jdbirch

Speyer has the tech museum that's a dandy, and particularly if you're a war buff. Heidelberg castle is not so hot. Stop in at the cathedral in H-berg and check out if one of the students is giving an organ concert, usually around noon.

We're booked for this cruise in November with 4 friends, maybe more - Be real specific with what you liked. Viking does a great job (just finished cruise#3 in the tulips last month), but what you do in your free afternoons is what really counts.

Birding through the Panama Canal – Azamara Quest, Jan 5-17, 2014. Miami to San Jose, CR

Stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn a couple miles from the airport, and up early for the vultures, kestrel ,starlings, Blue Jay, grackle, Mourning Dv, Ring Billed Gull in the field behind the hotel. Laughing/Ringbill/Herringl gulls off the ship, Royal Tern, Double crested and Neotropic Cormorants both, soaring Black Vultures.

Nothing across the water, until we got about 30 miles offshore from Cartagena, when the Brown and Masked Boobies started riding the air currents around the ship and diving on injured /stunned fish.

Cartagena: hook a ride on one of the shuttles to the visitor center behind the Duty Free at the end of the dock, or walk it – a good quarter mile on the hot concrete. There is a couple of acres of woods behind, a beer stand out front for when you get dehydrated birding, and internet access – 5 bucks for 2 hours. The woods had 3kinds of parrots, grackles, some kind of chicken sized Tinnamou?, brown throated parakeet flock, keel-billed toucans, Macaws, some kind of sparrow sized bird I never got a good look at, a flock of flamingos with a Double Stripe Thickknee hanging around. Last time I had a spotted Woodpecker pair to watch. There’s a cage of off limits birds – this time a Ring necked Pheasant, a few Black bellied Whistling Ducks, more thickknees, and a great orange bird that I forget…. Bring a couple of rolls from breakfast to use for bait – they put out some fruit for the toucans and parrots. Peer under the bushes. Develop a rhythm – go through the woods slowly, have a 2 dollar beer in a shady chair facing your bait, then repeat. A couple of hours of this, and you’ll be good. Down by the water, you’ll generally see mangrove swallows and some swifts.

Panama Canal: both vultures and Frigate Birds, Brown Pelicans, some parakeets, Great tail grackles, half a dozen swallows (Mangrove, Purple Martins, Gray, Rough winged). Snowy Egret, great blue heron, Black crowned night heron, little blue heron, 8 white pelicans soaring over Gatun Lake, some kind of medium hawk hovering, a yellow head Caracara, and a lot of pigeons with not one single dove in there. Saw all of these hanging over the rail (veranda room). In Panama City: another Yell Caracara, social flycatcher, boat bill flycatcher, tropical kingbird, reddish egret, both pelicans, frigates soaring, both vultures, grackles, Laughing Gulls. Had some King Vultures last time….

Golfrito: not bad birding. Up early and got flycatchers and swallows off the balcony, a couple of egrets, one lonely flyby of a big Ringed Kingfisher, and the usual grackles and doves. Walked down to the end of the pier, through the fence, and up the road a hundred yards to a two tracks going to the left down to a creek. The creek had Black Vultures and another Yell Caracara picking up scraps. I scared up a Bare necked Tiger Heron next to the road at a distance of 15 feet, had a variated Seedeater perched on the fence, and was passed several times by Cherie’s Tanagers flying around. Heard several birds in the bushes, but no luck pishing, etc.

Quepos: tour of Manuel Antonio Park with knowledgeable guides. Saw the camo frogs, a hummingbird nest with 2 young, a Buff-Throated Saltator, a Pygmy Kingfisher near the pond, then when we were having a little snack, I looked up and a Hoffman’s Woodpecker landed on a dead palm stump. Not bad…. All the official guides are college grads and pretty good – the official tours will bring a spotting scope.

Birding the Christmas Markets on the Rhine: Viking Jarl, Dec 6, 2013

Weather crummy – foggy, cold, drizzly; dark early. Did spend a couple hours in parks, kept my eye to the sky and my ears open.

Spent a couple of days in Amsterdam beforehand. Common Gull (Mew), Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed, Merlin, Wood Pigeon (all over) Greater Cormorant, Grey Heron, Jackdaw, Mallard, Coot, Rock Dove, Great Crested Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Rosy-ringed Parakeet (in trees along the canal cruise).

Kinderdjik: Cormorant, Common/Black-headed/Lesser Blackback/Herring Gulls, Great crested Grebe, Barnacle/Graylag/ Pink-footed Goose, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Coot, Gadwall, Mallard, Goshawk, Grey Heron, Magpie, Wood Pigeons in most trees.

Cologne: add a Shag to the above, as well as the usual city birds

Rhine towns: Mute Swans becoming common, heard a Tit but couldn’t find. Great Tits at Marksburg Castle. Only Blue Tit of the trip in Heidelberg, Nuthatch in Heidelberg

Speyer: Common Stork(!), Willow Tit, Raven, Carrion Crow, the only Starlings and House Sparrows of the trip.

Breisach: wake in the fog, surrounded by Mute Swans and Black-headed Gulls at a distance of 5 feet.

Post-trip: Marsh Tit in Rothenburg, Nuthatch in Rothenburg.

This is coming in real handy, as I'm going through the Canal on the Azamara Quest in early January. Sent an email to these contacts - will see how it turns out.

Just got back from the Rhine Christmas Markets cruise, have to go through the records. But it gives a birder the opportunity to say "In spite of the cold weather, there were pairs of Great Tits all over the place". And Willow Tits and Marsh Tits, too - no Blue Tits.

That being said - spent a week at the Canopy Tower in Panama in April. 117 lifers for under 20 bucks a bird. Fun time, so much that I might go again next year! Even if I only get 20-30 more (at a hundred bucks a bird!)....

Birding from the Coral Princess, through the Panama Canal in February 2013

Took a couple of days to go down to the Keys, just in case Colorado decided to have a blizzard on the day of our plane ride. Decent trip, nothing spectacular, but loaded with Ruddy Turnstones.

Boarded the Coral Princess in Fort Lauderdale, warmed up the bins, and saw a Magnificent Frigatebird without having to take the boat trip to the Dry Tortugas again. As usual, no birds crossing the Caribbean to Aruba...

On Aruba, caught a taxi to the Bobali Bird Preserve (if the taxi driver doesn't know where it is, it's across from the big windmill on the west coast), a 20 buck ride. Eared Dove, Sooty Tern, White-cheeked Pintail, Neotropic Cormorant, Smooth Ani, Bald eyed Pigeon, Moorhens and Green Herons all over, Tropical Mockingbirds, and a bunch of the usual. Last time, I had parakeets.... You can pick up a taxi at the resort next to the Preserve, or just wave one down in the road. Back aboard the ship, and got Masked and Brown Booby just off the shore.

Cartagena: since the last time I was there, they've added a visitor center at the end of the pier that has a pretty extensive park behind it. I was intending to investigate the wetlands across the road, but this was good enough. Prothonotary Warblers all over, Toucan, Common Ground Dove, Social Flycatchers common, Great Kiskadee, Violet green Swallow, Mangrove Swallow near the harbor. They have a cage of captive migrants, featuring a trio of Rose breasted Grosbeaks. I develop a method, roam through the park for about 20 minutes, then buy a beer for 2 bucks and sit in a chair on the patio in the shade facing the woods and rehydrating myself. On one of these occasions, a Spot-breasted Woodpecker lands on a tree right in front of me, distance 20 feet! Repeat the circuit about 3 times, then back to the boat. Spotted in the harbor: Gray backed Swift, Frigate, Bridled Tern, and I think a Fleshy Shearwater off the coast.

Panama Canal: Hanging over the rail watching the trees go by, and spotting Black Guan, Crimson-collared Tanager, Yellow Caracara, Capped Heron, Swallow-tailed Kite. Frigate birds surround the ship picking up tidbits from the water, and I learn a lot about how hard it is to id swallows on the fly. Got excited once, since I was really looking for a Amazon Kingfisher, but it proved to be a Ringed. Inspected about 10 thousand nice Kingfisher limbs overhanging the water... Did see a Zone-tailed Kite soaring and a Bare-throated Tiger Heron working the weeds, and that was good enough. Out of the Canal about 3 o'clock, and spot Brown and Blue-footed Booby at sea.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica: Really looking forward to this, since I've booked a trip up the river by boat, then a stop at the Macaw Sanctuary. The guide on the boat called Dowitchers “Sandpipers”, so it looks like I'm on my own for the boat trip. Lot of herons, egrets, whimbrel, but I only add Collared Plover and Slaty Flycatcher to the life list. Off to the Sanctuary: Rufous naped Wren right off the bat, Scarlet Macaw (the ones in Cartagena were captives), Boat-billed Flycatcher, Dusky capped Flycatcher, Ruddy Ground Dove, white-winged Doves. Clay-colored Robin (now thrush) all over – since it took me three trips to Texas to see ONE, I was impressed. I checked with the director of the Sanctuary, and he clued me on to the hummingbird spot, so I added Beryl-crown Hbird to my total. Only 60 more hbirds to get in Costa Rica.... Be nice if you could get a little more guiding, but the director is busy leading the group of non-birders around. He still gets a nice tip for buying bird food, anyway. Best spot: the little stream – hang out there and wait. Most fun: watching the Macaws stealing food. You get a nice snack of fresh great tasting fruit. I get a Protein bar, since I'm diabetic! There is an extensive bunch of vendors and beach bars along the coast, so I wander along looking at the trees and the doves on the ground and sampling the local brews. White-winged and Ruddy Ground doves, tropical flycatcher on every wire in town.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: Pull into port and get to watch 3 King Vultures soaring over the hills. No tour here, since all they offer is a two hour bus ride over crappy roads to get badgered for two hours by street salesmen, then a two hour bus ride back. There was one tour to a ecology place, but it was sold out. So – take the tender ashore (warning: steep narrow stairs, so no handicapped allowed), through the vendors, and into the town. There's only 2-3 streets paralleling the beach, so go to the back one next to the hills, and wander along for a half mile or so. I never felt in danger, and I'm pretty savvy (worked in Detroit for 35 years...) except from the poor footing and the holes in the sidewalks, so keep an eye out. Spotted Crimson-fronted Parakeet flock, some other parakeet I didn't get a good enough look at, and a Great crested Flycatcher on a wire. There is a Boat-billed Flycatcher building a nest half way up the cellular tower that was fun to watch lugging grass, and the beach was full of terns and gulls to inspect. Back on the boat, being tempted by the embrodiered T-shirts for 10 bucks and stopping at the rum-tasting test for some 8 year old Flora de Cana. Chase that down with a couple of beers from the vendors to avoid dehydration, and back on the boat.

At sea: Brown and Masked Booby again, and some Western Gulls pulling into Cabo San Lucas. Remember: if you can see fishing boats, there's birds around. I had found a birding guide in Cabo, but she was doing the Whale watching excursion first. Since the excursion was done at 10:30 and the ship left at 2, that wasn't going to work out, although she was willing to try. Keep an eye out for the sea lions sitting on the fishing boats in the marina. If you've got more time in port, try

Tel: 52+(624)144-3539

Cel: (624)129-8701

Skype: maria.elena.muriel1

Web: birding-loscabos.com

jdbirch had the right idea -- just the wrong spelling.

 

http://birdingpal.org is a great place to start, listing local birders willing to give information or take you out for the day. Lower down on each location's page they have links to local birding societies, publications, and even bird guides who charge for their services.

 

Good luck and happy birding!

Sorry about the bad spell job. A lot of links in birding pal are expired. I try to look up the local birding organizations and call their president or something. The Christmas Bird Count is online, and contains the email addresses of every group that enters data. Unfortunately, that's usually not where you're going!

I did have one memorable trip out of birding pal - it hooked me up with a gal that did the Breeding Bird Atlas for a couple parks on the outskirts of London, and we just went around doing the census. That cost me a beer at a country pub (where a Golden Pheasant walked across the lawn), for a grand total of about a quarter a lifer!

jdbirch, please let us know how your Audubon led tour goes.We will be in St. Thomas in May. I'd love to go birding! Thanks. :D

Birding on the Celebrity Summit February 25 out of San Juan

San Juan: booked a tour to the rain forest. Saw the usual Zenaida Doves, Gray Kingbirds, Frigates, Brown Pelicans, and Carib Grackles all over – as on almost every trip and island. Got a Pearly-eyed Thrasher at the visitor center. Walk along Princesa below the city walls had Hispaniolan Parrots in the trees, Greater Antillean Grackles too.

St Croix: bird to left of pier – open park behind the fort, then along the creek full of trash for a couple of hundred yards until it runs into the hills/ open fields behind the town. Little blue heron, best Yellow-Crowned Night Heron I've ever seen, Spotted Sandpiper, Green throated Carib. Use breakfast rolls to bait in the Z Doves, a gray kingbird (who knew?), pigeons, and a friendly Cattle Egret. Tie points in the harbor had a pair of Brown Boobies, lots of Royal Terns, Lesser Black-backed Gull, a flock of Lesser Terns.

St Kitts: off to the right of the pier you can see an open field that is used for a dumping ground for trash – decent birding, cattle egrets and a pair of lifer Scaly-naped Pigeons, usual others. Then I went inland to Independence Park in front of the Catholic Cathedral and saw more Scaly-napeds, some Z doves and kingbirds, Eurasian-collared doves, and a lone Kestrel atop the broken palm tree.

Dominica: I took the tour to the Emerald Pool. Someone in another group saw parrots passing at the overlook point (it's supposed to be a flyway in the canyon). I baited in some Lesser Antillean Bullfinches at the Emerald Pool visitor center with bread crumbs. Birds heard in forest, but I don't know the local calls. Birded in the park a hundred yards to the right of the ship for an hour or so – the local yellow warbler (with a rufous crown!), house wrens, bananaquits, usual. Carib martins flying over, looking like swifts but not. Wander around a couple of streets, but nothing different. There's supposed to be a bird guide on Dominica, ask Jerry (Grenada) for the name.

Grenada: booked a tour from 8-3 with Anthony Jeremiah (Jerry) Anthony Jeremiah <tonydove200@yahoo.com> Jerry picks me up at the pier, and we're off to Mt. Hartman Park for Grassquits, the elusive Grenada Dove, Cocoa Thrush, Black(!) sp of Bananaquits; then up Mt Williams on a two track that requires 4wd and high clearance to see Antillean Crested Hummingbirds, Rufous Hummingbirds, Broad winged Hawk, Hook-billed Kite, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Merlin, Tropical Mockingbird. Driving around, here's a Green Throated Hummingbird sitting on a branch right beside the road. Off to some ponds near the airport for Yellow-bellied Seedeater, Smooth-billed Ani, Snipe, Blue-winged Teal, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Gallinule(Moorhen), Snowy Egret. Little Egret, Great Blue Heron, and a bunch of the regulars not worth mentioning. 12 lifers in the bunch for one day of birding, and a bonus with the Peregrine Falcon cruising out the window of the cafe in the harbor!

Day at Sea: Brown Boobies and Masked Boobies fly around the ship for 20 minutes or so, and I see a pod of about 20 dolphins/porpoises in mid-Caribbean.

St Thomas: booked a morning of birding with Mario Francis <mfrancis_253@yahoo.com> and we go around the island – the inlet behind the Marine Sciences building on the UVI campus, a couple of hotel ponds near the east end of the airport, and a Salt Pond back in the woods someplace. Mostly the usual and the only new lifer is the White-cheeked Pintail.

San Juan, St. Martin, St. Thomas & Labadee, Haiti. We will dive @ one site and I get to bird (officially) @ one stop. Any recommendations or guides?

Order up a copy (used) of the Birds of the West Indies on Amazon. In San Juan, there are parks all over the Old Town (which is quite pretty) and you can take an excursion to the rain forest (private vendors about 60 dollars). St Martin - there will be an excursion to the top of the mountain and another one that goes around the island or hire your own taxi so you can stop at the salt ponds, too. Haiti - never been, but this is a private cruise ship beach kind of place. There might be an excursion to a park?

1. arrive couple of days early in San Juan, take the rain forest tour, check out the parks in town and near the harbor mouth.

2. St Croix - contact a member of the local Audubon (haven't done that yet) Got the number & name off the Christmas Bird Count data.

3. St Kitt's - 3rd time there; so get out to the Batik factory and do the gardens while the non-birding wife shops. Then the gardens outside of the town.

4. Dominica - take whatever ship tour offers the most jungle

5. Grenada - got a bird tour guide lined up, hope to split that with more birders on board (we always find each other - it's the bins!)

6. St Thomas - got an Audubon guy lined up, he's pretty cheap at $75 and maybe lunch.

Took an excursion through Celebrity that went to a national park and for a couple of walks through the jungle. One of the guides was a local birder (Louis I believe...) and we did ok - dozen or so. Got to see oropendola nests - think orioles the size of crows, nests 6 feet long! Sloths, some monkeys, and a dream shot of leafcutter ants marching along in column - right across the trail. As I was the one who noticed that (everyone else was looking up) I feel proud.

San Juan - if you go in a day or two early, you can catch a tour to the rain forest from any hotel. Take your Golden Eagle pass along for the forts. There's a nice walk around the cliffs. Ferry to Bacardi crosses the harbor and there are a lot of gardens to visit if you stay sort of sober.

St Martin/Maarten - tour the island and visit the ponds, some ship excursions will take you to the "farm" and a rain forest hike. For rain forests, you have to know the local calls to find anything.

book - birds of the West Indies.

Haiti & St Johns - never been there, but head for the parks. On Haiti, I think that's a cruise beach only at Labadee.

Guides: hard to find any, but email the local tourist places and try. You'd think there would be a least one taxi guy that's a birder, wouldn't you? If there was, he could make some good money. (idea for next reincarnation...)

The Azamara Journey goes to the smaller islands - a lot more parky and less party! Although the unlimited wine at meals makes a hard day of birding a lot better....

Birding the Caribbean – November 2010

day 1: checkin and departure, Miami

Turkey Vultures overhead (no blacks), Laughing Gulls, Crows, Brown Pelicans, pigeons

Day 2/3: at sea, never saw anything – looked about an hour a day

Day 4: St Johns, USVI

Brown Pelicans and Frigates in the harbor approaches, Brown Booby at Annenberg beach, a beautiful American Kestrel in a tree about 15 feet away at the sugar mill, Zenaida and Common Ground doves, Pearly Eyed Thrasher at Trunk Bay in the eating areas.

Day 5: Marigot, St Martin

Brown Boobies around the harbor, Frigates in the air, Gray Kingbirds on half the wires in town an around the fort, Caribbean Grackles in the streets, ground doves in the streets. Went to the marina area and spent half an hour – nothing. Went along the back streets of the town (beat up, but safe) – nothing

Day 6: St Kitts

Took the sugar train around the island – gray kingbirds on a lot of wires. Brimstone Hill had a red-tailed hawk and an osprey soaring, nothing pishable in the bushes. Tour stops and shows us a cattle egret rookery on the way back. Mooring points in the harbor: pelicans, brn boobies, royal terns, herring gull, reddish egret. On top deck watching the sail away when a brown noddy carrying a fish was being harassed by a tern – landed on a mooring point and proceeded to eat it!

Day 7: Antigua

Docked at the north pier, so I walked to the south pier, then straight inland a hundred feet or so. There is a field where some of the taxis park, a fenced “playground, sorta” behind it. The fence doesn't go to the water, so go around it and sit on the stairs. To your left, snowy/cattle/great egrets, pelicans, a great blue heron, frigates overhead, terns passing by, an osprey cruising for fish. The land has plentiful kingbirds, Lesser Antillean Bullfinches, Bananaquits, and the occasional warbler (looked like a Barbudan) Zenaida and ground doves fly in and out, and check the tall grasses around the field. Care of the body? There's an ice cream stand right behind you, and a bar another block away if you get thirsty. Off the top deck were a bunch of peeps at too great a range and a belted kingfisher working the shore. Also a big black guy on the workboat that stepped to the rear and took a leak in full view of the passengers (who weren't looking).

The last time I was here I took a field trip to English Harbor – the hill overlooking to the east had a ton of hummers working the flowers in January.

Day 8/9: St Barts

Gray kingbirds on wires all over the island, but that was it on the tour (no stops). I mostly birded near Shell Beach on the south end of Gustavia. Go to the south end of the marina, there's a park, Anglican Church across the street, La Bistro restaurant at the west end of the park. Go up the street across from La Bistro, take the second right at the green shingled house, go to the end of that street at the school, then left to the beach. A block short of the beach across from the school is a field of flowers and a green throated Carib was working the hisbiscus. Take the street up the hill a bit, and theres a parking place overlooking the whole mess of plants. Bananaquits galore, LA Bullfinches, both doves again, kingbirds flying around. Across the road uphill is another productive jungle with the same birds. Pulsating whistles were working the best for pishing. Owner of the parking space drove up while I was there and liked me birding. More B-quits in the park on the way back.

Harbor: second rock out is loaded with brown boobies (look for the whitewash). About 4 oclock the first day (sunset was 5:30) a flock of 40-50 tropic birds returned from the sea on the shore side of the harbor. Finally got one close enough to see a red-billed – not as dark wings as the book indicates, and I think there were maybe a half dozen total. The second day, there were only about 6, but the sprinkling weather was probably a factor.

Day 10: Virgin Gorda, BVI

Nothing seen, and I looked for an hour around the harbor and the Baths. No blooming flowers outside of the nursery.

Day 11/12: at sea

Wasn't counting on anything, but the first day I went up at 6 AM to have my coffee and hang over the back rail contemplating life, when a Masked Booby flew up, soared around the ship for a solid 15 minutes, then dove on a fish!

Already have the common ground dove from South Texas, but the scaly-naped would be nice.... Got a White-Crowned pigeon last January working in the dumpsters behind restaurants in Aruba, hanging out with his cousins. Garbage is always good. A lagoon or two is a good spot, especially fresh water. Love the ducks, no place to hide - not like looking in a rain forest!

Have had some success with birdingpals.com - you can find a local to go around with, plus they know the common birds by quick glance.

Pretty much, just take the excursions that go to the nature preserves and parks. There's sometimes a city park withing walking distance of the cruise ship, just look for a big batch of trees from the top deck. Going to the beach will mostly get you gulls that are picking up the dropped food and not much else. You can also go down the taxi ranks and ask for "who knows the birds?" - once in awhile you'll get lucky! I would test them on that a bit first.

When walking around the cities, I mostly eyeball the area and switch to the cheapo bins from the Swarovskis if I don't like what I see.... I used to live near Detroit, so my instincts are pretty good.

Birds of Europe: Norway Cruise 8/11/2010 – 8/23/2010, plus a day in Copenhagen before and after.

Copenhagen 8/10 -11

Rock dove

Ground dove

Hooded Crow

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Herring gull

Common gull

House Sparrow

Eurasian Collared Dove

Common Swift

Blackheaded Gull

Cormorant

Baltic 8/12 (in Wake of ship)

Gannet

Manx Shearwater

Alesund 8/13

Park below overlook

Chaffinch

Blue Tit

Greater BlackBacked Gull (all around harbor on roofs)

Lesser BlackBacked Gull ditto

Common Eider one on small island in harbor

Green Finch

Greylag Goose (flyover of 2 Vs)

NorthCape at sea 8/14

thousands of Fulmars

Kittiwakes (3 over ship)

Sommoya (fishing village tour from Tromso)

Redshank

Oystercatcher (2)

Ruff

Greylag geese (4)

Rock Pipit (2)

Geiranger

White-tailed Eagle

White Wagtail

more Oystercatchers

Olden

Willow Warbler (hike to glacier)

Bergen:

Great Tit

Ah, nuts.... I tried about 3 ways to get that kmz file in here but couldn't, and cruise critic won't take that format. Oh, well - go all the way to the north end of Norway (North Cape). It's on a pretty big island. The offshore smaller island on the west side is "Bird's Island" - try that.

If you've never done this: load up Google Earth. Move the world to north cape of norway, then zoom way in to see the little cameras - those are pictures from that place. Now find bird island southwest of north cape and click on the pictures. Yep, foggy all right; the cliffs are just loaded with birds and that's one of the cruise tours. Darn good thing I never get seasick, eh?

FeatherFest in two weeks, and I'm getting sick of shoveling snow so it's time!

Wow! Quite a list.

Not good enough - about a hundred bucks a bird, I figure.... I'm going to book a nature trip to Costa Rica one of these days. Frontier flies to San Jose out of Denver decently cheap, and the tours run about a thousand a week, including room, meals and transportation.

Currently, I'm going to Galveston for the FeatherFest in April; then settle in to making a good effort around Colorado, except I might hit the Prairies/Potholes in North Dakota. Maybe one more stab at the Rio Grande Bird Fest in Nov this year (I've gone the last two years..) - still missing the darn Falcon and a bunch of others.

The cruise on Vision of the Seas in August to the Arctic Circle should add about 50 more lifers, I figure. Sure is easier with those water birds - where they gonna hide?

The items in red were added by another birder on the trip, most of which I agree with and forgot to write down.

In USA:

Florida Keys. White Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull.

Tortugas. Frigate bird (first US), Brown Noddy (not seen by Steve)-LB, White rumped sandpiper, royal tern, Burrowing Owl.

Aruba:

White Crowned Pigeon (not by Steve), Wilson's Plover (not by Steve), Brown throated Parakeet, Trop Mockingbird, Bananaquit (not by Steve), Caribbean Coot, Eared Dove – all LB

Rock Dove, Purple Gallinule, Moorhen, Green Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Sora, least grebe. Magnificient Frigate, American Bittern

Cartagena:

Gray Breasted Martin (not by Steve) in air over ship – LB

Colon:(none seen by Steve)

Tyrranies (spelling?), Social Flycatcher, Double toothed Kite, Black Hawk, Keel Billed Toucan, Smooth billed Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, Short tail Swift, Rufous Hummingbird, Blue headed Parrot, Plain brown woodcreeper, Blue Dacnis, Blackpoll Warbler, Slaty Antshrike – all LB

Puerto Limon: (none seen by Steve)

Palm Tanager, Chestnut sided Warbler, Did you see the red winged blackbird we saw at the same time?

Montezuma Oropendola, Scarlet Rump Tanager (now Poulonini's Tanager or something like that), Green breasted Mango Hummingbird, Muscovy duck, Black cheeked Woodpecker, Olivacious Woodcreeper I looked the woodcreeper up and it was a tawny winged woodcreeper – all LB.

Another pair of Purple Gallinule with a chick, tropical Kingbirds all over.

I have added the ones I think we both saw.

Cattle Egret

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Rufous Tailed Hummingbird

Little Hermit Hummingbird

Common Black Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Keelbilled Toucan

Violet green swallow

Swainsons Hawk- light phase. I looked it up in my National Geographic when I got back to the ship.

I think I saw this with the birds I saw after everyone headed back for lunch, but it may have been when you were with me.

Kiskadee

Cayman Islands:

Antillean Grackle, Rose Throated Parrot, West Indian Woodpecker, Caribbean Alaenia – all LB

White winged Dove, Moorhen, Pie billed Grebe, Little Blue Heron, Bananaquit.

Back from the tour of the south western Carib on the Jewel of the Seas, Jan 2010. Details on birding:

Aruba - took a taxi to the Bubali Bird Sanctuary ($15 each way) and got some. Loaded with green herons. Not bad birding around the ship - bananaquit in the trees, white crowned pigeon in a mixed pigeon flock behind the restaurants in front of the ship along the water. Hiked along the waterfront to the park about a half mile to the east. Grackles common.

Cartagena - not much seen but some martins and swallows off the ship

Colon - take the Rain forest excursion, follow Louis around, he's a birder. 14 lifers.

Puerto Limon - Excursion to Bacaraque Wildlife Area. Xavier is your man guiding, but when you get there, stick close to Sebastian who knows no English but knows the locals by ear. Tip him a buck a bird, eh? Have an Imperial lager and enjoy it during the folk dancing. Another dozen or so lifers. There's a park in front of the dock outside the fence, but it's got tall palms and not enough understory for good birding. Don't even think about going there with a rental car - it's really a crappy road!

Cayman - hired a taxi and set up a tour for $240 for 4. Queen Elizabeth Botanical Park for an hour or two (the Flower garden is the most prolific birding, but check the water ponds). Skip going to Rum Point. The Bird Sanctuary a couple miles east of Georgetown is good for water birds, but most of them are migrants from the States. Nothing found walking around the town. another half a dozen or so.