Friday, January 26, 2018

Time is getting short

My time here in La Paz, and here on the Baja is getting very short. In  less than a week from today, Jeanne and I will hook up "Eagle Nest" our 32 foot 5th wheel trailer and start our journey not only north towards the US, but to our future. We plan on taking 5-6 days to make the drive to the Mexico/US border, making a few stops along the way, in some of the areas birding hotspots. In addition, we have been getting some very nasty reports of road conditions that are beyond bad. So, we will go slow, enjoy the drive, smell a few roses along the way. After our world travels, we will be back on the US late July, and with no plan what so ever, begin to truly wander.

The bird count for this year has continued to grow, but at a much slower pace. Wrapping up our work obligations has really cut into the time I have had to go to the field. As of Tuesday night, I am up to 122 species, with quite a few that I had expected to get by now, eluding me. A couple of sparrows, Scotts Oriole and the Ladder-backed Woodpecker, just a name a couple that I hope to get before we are on the road.

A quick trip down to La Ventanna got me a few birds, Loggerhead Shrike, Gray Thrasher, an the Gilded Flicker. Here are a couple pics of the highlights from La Ventanna.

Here is a shot of the Ash-throated Flycatcher from that afternoon


This is the Loggerhead Shrike that flew right up to the truck just as I got out.



This is a Northern Mockingbird...


Not the most common of our woodpecker, it was very nice to see this beautiful Gilded Flicker


This year we have had more Cassin's Kingbirds that I ever remember.





Thursday, January 25, 2018

This weeks post on 10000 Birds

If you get a chance, check out this weeks posting on 10000 Birds.com We had a visit here in La Paz from a pretty rare bird, a Black-throated Magpie Jay. A big blue bird, with an incredible tail.

http://www.10000birds.com/a-flashy-blue-surprise.htm



Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Updated count page

I am dropping in the newest count sheet for my year to date. I will get some of the pics from this last week posted tomorrow. As I had figured, the pace was going to slow a bit after that first day, but it is still growing and there are quite a few basic birds that for some reason have eluded me.

1 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
2 Blue-winged Teal - Spatula discors
3 Cinnamon Teal - Spatula cyanoptera
4 Northern Shoveler - Spatula clypeata
5 American Wigeon - Mareca americana
6 Northern Pintail - Anas acuta
7 Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca
8 Redhead - Aythya americana
9 Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris
10 Lesser Scaup - Aythya affinis
11 Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis
12 California Quail - Callipepla californica
13 Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps
14 Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis
15 Magnificent Frigatebird - Fregata magnificens
16 Brown Booby - Sula leucogaster
17 Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus
18 American White Pelican - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
19 Brown Pelican - Pelecanus occidentalis
20 Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias
21 Great Egret - Ardea alba
22 Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
23 Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea
24 Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor
25 Reddish Egret - Egretta rufescens
26 Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
27 Green Heron - Butorides virescens
28 Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax
29 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - Nyctanassa violacea
30 White Ibis - Eudocimus albus
31 White-faced Ibis - Plegadis chihi
32 Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura
33 Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
34 Harris's Hawk - Parabuteo unicinctus
35 Zone-tailed Hawk - Buteo albonotatus
36 Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis
37 Ridgway's Rail - Rallus obsoletus
38 American Coot - Fulica americana
39 Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus
40 American Avocet - Recurvirostra americana
41 American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus
42 Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
43 Wilson's Plover - Charadrius wilsonia
44 Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
45 Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus
46 Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
47 Long-billed Curlew - Numenius americanus
48 Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa
49 Sanderling - Calidris alba
50 Dunlin - Calidris alpina
51 Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla
52 Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri
53 Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus
54 Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius
55 Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
56 Willet - Tringa semipalmata
57 Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes
58 Bonaparte's Gull - Chroicocephalus philadelphia
59 Heermann's Gull - Larus heermanni
60 Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis
61 Western Gull - Larus occidentalis
62 Yellow-footed Gull - Larus livens
63 Gull-billed Tern - Gelochelidon nilotica
64 Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia
65 Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri
66 Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus
67 Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger
68 Rock Pigeon - Columba livia
69 Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
70 Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina
71 White-winged Dove - Zenaida asiatica
72 Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura
73 Greater Roadrunner - Geococcyx californianus
74 Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus
75 Costa's Hummingbird - Calypte costae
76 Xantus's Hummingbird - Hylocharis xantusii
77 Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon
78 Gila Woodpecker - Melanerpes uropygialis
79 Gilded Flicker - Colaptes chrysoides
80 Crested Caracara - Caracara cheriway
81 American Kestrel - Falco sparverius
82 Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus
83 Gray Flycatcher - Empidonax wrightii
84 Black Phoebe - Sayornis nigricans
85 Vermilion Flycatcher - Pyrocephalus rubinus
86 Ash-throated Flycatcher - Myiarchus cinerascens
87 Cassin's Kingbird - Tyrannus vociferans
88 Western Kingbird - Tyrannus verticalis
89 Loggerhead Shrike - Lanius ludovicianus
90 California Scrub-Jay - Aphelocoma californica
91 Common Raven - Corvus corax
92 Horned Lark - Eremophila alpestris
93 Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Stelgidopteryx serripennis
94 Verdin - Auriparus flaviceps
95 Cactus Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
96 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea
97 California Gnatcatcher - Polioptila californica
98 Gray Thrasher - Toxostoma cinereum
99 Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos
100 European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
101 American Pipit - Anthus rubescens
102 Phainopepla - Phainopepla nitens
103 Orange-crowned Warbler - Oreothlypis celata
104 Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
105 Yellow-rumped Warbler - Setophaga coronata
106 Brewer's Sparrow - Spizella breweri
107 Black-throated Sparrow - Amphispiza bilineata
108 Lark Sparrow - Chondestes grammacus
109 Lark Bunting - Calamospiza melanocorys
110 Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis
111 Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis
112 Pyrrhuloxia - Cardinalis sinuatus
113 Lazuli Bunting - Passerina amoena
114 Yellow-headed Blackbird - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
115 Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus
116 Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus
117 Brown-headed Cowbird - Molothrus ater
118 Brewer's Blackbird - Euphagus cyanocephalus
119 House Finch - Haemorhous mexicanus
120 House Sparrow - Passer domesticus

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

10000 Birds story

My every Wednesday story posted on 10000 Birds.com this morning, so just in case you missed it, here is a link. It has some very nice pictures and story about Conquista Agraria, and the birds of the Pacific side of the southern Baja. Here is the link  Click here




Tuesday, January 9, 2018

The first week is in the books.

Jeanne and I had a great run over to the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja, to Conquista Agraria Sunday morning. We had a beautiful day, light breeze, 82-84 degrees, and bright sunshine. 

I was a bit disappointed by the shorebirds that I was able to find, but the desert species close to the shoreline did not fail to show up. I added 7 more birds to the list, putting my first week at a very respectable 116 species!

The new birds that got on the list, were:

Horned Lark

California Quail

Loggerhead Shrike

Western Gull

Northern Cardinal

Gray Thrasher

Black-throated Sparrow (see below)



This is the local endemic Gray Thrasher



This is a quite unusual bird, inn that I rarely ever get to see one. This is the Large-billed Savannah Sparrow.





Monday, January 8, 2018

Still plugging away

So far, I have made it out birding to some greater or lesser degree every day this first week of 2018. The list is still growing but will certainly be hard to match that break neck speed of the first day. At the end of Saturday night, I stand at 109 species.

Jeanne and I are going to make a run over to the Pacific side of the Baja, to Conquista Agraria. This should yield both some of the shorebirds missing from my list as well as a few desert species.

Much of my time this week has been close in, near the marina. Here are a few of the birds I have found along the water front of La Paz

Tri-colored Heron



White Ibis



Whimbrel



Snowy Egret




Thursday, January 4, 2018

Here is the list so far

I had a request (Thanks Ruth) for a peak at the actual list of birds I have seen so far!  So, here it is. I will add this in here every now. I am copying this from my eBird.org posting. This will show them in traditional listing order not by date or location.


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