Off the Edge of the Map
April 11, 2005
Our hotel was one block south of Hyde Park, so that was the first place we visited (and would be the place we visited every day in Sydney, on our way to and from everywhere. This park is smaller than the one in London, which I assume is its namesake, but it’s lovely. Of course, after seeing Silver Gull at the airport, I was thrilled to see more Australian birds, all of which were new to me.
Continue reading “Hyde Park and City Bus Tour”
April 16, 2005: Subiaco Park, Subiaco, Western Australia
Decided to take an early morning walk to the park and when I walked out the door of Helen and Daniel’s home, the first thing I saw were these swans flying across the sky in front of me. I’d very much wanted to see these birds and was thrilled about the sighting, even though I only caught a short glimpse. They looked gorgeous flying through the sky – the contrast of black and white is lovely.
Continue reading “Black Swan”
January 30, 2005: MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline-Arrowhead Marsh, Alameda County, CA
This bird was reported on the EBB list as a Snow Goose, but in studying my photos I’ve decided that the bill is more consistent with the smaller Ross’s Goose, so that’s what I’m calling this bird. There are still a few things which make it seem Snow Goose-ish, particularly the size (which I recall as being somewhat large), and there is a bit of rusty staining on the head and body. Not extensive staining, though, and the head is rounder, as pictured for Ross’s. Possibly a Snow/Ross hybrid.
Continue reading “Ross’s Goose”
December 6, 2004: Lake Merritt, Alameda County, CA
(Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) In with the regular Canada Geese, I noticed a bird that was significantly smaller. About half the size of the others. I remembered hearing that Canada Geese had been split and guessed that I was looking at a life bird, although I didn’t know which one. Actually, split or not, I don’t remember ever seeing a Canada Goose this small, so it was a new bird either way. When I got home I discovered it was a Cackling Goose. Very cute.
Continue reading “Cackling Goose”
December 4, 2004: MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline-Arrowhead Marsh, Alameda County, CA
Three of these birds flew overhead, and I might have ignored them, except that I overhead a teacher telling one of her students (I think it was a Cal Berkeley class doing wetlands restoration) that they were white fronted geese. So, I snapped off a few pictures – not great, but good enough to see the white rim on the edge of the tail.
Continue reading “Greater White-fronted Goose”
August 13, 2004
7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
I took another pelagic birding trip in Monterey Bay, and had a FANTASTIC time! We saw some fabulous birds (although I only saw one new species, so I’m still a few short of 500), but what I enjoyed even more was the other wildlife. The short version: I saw 31 species of birds, including the much-coveted Scripps’s Murrelet; 3 species of pinnipeds, 4 cetacean species (including breaching!!! Humpback Whales), a Leatherback Turtle (rare!), and some fish and jellyfish.
Continue reading “Monterey Pelagic Birding Trip”
April 12, 2005: Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales
Seen swimming in one of the lakes in the Royal Botanic Garden.
Continue reading “Fishes”
September 14, 2003
I took my first pelagic trip off the West Coast today, through Shearwater Journeys. It was a long day – we left at 5.30 a.m. and returned at 5.30 p.m. – and we saw a lot of terrific things, although not quite as many birds as I’d hoped to see.
Continue reading “Albacore Feeding Grounds”
September 14, 2003: Offshore-WNW Pt. Sur (35-80 nmi), Monterey, CA
One of the birds seen on this pelagic trip.
Continue reading “Short-tailed Shearwater”
September 14, 2003: Offshore-WNW Pt. Sur (35-80 nmi), Monterey, CA
My first sighting of this bird was of an individual floating in the water. I got a really good look at him, for which I was glad. Later, we saw several more, and by mid-journey, I was able to call these guys, as well . . . black neck, but light underneath. Cool.
Continue reading “Pink-footed Shearwater”
September 14, 2003: Offshore-WNW Pt. Sur (35-80 nmi), Monterey, CA
Saw just one of these early in the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a very good look – just a dark bird flying by. I’m going to trust the ID of others, though.
Continue reading “Flesh-footed Shearwater”
September 14, 2003: Offshore-WNW Pt. Sur (35-80 nmi), Monterey, CA
This was a bird that had been seen in the morning, but I’d missed it. When looking at shearwaters, I realized that this one looked different than the pink-footed’s (which is what I thought it was at first). Sure enough, it was different! I was thrilled that I was able to spot this (and that I saw a new bird). Saw a few more later in the afternoon, as well.
Continue reading “Buller’s Shearwater”
June 5, 2003
Looking for a fun way to spend the day, Eclipse and I made the two-hour drive to Monterey, to visit the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. This fit in well with the fact that we’d been watching “Finding Nemo” lately. One of my kiddo’s favorite parts of the film features the jellyfish forest, so our first stop at the aquarium was to visit the special exhibit on jellies – “Jellies: Living Art.” It’s a fantastic exhibit. We went through it several time, and I was pleased with some of the photos I took.
Continue reading “Monterey Bay Aquarium”
February 22, 2003: Coyote Hills Regional Park, Alameda, CA
In looking through the bird book the previous night, I was looking forward to the possibility of seeing these birds, as they are to be found in the area. I was in luck, and saw several throughout the day. My first were a pair, and later I saw a group of four males and one female. The males appeared to be fighting amongst themselves – flying and chasing one another around the pond. They are beautiful ducks.
Continue reading “Cinnamon Teal”
December 23, 2002: Aberlady Farm Field, East Lothian, Scotland
Driving home from Haddington around 2:30 p.m., I noticed a couple of swans in a farm field with a flock of pink-footed geese. A car was stopped at the side of the road, so I stopped too and asked the fellow in the car if I could borrow his binoculars. The swans were definitely not mutes, but a bit far away to tell whether or not they were Whoopers or Bewick’s. I decided to go home and return with my scope. The birds were still there, and I was able to verify that they were whoopers. Fabby! I’ve been trying to find a couple of these birds for quite a while, so I was so glad to find them before moving back to the U.S.
Continue reading “Whooper Swan”
November 6, 2002: Whinlatter Forest Park, Cumbria, England
While looking at the beautiful view from the overlook, I caught a glimpse of a bird – flashes of color – blue and pink. Somehow, I just knew it was a jay. However, it had landed somewhere and I couldn’t re-locate the bird right away. I looked in my book just to remind myself what I was looking for. Then, a few minutes later, it flew again. I didn’t get a long look, but enough to be certain that it was, indeed, a jay. On the way back from the nature centre, we stopped here again, and the bird (or perhaps another individual) was perched atop a branch, so I was able to view it for several minutes. It wasn’t too close, but still close enough. A beautiful bird!
Continue reading “Eurasian Jay”
October 3, 2002: Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve, East Lothian, Scotland
Another life bird for me this day, although I didn’t realize I’d not seen them before until I began making this entry! Beautiful ducks.
Continue reading “Eurasian Wigeon”
June 30, 1996: St. James Park, London, England
Along with the huge flocks of pink-foots there was a small flock of these pretty geese – only half a dozen birds at most.
Continue reading “Barnacle Goose”
August 16, 2002
While living in Scotland, this is one of the adventures I didn’t want to miss – a chance to see the northern gannet rookery on the Bass Rock, off the coast of North Berwick. It was well worth the trip!
Continue reading “Birding the Bass”
October 4, 2001: Marine Terrace, East Lothian, Scotland
From inside our home, I heard a cacophony outside and rushed out to find THOUSANDS of pink footed geese flying overhead, one huge flock after another. Eclipse also enjoyed seeing and hearing these birds. What fun! Flocks like this flew over several times in the next few weeks.
Continue reading “Pink-footed Goose”
September 13, 2001: Marine Terrace, East Lothian, Scotland
While Kevin and I were sitting in the kitchen late this evening, I heard an unusual sound from outside. I went outside to listen to what was obviously an owl calling from a tree very near where I park my car. I decided not to go looking for it with a torch, but did get to listen to it for several minutes. After coming in, I listened to my British Birds DVD and determined that the bird was a Little Owl. Not common here in East Lothian, apparently, so quite a lovely surprise!
Continue reading “Little Owl”
May 19, 2001: Lee Valley Regional Park, Hartfordshire, England
When we arrived at the park, we ran into a local birder who told us that there were several of these birds present in the park, so during our walk I’d kept an eye out for them. We were almost back at the carpark before we spotted them: a total of three birds. For the most part they were flying a bit farther away than would allow us a good look, but one of them flew fairly low overhead once, and then passed by again on its way back from where it had come. The lighting was terrible – overcast and grey – so the bird was backlit without enough sun to show us the red that’s supposed to be on the lower underparts. But the bird had distinctive facial markings with a lot of white on the face and was heavily streaked on the breast with dark markings in contrast with light ones. It wasn’t a kestrel, so the only thing it could have reasonably been was a hobby.
Continue reading “Eurasian Hobby”
May 18, 2001: Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Kent, England
After learning from another birder that these birds as well as reed warblers were in the area, I wanted to be able to get a good enough look to ID some of them, as I was not experienced enough to differentiate between their calls. I never did get a really good look at one, but several times I did see these birds in a parachuting song flight – the bird would rise up out of the reeds, going about six feet above the tops of the reeds, and then back down again. This is the song flight of the sedge warbler, so I was able to ID at least one of the two birds!
Continue reading “Sedge Warbler”
May 17, 2001: Capel Fleet Raptor Viewpoint, Kent, England
We spotted these birds on the other side of a hedge. As our car drove by, it startled them into running along the hedge, but we were unable to get a good view because the hedge was in the way. There was little traffic on the road, so we stopped to see if we could locate them again. I assumed they were gray partridge – same size and general color – but when we finally spotted one we discovered that they were red-legged partridges, a new bird for both of us! By the time I got a good look, only one bird was visible and only its head at that, poking up from behind a fallen log. A very striking profile though, with the white and black markings on the face and a very distinctly red bill. I didn’t get to see the red legs however, because the bird didn’t come out from behind the log again while we watched. A pretty little bird, and fun to chase down and see.
May 16, 2001: Réserve Naturelle Nationale de la Baie de Somme-Parc du Marquenterre, Picardie, France
While watching the Ringed Plovers and Dunlin at Hide #5, I noticed this bird which was noticeably smaller than either of the previously mentioned species. It resembled a sanderling, but the habitat and behavior were wrong. Based on the size (and location), I realized it was a stint of some sort, poking around in the mud. It was a very pretty little bird – black legs and a medium-to-short black bill, white underneath, and delicately patterned on the back in black, brown, and a warm pinkish color. The head was similarly colored, but the neck appeared somewhat lighter – not white, but not as colorful as the rest of the bird’s upperparts. A look at the field guide confirmed that this was a juvenile little stint. What a lovely little bird, and one I was pleased not only to see, but also to ID. (Shorebirds are not always easy)!
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