CHAMPION FLIERS?

Research shows that Magnificent Frigatebirds are not only magnificent, they fly…endlessly.  Over 250 miles per day, non-stop, no resting on the water. They may fly that for days, weeks…they do land to lay eggs and incubate them.

Here are some pictures I took of frigatebirds around the Galapagos a few years back.  It was a trip organized by Partnership for International Birding.  Haven’t been there?  GO!  Enjoy these champion flyers:

BIRDING WESTERN ECUADOR?

Here is a great reason to go birding in western Ecuador.  This is the endemic White-tailed Jay:And now the Princeton University Press has issued a photographic guide to the birds of Western Ecuador.  Living here in the Pacific Northwest I first notice the birds that aren’t found in this part of the Neotropics.  No scoters, no alcids. But then you settle in to thumb through the book and you notice 8 raptors named “kite,”  over 20 members of the dove/pigeon family, three pages of tinamous and guans (think big pheasants in the forest).  Toucans, barbets (my favorite gang of tropical thugs), hummingbirds for page after page, Tanagers, endless tyrant flycatchers, antwrens and antvireos and antbirds,  Finally near the back of the book you get to the euphonias, dressed like a junior high marching band.This is a Thick-billed Euphonia.

The book includes range maps for each species showing its range across Ecuador.  The book does NOT include the Galapagos.   If you go after that White-tailed Jay, take this book along. Partnership for International Birding offers a panoply of birding trips to Ecuador.  Check ’em out.

Birds of Western Ecuador: A Photographic Guide Nick Athanas & Paul J. Greenfield With special contributions from Iain Campbell, Pablo Cervantes Daza, Andrew Spencer & Sam Woods Paperback | 2016 | $45.00 |  ISBN: 9780691157801 448 pp. | 6 1/2 x 10 | 1,500 color photos. 946 maps.  It is also available as an ebook.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST SPECIES LIST

Here are the birds we saw on our early June trip through the Pacific Northwest over eight days.  Portland to Astoria to Florence to Bend, then back through Portland and north to Nisqually, then Sequim, then Victoria, BC.

PIB NORTHWEST TRIP SPECIES LIST:

1. Brant: 3 on sand spit in Dungeness NWR, seen from Three Crabs Road, Sequim
2. Canada Goose
3. Wood Duck, Nisqually NWR, et al.
4. Mallard
5. Gadwall
6. Pintail
7. Blue-winged Teal: Wapato Pond, Sauvie Island
8. Shoveler
9. Harlequin, first seen at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach; many seen on Olympic Peninsula, esp. Port Townsend
10. Surf Scoter
11. White-winged Scoter, one seen briefly off Oregon Coast
12. Hooded Merganser, Sauvie Island and Nisqually
13. Common Merganser
14. Ruddy Duck
15. California Quail
16. Sooty Grouse, heard in Deschutes Natl. Forest west of Sisters
17. Common Loon, some seen in breeding plumage
18. Pacific Loon
19. Red-throated Loon
20. Western Grebe
21. Pied-billed Grebe
22. Brandt’s Cormorant
23. Pelagic Cormorant
24. Double-crested Cormorant
25. American White Pelican, along Columbia River west of Portland
26. Brown Pelican
27. Great Blue Heron
28. Great Egret
29. Turkey Vulture
30. Northern Harrier
31. Osprey
32. Sharp-shinned Hawk
33. Cooper’s Hawk
34. Red-tailed Hawk
35. Bald Eagle
36. American Coot
37. Virginia Rail, marsh at Ona Beach State Park
38. Black-bellied Plover, Dungeness NWR
39. Killdeer
40. Black Oystercatcher
41. Spotted Sandpiper
42. Ring-billed Gull
43. California Gull
44. Glaucous-winged Gull, and numerous Glaucous-winged X Western (known locally as “Olympic”)
45. Western Gull
46. Heermann’s Gull, Ediz Hook, Port Townsend
47. Caspian Tern
48. Pigeon Guillemot
49. Common Murre
50. Ancient Murrelet, ferryboat on US side of border north of Port Townsend
51. Marbled Murrlet
52. Tufted Puffin, many flying around Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, one seen from ferryboat
53. Rhinoceros Auklet, first seen at John Wayne Marina, Sequim, then many from ferryboat
54. Rock Pigeon
55. Band-tailed Pigeon
56. Eurasian Collared-Dove
57. Mourning Dove
58. Great Horned Owl, west of Sisters
59. Vaux’s Swift
60. Anna’s Hummingbird
61. Rufous Hummingbird
62. Belted Kingfisher
63. Williamson’s Sapsucker, Deschutes Natl. Forest, first near Suttle Lake
64. Red-breasted Sapsucker, numerous along Oregon Coast
65. Red-naped Sapsucker, Calliope Crossing west of Sisters
66. White-headed Woodpecker, Deschutes National Forest
67. Downy Woodpecker
68. Hairy Woodpecker
69. American Three-toed Woodpecker, Deschutes Natl. Forest
70. Black-backed Woodpecker, Deschutes Natl. Forest
71. Northern Flicker
72. Kestrel
73. Peregrine
74. Western Wood-Pewee
75. Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Ona Beach SP
76. Willow Flycatcher
77. Dusky Flycatcher
78. Western Kingbird
79. Warbling Vireo
80. Steller’s Jay
81. Western Scrub-Jay
82. Pinyon Jay
83. Clark’s Nutcracker, Mt. Hood
84. Common Raven
85. American Crow
86. Northwestern Crow, Vancouver Island, BC
87. Skylark, Victoria Airport, BC
88. Purple Martin
89. Tree Swallow
90. Violet-green swallow
91. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
92. Cliff Swallow
93. Barn Swallow
94. Mountain Chickadee, Deschutes Natl.Forest
95. Black-capped Chickadee
96. Chestnut-backed Chickadee
97. Red-breasted Nuthatch
98. White-breasted Nuthatch
99. Pygmy Nuthatch, several seen, one nesting pair in Sawyer Park, Bend
100. Brown Creeper
101. Bewick’s Wren
102. Marsh Wren, heard but not seen
103. Pacific Wren, first at Coffeeberry Lake, Forest Stevens SP
104. House Wren
105. American Dipper, Suttle Lake
106. Wrentit, Coffeeberry Lake in Fort Stevens SP
107. Western Bluebird
108. Mountain Bluebird, Mt. Hood
109. Swainson’s Thrush
110. American Robin
111. Varied Thrush
112. Starling
113. Cedar Waxwing
114. Orange-crowned Warbler
115. Common Yellowthroat
116. Yellow Warbler
117. Yellow-rumped Warbler
118. Hermit Warbler
119. Townsend’s Warbler
120. Wilson’s Warbler, first good viewing at Coffeeberry Lake
121. Spotted Towhee
122. Chipping Sparrow
123. Savannah Sparrow
124. Fox Sparrow, Deschutes National Forest
125. Song Sparrow
126. Dark-eyed Junco
127. White-crowned Sparrow
128. Western Tanager
129. Black-headed Grosbeak
130. Lazuli Bunting
131. Brewer’s Blackbird
132. Red-winged Blackbird
133. Yellow-headed Blackbird
134. Brown-headed Cowbird
135. Bullock’s Oriole
136. Purple Finch
137. Cassin’s Finch, Mt. Hood
138. House Finch
139. Red Crossbill near Darlingtonia Reserve on Oregon Coast
140. Pine Siskin
141. American Goldfinch
142. Lesser Goldfinch
143. Evening Grosbeak, Palo Alto Road above Sequim
144. House Sparrow