The Deskbound Birder: Eastern Phoebe

Showing posts with label Eastern Phoebe. Show all posts

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

Texas and Yellowstone National Park - Background and Trinity River Audobon Centre 11th December (Day 1 and 2)

Background
Having sold my business to a Dallas based consultancy back in May of 2019 I was required to attend a two day conference in Dallas on 12th and 13th December. I had decided to extend my stay in the USA by visiting a few birding sites around the Corpus Christi 'Coastal Bend' area for a small number of ticks and to visit Yellowstone National Park, a location that I had long wanted to undertake a winter visit to. Sarah and Tobias were to join me and so this was not going to be a full-on birding trip and so birding was combined with family events.

Logistics
To maximise my potential for seeing the few new birds available I employed local guides in Corpus Christi and at Yellowstone National Park. In the Corpus Christi area I used Jon McIntyre of McIntyre Birding Tours. In Yellowstone the new birds were even fewer but I wanted to use a guide to maximise our chances of seeing some of the mammals, targetting the few birds and allowing me to enjoy the scenery rather than drive and so we employed the services of Steve Hoffman of Merlin Birding and Nature Tours. Both guides were excellent, knew the sites well and knew where to locate the birds I wanted to see.

Weather
The weather in Dallas was generally cold at around 8c and overcast with some sunnier spells. In Corpus Christi the temperature went up to 26c, on our first day it was sunny and still and on the second day it was overcast and breezy. In Yellowstone National Park there was up to 75cm of snow on the ground wih temperatures down to -8c during the day. It was generally still and sunny with short spells of cloud cover.

Equipment
I took with me my Olympus kit with the OMD EM1x camera, 300 F4 lens and 1.4 converter. While I took my 2x converter I did not use this. I took bins and no scope as our guides had scopes.

Itinerary

10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).
11th December (Day 2) – Trinity River Audobon Centre AM.
12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.
14th December (Day 5) - Birding Corpus Christi area.
15th December (Day 6) - Birding Corpus Christi area.
16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Dallas (scheduled flight cancelled) then Dallas to Denver then Denver to Bozeman landing at 20:40, 7.5 hours later than scheduled.
17th December (Day 8)- Travel east through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.
18th December (Day 9)- Travel west through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.
19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.
20th December (Day 11) Flight from Boseman - Denver (10:43-12:29) then international flight to London Heathrow (17:25-09:30) landing on 21st.

11th December
We were up at 07:00 and after breakfast took at taxi to the Trinity River Audubon Centre arriving at 08:45. We wandered through the woodland at the back of the centre recording Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal and my first tick of the trip, Carolina Chickadee. The reserve centre opened at 09:00 and we entered the reserve walking a short loop through the scrub habitat mainly looking for Harris’s Sparrow. The birding was fairly good and we recorded a range of species including Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow and Sharp-shinned Hawk. As we neared the small lookout I came across a flock of sparrows and eventually Sarah picked out two cracking adult Harris’s Sparrow. Eventually we considered that there were two adults and three first winters in the group. We headed back to the centre happy with the morning. Our taxi was due to collect us at 12:30 and I spent sometime birding around the car park while we waited realising that where we had seen the Harris’s Sparrow backed onto the car park. Beside the bus park I played a recording of Harris’s Sparrow and a cracking male and a female hoped up on top of a bush and sang in response, the song is a high mournful double whistle changing in tone between each series of whistles. I had great views of these birds and was very happy with such good views of my main target at this site. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

We spent the rest of the day at the Dallas World Aquarium and the 12th and 13th were taken with a work conference in Dallas. On 13th we caught at 16:30 flight to Corpus Christi arriving at 18:15 and transferring to the Omni Corpus Christi Hotel.

Hermit Thrush - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Northern Mockingbird - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Blue Jay - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Carolina Chickadee - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Eastern Phoebe - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Eastern Bluebird - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Northern Cardinal - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Sharp-shinned Hawk - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Red-tailed Hawk - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

White-throated Sparrow - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Lincoln's Sparrow - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Harris's Sparrow (first winter) - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Harris's Sparrow (adult) - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).

11th December (Day 2) – Trinity River Audobon Centre AM.

12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.

14th December (Day 5) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

15th December (Day 6) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Bozeman.

17th December (Day 8)- Travel east through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

18th December (Day 9)- Travel west through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.

20th December (Day 11) - International Flight.

Friday, 10 June 2016

Alaska - 10th June (Day 14)

Today was our last morning at Nome and so in desperation to see Emperor Goose we did a seawatch from 06:00 until 09:00 in the hope that one would fly by but it was not to be. We settled at Point Nome, now a gravel quarry with rock revetment seawalls and a rather unappealing location especially considering the beauty of the Nome area in general. Still, it was a fairly entertaining seawatch with Tufted Puffin (3), Black Guillemot (2), White-winged Scoter (15), White-billed Diver (1), Vega Gull (2) and Common Porpoise (2), amongst others. But I wished we had spent our time scanning Safety Sound and enjoying the many birds present here instead. On our return to Nome we called into Hastings Creek and Nome River Mouth adding Caspian Tern to our trip list and a vagrant Eastern Phoebe to our list, the latter gets the vote for dullest bird of the trip!!

Pacific Diver - Point Nome, Nome

Vega Gull (1st summer) - Point Nome, Nome

Vega Gull (1st winter) - Point Nome, Nome

Glaucous Gull (adult) - Point Nome, Nome

Glaucous Gull (2nd winter moulting to adult) - Point Nome, Nome

Arctic Ground Squirrel - Point Nome, Nome

Long-tailed Skua - Hastings Creek, Council Road, Nome

Eastern Phoebe - Hastings Creek, Council Road, Nome

Caspian Tern - Nome River Mouth, Council Road, Nome

Nome was and is a gold mining town

Nome sign

Our only sighting of our nemesis the Emperor Goose at Anchorage Airport

Back at the hotel we packed our bags and flew back to Anchorage (12:05-13:30), had a 3.45 hour stop over in the airport and then flew onto Barrow (17:15-19:05). After collecting our bags we headed to the car hire and picked up our 10 seater 4x4 van from UIC car hire. After a Korean meal at the Northern Lights Restaurant we spent the afternoon birding the Gas Pipe Road from 17:00 until 02:00 enjoying the 24 hour daylight hours. The tundra was flat and scattered with pools and ponds, some shallow which could be transversed in willies, other a little deeper. Snow still lay in deeper pockets despite the beautiful blue skies and warm conditions and the sea was still frozen with thick pack-ice that had rifted into a myriad jagged peaks. The birding was fantastic with breeding waders abundant on the tundra. Red Phalarope were very tame and we marvelled at their striking plumage, a far cry from their British name of Grey Phalarope in their red-garb with white face masks and golden streaked mantles. These birds occurred on most of the small pools and puddles that dotted the tundra and were very approachable. Red-necked Phalarope were equally as abundant frequently occupying the same pools as their larger cousins. Pectoral Sandpiper performed their amazing displays with extended chests inflated into dangling sacs exaggerating their pectoral streaks and producing a resonant booming during the low level display flights. Skuas over the tundra included Long-tailed Skua, Arctic Skua and a pair of Pomarine Skua. Other species here included American Golden Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pacific Diver, Red-throated Diver, Tundra Swan, Long-tailed Duck and Greater White-fronted Goose. However, it was the eider that stole the show, King Eider males were stunning but the Spectacled Eider were mind-blowing when we first set eyes upon them decked out in their black and white plumage with green caps, large white eyepatches circled by black spectacles and burning orange bills. The nostril of the bill shrouded in a bulbous feathered mound of green and white. These are almost mystical birds in any birders books, we felt very privileged to be able to see them and drank in every detail. Back at the Airport Inn at 02:30 we went to bed with the sun still shining and having pretty much forgotten our Emperor Goose dip of the early part of the day – well almost!