In Search of Rarities

Wow...the last few weeks has been a bonanza of great birds not too far from home. Some brave souls and good friends and I have made runs to see the great offerings in New Hampshire and Massachusetts of late. A Northern Hawk Owl had been consistently seen in mid-NH so we headed out for what ended up being a 600 mile day. The owl was right where we had hoped and gave us fine opportunity for good photos.

After spending some time with the magnificent owl, we headed off to surrounding towns in search of fruit trees that might be host to another northern visitor, the Bohemian Waxwing. With some adept spotting from the back seat, we located a flock of about 30 of the buff beauties.

We then made a dash to Gloucester in search of one of two Ivory Gulls in Massachusetts, but had little time and struck out in the dwindling light.

The following week, our Sachuest Point trip took a detour to Plymouth for the second Ivory Gull, and were lucky enough to find the bird waiting for us when we pulled into the parking lot, on the pier, in the middle of town. This bird is outstanding! A delicate, white whisp, traveling the seas in search of whale carcasses. How cool is that!

Published Book

I recently finished creating a photo and narrative book for Connecticut Audubon's trip to Churchill for the annual Polar Bear migration. If you would like to preview it and perhaps even purchase a copy, click on this link. I trust that you will enjoy it!

Link to Polar Bear Book: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/548793

Another Great Arkansas Adventure

Little known Arkansas really is an untapped birding location in the winter with its great sparrow collection, thousands of geese and ducks, and impressive tracts of bottomland woods. The area where we spent much of our time was an 1,800-acre tract along the White River, best known for its recent Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings. The impressive trees are enough to keep one entertained in addition to the four-wheeling mud holes, outstanding number of woodpeckers (mostly Pileated and Red-bellied ...eight species total), and warm, friendly, and welcoming people.

This location is not on many peoples' top ten list of places to go, but one might want to reconsider. And there is always the chance that you might see...you know...The Bird!

Arkansas Birding

Well I have not had much Internet access or the energy to write since our days have been long and full of active birding. Our first three days were constant rain, the second two freezing rain that created a half inch coating of ice every surface.

Despite the weather we have seen some great birds including killer views of both Leconte's and Henslow's Sparrows, thousands of geese (many Ross's Goose), and incredible numbers of woodpeckers. If I saw the Ivory-billed, I would not say for fear of loosing all my credibility, the small bit that I might have.

We are headed back up towards Little Rock today. I hope to post more tonight.

Thanks for reading.

AG

Adventuring Again in Arkansas
Well known for the last five years are the reports of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Arkansas. We have been coming here for the last three years. Certainly one doesn't expect an audience with the famed bird, but just seeing where it lives, or once lived, is special enough. Our privileged group of four will spend the next six days in the land of legend, tupelo and cypress bottom lands, a place of impressive beauty, a starkness that parallels in it's poetic richness the tundra of the Arctic and the grasslands of the Serengeti. We will let the bird find us, if we are deemed worthy.

After a half day of travel, we headed north of Little Rock to take in some special birds, some that are not seen very often by many birders. Trumpeter Swans have been long time listed on the endangered species list and considered uncommon except locally. For the last fifteen years or so there has been a group of trumpeters that spends its winters in northern Arkansas on a small lake near Heber Springs, offering visitors high quality, close-up looks at this largest of North American waterfowl; truly an impressive bird with what also may be the largest bird feet in North America.

The swans were not the only treat, but the close looks at Ring-necked Duck and Bufflehead were some of the best one could wish for. Multiple species of duck, geese, sparrow, and woodpeckers will be the norm over the coming days. I hope you will enjoy the adventure with us.

Cheers,

AG

Tundra (foreground) and Trumpeter Swans

Home Again
After two good days of travel, lost luggage, delayed luggage, flight changes, and all that makes travel what it is, we all are basking in the afterglow of our wonderful adventure.

With 37 bears one day on the tundra, 20 plus on another, Arctic Fox, Willow and Rock Ptarmigan, Snowy Owl, Spruce Grouse, and Common Ravens galore, one must say that the wildlife certainly was all that we had hoped. Our sled dog experience was superb, the two young boys very pleased that they got to ride the snow machine too.

The food was great as was the service in Churchill. Pat, our local guide, was, as always, the king pin of our trip. Above all, the travelers were a wonderful collection of interesting people, resulting in much stimulating conversation, endless humor, and moments of great delight. I wish we were all still there! I will miss each one of them (you) but trust that we will be together again in the near future. Thanks to all for being such patient, kind, easy to please participants, and good friends.

Cheers,
Andy

The Bear

Tony and Pattsy

Tony

Sam "Little Dog"

Sam and Gray Jay

Paul

Pattsy and Chuck

Pat "The Fearless Guide"

Marilou and Charmagne

Marilou

Linda

Joan

Hatsy

George

Duke and George

Duke

Delice

The Chirico Family

Charmagne

Alex and Sam

Alex

Yours truly,

Andrew

Departure from Churchill
There always comes an end to a great trip and this one was and is particularly sad. Our superb local leader Pat Rouseau took us to the airport, stopping along the way at my request so we could make a presentation and let him know of how we appreciated his tireless efforts, incredibly interesting wealth of knowledge, and unequalled kind ways. A trip to Churchill without Pat would be half the experience. We all are privileged to have witnessed this incredible migration of the world's largest land carnivore and to have spent time with Pat.

We had a great Farewell Dinner in Winnipeg, including kind words from travelers, and my deepest appreciation to the travelers for their great spirit, patience, and for being such interesting people with which to be. I hope we will all be able to get together again for another adventure.

More will come to this blog with a trip summary and photos. Eventually a book of the photos will be available on line.

Thanks for reading the blog and thanks to all the families of the travelers for sharing loved ones with us. We hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure and will perhaps be able to join us next time yourselves.

Cheers,

Andy









Our Great Group!
Back Row: Duke, George, and Paul
Middle Row: Delice, Joan, Charmagne, Linda, Marilou, Pattsy, and Chuck
Front Row: Alex, Hatsy, Sam, Andy, Pat, and Tony

Bears and a Sun Bonus

Every trip to Churchill one hopes they will get at least some time with sun and bears, giving the best chance at good photos. Well we lucked out with more than a few hours both yesterday and today.

Hatsy M.

We were out on the tundra by 830AM and you could tell the sun had a good chance of breaking through and giving us that all so desired low angle light that makes photos good photos even better.
It wasn't just bears but a flock of about 40 Willow Ptarmigan flew right up to the rover and hung by for about 10 minutes allowing for photos and giving us a great listen to their what can only be described as a "really weird" call. The only way I think of telling you what it sounds like is perhaps frogs trying to do a rap song. Click below to listen: www.kiwifoto.com/galleries/birds/willow_ptarmigan


Regretfully, we leave here tomorrow and back to Winnipeg. We may have few moments in the morning for a little scanning of Hudson Bay and the surrounding tundra and then off to the airport for the 3 hour flight.

Everyone is tired but happy.

More tomorrow.

AG











Bear Behavior: making prints, sitting, sniffing, rolling, and sleeping.