Costa Rica Trip

Photos: Vampire Bats -- seen on the Osa Peninsula. Skippers mating -- seen at Carara. Rosenberg's Treefrog -- seen on the Osa Peninsula. Blue Morpho and Silver-throated Tanager -- seen at La Paz Falls. Green-crowned Brilliant -- seen at La Paz Falls. Boa Constrictor -- seen on the Osa Peninsula. Common Potoo -- seen on the Osa Peninsula.


The last two weeks I spent birding in Costa Rica with friends from Maryland. It was a spectacular trip with over 400 bird species observed or heard. Many mammals, herps, and other wildlife were also seen. We spent most of our time working the Pacific slope with a few forays onto the Caribbean slope. Our first days were spent in the cloud forests of Monteverde. After Monteverde we birded the Pacific lowlands around Carara and the Rio Tarcoles. Volcan Poas and La Paz Falls were our next destination. We hit the Talmanca highlands and ended our trip on the Osa Peninsula. Over the next few weeks I hope to post my photos from the trip on my smugmug site.

Lower Shore Birding 3/3 -3/4/07

Photos: Sunset across the Elliot Island marshes.
The next three photos are of the gull we thought might be a Thayer's Gull but we finally decided it was just a light phase Herring Gull.
Flooded Swamp in the Nassawango area of Wicomico County, Maryland

Last weekend I birded the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland with a brief dip down into Virginia. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to go into details because I am leaving in a few hours for Costa Rica. The Big Year is going to be on hold for a couple weeks as myself and some of my Maryland birding friends go explore the back country of CR!!! A few highlights from last weekend were my first amphibian photos for the year. Saturday was very warm (in the 50's) so the Spring peepers were blasting away in the Nassawango. Under a rock at E.A. Vaughn WMA I caught a dark phase Red-backed Salamander. Also seen that day were five Mourning Cloak butterflies but I was not able to get a photo. Sunday I birded with Bill Hubick, Tom Feild, and Zach Baer. We spent most of our time south of Salisbury in Somerset County with a brief stop at the Wicomico dump where we thought we might have photographed a Thayer's Gull. But after reviewing the photos and asking for input from a few gull experts we decided that it was just a light-phased Herring Gull. Wood Ducks and Gadwall were finally captured as well as a big Turkey flock. But to be honest all I'm really thinking about now is Quetzals and Blue Morphos. Check back in a couple weeks and I post some photos of our trip. Hopefully when I get home the butterflies will be flying and the Yellow-throated Warblers will be singing!

February '07 -- A Summary

Photos: Purple Dead Nettle blooming near Cambridge
Thick-billed Murre in Ocean City

February was a great month that held many special moments. The Delmarva Peninsula finally experienced hard winter weather and our only substantial snowfall. The month started with a great day of birding which resulted in photos of the Northern Shrike at Prime Hook NWR and Eurasian Collared-Doves in Selbyville, Delaware. Other rare birds followed through out the month like Lapland Longspur in Talbot County and Red-necked Grebes in Ocean City. But the most special bird was the Thick-billed Murre that I saw in Ocean City. This was a life bird for me and to observe this bird at such an intimate level will be remembered for a long time. Mammal photos were finally taken this month. I will argue that mammals are going to be my toughest group to photograph because most species are rarely seen and only for brief moments. The Marsh Rice Rat that I photographed in Wicomico County was awesome as was the Gray Fox in Kent County, Maryland and the Harbor Seal in Ocean City. All three of these animals were unexpected and to secure their photos for the Big Year was a major score. The last day of February I noticed a blooming Purple Dead Nettle which reminded me that Spring is coming.

Snow Birding on the Upper Shore 2/26/07

Photos: Gambel's sub-species of the White-crowned Sparrow photographed in Kent County, Maryland
Horned Lark outside of Rock Hall, Maryland
Muscovy Duck (I'm a sucker for a photogenic exotic) Choptank, Maryland

On Sunday Bill Hubick and decided to bird the Upper Shore. Since ducks were beginning to migrate we decided to start out in Caroline County and get Bill some good county birds. Caroline County is the only land locked Eastern Shore county so many duck species are harder to find, especially diving ducks. We hit the town of Choptank first. Choptank is located right on the Choptank River and is a really good place to look for ducks. Our first good bird of the day was a fly-by Canvasback. I know of only one reported Canvasback sighting for Caroline County in the past few years. Outside of Choptank Bill spotted a white bird in a large Canada Goose flock. Using a spotting scope we were excited to find that the bird was a Ross' Goose. Ross' Geese look like Snow Geese but they are half the size and have a really small bill. Normally they are found in Snow Goose flocks where they blend in so well they are terribly difficult to find. It was exciting to find one so easily. Unfortunately the bird was too far away for me to get a photograph. From there we went to the Denton sewage ponds where we found two more Canvasbacks! Since sewage ponds seemed to be treating us well we headed to the Ridgely ponds which held a drake Redhead which is another really good bird for Caroline County. From Ridgely we found two Snow Buntings in a Horned lark Flock on Sparks Road but once again I was unable to get identifiable photos. By the time we left Caroline County we had ticked 16 species of waterfowl. Upon reaching Chestertown, Maryland it was beginning to snow. The Chestertown sewage ponds surprisingly held zero waterfowl. We decided to head to Rock Hall to look for waterfowl. On the way we got great photos of Savannah Sparrows that were feeding on the side of the road. While rounding a corner on a back road east of Rock Hall, Bill yells out that he sees a fox. When I get on the animal all I see is the fox running up a hill and out of sight. Bill and I both realize simultaneously that the fox did not have a white tip on the tail. This meant it was a Gray Fox. The white tipped tail is a diagnostic feature of the Red Fox. Gray Foxes are much more rare than Red Foxes. I was really bummed out that I didn't get a photo. Bill suggested backing the car up and climbing up a small embankment to see if the fox had stopped running. I obliged and climbed the embankment and was amazed to see the fox staring right at me. He allowed me to get a couple photos before he ran away for good. Birding in the snow can be very exciting. Birds that normally feed in fields and are hard to locate become much easier to locate when there is snow on the ground. Bill and I were able to photograph Horned Larks and American Pipits. Both of these birds are really difficult to photograph but with the snow they became fairly easy. Our best bird of the day soon followed. Outside of Butertown in Kent County we located a flock of White-crowned Sparrows. Bill soon picked out a 'Gambel's' race of the White-crowned Sparrow. White-crowned's are not particulary rare on Delmarva but the 'Gambel's' race live in western North America. Rarely the 'Gambel's' race wanders to the east coast. Our photos are the first documented photographs of the sub-species for Maryland. We worked our way back towards Oxford in the snow driving back roads and searching for good birds. Outside of Easton, Maryland we finally hit the golden flock. We spotted a large flock of Horned Larks close to the road. After a couple minutes I spotted a Snow Bunting feeding with the larks. Then Bill found a Lapland Longspur. Longspur's are small brown sparrow size birds that blend really well in field habitats and they are almost impossible to find. Most of the time it is easier to identify longspurs by the flight calls then by actually seeing them. I knew that I was going to need a good snow if I was going to have a chance of getting a photo of a longspur. We watched the flock until it flew off across the field. It was a long exciting day with many good birds and photos.

Ocean City, Maryland 2/24/07

Photos: Thick-billed Murre -- a super rarity that is rarely seen from shore during the winter.
Ring-billed Gull -- this photo was taken while the bird was washing in a pond at Eagles Nest Golf Course.
Great Cormorant -- taken at Ocean City Inlet
Horned Grebes -- taken in West Ocean City

On the 21 of February word got around on the birding circuit that a Thick-billed Murre was regularly being seen in a small canal in West Ocean City. With much frustration I knew that I would have to wait until Saturday morning to chase the murre. I had never seen a Thick-billed Murre which just added to my anxiety that the bird wouldn't be there on Saturday. Friday evening I began receiving phone calls from my friends that they were watching the murre and it was only twenty feet away! Thick-billed Murres belong to the Alcid family which includes the more well known puffins. In North America they breed in northern Canada and Greenland. During the winter months they spend all their time at sea. So having a Thick-billed Murre regularly seen from land is an exceptional phenomenon. Friday night before I went to sleep I sent out all the positive mojo I could muster towards Ocean City and it worked. Saturday morning while photographing Ruddy Turnstones at the inlet the Thick-billed Murre flew in the inlet and swam back to its old haunt in the canal in West OC. There were many birders present and it was great to get a new life bird and share the comraderie of the moment with everyone else. The day was full of surprises. While searching for the murre, Hans Holbrook gave me a call and told me that there was a Harbor Seal sitting up on the flats in Assawoman Bay. The seal was real far away so a great photo was out of the question but I'm happy with my pic. After the seal it was time to chase two Red-necked Grebes that were being seen amongst the shrimp boats tied up at the West OC workboat docks. When we arrived the two grebes were feeding under the docks and allowed Hans and myself to get some nice photos. After photographing the Red-necked Grebes we went back out and photographed a Harlequin Duck that was feeding underneath the Ocean City Fishing Pier. Harlequin Ducks used to be regular at Ocean City Inlet but for the past five years or so they have been strangely absent except for a few scattered reports. So catching a photo of a Harlequin was a great boost for the big year. Other new photos for the day included a Tricolored Heron and a Red-breasted Merganser that we spooked while photographing the Red-necked Grebes. After eating a fine lunch at Plaza Tapatia Tom Fields and myself went to the Eagles Nest Golf Course to see if we could get better photos of the Eurasian Wigeon that has been there all winter. The wigeon was swimming on the other end of the pond so my photos were just as distant as the ones I took back in January but I did get a few neat pictures of Ring-billed Gulls washing in the pond. Tom and I then headed to the Wicomico landfill to try once again for the Glaucous Gull that seems to have been there all winter. We were feeling real good about the chase because Bill Hubick had seen the gull earlier in the morning. It was 4:30pm by the time Tom and I hit the landfill and once again I struck out. We did pick out an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull which was a nice rarity to add to the day.