birds – Heron and Home and Abroad

Costa Rica (1) – La Ensenada

After months of anticipation my trip to Costa Rica had finally come around. Mum and I were both making the trip, with 10 days of bird photography and a 3 day pre-trip extension with a guide.

Having arrived in San Jose in the dark and with the 6 hour time difference we didn’t stay up long enough to have dinner on the night of our arrival and were we were both awake bright and early on the first full day of our trip, desperate to get outside as soon as the sun rose to explore our environment and mostly importantly to see what birds were in the hotel gardens. We’d picked the hotel based on its proximity to the airport as we knew we wouldn’t be spending much time there, but despite being fairly small there were still some grounds to explore including a walkway hanging with vines, a vegetable garden and plenty of tropical plants.

The first bird of the trip was a Clay-coloured Thrush*, the national bird of Costa Rica, an elegant beige thrush which is ubiquitous around the country and would become a familiar friend everywhere we stayed, with songs reminiscent of our own blackbirds. We were hopeful of finding out first hummingbird of the trip but there were none to be found. My stroll around the property also turned up a Tropical Kingbird*, distant Crimson-fronted Parakeets*, a Great-tailed Grackle* and the first two doves of the trip – Inca Dove* and White-winged Dove*. I took some record shots but the light was pretty awful at that stage of the day. I like the way, though, that the feathers on the right-hand Inca Dove give an idea how windy it was. The final bird before breakfast was the Blue-grey Tanager*, another bird which would be common throughout the trip. All in all, that made it 7 lifers before our traditional Costa Rican breakfast of fresh fruit and pinto (rice and beans) served with scrambled egg and fried plantain

Clay-coloured Thrush (taken later in the trip)

Inca Dove

White-winged Dove

Tropical Kingbird

We were picked up by our guide, Jose, at around 8am and headed westwards to La Ensenada lodge on the Pacific coast, a drive of a couple hours. The first part of the journey was on busy roads so no opportunity to stop for birds but we could see plenty of Black Vultures soaring above us. Looking back on the trip, one of the things that surprises me is just how many vultures we saw, and conversely how few birds of prey, especially given the large number of different raptor species. We did have a brief sighting of a Yellow-headed Caracara as it flew past, but couldn’t really appreciate the details. We had a welcome stop at a roadside cafe where we sampled the drink of Mozote, which is produced from the bark of a tree, and an empanada. This was also where we saw our first iguana of the trip.

Once we were on the minor roads we were able to stop for a few birds, the most notable being a pair of Common Squirrel-Cuckoo* who posed for us in some bushes right by the road. Having included the cuckoos in my pre-trip bird familiarisation, I was particularly excited to this see one and hopeful to see more cuckoo species over the next fortnight but sadly this turned out to be the only cuckoo sighting of the trip.

Common Squirrel-Cuckoo

I also caught a glimpse of my first Motmot, but unfortunately we were weren’t at a place we could stop, so I can’t be sure which species it was, and would have to wait a bit longer for my first good look at another Motmot. Other species we spotted on the last bit of the journey were Groove-billed Ani*, Wood Stork* (flying over), Ruddy Ground-Dove*, Rufous-backed Wren*, Western Cattle Egret (with some cattle, of course) and Turkey Vulture – these latter two being the first non-lifers of the trip.

Groove-billed Ani – we saw quite a few during the trip, but never did see any Smooth-billed Ani.

Ruddy-Ground Dove – you’ll be glad to hear we also saw some on the ground, where they belong!

Turkey Vulture

Great-tailed Grackle – funny to think that one has turned up in the UK this past winter

Rufous-backed Wren

La Ensenada is situated right at the coast on the Gulf of Nicoya and was apparently to be the hottest location we’d be visiting. The weather was fairly windy and that was a huge relief as it gave a little respite from the intense heat. With temperatures of 35C in the shade we were very grateful of the tree cover at the lodge. Having put our bags into our cabin we had a short time to relax and take in our surroundings before lunch. Activity was low in the heat of the day, but I could see birds flying along the coast line, backlit by the sun. Impossible to see any details, but I was sure from their silhouettes that they were Magnificent Frigatebirds*. There were also smaller birds, which appeared to be a mix of gulls and terns and I suspected that they were coming in to perch on the pier which was out of sight behind some trees, but that I’d seen photos of on the lodge’s website.

Great Kiskadee

I spotted a bird with a striking yellow belly in one of the trees and tried to get closer for a better look. Not only did I manage to get a good view of it, but it flew in even closer as I watched. This was a Great Kiskadee* a species which would become very familiar over the course of the trip, with its distinctive ‘kisk-a-dee’ call. Confusingly though there are a number of similar looking species (especially to novices’ eyes), such as Social Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird and Boat-billed Flycatcher, which also spot yellow bellies and white/black/grey heads.

Great Crested Flycatcher – one of these caused quite a stir a month or so ago when it was spotted in Shetland – the bird wasn’t immediately reported and was never seen again to the consternation of many local birders, as it was the first sighting in the Western Palearctic.

A large group of birders turned up at lunch and their guide told Jose that they’d seen a pygmy owl in the palms just outside our cabin. We spent some time looking for it with little success, until someone else told Jose where exactly he’d seen them standing to view it. With this information I managed to find it and it was clear straightaway that the ID they had given us was wrong – whilst it was certainly a small owl, it didn’t have the distinctive rounded appearance of a pygmy owl and furthermore it had very evident ear tufts. It was in fact a Pacific Screech-Owl* – a bird that I’d come across in my prep but had expected to be much larger, say Tawny Owl size – a great example of where looking at photos only tells you part of the story. This was going to be a recurring theme with the various hummingbird species.

Pacific Screech-Owl

Once we’d found the owl, we took the car down to the dock to see what we could find. As I’d hoped, there were a good number of Royal Terns* perched on the railings, just as I’d seen on the website! A lover of all terns, and with another couple months to wait for our summer breeding terns to return to Shetland, I was really hoping for a tern fix. The Royal Terns are a very smart-looking and large tern species with bright orange bills. I’d hoped that I might be able to pick out some other terns species amongst them, particularly the similar-looking Elegant Tern, but wasn’t able to spot any. There were also a large number of gulls roosting on the floor of the dock, which I believe all to be Laughing Gulls*, in various stages of plumage.

Royal Tern

The heat down at the dock was intense with no shade available, and I soon began to feel parched, with my heart racing. We took refuge in the mangrove trees (having checked for crocodiles) and tried to get a closer look at a large number of waders which were roosting on the beach. In the end we had to leave many of them unidentified, but could conclude that the flock did include a large number of Semi-palmated Plovers* as well as a large number of sandpiper sp.

Lots of tiny waders – wish I’d been able to better appreciate them, I was feeling pretty lousy with the heat at this point.

Very grateful that we’d brought the car down to the dock we piled back in and with the air conditioning on, drove the local roads to see what birds we could find, ending up at a viewpoint which gave us great views of the landscape and over to the mountains of the Nicoya Peninsula. We stayed until sunset watching the birds flitting around the trees and had great sightings of a White-necked Puffbird*.

White-necked Puffbird

White-lored Gnatcatcher

Finally we saw our first hummingbirds – Ruby-throated Hummingbird* and then a Canivet’s Emerald*. Having tried to familiarise myself with some of the hummingbird species prior to the trip, I never managed to look at all the possible species (there are around 50) and as it turned out, both these species were completely unknown to me.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Canivet’s Emerald

The views as the sun went down were spectacular as was the almost full moon, with sound effects provided by the howler monkeys. We briefly had some company from a young couple who looked like they were planning to have a romantic sunset together – they didn’t hang around long, so I guess we spoilt their plans.

All in all, a fantastic first day and a good introduction to Costa Rica without being completely overwhelming. My pre-trip prep meant that a good number of species were a little familiar to me, however some, such as the Rufous-backed Wren were completely new.

Having started the day feeling that I was coping surprisingly well with the heat, the effect that the short period we had out in the open at the dock was a reality check. So were the warnings about crocodiles and not leaving your shoes or bag open on the floor in case a scorpion climbed in. An oddity I noticed in our room was that the beds were both pushed about a foot away from the wall on all sides – this was explained later in the trip as being another practice that is used to reduce the risk of creepy crawlies climbing up the walls and dropping onto your bed!

Bird Species Count – 29 (Lifers – 27)

Shetland (2) – Houss

The day started off bright and sunny and I took advantage of it for a small potter around the neighbourhood, first discovering the not so native wildlife, in the form of emus and wallabies. I was more interested in finding native wildlife, but the hoped for curlews were not in sight, although I did find an obliging pair of wrens.

I then headed along to the shore, startling plenty of rabbits and lapwings along the way. I was treated to fly bys from fulmar, lapwings, a bonxie and what I think were a group of whimbrel but nothing that I managed to get decent photos of.

I finally lucked out with a group of 3 ruddy turnstones (in non-breeding plumage) who were too busy feeding in the seaweed to be too perturbed by my presence.

I finished my walk with a short leg inland back to Jen’s place in the hope of finding some signs of the otter. I think I spotted some spraint amongst the geese and sheep droppings, but I’m not totally sure.

A couple hours later the weather changed and the rain came pouring down. Time to settle in with a cup of cocoa and my knitting – my sock is coming along apace. Given the weather, no walks planned for this evening, but a visit to the moving pictures in Lerwick instead, to see ‘Children of the Snow Land’, a documentary about Nepali teenagers, which is showing as part of the Screenplay festival.

Mundy Park

One of the strangest things about coming to Canada these days is changing base from New Westminster to Coquitlam. We’re unbelievably lucky though to have a good friend of my mum’s who’s happy to not just host us, but also mother us, whilst we’re here. It’s also been a great opportunity to discover some new places.

My first morning here Jen, Dad and I went for a walk around the local park. Just 10 minutes down the road and marked by a typical, unassuming green square on GoogleMaps, I was totally unprepared for what we found – a 400 acre rainforest hiding just behind a shopping mall.

We didn’t even manage to set foot in the park before we spotted the first bird – a stunning little yellow chap, flitting around in an evergreen. It was very fast moving and the branches were thick, but fortunately it flew over to a smaller tree where I could get a slightly better look, and a fuzzy photo. Back at home with the bird book and the help of a Facebook group dedicated to British Columbia birds, it was identified as a Wilson’s warbler.

The park was fantastic with tall, tall trees which helped create a barrier against the street noise and plenty of decaying trunks. After the bright sunlight, the shade was very welcome.

We only explored a fraction of the park and I hope we have time to visit again before we leave. There was plenty of wildlife around, as we could tell from the birdsong, but not much that we actually managed to see – a couple American robins (unrelated to our European robins, and actually members of the thrush family) and two Eastern grey squirrels, which I must confess look slightly odd to me now after our beautiful reds back at home. There are also black bear and deer, although we didn’t see any signs of either of them.

Back outside the park, the sun was glaring and I was missing my sunglasses.

Back on our own street there were two Northern Flickers on show – stunning woodpeckers with a lovely spotted breast. Far, far at the top of a tree (remember, everything’s bigger in North America) was another American Robin singing gustily.

Colony Farm Regional Park

Our second trip out for the day was with a friend from Shetland to Colony Farm park. Situated on the Coquitlam river, there are great views to the snow capped mountains on one side and the Port Mann bridge on the other with a soundscape of birdsong and freight train whistles.

It didn’t take long for me to start lagging behind as I tried to get decent sightings on birds. The first is, I believe, a song sparrow – one of a vast array of New World Sparrows which are rather larger than our Old World Sparrows.

There were swallows flitting above us catching insects and a couple of them had the good grace to perch for a short while so I could see them a little more closely. The barn swallow was particularly obliging, allowing me to get close enough for reasonable photos, a task made more challenging by the fact that the branch was bouncing around in the wind.

Further along we spotted our second yellow bird of the day, this one identified as an American Goldfinch.

The absolute highlight though were the Rufous Hummingbirds. Tiny creatures who beat their wings about 60 times a second and whose hearts can beat 1200 times a minute, getting a close view of one out in the wild is a challenge indeed. This one was on the top of a tree and heavily cropped. It features a stunning ‘gorget’ – a patch of throat feathers which gleam like metal when they catch the light.

Pine Martens

Having joined a couple of Scottish wildlife photography groups on Facebook recently, I’ve been getting all sorts of useful tips on where to find local wildlife. Amongst these was Nature Nuts Photography who run day trips to see mountain hares and beavers (amongst others) and also have a hide, just an hour or so away from me, where you can see Pine Martens. Needless to say, I was pretty keen on this idea and took advantage of my week off work to book a visit. Since Mum had come up to stay with me, the timing was perfect.

We found the hide easily enough and settled in to watch the birds. Fortunately the hide has a heater as it was -3C. I was delighted to see my first ever brambling, although my photos of it aren’t so great as it kept hiding amongst the chaffinches. The treecreeper and woodpeckers were my other favourites amongst the avian kind. Bob, who runs Nature Nuts, was a fount of information about all the local wildlife. Usually there are plenty of squirrel visitors, but none of them decided to show themselves for us, unfortunately. Although the day had started off quite bright, it had dulled by the time we arrived at the hide, and we were under the cover of trees so the lighting conditions were a little hard for the camera, and I had to shoot at a high ISO to compensate.

Once it hit about 4.30pm the birds left us and we had a bit of a wait until it grew dark. Just as dusk was falling, but before we had the lights on, we spotted some movement in the distance. Something dark and close to the ground. About 5 minutes later the shape passed by again, much closer to us. Almost certainly the dog pine marten, really quite a large chap. He didn’t hang around for long, though.

Bob got the lights set up and we waited again, with the hope of a sighting of ‘Donna’ who tends to show up quite consistently in the early evening. Sure enough, at around 6pm she appeared out of nowhere and jumped up onto the logs in front of us. Although she was clearly aware of our presence, she didn’t seem at all perturbed by us, and concentrated on clearing up some of the remaining bird seed. After 5-10 minutes she moved into the light and posed for us – what a beautiful sleek creature.

Once she wandered off we thought that the show was probably over, but we waited patiently, just in case. Then, unexpectedly, I saw a small face poking up and looking around uncertainly. This marten was more shy and took a little while before she dared climb up on to the logs. It was clear that she was less comfortable, perhaps worried about the male we had seen earlier, as she frequently checked over her shoulder to be sure that she was alone. Bob is pretty sure that this was ‘Bonny’, one of last year’s kits.

We waited around for quite a while after Bonny left. We had one false alarm when we thought we saw the lights coming on again, but it turned out to be a vehicle instead. All in all, a fantastic afternoon/evening.

Morton Lochs

With one of my intentions for 2019 being to get back to wildlife photography, Jen and I went hunting for waxwings, having had a tip about where in Dundee we might find some. It was a beautiful, but very chilly morning, and having skulked for an hour and seen only redwings and fieldfares after the berries we gave up. Still, both were new species to me, so that was a bonus.

Fieldfare

Jen abandoned me at lunchtime, so instead of staying at home and missing her I headed out again, this time over the bridge into Fife to check out a local nature reserve, Morton Lochs. I took a short stroll along the paths and stopped at one of the lochside hides, where I spotted a little egret, some Canada geese and a couple of swans. I startled a squirrel who was happy to show off his acrobatic skills leaping from one tree to another away from me!

I then settled down for a while at the hide closest to the car park, where there was a frenzy of birds taking advantage of the food that had been put out there. When I arrived there was a group of mallards who kept disturbing the smaller birds, but fortunately they soon got bored and left everyone else alone. There was a small group of long tailed tits, but I didn’t manage to get any photos of them as they didn’t hang around for long. I could hear a couple woodpeckers, but they never showed themselves, and I heard from others that there were also crossbills, treecreepers and siskins around, so plenty more birds to try and see on future occasions.

European Robin
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Robin
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Chaffinch (m)
Chaffinch (m)
Chaffinch (f)
Blackbird

Carcass Island – Wednesday

After a huge breakfast featuring homegrown rhubarb with homemade yoghurt and porridge with homemade cream I spent a little time out in the garden on the swing, before getting a lift back down to the airstrip with the guests who were leaving on the first flight. I collared the poor pilot and told him that I’d be heading out on the next flight and that he’d be my friend for life if he was able to save me the front seat!

Having seen the plane off I wandered over to the beach where the island’s main population of elephant seals can be found. I got distracted by the birds before I even reached the beach, but as I approached I could hear the telltale sounds of elephant seals snorting and huffing. There is quite a bit of tall tussac grass at the beach, so I could hear the elephant seals long before I could see them. The tussac grass is over 6 feet tall in most places so you really had no idea when approaching the beach whether you were about to find yourself in the middle of a group of seals, so caution was required! When I approached the beach two of the seals caught sight of me and headed straight for the water and further up the beach, a couple of young males were tussling with each other. The seals were scattered all along the stretch of beach, making walking the beach quite difficult if you didn’t want to disturb them (or if you’re nervous of getting trampled by an over-enthusiastic pair of sparring males).

Southern elephant seal

I took a walk along the beach to a small point where there were about 30-40 magellanic oystercatchers and a large number of kelp gulls.

All the islands I’ve visited have been littered with bones from birds and sheep, but this beach also had the remains of a whale to be seen.

There were a huge number of birds around both on the beach and in the grasses. I spent quite a bit of time trying to photograph the small finches which flitted around from bush to bush, and most exciting of all, the magellanic snipe which were very well hidden in the long grass and would suddenly take to the air with a loud cry when I approached them. But for that I wouldn’t have known they were there. Trying to get photos of them was well nigh impossible as they were mostly gone before I had time to press the shutter, and those that did hang around were very well camouflaged in the grass.

Tussacbird

Black-throated (canary-winged) finch

Long-tailed meadowlark

Magellanic snipe

By lunchtime the wind was getting very strong and I set myself down by a small pond to watch the ducks and eat my lunch in a small bit of shelter.

Speckled teal

The plane was due in some time after 1pm so I made my way back to the airstrip and sat against the fire fighting equipment whilst I waited for the other passenger and the plane to arrive. By this time the wind was getting a lot stronger and I was cold enough to wear my woolly hat for the first time this trip! It seemed like all the sheep of the island had congregated in the area and once they arrived with the rover we had to chase all the sheep off the airstrip. There’s almost always something that has to be chased off the airstrips, mostly sheep or geese.

When the plane arrived I was in luck, the front seat was mine! We had a good flight, albeit a bit bumpy in the strong winds, with a short stop at Port Howard. When we crossed the Falkland Sound between West and East Falkland we could see all the squid jiggers taking refuge in the relative shelter there. They don’t stop work for much so it was a sign that the weather was really deteriorating. Approaching the airport we flew right past town and I managed to finally spot Kay’s B&B where I am staying.

Carcass Island – Tuesday

Having completed our doctors’ visit we made the half hour drive from the north end of the island back to the settlement. Carcass Island is the only place that I visited on my 2009 trip to the Falklands that I’ve been back to on this trip, but I couldn’t remember what to expect or match my memories of that trip to individual locations. As we approached the settlement and I saw the beach and the Nissan hut by the jetty it began to seem familiar.

After some lunch, a very welcome salad (vegetables are expensive here), I headed out for a walk down to the south end of the island. I started out with a walk along the rocky beach, which was full of tussacbirds and caracaras, as well as driftwood and bones.

I could hear a lot of songbirds chattering in the bushes next to the beach so I headed inland a little in the hope of spotting something I hadn’t seen yet. No such luck, but I did find a Falkland thrush.

Climbing up the hillside towards Jason Hill, there were some great views down to the two beaches where the penguins hang out.

I also spotted some teaberries, a Falklands favourite.

Along the way I was followed by yet more caracaras, numerous everywhere, but particularly on Carcass it seems.

Having made it up to the top of the hill and then back down again, avoiding the magellanic penguin burrows, I skidded down a steep sandy bank onto the beach.

Magellanic penguin

Walking along the beach I accumulated a trail of caracaras and startled a group of crested ducks, who took to the water.

Crested duck

Falkland steamer ducks

The gentoos were congregating at the far end of the beach and I caught sight of a group porpoising in to the shore.

According to the map there are South American terns at the tip of the island, but the tussac grass was so thick and tall that I didn’t try and fight my way through to find them but instead cut across to the other side of the point to the other beach.

After a long stretch of beach, the rest of the walk was clambering over rocks, getting distracted by all the birds.

One of the species I was hoping to see was the Cobb’s wren and there were plenty of them along the way playing hide and seek amongst the rocks. The biggest problem in photographing them was that they kept coming too close!

As I was happily pootling along I was startled by a hissing sound and I turned around to find that I’d nearly tripped over an elephant seal. Gave me quite a shock.

Bleaker Island – Sunday

Knowing that I needed to be ready to be picked up just after 11am I got myself out of the house at about 7.30 on Sunday and set off for a walk down to the beach and then across to the coast on the other side of the island and back up to the settlement.

Rufous-chested dotterel (I think)

Blackish oystercatcher

Kelp gull

Brown-hooded gull

White-tufted grebe

Dolphin gull

Tussacbird

Crested duck

King shag

As I approached the settlement and was trying to find the best way to get over a fence, I startled a black-crowned night heron.

Dolphin gulls

Speckled teal

Snowy shearwater

Having a little time left I went for one final visit to the rockhopper colony and passed by the cormorant rookery, now deserted.

My flight back to Stanley was quite an epic experience. Although it’s only a 25 minute hop direct, we had a number of stops along the way, at Sea Lion Island, Pebble Island, Mount Pleasant Airport and then finally back to Stanley.

Bleaker Island – Saturday

Despite my plans to be up for sunrise I ended up falling back to sleep and having a rather late start. When I finally managed to get myself moving I headed over in the direction of the rockhopper colony, just a 15 minute walk from the settlement. On the way, though, I was distracted by a group of skuas which were hanging around and scrapping with each other, both on the ground and in the air.

Once I’d had my fill I carried on to the cliffs and clambered down onto the rocks in the hope of walking around to the rockhoppers were they would exit the water. Unfortunately my plan didn’t work out as I encountered a large chasm in the rock, known as Long Gulch, and I had to work my way back up through the tussac grass and walk around it to finally get to the rockhoppers. This was probably the biggest rockhopper colony I’d seen and there were also a large number of cormorants. I spent some time photographing them, and then settled myself down with my back to the tussac to read my book for a while and enjoy the penguin chattering in the background. The penguins are moulting at this time of the year and look rather sorry for themselves.

Rockhopper penguin

Rock shag

Dark-faced ground tyrant

Having decided to move on I headed back towards the gate only to be surprised by a person emerging from the tussac grass. I had heard the plane come in earlier so I suppose that the appearance of other people shouldn’t entirely have been a surprise, but I was in my own little world! Having shown her around the rockhopper colony, we set off together to see what we could find in the pond and on the beach.

The pond was rather quiet although there were a few silver teal at the far end and some crested ducks closer by, so we didn’t stay for too long before continuing on to the beach.

Crested duck

There were far less birds on the beach than there had been the previous day and we didn’t really stop too much on our way down to the far end where the gentoos can be found. When we got there we found a hive of activity with gentoos porpoising and coming in on the rocks. I spent quite a bit of time trying to photograph the gentoos porpoising and I wish I’d stayed there for longer. Whilst I was busy I put my bag down to make things easier, and fortunately my companion was more alert than I was as she caught the Johnny Rooks attacking it and had to rescue it. It now has a small hole through to the padding on the back but fortunately is not damaged beyond use!

Getting rather cold, we took a short walk along the path that the penguins follow to their rookeries and then headed back towards the settlement, where we had a very welcome cup of tea. I also had an important date with the radio at 6pm as the telephones and internet had been down, so it was the only way to find out what time my flight would be leaving on Sunday. Until recently, radio was the main method of communication on the islands and the next day’s flight schedules are still broadcast every evening after the weather and shipping forecast. Luckily for me I was scheduled on a midday flight giving me the full morning to enjoy myself.

listening to flight on radio