Posted by admin on 16 May 2012 | Tagged as: birding, Wandering Members
My wife, Laura, and I recently took a 7 day birding adventure in Costa Rica that started in the Monteverde mountain region and ended along the Pacific coast by the mouth of the Tarcoles River. We were accompanied by our birding guide, Juan Diego Vargas and his driver Rigo Fernandez. We found Juan through the website of the first Eco lodge we stayed in, Finca Luna Nueva Lodge,http://fincalunanuevalodge.com.
Posted by admin on 16 May 2012 | Tagged as: birding
Five people participated in the trip. It was hot but we were all dressed for the onslaught of mosquitos. They were not bad at all. We thought about meeting up with the Halifax River folks. The gate ranger told us they were meeting at the museum, about a half mile up the road. Try as we may, we could not find the museum. We did find a building about where the map showed the museum should be, but it only had a stage and some chairs. And there were no other cars.
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Posted by admin on 06 May 2012 | Tagged as: birding
On Friday, April 20th, six members enjoyed a pleasant and rewarding trip to Princess Place. After navigating the detour through a temporary entrance, we walked all three of the trails near the main picnic area and were pleased to find both resident and migrating birds. Yellow-throated Warblers were everywhere and we tallied 8 species of warbler including Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue, Prairie, Palm, Black-and-white, American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat. On the loop drive out, we stopped to observe and photograph 2 juvenile Bald Eagle and that brought our species total to 47.
Gail Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 06 May 2012 | Tagged as: birding
On Saturday, April 14th, nine birders including Peggy & Liz from Halifax Audubon traveled to C N S looking for spring migrants. It turned out to be quite windy making it difficult to hear bird calls and distinguish moving birds from wind-whipped leaves. Overall though, it was a very nice morning and we enjoyed great views of a male Prairie Warbler and a Gray Kingbird. At our of the wind lunch spot at Bethune park we tallied 28 species.
Gail Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 05 May 2012 | Tagged as: birding, Wandering Members
My assignment in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada continues.
Moncton is a city of about 140,000 people located on the Petitcodiac River. The river feeds into nearby Bay of Fundy and is tidal. Locals call it Chocolate River because its banks are a rich chocolate color which gives a similar hue to the water. Since the banks and nearby shoreline stay wet, the brown clay glistens whenever the sun is on it but in spite of that glow it is still ugly mud. Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 29 Mar 2012 | Tagged as: birding
Nine faithful birders spent a very pleasant and productive morning Friday at Merritt Island. After spotting a lone Horned Grebe near the causeway bridge, with the sun at our backs we found most of our 78 species along East Gator Creek Road. There were Caspian Tern, Black-necked Stilts and quite a few Black Skimmers along with the usual shore and wading birds. The difference between East & west gator Creek roads was amazing with only 4 or 5 individual birds along West Gator Creek.
After a leisurely lunch and Painted Bunting viewing at the Visitor Center, we scoped the ponds along the beach road and found Lesser Scaup, Red-head Ducks and two American Avocets.
On the way out through Bio-lab Road we did find several of the Stilt Sandpipers that had been reported at the Visitor Center.
Dick & Gail Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 29 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: birding
FEBRUARY 18, 2012
Nine birders including guests Tom and Doris from Vermont enjoyed a very productive morning at Lake Apopka Restoration Area. Our guide, Jim Peterson, had already picked out several sites where birds were active so our time viewing was maximized. We saw approximately 70 species within the restoration area including several Krider’s Red- tailed Hawks. This pale color morph of the Red- tailed Hawk was new to most of us. We traveled a few miles further west on hwy 48 and found the Say’s Phoebe that has been visiting the same area for several years. This was a life bird for some including our president, Don Picard, who found the bird in a small pine tree.
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Posted by admin on 17 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: birding, outreach
Our February speaker was Ms. Gina Holt, a raptor rehabilitator and environmental educator. She has been involved in bird rescue and rehabilitation for over ten years and providing environmental education classes with live birds for the last five.
The rescue of her first raptor was a life-changing event for her. She decided she wanted to work closely with raptors. She first volunteered and then became a staff member at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland. She learned all she could about the care of these birds and finally got her permits to have raptors for environmental education programs. About five years ago, she started her company, Wild About Birds, Inc., dedicated to environmental education, conservation and preservation of habitats for the benefit of Florida’s birds and other wildlife. Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 06 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: birding
We had an excellent winter shorebird survey this year; if the weather had cooperated more, we would have had an even better one as the wind most certainly reduced the number of birds on the beach.
Thank you to everyone for your participation, to the boat and car owners for donating their vessels and vehicles and to the Marine Discovery Center for loaning us two kayaks. Special thanks to Capt Bill Rostock of Turtle Mound Enterprises for volunteering his time and boat to take Don and Nancy G. into Mosquito Lagoon. Continue Reading »
Posted by admin on 05 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: birding
We went to the gull fly-in at Daytona Beach Shores. Over 40 people participated from 4 Audubon clubs. There were representatives from West Volusia, Halifax River, Flagler, and of course SEVAS. Once again, Michael Brothers proved to be a wonderful guide and teacher.
The fly-in consists of about 100,000 gulls that spend their daytime at the landfill and other places where they eat. They come to the beach for a few hours and then spend the night in the water just beyond the breakers. It is the largest concentration of gulls anywhere in the U.S. Continue Reading »