Archive for August, 2007

Quito Day I

August 31st, 2007

An excellent couple of flights from Tucson to Quito yesterday, and a nice walk in the park with Nancy this morning. It’s always nice to have a ’soft’ introduction to an exotic locale, and we came across a nice but unintimidating mix of Ecuadorean birds to get us started. Great Thrushes and Eared Doves fed […]

Soon!

August 30th, 2007

They won’t exactly meet my plane when I land in Quito tonight, but it should be just a few short hours before we’re out among the ant-thrushes, cotingas, jacamars, puffbirds, and toucans. And live ones at that!

Anticipation…

August 29th, 2007

Half a dozen of us gathered yesterday in the University of Arizona bird collections for a show-and-tell session on tropical birds.

It was a chance to admire everything from tinamou eggs to tanagers, and for several of us to prepare ourselves a bit for upcoming visits south.

The big nightjar (a Tawny Frogmouth) doesn’t look much different in […]

MEGA: Jabiru in Mississippi

August 28th, 2007

I’ve just seen diagnostic photos of a Jabiru taken in Isola, Mississippi. I am trying to find out whether the bird is still present and whether the fish ponds are accessible to the public.

Sunflower Co, Mississippi. Photo by Seymour Johnson.
Update: Local landowners have granted permission for birders to watch the ponds from the roads; the […]

MEGA: Brown Hawk-Owl in Alaska

August 28th, 2007

Two Tucson birders discovered North America’s first Brown Hawk-Owl Ninox scutulata on Alaska’s St. Paul Island yesterday afternoon. Good job, Dylan and Jake!