South Beach 8/13

A few photos from the BBC trip to South Beach yesterday:

Royal Tern

Highlight of the day and a state bird, Royal Tern.

Royal TernSeal

Gray Seals were all over the ocean.

Seals

Cory's from land

Quite a few Cory’s Shearwaters were flying by and hundreds if not thousands of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels were around as well.

Sanderling

Sanderling

Mix

A mix of terns (Common, Forster’s, Black) plus a Willet and Snowy Egret.

Saltmarsh

Saltmarsh Sparrow

WIR 8/3-8/9

Wednesday 8/3: Lyman Pond had kingfishers (maybe 3), lots of Wood Ducks, and not much else. No mud flat yet. Three night-herons flew over the street on an evening walk (would have been a yard bird if I was closer to home, hopefully they’ll repeat that tomorrow).

Thursday 8/4: Charles at lunch. Powdered Dancers were new for there and a surprise. Tons of Blue-fronted and a couple Variable made for a 3 dancer day. Not much else though.

Friday 8/5: Purgatory Cove: 3 Green Heron, 1 Solitary, Spotted (maybe 2), and Least Sandpipers, tons of Barn Swallows on the wires.

Saturday 8/6: Started at Rock Meadow where I finally confirmed Willow Flycatcher (thanks Bob). On to the Beaver Brook ponds where I missed a redstart but not much else. Later I checked the Cambridge Res (nothing new) and Fort Pond Brook (first Lance-tipped Darner of the year).

Sunday 8/7: Too nasty to go out. Did have a Broad-winged fly over my uncle’s house in NH.

Monday 8/8: Checked Cambridge Res again. One Killdeer, a few mallards and geese.

Tuesday 8/9: Duck ponds again. Green Heron still around but not much else. Sunday’s rain got rid of all the mud. Interesting turtle, picture soon.

Colorado Days 0 and 1

Saturday 7/2: Late morning flight from Boston to Chicago and then on to Denver. Grabbed bags, took shuttle to rental car, got out to car lot and find that the only mid-size SUV they had available had a flat tire. So either I could take a Dodge Journey or take a sedan and exchange it the next day. I took the Journey, which proved to be tolerable.

On the road, it was about 40 minutes to the hotel in Centennial. Since it was late and I’d had enough driving, I walked to the Burger King down the street. Found a Desert Cottontail on the way and then had a Swainson’s Hawk being mobbed by Western Kingbirds on the way back, not quite like home.

 

Sunday 7/3: I started the first true day of the trip by heading in the direction of Roxborough State Park. Lifer #1 was on the road almost next to the hotel, a Black-billed Magpie. Reaching the park at about 6:55, the gates were closed. I decided to try somewhere else instead of waiting (although I think the person opening up drove up before I had even turned around) and went to the nearby Aububon Trails at Chatfield State Park.

Getting out of the car, I found the first of many, many Spotted Towhees of the trip (yet I’m not sure if I actually took any photos). I wandered towards the ponds, picking up some common stuff, mostly Yellow Warblers and House Wrens. Working my way around, I heard a bunting-type song and looked up to see the chin of a Lazuli Bunting, lifer #2. Further down, I found some Blue-eyed Darners and a Wandering Glider in flight (glider apparently would have been a county record had I taken a picture, not used to these undersurveyed areas).

Blue-eyed

I then crossed the field (finding a cool robber fly) and wandered down the bike path a bit. A Western Meadowlark was singing but not posing. At the far corner of the field, I started back. Following some of the other paths along the pond, I found a few damselflies, which appear to be Plains Forktails and Tule Bluets.

CO Robber #1

Tule Bluet

Back at the car, I decided to head back to Roxborough. Getting in this time, I took the first trail I found. This may not have been a great choice, it was a long, hot hike up the hill and 90% of what I saw was Spotted Towhees and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I did see a distant Prairie Falcon and a bunch of fritillaries.

Roxborough State Park

Working down, I found a few other butterflies including Taxiles Skipper. Along the wet section, I heard a Warbling Vireo and eventually got a look. One for the bank as the western subspecies is a very likely split in the future. They looked pretty similar, possibly a bit smaller, but the song was faster and distinctive. Almost all the way back, I had some White-throated Swifts go over and a Weidemeyer’s Admiral land. Eventually I also found a perched Violet-green Swallow.

Taxiles Skipper

Weidemeyer's Admiral

Violet-green Swallow

Finally reaching the car, I headed to downtown Denver and Coors Field. After a bit of looking around, I found a $15 parking lot and walked the couple blocks to the stadium. I walked right up to the ticket window. Looking at the prices, I said I’d go with the $25 tickets. The agent poked around and offered me third deck directly behind home plate for $12. Even better.

I went in and went straight up to the seat. Directly behind the plate wasn’t even accurate enough, I was in line to see the corners properly. I sat and admired the view for a few minutes and then went off to find food. I eventually settled on the Hebrew National stand, where the hot dog and drink cost as much as the ticket. I wandered to the edge of the stadium which had a spectacular view of the rockies.

Coors Field

Returning to the seat, I realized that the row behind me was in the shade and empty so I moved back and ended up staying there for the game. The game itself was rather ugly and I was quite glad I didn’t have to root for either team. It was entertaining. There are video highlights available here, Hosmer’s homer and the Gonzalez catch and injury are recommended (although the injury is pretty rough). One great moment was when someone sat down next to me during Melky Cabrera’s second at bat. He asked how the run had scored and I said Cabrera homer, paused about 2 seconds and then finished with “exactly like that but 10 feet over”.

After the game, I went back to the hotel. I ended up going to a supermarket and bought roast beef for dinner (and lunches) along with water and some other supplies before turning in for the night.

WIR 7/27-8/2

Wednesday 7/27: Paine was pretty quiet (other than people).

Thursday 7/28: Purgatory Cove had a bunch of herons including 4+ Green and a Black-crowned Night. A few shorebirds included a Least. Probably more if I had time to go through them properly.

Friday 7/29: Prospect Hill back side had nothing different.

Saturday 7/30: Went to Beaver Brook. Reidentified the waterthrush as a Louisiana! Also Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Waterthrush

Sunday 7/31: Started at Great Meadows which was as quiet as I’ve seen it lately (no Least, 1 Solitary). Did have a couple Green Heron and a decent raptor show. Cambridge Res had 1 Least, 1 Spotted, 1 Solitary. Purgatory Cove had some apparent Vesper Bluets but not much else (that I could see, something occasionally popped up from the behind the vegetation for a split second). Quick stop at Moody St added Great Black-backed Gull to the month list.

Monday 8/1: Paine was fairly quiet. Wood Thrush, House Wren, and Epione Underwing moth were highlights.

Tuesday 8/2: BBN was very quiet.

WIR 7/20-7/26

Wednesday 7/20: Back side of Prospect Hill. Pretty much the usual. First Autumn Meadowhawk of the year.

Thursday 7/21: Duck ponds in the heat. Started with a Green Heron on the left pond. Scan across the right and see what appears to be a merganser. Worked over that way and found 2 juvenal Hooded Mergansers among the Mallards! Although I initially thought they were possible breeders here, I had long given up on the idea. While trying to get a photo of them (not worth showing), a Northern Waterthrush popped up behind me (first southbound one in the state?). After finishing with the mergansers, I scanned a bit more and came up with a Solitary and a Spotted Sandpiper. Not bad at all.

Friday 7/22: Too hot. Out to Ethan’s after work where I caught a couple Clamp-tipped Emeralds.

Saturday 7/23: Eventually got out after the rain stopped. Tully Lake had a few odes including several Dragonhunters. Lots of butterflies at Joe’s. Back at Ethan’s, a female American Emerald was cruising around but not much else.

Sunday 7/24: Great Meadows in the morning: several Solitary and Least Sandpipers, 2 Great Egret, Green Heron, kestrel, etc. Tried to look for the mergansers again on the way home but there were too many cars to park.

Monday 7/25: Didn’t get out.

Tuesday 7/26: Duck ponds again, pretty much the same (minus 1 merganser and Solitary Sandpiper). Went back in the afternoon as the waterthrush looked pretty white but called like a Northern. Merganser was more cooperative as well.

Hoodie and Mallard

Hoodie

Colorado Itinerary

From July 2 – July 12, I was in Colorado. I went for the Dragonfly Society of the Americas’ annual meeting, but I spent a good bit of time exploring before and after the meeting. Daily reports to follow, but for now here’s an itinerary.

Summary:

July 2: Midday flight from Boston to Denver (Southwest, stop in Chicago). Arrived late afternoon, picked up rented Dodge Journey (not quite the mid-size SUV I wanted but it was the only thing available at Dollar), and drove to hotel in Centennial. Night at Candlewood Suites. Dinner was the next door Burger King.

July 3: Up early to Chatfield State Park/Audubon Trails and then Roxborough State Park. Afternoon at Coors Field for the Rockies game. Hit a supermarket and made a sandwich for dinner. Second night in Centennial.

July 4: Morning at Deer Creek Canyon Park and briefly Lair O’ The Bear Park (rather crowded). Tried to go to Guanella Pass in the afternoon but couldn’t get through the Fourth of July celebrations in Georgetown so had a sandwich at the sheep lookout and then got stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam. Night at Hampton Inn in Golden, dinner at the adjacent Lil’ Ricci’s Pizza.

July 5: Rocky Mountain National Park all day. Dinner at Jason’s Deli. Second night in Golden.

July 6: Pawnee National Grasslands all day. Night at La Quinta in Fort Collins. Dinner at Larkburger.

July 7: Morning at Bobcat Ridge city park. Bought sandwich from Safeway for lunch. Riverbend Park in the afternoon where I met up with a few people from the conference. Dinner with more people at Avogadro’s Number. Second night at La Quinta.

July 8: DSA field trip to Praven Lake and vicinity. Dinner at Noodles. Night at Residence Inn, Fort Collins.

July 9: DSA indoor meeting. I ran to Pawnee for an hour before. Dinner with a group at Tortilla Marissa’s.

July 10: DSA field trip in the Fort Collins area including the CSU ELC, Frank WMA, and Golden Ponds. Stopped at Cottonwood Hollow on way back to hotel. Larkburger again.

July 11: Went back to RMNP then Windsor Lake before heading to Denver. Night at a Quality Inn towards the airport, dinner at Wendy’s.

July 12: Quick walk around Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR then returned the car and went to the airport. Flight to Baltimore and home to Boston, arriving a little after 7:30.

WIR 7/13-7/19

Wednesday 7/13: Prospect Hill at lunch. Just about birdless but a few Dun Skippers and 2 Azure Bluets made up for it. Got all excited over a hairstreak on the way back. Thought it was too big for a Gray and must have been an Oak but pulled up photos on the Mass Butterfly Club’s website and it was obviously a Gray. It then started basking with the wings open which would have eliminated any confusion immediately. Still nice and not one I see at the park a lot.

Thursday 7/14: Nothing much.

Friday 7/15: Duck ponds: kingfisher and lots of waxwings were about it.

Saturday 7/16: Pelagic

Sunday 7/17: Tired.

Monday 7/18: Purgatory Cove: lots of Wood Ducks, young Barn Swallows, and what appeared to be a sleeping raccoon (or two).

Tuesday 7/19: BBN had lots of dragonflies and butterflies including Mocha Emerald and many Appalachian Brown and Common Wood-Nymph. Also had a thrasher a little out of place in the middle area (wandering from the other side of the hill or further away?).

Pelagic Photos

On Saturday, I went on the BBC’s deep water pelagic. A bit on the slow side on the whole, no exciting birds and very few cetaceans. Fortunately the sharks made up for it.

Some photos:

Storm-Petrels

Leach’s and Wilson’s Storm-Petrels

Wilson's

Wilson’s

Shearwaters

Shearwaters (mostly real)

Basking Shark

Basking Shark

Whale Shark!

Whale Shark!

Whale Shark

Whale Shark!

Check out Scott Spangenberg’s video!

Tiger Shark

Tiger Shark

Long-tail

Long-tail

Long-tailed Jaeger

Moon

Moon over the harbor. Apparently didn’t pick up the clouds around it.

Whats This?

Back from a little over a week in Colorado. Lots of things to post about, but still working through photos and stuff so it’ll be a little while before I get things up.

Little crypsis challenge

In the meantime, here’s a photo that I almost deleted straight off the camera. What was I taking?

WIR 6/23-7/1

Extending a bit to fit the travel schedule.

Thursday 6/23: Didn’t do much.

Friday 6/24: Still not much.

Saturday 6/25: Red-bellied in the yard.

Sunday 6/26: Walked around the Cambridge Res and office parks without much. Prospect Hill for a bit after. Highlight was a Leptogaster robber fly.

Monday 6/27: Cat Rock Park in Weston, need to go there more. Nothing particularly of note though.

Tuesday 6/28: BBN was too buggy but a Cooper’s was nice. McLean was mowed, had what looked like a Mocha Emerald or two but couldn’t get a good enough view.

Wednesday 6/29: Horn Pond Mountain in the afternoon. Eventually turned up all the expected hairstreaks beyond Acadian but very little else.

Thursday 6/30: Nothing really.

Friday 7/1: Actually worked a full day. Charles at lunch was quiet beyond the first Blue-fronted Dancers of the year.