Finca El Pilar Birding In Guatemala

Don't forget, there's still time to vote for your favorite guest blog entry!

So, what the heck was I doing in Central America? I was part of the Fifth International Birdwatching Encounter in Guatemala. It was group that included bird guides and bloggers from Japan, Denmark, the US, and even Ecuador. One of the participants was Rick Wright of WINGS Birding Tours and I felt like I got some kind of great deal because he's a walking field guide. What a treat to have his bird knowledge along. He really is a birder's birder, we were talking popular culture and he didn't know what a Cosmo Quiz was. You want to be out in the field with a guy who has his head filled with the finer nuances of empidonax flycatchers as opposed to "What Kind Of Sexy Are You?"

Where do I begin with my Guatemala adventure? I think with volcanoes. This was the first time I had ever been to a place so chock full of volcanoes. Let's face it, this was the first time I'd been out of the country (at least to the point where a passport was required). The whole time, I kept looking around and asking myself, "How the heck did I get here?"

Our first day of birding was at Finca El Pilar, a private shade grown coffee farm being converted into a nature reserve. We went above the coffee farm to get some of the local specialties and incredible views of the surrounding volcanoes. We birded a few days here so I'll have lots to tell you.

Some of the volcanoes that we encountered during our visit, like Fuego are active and you can see little puffs of smoke coming off the top all day long. I digiscoped some of Fuego's smoke above. How can you not feel like you're not on an adventure if you're surrounded by active volcanoes?

I was expecting a complete and total sensory overload when it came to the birds, but was incredibly surprised by the number of familiar faces down there, like this eastern bluebird. It had a bit of a different accent than the eastern bluebirds I hear up in Minnesota and one of the guides mentioned that it was a more local variety, down to having a duller look than the bluebirds I'm used to. Still, the first few days, their calls really tripped me up.

When I wasn't seeing species I could see at home, I was at least seeing species similar to what I can see at home. There were all kinds of crazy looking thrushes, check out this pair of rufous-collared robins (be prepared for rufous to show up a lot in species names, whoever named the birds in Central America really liked that in their names). It's a highland thrush and looks similar to robins we see in the US.

Another somewhat familiar bird was the black-headed siskin, here's a pair above. While the siskin irruption still rages in the US, I was still able to see some siskins at El Pilar.

Check out this rufous-collared sparrow (there's that rufous again). It's a great looking bird, reminiscent of a white-throated sparrow. These birds were seen all over. Speaking sparrows we did see some introduced species like house sparrows and rock pigeons, but this was the first birding trip that I ever been on where I did not encounter one single starling. No starlings here...can you imagine? Ten days and not seeing a starling--crazy!

While we were doing all this birding, I at one point could have sworn I heard several bees buzzing. I looked and could not see any hives nearby. I started to wonder if elevation sickness was closing in or if my tinnitus had switched from its usual high pitched ring to buzzing. Then I noticed a small water basin and took a peak...

There they were, a small swarm of honeybees gathering water for the hive. You sometimes can get honeybees coming to birdbaths or ponds when it's try, water is necessary for comb construction. I asked the owner of El Pilar and he said that he did not keep bees, but perhaps they were his neighbor's bees. Or they very well could have been from a wild hive. It was fun to hear that familiar buzzing.

We found a camper while above the coffee farm and I got a giggle at the Ron Paul sticker on the back. I didn't know anyone in Guatemala would be pro Ron Paul?

And now it is time for me to head into the Park Service. More on Finca El Pilar and Guatemala later.

And don't forget to vote for your favorite guest blog entry!

Still Time To Vote

Don't forget to vote for your favorite guest blog entry that was up while I was away!

Digiscoping Challenges

Hello blog readers! Or should I say hola lectores del blog? I am back from my Guatemala birding adventure and am sorting through photos. I want to thank everyone who entered the guest blogging contest. There were many fantastic blog entries and I'm sorry that we couldn't post them all. Be sure to check out the voting for the top ten and select the entry you liked best (I'm having readers decide because Non Birding Bill and I had a tough enough time picking the top ten, let alone the best of all 53 entries).

I had a great time and learned something very interesting while birding in Central America: digiscoping is really hard! I'm pretty good at digiscoping, I'm fortunate to be able to do it often and I'm very familiar with my equipment. I can set up the shot and get my camera on the right settings without really thinking about it. I'm also very familiar with North American birds, I can sometimes predict how they will move on a perch to get a shot.

It was not the same in Guatemala, I had all new vegetation to figure out and the birds moved in different ways.

When I give digiscoping workshops, one of the things I hear the most is how someone can't get their equipment to work--usually because they've taken (at most) 20 photos that all turned out crappy and they don't understand why. You have to take dozens, if not hundreds of photos to get one decent shot. The more you work with your equipment, the more prepared you will be when a bird shows up and in the "perfect" pose. I've helped out at enough optics booths to know that many people buy their scope and digiscoping equipment right before they leave for a trip of a lifetime, barely enough time to get familiar with their equipment. If I had a tough time, how could someone with new equipment possibly get anything good going to a new area, with new birds, and not know how to work the camera and scope?

So, here are some conclusions that I came to while birding in Guatemala:

First, I had to pick my battles. I figured out quickly that I was going to be in sensory overload being around so many new species. The group we were with was very much a listing group, not so much a photography look. We'd try like the dickens to see certain species, but not really try for photos. So, when a cool ass bird like a pink-headed warbler was found, I needed to decide, "Do I want to try and aim the scope on a warbler, quite possibly missing it completely or do I want to really savor and watch this amazingly colorful warbler?" With most new species, I chose to watch the bird instead of trying to digiscope it. I did go for the pink headed warbler after a minute and the best I got was the above photo. You can see part of its head and vent from behind a leaf in the above photo.

Second, the lighting conditions in the neotropics were rather crappy. In the forest canopy, it's shady and many birds had a knack for perching with the sun directly behind them. Add incredibly tall trees and precarious scope angles and you end up with a blurry shot of a collared trogon (above).

However, there were many times when birds perched nearby, the lighting was not too bad and I could get that great shot of a berylline hummingbird--right down to its little white socks. So, I didn't get photos of every single bird (or even very good ones) but I do have some great stories and amazing birds to share.

Swarkovski Optik Guest Blogging Contest Voting

All right, it's time to vote for your favorite entry in the Swarovski Optik Guest Blogging Challenge. As a reminder, each posted entry gets a Swarovski Binocular Cleaning Kit and the Grand Prize winner gets Swarovski Crystal Pocket Binoculars!

Each person can vote for one (1) entry! If you want to reread the entries, you can do so by following these links:

Guest Blogging Day 1: Amy Haran : What kind of bird are you?

Guest Blogging Day 2: Lynnanne Fager: Results of a Backyard Bird Bordello

Guest Blogging Day 3: Allison Shock: Vertical napping bark

Guest Blogging Day 4: Art Drauglis: Hawk vs. Turtle

Guest Blogging Day 5: Jeff Fischer: Owls

Guest Blogging Day 6: Holly: Nooged by an Owl

Guest Blogging Day 7: Stacey Wittig: Ravens and Crows

Guest Blogging Day 8: Jeffrey Gordon: Brown-headed Nuthatches

Guest Blogging Day 9: Eric Brierley: Cardinal damages digits

Guest Blogging Day 10: David McRee: Wild bird rescue

Thanks to all our entrants. We'll be accepting votes until 6 p.m. CST on Tuesday, March 3rd. And once again, thanks to everyone who contributed an entry!

Swarovski Guest Blogging Contest

I'm going to Guatemala in a couple of weeks and I'm told that between the rigorous itinerary and the uncertainty of Internet access, I need some help covering the blog. So what do you do when you are the sole writer of a blog and you need some time off? I've used a guest blogger, like the trusty Non Birding Bill and, before she had her own blog, Julie Zickefoose covered for me while I was in Arkansas looking for a certain woodpecker for two weeks. Julie now has her own blog and well NBB only has so much interest in covering for me, so I came up with a plan.

I talked with Swarovski Optik and asked if they would help me host a guest blogger contest. So I bring you the Swarovski Guest Blogging Contest--you could be a writer for my blog! If you already have a blog and would like to get a larger readership, this is an opportunity to show off your content to my readers. If you're not sure you can do a blog but have an adventure to share, I have a great audience willing to read it.

You can submit a blog entry for my blog. Non Birding Bill and I will read through them and select 10. We will post one blog entry a day while I'm gone (it will be ten days starting on February 18). If your blog entry is one of the ten published, you win...

...a Swarovski Cleaning Kit ( $39.95 value) for your optics. At the end of the 10 days, there will be a poll up for the ten entries for readers to vote on. Whichever entry gets the most votes wins...

A pair of Swarovski Crystal Pocket Binoculars (a $900 value)!!!! They're pocket binos, but made with Swarovski glass and coatings so they're awesome and they're covered in swag. I love these! These are hand down the snazziest pocket binoculars you have ever seen. I got to play with these in Cape Cod last year and fell in love!

Rules:

1. ANYONE CAN ENTER: If you already have a blog you can enter. If you have never blogged at all, you can still enter. If you do already have a blog and your entry gets selected, I will link back to your site with your entry.

2. BLOG ENTRY MUST FIT THEME OF THIS BLOG: I'm not going to say that you have to write about wild birds for the contest, but do keep in mind what the themes for my blog are - mostly wild bird related (watching, feeding, rehabbing, banding) with some pet rabbits, other wildlife, and honey bees. NBB and I will choose blog entries that are not only great, but fit in the overall theme of this blog. Our decision is final.

3. Content must be emailed to birdchick at gmail dot com by Monday, February 16th at 5 p.m. CST. It can include text, photos (web appropriate size) and links to videos. We may not proof read so if you your entry has typos, chances are good it'll go up that way. Make it look good before we get it. You, obviously, agree to let us post your material in the blog by sending it to us.

4. The email entry with your blog submission MUST include your full name and mailing address. These will not be published in the blog entry, but we need them for the prizes. Also, be sure to include how you would like to be credited in the blog entry. Do you prefer that we put up your actual name or your user name and a link to your website.

5. Content must be original--your own content that you wrote. If you have a blog and you want to recycle and old blog entry from your own blog, that is your choice. If it is discovered that you use someone else's content without credit or pass off someone else's photos as your own, not only will you be disqualified, but it will be blogged. One entry per person.

Nikon Australia Contest

This just came into the Inbox and seems like a worthwhile contest. It's a drawing to win a trip to Australia wrapped in a promotion for a the new Nikon EDG binocular:

Nikon® Inc., in conjunction with Australia's Northern Territory and Discover Downunder® proudly announce the "Nikon Downunder" Sweepstakes, offering the chance to win the ultimate birding safari in Australia's Outback and the coveted Nikon EDG binocular.

To enter the "Nikon Downunder" sweepstakes, visit www.nikondownunder.com from Jan. 1, 2009 through April 30, 2009. The prize package, valued at up to $8,657.85, features roundtrip airfare for two from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Darwin, Australia, three-nights accommodation at Feather's Sanctuary in Darwin and a three-day/two-night Odyssey Safari's birding tour with a specialist small group led by an experienced eco-guide.

To catch all of the action in Australia's Outback the winner will also receive one Nikon EDG binocular, the first birding binocular to harness the optical superiority of Nikon's highly acclaimed ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass for high contrast images that are extremely bright, razor sharp and free of flare. Some of the unique birds one can see in the Northern Territory include the White-lined Honeyeater, Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon, Banded Fruit-Dove and White-throated Grass-wren.

* No purchase necessary. Promotion ends April 30, 2009. Open to all legal U.S. residents who are 21 years of age or older. Visit www.nikondownunder.com for detailed prize information and complete Official Rules. Void outside the U.S. and wherever prohibited.

Share The Experience Photo Contest

Okay, so the deadline is creeping up in two days, but if you happen to have any cool photos of a National Park (and the wonders therein), you might want to enter it in the Share The Experience Photo Contest. The winner gets their photo on the National Park Annual Pass and various and other sundry prizes. Since I work part time as a park ranger, I am ineligible but one you might have the winning photo.

Celebrate Urban Birds Contest

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has started the Celebrate Urban Birds website.

They want to see your photo, drawing, or video of a Little Green Space that's good for birds (remember the bald eagle nest that's in a Minneapolis neighborhood across from the airport?). Have you noticed a spot that birds like because it provides shelter, food, or water? It could be an ivy-covered wall, flowers next to the stoop, a windowbox, a container garden on a rooftop or balcony, your school garden, or the potted plants by your library entryway.

Send a photo, drawing, or link to your video to urbanbirds@cornell.edu . They'll send the first fifty entries a copy of the new "Celebrate Little Green Places" poster and there will be other great prizes, including a $100 gift certificate from Johnny's Selected Seeds.The deadline is October 31. For more information, visit the Little Green Places contest site.

Nature Conservancy Photo Contest Celebrates Duck Stamp

UPDATE: Just an FYI. I started to enter this contest and then I noticed that you have to submit your images high resolution on Flickr. That makes it kind of easy for someone to take your high resolution image, print it out and do whatever.

Calling all photographers and digiscopers:

In honor of the federal Duck Stamp contest being held in Minnesota this year, The Nature Conservancy is conducting a digital photography competition to highlight the beauty of our native prairies.

They're looking for inspiring, spectacular nature photography that represents the prairie wildlife and landscape native to Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota 2008 Prairie Photo Contest (the “Contest”) is open to ALL photographers at least 18 years of age, except employees of The Nature Conservancy and the immediate families of such employees.

Cash prizes will be awarded, with a top prize of $250. The top ten photographs will be put on display.

Contest Deadline

Submit your photos by Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 11:59 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Photos must be uploaded and submitted by this time; no late entries will be eligible.

Get the details here.

Blog Contest

Okay, Other Sharon, you are not allowed to answer this contest for 24 hours ;). Everyone else, here is the photo, can you identify the actor sitting next to me (I'm willing to bet that about 90% of blog readers have seen one of his films):

Put your answer in the comments section of the blog. You don't have to create a blogger identity to answer, but if you want to win the prize, you do need to leave your name. First correct answer with a name, wins the prize.

What is the prize you ask? An official ABA Convention Bag (made of black canvas with black rosy-finches on it) and a copy of Tim Gallagher's Falcon Fever.

Bird ID Contest

Okay, I have just a regular feeder to give away, but can anyone id the bird in this photo?? First correct answer in the comments section of the blog with a name attached to it wins!

Good luck!

Holy Crap We Won! And Contest!

I'm blogging from the World Series of Birding Awards Breakfast. When I arrived with Amy and found Pete Dunne and my other teammate Clay, they said our digiscoping team (The Swarovski Digiscoping Hawks) won--our goal was to digiscope as many bird species as possible in one day. We won? In complete and utter shock I said "Get the heck out!" (Athough, substitute a more colorful metaphor in there).

The photos didn't have to be pretty but identifiable. So above is one of our photos that helped us win. What species of bird is this? First winning answer with a name attached in the comments section of this blog entry wins a Woodlink Hummingbird Feeder.

Don't worry, cool photos will be uploaded soon.

Meanwhile, our team is sharing a table with WildBird Zen Zugunruhe team (who won the Cape Island Division) and they would like me to tell you that their teammate Tait Johansson is dipping his bacon in catsup and teammate Matt Garvey is my favorite because he is keeping my coffee cup filled.

Also, I just learned that New Jersey is putting a moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crab eggs until the populations of both the crabs and shorebirds recover...go New Jersey birders!

Name That Bird

What bird species is flying away in this photo? The first winning answer wins a Woodlink Hummingbird Feeder.

Leave your answer in the comments section. The first winning answer that includes a name gets the feeder. You don't have to have a blogger id, but you must leave a name with your answer to win.

Good luck.

Caption Contest

A big thanks to the folks over at Woodlink who have sent a big box full of prizes for the blog--so, let's have a caption contest!

The Rules:

1. Post a caption in the comments section.

2. To win, there must be a name with the caption--you can post anonymously, but you must put a name with your caption. If there is no name, it will be assumed that you do not want the prize. You are more than welcome to post a caption even if you do not want to win the prize.

3. Keep the captions PG-13.

4. The caption that makes me (an maybe Non Birding Bill) laugh the loudest wins.

5. You can post as many captions as you want.

The prize is daiquiri or sundae hummingbird feeder. Here is the photo:

Frank Taylor Photo Contest

Let's face it, most of us are at home the day before Thanksgiving or if we are at a job we are barely functioning because so many people are out on vacation. Who can concentrate? For readers of the blog who are not living in the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving where many of us gather with family and eat crazy amounts of food and prep for an insane amount of shopping the following day. Non Birding Bill and I take a low key approach and celebrate Naked Thanksgiving.

Anyway, Frank Taylor sent over is final banding report for the 2006 Season and he included some great raptor head shots. So, can you identify all the raptor head shots in order? The prize is a Zeiss Lens Cloths and a Leupold Tote Bag (with a cool meadowlark graphic).

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


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7.



8.


9.

Feel free to try and age and sex the birds, but really to win, all you need is the species id in the order they are shown. First correct answer in the comments section with a name attached wins the prize.

Even if you can't identify all the birds in this contest, it's fun just to take in Frank's photos.