by recorded public announcement of a calendar girl show for the following night ● Visit to the cattle ranch with Snail Kites, crocodile with iguana in its jaws, Spectacled Owls, Jabirus on nests with young ●“Crocodiles swim better” ● Breakfast on the way to the cattle ranch ● Late afternoon walk up the hill to the Sky Walk gate at Villa Lapas after the cattle ranch trip ● Sitting in the chapel at Villa Lapas with the frog pond altar ● Pale-billed Woodpecker above Villa Lapas during early birding ● Edwin singing—“Don’t give up your day job”● Mola Shopping ● Meal experience at Rancho Naturalista ●The bus ride with Hazel to see afternoon birds ● Hummers at Rancho Naturalista and Valentine’s Day ● Relaxed atmosphere of Sueno Azul ● Hot, humid walks with Rudolfo in La Selva, cold Coke with lunch ● Sloths—look for two or three toes on their fore paws ● Cinnamon Woodpecker excavating a nest, White-necked Puffbird pair doing the same, Jacamar, watching soccer on a wet field, Sungrebe, Semi-Plumbeous Hawk, the tallest tree in La Selva, a 52-meter Cola de Pavo ● My question to Edwin, “Do Puffbirds suffer from a higher cancer rate than non-smoking birds?” ●Northward Turkey Vulture migration seen from La Selva ● 2nd morning early birding alone at Sueno Azul, Ringed Kingfisher, Short-tailed Nighthawk, a rainbow ●The Howler Monkey alarm clock at 5:20 AM ● The Arenal Hanging Bridges ● An Eye-browed Pit Viper (brown) on the Sky Walk ● Emerald and Rufous-winged Tanagers, Purple-crowned Fairy from a suspension bridge ● Arenal Volcano ● Walk at Arenal Observatory Lodge and the hummingbirds, especially the Violet-headed Hummingbird on her nest ● Camaraderie with Edwin, Kike and Kike’s brother, Ricardo, Corazon de Leon ● Plants growing on plants, fecundity of the forest—flowers everywhere ● Meeting Edwin’s wife and daughter ● Thanking the cooks at our birding places—Esquinas, Wilson Garden, Talari, Villa Lapas, Rancho Naturalista, Sueno Azul ● Farewell to Edwin ● “Que pais!”—“What a country!”

Pura Vida!

Y mas.
Hugh
California

Photo: Susan's shot of a Rufous-tailed Jacamar.

3/8/11Hi, Kathleen:
I still have a little Costa Rica in me, and that’s a good thing. The tropical rainforest was kind of sensory overload, but I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. I feel so lucky to have had Edwin for a guide; he must be the nicest guy in Costa Rica. The driver Enrique is a close second. Couldn’t have been better and worked really hard to get us the birds. Edwin is so very knowledgeable about so many things, and so very personable. Just a great time!

I learned something about myself: seventeen days of birding is too much for me! Galapagos sounds so interesting, but I don’t do boats. And my next birding trip needs to be shorter. But I would not have traded the trip and meeting Edwin for anything. Thanks so much for putting the trip together. I will be happy to recommend Majestic Feathers to anyone. Pura vida!
Nancy
California

From Me:

To all of our Majestic Feathers Friends that toured with us from February 4 to 20 a huge you are very welcome and it was my pleasure to organize and coordinate the tour. I was so unhappy that I was not able to go along and co-lead this trip! I knew from meeting the majority of you in California that I was missing being with a great bunch of birders that would be a lot of fun to be with! I hope that we can share a birding experience at some point in the future, maybe Galapagos and Peru wouldn’t that be big birding fun!

Thank you for joining us in Costa Rica, Edwin told me to be sure to convey to you from him how very much he enjoyed being with you and to thank you for letting him share his country and glorious birds with you. I shouldn’t forget as well to remind you all that a percentage of your tour fee has gone to Edwin’s forest restoration project; The Foundation for the Protection of the La Paz River and Forest. This money goes directly toward the tree nursery, maintenance of fencing that keeps cows out of the restoration project, and many other important aspects of this valuable project.

To date, 100 acres of forest have been restored and in the future the final corridor connection will establish a land bridge allowing animals to move all the way from the Arenal Volcano National Park to the Los Alpes Private Forest Preserve. The corridor connection in the La Paz Forest will result in 2,000 acres of connected forest benefiting Tapirs, Pumas, Ocelots, Resplendent Quetzals, and many, many more species.

There are two Majestic Feathers tours with Edwin Ramirez guiding and I will be assisting coming up; July 8 to 21, 2011 (please refer to my blog, February 16, 2011) and our Galapagos and Peru trip which will start on August 30, 2011, we are still finishing up the details on this trip and will be announcing them very soon.

For information about these tours or with your questions: Email me

Join Us in July!

2011-02-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

Majestic Feathers is looking for birders that would be interested in going to Costa Rica with us in July, July 8 to 21, 2011 on a 14 day birding tour. This length of tour is 12 days of birding with a day to travel to Costa Rica to start the tour and a day for travel back home.

Silver-throated Tanager

We want to know if there is enough interest out there in the birding community before we go forward with formulating an itinerary, contacting hotels and eco-lodges, and arranging for transportation. So I am sharing this here on our blog and we have also sent an email to all of the birders on our contact list.

Temperatures in July range from the low to upper 80’s occassionally into the low 90's with humidity levels comparable to those of the southeastern United States during the summer months. Temperatures and humidity vary depending on the altitude where we are birding. In fact a light jacket is advised for the cloud forest.

Biting/annoying insects are minimal.

Though there currently isn’t an itinerary I want to let you know about the areas of the country where we will have our lodging and go birding. Here is a brief description:

By arranging our itinerary so that we bird in seven different life zones we may see as many as 380 species of birds in just 12 days of birding. We get you into out of the way places to see endemic birds, shy forest species, and a myriad of others.

Here are the life zones that we bird and a few of the birds that we usually see in each of them.

Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest: as an example you will be birding in the Carara National Park. There are leks of the Orange Collared Manakins here as well as Scarlet Macaws, Royal Flycatchers, Chestnut-backed Antbirds, Great Tinamous, White-whiskered Puffbirds, several species of trogon including Baird’s, and scores more species inhabit this very great birding spot. We will be in the Central Pacific area during this portion of the trip.

Lower Montane Rainforest and Moist Forest: Keep your eyes peeled here for the Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Olivaceous Piculet and as many as ten tanager species in this habitat. We will be in Puntarenus Province, the southern Pacific area near the Panama border.

Crimson-fronted Parakeet

Premontane Tropical Wet, Rain and Moist Forest: This is the habitat at Braulo Carrillo Nat’l Park and you will spend part of a day birding here in hopes of spotting; Black-crowned Antpitta, Ornate Hawk Eagle and Lattice-tailed Trogon to name a few of the 500 species possible here.

Montane and Upper Montane Tropical Wet and Rain Forests (cloud forest): The gem of this region is the Resplendent Quetzal. The bird species found here includes, but is not limited to; Elegant Euphonia, Spangled Cheeked Tanager, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Long-tailed Silky Flycatcher, and seven hummingbird species including the startlingly beautiful Fiery-throated Hummingbird. This terrain is located in the Talamanca Mountain Range.

Green Violet-ear

Tropical Moist Forests: During our tour, anytime we cross the Continental Divide, we bird fragments of Tropical Moist Forest scattered amid Dry Deciduous Forest. Birds commonly found here are; Orange-Fronted Parakeets, White-Fronted Parrots, Long-tailed Manakin, Rufous and White Wren, Keel-billed Toucan and White-throated Magpie-Jay.

Subalpine Paramo (above timberline): Spectacular views await you while birding on Cerro de la Muerte, the highest point in Costa Rica. This rugged habitat is known as alpine tundra and distinctive plant communities have evolved here in response to abundant sunlight and the cool wet climate. This is the only chance on the tour to find the Volcano Junco. The Talamanca Mountains are located in San Jose Province.

Tropical Wet Forests and Tropical Rain Forest: We will bird or stay at a lodge that birders from around the world visit seeking to add the Black-faced Antthrush to their life list. White-throated Crake, Northern and Wattled Jacana, Spectacled Owl, Long-tailed Hermit, Fiery-billed Aracari, and seven species of seedeaters including the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater are common in this habitat. We often see Great Green Macaw while driving from our lodging on our way to the world famous La Selva OTS bio station where we have seen as many as 106 bird species during six hours of birding on past tours! This habitat is located in both the Golfito area near the Piedras Blancas National Park in the southern Pacific region and also in the Caribean lowlands in the Sarapiqui region in northwest Costa Rica.

Iguana

Riparian Habitat and Mangrove Forest: we include a boat trip on the Tarcoles River to explore this wetland environment. Mangrove Warbler, Mangrove Vireo, Boat-billed Heron, and Roseate Spoonbills are often the highlights of this outing.

Turquoise-browed Motmot

The price range will be from *$2,850 to *$2,930 depending on which lodges we are able to get. The price includes: 13 nights of lodging, three meals a day (beginning with the welcome dinner the first night through breakfast on the day of departure), the services of your tour guide, a Toyota Coaster air-conditioned bus with a full time driver, National Park, Reserves, and Botanical Gardens fees, (in other words any entry fees), double-occupancy rooms (2 people and 2 beds per room) *This amount is based on a minimum of 10 (ten) participants for the tour. If the tour does not have 10 participants either the final cost could be increased to cover the higher per person cost of a smaller group or the tour could be cancelled.

I will be offering photography instruction on this tour at no additional cost.

Not Included In the price of your tour: Airfare to and from the U.S. to San Jose, Costa Rica. Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. Airport Tax of $26 USD paid at the airport on the day of departure (required by Costa Rica). Health Insurance, Medical Evacuation Coverage or Travel Cancellation /Trip Interruption Coverage.

We are not asking for a commitment from you at this time. What we are asking is that you contact me: Email me by May 24, 2011, with a brief email message simply stating; “I am very interested in going with you on this trip. Please send me the final itinerary and price if you go forward with this tour.”

Remember this won’t be a commitment from you but when we tally the replies we will have a good idea about whether or not to proceed with the logistics of offering a trip in July.

We have recently added a new page to the Majestic Feathers website and if you haven’t seen it please check it out:
Trip Testimonials

You can follow Majestic Feathers on Twitter at: @mjstcfeathers where I occasionally tweet about recent bird sightings and of course announce tours.

First Eight Days of Our February 4 to 20 Majestic Feathers Birding Trip, Costa Rica

2011-02-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

I spoke with Edwin Ramirez on Friday night February 11 to see how the first week of the tour had gone. He was excited to tell me that just that day between their morning trek into the Carara National Park and birding by boat on the Tarcolés River they had seen 120 species. He told me that the tour participants were thrilled with the birds that they had seen during this amazing day of exploring riparian, mangrove, and tropical dry deciduous forest. He reported that especially satisfying to the group had been their encounters with; an American Pygmy Kingfisher, several Scarlet Macaw, and they had gotten really good close looks at a very cooperative Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, and then there are the other 117 species that they saw, WOW!

I am especially fond of the Tody-Flycatchers; Common Tody-Flycatcher, Black-headed and the Slate-headed and I really enjoy seeing them and having the chance to get a photo when I am co-leading one of our tours. I am not co-leading on this tour because it was necessary for me to stay behind to continue pulling together our fall 2011 trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru as well as to do a bit of scouting for another future trip.

Common Tody-Flycatcher, March 2010

But back to the current Majestic Feathers adventure, on Saturday February 5 the group flew from San Jose to Palmar Sur in the southern Pacific area of Costa Rica. There is a small park at the little airport there and before boarding our bus to travel to their first eco-lodge they birded the park. Two highlights there were a pair of Double-striped Thick-knees and a Tropical Screech Owl. What a way to start off their birding in the Puntarenas Province!

Double-striped Thick-knees, March 2010

Following two days of sun up to sun down birding in the La Gamba, Golfito area they turned northward on their journey and on Tuesday February 8 while birding at Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary they added the brilliant Turquoise Continga to their ever expanding bird trip list. The Los Cuingos Bird Sanctuary is named for the Fiery-billed Araçari and this tract of 142 hectares located in Quizarrá in San Isidro of Perez Zeledón was acquired in 1941 by the botanist and ornithologist Dr. Alexander F. Skutch. Dr. Skutch came to Costa Rica while working as a botanist for the United Fruit Company studying the anatomy of banana leaves, he fell in love with the birds of the tropics and his interest in tropical nature led him to settle in this lush valley. A guide to the Birds of Costa Rica was co-authored by A. F. Skutch with F. G. Stiles and is considered to be the “bible” of Costa Rica field guides. Dr. Skutch was Edwin’s birding mentor and so it is especially interesting when he shares stories about Skutch from his personal point of view.

Turquoise Continga, March 2010

Fiery-billed Aracari, March 2009

On Tuesday night our excited birders crested 11,000 feet in the Talamanca Mountain Range and marveled at their first views of primary cloud forest. Mind you they were not on foot they were in Enrique Gomez’ wonderful Toyota Coaster. Enrique is our driver and he is a really good bird spotter and, he can safely stop his bus on a dime when someone shouts, BIRD! From the highest point on the road they dropped into the Savegre River valley for two days of amazing birding. They had two up close and personal encounters with male and female Resplendent Quetzals that I am sure they will be talking about for years to come! Scores of other species were added to their list including; Magnificent Hummingbird, Green Violet-ear, White-throated Mountain-gem, Scintillant Hummingbird, Volcano, Hummingbird, Flame-throated Warbler, Acorn Woodpecker and Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher. On the top of Cerro de la Muerte the Volcano Junco with its blazing yellow eyes was a real treat!

Green Violet-ear, March 2009

On the evening of February 10th after birding here and there along their route they arrived in the Central Pacific area for three days of birding. It is from this area that I got Edwin’s Friday night report about how the tour was going and about some of the highlights of the trip to that point. He also shared that the plan for the next day was to drive up to a private cattle ranch located just inland along the west side of the Gulf of Nicoya, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. We have taken our tour groups to this ranch many times and have always been rewarded with one, to as many as four sightings of Jabirus! On Friday Edwin had received a call from the ranch to let him know that six Jabirus had been seen. It is estimated that there are approximately 100 Jabirus remaining in Costa Rica so when we are able to show people four they are seeing a good percentage of the Jabiru population. Edwin was excited to let me know that he had taken a poll of the group and that they had decided to depart for the ranch before breakfast the next morning in order to have more birding time at the ranch. I really like it that we can let our participants make decisions like this and I know of no other company that would do this and I regard this as a real plus. I also think it is wonderful that local folks will call Edwin and let him know what is happening on their property. To me this speaks highly of his reputation.

I don’t know yet how many Jabirus they were able to see at the ranch since it will be a day or two until I hear from Edwin. Once I know I will report that number here on the Majestic Feathers blog. Based on my experiences at this ranch I am sure that in addition to Jabiru they also saw huge mixed flocks of White Ibises, Wood Strokes, Roseate Spoonbills and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. Add to that a few of the other species that I have seen on this ranch during past trips; Muscovy Duck, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Great, Cattle, and Snowy Egret, Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Snail Kite, Harris’s Hawk, Collared Forest-Falcon, Limpkin, Yellow-naped Parrot, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Streak-backed Oriole, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and a staggering number of species can be added to a life list while visiting this beautiful private ranch.

Jabirus, March 2010

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, March 2009

At sun down of day 8 the trip list total stood at 308 bird species.

I can hardly wait to write the next installment of this groups birding in Costa Rica with Majestic Feathers. I have a gut feeling that they may break our all time high bird total of 427 species in 14 days of birding. That point (14 days) in their tour will arrive on February 17th so we will see. The good news for them is that since this is a 17 day tour that we designed specifically for them they will hold our first total for 17 days of birding. What fun for them!

I hope you will become a follower of our blog so that you will be among the first to know about the next installment for this trip, upcoming tours and reports from my local birding adventures.

We are looking for birders interested in a July 2011, 14 day Costa Rica birding tour. If you are interested and would like to receive information about this trip please send me an email. Email me .

Point Count on a Very Cold Morning

2011-02-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Morning on Silver Creek

It had been a very long time since I was available to participate in the monthly point count at The Silver Creek Preserve so even though it was colder than a “well diggers” you know what I joined Poo Wright-Pulliam the morning of December 30, 2010 for this count, a count that has been conducted monthly since 2004.

Poo Wright-Pulliam

Poo Snowshoeing To The Survey Point Above Sullivan Pond

Me On the Road Up to the Sullivan Pond Overlook

Poo Counting Ducks

You won’t see any bird pictures while we are in the preserve it was so cold and there was a wind chill and the birds were so hunkered down or far out in little bits of open water of which there wasn’t much that there was no point in trying for bird images. Even with the cold however we did manage to count some birds. We saw: Magpies, Ravens, Songs Sparrows, Mallards, Red-tailed Hawks, Buffleheads, Canada Geese, Gadwalls, Coots, Northern Pintails, American Kestrels, Northern Shrike, Common Merganser, American Wigeons, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Ring-necked Duck, Green-winged Teals, Common Goldeneyes, Bald Eagle, and a Hairy Woodpecker.

Winter Along Stocker Creek

A Closer Look at Drifts Along the Creek

After the count we birded the Hayspur Fish Hatchery and saw: a Northern Flicker, a Wilson’s Snipe, an American Robin, several Junco, a flock of House Finch, some House Sparrows, a flock of Starlings, a Belted Kingfisher, and a Great Horned Owl.
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A Commentary On Our Presence?

While driving we saw a covey of 24 Gray Partridge, and in a feedlot we counted 74 Chukars

Chukar with Cattle

Chukars

It was a good morning, really cold but a good morning.

Mid-Winter Swan Survey

2011-02-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

Idaho Fish and Game’s mid-winter swan survey was the first week in February. On Friday the 4th I added to their data by conducting a count in the Silver Creek Preserve and Picabo, Idaho area. Here are a couple of shots from that day. They aren’t outstanding shots, just a record of one bunch of swans on Silver Creek west of Kilpatrick Bridge.

In total I found 73 Trumpeter Swans. 19 of the 73 were cygnets. I saw only 6 Tundra Swans and 4 were cygnets.
Kathleen

The First Six Days of Our March 12th Tour

2010-03-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Finding the time to put my binoculars and cameras down while we are in the midst of our March 12 to March 25 tour is proving to be more of challenge than I had anticipated. I had briefly forgotten how intense, exciting and rewarding birding and co-leading is in the amazing country of Costa Rica. But I have quickly remembered! We are having a grand time and the birding has been extraordinary!

Yesterday was day 6 and when we finished our daily tally of birds we discovered that we had seen 264 species total so far! What a country!

We have birded habitat in the southern Pacific area, the high Talamanca Mountains, and now we are scouring the Carara National Park. Tomorrow we will bird our way to La Fortuna de San Carlos for birding in the Arenal Volcano area. The habitat in these areas has included; botanical gardens, the rainforest of the Pacific lowlands, old growth Oak forest in the cloud forest, and primary transitional forest, and regeneration/successional forest.

There is plenty of evidence of the northward bound migration. We have seen a stream of Swainson’s Hawks gliding northwest and that was an impressive sight. During the time that we stopped to watch at least 500 passed over us.

We have also seen kettles of Broad-winged hawks moving northward as well.

It is important to note that it is unusual to see the raptor migration where we observed it, high in the mountains at an elevation of 11,000 feet and the hawks were a good 1,000 over us in some cases. Normally the raptor flyway is over the Caribbean lowlands on the east coast. It is likely that some bad weather has caused the hawks to seek this different route.

Huge flocks of Barn Swallows numbering 4 to 5,000 also add to the body of evidence of the push northward as do the numbers of Wilson’s, Chestnut-sided, Black and White, Tennessee, and Blackburnian Warblers that we have been seeing.

It is all quite exciting and reminds me once again of the importance of viable habitat from South America all the way to the tundra of the Arctic as well as the unfathomable effort expended to reach the breeding grounds for each of these species.

Here are a few images that I have taken:

The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is the most common hummingbird species in Costa Rica. The only place in the country that it is uncommon is the northwestern Pacific lowlands.

Blue-crowned Motmots can be real posers and this one at the Wilson Botanical Gardens was no exception!

Edwin Ramirez assisting Roberta Rich in finding a bird among the dense foliage.

It is always fun to see a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan!

Roadside Hawks are widespread and quite common. They like woods that have lots of openings and they perch fairly low often along roadsides.

The Common Tody Flycatcher is an adorable bird! This one was hanging out at the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

Golden-headed Tanagers are dazzeling birds!

Majestic Feathers tour particpant Tina Wynecoop taking in the sight of migrating Broad-winged Hawks and yes it is chilly in the morning in the cloud forest.

Broad-winged Hawks over head on a very bright morning!

We saw male and female Resplendent Quetzal several times while we were in the Talamanca Mountains. I have some really good video that I will post on the blog at some point.

Scarlet Macaws over Carara.

This is a Great Tinamou that we saw this morning in the Carara National Park.

While birding from a boat on the Tarcoles River we saw many wading birds and this is a Snowy Egret.

On the Tarcoles we had great views of Southern Lapwings.

The sunset last evening at the mouth of the river was amazing!

Well that's it from Costa Rica for now. If you would like to learn more about Majestic Feathers tours and what we have going in June 2010 for Costa Rica please visit www.majesticfeathers.com we'd love to share a fabulous birding adventure with you!

My Waxwing Discovery

2010-03-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all from Costa Rica, I arrived last evening and settled into my room at the Bougainvillea Hotel in San Jose. The grounds here are just wonderful and are very birdie. I have spent a good chunk of the morning birding with several members of the Spokane Audubon Chapter that are on our first tour March 12 to March 25. This evening we have our welcoming dinner and birding in the tropics orientation and the tour officially begins at that point.

I have been trying to find time to write a blog entry for a couple of weeks but it has been difficult to do because of the final details related to departing for these two tours. It is the “hot” part of the day now and the birding has slowed down just a bit so I thought this would be a good time to write.

I had several opportunities this winter to photograph Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings and I wanted to share some of those images. Waxwings are among my favorite species to photograph and I think the reasons are pretty self evident. So here are some images along with a note or two about a first time experience I had when I was reviewing my images. I hope you enjoy these shots.

When I was reviewing my images of Cedar Waxwings I zoomed in on the head of this one and was amazed to discover the barb on its tongue. I had no idea that they had this and I have learned that the purpose is to assist in moving the berry to the back of the mouth and down the throat.

Here is another view of a waxwing tongue.

That's it for today. I hope to find the time to write some more as we make out way around Costa Rica.

Kathleen

And all this before breakfast!

2010-01-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

As the snow piles up here in the Wood River Valley in Idaho I am finding a little bit of time to get out and do some winter birding when I take breaks from attending to the final details for our two Majestic Feathers in Costa Rica trips coming up soon. During these breaks I have chased my nemesis, the Gryfalcon, without seeing it once again, and I have enjoyed seeing 5 Prairie Falcons within an hour's time, along with many Red-tailed and spectacular Rough-legged Hawks. There are many Bald and Golden Eagles around, too, and it is a wonderful thing to watch these graceful giants soar over the glistening snow. But back to thoughts about that warm weather birding coming up in March. Edwin and I along with twenty-three birders from the Intermountain West and one from Florida will be trekking through the rain, cloud, mangrove (floating through not trekking here), and deciduous forests of Costa as we search out wintering North American species, passage migrants, and resident birds on back-to-back 12 day trips from March 12 through April 8. This is the first time that we have scheduled back-to-back tours, and we are very excited about spending four consecutive weeks with birders who are as eager to see tropical birds as we are to be their guides.

I am really looking forward to waking up in the rainforest in the wee hours of the morning and gradually becoming aware that the sounds of the night are being replaced by the sounds of the dawn: bird calls, the fading sounds of frogs, and Howler monkeys greeting the day. When I step out of my room onto the damp grass on one of the first mornings in the Southern Pacific region, I know I will see at least two species of hummingbird the moment I focus on any nearby flowering plant there I will see either; a Charming Hummingbirds or a Violet–headed Hummingbird. It won’t be long after that when I spy a Blue-crowned Motmot, maybe even a pair, and shortly thereafter a Buff-throated Saltator. Speckled, Spangled, Golden-hooded and Silver-throated Tanagers will be foraging everywhere, and I may not even be 30 feet down the trail to meet up with our group for a hot cup of coffee in the lodge before we take our first steps on the first trail of the day to take in the wonders of the forest--and all this before breakfast!

You might think that it is the birds that I am most looking forward to, but I actually think it is a draw--a dead heat for me between the birds and being with people as they experience the fantastic birds of Costa Rica and enjoy varied regions and the lodging that we arrange to visit on our tour. It is hard to explain the joy that I get from catching a look on someone’s face that conveys their utter astonishment at the beauty of a bird that has plumage that is beyond belief. I know how it was for me on my first birding trip in Costa Rica, and I could go on and on about that experience and share with you how I felt. I could also share with you how much pleasure I experience when I see the organizational efforts that Edwin and I put into our tour come together, but I think it would be better to hear from one of our past participants, so recently I asked Theresa, who was on our trip last March, if she would share about her experience, and this is what she said:

I had the pleasure of joining the March, 2009, Majestic Feathers trip to Costa Rica. It was a fabulous adventure! Edwin Ramirez is an excellent guide and a native of Costa Rica. Not only does he know the birds, he knows where they are and how to find them. If a member of the group described a bird, he knew whether it was one already seen by the group, if it should be pursued now, or if it was a bird easy to find at another location.

The trip encompassed seven life zones to maximize the number of species seen. Of the 812 species recorded in Costa Rica as of 2006 our group saw 427 species, and everyone in the group had excellent views of the majority of species (>98%). Birding highlights of the trip for me included the Jabiru, Long-tailed Tyrant, Great Curassow, Speckled Tanager, Black-and-white owls, and the list continues. Each location offered a new cadre of species and surprises for us.

Edwin was tireless. Along with his incredible birding skills are his people skills and organizational talents. Our luggage made it safely to and from the bus with minimal input from us. When we birded past the time when we should have moved on or road construction would have delayed us, Edwin’s networking and organizational abilities continued to provide seamless travel with meals on time and other arrangements made before it became an issue.

I would recommend arriving early to have an entire day to spend on the hotel grounds. There is plenty of habitat and new birds to keep you busy all day and into the evening.

This trip isn’t just about the birds. Edwin also provides a running commentary on the people, their lifestyles, the habitats, and growing up in Costa Rica. This is a well-rounded trip, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of tropical birding. Each day I would think, “It can’t get better than this,” and the next day always outdid the previous day.

I’m going to stop there to leave further discoveries for those that join the trip, but I often think of the birds we saw-- Sunbittern, Resplendent Quetzal, Tanagers, Honeycreepers, Motmot (at one point 3 different Motmot species were in our view at the same time), Hummingbirds, Nightingale-thrushes, Rufous-browed Peppershrike…

Theresa M.
Wildlife Biologist and avid birder

Thanks so much Theresa for sharing your experience! I look forward to birding with you again on one of our other Central or South American adventures!

The March 12 and March 26, 2010 Majestic Feathers in Costa Rica birding tours are full but the June 25 to July 8, 2010 trip still has space available for those eager to go birding in this amazing country. The June trip offers the best chance in our 2010 schedule to see the Three-wattled Bellbird and to hear the resident birds at their vocalizing best!

To learn more about our tours please click here:
tour

Presentation to the Southwest Idaho Birders in Nampa

2009-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

This Thursday night December 10, I will be making my final presentation for 2009 about the Idaho Costa Rica Majestic Feathers Connection at the Southwest Idaho Birders meeting. I will be showing a 5 minute slide show of some of the beautiful birds of Costa Rica, a 10 min Power Point about the eco-connections between North America and Central and South America, and a 30 minute video that I have made about my two trips to Costa Rica. The SWI Birders meet at the Deer Flats NWR in Nampa, Idaho at 7 p.m. The address is, 13751 Upper Embankment Road.

I have recently added a bird tours page to the Majestic Feathers website:

http://www.majesticfeathers.com/tours.html

There are a few seats left on the March 26 to April 8th tour so if you are interested please contact me ASAP at info@majesticfeathers.com The details of the trip are on the tours page at: http://www.majesticfeathers.com/ we have a great time you will love it if you join us!

I am looking forward to seeing Jim Holcomb and the rest of the Southwest Idaho Birders on Thursday!

Hey! What's Up With Those Pink Binos?

2009-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and I can’t imagine that there are many people that don’t know this by now with all the effort being made on television, radio, and the Internet to bring the realities of this disease to the forefront of our attention. I have been particularly pleased to see all the pink on the field at football games both nationally and even locally at some high school games. The pink reminds us to be aware and to make contributions to organizations and foundations that are working to find the cure as well as providing free mammograms to those in need and educational information about breast cancer to everyone. One such organization is the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), and there are many more at the state and local levels across the country.

Here in Idaho the organization that I am most aware of is Expedition Inspiration (EI) based in Ketchum. Their mission since their inception in 1993 has been to call attention to the breast cancer epidemic and the urgent need to find a cure. EI is especially interesting to me because their work includes mountain climbs for breast cancer survivors as well as hikes, 5K runs, relaxing strolls, symposiums, grants, and lots of uplifting, healing experiences for those living with or surviving breast cancer.

You might be asking yourself at this point in today’s blog, “Why is she writing about Breast Cancer Awareness month on a birding blog?” The answer is that I have known several women birders who have had breast cancer and survived and some, sadly, who have died from the disease. I have a friend, also a bird watcher, who found a lump in her breast and didn’t have the money to get a mammogram. She was lucky because donations made by people, foundations, and businesses provided funds so that she was able to get a mammogram at no cost. Thankfully, the lump was benign! Thankfully money had been raised for just such an urgent need!

So, that is one reason I am writing about breast cancer in a birding blog. I am also writing about breast cancer in a birding blog because I have recently become aware of a unique way to donate to the effort to find a cure that I believe will be of interest to birders and other nature-loving souls. Would you believe that you can purchase pink binoculars? Yes, I said pink binoculars! They are made by Alpen, and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to the NBCF and EI!

Here is a video about the pink Alpen binoculars featuring Poo Wright-Pulliam from Binoculars and Scopes Pro at www.binocularsandscopespro.com.

Let’s work together to Focus on the Cure! Thanks for watching. I look forward to seeing you along some trail with our pink binoculars trained on that fabulously-feathered or four-legged creature. Perhaps we should all start a Life List of how many pink binoculars we see in the years ahead, where we were, what time it was… and know that we helped to keep the Focus on the Cure! I say, yes! Let’s do it!

Blowin' In The Wind

2009-10-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

In mid-August I spent the day at a family event in Minidoka County in the Magic Valley region of Idaho. Toward evening, as I was on my way home from the big party, an adult Killdeer and two juveniles raced across the road in front of me. Fortunately I wasn’t going fast, and I didn’t kill them! Here is a little video that I made about these birds as they foraged in the field after crossing the road. I shot this with a consumer grade minicam hand held.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) factoids: This plover is well adapted to human-made habitats and often place their nests, shallow depressions scratched into the bare ground in active driveways, golf courses, and sometimes even on gravel-tarred roofs. The clutch size is usually four to six eggs, and chicks can walk as soon as their down feathers are dry.

Fall Migration

2009-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the last couple of weeks I have been engaged in the fall migration season in various ways. From my front window I spied a few young White-crowned Sparrows coming to the front yard feeders as small flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon subspecies) gleaned insects in the trees overhead. While sitting on the back deck I got a huge kick out of hatch-year and female Western Tanagers bathing in the small waterfall in the new backyard water feature. Driving though the neighborhood while running errands and without even trying to find them, I saw as many as ten Lewis’s Woodpeckers! On another day when leading two groups of eager, newish birders through the lush and heavily berry-laden riparian habitat along Silver Creek, we saw large flocks of foraging Yellow-rumped Warblers with an occasional Wilson’s, Yellow, or Orange-crowned thrown in to grab our eyes and make us look even harder for the next different warbler species to pop into and out of sight. We were then stopped in our tracks and scratching our heads while working at solving the intricacy of distinguishing a juvenile Brewer’s Sparrow from a juvenile Chipping Sparrow.

In the last couple of days I joined the gang at the Idaho Bird Observatory for their raptor trapping and banding, songbird banding, and hawk watching on Lucky Peak near Boise. Accipiters far afield and far above offered me plenty of opportunity to remember which one’s head is further forward of the wings in profile when sailing overhead. The first Prairie Falcon of the season was captured while I was there, and it was a treat to see it up close. Western Tanagers, White-crowned Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, small flocks of Spotted Towhees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and various warblers, like Townsend’s, had been mist-netted and banded that morning and had now returned to their main task of fattening up on choke cherries on the slopes just below where we were perched for hawk watching.

As exciting and interesting as the fall migration is, I have mixed feelings. As it builds, peaks, and dwindles, I get a bit melancholy in the midst of the wonder of it all, and I think to myself, “Gosh, it seems like it was just yesterday that the front yard was alive with tropical colors and the raucous calling and scolding, squawking sounds of spring.” These are the sounds that I think relay the effort of weeks of life-threatening travel and possibly the innate knowledge that for a few brief weeks they will establish, guard, and rear young in their own little territories. I would think that this entire prospect just has to be exciting right down to the cellular level. I am sure that we can all think of ways in which humans engage in the same sort of exuberant expression of the idea that we might be on the verge of establishing our own little corner of the world where we will likely pass on our genes. So successfully establishing a breeding territory is a really big deal---something to be really excited about, I would think! But back to my musings… Where has the time gone? How could it already be time for them to leave?

It is bit hard to take even though I know that this is the wonderful cycle of avian life. I am thankful that this cycle is still possible given all the obstacles that are in place, so I decided to do something to hang onto and honor the joy of the arrival of spring and the wonderful birds that we birders love to welcome for the brief time that they spend with us. Therefore I have made a short video about some of the sights and sounds in my front yard with footage that I shot from late May into the middle of June. It is titled “Spring Fest” and features a few of the neotropic species that visited the front yard feeders as well as a few other visitors and at least one Eurasian Collared Dove that is part of the year-round flock that resides in our neighborhood. I hope you will enjoy this tribute to a small slice of spring.

Habitat loss is the leading cause of songbird decline worldwide. Please do whatever you can to help with habitat restoration in your neighborhood, country, and even worldwide.

2009-08-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of interesting things happened this month when we conducted our monthly bird survey at the Silver Creek Preserve (SCP) near Picabo, Idaho. But before I tell you about these interesting things, let me give you a little background.

There are four of us that conduct this survey, and we have been doing it once a month since June of 2004. It started as my friend Poo’s project when four of us were students in Idaho’s inaugural Master Bird class. Several of us, Dave, Jean and myself offered our assistance to Poo, and she, in turn, lent her assistance to our individual projects. We all found participating in the counts at SCP to be so fun and rewarding that we have continued to conduct them every month since June of 2004. Poo used the data in her class project report, and that information has from the point of initiation to now been reported to both Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) and to the SCP.

In 2004 IDFG was considering listing SCP as an Important Bird Area (IBA), so they designed our route and established the points within the preserve where we were to stop and count the number of water fowl by individual species and other birds by individual species as seen from those spot during ten minutes of observation. For instance, during those ten minutes if we see eight Green-winged Teal, three Song Sparrows, and five American Coots, we mark this down, and, at the end of the count, we add it all up and have a total for each of the species seen during the count. Our data was an integral part of the decision to designate the preserve as an Important Bird Area.

We conduct the counts year round so we deal with all the weather and temperatures that mark the cycle of the seasons. We drive, we hike, and in the winter there is a whole section of the route that is accessible only by snowshoes or cross-country skis! This part of the route is a one and a half mile trek in and back out. It is good exercise, and it is nearly always breathtaking in both its beauty and silence. Of course, the trek itself can have an effect on your breathing, too, nevermind the beauty of it all!

So, back to our recent count of August 17, 2009. We arrived at the prescribed time to begin the count a half an hour after sunrise. American Coots in the Kilpatrick pond on the east side of the preserve were still silhouetted, and birdcalls came from all directions. Barn, Violet-green, and Tree Swallows foraged over the creek, and trout, too, were enjoying the bounty of insects. It was lovely, and, like always, it was a challenge to resist the impulse to just stand there and soak it all in. But we got to work counting our lovely avian friends and moving along our route.

It was clear right away that the fall migration had begun when we saw a mixed flock of two hundred-plus blackbirds, Red-winged, Yellow-headed and Brewers in the freshly baled hay field and adjacent natural brush area on the south side of the road. This brush area had been burned during a range fire that came close to destroying the sagebrush and riparian habitat in the preserve in late summer of 2008, and is now covered with wild sunflowers, so the blackbirds and scores of Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches and Brewers Sparrows were thick amongst them. They were very hard to count, but two Loggerhead Shrikes perched on the fence that divided the field and flowers stood out magnificently and gave us a thrill by flying right at us and alighting on the dead branches of one of the formerly thick and luscious willows on the north side of the road next to the creek. It is such a good thing to see a shrike up close like this unless, of course, you are its prey.

From here we stopped at counting spots two, three, and four. Four is near the small cabin that is the visitor center. We actually have to walk across the observation deck to get to spot four, so we stopped for a few minutes to watch the Black-chinned, Rufous, and Calliope Hummingbird antics at the nectar feeders. At the count spot at the marsh we tallied several Sora Rails and one Virginia, many Marsh Wrens, a couple of Song Sparrows, some Yellow-rumped, Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow Warblers as well as the waterfowl which consisted of a couple of Mallards.

From there we moved to spot five where we used the spotting scope to count the coots, grebes, and two more Sora Rails. It was a really good day for rails, it seemed, because, in total, we saw or heard eight. There were also some American Wigeons, Cinnamon Teal, and Northern Shovelers present on the pond far below, and a Northern Harrier that made a pass while we watched.

On the west side of the preserve is where the interesting things came into play. We found a lone shorebird species pecking about as it stealthily strode around on the top of thick, limish-green moss. It was a fairly tall shorebird and upon closer examination of its habit of bobbing its tail and head, its nice spectacles, olive-colored legs, and dark shoulders, it rather screamed, “Hey! I am not a Spotted Sandpiper or a Lesser Yellowlegs! I’m a Solitary Sandpiper!” And indeed it was. This species is not listed on the SCP bird list, and, therefore, it is likely the first documentation of it being present in the preserve. Observing it was also further evidence that the fall migration was commencing. Seeing it also increased the beating of our happy birder hearts. We are so easy to thrill. What can I say…

Further along our route we saw an Empidonax flycatcher sallying, and from about a thirty yard distance we could see its downward dipping tail giving evidence that it was most likely a Gray Flycatcher. Yep, as we got closer the rest of its field marks -- a long tail, short wingtips, a rounded-head profile -- all proved true, sealing the deal. It was, indeed, a Gray Flycatcher. This individual is only the third of its kind that we have seen over the years since we started the count. When we saw the first one in 2007, this species wasn’t on the SCP bird list either. Of further interest is that we saw a second Gray Flycatcher in a willow during the last moments of the count. Tick, the third Gray Flycatcher in five years at the SCP!

In all we saw a total of fifty-eight species during our August count, and we had a ton of fun along the way. I wonder what surprises and points of interest will wing their ways to us next month…We’ll see.