Garden Birds and other sightings...

Pangot to Delhi (North India - Day 15)

2012-01-06T14:06:00.005Z

Our penultimate day in India and our last birding opportunity was after breakfast at the Birding Lodge in Pangot.

Streaked Laughinghtrush put in an appearance:

As did the Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler:

Harry had found out the previous day, that he would have just one night with his family before heading off on a 28 night trip with some more Brits, so rather than hang around on the off chance of more species or better views we asked to head off promptly, back to Delhi. The trip in the end was mostly uneventful, other than spotting numbers of Sarus Cranes as we drove back to Delhi and a huge traffic jam outside of Delhi. Once you enter the city the roads are wide and traffic moves. We were soon ensconced in our room, with heating, air con, a comfortable king bed, tea and coffee, hot running water, etc. It was a good way to relax on our last night and we celebrated with some wine.

We were collected the following morning and dropped-off at the airport, gave both Harry and our guide their trip tips and then settled down for the flight home.

We saw 321 species of bird on the holiday, including 165 new life species, and now have an India list of some 412 species. As we were leaving we were also making plans for our next trip, possibly as soon two years hence, and are working back from a list including Assam, Sri Lanka (OK, not India, but close), Nepal (ditto), Central India or the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Kalypso have provided us with a 17 day itinerary that takes in both Assam and the Islands.... hmmmmm.... food for thought :)

Sattal (North India - Day 14)

2012-01-06T13:49:00.009Z

New Years Day! We were headed for Sattal. During the night it had rained heavily, we estimated for about 90 minutes ... the metal roof helped us in this estimate...

From Pangot you have to go up to go down, anywhere. So we set out. We were the second car of the morning, you can tell from the tyre tracks left in the snow:

Yep. It had snowed higher up. Cue panic from me as we slid around on mountain roads adjacent to precipitous drops, some with large holes in and other hazards somewhat obscured now by the white powder.

As we headed down a growing number of visitors were heading up, anxious for the first experience with snow. Harry predicted traffic jams on our return later.

We drove through a very quiet Nainital and on down to Sattal, a major birding destination. Unfortunately it was very grey, damp and bird quiet. A couple of Grey Treepies were in the Sattal Birding Camp grounds, where we stopped for a tea/coffee:

The local Sattal guides had already been out but looked glum. Hey ho, we'd had splendid weather for the whole trip thus far, so couldn't grumble.

We did go for a walk in the forest by a small lake and then down the road to the main lake. We saw quite a lot too, however the light was appalling. Please excuse the quality of the images... so, White-throated Launghingthrush:

Whistler's Warbler (amongst a foraging group of some six species of warbler):

A close Rufous Sibia:

Red-billed Leiotherix:

More Red-billed Blue Magpie:

Long-tailed Minivet:

Greater Yellow-naped Woodpecker:

A noisy flock of Slaty-headed Parakeets:

Ashy Bulbul:

I would love to bird Sattal on a sunny day, or two, it has huge promise. At one point we followed a small group of White-crested Laughingthrushes. No decent images I'm afraid but listening to them was magic.

We had lunch back at the lodge then decided to head back to Pangot, approaching Nainital from the south:

The lake was much less busy as was the town in general as the crowds started to head back to Delhi for work the next day.

We were still wreathed in cloud though:

The trip back was properly stressful involving lots of drunk idiots, driving in the snow, standing in the snow, sliding around in the snow, all on the single track mountain road. It took ages. The car was hit twice by other drivers... lots of shouting, arm waving.,. more shouting... one chap parked his car alongside the hill. In un-parking he bashed-up the entire side of his car. It was mental and characterised by a few selfish and inexperienced drivers just parking anywhere they felt and leaving the roads to snarl-up around them.

We all needed a cup of tea when we got back.

That night the gas ran out at 01:30. By the time we got up for breakfast around 7am it was completely freezing in the room. At least it hadn't snowed any more though!

Pangot (North India - Day 13)

2012-01-06T12:52:00.018Z

After a hearty breakfast of flat fried rice with masala omelette, we headed out for a location known for a rare pheasant. We were early so had time for a couple of stops, including one replete with Tit species, including the Spot-winged Tit:

Green-backed Tit (identical to our Great Tit, whereas India has a Great Tit, with the same Latin name as ours, that is notably different in plumage to ours... weird):

the local bird guide was quite excited to see this Yellow-browed Tit:

Another group at another site included Great Barbets:

We got to the right spot but after fully 90 minutes of trying agreed we'd dipped out on the Cheer Pheasant. We did however enjoy the fly-overs from Eurasian Gryphon Vultures:

On the way back, we were dropped off at the top of a trail for us then to walk down to the camp. We enjoyed seeing White-tailed Nuthatch:

Bar-tailed Treecreeper:

Grey-hooded Warblers:

and a female Maroon Oriole:

Back at camp it was filling up with people checking-in. They all saw me run from lunch to grab my camera to capture this Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler:

Harry wanted to know why I fussed, apparently they'd been out by the kitchen every time he popped down for a meal...

Lunch was typically fabulous so we enjoyed a brief pause before then heading out again, this time driving through Nainital on New Year's Eve in the middle of the afternoon. Suffice to say it was absolutely stuffed with people, the vast majority tourists from Delhi. It was heaving, really madly busy and took ages to navigate through.

I was expecting with a name like 'the dumping yard' it would be a tipping site, walled in, for the local waste. It is in fact, typically for India, a cliff-edge over which huge amounts of rubbish is chucked. Hence it is frequented by lots of Steppe Eagles:

I wish I'd taken a picture of the litter. It's an appalling blemish, as it is pretty much everywhere in India, with the exception of the National Parks. If I was in government I'd build incinerators to burn the rubbish and provide energy to the local communities that provide it, thereby providing an incentive for the rubbish to be collected and removed. In our whole time in India we saw one group of people collecting rubbish, and they were young American volunteers. It's a hopeless task currently though.

Anyway, back from Nainital the view again was stunning:

As was the sunset.

So. New Year's Eve. Time then of course for a few beers (I had bulk bought some earlier in our travels) and then an early night. We crawled into bed around 9:30pm, apparently the Indian guests wrapped up around 1:30am having got through loads of spirits (they don't drink beer during the cold spell of winter to avoid catching cold). We woke up occasionally to the revelling and the music from a few nearby parties, but mostly slept through ahead of another early start...

Corbett to Pangot via Mangoli (North India - Day 13)

2012-01-06T11:54:00.016Z

From Corbett it was time, after an early breakfast, to drive up into the foothills of the Himalayas, destination Pangot. We stopped for a walk on the way at Mongoli, a small village around the road, walking down a trail on the mountainside.

The Streaked Laughingthrush was really hard to pick while it rummaged in the undergrowth under the shrubbery but eventually conceded and sat in the sun for me:

A Russet Sparrow joined some Red-vented Bulbuls having a drink:

Followed then by a Black-headed Jay:

Below the path and again another hard bird to see was this Rufous-breasted Accentor:

A female Plum-headed Parakeet let me take this picture before squawking away:

A Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch came remarkably close:

From Mangoli we headed up, past Nainital, stopping to admire the view on the way. This is Truchal, or the Trident, a 3-peak mountain in the Indian Himalayas:

Some hillside cultivation:

A sense of the scale of the foothills and indeed the mountains:

The ants around these parts nest up trees:

We checked-in to the Bird Lodge in Pangot, had a great lunch (the food was the healthiest and some of the tastiest we had on the whole trip, we tucked in!) then headed out in the afternoon looking for more birds.

We weren't disappointed, first a White-browed Shrike-Babbler:

This is our driver Harry (it isn't spelt like that but it's our best guess), sat at the base of a tree, smoking, while we wandered about:

A tree of bushes:

Next the extraordinarily tailed Red-billed Blue Magpie:

Female Grey Bushchat:

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker:

Back at camp we settled in to our room before having a wander around the camp, spotting Streaked Laughingthrush:

Black-throated Tit, fabulous little birds:

Striated Prinia:

And initially mistaken, a Blue-fronted Redstart:

He was a regular in the garden, sallying around for food.

We sat on our balcony watching the setting sun as it moved to the valley floor:

Then started to freeze! It was so cold and the rooms are built for cool, with warped wood in the windows and doors. We had a single fan heater to combat the unusually bitter cold (even in the mountains it was unusually cold for this time of year) and pleaded for help. They very kindly gave us a gas heater, which we figured would be sufficiently well ventilated in our room. It took until 4am for the room to regain a sensible temperature.

Corbett National Park, Forest Birding (North India - Day 12)

2012-01-06T11:20:00.013Z

After another good night's sleep at Tiger Camp (despite the smell of mould in the room) and a cold but hearty breakfast, we set off again in the gypsy to the track by the forest described yesterday as 'Forktail Creek'. It's also a good spot to see Great Hornbills, although we dipped out on this species.

The creek was empty of everything except Plumbeous Water Redstart so we walked up a trail that branched away from the junction. The first new bird of the morning was a Rufous-gorgeted Redstart:

Next Rufous-bellied Niltava:

Then a bird we thought initially was female Rufous-bellied, and turned out to be a Small Niltava:

At the end of the trail, we were very much being watched by this Jungle Owlet:

Chirping away in dense foliage around a rock before making the briefest of appearances was a Chestnut-headed Tesia:

A bird of roughly similar plumage to the Niltava, the Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush:

and this time accompanied by a female:

I really like Woodpeckers, so seeing this Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker was a treat:

As was this Brown Bullfinch, peering out of cover:

After lunch back at the Tiger Camp, we set off again in the gypsy, still searching for Great Hornbill. Our bird guide chatted with the driver and after about 20 minutes into the drive back to the same trail, they decided we should try another edge of the park, so about-turn, then a fifty minute drive - which took us through a large town and past a 20/20 senior school's cricket match - we had worked our way around to another of the park's borders and proceeded to drive slowly along the adjacent road.

A Long-billed Pipit perched surveying its domain:

We passed a tree literally covered in Honey Bees and their nests, this one still under construction:

This one was full:

We counted over 30 such nests. Not a tree to climb!

More new birds, a Spangled Drongo (formerly known as a Hair-crested Drongo):

We did find some Hornbills, not Great Honrbills, however the Oriental Pied Hornbill was still a treat:

We tried until sunset approached and then with the temperature plummeting we rode back to the Tiger Camp for dinner and some warmth.

Corbett National Park, River Birding (North India - Day 12)

2012-01-06T10:57:00.008Z

A third gypsy, and a third driver, collected us and we headed to the local temple, the best spot in the area for Ibisbill. A lone Jungle Myna was amongst the Common and Bank Mynas there:

We got to the bridge linking the main road to the temple and started scouting around. The local temple man spotted the birds and excitedly pointed them out to us; our guide quickly interposed himself between the temple man and Helen, rudely dismissing the poor chap, much to her annoyance. It's fair to say at this point we were both getting very, very bored with the bird guide. An expert, yes. A royal pain, yes.

Anyway back to the Ibisbill, what a bird!

Also there Blue Whistling Thrush:

The temple man refused the tip we offered (uniquely), and only in fact took the money when we agreed he'd use it to pay towards the food he was putting out for the birds and dogs.

Mission accomplished we headed from the temple to another river, this one some 20km away from Tiger Camp to the East. The road becomes a rough track and we descended in the gypsy, stopping to quickly snap a White-crested Laughingthrush, another of my target birds for the trip:

Down in the river valley, we were looking for Brown Dipper. I looked down river, the guide looked up river. Neither of us bothered to check the big 'poo rock' right in front of us. Helen said, 'hang on, isn't that a Brown Dipper right there?' She was right:

It soon jumped into the river, emerging now and then:

This image is for context and show the up river view:

As well as the Brown Dipper we were delighted to see a Spotted Forktail, though at some distance:

You can see from this guide-taken picture we'd taken to huddling together to avoid the complications being imposed on us, still it is a good picture:

From the river it was time to head back for lunch at Tiger Camp.

Corbett National Park (North India - Day 11)

2012-01-06T10:12:00.016Z

We emerged early to grab a tea/coffee and make our planned departure time of 06:30. It was mostly dark but then the morning is the best time to see Tigers. There's roughly a 20% chance of seeing Tiger in Ranthambore and 5% or less chance in Corbett so they try and maximise the chances in every possible way. We reacted to four separate deer alarms but with no luck. The last one was a group of Spotted Deer barking at a Wild Boar. We soon settled into some quality morning birding, soaking up the atmosphere and views (and taking advantage of a blanket we'd borrowed to give us some protection at the back of the jeep!):

We approached a wooden bridge over a fast moving section of the river and spotted some Black-necked Storks with a group of ducks. One took off and flew right past us:

In early morning light and in a forest the lighting can be very tricky. This is a Blue-throated Barbet though somewhat in the dark:

Crested Serpent Eagle:

As the sun got higher the light and views improved:

A Jungle Owlet:

Long-tailed Minivet:

Lineated Barbet:

Long-tailed Shrike:

As you can see from this picture the winter light in India, away from the city smogs, has a golden quality making some images feel really warn and helping accent the various birds, wildlife, views, etc. It's a delight to have the opportunity to visit India at this time of year and escape the battleship greys and Arctic blues of the UK in winter.

Pin-tailed Pigeon:

Back in the forest though it remains dark virtually throughout the day:

A nocturnal specialist, the Brown Fish Owl:

This bird is called a Rufous-tailed Shrike in India and an Isabelline Shrike in Europe:

After some quality early-morning birding we headed back for a fine breakfast at Dikhala, and then soaked up the view from the Forest Lodge across the river:

From Dikhala we needed to head back to the gate to meet-up again with our bird guide. We took the opportunity to bird on the way, provoking a number of chasing calls from a certain someone. Sigh.

Anyway, Streak-throated Woodpecker:

Once out of the park we had lunch at the Tiger Camp, having checked in. At this point we were properly bored with our bird guide elbowing into our holiday and put our foot down, from now on we would dine alone. After a bit of resistance and a minor tantrum we got our way, which was good.

After lunch we were picked-up and headed out to look for some of the river specialists of the region. En route the driver of the gypsy spotted Red-headed Vulture:

We walked through someone's back garden to get to the river, spotting a Stoliczka's Bushchat (also known as a White-browed Bushchat - much easier to spell!), it's not a good picture but a properly rare species so worthy of inclusion:

A Grey-headed Woodpecker:

this picture is for context:

A female Grey Bushchat:

and a male Grey Bushchat:

Down on the river a female Plumbeous Water Redstart:

and then we spotted Helen's target species, a Wallcreeper:

Fabulous birds:

You can see the colours as this one unfurls its wings to move around. In breeding season they have more black to the face and chest, making the colour contrast even stronger:

We were also hoping for Ibisbill but the number of people on the river and at the temple meant a lot of disturbance and they were nowhere to be seen.

We did however get reasonably close to another White-capped Water Redstart:

That concluded the birding for day. Tomorrow morning another early start with the goal of seeing Ibisbill!

Corbett National Park (North India - Day 10)

2012-01-05T19:37:00.015Z

Boxing Day was taken up exclusively with the drive from Chambal to Corbett. There is a direct road but it resembles a river bed and would have taken the same amount of time as the trip we took, driving back to Delhi, through the outskirts and then up to Corbett. We set off at 5am in the thickest fog imaginable. At points we were looking out the side of the car to judge road position as there was a complete white-out in front of us. Despite these conditions we did make good progress though it did take fully 11 and a half hours to make the trip to Camp Corbett.

We arrived shortly before last light and enjoyed dinner and drinks before getting an early night.

The next morning we were up early for some birding ahead of breakfast, which involved taking a walk down from the camp alongside a water channel, over a river bed and into some forest which actually forms part of the park. Being early the lighting was poor for photography but we did enjoy seeing Crested Kingfisher, Changeable Hawk Eagle and Plumbeous Water Redstart, amongst others.

We also started to appreciate just how cold it was going to get with the chill morning wind blowing down from the Himalayan foothills along the dry riverbed...

We headed back to the camp for breakfast with the light improving sighting White-throated Fantail:

Red-billed Leiothrix:

An amazingly colourful little bird, also Grey-hooded Warbler:

After breakfast we drove to the Tiger Camp lodge, based just outside the main access to Corbett National Park having repacked overnight bags for our night in the Forest Lodge at Dikhala, within the park itself (at roughly 20 minutes notice!).

On arrival at the camp we swapped to another gypsy and then headed to the park to drive through it to Dikhala. This is where things started to get complicated. Our guide had a voucher for the park accommodation but at the gate we were told we also needed a permit. To cut a long story short I found myself some 90 minutes later in the middle of a shouting match between the chap who had booked the accommodation, a separate gypsy and guide and who wanted the balance of the money he believed he was owed and our guide and his gypsy who didn't want to budge. Much shouting ensued. Eventually I asked them both the quickest way for Helen and I to enter the park as we'd pre-paid almost the entire holiday and wanted them to shout amongst themselves while we went birding in the park.

So in a much plusher gypsy (the tyres even had tread) and with a new guide, we drove back to the entrance gate armed with a permit and then into Corbett National Park proper.

Once inside the park we drove the main track towards Dikhala. Being lunchtime at this stage we asked the driver/guide to help us make up for lost time and to bird the route rather than driving to the forest lodge to pick up a forest guide and then heading out, which would have chewed up yet more time.

We enjoyed the leisurely pace combined with our new guide's expertise, and stopped about halfway to eat our packed lunch.

The guide had chosen a cracking spot, and we enjoyed views of White-capped Water Redstart:

And then a complete bonus of a group of hunting Otters. Six in all, this one was leaping to catch a fish:

Mission accomplished:

The water was so clear we could see the Otters swimming past us submerged as they hunted. The whole thing took around ten minutes and was just great to see!

The view up river; the bank is literally covered with Cormorants, hundreds of them:

We drove on towards Dikhala eventually stopping at 'the best birding location in Corbett', which is a track that overlooks a river. We did indeed see a number of birds here including Rosy Pipit:

Grey-headed Fish Eagle:

Himalayan Bulbul:

one became two:

Common Stonechat:

Common Kingfisher:

We also had brief sightings of a Rosefinch, I don't think it was a Common Rosefinch but I failed to take a picture, I was too busy trying to point it out to everyone else. Doh!

Lots of birds did come and go, the majority being more common Bulbuls but it was a great spot. As the afternoon wore on some Sambar deer came to feed on the grasses growing on the shoreline:

We did hear a couple of deer alarms and spent some time at a crossroads waiting for Tiger but didn't see one.

Corbett is a beautiful park and at the heart of habitat and wildlife conservation in India. It's also clean, which is no mean feat in India. We loved it.

We got to the Forest Lodge at Dikhala just as the sunset and checked-in. The rooms are stark and empty, just a bed and loo. No heating, no air con, simple beds and pillows, etc. The food was good but it was an uncomfortable night at the lodge.

The Chambal River (North India - Day 8)

2012-01-05T16:55:00.019Z

Christmas morning was a bit of a disaster for Helen, she woke up with a migraine and was in no shape to go out birding. The Safari Lodge cottage was very cold too and it was pitch black outside. I resolved to obtain a hot water bottle, which after two trips to the kitchens I sorted. This helped. Me hanging around wouldn't help and she needed sleep so we agreed I should head out on the river cruise alone so to speak.

Out in the grounds of the lodge a Brown Hawk Owl was roosting:

We stopped at a few points on the road to the Chambal, spotting Jungle Prinia:

Desert Wheatear:

Crested Bunting - splendid looking bird this one:

Common Babbler:

Brahminy Starlings:

Variable Wheatear:

And the bird the guides got most excited about, a Sirkeer Malkoha:

Down by the river the lodge guards made tea and coffee before we (me, the guide, the guide from the lodge and the pilot) climbed aboard to explore the Chambal River.

A target bird for this part of the trip was the River Lapwing:

A bonus came in the form of a roosting Eurasian Eagle Owl, which is huge bird:

A more familiar species, the Pied Kingfisher:

We approached some islands in the river being used as haul out spots by the local Gharials, strange looking creatures:

Another such island accommodated my number one hope for the trip, the scarce Indian Skimmer:

Fabulous bill and plumage:

The guide snapped me taking these pictures:

Here you can see the Gharials closer-up:

As well as Marsh Crocodile:

A Black-bellied Tern flew past:

Before settling on another island:

We spotted some more land birds on various bits of the shoreline, including Black Francolin:

Bar-headed Geese:

Asian Pied Starling:

The cruise was very pleasant and back on land we had another cuppa before setting off back to the lodge. I was getting very twitchy and keen to check-in on Helen.

We did stop a couple more times for new species, including Black-throated Weaver:

associating with Ashy Prinia:

And the very scarce Red-necked Falcon:

Helen was recovering but we decided to take it easy for the afternoon, adding only a snap of a Yellow-footed Green Pigeon before retiring after dinner ahead of the mammoth drive on Boxing Day to Corbett in Uttarakhand.

Chambal Safari Lodge (North India - Day 7)

2012-01-05T16:25:00.007Z

We arrived at the Chambal Safari Lodge in time for dinner and agreed on a trial separation with our guide for the afternoon. What this amounted to was some time birding alone around the camp, seeing for example, Egyptian Vultures:

Flying foxes:

Oriental White-eye:

Red-throated Flycatcher:

Rose-ringed Parakeet, this one investigating a nest hole:

and Verditer Flycatcher:

After the birding we sat down for a cuppa on the lawn and were joined by a family from Kilburn. Jonno, the dad, promptly organised a game of cricket in which his daughter and one of the camp guides starred. I was still aching three days later but it was a lot of fun.

We joined the family for dinner later that evening and had a really good time with them before heading to bed.

The Taj Mahal, Agra, (North India - Day 7)

2012-01-05T11:12:00.011Z

Well you have to don't you. When in Rome and all that. Agra is mostly on the way to the Chambal River from Bharatpur and it is one of the most recognisable buildings on the planet. I can also vouch that it is an amazing sight. Getting in is relatively simple even on a busy holiday if you arrive earlier than the crowd. As a foreigner you can expect to pay 37.5x what an Indian does but you get a priority queue. The biggest drawback to the Taj Mahal, beyond the hawkers outside, is the fact that there is just one loo facility for men and one for women, that latter with just three cubicles! There must have been 2,000 people there when we arrived, early on Christmas Eve. Do the sums... oh, and they have a bloke there trying to tap foreign visitors for extra cash for using the toilets. Oh, and no soap or towels either.... you have been warned.

Putting that aside the buildings on the site are spectacular:

As is the Taj itself:

A side view:

The building is covered in verse from the Koran:

Another campus building:

And finally a view of the entrance from the Taj:

We didn't hang around, the place was filling up and it was time to head out of Agra and on to Chambal...

Bund Baretha, near Bharatpur (North India - Day 6)

2012-01-04T07:52:00.012Z

For our second day in the Bharatpur area our guide decided we should visit Bund Baretha, a massive reservoir built to provide freshwater to Bharatpur.

On the way we spotted what looked like a group of Weavers but in fact turned out to be a party of Buntings, including Black-headed and this Red-headed Bunting:

We stopped again just after a bridge and located White-capped Bunting:

A male Red Avadavat checked us out:

In the same area a female Common Stonechat was flicking around:

At the Bund itself the main area of water was quiet for this time of year, however we did locate another Citrine Wagtail on the shoreline:

And a small group of Barred Buttonquails on a grassy slope:

We stopped here for a bit, eating some very spicy pakoras the guide had bought on the way, which were delicious, then drove on to a trial leading up to an abandoned hunting lodge.

More Bluethroats abounded here:

An Asian Open-Bill Stork was browsing on one patch of a pond:

In the bushes a Great Reed Warbler:

As we walked along the trial I experienced a recurrence of a weird phenomena whereby horses, cows and in this case buffalo seem to catch scent of me and get afraid. We'd already had one group of Buffalo run half a field to get away, these two were tied-up but were clearly nervous and watched me approach and pass with fixed interest. It was only at this distance that the first one stopped watching me:

As you can see they were hauling some of the pink sandstone which is excavated from the area and is famous in fact for carving and use in buildings, including the former hunting lodge we then walked up to:

It's a spooky place being abandoned but with a couple of watchmen still milling around. A group of teenagers off school briefly drove up so we were denied access, but when they had gone we were let in to wander around.

I fed the meat we'd been given in error in our lunch to the mangy dogs and we generally soaked up the atmosphere of this weird place.

After lunch we walked back down to the car then stopped to watch this Indian Vulture on the route back to the hotel to pack for the next next leg of our trip:

And so for our final dinner at The Bagh. This time they had really pushed the boat out. The soup was very hot but the curry I ordered was the hottest thing I have and probably ever will eat. Each mouthful had two or three pieces of cooked green or red chillies in it. It was amazingly hot but still edible. This time the chef came out to watch and when I finished it, it was again smiles all round. Amazing food and tailored to each visitor, spot on!

Birding in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur (North India - Day 5)

2012-01-04T07:30:00.015Z

The morning start was somewhat delayed by the winter fog, a phenomena that is basically wood smoke driven smog and widespread on the plains of the North, we found out, from mid-December though to late January.

When we did get going the sun was burning through and providing some great lighting:

An initial search for a Siberian Rubythroat was unsuccessful but we did locate White-eared Bubuls:

Having tried our luck off the beaten path we then set-off on the walk through the preserve, seeing first these Yellow-footed Green Pigeons:

A much harder bird to capture was this Tickell's Thrush, as you can see it was deep in cover and out of the light:

The Owls here are so bold, this is another Spotted Owlet:

Plain Prinia:

Rose-ringed Parakeet in relative close-up:

We tried hard to find the rumoured Nightjar but failed. A mile further along the track, having watched Bluethroats, various Warblers and Flycatchers, another guide was able to give us precise directions so we walked back the mile at a fair trot to locate this Large-tailed Nightjar:

The round trip of two miles took about 40 minutes including the photography but we retraced our steps and headed on as the number of locals and other visitors started to build up. In the trees our only sighting of a Eurasian Golden Oriole of the whole trip:

The next bird and one of the highlights of the visit can be heard well before you see them. There are literally hundreds of Painted Storks nesting and breeding here, I photographed a group of mainly adults away from the nest:

A Bluethroat stopped long enough to be snapped:

Black Redstart:

In a clump of tall reeds this Baya Weaver was one of a group:

A very active Honey Bee nest:

We stopped to eat our packed lunch and drink some tea at a cafe facility at the end of the main trail into the reserve. I fed the House Crows and Jungle Babblers and Helen ended up eating some of the guide's lunch as the food they had prepared was just too hot.

With a refreshing cup of masala chai added to lunch we carried on the walk, entering more of a true wetland habitat on a quieter path. Here we saw migrant Bar-headed Geese (who cross the Himalayas twice each year):

Together with Eurasian Spoonbill and wild Greylag Geese:

We also saw an Indian Python just off the edge of the path, which was far too close and far too big for either of us to photograph. Thankfully, it decided to head into the undergrowth....

Having walked around 8 miles in all, carrying quite a lot of kit and with the sun heading towards the horizon our guide called a cycle rickshaw for us which took about 30 minutes to arrive so we stopped up for a rest before walking a little further on:

This is our rickshaw driver with us ensconced:

There was a bit of a kerfuffle when we got back to the car as the guide expected to pay Indian prices but the driver expected us to pay Foreigner prices (500 rupees instead of 100 rupees). He was happy I think with the 300 we settled on.

Back at the Bagh the dinner experience went up a gear. Having eaten Indian the previous night my main curry, just as hot, was served with 'mint sauce'. The mint sauce it turned out was mushed green chillies with a hint of mint, salt and garlic. I ate it in front of another small audience of waiting and kitchen staff. It was all delicious!

The Road to Bharatpur and birding in the local area (North India - Day 4)

2012-01-04T07:14:00.009Z

An early start saw us on the road to Bharatpur, home of the World Heritage site Keoladeo National Park. Worth noting at this point that Indian driving is mad, with six lanes of traffic in roads intended for three, constant hooting of horns (no need for wing or rear view mirrors) and general impatience - we were deliberately rammed by one chap who was desperate to queue jump at a toll station, to which event no-one even blinked!

En route a new species, the Red Collared Dove:

Another, the Coppersmith Barbet:

and in an adjacent tree a Spotted Owlet was having a daytime nap:

Owls are tough to locate in the UK due to the massively diminished habitat so seeing them so regularly on this trip was a real treat.

We checked in at The Bagh hotel in Bharatpur and enjoyed a really tasty lunch. We had some time to spare so wandered around the grounds, spotting first Indian Grey Hornbill:

and then a female Red-throated Flycatcher:

The afternoon drive was aimed at one specific species, the massive Sarus Crane (reaching 1 metre 52 cm in height!). On the way we stopped by a river and spotted a small group of Red Avadavats feeding:

Also present an Orphean Warbler:

We crossed into Utter Pradesh from Rajasthan, via a railway crossing where a completely mad bloke tried to sell us some cannabis plants he'd uprooted from somewhere. We had to wind up the windows in the end as he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Once safely across we headed along a track between fields looking for the Crane, spotting Common Hoopoe:

We located a small group, two adults and a single juvenile, in a potato field:

Sarus Cranes are amazing and beautiful birds. Their numbers however are plummeting as more farmers use insecticides to increase crop productivity...

We were delighted to see them and chuffed when a couple of fields away we also spotted a flock of Black Ibis:

A loud tractor prompted them to take flight, allowing me to photograph one on the wing:

We headed back into Rajasthan and back to Bharatpur stopping to snap the sunset.

The next day promises to be good as Keoladeo National Park is considered the premier birding location in India...

Back at the Bagh for dinner I requested the mulligatawny soup be done 'Indian hot'. They agreed and when served I have a small audience of waiting and kitchen staff while i ate the soup, which was really good. The curry dish I had ordered which had been delivered was promptly whisked back to the kitchen to be spiced up. When that was served and I ate that the waiter said 'you are different, that is Indian food, I would eat that'. Smiles all round!

Ranthambore National Park - Ranthambore Fort (North India - Day 3)

2012-01-04T05:59:00.014Z

After lunch back at Khem Villas we headed back to the park as far as you're allowed to go without being in an approved and licensed vehicle, parking at the foot of the Fort. We then climbed up into the fort to explore further, spotting a Black Redstart on the way:

This Chestnut-shouldered Petronia used to be called a Yellow-throated Sparrow:

Wintering Grey-headed Canary-Flycatchers abounded too:

One of the reasons access is permitted to the fort is that it houses a number of Hindu temples and a Mosque. This is the Ganesh temple:

The fort is crumbling in parts but bustling in others:

The light on top however was great for birding, allowing me to get some great pictures of the local birds, including a male Indian Robin:

Red-vented Bulbuls:

Indian Silverbills:

And possibly my favourite portrait of the holiday, a male Plum-headed Parakeet:

The rest of the flock scattered as we approached but this bird held its ground to keep feeding, giving me time to stabilise the lens and concentrate on the exposure!

Some of the people manning stalls around the temples tried to scare us by driving a large group of monkeys at us, several of whom then proceeded to fight amongst themselves. We were unmoved however and carried on.

We headed out of the fort, passing the room of eighty columns, used apparently for audiences to impress the visitors:

Helen snapped our guide and me spotting birds as we walked along:

In the fading light a Painted Spurfowl emerged briefly:

And on the lake below a White-browed Wagtail:

As dusk approached our guide took us a to spot known for Painted Sandgrouse. We sat and waited for over an hour until after sunset they started to fly around. When they judged it safe, fully 50 or more birds landed within ten minutes, giving us a great wildlife experience, though one too dark for photography! We then headed back for dinner and to pack for our morning departure to Bharatpur.

Ranthambore National Park - 2nd trip, Birding (North India - Day 3)

2012-01-04T05:47:00.017Z

On a high from the Tiger encounter we headed out onto trail 3 for some birding. Ruddy Shelduck in their natural environment are great to both hear and see:

Although it is illegal, we saw people feeding wild birds from the cantors. Hence this Rufous Treepie joined us on our gypsy to see if we too were feeding:

A new species for the trip was the River Tern:

It was almost as if they were talking about something. (Reminder: you can click on any picture to go directly to it then click again to zoom in).

Ranthambore Fort, our destination for the afternoon, was lit by the golden morning light:

Out on the water a Marsh Crocodile:

Indian Darter taking the sun:

And a beautiful still morning on which to take it all in:

Flying foxes (fruit bats) hung from a tree:

A Collared Scops Owl added a new bird species:

Crested Serpent Eagle:

Spotted Deer - hard to photograph as their spots seem to blur even in good light and sharp focus:

Our guide photographed Helen in spotting mode:

This is the building in the distance, part of the former hunting complex:

Our last spot before heading back was productive, with Wild Boar:

and Grey Francolin:

Ranthambore had really delivered and our thanks go to Kalypso for their flexibility, our guide for sorting out the gypsy and team at such short notice and the naturalist in particular for locating us perfectly for our Tiger sighting.

Ranthambore National Park - 2nd trip, Tiger encounters (North India - Day 3)

2012-01-04T05:30:00.013Z

Tuesday morning then dawned with us both excited and nervous. The staff at Khem Villas kindly provided blankets that had been heated with hot water bottles for us to drape across our legs as we headed into the park. Our bird guide had sorted out the gypsy and the team and we had a different route that would at least enable us to get some good birding done.

We headed into the park and even before the part where routes 2, 3 and 4 divide we found a Tiger. Admittedly a Tiger asleep mostly concealed by grass but still a wild Tiger!

The guide photographed me stood on the gypsy hand holding the 500 trying to snap the beast:

You can see both how chuffed I was and how mad it got with a pile-up of vehicles all trying to get in sight of the Tiger. I was persuaded to stay in the jeep and finally they broke up the traffic and we were moved on.

We took our route and headed further into the park but stopped promptly when the guides heard deer barking in warning. We worked with another jeep to quarter the area and ended up parked on a narrow lane with a small track just to the rear of our vehicle.

A forest worker wandered up, took a look around and headed up the path, stopping to circle a tiger footprint. Then he looked up. At this point he went very pale, turned and walked to us, climbing promptly on to the back of the gypsy. Once on the jeep he said breathlessly 'she's sat three metres up the trail'. We waited.

Sure enough a Tigress appeared walking slowly down the trail:

She looked right up at us. I was shaking with excitement and trying to take decent quality pictures at the same time. My one regret is not being able to rotate the camera though 90 degrees to get the whole Tiger in the frame. Still, not bad...

She rapidly got too close for the lens I was using:

At this point I asked Helen for the smaller camera with the shorter lens but it was still in the bag as Helen had sat transfixed during the encounter thus far. I grabbed the camera and started taking more pictures as she walked from the trail, behind our jeep, at one point less then two metres away:

Then headed off down the track:

We gather she was picked up by other vehicles and followed for around 15-20 minutes, ensuring lots of visitors to the park saw a Tiger that morning. I do count us very lucky indeed to have been so close and virtually alone during this encounter. As with all big predators, it's a very primal and quite a moving experience and one I would recommend, particularly as numbers of Tigers in the wild continue to diminish.

Amazing.

Ranthambore National Park - 1st trip in (North India - Day 2)

2012-01-04T05:16:00.005Z

We were really looking forward to our first trip into the Ranthambore park, offering us the very best chance of seeing a wild Tiger on this holiday. In the event we watched as the various other guests were collected and we waited, and waited and waited for the forest department cantor (20-seater, think army truck without the roof) to arrive, which it eventually did some 80 minutes late... a side note - the cantor system is chaotic, we saw three separate vehicles stopping in succession at the same hotel picking up a couple here or there... no wonder they all run late. Anyway, our party was running so late that we basically drove into the park at speed, stopped to see a few deer, Samba deer in this case:

Added Spotted Owlets:

Raced to the end of our allocated track and then turned round and raced back out of the park. All in all a really frustrating and frankly pointless experience. We called up our bird guide that evening to complain, we didn't fancy a repeat on the following morning, our last scheduled trip into the National Park. Kalypso came through, authorising a Gypsy (six seater, think army Jeep) which was booked for the following morning replete with naturalist, driver, and friend of the bird guide (you need six on the gypsy to enter the park, apparently). We enjoyed dinner and retired, hoping for better things in the morning...

The Road to Ranthambore (North India - Day 2)

2012-01-04T05:01:00.012Z

We set off promptly from Jaipur after a hearty masala omelette breakfast to the National Park and Tiger Sanctuary in Ranthambore.

We stopped at various points along the road, spotting first a curious and vocal White-breasted Kingfisher:

A Southern Grey Shrike:

Rosy Starling:

One spot proved particularly productive, producing Tawny Pipit:

Indian Courser (a flock of about thirty of them in fact):

And Desert Wheatear:

Across the road in some bushes we found a Common Woodshrike:

Closer to Ranthambore we stopped a pond to observe waders including Little Stint:

Marsh Sandpiper:

A one-legged Little Ring Plover:

Closer still an Indian Roller perched on a post:

These are fabulously coloured birds, especially their wings when in flight. Our guide stopped us based on a call he heard, which led us to sighting our first ever Indian Grey Hornbill:

A marshy area produced the longed for (by me anyway) Citrine Wagtail:

And a bonus Paddyfield Pipit:

A Common Hawk Cuckoo watched proceedings from above:

Another roadside bird and a first was the Blue Rock Thrush:

And finally a bird that proved surprisingly common, the Black-shouldered Kite:

We arrived at our hotel ahead of lunch and settled in, having a walk around the garden before lunch. The birds were quiet but India also has lots of beautiful butterflies too:

We were staying at Khem Villas which I can recommend to anyone, they were really very good, helpful and thoughtful, hot water bottles put in your bed while you have dinner for example. The beer was a bit steep though, IRS 320 for a bottle which is about £3.50 or $5 - the same price then as central London or down-town Boston...

Jaipur, The Lake & Birding (North India - Day 1)

2012-01-04T04:26:00.018Z

We stopped for lunch in the city before starting at the lake, eating at a restaurant called the Peacock, selected it turned out because the foreigners pay so the guides get to eat free. This proved the start of my Indian food adventure. In South India the locals had resolutely refused to feed me spicy food but I persuaded our guide to request the Hot and Sour soup at a local temperature. I finished, the local guide did too, Helen stopped after about two-thirds and our bird guide managed about half! They then ordered me raw green and roasted green chillies to see how far I could take it, all watched by a selection of waiting and kitchen staff...

After lunch and having said goodbye to our local guide (already there was a theme developing of guides taking a shine to Helen which was getting irritating), we parked up at the start of the lake and took a walk along a new road, closed to all but two-wheeled traffic. In the adjacent ponds we started to add species to the holiday list, including Red-wattled Lapwing:

Black-winged Stilt:

together with new lifers, including Red-throated Flycatcher:

Purple Sunbird:

Oriental Turtle Dove:

And more that we've seen in India before, like this Oriental Magpie Robin:

While watching the birds moving around we spotted a Long-tailed Common Mongoose, which stopped briefly to watch us too:

The view across the lake from the road:

Then from the main road running alongside the lake:

And of the water palace on the lake, which looks to me to be partially submerged:

A Black Drongo, a lifer, in some reeds on the lake:

A Green Bee-eater:

And a Large Grey Babbler (another lifer):

As well as the birds and the mammals we were befriended by a local dog which, when fed, took to guarding us against all-comers, irrespective of whether they were passing-by or stopping to stare and standing right next to us.

Anyway, more birds, the Indian Robin, male:

and female:

A five-striped squirrel (apparently):

And a fabulously plumaged starling, the Brahminy Starling:

Together with a common city bird, the Bank Myna:

seen here in close proximity to the Common Myna:

Another starling, this the Asian Pied Starling:

Next up Ashy Prinia:

And finally Rufous Treepie:

We really enjoyed our first day back in India again and retired, skipping dinner (lunch had been so big), for an early night ahead of an early start on Monday morning and our drive to Ranthambore National Park.

Jaipur, The Amber Palace (North India - Day 1)

2012-01-03T20:49:00.015Z

Apart from the odd day off here or there, 9 months working flat-out takes its toll. I organised therefore for this holiday, long in the planning (and booked back in January 2011) to be my first one completely disconnected from work since joining my current employer some 3.5 years ago. Helen's had a very bumpy time with her work too and we both needed to disconnect and recharge ourselves.

Our previous India holiday (see blog posts from January 2009) was a roaring success so we used the same company to make the arrangements, Kalypso Adventures, and would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone considering a holiday in India that isn't a standard beach package.... they really do know their onions when it comes to birding and wildlife and indeed logistics, etc.

We set off to Heathrow on Saturday December 17th and from there flew directly to Delhi, landing at 01:30. We were met by both our driver and bird guide for the duration of the holiday and then set off on the long drive to Jaipur. We arrived without incident a little after dawn, for breakfast and a nap and arranged to meet again at 10am to start proceedings.

One of my objectives of travelling to North India this time was of course the different bird species we'd encounter together with, fingers crossed, wild Tiger, but we did also want to explore a little more of India proper and the Amber Fort/Amber Palace features high in that regard, hence starting in Jaipur.

We stayed in a Heritage Hotel owned by the former head of the Indian Navy, who although absent on business still called us from Mumbai to welcome us to his hotel. Everything was comfortable, though - as warned by Kalypso but somewhat disregarded by us - it was unseasonably cold (even for winter!):

After a brief but refreshing nap we headed out into Jaipur, en route to the Amber Palace, having been joined by a local guide arranged for us by the company. It being a Sunday morning the city was still quiet at 10am:

One building sure to catch the eye in the Pink City is the Palace of Windows:

As you approach the fort, the scale of the site is quite breathtaking:

We were driven up to the main entrance then walked in to explore:

Our bird guide took a snap to prove we were there:

You can see here some of the fine working of the inner palace area:

And the courtyard gardens:

From the top the view across Jaipur is also excellent:

And indeed down to the Saffron gardens, though apparently they never did manage to cultivate any there (too warm for crocuses):

From the Palace we headed back in to the city and down to the lake....

Birding in Britain - the novelty

2011-11-20T15:22:00.011Z

It really had been too long since we managed to get out birding around our home. What with all my flying and the work on the garden filling our spare time it must have been six months since we ventured out. We decided to put that right with a trip up to south Lincolnshire so set off on Friday night after work, settling into a Premier Inn for dinner and an early night ahead of an equally early start.

Saturday morning we were out at dawn and drove the 40 minutes to Frampton Marsh, our first destination. The weather forecast was for clear skies, however a ground mist lay over the land leading to some beautiful effects from the rising sun:

At Frampton Marsh some Swans took off in the morning light:

A pair of Kestrels emerged from the Barn Owl box they've apparently taken over:

A Grey Heron fished:

A flock of Brent Geese took off from the wash and headed inland looking for food:

I think I prefer this one of the three it has more depth and indeed birds. The yellows and white in the first two were indicative of just how close to the sun they were when I took the images:

From Frampton we headed South-East to Welney in Cambridgeshire passing a group of men waving their arms to scare birds out of trees and shooting them... the nadir of our species.

Welney was its usual welcoming self, an oasis of conservation and life. We enjoyed seeing the migrant Whooper Swans, Pochard and other ducks and geese and were chuffed when a pair of Common Cranes dropped in. We'd only just been talking about whether the birds in Spring may have stayed or if they'd have moved on. These were the first Cranes at Welney in some time apparently...

They didn't hang about long though:

From Welney we visited a new RSPB reserve, Drayton Lakes. It was very busy with people dog walking, fishing and surrounded by gunfire and actually proved a real disappointment, so we decided to head back to Northampton to try and catch sight of some Short-eared Owls which had been seen recently. We arrived literally as the sun dipped below the hills, so while we enjoyed watching the owls I only managed a record shot:

We decided to head back again therefore on Sunday afternoon. The weather was against us though and as we approached it was apparent the area was wreathed in fog. We still saw half a dozen Owls including a pair fighting:

And one bird kindly flew close enough for me to get some (mostly) in focus images:

I'm going to take a late lunch break this week if there's a sunny afternoon and try again with better light, fingers crossed. We did enjoy our birding in the UK again.

Home and Away

2011-10-25T10:14:00.004+01:00

Some friends came to stay over this weekend and they brought with them their night camera, which I duly set-up in the area where we believe Badgers have been visiting regularly (though not every night) to feed on the nuts and rolled oats we leave out. We were delighted with the results.

First up two Badgers feeding:

The male climbs around the frame to get at the rolled oats:

When most of the food is eaten it's time to have a quick scratch:

We also caught a fox on film, this one appears to be making a real meal out of a single peanut, straight to camera as if making a point:

By way of a round-up, I also recently had another work trip, this time to Providence, Rhode Island, which has a beautiful city centre:

The State Capitol is something to behold too:

Though it was great to get home in time for Badger Watch!

Business Trip to Vegas and DC

2011-10-07T15:57:00.004+01:00

Another brief trip across the pond provided some limited photo opportunities, such as out of my window just after dawn on Monday morning, looking towards the Strip:

And the sun causing some great reflections and light effects:

My last stop was in Washington, DC, where I grabbed 30 minutes ahead of a meeting close to The White House:

Before it was time to head home again:

Even without birding and short for time it's proving possible to grab some reasonable snaps on these trips.....

a weekend with family

2011-09-25T20:08:00.009+01:00

We travelled to just south of Gloucester on Friday night to meet up with family. The plan was to visit the Aquarium in Bristol on Saturday morning and Slimbridge WWT on Sunday morning. The bits inbetween were to be determined.

Saturday started gloriously. The Harbour area in Bristol is much invested in and improved. There is a local off-shoot of the Science Museum:

Together with a lot of water based architecture. I was genuinely impressed with what has been created, it's a fun and involving space. You could almost sit on those benches:

The Aquarium was great. Lots of good fish and good for kids, being interactive rather than remote displays. The Sharks 3D on the IMAX was good too, although a depressing reminder of the effect of humans on every other species and how we're busy eliminating all other life forms on this rock.

From the Aquarium and after a light lunch we tried the Zoo Gardens but it was heaving. Even at 2pm the queue looked an hour long or so, just to get in, so we headed for Plan C, Westonbirt National Arboretum.

Well it turns out we chose well. I expected the foliage to be mostly green with some gold and rust, but some of the maple trees are already 'on fire:

This taken from under the foliage:

The view to what we presume was the house for which the arboretum was originally developed:

Pastels:

Lime tree avenue:

More pastels:

Catching fire:

burning:

And it's only just the second half of September. Looks like every forest will be a worth a visit this Autumn!

Sunday morning we did indeed visit Slimbridge and fed the ducks, geese and swans. We had a great time, somewhat tempered by the rain, which got progressively heavier as a number of thunderstorms passed. Late morning we decided to head to our various homes to recover after what had been a great weekend!

Puerto Rico - Sunday 18th September,

2011-09-21T16:30:00.005+01:00

Sunday morning started with a dilemma. We knew by then how bad the roads in Puerto Rico can be, especially when occupied with drivers from Puerto Rico... and we needed to get back to the airport in San Juan within five hours of leaving the hotel. Sat nav said three hours via Marico Forest, which we wanted to bird to see the Elfin-woods Warbler. This species was only discovered in the 1950s despite the island having been populated for hundreds of years by that point.

We headed out promptly, passing a car on its side that had been victim of one of the Puerto Rican driving phenomena, that is people driving out of a junction without checking to see if there's any traffic on the road they are entering while usually being on the phone or smoking or both. The firebrigade were trying to extract a human, we couldn't tell the condition, as we passed.

We reached Marico promptly and set about trying to locate said warbler. The accessible part of the forest is actually a picnic area and a small one at that, the described trails are no longer open to the public.

We spotted first another Puerto Rican Tody:

I crept closer to try for a better picture:

Spotted!

Another Puerto Rican Bullfinch. They proved easier to locate than we had expected:

Spotted again!

And then finally at the gate by the power station, movement, a small group of Elfin-woods Warblers. The sighting was fleeting, the light poor but I can prove that we did indeed see them:

The view was pretty dramatic too:

We headed on to San Juan, and arrived with time to spare, however San Juan was under one of the thunderstorms that we'd been seeing all the time but had avoided thus far... so we settled for a nice lunch in the airport including another very rare species in Puerto Rico, the vegetable!

Then it was time to fly...

Puerto Rico is a long way to go for a long weekend. Ideally we would have had a few more days there to try and see more of the species, although we did very well in the time we had, seeing 58 species of which 34 were new lifers and 9 of these were endemics. Driving is very stressful due to the machismo culture and attitude of virtually everyone else with a car and the island feels very crowded too. We were surprised by the charges and practices of the hotels in the more populous areas but delighted with our accommodation in La Parguera. Another point to note, we would have been pretty stuck without my rudimentary Spanish as outside of San Juan finding someone who speaks English is tricky. The bad weather was localised and avoidable so that was a non-issue. Oh and if you do go, remember the mosquito repellent...

Puerto Rico - Saturday 17th September, Cabo Rojo Lighthouse

2011-09-21T15:53:00.009+01:00

We finally made it to Cabo Rojo Lighthouse after more car trauma so were stressed but also looking forward to the birding.

En route we'd had to navigate through a large political rally by what appeared to be the local Senator. Cue Latin music, lots of cars and security.

We didn't really know what to expect of Cabo Rojo. I parked the car on the road to avoid the rough surface of the park drive and we walked in.

Along the roadside are a series of shallow lagoons, all of which had waders in them. There was one flock in particular of Western Sandpipers:

Accompanied by one much taller bird, a Stilt Sandpiper:

The 'peeps' were very accommodating, allowing me to get really quite close while they fed:

Further along the trail is surrounded by shrubbery, in which we encountered the most colourful bird of the trip. The imported (from Venezuela) but now very established Troupial:

We followed the bird as it moved from the bushes to cacti to continue feeding:

We approached the lighthouse, which is on a headland in the extreme south-east of the island:

We were rewarded with good views of the coastline:

and back towards the mainland:

Helen got her revenge from the morning by photographing a very sweaty Michael while looking for further bird species from the top of the main building of the lighthouse:

A last bird on the way back to La Parguera, the Ring-necked Turtle Dove:

Back at the hotel we made full use of the bar facilities while reviewing the birding thus far, after a tremendously satisfying day.

Puerto Rico - Saturday 17th September, the approach to Cartagena Lagoon

2011-09-21T15:45:00.006+01:00

From Guanica we decided to head next to Cartagena Lagoon. We got thoroughly lost before finding the road by chance, having given up and in fact decided to head to Cabo Rojo Lighthouse.

So having found the road we turned off and followed it. The road however was blocked by a large truck and a lot of parked cars... so we turned around again and headed back. We weren't going to get to Cartagena Lagoon. We did however take advantage of the relatively quiet road to jump out of the car and photograph some birds we passed, including a perched American Kestrel:

A singing Bananaquit (these birds really are everywhere in Puerto Rico, the most ubiquitous species by far!):

A Grey Kingbird:

And a new species, the Smooth-billed Ani:

You can see on this bird quite what a bill they have:

We passed the 'industrial bay' at the head of the road and headed on to Cabo Rojo...

Puerto Rico - Saturday 17th September, Guanica Dry Forest

2011-09-21T13:12:00.007+01:00

We got to the gate to Guanica Dry Forest but it was locked. It was due to be open but it wasn't, but we decided to hang around, photographing this Black-faced Grassquit while we waited:

I snapped Helen walking along the main drag, heading for the birding trail recommended to us by the chap who eventually arrived and opened the gate:

A spider was settled on its web on the trail:

From the trail we started to see birds, including this Stripe-headed Tanager:

A new endemic species, the Puerto Rican Flycatcher:

A Lesser Antillean Pewee:

We originally identified this as a Yellow-throated Vireo but I think on reflection it's another Adelaide's Warbler:

Once we joined the birding trail we realized we'd made a big mistake in our planning and packing - no mosquito repellent! Luckily for Helen she was with me and I am a mosquito magnet. She suffered four bites, we found twenty-eight on me.

Suffice to say we didn't hang about on the trail but marched through the forest and back to the car in double-quick time. I always seem to forget mossie repellent when visiting the USA in summer. Doh! We blew therefore our chances of seeing Puerto Rican Cuckoo Lizard... hey ho.

Puerto Rico - Saturday 17th September, La Parguera

2011-09-21T11:38:00.012+01:00

The hotel itself is brightly coloured and well maintained:

The combination of the colours leads to some interesting effects in the room, through the slatted windows:

Saturday had dawned bright and sunny. Our first destination, just under 10 miles from the hotel, was Guanica Dry Forest. Thankfully for once the sat nav issue helped us. Although we were steered to a dead-end it turned out to be a very productive road so we ended up dallying there to spot and photograph the local birds.

All along the shore here are a series of tidal pools, and it must have been high tide. The pools were full of water and the combination of mud and water had attracted numerous waders, the first is a Willet, stretching in the morning sun:

Western Sandpiper:

Short-billed Dowitcher:

Joined by a Semipalmated Sandpiper:

Our next sighting was completely unexpected, a Limpkin:

Unexpected because the field guide published in 1989 suspected that the species had been locally extirpated by hunters and therefore we had no expectation of seeing this species in Puerto Rico. Not only that but they are crepuscular and typically only active at night!

Imagine our surprise then when we spotted therefore a fledgling Limkpin too:

Another surprise was seeing a Clapper Rail out in the 'open':

Further along, Black-necked Stilts:

As well as the waders a number of other birds were in the bushes and trees along the road, including a Yellow Warbler:

What I believe to be a juvenile Grey Kingbird:

The tiny Common Ground Dove:

A female Antillean Mango:

And nearby a male of the same species:

For me though the bird of the morning was the Adelaide's Warbler we followed:

It's another endemic species to Puerto Rico and a delight to see and indeed to photograph:

We headed back to the hotel, out of La Parguera using the route we'd entered via the previous evening, reset the sat nav and headed to Guanica.

Puerto Rico - Friday 16th September, El Yunque

2011-09-21T10:50:00.020+01:00

All birding roads in Puerto Rico point to El Yunque, the rainforest that gets 10 feet of rain a year! As you can imagine it's almost always raining. There's even a section of cloud forest at the top.

Well my weather luck had turned, it wasn't raining in the rain forest! Instead it was hot and humid. The first place we stopped we saw Scaly-naped Pigeons:

Even in a protected rain forest the pigeons are terrified of humans...

In the trees in the car park a Grey Kingbird was perched:

We walked a number of trails in El Yunque spotting lots of birds including an Antillean Mango:

Here a female feeding:

Puerto Rican Woodpecker - a very vocal bird when in a group:

Photography in the rain forest is very tricky as it's all dappled light (when there's any sun at all), and I hadn't brought my flash so I apologize for the quality of the pictures but it's the best I could do.

This is a Puerto Rican Tody:

This is a cropped image from the same sequence, bringing the bird much closer to view:

The Tody behaves just like a forest Kingfisher, all chirping and bobbing up-and-down while looking for a meal.

Another endemic spotted in El Yunque was the Puerto Rican Tanager:

The Puerto Rican Emerald is also found only on the island:

Another Antillean Mango, perched and feeding:

You can see from this additional bird the depth of colour in the plumage:

The last endemic from El Yunque, a Puerto Rican Bullfinch:

Life hangs on to any vantage point in the rain forest. This boulder had obviously fallen many years past and was now partly covered by moss, trees, etc.

The rainforest is rich in plant life as well as the birds and insects:

The final trail we took in El Yunque took us to a tower at the top of the mountain, providing commanding views of the surrounds:

We snapped this waterfall on the way back to the car:

El Yunque was a great experience. We didn't see the Puerto Rican Parrot, unsurprisingly as it's now one of the ten most endangered bird species on the planet. We did hear one though and that was a treat in itself!

From El Yunque we had to head to Lajas on the bottom left of the island, so we programmed in the address we had from the booking and set-off. If we were lucky we'd get a couple of hours birding in before sunset.

It turned out that we weren't lucky and the trip proved to be the start of our car trauma. Basically a massive traffic jam south of San Juan (the island has 4 million people which is way way too many for the space, and more cars than people, combined with poor roads and an insane driving culture). We also faced other jams around roadworks, being cut-up and nearly run off the road a couple of times, etc. When we reached the address given, some four-and-a-half hours later, there was no sign of the hotel. We phoned the booking agent who read out the address they had and there was on crucial piece of information they had forgotten to give us. We finally got to our hotel five hours after setting off, tired, stressed and in need of food and drink, so headed into the local town (La Parguera) for pizza and beer.

The hotel (Turtle Bay Inn) was pleasant and one we'd recommend though it's in a weird residential location. The staff were super helpful and friendly - it also has its own bar and plunge pool and is spotlessly clean.

Puerto Rico - Thursday 15th September

2011-09-21T10:16:00.024+01:00

Thursday was set fair from the start, so after breakfast I took the opportunity to get outside during the first working session of the conference day. I was surprised to find this huge Iguana sunning itself:

There were in fact a large number of lizards on the hotel grounds, whether by design or not I don't know:

This one was enjoying both the sun and the view:

I tried to set-up this shot so that your eye is drawn along the tail and body to the 'smiling' head of the lizard:

Wheeling around in the sky, a now familiar shape of the Magnificent Frigatebird:

The Solitary Sandpiper had moved from the lawn area to the rocks on the shore:

A small group of White-winged Doves were stealing food put out for the Swans:

One of my favourite New World bird families is the Grackle, the local representative in Puerto Rico is the Greater Antillean Grackle:

A very small but very vocal bird, nesting in the grounds of the hotel was the Bananaquit:

During the last morning session I popped out again, this time I was treated to an up-close-and-personal display of flying from a Brown Booby. It settled briefly:

Before taking to the air again and wheeling around the small bay area, diving in from time to time too:

I am particularly pleased with this image:

It felt like a real privilege to see the bird so close, while alone. At one point it flew directly overhead no more than a metre away and appeared completely unconcerned with my presence. Close encounters with wildlife like this one are truly exhilarating!

On Thursday evening I packed up the stand and then made my way to the shipping shop. The maps and sat nav data in Puerto Rico are wholly unreliable so it pays to do as much planning as possible and always to leave spare time. It's also worth remembering that the roads are pot-holed, have unmarked storm drains, etc., and the drivers are almost exclusively aggressive machismo fuelled and frankly dangerous. I left 45 minutes for a 1 mile trip that turned out to be a 3 mile trip that took nearly an hour. The chap at the shop was kind enough to keep it open beyond closing time and to talk me in on the phone so I actually managed to get the stuff shipped. Then a dash back to the hotel (I'd figured out the best address for the sat nav to navigate me close) a shower and change then off to the airport to collect Helen. As I met her the first rain of the day fell but it was well after dark and time for an early night before the birding proper!

Puerto Rico - Wednesday 14th September

2011-09-21T10:09:00.008+01:00

Wednesday started dry but very early, the conference started at 7am so with no time to hang around I headed straight there. There were breaks from the exhibition during the main conference sessions, and when these coincided with the absence of thunderstorms and heavy rain, I took my new small camera outside. I quickly regretted not bringing the main camera for the day.

This is a Solitary Sandpiper, a new species for our list:

This was absolutely the best view I had of Red-legged Thrush but with the small camera it was an opportunity wasted, hey ho:

On the rocks along the seashore a lot of crabs were gathered close to an outlet, this being one of them:

The rocks look to be part of an old walkway to the old fort:

Here you can see the next thunderstorm approach from behind the fort:

The combination of rain and work ensured this was a quiet day for photography. I did however get to enthuse some of my fellow exhibitors for the local birding opportunities.

Puerto Rico - Tuesday 13th September

2011-09-21T09:42:00.017+01:00

Each year I attend a number of conferences in the UK and the USA. Every now and then one of the conferences is somewhere I've not been to before, so, where possible I try and schedule some extra time. The last conference was just one of these and held in fact in Puerto Rico. Planning ahead, Helen and I decided she should fly out to join me at the end of the conference and we'd take a long weekend together on Puerto Rico. I did the usual research into birding locations, bought a field guide, etc., and so was rather excited when I set off.

I arrived late on the Monday evening, picked-up the hire car, drove to the hotel in the rain, and got straight to bed having completed the 22 hour day.

Tuesday morning dawned slowly as the sky was blanketed in thick cloud and it was raining heavily. Throughout Tuesday when working in my hotel room or at the conference hotel it kept raining, though it did lighten from time to time.

I did manage to spot a number of birds from my hotel room balcony though, including the Zenaida Dove:

A bedraggled Red-legged Thrush:

And a Pearly-eyed Thrasher:

The tropical trees were laden with fruit:

At one point, during my once-a-day call with Helen, a Magnificent Frigatebird flew into view, I don't think Helen minded the pause in conversation while I scrambled to take a few pictures:

It flew really quite close to the hotel:

At the conference hotel a Green Heron was looking to dine on the small Koi carp in the ponds:

The conference hotel (Hilton Caribe) has a number of captive birds to try and create a 'natural' feel. As well as the (Indian) Peacocks, below, they also had (Eurasian) Mute and (Australian) Black Swans and (Chinese) Swan Geese captives:

In a brief respite from the rain I took a couple of snaps of an old fort with modern San Juan in the background:

Having set-up the stand it was time for an early night ahead of the main conference sessions over the following days.

My travels and another garden update

2011-09-07T15:20:00.005+01:00

It's a big decision to take my camera kit with me on my work travels. The weight of the rucksack with everything in is sufficient to bruise my shoulders every time so I have only taken it with me when I've tagged on some spare days at the end of the trip for a holiday. This has proven frustrating as work is taking me to some interesting places and I haven't been able to share these experiences thus far. To cut a long story short I have therefore invested in a camera that is about the dimensions of a pack of playing cards, that fits in my hand luggage without adding weight or bulk and can 'go anywhere'. The focus options are limited but it does nonetheless allow me to capture images of my travels, and is therefore helping me to look more closely at my surroundings as I do so.

For my first trip I didn't have the required type of memory card so with limited in-camera capacity, I picked a few shots to start with, so here's a couple taken in Boston just after dawn in late summer:

The Washington Metro - Foggy Bottom station underground:

And lastly Reagan/National airport in Washington D.C. This was a very frustrating situation, the delay to our departure meant I missed out on hoped-for daylight views of The Mall, Capitol Hill, etc. Hopefully next time! Oh yes and I missed my connection, spent a night in a sheddy hotel outside JFK airport with no luggage (still behind security), getting home very early Saturday morning. My luggage joined me on Tuesday afternoon...

Meanwhile back in the garden using the landscape camera, some snaps of recent goings on, including a sunflower growing from the bricked area, between the bricks:

A solitary bee is very busy ensuring the seeds set.

The next plant is nicknamed 'the money plant' - the more they grow the better things seem to go:

This is a variant:

Both are very late flowering and an important food source for our local pollinators who are now in a mad dash to stock up for winter.

In terms of structural stuff, you can see here I was chucking upturned sods into the base of the completed 'pit'. This was followed by a layer of shredded paper, then a layer of wood chip, a layer of two year-old leaf mulch and then sifted mud. A recent delivery of horse poo on top of that and now we're sifting the spoil heap, removing the stones and adding the sifted soil to the top of the mix for winter. Hopefully there are sufficient worms to give it a mix during winter before we add more manure in late winter, ahead of Spring:

You can still see the cut-off remains of bricks and breeze blocks in said pit. We've effectively created a large plant pot in the lawn but with significant volume and therefore growing potential. This time next year we should be enjoying a bumper vegetable harvest and the insects will be enjoying the mix of wildflowers interspersed.

That's all for now except to say that the next trip involves lugging the rucksack :)

The end of Spike and a Garden update

2011-07-31T12:21:00.007+01:00

Helen has been growing a second generation Pseudo-Agave, from a small shoot. Like the first generation one we had to have taken away from our first house, this one had just got too big. We wrote to Kew but they don't accept plants from the public, they suggested a hospital or hospice.... Look at Spike - do you think this would be appropriate for a hospital? No. Neither did we. Lacking any other options the end came for Spike on Saturday. It took a saw to get the bigger sharper leaves off, then a lump hammer to remove the pot, then another saw to extract another shoot (deja vu?).

So this is spike before, with Helen stood behind for context:

And this is son of Spike:

You get the idea. Anyway having reclaimed our conservatory, we now have room for more lovely chillies! Like this chocolate habanero, the hottest one we are currently producing:

Outside the garden is in summer bloom:

Work on the vegetable patch/flower border is slower than hoped for, due to the rubble, glass, tiles, plastic, etc., that forms a good 70% of what is under the top soil. You can see the work in progress here (together with some space we managed to create over-Winter, before Spring this year):

And the spoil heap behind - the biggest bricks and stones are in another heap by the back gate waiting to be large enough for another (the third) skip:

Once fully excavated it'll take just a few hours to fill with mulch, sifted soil, shredded paper and a fresh delivery of horse poo. Probably in August if all goes well. Then we'll mulch it all over ahead of the coming winter. The spoil heap will then be sifted for fresh soil for a new top layer, with added horse poo ahead of Spring next year. Then it's back to the pond project...

You can see the wildlife is enjoying the change. A Cabbage White has laid its eggs here:

As well as gardening we have made some birding trips out, including completing our voluntary work for the BTO Bird Atlas. On the last tetrad we were surprised by a singing male Yellowhammer, sat proud in the road:

A visit to a new nature reserve near Tring was pleasant, and as well as the Common Terns over the former quarry pits, we enjoyed a close view of a Garden Warbler:

We've had a few odd birds over our garden including a Willow Warbler and this Vulcan Bomber (I believe?):

As Autumn approaches and the movement of birds resumes, we're looking forward to what we might see in the garden and beyond!

Texas - Big Bend National Park - Friday 3 June 2011

2011-06-13T12:04:00.009+01:00

Our last morning in Big Bend dawned beautiful, again. We had decided to hike the trail up to the Oak forest in search of Colima Warblers. We had one significant challenge though, we had to check out by 11am so we set off promptly, stopping at various spots to photograph the rising sun against the stunning scenery:

This gap is the 'window':

You can see why it's called The Pinnacles trail:

We encountered very few humans on the way up, mostly birds and unexpected ones too, including a Spotted Towhee:

The thus-far-elusive Scott's Oriole:

Once they've seen you these birds don't hang around. I'd only managed to get one in the frame thus far, let alone get any in focus. This one was obviously still feeling a bit dozy so didn't disappear on sight, so I managed a couple of quick snaps before he followed form and flew off:

We picked-up a few new species on our ascent, including Rock Wren:

And Mexican Jay:

Together with the more familiar Black-headed Grosbeak:

We reckon we had climbed over 3 of the required 4.5 miles to get to the Colimas but we ran out of time and had to head back down the trail. We have to go back to Big Bend. It'll be an April when it's cooler and there are more birds going through on migration, however we really did enjoy our visit, it's a breathtakingly beautiful park, its remoteness helping it retain a level of ecological health unmatched in most of the other places we have visited.

On the way down the trail the sun was still rising:

We drove from Big Bend to a pit stop at Odessa, which is located in the middle of the oilfields. The smell of oil floats over the land, and it's really quite an unpleasant smell. The receptionist told us the highlights of Odessa were the occasional wildfires... she also told us when we called down to ask if they had problems with the hot water to run the taps for 20 minutes. 2o minutes and this is in an area struck by a major drought and water shortage! We showered cold. Saturday we managed to get to Dallas with a couple of hours to spare so fitted in some shopping before dropping the car off and heading home.

We ended up having driven over 2,700 miles in 7 days, seeing some 146 species of bird, of which 60 were additions to our USA list, and 54 of these were 'lifers', which was a great outcome from the week. Big Bend and indeed Texas will linger long in the memory!

Texas - Big Bend National Park - Thursday 2 June 2011

2011-06-08T11:56:00.020+01:00

Thursday promised to be one of the highlight birding days of the holiday. Having made it all the way to Big Bend we were determined to pick the best birding location and start at dawn, so we set out early.

On the road to Rio Grande village we saw both Common Nighthawk and Common Poorwill. Most of them survived the 4x4s that sped past us...

The sunrise was beautiful:

We parked-up full of anticipation. Just getting out of the car it was obvious we were in for a good morning. There were literally loads of birds and most of them new species, including Lark Sparrow:

Next an outstanding bird, the Vermilion Flycatcher:

We saw loads of these birds, which I had considered an unlikely target, male and indeed the drabber but still colourful female:

We also saw lots of Painted Buntings:

This was a major relief as we'd tried a few times on the holiday to see them and missed out, so this was great. Next up, Varied Bunting, only a few of these but also much hoped for:

Summer Tanager:

Helen's current favourite species, Greater Roadrunner:

Another Pyrrhuloxia:

Olive-sided Flycatcher:

I believe a Savannah Sparrow:

Another new species, Hepatic Tanager:

All of this in a small space by the edge of the river with some open grass and bushes and trees around. It was great. We spent a good hour just in that area before walking towards the camping area.This wild pig species (Javelina) has a reputation as a problem feeder in the area, regularly scouting out human food:

Others looking for a meal included the Turkey Vulture:

A soaring Black Vulture:

In the trees on the fringe of the camping/RV parking area, a Yellow-breasted Chat:

We got back in the car and headed further along the river to another parking area, watching Wile E Coyote mooching around warily:

In some grasslands, an area blocked off to protect nesting Common Black Hawk (which we dipped out on) we saw a female Orchard Oriole:

A little further along we were able to walk right down to the edge of the river, spotting an unlikely Townsend's Warbler in the reeds:

The views up and down the Rio Grande were impressive, and yes the other side is Mexico:

Helen snapped me photograhping the Townsend's Warbler:

Walking back Helen noticed a calling raptor - we located this Gray Hawk, a new species for us:

It took some remains of its prey to the nest:

Before heading out hunting again:

At the end of the road we climbed an overlook, I managed to get my revenge and photograph Helen, camera in hand, preparing to take some pictures of the local flora:

And here said images:

On the climb we added another species, Cassin's Kingbird:

Having completed the ascent and descent we drove to the store and bought some drinks to cool us down and some snack food for lunch and then headed out on the scenic drive toward Santa Elena canyon:

The canyon itself is searingly hot. The river has carved a deep channel in the rock, the tall side is mostly Mexico, the low side the USA. You can see the effect the river has on the vegetation:

The canyon walls tower above:

And you can see the dramatic impact the water has, when it's flowing after rainfall:

We managed good views of a skulking Blue Grosbeak at the base of the canyon:

Like him the heat was overwhelming us and I was knackered so we decided to head back for a siesta followed by another early dinner.

Texas - Big Bend National Park - Wednesday 1 June 2011

2011-06-08T11:18:00.013+01:00

Having spent the night in San Antonio we rose early and headed straight for Big Bend National Park. We made it to the last town outside the park, Marathon, in time for an early lunch (there's a deli where we had a simple sandwich made), filled-up and then drove into the park. At the park entrance a pair of Chihuahua Ravens kept a lookout:

We drank in the scenery of the park as we drove to the park headquarters, some thirty miles from the entrance, stopping to add Black-throated Sparrow:

It really is an impressive landscape:

Semi-desert but wide-open spaces, mountains:

At the headquarters we got two new species in a single bush, Pyrrhuloxia and Long-billed Thrasher:

Here's the Long-billed Thrasher closer:

and the Pyrrhuloxia:

We added a third species in the Cactus Wren:

This wren is much bigger than the wren we have:

We drove on from the centre towards our accommodation in the park, keeping an eye out for bears and birds, oh and agave plants. Flowering agaves are a magnet for birds, we were advised to check each one.

We found more birds as advised, including Willow Flycatcher:

Wilson's Warbler:

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

and Canyon Towhee:

As well as Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

We didn't see as many hummingbird species as we'd hoped, I think we were a bit late for the peak viewing time. The park was quite quiet even by its own remote standards, as the season progresses towards summer and the heat rises, it gets fewer and fewer visitors, although it never closes.

We took time to take in more of the views too:

We had an early dinner and were delighted to find the restaurant was both reasonably priced and offered two vegetarian options. We learned to ask that they be cooked separately in time for dinner the following night too.... the beer was great though. The sun sets between two sharp mountain slopes, creating a 'window' effect - hence the name of one of the trails - it also means the restaurant is basked in sunshine during the long evening.

Texas - Santa Ana - Tuesday 31 May 2011

2011-06-08T10:47:00.006+01:00

By the time we got to Santa Ana NWR it was late morning and getting really very hot! We headed out on to the trail and for the tower in the forest. We climbed it and enjoyed wide ranging views of the area and really close views of a Golden-fronted Woodpecker that, like us, was really feeling the heat!

We realised why they are called Great Kiskadee's, you do when from all around you hear -Kiss-ka-Dee - non-stop. I'm not complaining it's a great sound :)

This species, Black-crested Titmouse (also called Mexican Titmouse), has recently been split from the main Titmouse species so provided another tick for the holiday:

Ash-throated Flycatchers seemed common across the refuge, demonstrating excellent acrobatic flight taking out lots of the flies:

We dipped out again on the Green Kingfisher and the Groove-billed Anis but hey ho, the birding was proving fantastic and with the temperature still rising it was time to get in the car and drive up to San Antonio.

Texas - Sable Palm Audubon Sanctuary - Tuesday 31 May 2011

2011-06-08T09:38:00.014+01:00

For Tuesday we had another long drive planned, this time after the main birding of the day. We'd worked out that Big Bend was 11-12 hours from Brownsville so it made sense to book a stop for the night in San Antonio, still a good 5-6 hours from where we were.

The first place we visited and a major birding location was the Sabel Palm Audubon Sanctuary. Like all of Southern Texas this area is experiencing a very tough drought, it being over eight months since the previous rainfall. A lot of areas marked as water on the sat nav were in fact completely dry.

Still the reserve was a great place to visit, like all Audubon sanctuaries it has a great feel to the place and very welcoming staff. As usual birds gathered on the feeders by the visitor centre, including Olive Sparrow, a new species for us:

The familiar but photogenic Northern Cardinal:

And Brown Thrasher, another new species, providing excellent views:

Out on the trail is a wetland area, we dipped out on the Green and Ringed Kingfishers but enjoyed seeing Pied-billed Grebe:

Least Grebe:

And distant views of Masked Duck, an uncommon vagrant to the USA.

The gathering light of day illuminated this juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron:

A huge crab scuttled for cover once it realised it had been spotted:

Out in the wooded area of the trail we saw Ladder-backed Woodpecker:

Inca Dove:

Couch's Kingbird:

and Ash-throated Flycatcher:

They even put the coffee on when we got back to the office and refused payment so we made a donation to the sanctuary. Onwards...