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Big Year
The Biggest Twitch Big Year
Toucans and Temples
The Team at Calakmul 7th Jan: Montezuma got his revenge! Unfortunately, a nasty bout of diarrhoea and sickness delayed our start on day seven but we soon hit the road if feeling a bit sensitive! We drove to the Mayan ruins at Calakmul. Given our late arrival (we had planned to be here at dawn) we were not very optimistic about the birding and decided to just enjoy the ruins. How wrong we were! The jungle around the ruins was jumping with birds. It was difficult to move along the path as soon as we left one bird we hit another. A Black-headed Trogon was the star of the walk in posing on a sun lit bough, a stunner. We climbed to the top of the spectacular pyramid and wow what a view from the top. Unbroken forest stretched as far as you could see. It was here we saw Keel billed Toucan!...
Birding by boat
6th Jan: We drove to Rio Lagartos stopping to bird dry scrub where highlights included great views of Lesser Roadrunner and Yucatan Wren. A short drive from here and we hit the coast at Coba. We quickly hire a boat complete with binocular totting captain and sped off into the shallow and lagoon fringed with mangroves. What a place heaving with birds! Waders, gulls, terns, herons, egrets, raptors you really did not know where to look first! The year list took a huge boost and we soaked up point blank views of such delights as Boat billed Heron, American Flamingoes, Laughing Falcon and a tiny Pygmy Kingfisher a lifer for us all. Our skipper really knew his birds and more importantly just where to find them. All to soon we were heading back and couldn’t believe that we had been out...
Mayan Ruins
5th Jan: Having left Cozumel Island we drove to Coba and visited some Mayan ruins which provided great birding. The temples themselves made great canopy towers – is this what the Mayans had in mind all those centuries ago? From our elevated vantage point we could scan the canopy and get eyelevel views of birds that would have otherwise been real neck-breakers (and were able to absorb some culture at the same time!) Gaudy American warblers and vireos provided plenty of colour and local birds included Masked Tityra, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Grey-collared Becard and Black-headed Trogon. We then headed to Valladolid where we spent the night. Posted 8.45am 8.1.08
From Arizona to Mexico
Day four of The Biggest Twitch and sadly we can only report one new species for the list – Brown Pelican. Today we left Tucson pre-dawn and flew to Houston, Texas and then from there on to Mexico. Michael Retter met up with us in Houston and he is coming with us on this leg. We have known Michael a good while and he is an experienced birder in Mexico so once we get out in the field we should really boost the list. Michael's a regular guide in Mexico, so contact him at Tropical Birding to arrange a fantastic trip - we can thoroughly recommend it and him. Call 1-800 348 5941 or email info@tropicalbirding.comWe arrived in Cancun late pm and by the time we had sorted the hire car and driven to Playa del Carmen it was dark, the Brown Pelicans flew along the coast earlier. Sorry for...
Target birding around Tucson
The Biggest Twitch day three already and we are again birding with Moez Ali so already we know it is going to be a good day! But we didn’t realise just how good. We began by visiting the amazing home of Liz and Jean Payne in the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains. A stunning place set in classic desert habitat complete with lots of ancient cactus. The back garden was set out with lots of feeders and birds to match. We didn’t have to wait long before we got our first new bird, Costa’s Hummingbird. What a stunning little gem of a bird and point blank views. We walked the draw behind the house and soon found Black-tailed Gnatcatcher amongst the cactus what cute birds. Back to the garden and we scored male Broad-billed Hummingbird, another crippler! A huge thank you...
From canyons to grasslands
Day two of The Biggest Twitch began slowly as we needed to find a pharmacy for cold remedy. Strong winds did nothing to help the birding after our late start. We birded our way up Carr Canyon, which was almost birdless in the extremely unfavourable conditions, not only a really strong wind but extremely cold too. Ash Canyon was a little better with the wind now having abated somewhat. Highlights up to midday included Canyon Towee, Brown Creeper and Cassin’s Finch. We abandoned the canyons and headed for the grasslands. First stop was Whitewater Draw in the Sulphur Spring Valley. Huge numbers of Sandhill Cranes were dropping in to the wetland, a wonderful sight and sound. Almost as impressive was an adult Bald Eagle hunting on the far side of the lake. A small flock of...
New Years Day
7am and we are with Moez Ali at the Sweetwater Sewage Works, Tucson, Arizona. It is cold, very cold and the first hints of light are in the sky. We are all looking intently at a cactus plant, nowhere else, no one even thinks of scanning around, we only have eyes for this particular cactus. Birds are calling behind us, no one turns, we watch and wait. There! Under the bush, it’s there! Cactus Wren, bird number one of The Biggest Twitch. Arizonas state bird and in its rightful habitat it kicks off our big year. With Bird number one under the belt and the one we wanted, we are now free to bird like crazy – so we did. Sweetwater quickly provided a further 40 species and then we headed off for Madera Canyon. Thankfully by now the temperature had risen above freezing and we...
Happy New Year New years day diary
Just a quick note to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a bird filled 2008, we certainly hope ours will be! New Year's Day will see us birding in the canyons of southern Arizona and staying overnight in the mountains to maximise our birding time. With this in mind we are not sure whether we will have internet access on 1st January, we will do our very best to track it down. However if for some reason we can't do it, check back soon as we will get a diary posted ASAP and share all those birds!
Tucson sewage works a fowl place
Bit of a cliché going birding at the sewage works but that’s just what we did. Sweetwater Treatment Works, Tucson doesn’t look like any sewage works we’ve been to before. A parking area is provided for birders with information boards and even a loo. Then a trail takes you around the pools which viewing pavilions overlooking them. But best of all, the place is heaving with birds. Never seen so many Yellow-rumped Warblers in one place, Orange-crowned Warblers were common and a Summer Tanager was unexpected. But the pools really provide the birds, Shoveler, Pintail, American Wigeon, Cinnamon, Green and Blue Winged Teal, Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck….amazing and all so close. Add to this, birds such as Sora, Harris’s Hawk, American Pipit and you...
Two Welsh birders take a day trip to Patagonia
An early start had us heading south for Patagonia and the promise of some fantastic birds. But no flights down to Argentina for us, Patagonia, Arizona is a birding mecca near the Mexican border. After driving and birding across the Sonoita Grasslands, we reached Patagonia Lake State Park and started racking up yet more amazing birds: Montezuma’s Quail scuttled out from under our feet, Louisiana Waterthrush played hide-and-seek amongst the willow roots, American Pipit strolled across the ice and it was good to familiarise ourselves with the call. The lake itself held a good selection of birds including Sora Rail, Eared and Pied-billed Grebes, Spotted and Least Sandpipers and Cinnamon and Green-winged Teal. On to Kino Springs where highlights included a cracking pair of Hooded...
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