I got us started on birding many decades ago. I was home with a baby and going stir crazy, one spring I took a birdwatching class at my local Audubon Center. After we learned the basics -- stuff like the difference among hawks, eagles, vultures, kites, ospreys, falcons, and owls -- we took an early morning bird walk (you really do need to get up with the birds in order to see any) at Plum Island. Snow geese were flocking. We saw great blue herons and little greens. An elusive ruby-crowned kinglet. I knew my husband would love it so I dragged him back the next weekend and he got well and truly hooked. (He's the one that keeps a life list, not me.)
Birding is a great reason to take a walk. It's easy to do alone, with a partner, or in a group. But going on a birding trip to the spot where North and South America come together and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans meeet is something special.
Our trip to Panama was with 10 other birders, all of them more fit and rabid than we. We walked about four hours in the morning. Back for lunch and a rest. Then another three hours before dinner. Then we all met and added to our bird lists.
Walking, we were always accompanied by a bird guide, a local who knew the bird calls and habitats like the back of his hand. He'd hear a bird in the distance and repeat the call to bring it close enough to spot. Then use a laser pointer to get us all focusing on binoculars on approximately the right spot.
We've done a lot of birding over the years, but in 10 days in Panama we saw over 100 species, more than half birds that we'd never seen before. Here's a few of my favorites... a few monkeys and humans among the birds.
White-necked Jacobin hummingbirds (female on the left)
*
Rufus Motmot
*
Grey-cowled Wood Rail
*
Tamarind monkey
*
Howler monkey
*
Humans!
*
Canopy Tower (where we stayed)
*
*
View from the Canopy Tower roof platform
*
Me at the Canopy Lodge where we also stayed
I'll leave you with a video from the bird cam that Cornell University has set up at the fruit feeder at Canopy Lodge, a cavalcade of the birds you can see there.
It sounds as if you had an amazing time bird-watching. I’ve never seen any of these birds, so it’s wonderful to see these pictures and the video. Thanks for sharing them. . . .
ReplyDeleteSuch a pleasure seeing them in the first place! And then sharing them I get to savor it again...
DeleteThanks for sharing, Hallie.
ReplyDeleteWhat a trip, Hallie! 100 new life birds? Wow. I saw five in one morning in Puerto Rico two weeks ago at the eco-farm where my son works,and I know there were many more out there. I haven't been actively birding in recent years and somehow didn't even think to bring my binoculars on the trip. Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteI overstated... More like 30 new life birds. Closer to 100 in all. (We'd seen the grackles and oropendola and bananaquits and vultures (SO MANY vultures!)...)
DeleteWhat a lovely and energetic time you had! I'm envious. We have close friends living in Panama, been there since the sixties. Sue teaches still and Lew is a retired tugboat pilot. Right now they are stuck in Houston where Lew just had a radical prostatectomy at MD Anderson. They love the Canal Zone and have regaled us with pictures of the amazing wild life through the years -- some of it two legged! Thank you for this photo journey today.
ReplyDeletePoor Lew! Talk about bad timing.
DeleteA 'retired tugboat pilot' - Set in the canal zone... wouldn't that make a perfect mystery series? Those tugs in the canal are astonishing... tiny little boats (by comparison) protected by a circle of rubber inner tube are dwarfed by the cargo ships they're towing.
Yes, timing is everything. And Lew has a few stories to tell, believe me.
DeleteThat sounds like a wonderful trip! Thank you for sharing your photos and your memories.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful trip, Hallie. My partner has taught me to appreciate the wonders of the bird world, and I now love being able to identify the usual visitors to our city feeders -- chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers and the wonderful pileated woodpeckers. At the cottage, I never get tired of seeing the Bald Eagles. And hearing the owls hooting...
ReplyDeleteYES! I have a friend who asked me what was it about birding that I like. (For me it's not like golf: aka "a good walk spoiled"... Mark Twain) And I tried to explain, saying pretty much the same thing you did. It's like being tuned into a channel that the rest of the world doesn't see/hear.
DeletePileated woodpeckers! Astonishing birds. They sound like jackhammers. My husband used to have one that visited the tree just outside his college office. Then they made it a parking lot.
DeleteJoni Mitchell's very song lyric. Sad...
DeleteYes, the pileated woodpeckers are AMAZING. People walking down the street stop and stare if one of the two we regularly see is feeding on the suet. Their wingspan is enormous and the noise they make when flying is distinctive.
I so agree with everyone who said what a wonderful trip it was! Living here in the woods I hear a lot of birds and other creatures but I seldom know exactly which ones I am hearing. I do recognize a few calls but it would be so great to have an expert tell me what bird I was hearing. The ornithology lab at Cornell has website where you can listen to all kinds of bird calls but I still can't seem to figure out most of the birds I hear.
ReplyDeleteYou have some great pictures!
I'm not good at 'hearing' and telling the difference among most of the bird calls. Though I recognize cardinals, and grackles, and blue jays, and red tail hawks, and screech owls (we had one living in a tree across the street), and song sparrows, and robins. A narrow band. Judi, get yourself a copy of a Peterson field guide to the birds of North America and a descent binoculars. Put out a a bird bath! (Easier to replenish than a feeder.)
DeleteThe bird guides cheat. The carry around smart phones and play the bird calls on them.
Oops... the 'bird guides' that cheat are the human ones, not the books.
DeleteHallie, I knew that was what you meant! One of my cats is an outdoor one so I don't want to do anything that entices the bird here. On the other side of my woods the neighbor has all kinds of bird enticements, even a small pond, which is one reason I hear the birds but don't see them.
DeleteWhat a fabulous way to begin my day. Thank you for sharing, Hallie.
ReplyDelete:-)
DeleteBirds R Us
We rely on it!
DeleteWhat a marvelous experience! In the people picture, you're all bundled up. Early morning, mosquito protection, or was it chilly?
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't hot-hot, but on every walk we all wore long sleeves and pants tucked into our socks. Protection from mosquitos and chiggers. And the sun. Most of us had shopped at REI for their breathable lightweight (AND essential: quick-drying) clothes. Even in the humidity you can wash out those pants and shirts at night and have them (mostly) dry by morning. There was also a lot of rain. So everyone's carrying rain gear. And of course water and bird guides and binoculars...
DeleteThanks for the photos, Hallie! I love birding, but limit it to my own neighborhood. The most exciting visitor to my backyard was a bald eagle a few years ago. What a great trip you had!!
ReplyDeleteA bald eagle?!? Thrilling. They've made an amazing comeback. We have a pair that, in seasons past, have hung out at a boat basin near us. We'll be looking for them again this year.
DeleteHere's a link to a LIVE WEB CAM from the fruit feeder at Canopy Lodge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtoxxHADnGk
ReplyDeleteIt's LIVE.
I just hopped over there and there was a grey-cowled wood rail eating oranges. Morning is a great time to watch.
Hallie, thank you for posting your beautiful pictures and the video. It was fun to see the mix of tropical birds with the migratory warblers and the Baltimore oriole that we see here in the summer. I've been a bird watcher only for a few years. I started when I moved back to my hometown after retirement and wanted an activity I could share with my siblings, both avid bird-watchers. And what a joy it has turned out to be -- the connections with them and with the beauty of birds.
ReplyDeleteI love it, too... makes you slow done. If you're still there, Chris, I'd love to know where some of your favorite birds walks are.
DeleteWhen I first started, I took a couple of birding classes at our local Osher program and the leaders introduced us to some of the local parks that have good birding trails in the Rochester area: Mendon Ponds Park, where you should bring a pocketful of sunflower seeds so the chickadees, nuthatches and others will eat from your hand; Oatka Creek Park has some nice trails; Turning Point Park along the Genesee River. Also, there is an area in Avon (my hometown) that has a lot of land managed by a local conservancy and is a great place to see Eastern Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, Short-Eared Owls and Horned Larks and huge flocks of migrating geese and swans -- it's a country road that runs several miles and it can take you a couple of hours to drive it on the right day. There are also a couple of places locally where you can see nesting Bald Eagles. I could go on!
DeleteThanks!!
DeleteHallie, my father-in-law was career Army and was stationed in Panama for four years. Sadly, he's no longer with us. I'm sending this link to Mom, my husband and his sister. I know they will love the pictures. Than you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's an incredible feat of engineering, that canal. We spent a half day in a tour/motorboat roaming around in it. Then the skies opened up and we got drenched. Soaked. To the skin. Turned out my "rain" coat was not waterproof, even a little bit.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhat wonderful pictures - thanks for sharing! It's not nearly as exotic, but I love watching the birds visit my neighbors' bird feeder. I hae a great view from my desk - and many of them light on my fence rail, too.
ReplyDeleteSee anything unusual?? You should be getting some cool birds soon... spring migration is the BEST time.
DeleteNot particularly - but the only ones I can really recognize are blue jays, cardinals, and robins. We get a wide variety of "small brown birds" but I couldn't ID them if you paid me!
DeleteProbably sparrows- I only know the house and song sparrows
DeleteHallie, thank you for the lovely start to my day. As I sit at my desk on the 15th floor of a high rise, I can see the red hawks circling and then small birds come to sit on my railing or on the Japanese maples on my balcony. Once a baby red hawk, all downy, sat on our balcony rail long enough for a photo. Nature gives us hope.
ReplyDeleteWowee, that's quite the bird visitors you get, Altanta. Where are you?
DeleteRed-tail hawk? We get them here, too. They hunt the rodents in the highway median strips. So regal close-up. And there's a big hubbub when they get mobbed by smaller birds. Quite the show.
DeleteI live in a small neighborhood in the city, and there is (to me, anyway) a remarkable variety of birds around. I have a feeder in the yard and there are chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, wrens, woodpeckers (downy and ladderbacks), doves, cowbirds, red-wing blackbirds and others. There are a couple of owls somewhere that you can hear calling to each other in the early morning or at dusk. Also several red-tail hawks, which make me worry about small dogs and cats in the area.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the video. I've already gone to the Cornell site and looked at all the bird cams they have. They are definitely going to help me lower my current level of stress!
We get everything you do except not ladderbacks. And only very occasionally wrens (more frequent in years ast). And we get hairy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers occasionally, and my favorite, Northern Flickers. When the ants swarm between the stones in our patio (late summer), a flicker often shows up to feast on them.
DeleteHallie, we've had six or so Flickers hanging around our feeders this winter. We think it's a family, and I've really enjoyed having the best look I've ever had at them.
DeleteAnyone interested in more information about birds, or just needing to kill a few hours... a good bird site is https://www.allaboutbirds.org/ - "Dedicated to advancing the understanding and protection of the natural world, the Cornell Lab joins with people from all walks of life to make new scientific discoveries, share insights, and galvanize conservation action."
ReplyDeleteYour trip sounds devine. We love to bird watch, but do not keep life lists. When we travel, it is almost always to see wildlife. Our trip to the Galapagos Islands a couple of years ago was one of our most intense trips when it comes to observing birds. But last year, our adventure in Scotland was also a nature trip and we spent 2 days observing colonies of puffins.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I still get excited when a cardinal comes into my yard.
Thanks for posting those wonderful photos.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeletePUFFINS! I love them. We saw them in Iceland. So cool, they were nesting within reaching distance off the edge of a cliff. And those big red feet! They're funny when they come in for a landing.
Thank you for the webcam treats, Hallie! You really saw some beautiful birds on that trip. And that lodge! Wow, how amazing was it to stay there, up in the treetops? Doesn't it make travel more fun, when you can learn something new, and see wildlife most people miss? I'm so grateful to Steve for sharing that with me, starting with our first trip together in 1979.
ReplyDeleteMy Maslowski sister-in-law invited me to go with her to South America, Peru and Ecuador/Galapagos, about a dozen years ago. We saw well over 100 new species of birds together, which was very exciting for us. And when Steve and I went to Tanzania, our specially selected, very knowledgeable guide helped us identify some 230 species in the 12 days we safaried. One of my favorite memories of that trip was sitting in a beautiful garden with Zepha, as dozens of sunbirds and other species flitted around us.
But backyard is best. North America has over 700 species of birds, many that hang out near humans. Put out a sunflower seed, peanut, thistle, suet, or hummingbird feeder, and sit back to watch the show.
My husband's website has tons of great photos of mostly North American birds, all identified, if anyone is interested. These photos are for sale (to magazines and other publishers), but they make good ID photos for learning, too. http://maslowskiwildlife.com/
Who knew we had this in common! Going to your husband's web site now...
DeleteThank you for the link to your husband's site, Karen in Ohio! Lovely images...
DeleteWhat a fabulous place to stay!
ReplyDeleteWere there lots of bugs ( she asks cautiously?)
Someone found a scorpion in her shoe but I didn't see any. And we all patted sulphur on our socks to deter chiggers. LOTS of butterflies, including gorgeous Morphos.
DeleteI love the video, Hallie! And I'm really glad they circled some of those birds. I never would have spotted them otherwise.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother used to keep a bird feeder and identify the birds that came. My mother followed in her footsteps, and so did I until I moved to the city and found my usual feeding routine attracted more rats than birds. I'll have to regroup and try again. For now I just have a bird bath. We have robins and bluejays, cardinals, wrens, and mockingbirds here in the yard, and an assortment of migrating flycatchers, dove, hummingbirds, and the occasional Mississippi kite. My biggest thrill in spotting birds was the morning a bald eagle came to the park where I often eat my breakfast. Wow!
For folks who are interested, Cornell offers a program called Operation Feederwatch in the winter. They send you forms to fill out, and you count the species and number of birds that come to your feeder. I was amazed at how many different species come out in the winter. Lots of fun if you have the time to watch and record. (They probably don't send you forms anymore--I'll bet it's all online now.)
Bird bath is just as good! Though rodents do come to drink. They say Central Park is one of the best birding spots during spring migration
DeleteI dibs the name Rufus Motmot! Hallie, these are so great! And if I may say. oh so more poignant now....We had a blue jay arrive yesterday, and the doves are flocking, and of course the ducks are here!
ReplyDeleteYay 🦆 🦆
DeleteThanks for sharing the video. I love hearing birds in the morning, it reminds me that life goes on. Somehow a feed of bird stills ended up on my Facebook and I keep forwarding them because I think they're beautiful, even the ones that aren't brightly colored. Finding the duller colored birds that blend into the environment, those are the glamour shots. Those extraordinarily long tails, that don't belong to peacocks, marvelous shaped beaks.... Gorgeous. Okay, off to take my temp so I can go to work. Stay well.
ReplyDeleteBlending in- like an owl in a tree trunk - almost indistinguishable from the bark
DeleteLooks like you saw some great animals. If I tried to take pictures, they wouldn't turn out nearly that good. I'm not a patient photographer.
ReplyDeleteBirding ... just to see the birds - requires patience - it’s why my husband is so good at it and I’m not.
Deleteg\Great photos
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing trip, Hallie! I love the pics and the video. They make me want to do something like this, but maybe with a little less daily walking. Of course, that's how you get to see the good stuff, by walking far enough to get away from the human world and into nature.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have become backyard bird enthusiasts. We take great delight in observing the cardinals, sparrows, doves, and robins. Last year we had a thrush, can't remember the name of it right now. There's the occasional blue jay, too. In warmer weather we have hummingbirds. We can hear an owl, but we don't ever see it. I think we're ready to get a little more involved at this point. When the world gets back to a more normal place, I'd like for us to take a class about birds at a nature center and start participating in some birding events/treks.
The walking wasn’t as hard as I’d expected- it was the standing and waiting that got to me - I had to sit out a few walks to recover
DeleteStanding and strolling can be excruciating. It's like visiting museums. WAY more tiring than a brisk walk. And winter birding is way too cold for me these days, for the same reasons: standing around instead of getting your blood moving.
DeleteOh, how could I forget about the hawks we see from time to time. Love them, too! I also didn't mention the undesirable black birds/starlings. And, I have seen crows l, too. The most unusual bird experience I've had at home was when the two geese came flying through our back driveway area flying low enough to reach out and touch (I didn't, of course). I did some research and found that when you see two geese flying by themselves like that, it usually means that one has stayed behind with the other because it was injured or otherwise unable to keep up with the group until it was able to fly again (or died). They were then on their way to catch up with their group.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I used to think starlings were undesirable, until I saw one close up. They are exquisite, in an understated way.
DeleteThat's true, Karen. They definitely have a beauty to them. I just dislike that they intimidate my other birds from coming to feed.
DeleteStarlings in spring plumage are iridescent- still a nuisance
DeleteAnd dusted with gold.
DeleteI just saw three of them dominating at our feeders. And after I defended them. Ingrates. :-/
Gorgeous, Hallie! Ross was getting into birding the last few years of his life, as the organic farm using our land and his own gardening practices starting bringing more B/B/Bs into our area. My favorite way to enjoy birding was sitting at the patio near sunset with a drink in hand. :-)
ReplyDeleteSadly birds are hard to see at dusk - the light mutes their colors
DeleteBeautiful pix, Hallie! Looks like a trip of a lifetime. The Canopy Tower looks like a wonderful spot.
ReplyDeleteI started birding in college. My roommate was a lifelong birder and she introduced me to the gorgeous birds of the tropics. Since then, I've continued on my own to the extent of always learning the local birds no matter where I live. I wish I could get a handle on the hawks, but at this stage of my life - I think I'm going to have to admit failure!
My former roommate and her husband take part in international bird counts and travel extensively as birders.
Hawks are confusing- it helps to know what are locally common
DeleteWonderful pictures and stories! We went to Tobago a few years back and did go on one birding hike. Our guide was wonderful; my eyesight, not so much. I had a heck of a time spotting birds he pointed out. We did take tea at a hotel that put on a bird show of sorts in the afternoon. They fed the birds and the birds hopped around begging at the tables. My favorite was the motmot. Cool bird! A few weeks ago I took a picture of close to a hundred grackles all roosting on the lines at an intersection. Shades of The Birds!
ReplyDeleteHaving a really good pair of binoculars makes all the difference
DeleteWhat a wonderful post, Hallie! I've been birding since high school but have never been anywhere that exotic. However, while I haven't seen a Rufus Motmot, I have several times been lucky enough to see a Painted Bunting down in central Texas, surely one of the stars of the bird world.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Painted_Bunting/media-browser/67385111
I love watching our backyard feeder, and this post reminds me that it's time to get our humming bird feeders up!
I have never seen a painted bunting ... so jealous - did see an indigo bunting once
DeleteDebs, I've never seen a Painted Bunting, either! But Hallie, we have Indigo Buntings at the farm, along with Blue Groesbeaks, and Blue Jays, and Eastern Bluebirds. Great Blue Herons, and Kingfishers. Lots of blue feathers.
DeleteNever seen a blue grosbeak, either. And only one or two Eastern Bluebirds.
DeleteOh, that is just lovely, exactly what my day needed to brighten it up. I love how you added the monkey and the humans :-) I'm so glad you went when you did because it doesn't look like any vacations are going to be happening any time soon.
ReplyDeleteAnd we’d have missed seeing Lucy in Key West on our way home... dumb luck
DeleteShalom Reds and fans. My father, in the last years of his life and who lived not far from the Bronx Zoo and the Bronx Botanical Gardens, would rue that he no longer heard the sound of song birds. I guess, except for these two parks, there was no longer a sufficient habitat for them. The sparrows, the pigeons, the robins and the seagulls were still there but no songbirds singing in the morning.
ReplyDeleteIn Bucks County, PA, where I live now, we have a large county park, which is home to much wildlife. Over the years, we have had sightings of American Bald Eagles. One time I was riding my bicycle into town and in a driveway to a private home, I saw an Eagle, on the ground, pecking like a pigeon. It was not ten yards from me. Amazing. And another time, on my bicycle, I crossed a small bridge above a creek, only to see a Great Blue Heron, stretch its legs, and mount in flight upstream.
Thanks for the photographs and the video. I loved them.
Great blues are magnificent positively monumental birds
DeleteMy most thrilling bird-related experience was seeing magnificent frigatebirds in Curacao. Wow. I probably got cataracts started by spending so much time staring up at the sky watching them soar. They truly do deserve the magnificent part of their name.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Takes me right back to a much too short trip to Panama and Costa Rica. The wildlife in that part of the world is truly extraordinary.
ReplyDelete