Sunset Birding Benefits

Year 4

Watching this sunset, glass of wine in hand with my wife, proved to have fantastic birding benefits. Folks talk about the “red flash” as the sun dips below the Pacific Ocean horizon. Well I did not seem the red flash, but I did see the orange flash! This burst of color turned out to be a Streak Backed Oriole building a nest! After a morning mountain bike ride which started before sunrise, I returned to the nest building orioles and enjoyed some photography time!

Sunset and sunrise over the Pacific Ocean

Streak Backed Oriole … Nest Building

While I was watching the oriole, this Variegated Squirrel was watching me!

Big Beaked Trail Digger!

Year 4

Today while mountain biking I found the Big Beaked Trail Digger Bird! This bird was very well camouflaged, and sitting right in the middle of the trail. Only when I was within a few feet did it flush … thankfully into a great location for a photograph. I am speculating it somehow uses it’s large beak for obtaining food, perhaps even in the rock hard soil.

Post Update: My thanks to Agogo Malawi, who let me know the first bird is a White-Necked Puffbird!

Yes, I was out on my mountain bike by 5:40 am (before sunrise), which allowed me to not only beat the heat, but get to a desired summit area for birding about 15 minutes after sunup. I quickly found a black vulture, which I was able to look down upon at it’s nest. A bit further down the trail I discovered a pair of Squirrel Cuckoos.

And of course another unknown bird … my new name is the Black and White Striped Finch. Actually once I get all my birds correctly identified I am looking forward to helping with Cornell’s Neotropical eBird initiative with whom I have been in touch with their project managers.

Finally, take a view at my high tech monopod mountain bike birding system … the purple and pink shoelace … soon to be patented by yours truly! When on vacation with limited resources, one uses Yankee ingenuity. My camera case is strapped to the front handlebars, and the monopod uses the quick release shoelace attachment system!

Mountain Bike Birding

Year 4,

Before three days ago, I had never mountain biked in my life. Now that I am a pro at my new sport, I have expanded my exercise to include birding. If you have never used a super zoom camera, getting away from a trailhead via hiking or in my case … mountain biking will immediately help you understand the usefulness of a bridge or super zoom camera. It would be 100% impossible to bring a DSLR with a decent zoom on a bike, but my Canon Sx-60 fits nicely in a camera case strapped to my handlebars. See my photo taken yesterday morning up atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Some things I have learned via my two birding rides which will be incorporated into tomorrow’s 6 am jaunt. First, I will strap my monopod to my bike. It is hard to hold a camera steady when the body is heaving from heavy breathing. Mountain biking definitely gets the blood running! Second, I will have a washcloth along to wipe sweat and condensation off my camera. A few photos I took this morning were through a steamed over lens. Drying same on a sweaty bike jersey is sub-optimal!

Thus, here are today’s images … and another bird ID challenge. I have named the first bird the Fork Tailed Bike Bird (edit addition: figured it out on my own …  Turquoise-Browed Motmot) while the second bird is a Blue Grosbeak. Apparently SW Minnesota in the extreme northern edge of this birds range, while Costa Rica is at the very south side of it’s range.

Finally, at the end of yesterday’s mountain bike ride I heard a loud hourse howling or yelling. Twas not a bird, but upon looking up to the high canopy of trees, I was rewarded with the sight of Howler Monkeys. Cool!