The Deskbound Birder: Red-bellied Woodpecker

Showing posts with label Red-bellied Woodpecker. 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.

Sunday, 24 January 2016

New York and Long Island - 14th-19th January

Sarah and I had long wanted to visit New York to see the various sites and the experience the vibe of the city so we had booked a long weekend in early januray. This seemed a little crazy given the excess of Christmas but we went for it nonetheless. I am not going to provide a detailed account here of what we did on a day to day basis. We stayed in the Carlyle Hotel on 76th & Madison Street and did all the typical sites of Empire State Building, a helicopter ride over and around the city, the Rockefeller Building, the Freedom Tower, the Flatiron and the deeply affecting 9/11 Memorial Museum.

I also spent half a day or so birding in Central Park primarily looking for Red Fox Sparrow but failing. The winter has been exceptionally mild in New York and apparently numbers of this species are well down in the park this year. Time at the feeders at Evodia Field in The Ramble produced good numbers of White-throated Sparrow, Blue Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker and Mourning Dove. Phil Jeffrey provides a great deal of useful information on finding this and other areas in the park here. Other birds we saw included an Osprey just outside of the city and a Red-tailed Hawk over Central Park but perhaps most unusual was an Ovenbird that had been trapped in the coffee shop (Obica) in the atrium of the IBM building, the bird was walking around under tables feeding on cake crumbs when it should have been tip-toeing in leaf-litter in the forests of central America and the Caribbean.

Blue Jay - Central Park

Common Grackle - Central Park

American Goldfinch - Central park

White-throated Sparrow (tan-striped) - Central Park

Mourning Dove - Central Park

Downy Woodpecker - Central Park

Tufted Titmouse - Central Park

White-throated Sparrow (white-striped) - Central Park

White-throated Sparrow (intermediate) - Central Park

White-throated Sparrow (tan-striped) - Central Park

A proper wild Eastern Grey Squirrel - Central Park

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Central Park

I also spent some time around the reservoir in the north of the park, a flock of around 30 American Robin was a nice site especially as some where in cracking plumage. Birds on the reservoir included thousands each of American Herring Gull and Ring-billed Gull, c.80 Shoveler, 6 Ring-necked Duck, 25 Bufflehead, 2 Hooded Merganser, 2 Snow Goose, 25 American Coot, 2 Pied-billed Grebe, 100's of Ruddy Duck and 20+ Double-crested Cormorant.

American Robin - Central Park

Double-crested Cormorant - Central Park Reservoir

Pair of Bufflehead - Central Park

Bufflehead - Central Park Reservoir

Hooded Merganser - Central Park Reservoir

American Coot - Central Park Reservoir

432 Park Avenue building, the tallest residential building in the world. When measured by roof height this is the tallest building in New York but One World Trade Centre surpasses it in height when the telecommunications mast on its main roof is considered.

American Herring Gull (mainly adult) with Ring-billed Gull to the left and right - Central Park Reservoir

Ring-billed Gull - Central Park Reservoir

Pied-billed Grebe - Central Park Reservoir

Snow Goose - Central Park Reservoir

Ring-billed Gull - Central Park Reservoir

A coarsely marked 1st winter Ring-billed Gull - Central Park Reservoir

Central Park Reservoir

Lower Manhattan City Scape

Statue of Liberty

The awesome One World Trade Centre (Freedom Tower) is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the 6th tallest in the world. The observation deck on the 102nd floor really does afford the best views of the city

On 17th we had arranged to meet with John Turner of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours for a day trip to Mantauk at the eastern end of Long Island. John was an excellent guide and very knowledgeable on the birds, natural history and nature conservation of Long Island. I would definitely recommend John as a guide on the island. Unfortunately, I had contracted fairly severe food poisoning the night before and my stamina for birding and ability to hold a conversation was at a low ebb and at times the trip felt like a tour of the toilets of Long Island. Still, John was very tolerant of this! We caught the 06:15 train from Penn Station and met John at Massapequa Park Station and he drove on from here. First stop was at a Eastern Screech-owl roost site at Massapequa Preserve in the village of Massapequa Park. but unfortunately the bird was not at its usual roost but Song Sparrow and American Crow were new for the trip. Next we went to Southards Pond Park in the village of Babylon where a Dickcissel has been overwintering. A small group of six Fish Crow flew over giving their distinctive nasal croaking call, a new bird for me. There were many Song Sparrow and a singing Carolina Wren. And then a strange metallic call and I found the Dickcissel perched atop the fence around the tennis court, reminiscent of a chunky bunting with a distinct yellow wash on the throat and a hint of a black moustachial stripe and throat spots. Another new bird. The bird flew and we followed it, I wanted some pictures but when I raised my camera (I had taken my 7d Mark II) I found there was a card read fault and whatever I tried I could not get the thing to work - bugger! Not a great day. Onwards and we stopped at a Capri Lake in West Islip where there were several hundred Lesser Scaup plus large numbers of American Black Duck, Redhead, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Shoveler and Canada Goose. We then pushed onwards to Mantauk Point, we found a sheltered spot and scanned the sea, there were thousands of Scoter, impossible to say how many with Black Scoter the commonest species, followed by Surf Scoter and then White-winged Scoter. Amongst the scoter were smaller numbers of Common Eider and Long-tailed Duck, Great-northern Diver and Red-throated Diver but no sign of King Eider or Harlequin Duck which had been seen here recently. But it would take some luck to have found these amongst the thousands of scoter.

Montauk Lighthouse

Mixed Scoter flock with Black Scoter and Surf Scoter visible and a Great-northern Diver in the background

We left the chilling headland and retraced our steps back to Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk and birded a short distance along the dirt road that accesses the former estate of Andy Warhol. A flock of 500 Canada Goose with 4 Snow Goose were present in the paddocks and White-throated Sparrows hopped in the scrub and then John called our main target Red Fox Sparrow and there on a bramble was a stunning bright red, speckled monster sparrow. I was very pleased with this and almost forgot about my churning stomach. Our next stop was the marina and mouth at the eastern edge of Montauk harbour we scanned the sea an picked up 6 Great-northern Diver, 2 Red-throated Diver, 4 Long-tailed Duck and 10 Surf Scoter. We scanned the gulls, a small flock of 8 Bonaparte's Gull and a white-winged gull roosting on the beach which turned out to be a very pale 1st winter Glaucous Gull, we got great views as it roosted on the beach. I then picked up another white-winged gull this one a 2nd winter Kumlien's Gull. We finished our birding in the harbour by watching a pair of Grey Seal biting and cavorting in the shallows, this apparently a sign of mating behaviour.

We then drove around to the western side of Napeague Harbor near its inlet with Greater Peconic Bay where a Snowy Owl had recently been recorded but apart from a Northern Harrier, 30 Bufflehead, 7 Great-northern Diver and 4 Long-tailed Duck we recorded little. Our final stop was a barrier island accessed via Dune Road, we birded from the Shinnecock Inlet on the east several miles before turning back to the mainland in East Quogue, however, the clouds had built and the light levels had fallen significantly we saw a Great Blue Heron, a few Buffleheads, American Black Duck and five Dunlin feeding on a pile of discarded scallop shells extracting the remaining meat. It was time to head back west and in to New York as the snow began to fall from the sky eventually to settle to a depth of around 2 cm. It had been a great day but I was very let down by my camera and by my very poorly stomach!