Well, day one of the festival started out with a bang - it's not every day I get a life bird anymore, and the seedeater was one I really had my hopes up for. On day two, Pam and I were scheduled for a trip to the famous King Ranch. This is the spot many birders go to get their life Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. Pam and I heard them all the time when we were in Trinidad earlier this year, but as anyone who has birded the tropics knows - hearing a bird doesn't always mean seeing a bird. So I was pretty excited to see this cool little owl (not to mention add it to my ABA list). The ranch is an amazing place for birding, and we had some excellent guides - one of whom currently works on the ranch as a naturalist and one who worked there for many years - so we were in good hands. Thanks to the sharp-eyed (and -eared) guides we had a busload of happy birders getting fantastic looks at an owl - and to the extra credit of the guides, kept all these people a comfortable distance away from the bird such that it remained in the same place for the entire time we were in the area.
A life look at the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
I mentioned that it stayed there "the entire time we were in the area" because after about a half-hour or so, we turned our attention to other birds - an Audubon's Oriole that called nearby but refused to show itself, and a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet that did put on a nice show for us.
It has been joked (regularly, as I've heard this from many quarters over the years) that this tiny little flycatcher's name is bigger than he is. If you break out the name it does make sense though - "Tyrannulet" because it is a member of the tyrant flycatcher family (it is not an empidonax as most people first think due to the size), "Beardless" because it actually lacks the rictal bristles that most of the other flycatchers have, and "Northern" because... well, there is also a "Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet" in South America that reaches up into Costa Rica. (Note that the northern edge of the range of this bird reaches some places in southeastern AZ and in the Rio Grande Valley in TX - and it ranges south into Central America where it overlaps a bit with its cousin)After spending quite a bit of time with these other species, several of us checked again on the owl to see if the light was better for photography, and it had improved a bit, and the little owl was still there watching us "ooh" and "aah" over him and the other birds there.
At the next stop, the guides were hoping to use some owl tapes to call in some birds that had been scouted for in previous days, including a Tropical Parula that had been spotted in a mixed flock of warblers. The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl call did get some birds riled up, add a few of the more common warblers to our trip list (no parula), but more than that - it called in another owl! This one was a little harder to see as it stayed back pretty far. Then a Eastern Screech-Owl call garnered a response from a nearby Eastern Screech Owl. One of the guides was able to locate it, but it was barely worth the look, because it was only just a sliver of a look of the eye and a bit of ear tuft in a crack in a tree. Unfortunately, this time the leaders had a hard time keeping the mass of birders eager to add another tick to their trip list from rushing over to where they could try for a look - which was almost directly under where the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl had perched, that we were all so conscious of not disturbing only a few moments before. Pardon my saying so, but sometimes I am amazed at how little regard some birders have for the birds that they are so interested in - especially when another "tick" shows up. Don't get me wrong - I know I am pretty attached to my lists - ABA, Life, Year, and State (although I've not put too much emphasis on those last two lately) and I do like to get photos, but I like to think (and sincerely hope) that I am a little more conscious of the well-being of the birds we love. - OK enough of that.
We continued to bird and learn about the ranch throughout the rest of the morning, and tried for another of my target birds - Sprague's Pipit. It had been seen the day before ("crippling views" according to Jeff Gordon) and when we spread out across the field where they had been spotted, I chose the path that put the sun to my back - again hoping to get not only a good look but hopefully a pic. Turned out to be a poor choice though (who could've guessed) as the other group got some brief looks, and by the time we found out, it was time to head back to the bus and back to the convention center. (There are schedules to keep you know!)
Upon arriving back at the convention center, stepped out for a bite of lunch, relaxed a bit, then headed back to the festival to attend that evening's keynote "Tropical Topics" which was a lively tag-team presentation of Jeff Gordon (leader extraordinaire) and Xavier Munoz who spoke enthusiastically about birding in Ecuador, and the merits of eco-tourism - as well as the work that he and his wife have done through the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation and Neblina Forest. Afterward, we wandered out to the Birder's Bazaar, where there was table after table of vendors selling birding related items, as well as representatives from a variety of organizations, refuges, parks, etc. Also, each day between 5 and 6, there was a "Kiskadee Kordial" in the bazaar area, which served some great food - as well as Burning Hawk wines! By the way, if you have not heard of these folks yet - do yourself a favor and click that link now. Go ahead - I'll still be here when you come back. They are great folks, which have created some top-notch wines and who donate some of their profits towards "supporting key projects and organizations who play a critical and often undervalued role in birds of prey and energy system management."
Another advantage of the "Kiskadee Kordial" (aside from food and wine you ask? - yes!) is that it provides another opportunity to socialize and meet others that you'd either met on a previous trip, or to chat with others that maybe you didn't get to see otherwise. This particular evening, we had the opportunity to meet fellow blogger (I hate saying that because it seems such a limiting label, and especially so in this case) Laura Kammermeier of the Birds, Words, & Websites blog. Laura and I have 'talked' online via blogs, twitter, and facebook, but this was the first time meeting face-to-face, and we had a great chat about these social networking media, and photography, and the birds of the Rio Grande Valley.
But the evening was not quite over yet, our new friends Marci and Terry Fuller invited us over again for a party that evening at their place, and in addition to Liz and Jeff Gordon, I had the opportunity to meet such luminaries as Donald Kroodsma, Lang Elliott, and Jon Dunn, as well a whole host of other wonderful bloggers, birders and just generally cool people. (And believe me, these folks know how to party!)
Coming soon - day three, where we head to Salieno and Chapeno to bird, and I am a contestant on a game show...
