Catalina Island

Brown Pelican

On Wednesday Doran and I took part in an excursion to Catalina Island. Our pick-up time wasn’t until 8:20 am so we had some time to kill after breakfast, and I immediately suggested walking up to the security gate again to check out the swamp. We saw the usual White-cheeked Pintails in the pool again, as well as three more in the swamp. Antillean Palm-swifts were flitting through the air, and large flocks of white egrets were flying toward the coast – I couldn’t tell if they were Snowy Egrets or Great Egrets, but it was amazing to see so many. There were probably between 15 and 30 in each flock, with at least four or five flocks flying over.

Costa Rica, Day 3: An Early Morning Walk

Turquoise-browed Motmot

After our birdwatching excursion on Monday we spent Tuesday relaxing at the resort. Once again I awoke hideously early and slipped out just after dawn to go birding around the resort. I heard the chatter of the parakeets coming from behind our building and headed off in that direction instead of the hummingbird spot. The usual White-winged Doves and Great-tailed Grackles were around, and I heard a couple of Rufous-naped Wrens near the mango trees. In the dead tree by the pool I found about ten Orange-chinned Parakeets perching out in the open.

Beach Birds

Beach Birds

After leaving Corey Billie’s we drove west to Naples, where we easily found the beach. It was crowded with people, which wasn’t surprising given how hot it was. Even so, there were quite a few birds around, including a pair of Snowy Egrets foraging along the water’s edge and several immature Laughing Gulls looking for food scraps amongst the sunbathers. As the gulls were the closest to us, I spent the first couple of minutes watching them. All of them appeared to be immature gulls, as none had the black hood of breeding adults; as best as I can tell, they are second-winter gulls with a gray back, smudgy grayish wash along the sides of the breast, and a long, black, rectangular spot behind the eye.

Alberta 2012: A Day of Rain

American White Pelican

I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain. It wasn’t a nice, light rain either, but a steady downpour as heavy as it was unrelenting. This did not bode well for my plans to go birding and bug-hunting with April and her 8-year-old daughter Hope after lunch, and I wished I could send the clouds to eastern Ontario which badly needed the rain. (Edmonton, as it turns out, did not; the rain resulted in flooding in parts west of the city which we noticed the following day on our drive out to Jasper.)

By the time Doran and I were ready to go out for breakfast, the rain had lightened considerably. The magpies were in their usual spot in the grass along Broadmoor Boulevard, and they didn’t seem to pleased with the weather, either.