North Dakota: June 21-29, 2008

North Dakota
June 21-29, 2008

I flew into the Bismarck Municipal Airport on the first day of summer. It was a beautiful day in North Dakota. At the suggestion of my friend, Ken, I went straight to the tiny town of Tuttle to a side road off of Highway 3. There were some Grasshopper Sparrows, Vesper Sparrow, Bobolink, and some other things but it was the complete opposite direction of my campground so I soon left and headed back west to Cross Ranch State Park. On my way back west on I-94 I nearly ran over a Sharp-tailed Grouse, one of my target birds, crossing the interstate. A few minutes later I was pulled by a North Dakota Highway Patrol for going 82 MPH in a 75 MPH zone. I handed him my driver’s license and he said “Ma’am are you OK?” I said I am depressed; I’m going through a divorce. He wrote me a warning ticket and followed me for 20 miles, I guess to make sure I was OK.
I arrived at Cross Ranch State Park and set up my tent in a fantastic camp site well away from anyone else and right on the Missouri River. Each site was surrounded by cottonwood trees and mine was very private.

Sunday, June 22, 2008, I awoke to the roar of bird song all around my tent. There was no way to sleep; they implored me out of bed. So I got up and took a walk alongside the river. There was a mixture of birds from east and west-- Black-headed Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, House Wren, American Robin, Red-eyed Vireo, and Warbling Vireo singing all around. In the river I saw a female Hooded Merganser and Bank Swallows were flying up and down. After checking in the with the ranger I walked across the street and went to the Cross Ranch Nature Preserve, The Nature Conservancy’s first project in North Dakota. Unfortunately the day I was there someone had let the cows out and they were all over the trail with their stupid calves threatening me. I tried to shoo them away but they held steadfast in the trail. The trail goes through some short grass prairie and has some impressive views of the Missouri River flood plain. I couldn’t get past the cows though so finally I just started walking out into the prairie. I came across some small trees and there was a mish-mash of eastern bird species mixed in with western species. North Dakota is the exact geographical center of North America and is at a cross road between eastern and western bird species (probably other species as well). So I would see an Eastern Kingbird on a fence right next to a Western Kingbird. There were many Grasshopper Sparrows and Field Sparrows at Cross Ranch. A Yellow-breasted Chat popped right out in front of me and began to sing and in the same tree was a singing Willow Flycatcher. There was only one bison and it was well away from me which was fine with me after my close encounters with the stupid cows blocking the trail.

I left Cross Ranch and drove east about 30 miles to McKenzie Slough in the tiny town of McKenzie (all towns are tiny in North Dakota). I walked along the marsh and could hear some Sedge Wrens singing but not one would show its pretty little head so I could get a look at this new species. How unsatisfying. I drove along the slough and saw four Wilson’s Phalaropes in breeding plumage as well as a Black Tern hawking over the marsh. After driving along the slough for a while I decided to head back to my camp site at Cross Ranch. Everybody had left and I was the only camper—a camper’s dream! It was so peaceful in the cottonwoods along the Missouri River, I could have stayed there all week long. I took an evening walk along the river and listened to all the birds singing, Blue Jays, Field Sparrows, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Bluebird, and Common Yellowthroat. Cross Ranch is on the Lewis and Clark Trail. When Lewis and Clark came through there were still Grizzly Bears and Swift Foxes but all I saw were some White-tailed Deer and squirrels.

Monday, June 23, 2008, I reluctantly left Cross Ranch and drove west about 120 miles to Theodore Roosevelt National Park near the border with Montana. I stopped at the Painted Canyon section and low and behold the ranger I met in Dry Tortugas was behind the desk. She told me about a Golden Eagle nest on the scenic loop and gave me a bird check list. I took the Painted Canyon loop trail while there and was devoured by biting gnats. I was the only person on the trail and I can see why. Those things left welts on my neck that lasted a week. On the trail I saw a Lazuli Bunting that practically bumped into me it was so close. This trail is part of a trail used by Colonel Custer when he traveled back and forth between the Fort in Bismarck and another one in Montana while battling the Sioux Indians to steal their land. I drove from Painted Canyon into the main section of the South Unit and set up my tent at a nice site on the Little Missouri River at the Cottonwood Campground. Then I went for a walk on the Lower Paddock Creek Trail. It was full of Prairie Dogs and Bison and I also saw a Wild Horse wallowing in the dust probably trying to get the gnats off of it. There were more Field Sparrows, one Lark Sparrow, Rock Wren, Baltimore Oriole, Common Grackle, and Common Nighthawk. I only went a couple of miles and then took the entire scenic loop, stopping at all the pullouts. I stopped where Sarah, the ranger, told me the Golden Eagle nest was and sure enough there it was and nearby on a ledge was an immature Golden Eagle. As evening approached I returned to the Scenic Loop Drive and pulled into the entrance to the Coal Vein Trail. I stopped when I saw something crossing the road and got out with my camera—a Sharp-tailed Grouse. I was just able to film it as it scooted up a hillside and away. Night was approaching so I returned to Cottonwood Campground. I walked around the campground listening for a Screech-owl Sarah had mentioned but only heard a Great Horned Owl. That night in my tent I woke up to the sound of a Bison stomping and snorting right next to my tent! I was so scared I was going to be trampled. My little flimsy tent was no protection from a 2 ton animal! I waited thinking I was going to die until it finally stomped away.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008, I drove outside of the park at the suggestion of another ranger through some of North Dakota’s oil wells to the trail head for the Petrified Forest Trail. I hiked 10 miles with my big professional camera on that trail. It was so hard carrying that camera that far. All the petrified wood was in the first two miles and then the trail dipped down into a riparian zone where I saw more Yellow-breasted Chat, Red-eyed Vireo, Spotted Towhee, dozens of Clay-colored Sparrows, and out of the woods a Sharp-shinned Hawk. As I rose over a ridge to the grasslands I came across a beautiful male Mountain Bluebird. The rest of the trail went through grasslands and I didn’t see many birds but the views of the Little Missouri River far below were outstanding.

After my hike I decided to try something else so I drove east to Schnell Recreation Area hoping to find a Gray Partridge around the agricultural fields there. I walked a nature trail and was enveloped with dozens of ticks. Some ferocious looking clouds were on the horizon so I went to the campground there and had a shower and then left. There was no time to check the agricultural fields because that storm was descending on me fast. Soon hail the size of pennies was plinking onto the car and I could not see a thing. Fortunately as a drove back west toward Teddy Roosevelt NP I drove out of the storm and into sunny weather. I decided to try the Little Missouri National Grasslands. You can follow Custer’s Trail through this grassland and also supposedly see some of North Dakota specialty birds. All I saw were some more Grasshopper Sparrows, Swainson’s Hawk, Mountain Bluebird, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Harrier, Lazuli Bunting, and one Say’s Phoebe. Way off of the trail were a few Antelopes. That night I was too scared to sleep in my tent with those roaming bison around so I slept in the car.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008, I got up before dawn and started driving like mad for miles through endless prairie toward the tiny town of Stanley where I was again pulled by the ND State Patrol. This guy was in a pooh brown uniform with one yellow light flashing, the other one out. I thought the guy was delivering mail for god’s sake. He said I was going 76 in a 65. He asked me millions of questions and I burst into tears and said, “look I know you must be lonely out here on the sparsely populated prairie and need to meet your quota but why are you harassing me?” He said, “OK, get in the car with me.” I said no way you pervert. So he wrote me the ticket and then had the nerve to say, “have a safe trip.” I became very depressed after that. I arrived at my destination, Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, not too late. In 1964 Congress passed the Wilderness Act to protect tracts of ecosystems across the US. Lostwood Wilderness Area was created in 1975 as part of that act to protect an area best representing the mixed grass prairie; it has a rich diversity with over 700 species of plants and 100 species of grasses. It is also home to the Baird’s Sparrow, a much sought after bird species as well as Sprague’s Pipit and Upland Sandpiper. I drove the auto tour route listening for the elusive Baird’s Sparrow which is said to have a song sounding like the opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. I pulled over and heard the unmistakeable, “dit, dit, dit, deeeee.” I rushed to pull out my camera, got my binoculars on a sparrow out in the prairie and there it was. But I only glimpsed it for a minute before it dove back into the grass never to be seen again. I tried to cajole it back out with a tape recording of its song on my ipod but it was having none of that. I was still feeling rather depressed about my personal problems and the speeding ticket and couldn’t even get very excited about adding the Baird’s Sparrow to my life list. I drove the auto tour some more and heard about half a dozen or maybe the same one moving around, Baird’s Sparrow but no luck seeing it. So I left Lostwood and drove 11 miles south to the tiny town of Powers Lake to see about getting a camp site. The “campground” was nothing more than a grassy field with some electrical outlets in it next to Powers Lake and across from two steel grain towers. I had lunch at a picnic table next to Powers Lake where a lone American White Pelican was swimming along with a Western Grebe.

After lunch I drove north to Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge and then on to Upper Soris National Wildlife Refuge, which was absolutely gorgeous. I was going to walk the Cottonwood trail but it was full of ticks and I wasn’t going to do that again. So I drove slowly past a grassy marshy area listening for the elusive Le Conte’s Sparrow. There was a Sedge Wren way out in the grass singing away but no Le Conte’s. I also saw some Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Bobolinks and a Willow Flycatcher. I decided to stop again in the evening on the way back to Powers Lake at Lostwood. I came across an Upland Sandpiper right in the auto tour road. In a wooded area I saw an owl that I think was a Long-eared Owl but it was too far away and just as I was about to leave the refuge a Sharp-tailed Grouse crossed in front of the car. I slept well that evening all by myself at the Powers Lake CG. They asked for a $3 donation to use the electrical outlet which I did to recharge my camera battery. The CG also had a hot shower and flushing toilet so I added a dollar for that too.

June 26, 2008, I left Powers Lake and drove north nearly to the border with Canada to the best birding spot in all of North Dakota, J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge. It was raining as I arrived and so I put on a poncho and went for a walk. Then when it started to let up I started the auto tour. There were many Black Terns hawking over the marsh and lots of Franklin’s Gulls. In addition to the extensive marshes at J. Clark Salyer there is also riparian habitat offering a completely different set of birds. I got out at the riparian area and took a walk. I saw a Baltimore Oriole feeding its chick which was in the grass. I pulled over at a weedy marshy area and finally heard a Le Conte’s Sparrow singing but again it just would not respond to a taped call or my pishing or any of my cajoling or begging. So I never did see it either. However, it is now on my list because I am not too persnickety about having to see it if you are sure you heard it and I am sure. I probably should have checked into a hotel in Minot and gone back to J. Clark Salyer the next day too but instead I made a daring move to try to see the incredibly elusive Yellow Rail. I drove for about two hours stopping at beautiful Turtle River State Park to find a camp site before proceeding after dark to Kelly’s Slough where Yellow Rails allegedly breed. Yellow Rails only call at night. So I drove over to the slough and rolled the window down to listen. It began to rain and the mosquitoes were house sized. I tried to play a tape but to no avail and in that rain it would have been a miracle frankly to hear one.

June 27, 2008, I left Turtle River State Park and stopped by Kelly’s Slough again but didn’t see too much. Then I drove south through the not so tiny town of Fargo and through the medium sized town of Jamestown to Alkali Lake Audubon Refuge. It was about to rain so I left my camera behind. Too bad to because a Swainson’s Hawk was just a few feet away perched in a tree. A bird was hawking in a field that looked much like a Black-billed Cuckoo but I don’t know if they hawk. Next I drove to Arrowwood NWR. The rain stopped but it was nearly mid day and I didn’t see much there besides more Bobolinks and a Red-tailed Hawk. Next I drove to Chase Lake NWR. It was very windy making it hard to hold my binoculars still or see or hear anything. I camped that night in the nearby tiny town of Medina at a little camp ground that also had a hot shower, water, flushing toilet and was only $10 a night. I got up at dawn and drove back to Chase Lake but it was incredibly windy all day long with sustained winds of 25-30 MPH. It is very difficult to bird in that kind of wind. I did see a Short-eared Owl early in the morning and got out at one point to film a Swainson’s Hawk when a farmer pulled up. He asked me if I was a birder (I was surprised he was familiar with that word) and when I said yes he said Oh let me give you this brochure for a tour route to follow to see some good birds around here and her are some more to give your friends. I said, thanks and then I asked him, “do you like living here?” To which he replied, “I love it!” I decided to try his suggestion. I drove around the area and never saw another human soul or building or anything the entire day. However, it was extremely windy making it nearly impossible to see or hear any birds either. I finally saw a Chestnut-collared Longspur but it was too far out in a field. I stopped at Lake Louise and saw four Upland Sandpipers. At Chicago Lake where you can supposedly hear Yellow Rails I heard a Sora and a Virginia Rail and saw a Wilson’s Snipe. At some of the other stops I saw Greater Yellowlegs, Orchard Oriole, Willow Flycatcher, Black Tern, Bobolink, and a nesting colony of Bank Swallows. After completing the tour I tried Ken’s suggested spot in Tuttle but there was little happening there besides a Ferruginous Hawk on a telephone pole. I drove back to Cross Ranch State Park to camp. On the drive there I finally saw a Gray Partridge crossing the road and as I entered the park I saw a Badger scuttling into a the prairie.

Sunday, June 29, was my last day. I left Cross Ranch SP and drove to Audubon NWR. I took the Prairie Trail and saw about five Great Horned Owls. I also saw several Ring-necked Pheasants, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Bobolinks, Northern Harrier, Marsh Wren, and one very cooperative Sedge Wren that let me get pretty close to it. There were also more Bank Swallows, Upland Sandpiper, Black-billed Magpie, Common Tern, Marbled Godwit, Black-crowned Night-heron, and a pair of Redheads. I also saw a Silvery Blue butterfly. There was not much time left and it was a gorgeous day so I went for a walk at the Cross Ranch Nature Preserve. A Least Flycatcher was persistently singing at the parking area. There were more Field Sparrows, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-breasted Chat but nothing new. I took a different trail than the first day and was sauntering along when I came across an enormous Western Hognose Snake. It scared the hell out of me because I nearly stepped on it. I didn’t know this until later but one of their defense mechanisms is to inflate their entire bodies to enormous proportions. I mean this snake had about a six inch diameter! I got out of there after that. After all those near death experiences it was time for me to leave North Dakota. Despite all my scary encounters with highway patrolmen, stampeding cows, snorting bison, and inflating snakes, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the incredible solitude of North Dakota, the stark beauty of Teddy Roosevelt Park, and all the beauty and charm of the wilderness there.
New Species: 5
Michelle Brodie
July 13, 2008

NOME, ALASKA

Nome, Alaska
June 7-14, 2008

There are no roads to Nome, Alaska; you can only get there by plane or boat. I took a plane from San Francisco to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, Anchorage to Kotzebue, and Kotzebue to Nome. I had a four hour lay over in Anchorage and so I walked out of the airport and went for a walk. My friend, Ken, had told me about a trail nearby but I had left the house that morning without time to download the directions and so I just walked toward Cook Inlet. It took me a long time to get to Cook Inlet but across the inlet I could see the top of 20,320 foot Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America. I could also see downtown Anchorage in the opposite direction. But then it was time to turn around and walk back. I saw a Black-billed Magpie, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Savannah Sparrow on the walk back. It took all day long to get to Nome and I didn’t arrive until 11:30 PM. It was still light out but raining and dismal so after picking up my rental car at the Aurora Inn I just found a safe place to park on the beach in Nome where you are allowed to camp for free and slept in the car. I just didn’t have the energy to put up a tent in the rain.

I didn’t sleep well with it light out all night long but I got up Sunday, June 8, 2008, and decided to just try a loop around town. I stopped at some ponds on the road to the airport and saw some Long-tailed Ducks, Greater Scaup, and Northern Pintails. It was raining and I had to film through the window. I saw a very large bull Moose in the just barely budding red willows. I drove from there up to Anvil Mountain. I walked the road a bit and saw a Lapland Longspur walking in the snow. This bird is abundant in Nome. Next I saw a Northern Wheatear a new bird for me and then a Common Redpoll, another new bird. There were some Yellow Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes in the willows near the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center. After thoroughly checking Anvil Mountain I turned back to Nome Bypass where I saw my first ever American Tree Sparrow. A Common Snipe was perched in a telephone wire. I stopped at some ponds where Nome Bypass ends at Front Street and there were more ducks, Red-necked Phalaropes, and two Red-throated Loons in breeding plumage. Then I headed over to the grocery store to pick up some food. I bought 8 bananas (not sure where those came from), 8 apples from Washington State, a loaf of bread, box of crackers, two propane canisters, and a small pack of napkins and it cost me $45. However, gas was only $4.29 a gallon, far less than in San Francisco.

It was still early and so I decided to try some more birding. Though there are no roads into Nome, there are three roads out of town, Council, Teller, and Kougarok, all ending in tiny Native Camps about 70 or more miles out. I decided to try Council Road and took it as far as the Solomon Bridge. Council Road follows along the Bering Sea for the first 30 miles or so until it reaches the Solomon River mouth and then turns inland until it reaches the edge of the boreal forest. After leaving town I drove over the Nome River Bridge where I stopped to check some shorebirds on the river banks. They were all Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers. So I continued. Just past the bridge I pulled over at Fort Davis, a fort built during the gold rush to restore law and order. Some Aleutian Terns were flying over the field. Across the street a Long-tailed Jaeger was sitting in the tundra; they nest in Nome along with Parasitic Jaegers. At the brushy creek mouths I stopped to look for passerines and saw singing Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Yellow Warblers, and Common Redpolls. Next I came to a rock quarry where the rocks are being used to make a short jetty into the Bering Sea. I walked out onto it and it began to rain. There were several Glaucous Gulls on the shore along with a few Mew Gulls and a female Eider I was not able to identify. After the jetty the habitat opens up into grasslands. All along the Bering Sea people have built summer homes. There are no services past the Nome River Bridge, no sewage, no electricity, no water services. So most of these are little shacks, some more elaborate with decks and two stories but mostly little lean tos with outhouses. All along this stretch there were many Lapland Longspurs which nest in western Alaska in large numbers. Tundra Swans were in the river which paralleled the sea at this stretch. Finally I came to Safety Sound, a well known rare bird migrant area. I pulled over at the bridge and saw two Pacific Loons in breeding plumage. I drove across the bridge and pulled over to check the sound more closely. In the sound was a much rarer Arctic Loon. They look very similar to a Pacific Loon except for a white patch going up their rumps. I saw this clearly as it sat perched in the water. I walked along the sound and found an injured Murre pulling up to the shore. I looked at it closely and saw that it was a Thick-billed Murre, a bird I have never seen before. In the grassland I saw my first ever Yellow Wagtail circling and circling while singing before finally landing in the grass briefly. At the Solomon River Bridge I stopped to look at the remains of a train the miners had tried to build there to connect a gold mine claim at the Solomon River Mouth to another mine 50 miles away in the tiny mining town of Council at the end of the Council Road. The train was never completed most likely due to the harsh conditions in that part of the world. It started to rain again and was getting late so I decided to turn around there. I drove all the way back into Nome and then pulled into the Kougarok Road and drove another 38 miles to the Salmon Lake “campground.” The lake was still mostly frozen and the campground was nothing more than a road that went to the lake edge. However, it had an outhouse with toilet paper so I decided to camp there. The sun finally emerged and even though it was midnight was shining brightly when I got into my sleeping bag and tried to go to sleep.

June 9, 2008, I got up as early as possible and drove straight from Salmon Lake to milepost 72 at Coffee Dome on Kougarok Road. I pulled over and began to walk up a tussocky hill to a ridge where the rare and elusive Bristle-thighed Curlew nests. I had gone no further than a quarter of a mile when one flew over my head singing. It landed not far away and another one flew in as well. I was able to film it showing the pumpkin colored rump that differentiates it from the very similar looking Whimbrel which also nests on the tundra. There was also a Long-tailed Jaeger sitting on a tussock that let me get very close to it. The closest I had ever previously been was when seeing them far out at sea from a boat on a pelagic trip or through a spotting scope from the Cliff House at home in San Francisco. It began to snow so I had to return to the car and put the camera away. I drove almost to the end of Kougarok Road and then parked and decided to go for a walk to the end. I left my camera in the car as it was raining steadily by then. I had only walked about 20 feet from the car when a Bluethroat flew up right in front of my face singing away circling and then landing not twenty feet from me perched in a willow. It would have made a brilliant shot if it hadn’t been raining and my camera hadn’t been stowed safely in the car. I continued down the road. On one side it dropped off steeply down an embankment to a broad river. Far below I saw a female Moose eating beside the river. She kept looking back and looking back at me and I couldn’t figure out why when I was so far away and so harmless. Just about then I saw an enormous rack of a huge bull moose sitting in a willow patch just twenty yards or so from me. It looked at me and I got a little bit scared and turned back for the car. As I drove back toward Nome I came across a Short-eared Owl perched in a tree. There was another large whitish bird on the other side but I never could tell if it was a Snowy Owl or a light morph Gyrfalcon before it flew over the ridge and away. On the way back after Salmon Lake I stopped at the Grand Central Bridge and there were many warblers singing away in the trees, mostly Blackpoll Warblers, Wilson’s Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Northern Waterthrushes but also Arctic Warblers and some Tiaga subspecies of the Fox Sparrow. There were some Harlequin Ducks in the river.

June 10, 2008 I decided to drive the Council Road all the way to the tiny mining town of Council. I stopped at the Nome River Bridge and there was a male and female Bar-tailed Godwit on the river bank. I stopped at Safety Sound and walked along the Bering Sea Beach where I found an injured Thick-billed Murre coming to shore to die. On the other side of the sound a Yellow Wagtail was singing and circling above but only landing ever so briefly. A Short-eared Owl was hunting for food at the mouth of the Solomon River. That night I camped on the beach in Nome.

June 11, 2008 I decided to take the Teller Road. It was overcast and as I began my trip down to Teller, a native camp 70 miles away, it began to snow hard. I came across a large herd of reindeer in the tundra and finally a Rock Ptarmigan, another first. It was snowing so hard but I made out an American Golden Plover in breeding plumage in the snowy tundra. At the Bluestone Bridge the snow turned to rain. Cliff Swallows were nesting under the bridge and there was a Northern Shrike in the willows on the river bank. As I approached the tiny village of Teller the sun finally emerged. I parked at the end of the road just before the spit that goes out into Grantley Harbor and walked out toward the end of it. The sea was still full of ice chunks. Far out on another little spit were some Jaegers chasing Arctic Terns. Some Pigeon Guillemots flew by as well as Pelagic Cormorant and Common Eider. White Wagtails which are much rarer than Yellow Wagtails, nest in Teller but despite my best efforts I was unable to locate one. So I turned around and headed back to Nome.

June 12, 2008, I decided to take a day trip to St. Lawrence Island on Bering Air. The plane didn’t leave Nome until 9:00 AM so I went first to the Nome River mouth. There were some Glaucous Gulls on a sand bar and one Slaty-backed Gull. The gulls were very skittish and flew if I even got anywhere near them. Up on the Nome River Bridge I was a Bar-tailed Godwit, Western Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, and Dunlin. Next I checked out the Ponds at Front Street and there were the usual Long-tailed Ducks, Red-throated Loons, and one Hoary Redpoll.

I was nervous about going to St. Lawrence Island. The plane is a twin prop that lands on the tiny island unassisted. So whether you make it or not on any given day is very much weather dependent and the weather so far in Nome had been rather miserable. But I made a reservation to leave at 9:00 AM and return the same day with a pick up at 5:00 PM. I don’t know what I would have done if the plane hadn’t been able to pick me up because I had nowhere to stay on that god forsaken island. But the weather was outstanding that day. We took off right on schedule and landed in Gambel, St. Lawrence Island around 10:00 PM. As I deplaned the plane was surrounded by native Suvuks on ATVs picking up their relatives as I wandered around looking for the bathroom. There was no bathroom—nothing there but an airstrip. A man on an ATV said something in some strange language and I finally figured he wanted to drive me around for a fee so I pulled out my wallet but he said no I don’t want your money what are you looking for and I said I wanted to look around so he said hop on I’ll take you to a bathroom. We pulled up to some building and the lady at the door said I could use the toilet. I didn’t know if it was her house or what. After coming out of the bathroom she said now you need to pay a fee to walk around the island. She handed me a form to fill out and extracted $50 from me just for the privilege of walking around that horrible trash filled island full of crazy people riding around in circles on noisy awful ATVs. St. Lawrence Island is 190 southwest of Nome, AK and just 40 miles from Siberia right out in the Bering Sea and a perfect platform to watch millions of seabirds flying by on their way to the tundra where they nest. This in turn attracts hundreds of birders each year to this tiny island to watch the spectacle and hope to catch an Asian stray bird or two that either lands on the island or flies past the point. I walked away from the pay house but it was foggy and I wasn’t exactly sure where the point was so I just started walking. Soon the fog lifted and I could see a giant sea cliff that came down to the sea. This is where three species of auklets and several other birds nest. It was extremely hard to walk there as the entire island is gravel. I was so tired by the time I made it to the cliff that the sweat was coming straight through my down jacket. As I walked along the coast I noticed a seabird very close to shore and stopped to film it not even sure what it was. At the cliff there were thousands of Least Auklets, Parakeet Auklets, and Crested Auklets as well as a few Pigeon Guillemots, at least one Black Guillemot, Horned Puffins, and two Snow Buntings. It was a truly amazing sight to see all those sea birds right there in front of me on the sea cliff. After enjoying that thoroughly I decided to walk to some “boneyards” near the town. St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited by humans since at least 1500 BC. These boneyards are middens left by these ancestors throwing the marine mammal bones they had used. The nutrients from these boneyards have seeped into the soil making an ideal place for plants to grow in this otherwise barren island. The natives living on Gambel live by subsistence activities of fishing, whaling, and harpooning walruses and seals. Every house had sticks strung with drying seal meat for the coming winter. Migration was actually over as it ends on June 10 generally so nothing much was happening at the boneyard other than a Lapland Longspur and a Semipalmated Plover so I kept going all the way to the point. I parked there and watched the show as hundreds of Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, Auklets, Harlequin Ducks, and other sea birds flew by in a steady stream. It was very exciting but as the sweat dried and I stood without moving I began to get cold so I moved around the island and found a gigantic whale bone in someone’s yard and some natives digging up a boneyard looking for some hidden ivory tusk on a walrus buried by their ancestors maybe. Then it was time to catch the plane home. Fortunately it was still clear and the plane landed right on time to take me back to Nome. It was still light out when I got back so after checking some bird sighting records at the Visitor Center I decided to try for a sighting of a Bluethroat on Kougarok Road seen by someone at milepost 38. I drove out there but only saw a Say’s Phoebe, Willow Ptarmigan, and Arctic Warbler. So I turned back and drove back to my campsite on the beach in Nome.

June 13, 2008 was my last day in Nome so I decided to try Council Road one last time all the way to Council. I had seen at least one new bird each day but I figured the only chances I had left at that point were the ever elusive Red-necked Stint possible at Safety Sound or a Boreal Chickadee in the Spruce Forest at the end of Council Road. At Nome River Bridge there were some Tundra Swans and Bar-tailed Godwits. At Safety Sound there was a huge flock of Semiplamated Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers but I could not find any Red-necked Stint. So I pressed on. At the tiny native village of Solomon there were a couple of Yellow Wagtails. I stopped at Lee’s abandoned mining camp not long after Solomon and found the only two butterflies of the trip—an Arctic Blue and an Anna’s White but no White Wagtail which allegedly nests there. I pressed on to the Boreal Forest. It was so muddy in some parts of that road as it climbed up to the forest that I thought the car might bottom out but it did just fine. It was a Ford Escape with good mud tires on it. Near the crest of the road I stopped where I saw a Northern Wheatear perched. Then I pressed on to the forest edge where I heard a Varied Thrush and several Snowshoe Hares were crossing the road. Near the town of Council I got out and saw a Whimbrel near the road. Then I stopped at the Bear Creek Rest Stop and walked around. Incredibly a Boreal Chickadee came out of the forest out into plain view! I walked around a pond lined with willows and saw several Yellow Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, and Northern Waterthrushes but got scared when I came across some enormous paw tracks in the mud. I returned to my car and started my drive back. When safely away from the bear tracks I got out and took a two mile walk but didn’t see anything except some Tree Swallows at the Fox River Bridge. So I headed back to Nome.

June 14, 2008 was my last day. Before walking to the airport I checked the Front Street Ponds and saw American Tree Sparrow, Common Redpoll, and Yellow Wagtail and then I briefly saw a bird pop up that looked like it might have been the White Wagtail reported there earlier in the week. But it was time to walk to the airport so I had to turn back and leave Nome.
95 species
19 new
Michelle Brodie
June 19, 2008

BIRDING FLORIDA: April 19, 2008-May 3, 2008

Michell Brodie, Bird Buccaneer, Goes to Florida
April 19 – May 3, 2008

On April 19, 2008, I caught a plane that left San Francisco at 6:00 AM and yet the man across the aisle from me still managed to drink four beers before landing in Atlanta! Both that flight and my connecting flight to Tampa, Florida were early so it was an auspicious beginning to an amazing trip to Florida. Tampa is very convenient; there is a Target (for propane and bug spray), a Whole Foods Market (for good food), and an excellent beer shop (for obvious reasons) all in the same shopping area just minutes from the airport. After finishing all my preparations there was no time left for anything but to drive to my camp for the night at Little Manatee River State Park in Wimauma, FL. Just driving in I saw a Roseate Spoonbill fly over the highway and a Little Blue Heron in a ditch on the side of the road. The entrance is lined with saw palmettos and moss draped oak trees and my little camp site was very private and cozy. As I fell asleep under a full moon a Chuck-will’s-Widow came and began to sing along with some Common Nighthawks. During the night a Barred Owl began to hoot.

April 20, 2008, I got up at 5:00 AM and drove to Ft. DeSoto Park on Tampa Bay near St. Petersburg. There were dozens of Ospreys nesting in the park. I stopped first at the East Beach and there were some White Ibises walking at my feet. They were very common it turned out. I then drove west to Bay Pier Parking Area to the famous mulberry trees. There were dozens of birders surrounding these trees but there were very few birds. Almost all of the birders were photographers. I was the only one videotaping. Finally after waiting and walking around for about 30 minutes a few things flew in—a Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bunting, and a Prothonotary Warbler. The birders surrounded the poor things. So I took a walk around and found a Pileated Woodpecker right out in the open in the parking lot and some Common Ground-Doves in the dunes. There were also some Black-hooded Parakeets in the palmetto trees. I took a little nature trail across the street and saw a Magnificent Frigate Bird circling high overhead. Next I took the nature walk in an oak hammock and mangrove forest at the Arrowhead Picnic Area where I saw a Louisiana Waterthrush, Hooded Warbler, and Black-throated Blue Warbler. Next I drove to the North Beach (allegedly the number one beach in the US) and walked around the hammock at the end of the island where I saw my first ever Gulf Fritillary and Mangrove Skipper. Ft. DeSoto wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it was going to be so I drove from there to St. Petersburg to the Boyd Hill Nature Park. Over 50 species of butterflies have been recorded in this neat little park. It has extensive trails through various habitats, oak hammock, pine woodlands, and wetlands. In the oak hammock I saw another Pileated Woodpecker, Great-crested Flycatcher, Kentucky Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, an Ovenbird, and a Red-shouldered Hawk devouring a rat. There were some gopher tortoises in the open areas and alligators near the water. I saw several different butterflies—the beautiful Zebra Longwing, Gulf Fritillary, Monarch, White Peacock, Cassius Blue, Horace’s Duskywing, Sleepy Orange, and Tropical Checkered Skipper. It was getting late so I headed back to my campsite at Little Manatee River State Park. I took a walk along the river but dark was approaching and I didn’t see much. As it darkened I heard Common Nighthawks, Barred Owl, Northern Bobwhite, and Chuck-will’s-Widow.

April 21, 2008, I got up at 5:00 AM as usual and drove north of Tampa to the Dunedin Causeway where I stopped and looked at some shorebirds including Ruddy Turnstone, Piping Plover, and a pack of Black Skimmers among other things, before heading onward to Honeymoon Island State Park. As I was entering the park I saw my first ever Gray Kingbird. It was perched on a phone wire and was singing away. I drove to the end of the park and took the Osprey Trail. As the name indicates there were many, many Ospreys. I saw several species of warblers on the trail including Palm Warbler, very common resident, Prairie Warbler, another common resident, Cape May Warbler (to think how hard I worked for one in Pt. Pelee last year), Hooded Warbler, and Indigo Buntings at my feet. A Tricolored Heron was near the end of the trail and a Blue Grosbeak was in the picnic area. After walking the trail I drove over to the beach area which was loaded with vacationers loafing about. I walked down the narrow beach and saw a Northern Gannet right off shore diving for food. Just inland from the beach was a small pond where I saw a Wilson’s Plover. It was starting to get crowded so I decided to leave and return to Ft. DeSoto where I would be camping for the night. It was extremely windy. I returned to the famous mulberry trees where there were still some birders lingering about. The Orchard Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, and Summer Tanager from yesterday were still there but there was a photographer with the biggest lens I have ever seen photographing near the fountain so that I could not get close enough for good video. His lens must have been 1000mm. I watched for a while but decided to try the end of the island. There was nothing but a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in the non-native Australian Pines at East Beach. At the end of the island I saw a small flock of shorebirds that let me get very close and included Marbled Godwit, Wilson’s Plover, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, and some Dowitchers. That night the extreme wind kept me awake most of the night with the tent fly flapping furiously in the wind.

April 22, 2008, I got up early and checked the mulberry trees at sun up. The only additions were I finally saw the Prothonotary Warbler eating some berries, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which I saw very few of in Florida. Red-eyed Vireo, and an Overnbird which is very common. I left the park and drove to Osprey, Florida to the Oscar Scherer State Park, best place in the state to find the Florida Scrub-Jay which looks just like our Western Scrub-Jay but is a separate species. I carried that doggone 11 pound camera on a three mile hike through pine lands but was rewarded with ultra close ups of my first ever Florida Scrub-Jay. There were very few people at the park and I enjoyed hiking in the pine woodlands but after having my lunch I decided to drive to J.N. “Ding: Darling National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most famous birding sites in all of North America (I’m not sure why). It took a very long time to get there because you must cross a causeway from Ft. Meyers Beach to Sanibel Island to get there. Sanibel Island is a tourist destination entirely apart from the excellent birding allegedly there, and thus extremely crowded. The wildlife refuge, when I finally did make it there, was packed with people and not one of them a birder. Packs of people were all around me at all times. I saw more butterflies than birds including Giant Swallowtail, Mangrove Buckeye, Cloudless Sulphur, Zebra Swallowtail, Great Southern White, and Little Yellow. After walking the nature trail I left Sanibel Island and took the long drive to my campground for the night, Ortona Lock, which is about half way across the state. I was supposed to meet my friend, Ken, the following morning on the Atlantic side; Fort Myers is on the Gulf side. As I approached the turn off for Ortona Lock, I saw a Crested Caracara right on the side of the road and a White-winged Dove and Loggerhead Shrike. I arrived at the Ortona Lock campground right at sunset. It was a very strange campground; right across the road was a herd of cattle! It was very clean and had a nice bathroom with a clean hot shower but it was a little strange for me. I received a message from Ken that he would be unable to meet me the next day.

April 23, 2008, I got up as early as humanly possible and made the grueling drive across the state to Delray Beach to the Wakodahatchee Wetlands. I arrived later than I intended and there were already numerous people there, mostly joggers and photographers. I was the only birder there. One guy was taking photos but he didn’t know what anything was. The area is a managed wetland watered with reclaimed water from the waste water treatment plant. Before the state obliterated the real wetlands to build hundreds of golf courses, the water was naturally filtered through these wetlands leaving plenty of fresh drinking water but with the demands on land in Florida for development, the wetlands were soon vastly diminished leaving no source to filter all the waste water being created. So places like Wakodahatchee were created to fill the void. In the meantime the place had become a major attractant for wildlife that had become habituated to humans to the point that normally extremely shy species such as Least Bitterns and Purple Gallinules walked right out into the open, thus all the photographers. The joggers just enjoyed a nice walk on the boardwalks there through a lush beautiful wetland. I walked around the boardwalk twice and had extremely close views of Purple Gallinule, my first ever Limpkin, Least Tern feeding a chick, Anhingas everywhere, Common Moorhens with little chicks, Mottled Duck, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Wood Storks, and every heron species in the state. While looking at the whistling ducks several species of warblers flew into a tree by my head. While out on the boardwalk I realized that for some undetermined amount of time the microphone on my video camera had been in the off position. I was crushed to the core. I had been making running commentaries for three days and had taped nearly an hour of footage. I was just crestfallen. After lunch I drove from Wakodohatchee to Green Cay Wetlands. It was an erstwhile bell pepper farm that had been donated by the farmers to the state at a fraction of the market value with the understanding that it would be managed as a wetland in perpetuity. It too had a nice boardwalk with plenty of wildlife but being only four years old the birds were not nearly as close as at Wakodahatchee. I saw pretty much all the same species I had seen earlier in the morning. So I left Delray Beach and drove south on I-75 to Miami over the Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne to the end of the island to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. I needed a restroom desperately. I got out of the car with my video camera and walked over to some trees. They were dripping with warblers. I started to video tape some but there were mobs of Jews on their Passover vacation being wheeled up and down the trail on bicycle carts. Each one stopping to inquire what I was doing or looking at etc. I decided I better find a restroom. I saw a man with binoculars and I told him the trees were dripping with warblers but I was being harassed. I asked him where the restroom was. He introduced himself to me which I thought was strange but then later after taking care of some rather urgent matters realized he was the guy who had written the Florida bird finding guide in my car, Brian Rapoza! Fortunately I saw him later and told him I was sorry his name didn’t click earlier and thanked him for his helpful book. He pointed out a more peaceful trail I could take which was a dirt path with no bicycle carts or people for that matter save me and Brian Rapoza. This trail also had many birds and butterflies on it including Painted Bunting, Indigo Bunting, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Black-throated Green Warbler, and the ever present Palm Warbler. Among the butterflies I saw were the gorgeous Zebra Longwing and a Queen. I stayed for a very long time but then decided I better go as it was getting late. I drove back over the causeway and through Miami in hellish traffic south on the Dixie Highway (Highway 1) to the Everglades where I would be camping for the next three nights. The campground had only two other people so I had my choice of the best spot which I took and fell fast asleep. A Chuck-will’s-widow sang me to sleep.

April 24, 2008, I woke up early to an Antillean Nighthawk singing high overhead somewhere. I could not see it because my camp site was nestled in some very tall Long Pines. While brushing my teeth in the campground bathroom I noticed a Green Tree Frog in one of the overflow holes. I drove from Everglades to one of Miami’s hottest birding spots, A.D Doug Barnes Park. There were a few warblers but nothing like the numbers I had seen at Bill Baggs. The only new bird was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and some Muscovy Ducks which I don’t think are “countable.” Countable is a fanatical birder term. Most birders keep lists of all the birds they see and count how many species they have seen in their lives. But serious birders also divide the list into areas where the bird was seen. Depending on how fanatical they are their lists might be as minute as which county the bird was seen in. So for example, my friend Jennifer Rycenga, who is very fanatical, keeps a list of how many species she has seen in San Mateo County, how many she has seen in California, how many she has seen in North America, and in the world. The North American list is further delineated by the American Birding Association (ABA) to include only the US including Alaska and Canada. You may not include birds you saw in Hawaii on your North American ABA list. The ABA has other bizarre rules about what may be counted on your list. For example escaped birds are not countable nor are released birds even if they are nesting and breeding in the wild until their population reaches what the ABA considers a viable population. I think the Black-hooded Parakeets are not “countable.” I’m not sure why because I don’t really keep up with such nonsense but there sure were a lot of them at Fort DeSoto. Yes, they did originate in the suitcase of some stowaway from South America but they most certainly are living on their own in the wild at this point. Other birds that were introduced and quickly spread to make viable populations there is no question you may count such as European Starlings and House Sparrows. California Condors may only be counted if you saw one before 1979 or something because that’s when the last one was captured for captive breeding because they are basically extinct. According to EO Wilson once a species’s population falls below 50 it is considered extinct and beyond recovery. So the Muscovy Duck was most likely an escapee and not countable on my ABA approved North American list or life list as most birders call them (although I read somewhere that Floridians consider them "countable.") In fact, when I arrived in Florida I had a wish list of birds I had never seen before that I wanted to see. However, I was not exactly sure how many “countable” birds were on my North American Life List. My goal was to reach 600 in 2008. I didn’t count the Muscovy Duck. I was about ready to leave AD Barnes due to lack of bird activity when I noticed a very large swallowtail flutter by; this Giant Swallowtail, my first, was the best sighting at AD Barnes.

I left AD Barnes and drove to Matheson Hammock County Park. This is Miami Dade County’s oldest park and it was a dandy. It had trails through some incredible tropical hardwood hammock of which there is very little left in the extremely developed South part of Florida. I took one of the trails and soon came to a Royal Palm with a Chestnut-fronted Macaw poking his head out of one of the many holes in the trunk. (I’m pretty sure this is not countable). I also saw a Hill Myna. I had never heard of it before and wasn’t sure whether it was countable. I was looking intently at a Spicebush Swallowtail I wanted desperately to photograph when another birder said, “Ma’am, there’s a Short-tailed Hawk overhead.” Sure enough there was my first ever Short-tailed Hawk, a dark morph, circling right above us. I walked into a very wild tangled trail-- what all of Miami looked like before all the development. In there I found a Great Southern White and a Florida White Butterfly. I heard a Bobwhite calling. I had lunch in the picnic area and then left. I drove back across the Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne to Crandon Beach. I went to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center and took the Osprey Trail through maritime forest. It was near midday and I didn’t see much besides the resident Prairie Warblers and Palm Warblers but it was a nice walk out to a boardwalk through a mangrove forest. It was nearing rush hour and I couldn’t bear the thought of being caught in Miami rush hour traffic again trying to get back to my campsite in the Everglades so I decided to head directly east toward the Shark Valley entrance thinking there would be less traffic. The roads in Miami are ridiculous. They are numbered but not in order! How absurd. I ended up in some run down neighborhood full of Cuban refugees. I finally managed to get out of there in some convoluted way and make it to Shark Valley in time to have my dinner beside the canal. This was an alleged spot to see Snail Kites coursing over the marsh. I watched while eating but saw nothing but herons and Vultures. I heard a King Rail somewhere in the bank but never saw it. The Shark Valley visitor center was closed with a gate pulled across it. So after dinner I left and returned to my camp site at Long Pine Key Campground. Some more people had arrived including some completely self absorbed foreigner in a rented RV who parked his RV right next to my tent even though there were hundreds of open camp sites. At 10:30 PM when his obnoxious noisy generator was still running I went over to his door and pounded on it until he answered. I said “quiet hours are 10:00 PM. Your generator is bothering me. Will you turn it off please?” He couldn’t speak English but mumbled something and a few minutes later it was off. I didn’t put the fly on my tent because it was a nice evening but I had no sooner fallen asleep than it began to rain and I had to get up and put the fly on. It was a rocky night and I didn’t feel well the next day.

April 25, 2008, I had intended to get up early as usual but I was feeling under the weather so to speak. The rain was very short lived and the sun was up by the time I arrived at Royal Palm in the Everglades, an alleged spot to see White-crowned Pigeons. I couldn’t find any but I took the Gumbo-Limbo trail which was a quite nice self-guided nature trail through tropical hammock. There was a Great Crested Flycatcher, Ovenbird, and American Redstart but not much else. I took the Anhinga trail and there were some alligators and Anhingas but not much else there either. So I drove some more down the park road to Mahogany Hammock. It held more tropical hammock including some very large mahogany trees, a tree that has mostly been logged out of Florida due to its high value as a hard wood for furniture and building. In most of the trees air plants were growing. There were two Gray Kingbirds at the entrance and one Eastern Kingbird, and a Barred Owl that was perched at eye level near the boardwalk. Next I drove further to the Snake Bight Trail, an alleged place to see the ever elusive Mangrove Cuckoo. According to Rapoza’s book the mosquitoes on this trail are particularly vicious. He was not kidding about that. I sprayed 100% poison on myself, 100% deet, and had long pants and a long-sleeved shirt and they still bit me hundreds of times right through my clothes. It was unbelievable. It was 1.6 miles of pure hell to the boardwalk at the end of the trail. I couldn’t keep the mosquitoes off my hands because I was carrying my video camera on a tripod in one hand and binoculars in the other. I saw a few warblers but not too much else. I ran part of the time and was relieved at a little breeze on the boardwalk to keep the mosquitoes away. Just as I arrived a Swallow-tailed Kite flew right over my head followed by an immature Bald Eagle. I couldn’t see any Flamingoes allegedly visible from the boardwalk way out in Florida Bay, only a few shorebirds eating in the mudflats. I ran back down the trail to the car and proceeded to the end of the park at Flamingo. I saw the endangered American Crocodile on the banks of the canal behind the camp store. There are only 500 left and all of them in South Florida. Next I walked the Bear Lake Trail. At first I wasn’t seeing anything and I was just about to turn around and give up because I just could not take the constant whine of mosquitoes in my ears for one more minute when I heard a Black-whiskered Vireo singing, another new bird for me. I returned to the car and then headed back up the road to the Pa-hay-okee (native word for grassy waters) Observation Tower. Supposedly an occasional Snail Kite is seen here but I had no such luck. It was neat to see endless saw grass prairie from the top of the tower. It made me a little sad though to think in what peril the Everglades were to the depredations of humans. Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in Florida and is a source of fresh drinking water for 99% of Florida’s water is not fresh. Due to rapid population increases, human demands, and overdevelopment the people nearly drained the Everglades dry by diverting the water from Lake Okeechobee. Man made canals had to be built to prevent the Everglades from disappearing forever and with them several species dependent on them including the Florida Panther.

April 26, 2008, I woke up not feeling my usual perky self. I went over to the Snake Bight Trail again to look for Mangrove Cuckoo but there was very little action so I gave up after about 50 mosquito bites and tried Royal Palm again. Not too much was happening there except for dozens of Black Vultures and I tried one last time at Mahogany Hammock but only saw three Barred Owls. So I left the Everglades and drove south on Highway 1, the Overseas Highway, to Key Largo. I stopped at the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical Site, the largest protected mangrove forest in the world. There were a few Cape May Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, and a few other things like White-eyed Vireo but not too much else. So I decided to go on down to Key West. I had my lunch in the parking lot and while I was eating I heard some more Black-whiskered Vireos in the trees.

It is a long miserable drive down the Florida Keys on the Overseas Highway. You cannot go more than 45 MPH most of the time on a two lane road. So after driving for quite a long time I decided to stop in a Bahia Honda State Park. I drove to a parking area for a beach which was packed with tourists, and the Silver Palm Nature Trail. There were so many people I figured it was senseless to carry my camera and wouldn’t you know it I came within two feet of a gorgeous Reddish Egret in breeding plumage! Gorgeous. But I have no pictures and no video of it. Shame. I continued down the Overseas Highway to Key West and drove to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, supposedly a good place to find White-crowned Pigeons. I was having no luck at all. However, the warblers were right at eye level and very easy to see there. The poor birds are so tired and hungry by the time they see land in Key West that they just don’t care about human presence. All they can think about is eating. So I got some nice close up looks at some but it was getting late and I needed to pack for my big trip the next day so I left Ft. Zachary Taylor and checked into my hotel in Key West, the El Rancho. It took me a long time to prepare for my trip because I was headed to Dry Tortugas the next day and needed to have my cooler full of ice and all the food and water I would need for the next three days as Dry Tortugas has no water and no facilities whatsoever. I wanted block ice that would last longer but was having trouble finding any. The town was full of drunk revelers on spring break riding around recklessly on scooters and I was starting to feel poorly so I gave up and bought regular chipped ice. That night I slept very poorly.

April 27, 2008, the day I had been looking forward to for so long arrived. I woke up so terribly sick. I got over to the Land’s End Marina and checked in with the Yankee Freedom Ferry that would take my camping gear and me to Dry Tortugas, 70 miles off shore from Key West. After all my things were safely aboard and I was waiting for the ferry departure a deluge came and dumped the only significant rain of the entire two week trip. It passed after about 20 minutes and we were soon boarded and on our way. My nose began to run relentlessly. I had an inadequate amount of tissue, well none really and was constantly running down to the bathroom to get some. My nose would not stop running. I was so sick that I was unable to look for birds and anyway I couldn’t really see any. It certainly wasn’t like the Pacific Ocean which is full of pelagic bird life even close to shore. The ferry ride is 2.5 hours and I was sick for every minute of it. But I refused to let it get my spirits down. I had so looked forward to this part of the trip. I still think of it now with tears in my eyes, it was so special. The ferry landed at 10:30 AM and I went directly over to the campground to secure a good spot. I found a nice spot and put up my tent and then headed for a look around. Dry Tortugas is a very small island that you can walk around easily in 30 minutes but there is much to see there. The first thing I noticed was dozens of Ruddy Turnstones practically at my feet and half a dozen Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring overhead. I also noticed two hand made boats littered with refuse on the shore. It turned out that 10 Cuban Refugees had landed that day at 10:00 AM and were being escorted by the Park Service to Key West. I did not know this but unlike the Mexicans and Central Americans who are taken promptly back to Tijuana when caught illegally crossing the border, Cubans are welcomed by our country with open arms and given magnanimous greetings and help to establish themselves here. If they make it to land they are allowed to apply for citizenship and start a life here unencumbered by mere laws. I found this hard to accept given the discriminatory treatment given to Central American refugees and illegal entrants.

Just past the abandoned home made boats I came to the coaling docks (I never did find out what that term meant). Brown Noddies were roosting all over them at very close range. I think this is the only species that nests on Dry Tortugas. This was a new species for me but what would be really special would be to pick out a Black Noddy which is a very rare visitor, amongst the many Brown Noddies. Just off shore from Dry Tortugas are a number of other smaller islands including the closest one, Bush Key, home to the largest nesting colony of Sooty Terns in North America. There are estimated to be approximately 100,000 Sooty Terns on Bush Key. Sooty Terns are a pelagic species spending their entire lives at sea except when they come to shore to nest. As soon as the chicks hatch in late May and learn to fly they leave Bush Key and fly to the coast of Africa where they remain at sea for 3-5 years before returning to land to nest themselves. These were the first Sooty Terns I had ever seen. There used to be a colony of Roseate Terns on Bush Key but the last hurricane wiped out all the trees and they no longer nest there, though there are efforts to bring them back by using speakers installed on the island making Roseate Tern sounds.

In the middle of Dry Tortugas is Fort Jefferson, a fort that was built in 1846 to protect our coast from assault. Later the fort was used as a prison for deserters from the Union Army during the civil war. I was so sick all day but I tried to make the most of it. The ranger told us that this big shot birder named Larry Manfreddi had located a very rare Red-footed Booby on whatever key is next to Bush Key and had found two Black Noddies on the coaling docks. So I went to the top of the Fort to see if I could look down on the coaling docks from there. A woman was there with a spotting scope and we looked through it but couldn’t find the Black Noddy or the Red-footed Booby. Her scope was not very good and the tripod was even worse. It was quite windy on top of the Fort and it was difficult to make much out up there. I felt very bad so I returned to my camp site. I walked along the moat to get back and an injured Northern Gannet was in the moat within feet of me. I’ve never seen one so close before. I tried to lie on the picnic table but just felt miserable. I had my little dinner and my two little beers and just went to sleep after the sun went down. My neighbors were very nice and very respectful. Nobody made loud noises or acted obnoxious.

April 28, 2008, I was still sick but I still got up as soon as possible to be awake for sunrise when the birds would be arriving. One of the things that makes Dry Tortugas so special is that it sits out in the Gulf of Mexico 70 miles off shore from Key West and is often the first land a migrating bird returning from South America will see after flying all night long. Song birds migrate at night to avoid birds of prey it is believed and so as the sun comes up they are so tired and so hungry after crossing the Gulf of Mexico that they will stop at the first land they see. Due to their extreme fatigue and hunger they are hell bent on eating and become oblivious to humans. I got out of my tent and a Prairie Warbler was so close that I leaned down with my naked eye and could see individual feathers. I went and stood by the north coaling docks and saw a fantastic sunrise. The sun came up over Bush Key as swarms of Sooty Terns were silhouetted by the great giant orange ball. On the beach behind the campground my new friends, Mark and Mike and I spotted a Brown Booby. I had seen this bird before on the Monterey Coast Guard Pier. Later up on top of the Fort Mike had his scope out scanning the noddy flock. He told me that you could see the Masked Boobies from where we stood. I asked him to show me and indeed there was a nice sized flock of nesting Masked Boobies on Hospital Key visible through his scope, another life bird! There were only the same birds from yesterday around the island. I walked around the Fort with a roll of toilet paper in my backpack for my relentlessly running nose and tried again to look for the Black Noddy. A woman was there with binoculars. She told me her name was Vicki Rothman from Miami, and she was just there on a day trip with her husband. She told me that she heard you could see the Black Noddy from the moat. So we walked down to the edge (the Park Service had roped off this area as it was under construction) as close as allowed and sure enough there was a Black Noddy right next to a few Brown Noddies. You could clearly make out its much smaller size, darker color, and sharply demarked white cap. I had Vicki keep an eye out while I crossed into the roped off area for some video and a picture. Vicki wanted a picture for her records so I promised to email it to her (which I did but she never responded). It was a life bird for both of us. Inside the Fort were the same Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Broad-winged Hawk, Merlin, and Cattle Egrets from yesterday. I walked around the island with Vicki enjoying all the birds until she had to leave on the departing ferry at 3:00 PM. Around 5:00 PM I ran into Mike sitting with his spotting scope pointed toward the island right next to Bush Key. He called me over and let me look through his scope and I saw way in the distance my first ever Red-footed Booby. It was very far away but the reddish feet were clearly visible. I took some brief video even though it was too far away. It was my third life bird in one day. I thanked Mike and then went back to my campsite for dinner. As I sat eating I went through my journal checking how many new birds I had seen in Florida. I didn’t count the Black-hooded Parakeet(although to this day I’m not sure if it’s countable) but with the birds that were certainly countable, the Gray Kingbird, Florida Scrub-Jay, Limpkin, Antillean Nighthawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Black-whiskered Vireo, Brown Noddy, Masked Booby, Black Noddy, Sooty Tern, and Red-footed Booby, I had at least 11 new birds. I couldn’t remember if I had removed California Condor from my list and I wasn’t exactly sure but thought my count before I left was 588 so that would put me at 599, just one shy of 600. I wasn’t sure about the Hill Myna so I went over to ask Mike if it was countable. He was sitting next to bird trip leader, Larry Manfreddi. The question was directed at Mike but Larry chirped in immediately and barked to me “you can’t count Hill Myna and you didn’t even see one, you saw a Common Myna.” I went back to my picnic table and wrote in my journal, “Larry Manfreddi is an asshole.”

April 29, 2008, I woke up early and finally felt better. The West Nile Virus was nearly gone. As I stepped out of my tent it was still dark with dawn approaching; a Short-eared Owl flew right over my head. On the beach behind my tent I found the Northern Gannet dead on the shore. One leg was broken leaving it unable to paddle out of the water to get into the air and it had died of starvation. There was a beautiful sunrise over Bush Key. I walked behind the campground to the north coaling docks and I could see the birds flying in and literally crashing into the shore with exhaustion. It turned out to be an amazing day with hundreds of birds flying in all day long and eating at my feet. I got so close to a Veery that it was walking between my feet. There were Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Wood Thrushes, and Swainson’s Thrushes. At the famed fountain were Tennessee Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Hooded Warbler. A Scarlet Tanager set up house keeping right behind my tent giving me eye popping close up views of this gorgeous scarlet and black bird. I also saw Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, Summer Tanager, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Larry Manfreddi arrived with a group of about 20 birders who had paid him $1600 a piece to be lead by him to these birds that were so easy to see and find. At the end of the day they went back to his 64 foot boat to sleep at night and some evenings he took them to some of the other keys to look for birds not visible from Garden Key where my campsite and Fort Jefferson were. Manfreddi waltzed right into the campground oblivious to the campers, most of whom were not birders at all but there for relaxation or snorkeling, and put out a pan of water for the birds under some trees. Since the only other fresh water for the birds is from the fountain, the birds were very attracted to this make shift bird bath. And if you sat quietly nearby you could see just about all the birds on the island at ultra close distance. After a few minutes a Dickcissel in breeding plumage flew into the pan for a drink. After the daily ferry arrived at 10:30 a new group came and set up two tents in the site right in front of mine. It was two ladies from Orlando, Marcia and Cynthia, and a fellow named Steve who told me that he was a professional videographer for a TV station. At first when I asked why he wasn't videotaping he said he was on vacation but later he confided that he wished he did have his video camera but that the station wouldn't let it leave Wisconsin. Marcia told me that she was very impressed that I was brave enough to come out there and camp all alone.

At lunch a camper next to me, Kelly from Key Largo, offered to let me use her kayak to kayak out to Bush Key. I took her up on her offer but was too scared to take my camera along. I paddled out as close as possible to get a better look at the Sooty Terns. While paddling out I saw a huge Loggerhead Turtle in the water. Another kayaker paddled up and showed me how a Brown Noddy was perched on the end of his kayak and had been there for 15 minutes.

That evening as I sat at my picnic table for dinner Steve pointed out a male Bobolink in breeding plumage in a tree just above my campsite. Some nice people were leaving the next day and gave me their extra water which I gladly accepted. I didn’t need it to drink as I had plenty for that. I got into the Ocean to wash away the sweat and then used the fresh water to bathe in and rinse off the salt water afterwards. I love bathing outside! My ice had all melted but my daily allotment of two beers was still plenty cool. Since I now had extra water I used some to wet a towel I placed on top of my cooler and this functioned to keep the cooler extra cool. I used a rain poncho as a tarp during the day to keep the sun off of it. During the night I could hear the rats the park service had mentioned but they never bothered me or my stuff at all.

On the ferry ride out the Yankee Freedom had offered everyone snorkeling gear but I was so sick I couldn't even think of doing such a thing. Most people come to Dry Tortugas for a day trip and spend the day snorkeling the coral reef that surrounds Garden Key. I never did any snorkeling on account of my West Nile Virus but I did get to see some outlandishly colored fish from the moat including the brightly colored Parrot Fish and the little yellow and black Sargent Major fish. I also saw a Portuguese Man-0f-War in the water.

April 30, 2008, was my last day on Dry Tortugas. The ferry would take me back to Key West at 2:45 PM. There was another beautiful sunrise to admire but there weren’t nearly as many birds the last day. Inside the Fort were the usual Broad-winged Hawk, Merlin, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk waiting to pounce on the tired hungry arriving song birds. Manfreddi and his paid customers came in later in the day. Manfreddi had another birder helping him lead his birding trip whose name I think was Nigel. Nigel found a Chuck-will’s-widow on a low branch behind the fountain. He pointed it out to the paying birders and of course I wanted it for my video I had been working so hard on but I didn’t want to scare it so I stayed back. Well, Nigel walked up to me and said you should get closer to get a better shot. I thought that was so uncharacteristic of most birders and I was so grateful at his kindness. I took him up on his offer and got as close as I dared. There were also two Nighthawks sleeping up in a Gumbo Limbo tree. You cannot tell a Common Nighthawk from an Antillean Nighthawk unless they sing. But these two wouldn’t make a peep for us. After the paying birders left I was able to stand quietly at the fountain and get some fantastic shots of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo coming in for a bath plus two male Magnolia Warblers, a Tennessee Warbler, and some other neat things too. I also got some nice shots of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird eating at a Sea Grape. Before the paying birders left Nigel gave me some tips on where to find Snail Kite and White-crowned Pigeon. I really did not want to leave Dry Tortugas but departure was quickly approaching. I saw Mike and Mark and I told Mike that I didn’t think there were any other birds possible to see on Dry Tortugas that I had not already seen except for White-tailed Tropicbird. He said “oh Mark and I saw about five of those on the way out here.” I was crushed. I had been so sick I guess I didn’t notice them. I demanded that Mike produce one on the ferry ride back to Key West as I thought it would take me up to 600 birds on my ABA approved North American Life List (although I actually wasn’t really sure but it made for a fantastic plot line). I reluctantly boarded the boat and Mike, Mark, and I stood out on the upper deck the entire 2.5 hours back to Key West looking for a tropic bird. Nearly back to shore, Mike yelled out “large white bird.” We all stared at it intently with our binoculars but it was just a Royal Tern. Back on shore in Key West Mike said he was sorry he couldn’t conjure up a White-tailed Tropicbird. I told him I remained sanguine and would probably hit 600 with a White-crowned Pigeon and then we departed. My number one priority back on Key West was to replenish my depleted ice, so I did that. And then I was starving and so I went back to Ft. Zachary Taylor to eat and try for White-crowned Pigeon. I ran into a nice birder who said the best place was Indigenous Park but it was now closed or the cemetery but dark was approaching and there was no time for that either. He asked if I was staying the night in Key West and I said I had a reservation at John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo and he said “oh that’s close to Dagny; two Mangrove Cuckoos were seen there today.” The ranger let me into Ft. Zachary Taylor for half price after I told him about my bad luck in not being able to find the White-crowned Pigeon. He said the best place was in the middle of town. Nobody thought Ft. Zachary Taylor was a good place for them, although the Birding Florida book by Brian Rapoza said it was. The sun was about to set so I went to Sunset Beach and watched it and then left Key West on the boring horrible Overseas Highway all the way up to Key Largo where I camped for the night. The campground was atrocious. My site was probably 10 feet wide with a trailer on both sides of me. The only good thing about it was that I was able to recharge my batteries in the electrical outlet. I set up my tent and went straight to bed.

May 1, 2008, I got up at 5:00 AM. It’s just a short drive from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park to Dagny Key Largo State Botanical Site but I wanted to arrive at dawn to look for the ever elusive Mangrove Cuckoo. Two birders from Pennsylvania arrived just as I did so we walked in together. We walked up and down the trails and I was about to give up as we headed back toward the middle where the kiosk is. One of the fellows, Kevin said he thought he heard one. Just about then a Mangrove Cuckoo flew into a tree right in front of us! I got my video camera on it very briefly and then jumped up and down for joy. I could not believe that a Mangrove Cuckoo was bird number 600! We admired it for a while and then I told the other guy, Dave, that I had been unable to find a White-crowned Pigeon and just about then he yelled out “White-crowned Pigeon!” I looked at it but it just looked like a Rock Pigeon to me so I couldn’t “count” that one. A few minutes later though a flock flew right over us and I clearly saw the white heads on them but got no video as they merely flew by and away. Oh well, it was still 601 I thought. Dave asked me if I had seen the Smooth-billed Ani. Vicki had mentioned something about it but I had failed to write down the directions as it seemed out of the way and unlikely but since it was only 9:30 AM and I had already seen two new species I decided to give it a shot. Dave walked back to my car with me and wrote out very detailed instructions to the spot and also a place to see Spot-breasted Oriole and Red-whiskered Bulbul. I thanked him profusely and then headed north to the Fort Lauderdale Airport. The Ani spot is just south of the airport in a run down section of town with large electrical towers and over grown abandoned lots. I pulled the car up very leery about having my camera stolen. I had just gotten out of my car when I saw an all black bird with an unmistakeably long tail on the ground just feet away with a bug dangling from its mouth! My god a Smooth-billed Ani just like that. I went back to the car and got the camera out but it had flown away somewhere. I waited and waited but it would not come back. All other black birds there were Grackles. I decided to have my lunch out of the back of my car while waiting. I drove around the block and still nothing. I was about to give up when I pulled over and saw it again perched on a telephone wire. I yanked out my camera and got an awful hand held shot just in case it flew away again. I parked the car and got out my tripod and was able to video tape it and get a photo. There were two of them actively feeding for their nest somewhere nearby. After satisfying myself I decided I better get out of there and left driving south to this residential area Dave had recommended for Spot-breasted Oriole. I felt weird walking around the neighborhood even with just my binoculars. I was not about to carry around that huge camera with neighbors staring at me like I was insane. Also I felt a little odd looking for another introduced species. Spot-breasted Oriole. Though much more colorful it is no different from the European Starling introduced in New York about a 100 years ago and long ago established all across North America. This oriole had been introduced from Central America and was now a year round resident around Miami and apparently according to Dave this neighborhood I was walking around in Hollywood, FL. After walking around it three times I gave up. I drove to a Miami neighborhood called Kendall across from the Baptist Hospital looking for a Red-whiskered Bulbul on the recommendation of Dave. I only saw Loggerhead Shrike, Monk Parakeet (countable but I already saw one in Dallas a year ago) and White-winged Dove. I was a long way away but I figured the only realistic chance I had left of yet another new bird was to drive half way back down the Keys to the Marathon government buildings where Roseate Terns are known to nest. Roseate Terns are a pelagic species and spend their entire lives at sea, only coming to shore to nest. On my way from Hollywood to Marathon, I made a detour to Everglades National Park to recycle my beer bottles. I knew the national park would recycle whereas the state of Florida does not. Shame on Florida! Anyway, I lifted the green recycle bin at Royal Palm and put in my bottles and some empty water jugs I had been saving up and then lifted the trash can to put in some little bit of trash I had accumulated and was shocked to see about 10 plastic water bottles. INEXCUSABLE! What is wrong with people? It was getting late but there was enough sun light left for me to clearly make out several Least Terns flying over the Marathon State of Florida Regional Service Center Building. I saw one that was larger and got my binoculars on it. It had a black cap, an all black bill, and an incredibly long all white deeply forked tail, definitely a Roseate Tern! The only other tern it could have been was a Sandwich but I’ve never seen one with such a deeply forked tail. It was nearly dark by the time I left the government buildings but unbelievably I had added four new species in one day. Since I was so close I stopped at the Marathon Airport, a known spot to hear and see Antillean Nighthawk. The only nighthawk I saw or heard was a Common Nighthawk but fortunately I had already added this species at my campground at Long Pine in the Everglades. I drove the long boring drive back to Key Largo to sleep at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Most people go there to snorkel; I only chose it because it was close to Dagny and it’s a good thing I did.

May 2, 2008 was my last day in Florida. I got up as early as humanly possible, took down my tent, ate breakfast, and left Key Largo on a grueling four hour drive north past Miami, past Fort Lauderdale, past West Palm Beach and then inland on the toll road, the Florida Turnpike (oh how I wish I had done that miles ago and missed all that miserable rush hour traffic in all the aforementioned beaches!) to Lake Kissimmee State Park. I chose this spot on the recommendation of Nigel as the best place to see a Snail Kite. It took me so long to get there after that hideous drive that I had blown the best part of the morning by the time I arrived. I walked up to the observation tower to have a look. It had breathtaking views of Lake Kissimmee but I could see right away that any Snail Kite I spotted from up there would be incredibly far away necessitating a spotting scope. So I took one of the trails to the lake’s edge which recedes greatly after the rainy season ends. There were thousands of mosquitoes but they didn’t touch me because this time instead of using poison I smeared myself with Skin So Soft. It really does work! I saw an Eastern Meadowlark and a Common Ground-Dove on the walk out to the lake and an immature Bald Eagle but the only other soaring birds were vultures. So I returned to the picnic area to look around. There was a Summer Tanager, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, and Great-crested Flycatcher in the pine/oak woodlands along with several Wild Turkeys. In the Kissimmee River I found another Limpkin, a Tricolored Heron, and an Anhinga along with a few large alligators. I had my lunch at the picnic area and continued to scan the skies. During lunch I found an Oak Hairstreak in the Oak woodlands that make up the habitat there along with a gorgeous Zebra Swallowtail. I love that butterfly but they never land and I have never been able to get a doggone photo of one. They are not in California so I have to wait until my next visit south to look for another one.

I finished lunch and it was obvious I was not going to find a Snail Kite there so I drove for miles around the lake to the other side to the Joe Overstreet Boat Ramp where the Snail Kites allegedly perch on the posts. It was mid-afternoon and rednecks were arriving to set up their tents for the weekend. I looked around but found nothing and it seemed improbable with all that noise and redneck activity. So I left. On the drive back down the Joe Overstreet dirt road, I stopped and heard two Bobwhites which brought childhood memories racing back into my brain. I heard some Sandhill Cranes in the sky and one was on the side of the road nearby feeding. Also on that side of the lake is the Three Lakes Wildlife Management where endangered Whooping Cranes are raised in captivity. I didn’t see any but since I was over there I tried near the other lakes that make it “Three Lakes,” Lake Jackson and Lake Marion to look for kites. I drove down to a parking area for the Lake Jackson Observation Tower. It was a .4 mile walk and time was running out so I ran without my camera. When I arrived a Pileated Woodpecker was pecking on the tower legs. I climbed up and had outstanding views of the lake but saw no kites. I raced back to the car and drove back to Lake Kissimmee State Park for one last parting glance from the observation tower. It was nearly dusk and there were several raptors coursing over the lake. I’m sure one of them was a kite because they were much smaller than the eagles out there but all of them were much too far away to count for anything except a nice parting look at Florida as it should look. The park closed at 8:00 PM so I had to get out and begin my long drive back to Tampa for my flight home the next day. It had been an incredible trip for me, reminding me that there still are wild places out there if you look hard enough and have the resources to find them. They won't be here indefinitely though because man is hell bent on being the only species left on this planet. Going to Florida was a reminder of how lucky I am to have my health, the time and those resources available to experience nature in all its glory, while it's still here to enjoy.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA: PART II
Cape Town
December 20, 2007- January 3, 2008

The flight from Nelspruit to Cape Town is about two hours and we made it in a tiny twin prop plane. I looked out the window during the flight; after leaving the Drakensburg Mountains I saw only plains. Susan’s parents picked us up at the Cape Town airport and we drove to their house in Kreupelbosch, very close to the wine route. They kindly put us up in their home for our entire stay in Cape Town. Just outside of the Cape Town Airport we passed an endless shanty town. Later in the trip we saw more shanty towns near H0ut Bay and another in the Cape Flats. The Barneses said it wasn’t safe to walk around the neighborhood so after having some tea, Susan and I took a short walk carrying nothing with us. There were some Cape Turtle-doves giving the well-known dove call of Africa, “kuk-coooo-ku-ku.” I read a book on the deck of the Barnes’ house as it was summer in South Africa. That night we went over to Susan’s sister’s house. Her sister, Alison, lives with her common law husband, Simon. There were many guests in addition to the Barneses, Kim and her fiancée, Denesh, Susan’s very loquacious old high school chum, Helen, and her 60 year old lawyer husband, Steve, and their two kids. Kim and Denesh passed out somewhere along in the evening and Helen after drinking an entire bottle of wine played the piano for everyone while Steve filled me with his impressions of American politics (incredibly at one point stating that Reagan was our best president, a point on which I vehemently disagreed since I believe he is the second worst president). Everyone agreed that Bush is the worst president we have ever had and is a stain on America. Steve asked me what I knew about South Africa and I said that I had read My Traitor’s Heart by Rian Milan before coming, in preparation for the trip. Steve said that Rian Milan was a kook and then proceeded to explain the high crime rate to me (a topic which is covered in explicit detail in Mr. Milan’s book). The people of South Africa are very proud of their country and how well it is faring economically compared to the rest of Africa. Johannesburg is the economic capital of the area with a bustling industry based on the gold and diamond mines mostly. Alison’s son, Susan’s nephew, Christopher, asked me what Johannesburg is known for in the US and I said, for its crime. I think he was hoping I would say for its industry but everything I had read including Mr. Milan’s book indicated that Johannesburg had one of the highest crime rates in the world. Susan’s brother, Martyn and his family live in Johannesburg and despite their pride in their country live in a gated community with electric fences and a security guard. It is just the way of life in South Africa. One thing South Africa can be proud of is that everyone I met spoke impeccable English. Unfortunately they are also very obsessed with pronunciation believing of course theirs to be the superior one. This led to endless ribbing of my “American” accent. I found myself nearly unable to speak at times with shame over my philistine barbaric pronunciation most notably of “water” and some other words. I think I held my own though in the English grammar department.

December 21, 2007, after breakfast we drove a short distance to a bad neighborhood to the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve (all of these unpronouncable hideous words come from the odious Africaans language), a freshwater wetland located on the floodplain of the Diep River before it drains into the Milnerton lagoon and then Table Bay. I was nervous about taking my camera in but there was a gate with a security guard and they charged a small fee so I felt safe once inside. Cape Town is on the western side of South Africa and so I had an opportunity to see a completely different set of birds from what I had seen in Kruger and Durban. Also the weather was much better as the sun finally came out and it was actually warm. The reserve has a boardwalk through riverine habitat, reedbeds, a freshwater lake and a tidal lagoon. In the lake we saw Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, many Reed Cormorants, an African Darter, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and one Glossy Ibis. In the lagoon were dozens of Great White Pelicans, and Sacred Ibises. A small flock of Spur-winged Geese flew overhead and there was one lone Yellow-billed Duck on an island in the lagoon. We went into one of the hides and I saw my first Red-knobbed Coot and an African Purple Swamphen which looks very similar to the Purple Gallinule, a resident of the southern US. In the strandveldt along the paths were Cape Bulbul, Karoo Prinia, Cape White-eye, Levaillant’s Cisticola, and Red-winged Starling. There was a large flock of Common Waxbills near the museum. After passing through the building, you come to a large glass window where you can look into a pond. Perched over the pond were a Yellow Canary, one Southern Double-collared Sunbird, and a Cape Canary, and on the ground was a Cape Robin-Chat. After checking out the pond, we looked at the museum’s display case of stuffed birds and the aquarium which had some endangered toads and fish. That night Mrs. Barnes said we were once again invited to Simon and Alison’s for a briaa (South African for bar-b-que).

December 22, 2007, it actually was hot, probably reaching 94 degrees. In the morning Susan and I went to South Africa’s national botanical garden, Kirstenbosch. The gardens are gated and well manicured so it was safe to bring my newly repaired tripod (Ihad smashed the tripod to pieces in Kruger on the last day and miraculously Mr. Barnes had been able to repair it) and video camera. From the gardens one can hike up one of the many trails into Table Mountain National Park where the gardens give way to the wild indigenous fynbos, a type of vegetation found nowhere else on earth that consists of fine low growing plants and flowers, especially the national flower, the protea. We walked up the fynbos trail in the garden and immediately found a family of Cape Francolins pecking on the ground. Sombre Greenbuls were calling incessantly from the trees and a Cape Robin-Chat scurried along the ground. We sought refuge under a tree and found it full of Cape White-eye, Cape Batis, Cape Canary, and Malachite Sunbird. Kirstenbosch is a good place to see raptors soaring and that day we saw one of many Steppe Buzzards we would see during our stay. We continued our walk around the gardens and saw African Dusky Flycatcher, Karoo Prinia, Cape Rock Thrush, Olive Thrush, White-backed Mousebird, and in the outlying areas Orange-breasted Sunbird and Southern Double-crested Sunbird. At the border of the gardens we saw some people descending from one of the trails to Table Mountain called Skeleton Gorge. It looked inviting and I asked Susan about it. She said it was too dangerous, that her family had told her not to go up there because we would be mugged.

After Kirstenbosch we returned to the house in Kruepelbosch and then took a walk around a small neighborhood park, Die Oog which looked like Die Dog on first inspection. Susan said it wasn’t safe so we only took our binoculars in. It’s a small park with a pond and some shrubs and pine trees. We saw lots of Guineafowl, Egyptian Geese, Reed Cormorant, Cape Weaver, and Southern Red Bishop. Later in the day Susan took us to a place where she had spent many hours as a teenager sulking and thinking she said, a winery called Groot Constantia. The winery allows you to walk around their vineyards and grounds at your own risk. Susan said it wasn’t safe and we could only take binoculars and no cameras. It was another excellent spot for raptors with a clear view to the sky. Although the vineyards were a monoculture holding only pigeons, the surrounding areas were forested and full of birds. Soaring above we saw another Steppe Buzzard but also another very similar looking raptor that I studied very carefully to make out the pale greater and median coverts identifying it as a Forest Buzzard. In the vineyards we found Speckled Pigeon and in the forested area Common Fiscal and an up close look at the beautiful African Paradise Flycatcher which would have made an excellent photo if I had only had my camera. It was very frustrating to always be looking behind me to see if a criminal was lurking who might get my binoculars and/or camera.

December 23, 2007, we got up early and drove the long drive to the south-western most point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope National Park. After entering the park we passed a huge expanse of fynbos. We pulled over at a rocky beach on the Atlantic side and got out to have a look. Ostriches were feeding in the low coastal scrub and then a flash of color caught my eye—the endangered African Black Oystercatcher! We walked down to the shore and had a better look. While we were admiring it I noticed a very pale plover walking on the narrow shoreline—a White-fronted Plover. We continued driving to the turn off for Cape Point. We parked and hiked up to the lighthouse where we had expansive views of both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Wave upon wave of cormorants flew past but I couldn’t find any interesting pelagic birds which you can supposedly see from this vantage point. Nevertheless the expansive view was majestic and reminded me of Point Reyes minus the disgusting noisome dairy farms. After enjoying the view we climbed back down past the hordes of tourists to the parking lot where we found a Cape Bunting hopping around. We drove down to the Cape of Good Hope and there were more hordes of tourists. We stood out on the rocks and saw large roosts of Swift Terns, Cape Cormorant, Bank Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant, and at least one Crowned Cormorant. After squeezing in between tourists for a picture next to the Cape of Good Hope sign we turned around and headed back down the coastline in search of shorebirds which we never found. A Rock Kestrel perched on a rock near the ocean allowing us to get very close to it. We also saw yet another Steppe Buzzard flying overhead. We pulled over at one pull out and I was surprised to see a Parasitic Jaeger fly over. There were many Cape Gulls and some Hartlaub’s Gulls and mixed in with the many Swift Terns were a few Sandwich Terns. In the scrub were some Grey-backed Cisticolas singing away along with some Karoo Prinias and lots of Cape Wagtails on the beaches. We turned off at the Circular Drive and finally we found Cape Sugarbirds with their long streaming tails and big bills for extracting nectar from the sugarbushes. The fynbos was dotted with protea bushes all the way to the horizon. We stopped at a Marine Reserve and found some Sacred Ibises, another White-fronted Plover, and a Kittlitz’s Plover. There was a flock of Cape Canaries eating in the grass along with one Brimstone Canary. Before leaving we glimpsed a Water Mongoose hustling back into the scrub. While driving back toward the park entrance a striped mouse crossed the road and we passed a family of Baboons which are common in the park.

We took a different route home along the Atlantic Ocean and the dramatic coastline. We stopped at Seaforth Beach and walked to the shore but it didn’t seem very safe so we only looked at the colony of African Penguins roosting there.

December 24, 2007, we awoke to stormy weather. Susan had assured me before we left that it did not rain in Cape Town in summer. We drove way out to Milnerton Beach looking for the Rietvlei Wetlands Reserve. We saw a sign for it but the only trail was right along a noisy highway. We walked along with rain threatening the entire time. Some Blacksmith Lapwings were huddled along the banks of the Diep River. On the other side was a golf course and on an island some Egyptian Geese were roosting with Little Egret, Grey Heron, Cape Gull, and Hartlaub’s Gull. The wind was picking up and the rain was coming down just as I noticed a Common Greenshank along the bank. The thunder claps were getting closer and closer and the storm was obviously headed right for us so we raced back to the car. Just before reaching it lightning struck not 50 meters away. We dove into the car just before a down pour. We had to eat our lunch in the car parked in front of Milnerton Beach hoping the storm would pass over which it eventually did. Susan didn’t want to get out but I convinced her to walk along Milnerton Beach with me. It cleared up and we could see Lion’s Head, a familiar landmark in Cape Town, back-dropping the beach along with Table Mountain. A man on the beach saw us struggling to take a self-photo and offered to get one of us both with the mountains as a back drop.

December 25, 2007, I had been dreading this day. In my entire life I had never missed a Christmas with my own family and I was not looking forward to spending this one without them. After breakfast we took a short hike in Toklai Forest. Susan said it was dangerous and so she wouldn’t let me bring my camera. There were several people in the forest walking their dogs and it seemed safe enough to me. We found a Steppe Buzzard eating a mouse in a tree and saw a Chaffinch, an introduced European species that has become established in Toklai. After our short walk we packed up our presents and went to Simon and Alison’s for the festivities. We opened some presents and then had a briaa outside under the canopy. It was superb weather and I enjoyed being outside on Christmas Day. After dinner everyone opened crackers which are wrapped items that you pull apart making a popping noise. Inside is a little present and a note with some witticism on it. There were no pumpkin pies but Mrs. Barnes had made some miniature mince meat pies. The kids swam in the pool and there was a lot of drinking involved. In the evening instead of having dinner we had the Christmas pudding. After the Christmas pudding we had to watch the queen’s speech on TV. Her speech was a whole lot of bullocks. Following the speech, during which I believe Mrs. Barnes stood with her hand on her heart, Simon took everyone up to Cecilia Forest for a short walk in the woods. Some native cork trees were growing at the entrance but mostly it was planted with non-native pine trees and so we didn’t see many birds, just Cape White-eye, Common Chaffinch, and African Dusky Flycatcher. After our walk we settled back under the canopy but incredibly it began to downpour and we were forced back inside the house.

December 26, 2007, Boxing Day, a national holiday, Susan and I got up early and drove back to Toklai Forest. Before reaching the parking area we passed a band of criminals huddled on the side of the road. One of them approached the car and I rolled the window up because I just knew he was going to snatch my binoculars and ruin my vacation. We made it past the band of criminals and parked the car. We started walking up the path toward Elephant’s Eye, another Cape Town landmark on Table Mountain. A black man was walking a little ways ahead of us and I was nervous but it turned out he was a park ranger. The trail ascends rather steeply, about 2100 feet, up to a sort of cave that looks like the eye of an elephant from far away. On the way up we saw another Steppe Buzzard and Rock Kestrel. We passed through expanses of fynbos some of which held Cape Grassbirds and colorful fields of blooming wildflower and proteas before reaching the cave. From the Elephant's eye we could see all across Cape Town all the way to the sea. We saw dozens of beautiful Orange-breasted Sunbirds in the fynbos. After enjoying the views of Cape Town, all the wildflowers, and the sunbirds we continued hiking upwards toward Constantiaberg. As Susan topped the summit a man greeted her dressed in flip flops and shorts. It was windy and cool that day and he was dressed completely inappropriately. I wasn’t sure if he was a criminal or just crazy but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. I had brought my camera against Susan’s advice. I turned back down the mountain but then fearing for Susan went back up and got her. We ran back down without ever reaching the beacon. We stopped about half way down and had lunch with all of Hout Bay for our view. We hiked down toward the Atlantic side and then back around toward Elephant's Eye. When we got back to the final ascent for Elephant's Eye a helicopter swooped down right in front of us and lifted down a gurney for a hiker with a broken leg. The helicopter hovered as long as it could and then had to circle and come back to drop down a rescue worker. On the way back down the mountain we again passed the black ranger. He glared at us; I think he knew I had feared him for his blackness earlier. I’m sorry I did but it’s a fact that 90% of the crime committed in South Africa is committed by blacks. I know it is because of the tremendous gap between rich and poor but I had to be practical while there and weigh my odds of being mugged carefully.

December 27, 2007 was the birthday of Evan, Martyn and Bonnie’s son, who was turning four and Bonnie had planned a birthday party for him at Alison’s house at 2:00 PM but we got up early and drove to Kirstenbosch for a hike before the birthday party. We walked through Kirstenbosch to the start of Skeleton Gorge. This trail goes straight up a steep gorge to the top of Table Mountain. There is a cable car that goes to the top as well and virtually everyone in the family had advised me that I should take the cable car up. This would have been absolute anathema to me and the antithesis of what I am all about. No, we were going to hike up some 3500 feet to McClure’s Beacon with commanding views of all of Cape Town and down to both oceans. The fog started to come between the peaks but it was mostly a sunny day with incredible views all around. There were many other hikers also on holiday and it seemed unlikely that we were in any danger whatsoever. Not too long up Skeleton Gorge we heard the unmistakable song of the much sought after Knysna Warbler. We also saw some more Cape Batises and Cape White-eyes in the trees above the creek. While relaxing on a rock to have lunch I spotted a small family of Ground Woodpeckers nearby also congregating on a rock. Time was running out and Susan made me run down the bone crunching Nursery Ravine back to Kirstenbosch. Despite pounding my knees all the way down in record time we were still 45 minutes late for Evan’s birthday party. Alison chastised Susan for her lateness. It was around this date that I began checking my calendar each day counting how many days were left before I could return to my own country. At the party Martyn and Bonnie gave Evan a transformer that turned into a Humvee. I was mortified. Did Bonnie, who earlier had complained to me about people (presumably Americans) and their big SUVs, not know that Humvees were the very symbol of American profligacy and excess?

December 28, 2007, we went to meet an old school mate of Susan’s she had reconnected with. We were supposed to meet a lady named Emma and her girlfriend, Silvery, and their friend, Peter, for lunch at Glen Cairn, near Hout Bay. We tried to get some early morning birding in before our lunch appointment. We started at Rondovlei Wetland Reserve where we saw a Booted Eagle fly over. From the blinds we saw the same Spur-winged Geese, African Darter, and Yellow-billed Ducks from before but we also found a Cape Shoveler, a new bird for the trip. We weren’t finding anything else new so we left and drove to the Cape Flats to look for the waste water treatment plant which, allegedly is a magnet for birds. Cape Flats is a very poor section of town and it was the one time in Cape Town where I felt real fear. We rolled the windows up and locked the doors while stopped at stop lights (called robots in SA). Dozens of black men stood aimlessly on the side of the road not even trying to hawk magazines no one wanted but just standing idly. We finally found Strandfontein and I was very grateful that it had a gate and security guard who wrote down our names. We drove into the Strandfontein wetlands and immediately came to large flocks of ducks and finally after weeks of searching, my first ever Greater Flamingo. In the wetlands we found Southern Pochard, the lovely chocolate brown Maccoa Duck, Cape Teal, Red-billed Teal, Black-winged Stilt, hundreds of Pied Avocets, and more Blacksmith Lapwings. In the grassy area around the pond we found an African Pipit foraging, but we could not find any shorebird flocks with anything other than lapwings. We ran out of time and ended up about 30 minutes late to lunch which was uneventful. After lunch we drove to Boulders Beach. We walked out to the rocks where the African Penguins were busy copulating right out in the open. They let us get very close to them. It was quite windy and so we left and drove to Noordhouck Beach. We parked and were greeted with a sign advising us not to bring our valuables as there had been many muggings there. A Black-shouldered Kite was perched near the parking area. I gave it only a passing look, wrongly assuming it was the same species as our White-tailed Kite. I took no video of it, only learning upon returning from our trip and consulting my North American Bird Guide that it was a completely different species. There were no other birds on the beach or in the lagoon and it was very windy so we left. Next we drove up Chapman Peak Road to Hout’s Bay. This road is literally carved out of the rocky cliffs overhanging the ocean. It looks very similar to California’s Big Sur. We stopped at some pull outs and enjoyed the amazing views.

December 29, 2007 we drove to Toklai Forest and parked. Like many of the hiking areas in Cape Town, there was a black man with an orange vest who presumably was there to watch our car. We always tipped the car parkers a Rand or two. We hiked up the steep trail to Constantia Nek, six miles round trip, to Victoria Dam. At first the trail passed through non-native grassland bordered with pine trees. I wasn’t expecting to see anything but there were dozens of Neddicky (Neddickies?) perched right out in the open beside the trail singing away. Little Swifts soared overhead. The pine tree area had been partially cleared of the pine trees by the National Park in order to allow the native fynbos to move back in. As we ascended we did finally get back into the fynbos where we saw yet more Orange-breasted Sunbirds, Cape Sugarbird, and Cape Grassbird. As the trail leveled out we looked for a place of refuge from the sun as it was a scorching day. I said I imagined Mrs. Barnes at home melting under the table. A family of “coloreds” (this was considered a perfectly legitimate word in South Africa to refer to the descendants of the white people who landed in Cape Town and mixed with the blacks) were under the only trees on the trail. So we turned back after making it to Victoria Dam. The trail was full of more proteas and wildflowers, the only one of which I could identify being an Felted Everlasting. We found a Cape Robin-chat and an African Olive Pigeon on the way down and at the bottom another African Dusky Flycatcher. Nearly at the bottom Susan received an SMS from Martyn saying he was keen on seeing her and that he and his family were in Kirstenbosch. (This was typical Barnes behaviour which required minimal planning). If he had sent a message 20 minutes earlier we could have descended into Kirstenbosch but since we were nearly at the car it made more sense to drive to the gardens and pay to get inside. We found them escaping the heat under a large tree. We joined them and had our lunch there. We saw more Cape White-eyes, Olive Thrush, Cape Francolin, and Sombre Greenbul. It was quite hot that day; I would say around 95 degrees and when we returned to Kreupelbosch the first thing out of Mrs. Barnes’s mouth was “it’s so hot.” Mr. Barnes was happy as a lark watching cricket on TV.

December 30, 2007, we decided to go back to Strandfontein Water Treatment and Zeekoevlei Wetlands since our trip two days previous had been truncated by the need to meet the My Face lady. In addition to the birds we had seen earlier we also saw the one and only South African Shelduck of the entire trip plus two Hottentot Teals right by the car. We didn’t stray too far from the car at first because Susan was afraid we would walk into a Cape Cobra. I wanted to see one but not with its mouth dangling from my knee. We came across two birders walking along the road and felt easier about getting out. While standing by the car we saw an African Marsh-Harrier fly over the wetlands. We finally found a shorebird flock but it was way out far away from us and without a spotting scope we were unable to make out much except for a possible Little Stint—not exactly the view I was hoping for of this life bird that is so hard to differentiate from our Western Sandpiper.

We returned to Kreupelbosch to spend time with the Barneses but after a while de