Muskegon Miscellaneous

My dad and I decided to take a trip out to Muskegon to enjoy the Purple Sandpipers and bird around the wastewater. The sandpipers were easy, with up to 7 scattered around the south Pier. Photography conditions weren't the greatest, but I gave it a shot.

Besides three White-winged Scoters, not much else seen from the Pier. At the wastewater, we saw two Snowy Owls, and heard of a total of 3 being seen. Here is one.

Also, this photographer took it upon himself to approach the Snowy Owl as close as he could until the bird flew. This was in a field on the entrance road to the wastewater.

He should be hanging his head in regret, but he is probably just tired. Chasing Snowys all day can get tiresome I imagine.

We also happened upon two Rough-legged Hawks, as one is sure to do in the winter at this location.

The gulls at the landfill were unexciting, but one adult Great Black-backed Gull did show up for a second.

Christmas Comes Early in Dutch Harbor!

The boat finally tied up in Dutch Harbor after spending the night in the bay, and around 3pm I was off birding Dutch Harbor until sunset.

First, I want to extend a huge thanks to Suzi Golodoff who offered to take me birding with her. She is the go-to birder on Unalaska, and I had the privilege of spending a couple hours birding the area with her.

One of my goals was to see an Emperor Goose, and this was not a hard feat to accomplish.

These confiding geese have to be the best looking goose I've witnessed. They were not hard to spot, and in fact, we saw hundreds without trying.

While enjoying the geese, my second target bird came to me. Again, without putting in any effort at all.

(not my best picture, a little out of focus, my bad)

Now, I would have been completely fine with these two birds as they were both lifers and couldn't have been more obliging. Little did I know things were just starting to get interesting.

Suzi got a call from another local birder, Bobby, who reported that she had just seen a strange bird in with the Junco flock (another uncommon to rare bird in Dutch Harbor), and she thought it might be a Brambling. Luckily we were close, but when we arrived at the scene, all the birds were gone. We poked around for a while but couldn't locate the flock of birds.

Suzi knew I hadn't seen Tufted Duck, and they are regular in the winter in Dutch Harbor almost every winter. The Scaup flocks were just starting to shape up, but yesterday she looked and did not see any Tufted Ducks. Today, however, the story read different. In with the first Scaup flock we looked at, right off the road, this female Tufted Duck did its best to hide.

Then, out pops this beautiful male Tufted Duck.

But wait, then there were three.

This was too easy, I thought. Now it was time to go find that Junco flock and the treasure it might hold. Suzi and I went back to the original scene, still no birds. Time to make a plan. Along the river was dense cover, the kind of cover both Suzi and I thought might make a good hiding place for sparrow-like birds. As we walked the banks, I spied the group of juncos on the opposite side of the river. Suzi got on them and called out "I got it!" I also had just gotten on it, and sure enough, it was a Brambling! After some celebrating and chasing, I finally managed a half-way decent picture.

As the sun started to fade, there was one more bird I wanted to see that was in the area, Steller's Eiders. They winter in Dutch Harbor in huge numbers, and although I had seen in 2008 in Barrow, I certainly wanted to see them again. We drove a little ways and found a nice, tight flock of Steller's, settling down for the evening.

It was quite dark, and dinner time, so it was back to the boat for me. After only 2 hours, 4 life birds and 5 year birds, I had worked up quite the appetite. My plane leaves Dutch tomorrow at 1:20pm and I'll be back to Anchorage a few hours later. I'd be alright with my plane being canceled and having another day to bird Dutch Harbor, but the weather looks good for flying.

I want to thank Suzi again for taking me out with her, it was a great evening indeed! I hope I can get back to this amazing area sometime in the near future.

Whiskered Auklet and Dutch Harbor

Today was a great day to stand watch from the bridge. I got to run a great survey from east of Unimak Pass west to Dutch Harbor, right along the Aleutians. As soon as I started surveying, birds were everywhere, particularly Northern Fulmar. They were swarming like bees over the water, quite a sight to see! A few Albatross put in an appearance, with 3-4 Laysan seen. Once again, Short-tailed eludes me.

As we were nearing the western end of Unimak Pass, I spied a very large flock of dark Auklets buzzing by.

They looked small to me, smaller and less portly than the Crested Auklets, leading me to believe they are Whiskered. Too bad they were so far away.

Between the western edge of Unimak Pass and Dutch, more small dark Auklets passed by, really trying my patience.

On the outskirts of Dutch Harbor, more and more dark Auklets showed themselves. One large flock in front of the boat was also right in the sun. Finally, after wondering if I would ever get a good look at a Whiskered Auklet, a group of 3 birds sitting on the water near the boat gave me the looks I needed to be certain. Unfortunately, Whiskered Auklet in the winter isn't that pretty of a sight, but I'll take it.

Pulling into Dutch Harbor yielded some great scenery.

We anchored in Sunset Bay and will pull into the Harbor tomorrow around 2pm. This will give me around 3 hours to bird around town. Targets- Emperor Goose and Rock Sandpiper. Word has it that Tufted Ducks winter behind the Grand Aleutian hotel. I'll see if they are in!

There They Are!

I have been wondering where all the Auklets were, turns out they are in the southern Bering Sea. Today we were significantly closer to the Aleutians, and the weather broke allowing me to do a decent survey. To my surprise and amusement, it was very birdy. The best bird was my lifer Parakeet Auklet but Least and Crested also put in appearances, with Least being most common. Common Murres were the most abundant bird of the day, and a Horned Puffin almost got ran over as we hustled by. Fork-tailed Storm Petrels fluttered by sporadically throughout the day.

I'm not 100% sure what our plan is, but we are closing in on Dutch Harbor, only about 100 miles away. We can't get into Dutch until the 17th, so my hope is that we hang around the island tomorrow, allowing me a chance to find a Whiskered Auklet, but I'm not counting on it.

Unless by some miracle a Short-tailed Albatross flies by tomorrow, it looks like that one escaped me this time around. Oh well, one day...

Home Stretch!

With only 5 days left until Dutch Harbor, I'm getting anxious to make landfall. That being said, there are still a couple birds I could still see that I haven't yet. Both Parakeet Auklet and Short-tailed Albatross have eluded me this trip, and with a couple more storms heading our way, it doesn't look good for hitting those stations by St. Paul.

Today, despite being in open water and relatively close to land, birds were few and far between. A coast guard plane decided to make a pass over the boat, not sure why they were out here...

Just when the day looked like a bust, I spied this shearwater riding alongside the boat.

Both Short-tailed and Sooty Shearwaters are found in Alaska, but "shouldn't" be around in winter. That being said, I saw quite a few dark shearwaters in the Gulf of Alaska during the start of the cruise, but could only identify a couple to Sooty. Looking at the Sibley Guide shows Sooty Shearwater only occuring in the Gulf, while Short-tailed can be found in all the waters of Alaska. This bird was photographed west of Nunivak. Just looking at range, Short-tailed should be the best option.

I saw thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters in the Beaufort Sea earlier this year. In all honesty, the majority of these were identified based on range. It has been shown over and over again that this species duo (Sooty/Short-tailed) serves as an identification pitfall in the field. My experience with Short-tailed in the Beaufort was that most were too far away to see head/bill proportions, and the amount of white under the wing varied greatly from individual to individual, and especially on lighting conditions.

At times, I feel like this species pair shouldn't be identified at sea except at very close range while observing "textbook" individuals in the best of conditions.

Back to St. Matthew

And then we were back in familiar territory. Today I surveyed south of St. Matthew Island for the second time this trip. This time with similar results. Quite a few Northern Fulmars were around, as usual, as were Kittiwakes and Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls. I also had another Fork-tailed Storm Petrel. I guess all these storms with 75mph winds really blow these little guys around.

In with the gull flocks that occasionally follow the boat was this gull.

Rather than go into a long, detailed description of what I think it is, I'll leave it up to you to decide. Anyone care to go to subspecies with it?

I also had a quick fly-by of three small, dark Auklets. I fired quite a few shots, but only managed some lousy images.

These are probably just juvi Crested Auklets, but how can juvi Whiskered be ruled out? Since we are usually so far from the birds, it is going to be tough to pick out a Whiskered on the way back to Dutch Harbor!

And, since I've been posting really terrible pictures lately, I'll post this Common Green Darner picture I took recently in Texas.

If nothing else, it will at least make me feel a little better about my picture-taking skills...

With a big storm heading our way (again), I hear talk of retreating to the ice for a couple days. Dutch Harbor can't come soon enough. Stay tuned!

Birds Off the Shelf

We generally stayed in one spot today, in some very deep water off the shelf quite a ways west of St. Matthew's Island. Yesterday, while in the shallow waters off the shelf, birds were everywhere. Today, in deep water, they were scarce. That said, there were some highlights.

One of the first birds of the day was another Laysan Albatross. One of two seen throughout the day. I believe they prefer the shelf edge, and we were just too far west to see more.

4 Tufted Puffins flew by the boat, my first puffins since the beginning of the trip. Also, a Red-legged Kittiwake made a close pass, a bit out of range for the season. The most unusual bird, in my opinion, was this Common Loon that flew by. I haven't seen a loon since leaving the harbor in Seward, so what this loon was doing out in this deep water is anyones guess.

All the usual excuses regarding the poor quality of the picture. According to Sibley, Common Loons winter along the Aleutians. Maybe this one just hasn't made it there yet.

Russian Waters

Today I woke up in Russian waters. We aren't supposed to collect data in Russia, so I did a little personal surveying. The day started off with a bang when a Laysan Albatross came out of the fog. I figured if I would see any Albatross in this region, they would be Short-tailed, but I was wrong again. By the end of the day, I amassed a total of ~15 Laysan Albatross, with 2 being in American waters.

While the Albatross easily stole the show today, a few other good birds were seen. I saw 2 Cassin's Auklets in Russian waters, a bird I had not yet seen this trip. Also, 2 Least Auklets very close to the boat, in Russian waters as well (yea, I have a Russian list now!).

Back in the American waters, perhaps the most out of place bird was a Fork-tailed Storm Petrel. I've given up trusting the Sibley range maps (at least for AK waters), but the bird does appear to be quite far west (basically on the AK/Russia line).

If I was getting paid by the Fulmar, I would have really hit the jackpot today. They were everywhere, often with 8-10 in view at once. Raising binoculars to the horizon yielded scores more. We may be sticking around out here (w. of St. Matthew on the AK/Russia line) for another day, lets hope the Short-tailed Albatross put in an appearance!

Unsmooth Sailing

Storm after storm continues to cause us to alter course, but the good news is that we have been in open water. The past couple days I have surveyed south of Saint Matthew's Island, and a little SE. While we were closer to the island, gulls and Fulmars really stole the show. There were constantly Kittiwakes, Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls and Northern Fulmars buzzing the ship.

Today, further from the Island, there was not as much activity. However, a juvenile Pelagic Cormorant decided the boat would make a good place to rest.

I also added Pigeon Guillemot to the trip list today.

Auklets are surprisingly absent. My guess is they are congregated around the Aleutians. We will be heading south again soon, and there is a great line of stations south of St. Paul that could prove productive. We will have to wait and see.

And Then There Were Birds

Today we were supposed to be in open water, but a nasty storm sporting up to 70knot winds and blowing snow made us retreat back into the ice.

After finally rolling out of bed and out of my room (10am- why wake up early if the sun doesn't come up until noon, right?) a coast guard girl told me of some "small dark bird" that landed on the boat. With the wicked weather, I thought for sure it would be something crazy, and to some extent it was. She led me to the bird and, even though it was still dark, it was quite obviously a Kittlitz's Murrelet! This bird was obviously out of place, but other than its interesting choice of resting place, looked healthy and alert. They wanted to catch the bird and put it in a box, but I opted to let it sit on deck and see what happened. A few hours later, after resting and regaining composure, the Murrelet flew straight into the wind and off the boat.

With the lack of birds lately, this would have been enough to keep me happy for a while, but the excitement didn't stop here. Once I made my way to the bridge I saw, battling gusty winds, were Ivory Gulls making flight look easy. I've never seen a bird fly straight into a 50knot headwind. After the snow stopped, I started surveying in less than optimal conditions. More Ivory Gulls along with Ross's, Herring (Vega), Glaucous, Glaucous-winged and Black-legged Kittiwakes made for a 6 gull sp. day. I was unaware that Ross's Gulls winter in the Bering Sea, but it seems at least a number of them do. I saw at least 25 today, and that was just in a small stretch of sea.

Other birds included Thick-billed and Common Murres and Black Guillemots.

Since it was too windy to even go outside to photograph the Murrelet on board, I'll leave you with this god-aweful picture of Eiders.

Can you tell what kind of Eiders they are? I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with Bombin' Fighters

Back in Action

After being locked in the ice of the Chukchi Sea and Bering Straights, we are finally back into the Bering Sea, not far from Nome, Alaska. The good news is that there were actually birds seen today including a few groups of Black Guillemots and Common Eiders. The bad news is that the ice has formed all the way to the south of St. Lawrence Island, and is quickly expanding, so I may be surveying in ice for a while longer. My hope is that the ice forces the alcids to congregate in big flocks to the south of us.

I have a short list of the birds I would like to see before returning to the mainland, and here it is:
- Parakeet Aukelt, quite possible when we get back into the alcids
- Short-tailed Albatross, we have some stations between the Aleutians and St. Paul Island, so there is a possibility.
- Emperor Goose, should get this one when we disembark in Dutch Harbor
- Rock Sandpiper, I hear this is a given in Dutch Harbor
- Whiskered Auklet, will be very difficult, with my only chance being on the return to Dutch Harbor. They will have to be very close to the boat to rule out Crested Aukelt, especially in winter.

Even if I just see the Parakeet Auklet, Emperor Goose and Rock Sandpiper, I will be a happy camper.

Thanksgiving Kittiwake

There would be nothing too unusual about a Black-legged Kittiwake on Thanksgiving if I were in, say, Michigan or Ohio. However, a Black-legged Kittiwake in the Chukchi Sea in thick ice ~100km from the nearest open water on Thanksgiving is a different story.

While feasting on thanksgiving turkey I got a page from the bridge about a bird that was flying around the spot-lights. Needless to say, I grabbed the bins and rushed up top. Not 2 minutes later the bird flew by again, skimming the edge of the boat right in the lights. An easy ID of Black-legged Kittiwake. I was also surprised it was an adult.

The green arrow on the map below is where the bird was seen:

View Larger Map
As best as I can figure from the ice maps I have access to, this is about 100km from the nearest open water, which was directly to our west. Not sure where this bird came from, but it sure was exciting to see.

I have to imagine that this is a record late date for the Chukchi Sea, and I wouldn't be surprised if it blows the previous record out of the water.

From the limited resources I have available, which is the information from Paul Lehman's records of St. Lawrence Island and surrounding areas, the latest date for Black-legged Kittiwake he reports is November 25, 1937 from Provideniya, Russia, which is just NW of Gambell. However, the Chukchi Sea area is much further North (500 miles?).

I will work on getting more information, and I know it is only a Black-legged Kittiwake, but after a week of darkness and no birds, this was exactly what I needed.

Will update when I know more.

Cribs, Healy Style

Per request, I'm uploading a few photos of what the boat looks like. I've included photos of my room and the science lounge where I'm spending about 80% of my time right now. Later on in the cruise, I'll add photos of the bridge where I work and maybe the cafeteria.

My desk, all neat and clean. It is cleaning day today, otherwise it might look like a disaster.

Sleeping on the lower bunk. I prefer to sleep in my sleeping bag.

What the typical hallways look like, with rooms on the right hand side.

The science lounge, where all the fun happens!

The TV in the science lounge where we can actually watch live sports games (mostly football).

So there you have it, this is where I've been spending the majority of my time since I can't survey right now, and probably won't be able to survey for at least a week.

Also thought I would plop down a few pictures from the last few days of surveys, even though they are horrible.

I know what you are thinking, "HOLY CRAP A YETI!". Nope, its a Polar Bear, quite a ways out. Don't worry, I thought Yeti at first, too.

I just can't take a decent picture though the glass on the boat, but you should be able to tell this is an Ivory Gull.

I'm finally getting around to updating my website with butterfly pictures, but they won't be up until I'm back on land. Hopefully it keeps me occupied enough until we head south.

1 More Month

I have one month left on this boat, when we will disembark in Dutch Harbor for a very long flight with many stopovers back to Michigan.

Hopefully the birding picks up again, which I'm sure it will once we get out of the ice and head south. Yesterday (11/16) I did not see one bird. I did spot a Polar Bear about a mile out on the ice, so that saved the day. I did not even survey today, as we are in some thicker ice and have not been moving fast enough for a survey. The sun did not fully rise today, but, had we been moving fast enough, I could have probably surveyed. Tomorrow may be a different story.

Will update again when something exciting happens...

First Ice

Yesterday (11/14) we saw the first ice of the trip. And with ice comes more Ivory Gulls, over 30 in fact, including a nicely patterned young bird.

First ice flow in the Chukchi Sea

It was fun watching the boat crash through the ice, making it look easy.

Healy Icebreaker doing what it does best.

Previous to the ice, the 30+ knot north winds created some respectable waves. The Healy handled it like a champ.

And this wasn't even near the biggest of waves.

Not a whole lot of birds besides Ivory Gulls, the occasional Ross's Gull, and a Glaucous Gull and Murre once in a while. I will be surveying less and less as the boat approaches our destination off Barrow. The other scientists will be hitting station after station in rapid succession so we can move south. And with sunrise now at noon in Barrow, soon the sun will not even rise. Looks like I might have the week off.

The High Arctic

As we move further north, bird quantity diminishes, but not quality. Today only held a handful of birds of a few species. However, Ross's Gull may have been the most numerous bird, with 16 seen. It was pretty amazing how pink some of them were!

The first Ivory Gulls also showed up, with 4 seen for the day, and all were adults. One gleaming white bird passed close to the boat and allowed fantastic looks. Hopefully  more of these to come when we near Barrow. Daylight will be precious, as the sun will not rise starting on the 19th.

Two Black Guillemots bring the trip list to 40 species, not bad for the time of year. Hopefully I can add a few more when we pass back through the Bering Sea.

Kittiwakes with Red Legs and Death

Despite the nasty, rainy weather, new birds continue to "pour" in (har har). Red-legged Kittiwakes put in a solid appearance, and while I had awesome looks, only managed horrible pictures through rain-filled dirty windows high above the water.

The proof is in the legs!

I also got mediocre looks at Crested Auklest in tight little flocks wizzing by. I hope to get better looks at them later. Ancient Murrelet was another new bird for the year, and one I haven't seen in quite some time. A group of tiny sparrow sized white and black alcids also cruised by, too far for any field marks, and I can't help but think they were Least Auklets. So far on this cruise, I've managed 4 life birds, with more surely to come soon.

I got a page (yes, I learned how to use a pager on this cruise) that there was a very cold, hungry looking bird on board, so I went to check it out. Turned out to be a dead Gray-crowned Rosy Finch, the same one that stuck around yesterday. I hear he was trying to eat a foam ear-plug yesterday, so that didn't help his cause. He will make a nice study skin at some lucky museum.

If you are keeping track of our path, you will see we have made quite a bit of progress north-bound. We should be passing the eastern part of St. Lawrence Island tomorrow, and up through the straights to Barrow. I hear the Bering Straights are a good place to pick up auklets, I just hope we go through them when there is light!

I mentioned the weather was crummy today, and it is getting worse. House-sided waves (depending on your social-status) have bombarded the boat. They have built to steady 15 footers, with some reaching 25ft. Nothing this boat can't handle, though. Should be fun trying to sleep tonight!

Storms, Albatross, and Passerines

If you have been paying attention to the ship's course, you will see we haven't moved far. We (i.e. people who are in charge) have decided to make a run for safe waters between two storms that are brewing in the Bering Sea. They are spaced apart so we should miss the worst of it, but things are bound to get ugly for a bit. I promise I'll take video of the nasty waves and swells we encounter from the bridge as they crash over the front of the boat (pre or post vomit).

Birds were slow yesterday, but marine mammals put in an appearance, the first ones of the trip thus far.  7 Dall's Porpoise and 1 Pacific White-Sided Dolphin were in attendance.

Birds today were awesome! I didn't officially survey too much since we sat on station for the better part of the day, but there were a lot of birds around and I thought it would behoove me to sit and watch anyway. Boy am I glad I did! First great bird was a Black-footed Albatross that flew by shortly after I decided not to bring my camera up to the bridge. That prompted me to grab the camera and head back up. Shortly after, I noticed a passerine flitting below. Turned out to be a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch that has stuck around all day, and even flew into the bridge. I caught him when he was banging around the glass and let him go outside. A Pine Sisken briefly joined him on deck before departing.

A splash of color to brighten up an overcast day!

Another excellent bird really got me going. I noticed a giant white and black seabird uber far away. I knew it was a Laysan Albatross by the size and white/black pattern, but it was so damn far! I made the mistake of putting the bins down and reaching for the camera and lost the bird. Frantically pacing the boat looking for any Albatross-like bird, I noticed a black and white seabird floating far ahead of the front of the boat. It finally got up, and this time I could ID it. I even managed to take a few really crummy pictures, but the features are there. Needless to say, it was frustratingly far, but I'll take it.



A veeeeeeeeery distant Laysan Albatross



It is surprising to me the number of dark Shearwaters still out in the waters. I only could ID a few as Sooty, and the rest were left as Unidentified Dark Shearwater. I also saw a couple flocks of small dark, portly alcids that HAD to be Crested Auklets, but I couldn't get any field marks on them. Size, shape, color and geographic location all point to Crested.

As I type, we are nearing Unimak Pass, but it will be too dark to see anything. Here is to hoping tomorrow produces the Auklets!

P.S. I'm working on figuring out how to post pictures from this secure network. Keep checking back.

EDIT: I figured it out. The pics must be kept small due to bandwidth restrictions, so I may add some nicer ones when I'm back on land.

A Storm is Brewing

For those weather geeks out there who have been keeping up with the Alaskan weather, you've probably seen the "hurricane force wind" warning for the Bering Sea region. Luckily, no one on board wants to experience 30-40ft seas, so we are hanging out around the Aleutians until the storm passes.

I surveyed for a little over 2.5 hours today, and was rewarded with my lifer Fork-tailed Storm Petrel, actually a handful of them. The most common bird has been Northern Fulmar. I also have tallied all 3 scoters, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous Gull, and not much else. Diversity is still somewhat low, but I hope that will change when we get up near the Bering.

More soon-David

Where I am, and Where I'll be

Many of you know I'll be doing a winter seabird/marine mammal observer position in Alaska from now until near Christmas. What you may not know is exactly where I'll be. Well, it just so happens you can follow my every move aboard the USCGC Healy with a few WWW links.

This first webpage puts up a picture every hour of where the boat is. Basically, you see what the ship is seeing at that time. It is pretty neat. As I type this, it is sitting in Seward, my destination for tomorrow.

http://mgds.ldeo.columbia.edu/healy/reports/aloftcon/2011/

This second link tracks where the ship is using the boat's navigation system. You can follow me every hour and know exactly where the boat is. My journey will take me from Seward, through the Bering Sea, and into the Chukchi, so it could be fun to keep up with.

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=NEPP

I leave for Seward tomorrow. It appears I will slow, although usable internet service for the entire trip, and a lot of down time, which may result in some pretty entertaining blog posts. Stay tuned.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley

...is amazing! One week just wasn't enough time to see everything, as new birds and butterflies were seen every day. I landed in Mcallen on the evening of October 23rd and left on October 30th. I ended the trip with 160 species of birds and 93 species of kaleidoscopically colored butterflies, with a few species of dragonflies and moths as well. I visited all the typical birding spots from South Padre to Salineno. Truth be told, I spent way more time looking at butterflies than birds; the butterfly diversity down there, especially in winter, is nothing short of spectacular. I failed in the bird photography category, as I had my macro lens on most of the time to shoot butterflies.

It was quite easy to locate the Rio Grande specialty birds like Green Jay, Kiskadee, Olive Sparrow, ect. Most of the birds can be found at various feeders.

Although I didn't see anything "rare", I was quite pleased with finding singing Audubon's Orioles at Salineno. Another spectacle to watch was this Ringed Kingfisher take a huge fish and beat it against the tree until it died, then managed to choke it down! I didn't think it would be possible.

At South Padre Island, herons and shorebirds were the name of the game. Surprisingly, it took a while to find a Reddish Egret, but I did. Then, at Laguna Atascosa they were everywhere. Also nice was this confiding Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get my Common Pauraque, as I didn't want to go out alone driving back roads at night. Talking to some of the very knowledgeable local birders led me to Estero Llano Grande State Park. A Pauraque is known to roost in the same spot daily, so it was quite an easy find. I'm pretty sure I got better photos with my Iphone.

Estero also is a great spot for Green Kingfisher, and this is where I picked the only one up for the trip. I also got my life Cave Swallows there. 3 lifers in a matter of an hour sure was nice!

Mcallen holds a reliable staging spot for Green Parakeets in the vicinity of 10th street and Dove. They were not hard to find.

Here is a list of the 17 life birds I picked up on the trip:
Plain Chachalaca
White-tipped Dove
Green Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Couch's Kingbird
Green Jay
Clay-colored Thrush
Long-billed Thrasher
Olive Sparrow
Altamira Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
Reddish Egret
Common Pauraque
Green Parakeet
Great Kiskadee
Cave Swallow

I spent a lot more time looking at butterflies than I did birds. My first full day, and my last full day were spent entirely at the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. The first day was the annual butterfly count, where I had a crash course in 65 species of butterflies at the gardens alone! Jeff Glassberg, along with all the other sharp butterfly observers really helped get me on my feet, especially with the skippers. I stopped by the gardens every day except when I went to South Padre, and every day held a different host of species. 93 species for the trip was quite exciting. Below are some pictures you may enjoy.

Nothing says "tropical" quite like the Guava Skipper. This one photographed at Estero Llano

My first unusual butterfly of the trip came quite quickly in the form of a Coyote Cloudywing. This one at the NBC.

 

Gray Crackers were hard to come by, but this one flushed from a bait log, blowing its cover. Photographed at the NBC.

 

Wouldn't want to leave out the showy Mexican Bluewing, quite common in the shaded woods in the LRGV. This one at the NBC.

Another rare species, the Mercurial Skipper, put on quite a show at the NBC for our count. These are strays from Mexico.

 

Hairstreaks were hard to come by due to the drought, but this Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak displayed quite nicely.

One of the best butterflies of the trip, in my opinion, was this Pale-spotted Leafwing, a new species in NA even for Glassberg. This guy showed up for only ~5 minutes on count day and was never seen again.

I was happy to see this White Angled-Sulphur on count day, one I wasn't sure I would see. This was the only one seen the entire trip.

 

When they are around, the Red-bordered Pixie is hard to miss! The NBC is a great place to see this species, active mostly in the morning and evening.

It would be crazy not to mention the longtails. 5 species were seen. The White-striped Longtail was a treat.

Brown Longtail is a little more drab, but still exciting. The similar Teleus Longtail is mentioned to be common in the Kaufman guide, but all the experienced butterfly people say it is actually extremely rare, with only a handful of legitimate records. I did not see any this trip, which isn't surprising.

Here is a complete list of the butterflies seen on the trip, in no particular order:

Monarch

Queen

Soldier

Red-bordered Pixie

Phaon Crescent

Pearl Crescent

Vesta Crescent

Gulf Fritillary

Mexican Fritillary

Varigated Fritillary

Ceraunus Blue

Cassius Blue

Western Pygmy Blue

Rekirt's Blue

Mallow Scrub Hairstreak

Gray Hairstreak

Marius Hairstreak

American Snout

Clouded Skipper

Fiery Skipper

Brown Longtail

Dorante's Longtail

Long-tailed Skipper

White-Striped Longtail

Tawny Emperor

Empress Lilea

Little Yellow

Mimosa Yellow

Southern Skipperling

Red Admiral

Lyside Sulphur

Southern Dogface

Pipevine Swallowtail

Bordered Patch

Tropical Checkered Skipper

Coyote Cloudywing

Carolina Satyr

Large Orange Sulphur

White Peacock

Southern Broken Dash

Mexican Bluewing

Laviana White Skipper

Common Buckeye

Sachem

White Checkered Skipper

Common Sootywing

Fatal Metalmark

Turk's Cap Skipper

Julia Skipper

Hammock Skipper

Gray Cracker

Zebra Heliconia

Giant Swallowtail

Tropical Leafwing

Whirlabout

American Lady

Painted Lady

Euphala Skipper

Murcurial Skipper

Cloudless Sulphur

Great Southern White

Pale-Spotted Leafwing

Common Mellana

White-Angled Sulphur

Hermit Skipper

Gold Spotted Aguna

Statira Sulphur

Celias Roadside Skipper

Sickle-winged Skipper

Red-bordered Metalmark

Pale-rayed Skipper

Funereal Duskywing

Dainty Sulphur

Many-banded Daggerwing

Purple-washed Skipper

Walker's Metalmark

Dusky-blue Groundstreak

Boisduval's Yellow

Mimosa Skipper

Rounded Metalmark

Clytie Ministreak

Zilpa Longtail

Fawn-spotted Skipper

Mazan's Scallopwing

Ocola Skipper

Mournful Duskywing

Guava Skipper

Silver-banded Hairstreak

Violet-banded Skipper

Band-celled Sister

White-patched Skipper

Sleepy Orange

Tailed Orange

I have many more pictures of the butterflies, but just not enough time to edit them all. I leave for Alaska on Friday. I will be doing a 6 week winter seabird observing position aboard the USCGC Healy Icebreaker. The route takes us from Seward, through Unimak Pass, through the Bearing Sea, into the Chukchi Sea, back through the Bearing Sea, with disembarkment in Dutch Harbor. It is uncertain what I will see out there, given the time of year and the minimal daylight hours, but it is sure to be exciting!