Previous FONT Tour Highlights July '04

PO Box 9021, Wilmington, DE 19809, USA
E-mail: font@focusonnature.com
Phone: Toll-free in USA, Canada, & Puerto Rico 1-800-721-9986
or 302/529-1876; Fax: 302/529-1085

HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR PAST BIRDING & NATURE TOURS
in 2004 & 2005 (from now back through July '04)

With tour narratives, photos, comments by participants, and links to lists of birds & other nature found during specific tours

INCLUDED BELOW ARE TOURS THAT WERE IN: ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, the CARIBBEAN (ST. VINCENT, BARBADOS), COSTA RICA, GUATEMALA, JAPAN (late-fall, winter, & spring), and PANAMA.
IN THE US, TOURS IN: CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, KANSAS, TEXAS, WASHINGTON STATE, & PELAGIC TRIPS OFFSHORE FROM NEW JERSEY & NEW YORK.

Other recent tours in: the CARIBBEAN (ST. VINCENT & BARBADOS), GUATEMALA, JAPAN (spring & winter), and PANAMA
& IN THE U.S. IN: COLORADO, KANSAS, NEW MEXICO, NORTH CAROLINA, TEXAS, WYOMING, & PELAGIC TRIPS OFFSHORE FROM NEW JERSEY & NEW YORK in:
Highlights from Past Tours in 2004 from Jun '04 back thru Jan '04

The following tour summaries are given with the most-recent tours first. Click the link for tours you find of interest.
In the summaries, there are further links to UPCOMING TOUR ITINERARIES, BIRD-LISTS, and PHOTO GALLERIES

The above tour, our 25th in Japan, was our Spring Birding Tour with visits to a number of small islands, most interesting for birds. The smallest of these islands, Hegura, with the most birds. Other islands, Okinawa and Amami, each has some extraordinary specialties. Also there was birding on 2 of the main Japanese islands, Honshu and Kyushu, the latter with the beautiful Fairy Pitta.

The above tour was across the big state with many birds, beginning by the Gulf of Mexico and ending at Big Bend and El Paso.

Colorado (& adjacent states) - April 2005

The above tour is designed to see grouse at their lekking grounds, where they perform early in the morning. For us, in April '05, these included the 2 Prairie-Chickens, the Sharp-tailed, Blue, Greater Sage, and Gunnison Sage Grouse. Each species, and each morning, presented a different experience. Grouse are not the only birds during this tour, as we skirted around the beautiful state of Colorado, and dipped into some of the adjacent states. Among the other birds: Mountain Plover, McCown's & Chestnut-collared Longspurs, and Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Among the 28 species of mammals: Badger, Moose (including a mother & adolescent), and another creature with Gunnison in its name, the Gunnison Prairie Dog.

The above tour was in the highlands & lowlands of the country. There were many birds, ranging from the large to the small, for example, from the Great Curassow to the Stub-tailed Spadebill. Birds included residents & migrants. On Temple IV at the Mayan ruins of Tikal, there was a pair of Orange-breasted Falcons. Next to the temple, a bare tree was filled with more than a dozen smaller birds with orange breasts. Like ornaments, they were Baltimore Orioles, resting before they would continue on their northward journey. Click to the link above for more about the over 300 species of birds found during the tour.

Japan - January/February 2005

The above tour with Blakiston's Fish-Owl, both Steller's & White-tailed Eagles, and 6 species of cranes, Black-faced Spoonbill, and an Okinawa Rail seen well. And more, from Gyrfalcon in the north to the rare Pryer's Woodpecker in the south.

The above tour with tropical birds as large as the Scarlet Macaw, as small as the Pygmy Kingfisher, as rare as the Yellow-billed Cotinga, and as common as the Cherrie's Tanager.
Also: Pearl Kite, Red-breasted Blackbird, Savanna Hawk, and some others more common in adjacent Panama than in Costa Rica.
Among the mammals, the Red-backed (or Central American) Squirrel Monkey.

Japan - December 2004

The above tour with Blakiston's Fish-Owl, both Steller's & White-tailed Eagles, 5 species of cranes, Black-faced Spoonbil, and Copper Pheasant. Also on the island of Amami: the Amami Woodcock, Lidth's Jay, Amami Thrush, Ryukyu Robin, and the rare Asian (or Swinhoe's) Yellow Rail.

Chile (central: a Pacific pelagic and up to the Andes) - November 2004

In '04, a short-tour as an extension after Argentina. With albatrosses on the Pacific and Andean condor in the mountains. Among the endemic birds we saw, the Crag Chila & the Moustached Turca.
In '05, we'll be doing the longer, complete Chile tour again - south to Tierra del Fuego, and north to Arica, at the Peruvian border.

The above tour is in a land where a cardinal is yellow and a meadowlark is red.
As many as 3 types of mockingbirds can sing at the same place. Also In that area, there are flocks of colorful Patagonian Conures, perhaps better known as Burrowing Parrots. Other birds during our tour were: Rusty-backed Monjita, Carbonated Sierra-Finch (a sparkler), Cinnamon Warbling-Finch, Tucuman Mountain-Finch, and Rufous-throated Dipper. All of these, endemic to Argentina, except the dipper, which is nearly so.
Marine Mammals we saw along the Patagonian coast included Southern Right Whales in the sounds, and Killer Whales (or Orcas) in the surf.

The above tour with Harpy Eagle in Mato Grosso. That bird, the largest of the world's raptors. Also we saw the largest of the toucans, and the largest of the macaws: the Toco Toucan, and the Hyacinth Macaw. Brazil, the largest of South American countries, is a land of superlatives for birds.

The above tour with 4 species of alcids & a pod of orcas seen well from a boat in the Puget Sound.
In the Cascades: Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, & Pine Grosbeak. Futher east, Blue Grouse.
In central Californina, two incredible fields with thousands of Long-billed Curlews & White-faced Ibises.

The above trip with 3 species of shearwaters, 2 species of jaegers (Pomarine & Long-tailed, 3 of the latter), 2 species of phalaropes, and a mammal that FLEW onto the boat! A Silver-haired Bat. (A photo of the bat is with the narrative.)

The above tour with antbirds, other birds, & other nature on Barro Colorado Island.
Overall, a fine assortment of tropical birds: toucans & trogons, motmots & manakins, & more.

The above tour was one done in response to a request, for some who were not able to go to the Caribbean in the spring. On St. Vincent, we once again saw the bird endemics and specialties.
Barbados, although a small island without varied habitat, is still interesting in that because it is the easternmost of the Antilles, shorebirds migrating from north to south stop there during their journey. Such shorebird migration occurs mostly in July and August. Most of the shorebirds that visit the island come, of course, from North America. But, on a regular basis, there are strays from the other side of the Atlantic, from Europe. During our tour, we saw 2 such species: a Wood Sandpiper among Yellowlegs, and a Reeve (a female Ruff).
Barbados is also interesting in that another European bird has arrived there and become established, the Little Egret. At a heronry we visited, Little & Snowy Egrets were nesting next to each other, with about as many Littles as there were Snowys.

Japan SPRING Birding Tour (to Honshu, including Hegura Island, Amami, Okinawa, & Kyushu)
May 2005

This tour, conducted May 17-30, 2005, was the 25th birding tour for FONT in Japan. And it was our 4th tour to a place that's fascinating and fun for birds during their migration: a very small island, called Hegura, in the Sea of Japan, 50 kilometers (less than 30 miles) off the western shore of the main Japanese island of Honshu.
On that small island, interestingly, birds more of mainland Asia than of Japan, occur. During this tour, we saw again, as we have during our tours in the past, birds in that category. Our previous birding tours on Hegura have been in late April, early May, and mid-May. In 2005, we were there May 19-21. Cumulatively, prior to this tour, we saw 131 species of birds on the small island around which one could walk the perimeter in less than an hour.

During our May '05 tour, 10 species of birds new for us on Hegura Island were added. Of these, 7 species were new for us in Japan. They were: Black-capped Kingfisher, Richard's Pipit, Dollarbird, White-throated Rock Thrush (a beauty that breeds on mainland Asia mostly in Manchuria and eastern Siberia, and winters in southern China - this bird was the first in Japan in a few years), Gray's Grasshopper-Warbler, Red-throated (has been part of Red-breasted) Flycatcher, and Oriental Honey-Buzzard. Also new for us for Hegura were: Brown Hawk-Owl and Japanese Paradise-Flycatcher (the exquisite male of the latter with its long tail).

Other birds we saw on Hegura Island in ;05, normally found on mainland Asia, included: Mugimaki Flycatcher (the Japanese name notwithstanding, this species does not occur throughout Japan), Black-naped Oriole, and Hoopoe.

When we visit Hegura, during the season when birds migrate, there's also a migration to and from the island of Japanese birders. Many of them criss-cross the small island, with their binoculars, scopes, and cameras (often big cameras). When an avian rarity appears, somewhere on the island, word spreads (quickly, now often on cellular phones and pagers).

During recent years, a number of bird species that were first records for Japan, have occurred on Hegura Island. The day before we arrived in '05, a Japanese first had been there for two days. That bird was an attractive Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, from China, not in any Japanese bird book. There's a notable bird migration on Hegura in the fall also. In the autumn of 2004, two Japanese firsts there included Common Redstart from Europe, and Gray-cheeked Thrush from North America.

A complete listing of the now 141 bird species we've found on Hegura Island in the Sea of Japan is elsewhere in this web-site.

On the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, during our May '05 tour, we did very well with the 2 primary avian targets of the island: the very rare Okinawa Woodpecker and the Okinawa Rail, the latter only known to science for about 25 years. During 2 days, we saw 2 Okinawa Woodpeckers at their nests feeding young (that could be heard calling inside the tree cavities). The species is one of the rarest woodpeckers in the world. Though not as rare as the recently-rediscovered Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the United States, it is an extremely rare bird with just a handful of breeding pairs restricted to a limited area of northern Okinawa. The Okinawa Rail has a similar distribution in that same limited part of the island. By late afternoon, during our first day on Okinawa, we had seen 7 Okinawa Rails, a shy species that's normally hard to see. (That's why it was not formally identified until 1981.) One of the rails was seen very well as it stopped on a road in the forest, just in front of us, as we sat in our also-stopped vehicle.

The string of Japanese islands, that stretch to the south of the main islands, are known as the Ryukyus, including Okinawa, Amami, and others smaller. That word is an adjective for some birds of that region that we saw during our tour: the Ryukyu Robin, the Ryukyu Flycatcher (a resident that was formerly considered a race of the migratory Narcissus Flycatcher), the Ryukyu Minivet, and the Ryukyu Scops-Owl (the last of these we saw in a puddle, apparently bathing, on a dirt road in an Amami forest, when it was still dark just before dawn).

On a beach in Amami, one afternoon, where from previous tours we knew that shorebirds stage in the late spring, we saw numerous Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, and other shorebirds (or waders) that included: Terek Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Red-necked Stints, and Mongolian Plovers. The Mongolian Plover is also known as the Lesser Sandplover. Among a flock of them, on that beach, there was a single Greater Sandplover (a rarity in Japan).

For more than a decade we have, during our more than 10 tours on Amami, seen, after dark, another "shorebird of sorts" that's endemic to some of the Ryukyu Islands, the Amami Woodcock. During the 1990's, we would see quite a few actually, and rather easily. However, in recent years, that has not been the case. For whatever reason, the species seems to have declined. During our tours just prior to May '05 (in Dec '04 & Feb '05), we were fortunate to see 1 during each tour. We've seen the species during our Amami tours in January, February, November, and December. We've not it during our tours in May. (Maybe at that time of year, they're even more reclusive in the dense foliage of the forest.)
What we did see in May '05, as we were combing the roads after dark for woodcock, were 3 Habus. The Habu, Trimeresurus flavoviridis, is a large, fierce snake in the family Viperidae. Habus have a length as long as 200 centimeters (that's nearly 7 feet!). The first one we saw (from our vehicle) as it was on the road, coiled into circles, extending out its tail, and raising its head.

During our pelagic trip, onboard a ferry between Okinawa and Amami, we saw some Bulwer's Petrels, Streaked Shearwaters and Short-tailed Shearwaters, Black-naped Terns and Roseate Terns, and 3 species of dolphins, one of which was the Rough-toothed Dolphin, in a pod seen "porpoising", surrounded by more-numerous Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Both Okinawa and Amami, in the spring, were, for us, great places for butterflies as they were for birds. There were, during the middle hours of the sunny days, large numbers of butterflies. Those we saw included:
Papilio polytes, known as the Common Mormon,
Papilio protenor, the Spangle,
Papilio helenus, Red Helen,
Papilio bianor, a beautiful Fluted Swallowtail, mostly blackish with hues of blue and burgundy,
Papilio okinawensis, a species endemic to Okinawa,
Graphium sarpedon, known as the Blue Triangle, but mostly turquoise; also known as the Common Bluebottle,
Graphium doson, the Common Jay,
Colias erate,
Eurema hecabe,
Catopsilia pomona, the Lemon Emigrant,
Hebomoia glaucippe, the Great Orange Tip,
Artogeia rapae,
Anosia chrysippus, the Plain Tiger, also known as the African Monarch,
Parantica sita,
Argyreus hyperbius,
Cyrestis thyodamas, an interesting butterfly (mostly white with dark lines, bordered with some orange and brown) known as the Common Map,
Ypthima riukiuana,
and Melanitis phedima, posing like a brown leaf in the forest.

As beautiful as some of the forementioned butterflies are, the most beautiful creature during our May '05 Japan Tour, was, yes, a bird! Near the end of the tour, in a forest in southern Kyushu, it was the Fairy Pitta! In the Japanese language is it called "Yairocho", meaning "the eight-colored bird". And brilliant some of those colors are: notably the turquoise on the wings, and the bright red on the belly and undertail. But also, as part of the package, are the green back, the brown cap, the black facial mask, the yellowish breast, and the white throat. That's 7 colors. Additionally, there are the pink legs.
The Fairy Pitta is not an easy bird to see. A few (just a few), assumedly less than before, came to southern Japan, very locally, in the late spring to breed. The rare species also breeds, also locally, in Korea and China, including Taiwan. It winters in Borneo (where it is hard to find). As a migrant, it occurs in central Annam.
In Japan, there is but a narrow window of just over a week (in late May & early June) when there's a better chance to see it. What helps is that in early morning (mostly), it calls. If it does so, proclaiming it territory, from among the leaves of trees, it can be difficult to find. But it feeds, on worms and the like, on the ground. Then, if one is fortunate, one can get a glimpse. During a full-day we spent in the forest of the pitta, over a weekend, there were many (over a hundred) Japanese birders on the trails, all hoping to be pitta-watchers. Some were. Many weren't, even though they tried. Some of the pitta-seekers were lucky enough to snap a photo or two. Most who saw the bird saw it quickly.
Late in the afternoon (presumably too late), we persisted in our effort to see the bird, after all of the Japanese birders had left. All of a sudden, the bird called, not all that far away. In response, I whistled a similar sound. Then, the bird responded. We vocalized, back and forth, five times, until, wow, the bird flew in to the forest floor, just feet from us. And it stayed there for 10 minutes! With its head attentively up, and then as the spectacular bird walked about on the ground, we saw it from every angle, and we saw every color - all 8 of them!
It has been said by many that the most beautiful bird in the world is the Resplendent Quetzal of Central America. Yes, it is true that the quetzal is beautiful and spectacular. But, of all the birds in Japan, certainly the Fairy Pitta is the most beautiful. And, granted if one were to see any of the pittas of southeast Asia, they're all beautiful. But, even so, it can also be said that when one looked at the Fairy Pitta, as we did that afternoon, it was, at that time, the "most beautiful bird in the world".

We'll be going to Japan again in the Spring of '06, in May, with about the same itinerary as we did in '05.
Also in 2006, our annual Winter Birding Tour in Japan will be conducted in January/February. That tour will be in Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu, with an optional extension to Amami and Okinawa. Bird highlights will include Eagles (both Steller's and White-tailed Sea-Eagles), cranes (as many as 7 species possible), and the large & rare Blakiston's Fish-Owl.

Upcoming Japan Tour Itineraries

To Top of Page.

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

During this tour, April 26 - May 9, 2005, we traveled across the large state of Texas, birding as we went, from the Gulf Coast west to Big Bend National Park and El Paso. Much of our travel paralleled the course of the Rio Grande, the river that's the boundary between the US & Mexico. Birding near that river, particularly in far-southern Texas, produced some birds that are normally more Mexican than Texan. These included: Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Tropical Parula, Clay-colored Robin, Blue Bunting, Green Jay, Green Kingfisher, Green Parakeet, Red-crowned Parrot, Couch's Kingbird, Great Kiskadee, White-tipped Dove, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Altamira Oriole, Groove-billed Ani, and Plain Chachalaca.
By the Rio Grande in western Texas, at Big Bend, another species more Mexican than Texan, that we saw, was the Tropical Kingbird. And yet another, the Gray Hawk was nesting in a tree nearby.

Areas away from the Rio Grande that we visited included places along the the Gulf Coast such as Rockport, Aransas, and Padre Island, and the "Hill Country" of the Edwards Plateau. Each of these areas produced a number of our desired birds.

In all, 266 species of birds were found during our tour across Texas.

Even though we traveled a good number of miles, from Corpus Christi to El Paso, we actually only covered, as we found those 250-plus bird species, but a portion of the very big state. Yes, Texas is BIG - as big as it gets in the "Lower 48".

Among our prime avian objectives in the big state of Texas were what we called the "Big 4", even though they were not big at all. The largest of them is just over 5 inches in length. That's the Colima Warbler. The other 3 of the "Big 4" targets were the Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-capped Vireo, and Lucifer Hummingbird. We saw them all.

These birds are prime objectives in Texas because mostly they are found in no other state. One of them, the Lucifer Hummingbird, it should be noted, does occur uncommonly in Arizona in the summer. Actually, the only place where that species is common is Mexico. Some years in the US, its numbers are less than in others, even where it's regular. We found at Big Bend in '05 the Lucifer Hummingbird to be less common than it was in '04. But a male, observed one afternoon, was a good sight.

The other 3 of the "Big 4" were seen very well during our '05 Texas tour.

All of the "Big 4" winter in Mexico (1 of them, the Golden-cheeked Warbler, also further south into Guatemala).

The Golden-cheeked Warbler nests only in Texas. We observed some males nicely in the "Hill Country" of the Edwards Plateau. The Golden-cheeked Warbler is classified by Birdlife International as "Endangered". In the "Lower 48" states of the US only 4 species are so classified. 2 of the others are the Whooping Crane (that winters in Texas) and the Gunnison Sage-Grouse. The other, the Thick-billed Parrot, is really a Mexican species. It has not occurred in the US in years. It did formerly in Arizona.

Another of our "Big 4", the Black-capped Vireo, we saw well in the western Edwards Plateau. That species is classified as "Vulnerable" by Birdlife International. In the US, nearly all Black-capped Vireos nest in Texas. Only a very few do so in Oklahoma (and it formerly did in Kansas). It also breeds in northern Mexico.

The Colima Warbler is classified as "Near-threatened" by Birdlife International. In the US, it nests only in western Texas, at a particular elevation and in a particular habitat in the Chisos Mountains in the Big Bend National Park. To get where it is, a trail must be walked. We did, and we saw and heard the bird nicely. Other than at Big Bend, the Colima Warbler is exclusively Mexican. They breed in that country, and all of them winter there.

Some other birds more Mexican than Texan that we encountered during our Texas tour (in addition to those already mentioned) included: Least Grebe (at one time, we saw 7 together, 2 adults & 5 young, the least of the least), Neotropic Cormorant, Pauraque (seen & heard at Aransas), the Mexican (or Gray-breasted) Jay at Big Bend, the Northern Crested-Caracara (also known as the "Mexican Eagle"), Chihuahuan Raven (named after the Mexican state), White-tailed Hawk, Harris's Hawk, the Aplomado Falcon, and the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. Some comments are warranted, and follow, about the last two of these species.

The Aplomado Falcon is overall not a rare bird "south of the (US-Mexican) border". In some places, such as Costa Rica, it is. In others, such as Brazil, it's quite common. In the US (Texas), it formerly occurred until the early 20th Century in southern Texas, and until the mid-20th Century in western Texas. About 15 years ago (in 1989), a reintroduction program began in south Texas. Since then, about 700 birds have been released. And the species is now breeding in southern Texas. We can confirm that as we saw a pair mating, close to us, atop a telephone pole along a road east of Brownsville, between that city and the Gulf of Mexico. We also watched those two birds in flight - flying as the species once did naturally over a century ago in Texas.

The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck about 40 years ago occurred in Texas almost exclusively in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and south the southern Gulf Coast (south of Corpus Christi). During the decades since, the species has expanded its range and increased its numbers considerably. As we went across Texas, we saw many, well to the north and west of that previous range of 40 years ago. What was particularly interesting was how the species has adapted to living in the town and cities, in residential areas. Often we saw the birds in flight over neighborhoods and standing on the roofs of homes. They were notably fond of trees, either being on stumps or high bare branches. After all, they have been called historically "Black-bellied Tree Ducks".

Another bird that we saw to have had a major expansion through Texas, in recent years, was the Eurasian Collared-Dove. It's common in southern and eastern Texas, often, like the whistling-duck, in towns and cities. We saw the Eurasian Collared-Dove as far west as one can go in Texas, in El Paso.

Yet another bird species that has increased in Texas in recent decades has been the Cave Swallow. We saw many, especially along highways at bridges and overpasses.

Our best spectacle for numbers of birds during the tour was during 3 days in the area of the Gulf Coast, as many were seen on their migration north. At places such as South Padre Island, and Goose Island, trees and bushes were sometimes dripping with birds. Lawns and feeders also had their share. Very numerous were the warblers, and there were other birds in good numbers such as flycatchers, hummingbirds (Ruby-throated), Kingbirds (Eastern), thrushes, tanagers, orioles (many), Waxwings (Cedar), and Grosbeaks (Rose-breasted).

Nearly 30 species of Warblers were seen during our tour. In addition to those already mentioned here (the Golden-cheeked, Colima, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, & Tropical Parula), there were for us in southern & eastern Texas, many species of eastern warblers during their migration. Our most commonly observed species was the Black-throated Green. But other notables, often in colorful breeding plumages, included: Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Yellow-throated, Hooded, Wilson's, Kentucky, Canada, Worm-eating, Nashville, Tennessee (candidly not as colorful as some of the others), Ovenbird, and Northern Waterthrush.

Migrating Orioles, en masse, were both Baltimore and Orchard. Memorable was a tree filled with about 15 colorful Baltimores at once. Migrating Tanagers were both Scarlet and Summer.

Migrating Flycatchers were Great Crested and Eastern Wood-Pewees. Migrating Thrushes were Swainson's, Gray-cheeked, Wood, and Veery. Incidentally, as we traveled west across Texas for 2 weeks, a thrush we never saw was the American Robin.

What we did see with all of the migrants just-mentioned were Dickcissels. They, as well as Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, were evident in the east Texan countryside. Both species, for those of us from elsewhere in the Country, were nice to be seen as often as they were.

Swainson's Hawks (both the light & the dark morphs) were also nice to be seen, as was a flock overhead of migrating Mississippi Kites, on their way north.

Seemingly a bit out a place, and off schedule, along the Texan coast of the Gulf of Mexico, very close to Mexico, one afternoon, there was an immature Glaucous Gull along the beach. Also along that beach, we saw a Piping Plover (a threatened species more apt to be there in the winter) in company with Wilson's Plover, as well as Red Knot,

"A Tour for Grouse & More"

Again, in April '05, we did what's been, the last few years, our annual spring tour for grouse, and more, in Colorado and nearby states. The grouse that we saw were the 2 Prairie-Chickens (Lesser & Greater), the 2 Sage Grouse (Greater & Gunnison), Sharp-tailed Grouse, and Blue Grouse. All of these were seen well. Only the endangered Gunnison Sage Grouse was a bit far away . We saw all of the Grouse (including the Blue) displaying.

The "more" were numerous other birds, including specialties of the plains, and of the mountains. In all, 162 species of birds were found.

Although birding, of course, was our primary emphasis, during the tour, it was not the only aspect of it. There was also the spectacular scenery, especially in the various areas that we visited in the high country of Colorado.
And also in the late sort of "more" were mammals. During the tour, we saw 27 species. During one day in north-central Colorado, we saw is. There were among the mammals: Beaver and Badger, Muskrat and Moose, Elk and Deer. Coyote, numerous Pronghorn, and an assortment of rabbits, squirrels, and prairie-dogs. Our best was the Badger, that stared rather sternly at us, late one afternoon, from the ridge of its hole. One of our moose sightings was also notable, of a mother and an adolescent together.

Butterflies were not common (still, overall, too early), but we did see some particularly in eastern Colorado and Kansas. Notable among them was the Orange-colored Gray-winged Leafwing.

But back to the birds:
During our first full-day in southeastern Colorado, we were getting an impact of the birding we would enjoy in the days that would follow. And that first impact came on strong, with our initial looks at birds such as Swainson's Hawks, Cinnamon Teal, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. At one body of water, we encountered a large flock of migrating Bonaparte's Gulls, with some in breeding plumage, and some of them with a pink hue on their breasts. Western Meadowlark sang. That song we would hear continuously throughout the tour. Avocets were in breeding plumage. Burrowing Owls looked at us as we watched them. Their holes, in the ground, were near those of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. Walking on the ground were Long-billed Curlews. We enjoyed good looks at them. Overhead, in the blue sky, large American White Pelicans flew.
Those of us from other parts of the United States (from Florida, California, and the Northeast U.S.), were quickly adapting to Colorado birding.

But as good as all that's been described was, it was not the best that day, It was for us, a "plover day". Among the best spotting my participants on the tour, that first morning of the tour, was when a Mountain Plover was found on the ground in front of us. How fortuitous! And in the scope, it was tremendous. Within an hour of that bird (a threatened North American species, rather like a pale dotterel). 2 other rather special plovers were seen. Among a few Snowy Plovers, on an alkaline shoreline of a lake, there was a single Piping Plover, (another threatened species, and very rare in Colorado). So, we had, our first day. a "5-plover day" with Mountain, Snowy, Piping, and Semipalmated Plovers, and Killdeer.

Here's the list of our "top birds" during the April 2005 FONT birding tour in Colorado (& adjacent states),, as voted by the participants:

1 - Greater Sage Grouse
2 - Greater Prairie-Chicken
3- Lesser Prairie-Chicken
4- Mountain Plover
5- Sharp-tailed Grouse
6- Red-naped Sapsucker
7- Green-tailed Towhee
8- Evening Grosbeak
9- Golden Eagle
10- Pine Grosbeak
11- Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
12- Blue Grouse
13- Belted Kingfisher
14- Ferruginous Hawk
15- Gray Flycatcher
16- Mountain Chickadee
17- Red Crossbill
18- Cinnamon Teal
19- Eastern Bluebird
20- Piping Plover
21- Snowy Plover
22- Gunnison Sage-Grouse
23- Sage Thrasher
24- Mountain Bluebird
25- Swainson's Hawk
26- Red-breasted Nuthatch
27- Brewer's Sparrow
28- McCown's Longspur
29- Chestnut-collared Longspur
30- Yellow-headed Blackbird

Here's the list of our "top birds" during the March-April 2005 FONT birding tour in Guatemala, as voted by the participants:

1 - RESPLENDENT QUETZAL
2 - Garnet-throated Hummingbird
3 - Lesser Roadrunner
4 - Great Curassow
5 - Pink-headed Warbler
6 - Prevost's Ground-Sparrow
7 - Northern Bentbill
8 - Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo
9 - Crescent-chested Warbler
10 - Black-vented Oriole
11 - Purple-crowned Fairy
12 - Orange-breasted Falcon
13 - Fan-tailed Warbler
14 - Hooded Grosbeak
15 - Ocellated Turkey

Japan Winter Birding Tour (to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Amami, & Okinawa)
January-February 2005 (with some notes relating to the previous tour in December 2004)

Japanese, or Red-crowned , Cranes in Hokkaido, Japan
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour
by Martin Tribe of the UK)

Okinawa is one of the southernmost Japanese islands. Most of it is heavily populated, especially the southern and central portions. But the northern part of the island is not. And it was in that area, just over 20 years ago, that a bird became newly-known to science. That bird, with its striking pattern of black, white, and brown, and a bright red bill and red legs, spends most of its time on the ground, and in dense undercover. That bird, not known to science prior to 1981, is the Okinawa Rail.

An Okinawa Rail photographed during our tour in February '05.
(photo by Martin Tribe of the UK)

There is now a new, and informative, feature elsewhere in our website entitled "Rare Birds of Japan", relating to birds that have been mentioned here, and others.
Whether you've seen the birds or not (or whether or not you ever will), it's interesting reading. And particularly so, in the "further notes" section, are the narratives regarding the Short-tailed Albatross (a bird that came back from very brink of extinction), the Siberian Crane (one of the most threatened of all birds), and the Blakiston's Fish-Owl (one of the most mysterious of birds, as it lives secretly in a remote area).

Also new in our website, there's another feature that's really worth a look. It's a "Photographic Sampling of Japanese Culture & Scenery", a series of photos taken by one of the Canadian participants on our December 2004 Japan tour. The photographs are not only beautiful, but quite interesting.

Here's the list of our "top birds" during the January-February 2005 FONT birding tour in Japan, as voted by the participants:

1 - OKINAWA RAIL
2 - Steller's Sea-Eagle
3 - Pallas' Rosefinch
4 - Ryukyu Robin
5 - Grey Bunting
6 - Japanese Accentor
7 - White-naped Crane
8 - Blakiston's Fish-Owl
9 - Lidth's Jay
10 - Japanese Grosbeak
11 - Asian Rosy Finch
12 - Mountain (or Hodgson's) Hawk-Eagle
13 - Green Pheasant
14 - Grey-headed Lapwing
15 - Crested Kingfisher

In cumulative list of birds, scientific names are given & subspecies are noted.

Our first birding tour of the new year, in January 2005, was in Costa Rica. It was a very good and enjoyable tour, with motmots and macaws, and toucans, trogons, and tanagers (just to mention a few of the colorful birds).
This week-long tour was in southern Costa Rica, and with a small bit in adjacent Panama. But, one doesn't have to go to Panama to see some of the birds from that country that are now occurring further north, in Costa Rica. Ones, in that category, that we saw in Costa Rica included Pearl Kite, Savanna Hawk, Red-breasted Blackbird, and Grassland Yellow-Finch.

Here's the list of our "top birds" during the January 2005 FONT Southern Costa Rica Tour as voted by the participants at the end of the tour:

1 - BLUE-CROWNED MOTMOT
2 - Scarlet Macaw
3 - Pygmy Kingfisher
4 - Pearl Kite
5 - Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
6 - Common Potoo
7 - Ocellated Piculet
8 - Fork-tailed Flycatcher
9 - Fiery-billed Aracari
10 - White-tailed Kite
11 - Green Violetear
12 - Yellow-billed Cotinga
13 - Red-legged Honeycreeper
14 - Laughing Falcon
15 - Purple Gallinule

Honorable Mentions:
Baird's Trogon
Golden-naped Woodpecker
Black Guan
Volcano Junco

This tour (our 23rd birding tour in Japan) was a good one, with lots of nice birds, and some wonderful culture and scenery, in a land very different for most of us. We went to the Japanese islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Amami.

Between Honshu & Hokkaido, on the western side of the northern Pacific Ocean, on November 30th, overnight pelagic trip, onboard a large ferry. During our Japanese tours, over a dozen years, we've done about 15 such ferry-pelagics, mostly in January, but also in May, June, November, and December.

This time, there were no albatrosses (Laysan is nearly always seen, and both Black-footed and Short-tailed have also been), but there were a number of SEABIRDS.
The most common, this time, was the Black-legged Kittiwake. They occurred all-day. In all, there were thousands . Other Gulls included Slaty-backed, Glaucous-winged, Black-tailed , and Vega.
Pomarine Jaegers were with us throughout the day.
In one area, there was a nice number of Shearwaters, mostly Streaked, but also Short-tailed.. Other oceanic birds were: Northern Fulmar, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Pacifc Loon, and both Pelagic and Temminck's Cormorants.
Alcids were the Rhinoceros Auklet and Ancient Murrelet.

During another pelagic trip, along that ferry-route earlier this year, in January, off the northern coast of Honshu, in a blustery wind, a Gyrfalcon flew by the boat. This time, in the same area, on November 30th, a day much calmer, a Short-eared Owl flew toward us and circled the boat, before continuing on its migration south.

Our annual FONT late-summer pelagic trip to the Hudson Canyon, off New Jersey & New York, took place overnight on September 11/12, 2004. The consensus was "a great trip". Our thanks to the captain, his wife (for our always-appreciated food spread), our leaders, and particularly our participants.

The water temperature out at the Hudson Canyon was about 71 degrees. It was a beautiful day with calm waters.

Among the bird highlights were 3 juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGERS (in close!), including 2 together on the way back about 40 miles offshore sitting on the very calm water where there lots of jellyfish.

There were good numbers of CORY'S SHEARWATERS around trawlers. 2 AUDUBON'S SHEARWATERS were seen, as were 2 GREATER SHEARWATERS.

There were both RED-NECKED and RED PHALAROPES. A MERLIN was seen attacking phalaropes on the water.
There only landbird was a female AMERICAN REDSTART which landed on the boat.

But the "star of the day", and a "life mammal" for most on board, was a SILVER-HAIRED BAT (photo below). It was first noticed flying above the boat at about 10:30am. It landed on the top of the cabin, and was identified by an experienced "bat-man" as a Silver-haired. The bat then took off only to land on the beard of one of the birders onboard. It flew again and landed atop another participant's head, with the back of the bat's head underneath the brim of the person's hat. "A bat in the hat!" The bat was gently removed and placed on a gear bag on the upper deck (as in the photograph below). The bat climbed to the inner portion of the bag and stayed there through the remainder of the voyage. Once back on shore, it was placed on the tire of an abandoned trailer, and seemed content.
The SILVER-HAIRED BAT was first seen about 70 miles offshore. It is one of just a few species of bats that migrate long distances sometimes out over the ocean. RED BATS have been seen during previous pelagic trips, but for us, this SILVER-TAILED was a first.

A Silver-haired Bat that came on our boat
70 miles offshore from New Jersey on Sept. 12, 2004.
(Photograph by Jonathan Klizas)

Marine mammals during our Sep 12 '04 trip included COMMON (or SADDLEBACK) DOLPHINS, and RISSO'S DOLPHINS (also known as GRAY GRAMPUS).

Birds seen offshore during our Sep 12 '04 from Barnegat Light NJ included:

Cory's Shearwaters - 150
Greater Shearwater - 2
Audubon's Shearwaters - 2
Wilson's Storm-Petrels - 300
Red-necked Phalaropes - 25
Red Phalaropes - 2
Pomarine Jaegers - 3
Long-tailed Jaegers - 3
South Polar Skua - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gulls - 2
Merlin -1
American Redstart - 1

Mammals:

This July/August tour was the first of two for us in Brazil in 2004, during which we saw the Harpy Eagle. Actually, there was one particular young bird that we were to see two times in the same area of a nest in a southern Mato Grosso forest. The second tour was two months later, in October.
It was quite interesting to see how the young bird, that was already large in August, had increased in size by October.
In August, when it stood on a branch up in a huge tree, the immature Harpy appeared to dwarf a nearby Gray-lined Hawk standing on a branch of another tree. The young Harpy Eagle, stayed in just about the same area, in a large tree or two, during both of our visits, in August & October. During the August tour, we also saw the adult female Harpy, in the top of another huge tree in nearby forest.
During both tours, in August and in October, the young bird begged loudly for food. We never saw the adult come to the nest, but we knew it recently had, as during the second day of our stay in the area, the youngster was observed tearing apart its meal and eating it. When the begged, it gave a single call, repeatedly, that could be heard far away from the bird. At times, the bird gave consecutively as many as 25 to 30 calls. In a telescope (or even binoculars), during each call, the red coloration inside its mouth could be seen. Each time it called, the big young bird elastically moved its wings, up and down. Both of our experiences with the Harpy Eagle (in August & in October) were tremendous.

As noted, the Harpy Eagle, when still young, was already a very big bird. The female of the species is the largest of the world's raptors. Overall, the species is the most powerful of birds. A massive Harpy Eagle can weigh nearly 20 pounds (about twice the weight of the Bald Eagle of North America). Prey includes monkeys, sloths, and porcupines. For those creatures in particular, but also in a general sense, the Harpy Eagle is undoubtedly the world's most formidable bird.

The Harpy Eagle is seldom seen soaring high above the treetops in the forest. It habitually enters is nest, high in the tallest trees, from below. The short, broad wings of the bird enables almost vertical movement through the trees. The nest is a platform of large sticks, initially about 4 feet across and 2 feet thick. More is added to it in later years, getting it up 5 feet in diameter and 4 feet thick.

A juvenile, when between 8 and 10 months of age, enter its first immature molt, and has a well-developed power of flight. However, at that age, (as the was bird we saw in October), it is still entirely dependent on adults for food. Such a young bird generally stays in its nesting territory, within a radius of 100 yards of the nest tree. That large tree is used by the youngster for its perching.

About a half-hour after sunrise, a juvenile bird begins calling. If especially hungry, it flaps its wings, as it calls, perhaps "signaling" to its parent. (In the first paragraph here, this repetitive calling & signaling was referred to.) Food is not brought by the adult every day. Sometimes, it comes as infrequently as once in 5 days. Later, as the parent feeds the young bird even less, the young Harpy Eagle's food-begging call changes to a combination of a "scream" and a pathetic "whine". The long period of dependence of a juvenile on its parents suggest that adults nest not annually but in a cycle of a year and a half to two years. A new bird when grown must find its own territory. As noted above, a pair of Harpy Eagles can use a nest repeatedly.

We look forward to having a "Harpy Experience", as we did twice in '04, repeatedly as well.