Your guide presses a finger to her closed lips and the adventure begins. You follow her in silence as she leads your group into a dark forest that seems like the setting for a fairytale. Moonlight slips through tree branches, illuminating a path. When a shape shifts among the shadows, you stop to stare. Your guide calls into the dark, making. She makes a series of whistled hoots that speed up, like a dropped ball settling on the ground.
Silence.
Your guide calls a second time. Again, silence.
When your guide makes another series of hoots, this time there is an answer in the forest. Moving from shadows into the moonlight, a bird appears. Its wings flap with a brushing sound so subtle you aren’t certain you heard it. The owl glides in total silence and lands on a branch above you. Suddenly, the benefit of exploring the wilderness with a guide becomes clear. This moment, curated by expert naturalists with a keen understanding of the ecosystem around them, is unforgettable.
You will recall the large eyes blinking among the branches. You will remember how these inhabitants of a dark world were illuminated by the guide’s spotlight, their bodies glowing as they glided past you and vanished. Whenever you glimpse a forest at night, you will know it is filled with life that stirs when the sun disappears. You will listen for owls, and you may even call back to them.
Great Gray Owl
Western Screech Owl by Bryan Calk
Burrowing Owl
Long-eared Owl
Barn Owl
An Evolved Species
Evolution has equipped owls with fascinating adaptations. Velvety feathers with serrated leading edges enable silent flight, minimizing turbulence and dampening noise. Owls can swivel their heads up to 270 degrees, a feat facilitated by their unique neck structure with extra vertebrae and ample blood vessels. The forward-facing orientation of their eyes provides powerful binocular vision, giving owls exceptional depth perception for hunting.
Owls’ hearing abilities are equally extraordinary. The strategic placement of ear openings at different heights allows sounds to reach each ear at slightly different times, aiding in precise prey localization. The circular arrangement of feathers that forms an owl’s facial disc funnels sound to the bird’s ears, enabling the hunter to detect subtle movements. An owl knows when a mouse is sneaking through grass or a vole is tunneling beneath the snow.
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Owl Prowls in the United States
Those lucky enough to experience an owl prowl report feeling intensely alive and closely connected to nature. Fortunately, you don’t need to travel far to find awe-inspiring owls.
The United States is home to 19 owl species, each among the most magnificent birds on Earth. Prowling for them, whether in deserts of the Southwest during spring or in snow-buried boreal forests in winter, provides a fulfilling adventure not far from home.
A spotlight illuminated a ghostly Barn Owl hunting over a field. In a sycamore tree, the group observed a Northern Pygmy-Owl, featuring false eyespots that confuse prey and predators alike. Spotted Owls were heard and seen roosting. Baby Great Horned Owls, near fledgling, jostled in a nest cavity in Portal, where Naturalist Journeys has its headquarters. Finally, the group was treated to great views of the world’s smallest owl, a raptor no larger than a sparrow, the Elf Owl.
Naturalist Journeys hosts guided tours in Southeast Arizona all throughout the year. Discover the bustle of spring migration, a rainbow of hummingbirds, wintering Sandhill Cranes and even a pair of resident Elegant Trogon along the way. And, of course, owls galore!
In February of 2025, participants on the inaugural Minnesota: Winter Owling Tour will search for Snowy, Great Gray, Northern Hawk, and Boreal Owls.
Snowy Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Hawk Owl
GReat Gray Owl
During these winter owl prowls, you can look for Snowy Owls, their pale plumage camouflaging their bodies. Their feathered feet are like fluffy slippers that insulate their skin from cold snow.
The Great Gray Owl that haunts the forests of the north is among the world’s largest owls by wingspan and body length, but weighs a mere two and a half pounds. Though this owl seems like a big ball of feathers, its powerful body can punch through hard-packed snow to snatch prey.
The Northern Hawk Owl is another impressive hunter of boreal forests. It has a distinctly long tail and behaves more like a hawk than an owl. While perched atop solitary trees in daylight, this predator can sight prey up to a half mile away.
The elusive Boreal Owl is also a sit-and-wait predator that hunts from perches. But it listens at night for creatures scurrying on bare forest floor beneath trees and tunneling through snow. This small owl with a square head peers through giant yellow eyes into the dark.
Short-eared Owl
Endless Opportunities
Optional owl prowls add intrigue to several other US tours. From seeking a Great Gray Owl in Yellowstone National Park, to searching for Great Horned Owls on a Kansas tallgrass prairie, to prowling the ponderosa pine forests of South Dakota’s Black Hills, venturing into the night world can be as exciting as traveling to an unknown country.
The nocturnal wilderness awaits, and the owls are calling.
Naturalist Journeys’ Portal, AZ headquarters is in the glorious Chiricahua Mountains, one of sixty ‘sky islands,’ in Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico. Small mountain ranges marooned by oceans of desert and scrub that lap at their foothills, sky islands are celebrated and studied for their dramatic biodiversity.
Sky Islands Map by US Forest Service
As one ascends 6,000 feet from the Sulphur Springs Valley to 9,795-foot-high Chiricahua Peak, Bark Scorpions, Gila Monsters, rattlesnakes and cactus eventually give way to alpine meadow, Red-faced Warblers and hibernating Black Bear. Somewhere in the middle, a young paddle cactus and a sapling Douglas fir can be found growing side by side.
“The Sky Islands connect two very different mountainous regions, the subtropical Sierra Madre of Mexico and the temperate Rocky Mountains of the United States,” per the US Forest Service. “The mixing of these southern and northern biotas is truly unique.”
Roadrunner and cactus by Peg Abbott
Barn Owl by Hugh Simmons
Mexican Chickadee calling by Peg Abbott
Six different habitats converge in the Madrean Sky Islands, with representative plants and animals from the Sonora and Chihuahua Deserts, the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, the Neotropics of Baja and the Sierra Madres. This intense biodiversity attracts not only birders, but “buggers”, “herpers” and “bat people”.
Climbing from valley floor to mountain peak of the tallest sky islands, there are nine life zones, writes the Sky Island Alliance, a non-profit that aims to protect and restore sky island diversity: “Sonoran Desert scrub, desert grassland, open oak woodland, canyon woodland, pine – oak woodland, pine – oak forest, pine forest, montane fir forest and subalpine forest.”
Illustration by Sky Island Alliance
“They say it’s like driving from Mexico to Canada in an hour,” our founder and lead guide Peg Abbott explained to TheNew York Times writer Elaine Glusac, who wrote an excellent Sky Islands birding piece in 2021, featuring both Peg and Carrie!
Elaine came in search of Elegant Trogon, a migrant species often seen on our spring and Monsoon Madness Arizona tours, which she described this way:
“The Elegant Trogon, befitting its name, is clever. One can perch in a tree 10 feet overhead and draw little attention, though it’s come dressed for it, with a striking yellow beak, blush red breast topped with a white collar and metallic green back tapering, like tuxedo tails, to finely barred tail feathers.”
Elegant Trogon by Peg Abbott
We have two upcoming fall and winter Southeast Arizona trips with chances to see overwintering Elegant Trogon, though many will have moved on to southern wintering grounds.
We often see several species of hummingbird on our fall and winter tours, along with Greater Roadrunner, Vermilion Flycatcher, Verdin, Gambel’s Quail, Pyrrhuloxia, Phainopepla, and other resident species, as we bask in warm sunshine. We are joined by wintering birds from parts north, including many thousands of Sandhill Crane, who also find the weather pleasant!
Pyrrhuloxia by Delsa Anderl
Gambel’s Quail by Peg Abbott
Phainopepla by Bryan Calk
Verdin by Delsa Anderl
Incoming Sandhill Crane by Bryan Calk
The diversity here goes well beyond birds. White-nosed Coati, Javelina, Pronghorn and Bobcat are commonly photographed on tours here, along with all manner of butterflies, bats, snakes, tortoises and the occasional Black Bear.
White-nosed Coatimundi by Bryan Calk
Javelina with young by Steve Wolfe
Bobcat by Bryan Calk
Mountain Short-horned Lizard by Bryan Calk
Mojave Rattlesnake by Bryan Calk
Our Sunshine and Saguaros tour Nov. 4 – 9 is a quick winter getaway that enjoys three nights and three great dinners in foodie, cultural Tucson, birding the surrounding Santa Ritas, Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum before moving to Tubac, AZ, our base for exploring Madera and Montosa Canyons.
Saguaros near Tucson by Peg Abbott
Slightly longer, our photo-friendly Nov. 9 – 16 Sky Island Fall Sampler tour, visits both the Huachuca and Chiricachua sky islands, spending two nights at one of our favorite BnB’s the world over, the fabulous Casa de San Pedro. From the hummingbird feeders to the homemade pie buffet to incredibly warm hospitality, it is a cherished stay for birders around the world.
This tour also comes to Portal, Naturalist Journeys’ HQ, spending four nights at Cave Creek Ranch, where our casitas stand among the shadows cast by the imposing, colorful rhyolite cliffs. Portal is known for its dark skies and fabulous night sky viewing, and we make time to look for owls and other night birds.
Cave Creek Canyon rhyolite cliffs by Bryan Calk
Casa de San Pedro by Peg Abbott
Fall Color in Cave Creek Canyon by Hugh Simmons
Fishook Barrel Cactus by Bryan Calk
Arizona Highways magazine popularized the term ‘sky islands’ in 1943, when writer Natt N. Dodge called the Chiricahuas a “mountain island in a desert sea.”
But credit for the scientific concept goes to herpetologist Edward Taylor, who made the first reference to biodiverse mountain islands on the Mexican plateau in 1940, at the 8th American Scientific Congress in Washington, D. C.
Other Sky Islands
Since then, the sky islands concept has been extended to other places around the world, where their protection is important to guard biodiversity, including the Chisos Mountains in Texas, which we visit on our Texas Big Bend tours.
Chisos group by Steve Shunk
Chisos group by Woody Wheeler
Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in Eastern Africa are also sky islands, where one may travel from the tropics to the arctic by climbing in elevation, a trek described as traveling from the equator to the North Pole. Our trips to Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in Eastern Africa are all birdier in part thanks to these forested East Africa reservoirs of diversity.
Indulge in warm desert days among saguaros as we walk trails in Saguaro National and Catalina State Parks with fine views of the surrounding sky island mountain ranges. Visit desert botanical gardens that hummingbirds frequent and the famed Sonoran Desert Museum. Northwest of the city, visit Santa Cruz Flats, where big agricultural fields create a winter birding hotspot with habitats ranging from turf farms to ponds and fields. We search for Yellow-headed Blackbird, Ferruginous Hawk and Crested Caracara. One section of the flats is a reliable spot to find three species of thrashers: Curve-billed, Bendire’s and with some luck, Le Conte’s.
Enjoy three nights in Tucson on this Southeast Arizona birding tour followed by two nights along the Santa Cruz River south of the city in view of the Santa Rita Mountains. At Madera and Montosa Canyons, Elegant Trogon may overwinter, feeding on fruits and on warm days, large insects. Trails near the artisan town of Tubac are ideal for natural history exploring. This tour makes a nice short getaway, or pairs perfectly with our Arizona Fall Sampler that ventures to Patagonia, the Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista, the San Pedro River and Sulphur Springs Valley.
Southeast Arizona is home terrain for Naturalist Journeys and we’re so excited to share our favorite places. On this year’s fall Southeast Arizona nature tour we’ve invited Hugh Simmons, an accomplished photographer specializing in landscapes, to join us. We plan to set the pace of this one to let you work on photo composition, or simply to marvel at beauty.
Hugh provides photo tips for those that want to improve their skills; you can then practice on fall color landscapes and especially at feeders—brilliant birds. We begin at a fun western-themed hotel in Sonoita to have a chance to explore some beautiful grasslands at sunset and to visit the famous hummingbird feeders at Patagonia. We follow with two nights at the delightful Casa de San Pedro and end with four nights in Cave Creek Canyon at Portal, truly one of the most scenic canyons in the state. This is home turf for guide Peg Abbott and she’s eager to share her beloved terrain. Throughout our travels, we enjoy delicious, catered meals and dining at our favorite local restaurants.
This is not “normal” winter birding. Hummingbirds still linger here at several popular feeder sites—sit awhile and let the birds come to you! Fruiting trees and shrubs attract thrashers, robins and sometimes, rarities, like the Eared Quetzal in the fall of 2020.
Wintering Sandhill Cranes number in the tens of thousands; we watch them fly in at sunset to Whitewater Draw. Sparrows and allies winter in profusion, many from the Great Plains region. Southwestern mammals such as Coati, Javelina and even Ring-tailed Cat can be found. Raptors abound: Red-tailed Hawk of varied color phases, Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Peregrine, Merlin and more.
There are so many interesting facts about hummingbirds that, compounded into their tiny flying forms, hummingbirds inspire poetic descriptions like this one from John James Audubon himself, who called them “the greatest ornaments of the gardens and forests. Such in most cases is the brilliancy of their plumage, that I am unable to find apt objects of comparison unless I resort to the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.”
Facts about Hummingbirds: Size is Relative
Their diminutive size is probably the most obvious trait shared among the 330+ species of the family Trochilidae, whose most close relative is the swifts. Tiny Bee Hummingbird is the smallest, less than two ounces and found only in Cuba. The largest, the Giant Hummingbird, can weigh up to 12 times as much, and is found in the Andes, along with the Sword-billed Hummingbird, whose own size claim to fame is being the only bird with a bill longer than its body. Both can be found on our Northern Peru and Peru: Cusco to Mánu National Park tours:
Hummingbirds are a favorite of most birders, but they are particularly enthralling to our guests from Europe and Asia, who must travel to the Western Hemisphere to see them. Africa’s sunbirds, nectar-loving birds adapted to local flora, are often described as the hummingbirds of the Eastern Hemisphere.
Other location-based facts about hummingbirds:
US birders enjoy 17 nesting species of hummingbird
Half of all hummingbird species are concentrated in a belt near the equator
Some hummingbirds are wide-ranging, like the White-necked Jacobin, though you do have to leave the US to see it. We often see this species on our Belize tours, two upcoming. The October trip is one day longer, but you can see the value in traveling in the “green season” by comparison.
Other hummingbirds are endemics, their ranges almost as diminutive as the birds themselves. The gorgeous Violet-capped Hummingbird is not widespread even inside Panama and a tiny sliver of Colombia contiguous with the Darién, a wilderness that flourishes between the two countries and benefits from a car-free break here in the Pan-American Highway.
We have chances to see Violet-capped on our upcoming tour to the Darién:
Violet-capped Hummingbirds can only been seen in Panama and Colombia. Photo Credit: Gail Hampshire of Wikimedia Commons
Picking up on Audubon’s description of hummingbirds, the Gilded Hummingbird and Glitter-throated Emerald call to mind “the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.” Both can be seen on our Brazil’s Pantanal tours:
Gilded Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Cláudio Dias Timm via Wikimedia Commons
Brazil Extensions Hummingbirds
To get a richer selection of hummingbirds, it’s advisable to choose the pre- and post-tour extensions, where our 2019 guests also saw Black Jacobin, Scale-throated Hermit, Black-eared Fairy, Frilled Coquette, Brazilian Ruby, Violet-capped Woodnymph, White-throated, and Versicoloured Emerald!
Black-eared Fairy. Photo Credit: Joao-Quental via Wikimedia Commons
Frilled Coquette. Photo Credit: Hector Bottai via Wikimedia Commons
Scale-throated. Photo Credit: Bruno Girin via WIkimedia Commons
Hummingbirds in the US: Arizona and Texas
As we noted above, 17 hummingbirds regularly nest in the US, as far north as Alaska, where birders delight in the Rufous Hummingbird, possibly because there are no other hummingbirds to chase off the feeders! (Elsewhere, birders and other hummingbirds might find them more aggressive than adorable.) Our US tours to Texas and Arizona turn up the highest variety of hummingbirds, and we make sure to see as many as we can!
We have three Monsoon Madness tours upcoming in Arizona, host to the highest diversity of hummingbirds of any US state. On our August 2021 tour, we saw a full dozen hummingbirds, including two our guests selected as the co-birds of the trip, the Violet-crowned and the Lucifer.
Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Don Faulkner of Wikimedia Commons
The Lucifer Hummingbird is also found on our Texas tours, including the upcoming and popular South Texas: Fall Migration October 9 – 16, $2,390 from McAllen, TX.
A Rainbow of Hummingbirds
Rainbows are a great analogy for talking about the colors of hummingbirds, because tricky light refraction across their feathers is the reason that hummingbirds can look dull one moment and catch fire the next. Consider these two photos of the aforementioned adorable/aggressive Rufous Hummingbird:
Rufous Hummingbird. Photo Credits: Carrie Miller (Slide middle arrow to see change.)
Their irridescence comes not from pigmentation but from light-shifting structures called melanosomes. Though other birds have them, including some ducks, the shape of hummingbirds’ melanosomes is unique, as Audubon describes in greater detail in “Hummingbirds Owe Their Shimmer to Microscopic Pancake-Like Structures.”
Though many hummingbirds flash at the gorget, the show-stopping Crimson Topaz takes an all-over approach to its irridescence.
Crimson Topaz. Photo Credit: Aisse Gaertner via Wikimedia Commons
Crimson Topaz is a Guianan Shield regional endemic that we have chances to see on our upcoming Guyana: Unspoiled Wilderness October 13 – 25. We also have chances in Guyana to see Tufted Coquette, which is one of the features of our trips to Trinidad and Tobago, a popular independent birding venture destination, where it must compete with Scarlet Ibis for bird of the trip!
Tufted Coquette. Photo Credit: Richard Wagner
Flouncing Feathers
Perhaps the flirtiest of all the coquettes, however, is the Rufous-crested Coquette, an unforgettable species, which we have chances to see on two of our Panama trips:
Snowcap Hummingbird also has a beautiful noggin, though far less adorned than the Rufous-crested. We often see this beauty on our Costa Rica: Carribean Side tour, which is Oct. 13-23 this year.
Snowcap. Photo Credit: Michael Woodruff via Creative Commons
Sounds Beyond Humming!
Our short ‘facts about hummingbirds’ blog wouldn’t be complete without touching on these birds’ namesake characteristic.
As anyone who has spent anytime sitting near an over-subscribed feeder will notice, the humming of hummingbirds is much more varied than the same word used to describe the monotone of a plugged-in refrigerator. Some of their humming comes from rapid wingbeats, ranging from a dozen wingbeats per second for Giant Hummingbird to 80 per second by the record-holding Amethyst Woodstar, which we have chances to see in Peru and Brazil.
Amethyst Woodstar, frequently seen in Peru, vocalizes in addition to its namesake humming. Photo Credit: Bob Hill
But hummingbirds also make other noises, including signature sounds made with their tail feathers, and territorial ‘chip’ calls. A few of them even sing!
The Broad-tailed Hummingbird, which we are almost certain to see on our three Arizona Monsoon Madness tours, makes a distinctive metallic sound in flight, which you can hear on this All About Birds page by clicking the audio file labeled ‘display.’
Where there are more species in competition, birds are more likely to have more complex vocalizations. The Mexican Violetear (formerly known as the Green Violetear, split into Mexican and Lesser Violetear in 2016) is one of those hummingbirds on the chatty side. We have great chances to see (and often first hear) Mexican Violetear on our two upcoming Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts tours. One of the things guests love about this trip is it includes beach time/time on the coast.
Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts August 1 – 9 (9-day, 8-night) $3790, from Oaxaca City
Oaxaca: Birds Culture and Crafts October 17 – 28, (12-day, 11-night) $4490, from Oaxaca City
Mexican Violetear. Photo Credit: Cephas via Wikimedia Commons
Adding to your Hummingbird Life List
If you are looking for specific hummingbirds, or want to know which hummingbirds may be seen on our tours, please check out the wealth of information available on our trip reports page! Though many of our tours feature a rich variety of hummingbirds, through our Independent Birding Ventures we design tours based on what you want to see. Do you want a trip that maximizes hummingbirds? Sign up for Northern Peru Endemics, or let us design a hummingbird-rich trip for your group!
Ecotourism Plays a Protective Role in Endangered Places
The world’s biodiversity hot spots are often, unsurprisingly, birding meccas. After all, birders are keenly interested in seeing novel species, and biodiverse places by definition are home to unique plants and animals.
What may be less obvious is how important ecotourism is to preserving ‘biodiversity hot spots’, a term coined by ecologist Norman Meyers more than 30 years ago. He defined it in an article for the journal Nature: “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions.”
Biodiversity Hotspots
An area must be both irreplaceable and under threat to be listed among the 36 biodiversity hot spots identified by Conservation International, a global non-profit whose mission it is to help preserve them. More precisely, a biodiversity hot spot must have more than 1,500 endemic plant species, making it unique, and its territory must be degraded to 30 percent or less of its original range, making it endangered.
So while Yellowstone National Park is ecologically irreplaceable, home to 300 bird species and majestic herds of bison, elk, and pronghorn and the wolves, bears, and cougars that hunt them, it is not endangered. Under federal protection since 1872, Yellowstone “is one of the largest nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth,” according to the National Park Service. (Just two spots remain on our spring Yellowstone tours, on the June 1-8 departure.)
Guide and Photographer Carlos Sanchez guides our guests at Yellowstone National Park.
Bison roaming. Photo Credit: Hugh Simmons
Yellowstone Falls by Greg Smith
Black Bear. Photo Credit: Hugh Simmons
Beartooth Lake. Photo Credit: Hugh Simmons
Rocky Mountain Goat. Photo Credit: Hugh Simmons
By contrast, the Madrean Sky Islands we visit on our three Monsoon Madness tours in August fit the biodiversity hot spot definition perfectly. We have chances to see many range-restricted species on these tours, including Mexican Chickadee, Elegant Trogon, Montezuma Quail, and Whiskered Screech Owl, among many others. They occupy the Sky Islands’ varied habitats: from desert floor to scrubland, oak and, finally, in the highest elevations, Douglas Fir and Apache Pine. As marvelous as they are today, the Madrean Pine-Oak forests now cover just 14 percent of what they once did, whittled away by development and agriculture. Though marvels remain, much was lost. Great flocks of Thick-billed Parrot were once common in the southwestern US, but were hunted to extirpation in 1938, when the last individual was spotted in lonely flight over the Chiricahua Mountains. It is now endangered in its remaining redoubts in northern Mexico.
Coatimundi. Photo Credit: Bryan Calk
Monsoon Rainbow. Photo Credit: Bryan Calk
Elegant Trogon. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Montezuma Quail. Photo Credit: Mary McSparen
Biodiversity Hotspots: Brazil
The Pantanal region of Brazil, which we visit twice this year, is sandwiched between two biodiversity hot spots: the vast tropical savannas of the Cerrado and the dwindling Atlantic Forests. Both support apex predators like Harpy Eagle, Giant Otter and Jaguar, which require huge territories in the treetops, rivers and countryside, respectively. But both the Cerrado and Atlantic Forests are threatened by agricultural and urban development, fragmenting their territories and making them vulnerable to hunting and reprisals by ranchers.
Giant River Otter. Photo Credit: Bernard DuPont via Creative Commons
Resting Jaguar by Xavier Munoz
Harpy Eagle. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Biodiversity Hotspots: Africa
Eight biodiversity hot spots are found in Africa, including the Cape Floristic Region in South Africa we visit Sept. 28 – Oct. 12, our tour timed for one of the most jaw-dropping wildflower explosions anywhere in the world. More than 9,000 plant species call this small piece of real estate home, 69 percent of them endemics. The birds that co-evolved with this plant community are equally stunning, like the Cape Sugarbird and Protea Canary.
Western Cape Floristic Region. Photo Credit: Greg Smith
Southern Double-Collared Sunbird. Photo Credit: George Bakken
Gemsbok and purple flowers. Photo Credit: Greg Smith
We also visit three of the thirteen African countries – Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya – that are part of a large but not-contiguous Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot. The opportunity to trek in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see endangered populations of Mountain Gorilla and Chimpanzee is one of the highlights of our Uganda tours, along with opportunities to see the iconic African Shoebill, whose prehistoric visage, 5-foot-tall frame and machine-gun bill-clattering greeting make them both unmistakable and unforgettable. This hotspot is incredibly important because its lush forests play an important role in providing fresh water to eastern Africa. But it is also a very poor region, which puts the trees at threat for commercial logging and for use as firewood.
Shoebill. Photo Credit: Hjalmar Gislason
Mountain Gorilla. Photo Credit: Herbert Byaruhanga
Why is Biodiversity So Important?
Biodiversity brings richness to our lives (and our life lists) of course, but it is also economically important well beyond the sales of binoculars, spotting scopes and hiking poles. Healthy environments deliver what scientists call ‘ecosystem services’, and they do it far more cheaply and elegantly than the man-made alternatives. Thriving populations of birds, bees and bats pollinate crops; mangrove swamps and coral reefs offer flood protection and, along with swamps, bogs and fens, water purification services, to name just a few examples.
Carbon storage is an ‘ecosystem service’. Photo Credit: Zac Kayler et al via Wikimedia Commons
Coral reefs protect shoreline, an ‘ecosystem service.’ Photo Credit: Ysebaert-T.et-al via WIkimedia Commons
Complex Ecosystems Depend on Apex Predators
It can be difficult to explain to a farmer whose cattle is being picked off by big cats that shooting them can lead to bigger problems, but an ecosystem that loses its apex predators gets out of whack very quickly. Unchecked by hunters, herbivore populations soon swell, with the potential to encroach on croplands. Meanwhile, scavenger species like vultures, Wild Dog and hyenas, which rely on the scraps from hunters, are also threatened with population crash. Likewise in the Patanal, healthy Jaguar populations keep crop-menacing peccaries in check. So when farmers bait these hooved “skunk pigs” with poison, they may inadvertently kill off allies in their fight when jaguars and other cats like ocelot and puma feed on the poison-tainted carcasses.
Payments for Peacekeeping
One of the ways that governments and non-profits try to preserve biodiversity hot spots is to pay farmers when they lose crops or livestock to wild animals. Likewise, ecotourism has a vital role to play. When money flows into communities, we hold up our end of the ecotourism bargain, showing locals that natural resources will be worth more to them alive and thriving than they will hunted for meat or the pet trade, or in the case of forests, cut down for fuel or to make way for farming.
Local communities in special places depend on us! Photo Credit, Peg Abbott
Responsible and sustainable tourism is even more important in the face of other more intractable threats, like climate change. A warming, less predictable planet has already initiated a shift in the ranges of many plants and animals, with the potential to drive them from protected parks to less welcoming places already occupied, or where habitats are substantially more degraded.
COVID-19 Ecotourism Lessons
If there was any doubt about the importance of ecotourism to protecting biodiversity hot spots and wild animals in general, it was dispelled by COVID-19. Tourism ground to a halt for more than a year, putting pressure on what are, in many cases, very poor communities whose people who do the tracking, porting, cooking and guiding on which tourism companies like ours rely.
Uganda Women Birders is an organization that trains women for ecotourism careers. Photo credit: Uganda Women Birders
Shutting out not just the binocular set, but trophy hunters who pay big bucks to hunt in not-protected areas, the lockdown was devastating to wildlife protection, as The Economist detailed in “Pandemic is a Gift to Poachers in Africa.”
While doing our best to stay afloat during COVID lockdowns, Naturalist Journeys and our clients raised substantial sums of money to help sustain our partners in places like Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago when we couldn’t send them business-as-usual.
One modest example was a decision by our founder, Peg Abbott, to send small monthly stipends to our guides in Trinidad and Tobago to keep them out birding even without guests, asking them to submit eBird checklists. It’s possible they found more birds than they would have, because they didn’t have to stop and show clients where to look!
Trinidad and Tobago birders. Photo Credit: Dodie Logue
But now that we have vaccines, and travel has become more manageable, we are getting out there again, and we hope you will feel comfortable doing so too. Because there is no substitute for the financial and emotional support that ecotourists bring to the protection of precious and endangered places, and the birds, animals and people who call them home.
During our four-plus-hour river cruise, Ben’s deep knowledge about all things Alabama was outshone only by his folksy charm. An environmental reporter for twenty years in this state, his wildlife conservation bona fides are deeply rooted and home grown.
As we moved from one swampy natural wonder to another, part speed boat thrill ride part trolling motor, Ben told us just how special and how diverse the Mobile-Tensaw watershed is.
It leads the US in average rainfall: 77 inches per year, 22 more than Seattle.
Its 450 species of freshwater fish lead all states, representing a third of all freshwater fish species in the US.
Ranging from the Appalachian foothills in the northern part of the state to Mobile Bay, it is easily #1 in aquatic diversity among states, with new species being discovered all the time.
Ben harvested nutty American Lotus seeds for us, and buds of not-yet-uncurled leaves we are told will cook down like mustard greens. We lucked into a Mayfly hatch, which attracted a mobbing mixed flock of some 30 Prothonotary and Yellow Warblers. We saw colorful insects, wildflowers, fish and many birds. Ben also showed us a honey tree, a hollow tree trunk whose opening was ringed with bees. Locals used to hunt for honey trees and cut one down as a group, with each family taking home some of the sweet cache.
Yellow Warblers (pictured) and Prothonotary Warblers were mobbing Mayflies.
Lotus seeds were nutty and crisp.
A bryozoan, or tiny animal collective.
Grasshoppers are pernicious.
Our guests help support wildlife conservation.
Besides being an excellent boat captain, Ben is also a respected historian who personally discovered the burnt and scuttled wreckage of the last ship to bring enslaved Africans to the US, the ‘Clotilda’, as he documents in “The Last Slave Ship.” He also produced “The Underwater Forest,” a documentary about a 60,000-year-old submerged Cypress forest discovered off the coast of Alabama in 2004, just after Hurricane Ivan.
Suffice it to say we felt fortunate to have him as our expert local guide for the day.
But it wasn’t just dumb luck that brought us to Ben’s boat. It was his wildlife conservation connection with “professor” and guide Andrew Haffenden, who finishes up teaching Shorebird School today.
An Australian native who moved to Alabama in 2012, Andrew was briefly internationally famous along with Ben in 2018. Drew, while performing nesting surveys for Alabama Audubon, discovered a horrifying spectacle that Ben wrote about on Alabama.com:
“Beachgoers playing volleyball on a small island at the mouth of Mobile Bay perpetrated a horrific crime in recent weeks, likely killing hundreds of tiny Least Terns.
The volleyballers even stacked dozens of eggs stolen from nests in a pile to bake in the sun.”
Photo Credit: Andrew Haffenden
Laying their grape-sized eggs on scrapes in the sand in dense colonies, Least Terns spend most of their time trying to keep their eggs cool, Andrew said, standing above them to shade them, and periodically dunking their belly feathers to help with evapotranspirative cooling.
So when the volleyballers scooped up all the eggs and put them in a pile, the chicks might have had a higher survival rate if they’d just played among the nests. At least there might have been some shade. Because of onlookers and partiers, other nests not on the court also suffered, Andrew said, when parents weren’t able to get to their nests and tend them.
Drew loves his work.
Reddish Egret
American Oystercatcher
Snowy Plover
Great Blue Heron
It became a “teachable moment,” for locals, especially after the story spread around the globe, migrating as far as China, Andrew said. Ever since word got out, beachgoers have been by and large very compliant with signs and string-and-stake “fences” volunteers erect to protect breeding birds.
Since moving to Alabama in 2012, Andrew has helped collect nesting data for Least Tern, Snowy Plover, American Oystercatcher and Black Skimmer. For more than 9 years he’s been recording banding data on Piping and Snowy Plovers. His data, combined with others,’ convinced Audubon to designate Dauphin Island an “Important Bird Area.”
We were lucky to be there the first day the Great Black-backed Gull arrived
Two Royal Terns look almost alike, with Black Skimmer
Great Black-backed Gull
Audubon already operated a sanctuary on Dauphin Island, which is actually an archipelago of barrier beach islands that is well-known as a “migrant trap” in the spring. The first land that birds see after taking off in the Yucatan, it often records 25-plus warbler species during spring migration.
But you don’t have to wait until next year to bird the Gulf Coast with Andrew. This year he’s leading our Louisiana Yellow Rails and Birding Festival Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, one of the only places you’ll have a chance of seeing up to 6 species of reclusive rails in one location. And that includes the Black Rail, a bird so rarely seen that some people say that it’s a myth!
Perks Include: Remote Locations, Outdoor Activities, Vaccine Requirements and No Overpriced Rental Cars!
As we emerge, vaccinated, from our COVID caves, stir-crazy has fused with FOMO (fear of missing out) to drive a serious uptick in demand for US travel and tourism.
In a classic case of pent-up demand, 77 percent of US travelers plan to take a trip in the next few months, according to tourism market researcher Destination Analysts, which has been conducting a large long term study of travel sentiment since March of 2020, when the pandemic struck. But international travel is still a no-go for some 56 percent of those surveyed, with just 10 fearless percent declaring this IS the year for bucket-list international travel.
US Travel Is Hot; International Getting Warmer
Sentiment may shift, thanks to an overdue development last week, when the U.S. State Department added some nuance to its April near-blanket warnings against travel to more than 80 percent of the world’s countries. The agency downgraded dozens of countries to less severe travel cautions, including countries we have pending trips to this year, including Spain, Portugal, Romania and Bulgaria, Panama, Ecuador, Guyana and our Amazon River Cruise via Peru. We’re hopeful that Costa Rica will soon have its travel warning right-sized as well!
But while travelers ponder international destinations, we, too, feel a strong sentiment in the direction of US travel and tourism, with our guests lining up for US trips with vaccine requirements. (We added vaccine requirements earlier this year for all trips, effective July 1, 2021.)
We have been gratified to sell out many US trips and continue to add several more in 2021, responding to the needs of travelers who are raring to get out there — just not TOO far out there.
Guided US Travel Has Its Benefits
The benefits are many to guided US nature and birding tours:
It’s a low-density activity in a remote outdoors location.
Vaccine requirements allow you to relax around your fellow travelers.
We’re now traveling in smaller vehicles rather than vans.
You don’t have to worry about renting a vehicle on your own, which has become significantly more pricey post-lockdown — and that is if you can find an affordable rental car!
Our recently added US birding and nature trips (with vaccine requirements) include:
Aug. 22-27, Shorebird School at Alabama’s Dauphin Island, which also includes a private boat tour of “Alabama’s Amazon,” the deeply biodiverse Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
November, TBA, Louisiana Yellow Rails and Rice, birding the rice harvest with guide Andrew Haffenden. Email us at travel@naturalistjourneys.com for more details — this one is so new we are still putting it together!
Dec. 4-10, give yourself the gift of California Birding Wine Country, in Lodi’s historic Wine and Roses Hotel, featuring some of the best cuisine in Central California. We bird premiere National Wildlife Refuges and sip wines in lush gardens and elegant tasting rooms.
Guide Andrew Haffenden teaches “shorebird school” barefoot on Alabama’s Dauphin Island.
A private boat tour of the “Alabama Amazon,” the Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a field trip from our Alabama Dauphin Island trip. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
White-Topped Pitcher Plants, whose beauty we may see in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
The Wine and Roses Hotel is our elegant home for California Birding Wine Country.
Long-eared Owl will be on the checklist for California Bird and Wine in Lodi. Photo Credit: Greg Smith
Whooping Cranes may be present at our November South Texas Birding and Nature Tour. Photo Credit: Delsa Anderl
Yellow Rails, shy birds and infrequent fliers, come out to glean during the Louisiana rice harvest. Photo Credit: Yellow Rails and Rice Festival
Every year from around January through the end of March, Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park comes alive as water levels throughout the park drop and force birds to concentrate around more permanent water sources. Guide Carlos Sanchez takes us through this Florida spectacle.
Well known to tourists who visit the trail by the thousands every year to see their first wild alligators, the site is generally passed off by the serious birder as having little potential of seeing something truly special—just close views of herons, egrets, and ibis. I challenge that false notion and welcome those to visit Anhinga Trail in late winter and see one of the great wildlife spectacles of Florida.
Great Egret by Carlos Sanchez
A late winter dawn at Anhinga Trail is truly a feast for the
senses if one arrives under the cover of night and waits patiently for the sun
to rise. The air can either feel damp
and musky or cool and crisp, depending on the strength of cold fronts working
their way down the peninsula. Along the
trail, the barking duets of Barred Owl and whistled trills of Eastern
Screech-Owl slowly diminish and give way to the wailing rattles of Limpkin and
raspy notes of King Rail as sunrise draws closer. Suddenly, the entire trail
system comes alive as birds begin their day. Hundreds of both Glossy and White
Ibis commute overhead, along with Great and Snowy Egrets, Little Blue and
Tricolored Herons, and Black and Turkey Vultures. A flock of Red-winged
Blackbirds, over a thousand strong, fly overhead in several waves towards their
feeding grounds. Snail Kite may also be spotted leaving their roosts near this
trail during this time of year. While all these birds are commuting to their
feeding grounds, Black-crowned Night-Herons change shifts, barking out their
‘quoks’ as they head to their roosting areas.
Barred Owl by Carlos Sanchez
On the ground, downy white Anhinga chicks beg for a meal of
fish from their parents only a few feet from the boardwalk, always nervous
Belted Kingfishers rattle and chase each other to establish who gets the best
fishing spots for the day, and gaudily colored Purple Gallinules furtively peck
at green tidbits in areas of thicker vegetation. If one listens carefully, one
can also hear the metallic chinks of wintering Northern Waterthrush and the
soft whinny of Sora.
Purple Gallinule by Carlos Sanchez
Various smaller bird species which are not seen easily later
in the day also make an appearance at the break of dawn, and and as February
turns into March, their singing becomes more incessant and forms a significant
part in the wetland dawn chorus — White-eyed Vireo, Great Crested Flycatcher,
Carolina Wren, and Northern Cardinal.
Roseate Spoonbill by Carlos Sanchez
By around 8 AM, I usually head back to my car not only because the bulk of the morning activity is over but also before the throngs of tourists take over, causing the birds to retreat further into the marsh. However, this brief burst of activity sets the tone for the rest of the birding day in the Everglades or southern Miami-Dade as how can one not be impressed by the sheer number and variety of wetland birds as a birder? The experience is also bittersweet, as I have often been told that Anhinga Trail used to be much better, that there used to be far more birds, and that such dawn spectacles are only a shadow of what they once were. Regardless, it is still freshwater wetland birding in Florida at its best.
If you would like to make a trip to southern Florida in search of Caribbean specialties, exotics, or visit the Everglades, please consider our Naturalist Journeys tour in January 2021: South Florida: Everglades & More!
American Crocodile by Carlos Sanchez
Carlos Sanchez sits on the board of the Tropical Audubon Society, is a regular contributor to the birding blog 10,000 Birds, and leads local tours through his company, EcoAvian Tours. He has also been a resident guide at lodges in both Ecuador and Brazil.
North America is home to many amazing bird species, including several which require a special effort to see and appreciate. These avian treasures also invite one to sites that are unique within the United States—the climate, vegetation, and landscapes all add context and heighten the experience of seeing one’s first Elegant Trogon or Painted Bunting. So let’s look at this sampler, shall we?
Rosy-finch, Naturalist Journeys stock photo
ROSY-FINCHES Breeding only above tree line on windswept and desolate rock faces (or equally austere habitats on the Aleutians), the three American Rosy-Finches (Gray-crowned, Black, and Brown-capped) are extreme environment specialists that are endemic to North America. In the summer, they are the highest altitude breeding songbird in North America. Their nests often overlook snowfields in the highest mountains, gathering along the edges of melting snowbanks to feed on freshly uncovered seeds and insects. In autumn and winter, they descend these high ridges to avoid the worst of the high winds and blowing snow—sometimes to feeders such as Sandia Crest in New Mexico, where there is a long ongoing study on these fascinatingly tough avian treasures.
PAINTED BUNTING There are few birds in the world with such a dramatic combination of blue, green, and red colors as the Painted Bunting. In fact, its French name nonpareil means “without an equal,” and its Cuban name mariposa means butterfly. Only in their second fall do the males achieve their spectacular plumage. These colorful songbirds occur in two populations, a western one, which winters in Mexico and Central America and an eastern one, which winters in South Florida and Cuba. In winter, they occur in rank thickets and woodland edges where they feed mostly on seeds. Due to their beauty and warbling song, poachers trap these buntings in South Florida for an illegal local cage-bird trade.
ELEGANT TROGON Trogons and quetzals are an ancient, colorful bird family that occurs in forests and other wooded habitats from the American tropics to Africa to Southeast Asia. The word Trogon, from the Greek meaning “gnawer,” refers to their hooked, serrated bills used to eat large insects and fruit—as well as gnaw on the rotting wood of old woodpecker cavities to reuse as nesting sites. The exquisite Elegant Trogon, mostly a Mexican species of the Sierra Madre, is the only member of this tropical bird family to range north into Southeast Arizona – the only trogon species in the United States and often considered “the most sought after bird in Arizona.”
GREEN JAY Bright and sociable, Green Jays are a joy to watch as they move around wooded habitats in tight family flocks in search of large insects, seed, and fruit. Occurring primarily in two disjunct populations (one in Mexico and the other in the Andes), these jays are common residents in South Texas where they are steadily spreading northward. These birds are unusual in that parents retain non-breeding jays fledged from the previous year to help with territorial defense but do not assist as helpers-at-the-nest.
A few weeks ago we asked our guides what their spark bird was … and what fun was to read their responses. We sent out a newsletter to our clients so they could read about our guides’ spark birds and asked clients to send us theirs. What a fun response! Take a read below to learn about our guides’ spark birds and the spark birds that got our clients hooked on birding.
OUR GUIDES’ SPARK BIRDS
Indigo Bunting by Doug Greenburg
INDIGO BUNTING “My spark bird was an Indigo Bunting. I was in high school, working two days a week on an internship at a local nature center my senior year. I was engrossed in spring wildflowers and in working on pressing the latest discoveries when my friend burst in and says, you MUST come out and see this! She pointed up and my bins connected with this turquoise gem, throwing his head up in song from the pitched roof of our historic schoolhouse. I was convinced and have been birding avidly ever since.” — Peg Abbott
Green Woodpecker by Pieter Verheij Photography
GREEN WOODPECKER “The (Eurasian) Green Woodpecker was probably the first that got me really hooked. I was on a school trip, aged 9 I think, to the county of Cheshire in mid England (UK) to a big stately home. There were big gardens, parkland with deer, well-groomed lawns. You’ve see those places in TV shows where the lords and ladies sip tea! Anyway, during the lunch break I sneaked off with a pal of mine to try to get close to the deer, we ignored the ‘Keep Off the Grass’ sign and crossed a lawn.
Suddenly a green-coloured bird shot up from the grass, making loud alarm calls as it bounded away before landed again on the grass not on the trees. I had never seen one before but I knew what it was: Green Woodpecker; I looked it up later at home and read that it is ‘often terrestrial and eats ants.’ Wow, a woodpecker that spends most of its time on the ground. I was hooked.” — Gerard Gorman
Cedar Waxwing by Steve Buckingham
CEDAR WAXWING “A single Cedar Waxwing.
For a young boy, growing up in the magical woodlands of Maryland, it began with a single waxwing.
Exploring forest next to home, my older brother Rob gathered a wealth of information and experience for his Boy Scout “Bird Merit Badge.” I was always one barefooted step behind him. With his quick keen eyes, and accurate directions, he revealed wondrous beauty to me.
Fresh morning air, slight humidity, spring 1969. Above, a canopy of mixed deciduous hardwoods, below, a lush and diverse under story, found us immersed in what we delighted in the most. DISCOVERY!
Suddenly, there before us, calmly perched, a single Cedar Waxwing. Confiding, exquisitely plumaged, well-tailored, regal. Through my astonished eyes I felt nothing could have been more beautiful. Beholding this gift, dappled in soft sunlight, I stood motionless, gazing at a creature that would have an immense impact upon my life, forever. It was unfathomable to me that anything so exotic existed outside of a book, a zoo, or a jungle, but there it was, gazing back through black mascara bordered by fawn blush.
I made its acquaintance realizing its every subtlety. The appointment of color, the adornment of “wax” droplets on the tips of the wing feathers and an expressive crest crowning the bird, held my undivided attention. From that point on I only wanted to see more.
And so it has been, for my entire life.” — Keith Hansen
American Goldfinch by Michael Murphy, courtesy Unsplash
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH “My spark bird was a Goldfinch. I was out running and a flock of breeding plumage American Goldfinch flew across my path, landing in a small tree. I thought, as many non-birders do, we have canaries in our area? That’s when I started looking at birds differently.” — Pat Lueders
Eastern Phoebe by Hugh Simmons Photography
EASTERN PHOEBE “Which bird got me hooked on birding? So hard to say, since nature drew me in at a very young age. I quickly learned to identify most of the common backyard birds one would find in South Florida from Anhinga to White Ibis. I did not “rediscover” birding until right after college, after walking to a local park and seeing an Eastern Phoebe perched on a fence. The thrill of seeing something I had studied in a book beforehand, researching and learning about it, then seeing it in the flesh—well, I was hooked again!” — Carlos Sanchez
Yellow-throated Vireo by Carlos Sanchez
YELLOW-THROATED VIREO “I had been birding (far beyond my general enthusiasm for the whole of the natural history world…) for just over a year with Jim, who had recently moved to the Central Coast of California. Jim got me into looking at birds, the smaller birds, you know, the ones way up at the tops of the trees. And with all the vagrant traps on our patch of the coast, we were having a blast finding all sort of migrants that fall, including an exceptional nice mix of vagrants.
Jim had invited a number of friends from the Central Valley to join us on the coast and bird some of our favorite vagrant hotspots on 3 October, 1981, the peak of fall migration. So early that morning we met Keith Hansen, his brother Rob, Dawn, Gary and others and started north from Morro Bay. Most all of us were in our twenties, and the energy was palpable.
And it was that energy that made it one of the most memorable days of birding for me. Along with hordes of western migrants, we had a sublime group of eastern vagrants at every stop that morning. But the bird of the day that gave us all a lot of “Green Valley grins” was that Yellow-throated Vireo at Pico Creek, just glistening in the bright, early morning sun…” — Greg Smith
Black-capped Chickadee by Doug Greenburg
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE “My spark bird, the bird that got me hooked on birding: Probably the Black-capped Chickadee. When I was a teenager my dad would take me hunting and I’d tag along, not so much for the hunting part but because I liked to be in the woods and spend time with my father. I remember one cold morning being in a tree stand waiting for a deer to walk by and being surrounded by silence and then …. chickadees. They were landing on branches all around me and even on the railing of the tree stand.
Since then I seem to have a magical connection with them. I’ve pished them in close many times, had them answer my chickadee call, and even had one land on my hand and try to pull a hair out of my knuckle. They are in New Jersey all winter and always bring a smile to my face when they land on my feeders.” — Rick Weiman
Cedar Waxwing by John Duncan, courtesy Unsplash
CEDAR WAXWING Woody describes his first spark bird in his blog post on Conservation Catalyst:
“Long ago, a Midwestern boy was assigned patrol duty at his elementary school. His crossing was the farthest one from the school in a peaceful area overhung by crabapple trees. One fall morning during a lull in crossing activity, he noticed birds moving through one of the Crabapple trees. Upon closer investigation, he saw a dozen gorgeous yellow and brown-cast birds with crested heads and brilliant red and yellow accents feeding on crabapples. The birds seemed tame.
Early the next morning, he rode his bike to his crossing and found several trees swarming with even more of these birds. He got to within ten feet of them as they feasted on crabapples. He stood transfixed for an hour.
After returning home, the boy searched through the family bird book and found the birds he had been seeing close up and by the dozen. They were Cedar Waxwing.
There was something intoxicating about all of this. Later in life, he discovered that because the birds were eating over-ripe crabapples, they were indeed intoxicated. This made them tame.
This boy has been watching and studying birds ever since. As you may have guessed by now, this boy was me.” — Woody Wheeler
OUR CLIENTS’ SPARK BIRDS
We’ve kept our clients’ spark bird stories anonymous for their privacy.
American Redstart by Doug Greenberg
AMERICAN REDSTART “The spark bird for me was a disaster. I was in my pre-teens and living in Chicago in the old community of Pullman and had ridden my bike to what was known as the dump. It was actually an industrial land fill in the wetlands and prairie areas near Lake Calumet on Chicago’s far south side. While wandering about I spied a bird on the shore of a small pond. So I did what kids do, I threw stone at it. I hit it. And killed it. I was devastated and fascinated by the beautiful animal I had destroyed. It was either a Mourning Dove or Killdeer. I can’t recall. But I never threw another stone at another bird. My deed haunted me.
But then an epiphany occurred for me. A few years later while working on a landscaping project in a well-tended yard in a well-tended residential neighborhood the world of birds opened up for me in the flash of a Redstart darting amongst shrubbery right in front of my nose. WOW. What was that. Where can I find a book? Holy cow, I wanted more. I was hooked. But it sure was an odd situation being the only birder in a 1950s big city blue collar high school.”
Black-crowned Night-Heron by Sandy Sorkin
NIGHT HERON “When I was in grad school at UNC, my boyfriend taught me about birding. I wasn’t hooked yet though. I couldn’t even tell you the first birds I observed. But then we took the long drive to the Everglades. At the first pond, there was an immature night heron. After identifying it on my own (with a field guide of course!), I was hooked. I mean, really … that red eye!”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird by Peg Abbott
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD “I guide here in the DC area and my spark bird is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I was the gardener at our school and I wanted them to come over the roof of the school and into the courtyard. I planted Bee Balm in a large 4×4 bed, then set a feeder with fresh sugar water in a red-colored dish-like feeder. I kept it clean. They came early much to my joy and I got a video of the bird scaffolding from the Beech tree to the feeder. I set up a presentation in power point for the after-school kids and talked about how scientists found out how they fly.
We still don’t know how they hover. Physics students from UC Davis were having a break on the patio at the school when they saw some Hummingbirds and wanted to know the physics of their flight. They made an experiment and they filmed it. The middle schoolers were fascinated. They were happy to see that we had hummingbirds coming to the school. It was a treat. I will always be surprised by these tiny but mighty birds.”
Pileated Woodpecker, courtesy Unsplash
PILEATED WOODPECKER “My ‘spark’ to birding (never heard that one before) was many years ago, as a young teenager, early 1970s, when an older family friend, in upstate New York … who knew Roger Tory Peterson (too bad I never met him!) took me out for birding in the summer, Catskills, wee hours … and my first Pileated Woodpecker, so spectacularly beautiful, that was it, I was hooked … birding ever since, in a fun way, even now easy to do in Virginia, without any crowds!”
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher by Doug Greenburg
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER “I grew up with a father who was an avid amateur ornithologist so (by osmosis?) I was pretty familiar with common birds of Massachusetts and was accustomed to noticing birds even though I was hardly a birder. In my early 40s I was sitting on our deck in the mountains of North Carolina with my leg propped up as I recovered from minor surgery. I noticed a small active bird in the shrubbery in front of me.
With nothing better to do I went and got binoculars and eventually identified the bird as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I was quite surprised that I had never even heard of this bird, let alone seen one before. Right there in my yard was a bird that was new to me! That got me wondering what else might be around and things took off from that.”
Baltimore Oriole by Doug Greenburg
BALTIMORE ORIOLE “My father was a birder. It didn’t catch on with me right away (I was really into snakes earlier). Then in the spring of 1953 a pair of Baltimore Orioles built a nest in the willow tree in our backyard. I had seen pictures of them but never expected to see them in person. After all, they were Baltimore Orioles, and we lived in Massachusetts. I was thrilled to have such colorful birds nesting in our backyard. From then on I started looking through field guides, and I was hooked!”
Immature Bald Eagle by Bob Hill
BALD EAGLE “When I was in college, I was home for Christmas break. I was invited by a family friend to attend the Christmas Bird Count in Butte County, California. I had never been particularly interested in birds but I thought, what the heck, I didn’t have anything better to do. I figured I would just go for half a day. However, I couldn’t believe how fun it was and loved the whole day.
A couple of days later, I got to go birdwatching again with the trip leader, Eleanor Pugh, who was a pretty renowned California birder. We went to the Oroville Forebay, and she spotted a raptor in a tree and set up her scope. She looked through it and said, ‘I’ll let you all look at the bird and see if you can figure it out.’ Lo and behold, it was a mature Bald Eagle. We all got a great look at it, and then it took off and flew right over our heads.
This was a transformational experience for me. Not only did I become a lifelong birder, but I suddenly knew I cared deeply about the environment. I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do for a living, but I knew I wanted to make a difference. I became a land use planner and helped implement the Coastal Act in Sonoma County.”
Red-shouldered Hawks by Sandy Sorkin
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK “A Red-shouldered Hawk—seen on a vacation to Florida in 1993, in a state park in the center of the state. It was at face height, about 15 feet away, observing me and not afraid. So beautiful. I had no idea what it was. After the trip I asked a client of mine who birded with her husband, what it might have been. From her suggestions, the Red-shouldered Hawk was the right bird.
I told my husband, I really liked looking at birds, and I want to keep doing it. We found the Audubon Society online, and by good fortune, the San Fernando Valley chapter was very active with 10 field trips every month. We started coming on the field trips, standing next to someone with more experience, and in a few months we were totally into birding. My husband at first felt that it was going to be an activity for old ladies, but when he came to a field trip, he saw it was about 50% men, and they were typically competitive like men in most sports. BTW, we were both in our early 50s already.”
Cedar Waxwings by Gary Bendig, courtesy Unsplash
CEDAR WAXWING “So, what is it about Cedar Waxwings? Two guides said they were their spark bird, and I smiled when I read that, because they were my spark bird at a very young age. Whole flocks of them used to descend on the toyon bushes of our Southern California house. They were magnificent, albeit a little reckless if they ate berries that had fermented on the bushes!”
Wood Duck by Doug Greenburg
WOOD DUCK “My spark bird was a Wood Duck. I was running past a small pond in the Berkshire in Massachusetts when I noticed a family. That was it—I was off and traveling the world.”
Scarlet Tanager by Doug Greenburg
SCARLET TANAGER “Seen from our boat on the dappled creek shore was a bird that caught my attention. It was a gorgeous deep red, with jet black wings. Searching my memory banks for its identification was no help so soon thereafter I bought a field guide. The first of many, many, many books and a now 30 year avocation feeding, watching, traveling, and learning about birds.”
Read on for 7 highlights from Naturalist Journeys‘ Colorado birding tour and a letter from Ted Floyd, editor of Birding magazine.
Hello,
Bird & Nature Lovers.
What a spring it has been—the strangest and most unsettling of my life, and perhaps yours too. Last month, I had plans to be at the Medano–Zapata Ranch. Mid-March is a magical time of year at the ranch, when the long winter is finally coming to an end. It’s when Sandhill Cranes fill the skies, when Mountain Bluebirds pause on every fencepost; when Cinnamon Teals and rare Mexican Ducks poke about the cold, clear waters of the region; when Sagebrush Sparrows and Sage Thrashers proclaim from the rabbitbrush and greasewood; and when Long-eared Owls sing their spooky songs from the quiet woods just beyond the ranch headquarters.
Mountain Bluebird by Hugh Simmons Photography
I didn’t get to experience any of that this year, but I know
it’s happening right now—and I long to get back to “The Valley,” as it is
simply known. The San Luis Valley, straddling the Colorado–New Mexico border,
is immense, the size of the state of New Jersey. It is a land of superlatives,
of 14,000–ft. summits, but also of vast wetlands and endless desert. And it is,
strangely and unjustly, unknown to the vast majority of Americans. Even many
Coloradans are only dimly aware of its existence.
At this writing, it’s impossible for me—it’s impossible for
anybody—to say when The Valley will be open again for the business of nature
tourism. I sure hope it’s sometime this summer, and that’s because my favorite
time of year in The Valley—sorry, March—is the summer. The cranes are gone by
then, but everything else is there: the bluebirds and teals and owls and so
much more: gloriously green Lewis’s Woodpeckers…enchanting Snowy
Plovers…busybody flocks of White-faced Ibises…Black Swifts blasting out of
waterfalls… And a fantastic diversity of butterflies, beetles, and other
arthropods.
Lewis’s Woodpecker by Steve Wolfe
The folks at Naturalist Journeys and the Medano–Zapata Ranch, acting out of both caution and practicality, have decided to reschedule our Colorado birding tour for June 13 – 20, 2021. The Valley is wonderfully alive at that time of year, with breeding bird activity at a peak, the days not too hot, and the evenings pleasantly cool. We are already in touch with the various experts who will join us in the field for special visits to private and restricted sites.
I’m disappointed that we won’t be spending time together this year, but I can say that I’m already excited about the prospect of doing so in the year following. I’m so looking forward to learning and exploring together with all of you! In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me with questions about observing and enjoying nature in The Valley. Email is best; you may contact me at tfloyd@aba.org. For questions about logistics and scheduling for our Colorado birding tour, be in touch with Naturalist Journeys. We’ll be seeing you—sooner or later!
Sincerely
yours,
Ted
Floyd
Editor, Birding magazine
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY’S ZAPATA RANCH: 7 HIGHLIGHTS YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS ON OUR COLORADO BIRDING TOUR
Rock Wren by Sandy Sorkin
1. Visiting the rugged, isolated, and beautiful John James Canyon is always a treat on our Colorado birding tour. Birds of rocky country like Black-throated Sparrow and Rock Wren can be found throughout the basalt hillsides, as well as two rare species of butterflies, rattlesnake, and the hearty Pronghorn.
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies banding a Black Swift by Madeline Jorden
2. No trip to the ranch is complete without a visit to Zapata Falls. Hidden inside a great rock chamber lies the roaring 25-foot waterfall, where we witness swifts bursting through the water at dawn. The parking lot offers a sweeping view of the entire San Luis Valley and the short walk to the falls is a riot of sound and color with tanagers, grosbeaks, hummingbirds, and warblers.
Snowy Plover by Greg Smith
3. Blanca wetlands is a key stopover for migrating water birds and a visit to the wetlands offers wonderful close-up opportunities to see American Avocet, Snowy Plovers, and others. Here, we have the special opportunity to hear from local biologists about all of the great work they are doing.
Golden Eagle by Greg Smith
4. For dashing western raptors like Prairie Falcon and Golden Eagle, a trip to Hell’s Gate formation is not to be missed on our Colorado birding tour. We usually spot Bighorn Sheep here (in fact, we’ve actually never missed them)!
Wranglers on the ranch by Matt Delorme
5. Those hungry for more adventure can lace up their boots and join the ranch crew to explore areas of The Nature Conservancy’s Zapata Ranch, accessible only by horseback. Atop sure-footed ranch horses, we travel through cool grassy meadows teeming with life and down dusty gulches checkered with Coyote dens.
Dinner at the ranch by Madeline Jorden
6. Far from typical ranch fare, the food alone is worth the trip. A bounty of fresh local produce, ranch-raised meats, home baked breads, and heavenly desserts are thoughtfully prepared each day by the ranch’s excellent dining staff. While we take our lunch to-go, breakfast and dinner are a feast in the lodge’s great dining room, surrounded by panoramic windows. From our morning coffee to our evening cocktail, we admire browsing Mule Deer and follow the sun as it rises over the Sangre de Cristos and sets over the San Juan range.
Wild Bison pasture on the Zapata Ranch by Chris Haag
7. Of course, the ranch itself is the main attraction! With Great Sand Dunes National Park as our backdrop, it is magical walking out among the rabbitbrush and greasewood and see and hear specially adapted birds like Sagebrush Sparrow and Sage Thrasher, or to witness the ranch’s wild Bison herd and their spring calves as they wallow and bellow in the summer sun. Making the sprawling, magnificent ranch our home for the week is certainly the cherry on top of our unforgettable Colorado birding tour.
