Still plugging away

So far, I have made it out birding to some greater or lesser degree every day this first week of 2018. The list is still growing but will certainly be hard to match that break neck speed of the first day. At the end of Saturday night, I stand at 109 species.

Jeanne and I are going to make a run over to the Pacific side of the Baja, to Conquista Agraria. This should yield both some of the shorebirds missing from my list as well as a few desert species.

Much of my time this week has been close in, near the marina. Here are a few of the birds I have found along the water front of La Paz

Tri-colored Heron

White Ibis

Whimbrel

Snowy Egret

Here is the list so far

I had a request (Thanks Ruth) for a peak at the actual list of birds I have seen so far!  So, here it is. I will add this in here every now. I am copying this from my eBird.org posting. This will show them in traditional listing order not by date or location.

1	Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
2	Blue-winged Teal - Spatula discors
3	Cinnamon Teal - Spatula cyanoptera
4	Northern Shoveler - Spatula clypeata
5	Northern Pintail - Anas acuta
6	Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca
7	Redhead - Aythya americana
8	Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris
9	Lesser Scaup - Aythya affinis
10	Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis
11	Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps
12	Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis
13	Magnificent Frigatebird - Fregata magnificens
14	Brown Booby - Sula leucogaster
15	Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus
16	American White Pelican - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
17	Brown Pelican - Pelecanus occidentalis
18	Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias
19	Great Egret - Ardea alba
20	Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
21	Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea
22	Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor
23	Reddish Egret - Egretta rufescens
24	Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
25	Green Heron - Butorides virescens
26	Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax
27	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - Nyctanassa violacea
28	White Ibis - Eudocimus albus
29	Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura
30	Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
31	Harris's Hawk - Parabuteo unicinctus
32	Zone-tailed Hawk - Buteo albonotatus
33	Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis
34	Ridgway's Rail - Rallus obsoletus
35	American Coot - Fulica americana
36	Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus
37	American Avocet - Recurvirostra americana
38	Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
39	Wilson's Plover - Charadrius wilsonia
40	Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
41	Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus
42	Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
43	Long-billed Curlew - Numenius americanus
44	Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa
45	Sanderling - Calidris alba
46	Dunlin - Calidris alpina
47	Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla
48	Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri
49	Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus
50	Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius
51	Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
52	Willet - Tringa semipalmata
53	Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes
54	Bonaparte's Gull - Chroicocephalus philadelphia
55	Heermann's Gull - Larus heermanni
56	Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis
57	Yellow-footed Gull - Larus livens
58	Gull-billed Tern - Gelochelidon nilotica
59	Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia
60	Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri
61	Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus
62	Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger
63	Rock Pigeon - Columba livia
64	Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
65	Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina
66	White-winged Dove - Zenaida asiatica
67	Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura
68	Greater Roadrunner - Geococcyx californianus
69	Costa's Hummingbird - Calypte costae
70	Xantus's Hummingbird - Hylocharis xantusii
71	Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon
72	Gila Woodpecker - Melanerpes uropygialis
73	Gilded Flicker - Colaptes chrysoides
74	Crested Caracara - Caracara cheriway
75	American Kestrel - Falco sparverius
76	Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus
77	Gray Flycatcher - Empidonax wrightii
78	Black Phoebe - Sayornis nigricans
79	Vermilion Flycatcher - Pyrocephalus rubinus
80	Ash-throated Flycatcher - Myiarchus cinerascens
81	Cassin's Kingbird - Tyrannus vociferans
82	California Scrub-Jay - Aphelocoma californica
83	Common Raven - Corvus corax
84	Verdin - Auriparus flaviceps
85	Cactus Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
86	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea
87	Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos
88	European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
89	American Pipit - Anthus rubescens
90	Phainopepla - Phainopepla nitens
91	Orange-crowned Warbler - Oreothlypis celata
92	Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
93	Yellow-rumped Warbler - Setophaga coronata
94	Brewer's Sparrow - Spizella breweri
95	Lark Sparrow - Chondestes grammacus
96	Lark Bunting - Calamospiza melanocorys
97	Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis
98	Pyrrhuloxia - Cardinalis sinuatus
99	Lazuli Bunting - Passerina amoena
100	Yellow-headed Blackbird - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
101	Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus
102	Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus
103	Brown-headed Cowbird - Molothrus ater
104	Brewer's Blackbird - Euphagus cyanocephalus
105	House Finch - Haemorhous mexicanus
106	House Sparrow - Passer domesticus

First day follow up

Just as a fun follow up, here is the link to the first day results on 10000 Birds.com. This has a bit more detail as to birds found, and not found, species Identified in each area, and some pictures!

www.10000birds.com/and-so-the-little-big-year-begins.htm

And so the "Little Big Year" begins!!

I really do not have world class aspirations about how this "Little Big Year" thing is going to turn out, but I certainly am looking forward to it. 8 countries, 12 airplane flights, 6 motor homes, 5 rental cars, and I don't even know how many VRBO's, motel rooms, rented boats, and friends houses we are staying in. Jeanne has done an incredible job putting all this together, with her attention to detail, and her excel spreadsheet that makes sure there are no gaps in one of the needed items, as mentioned above.

So with all that being handled, today begins the count, the search for how many bird species I can find in one year, I really do not have a goal, as I truly have no idea how all of this is all going to fall together. But, today was a great kick off, so to speak!  The day started off at just before daylight, in the parking lot of Marina Palmira. Just as I was climbing into the truck, having loaded all my gear, the first bird of the day flew by....and it turned out to be one my all time favorites, the Peregrine Falcon! I took that to be a great omen (if you are into those sorts of things) which I really am not, but it couldn't hurt can it.

A quick trip out to the tidal flats, where we have a huge high tided, to be followed, later in the day, by and equally high tide. This moved all the shorebirds and waders right up close, in fact in my favorite spot, they were almost in the road! This made for a great count!

Then it was off to the La Paz Sewer Ponds. Again this is a birding favorite, but it was a bit low in birds as there is a group of homes not to far away, and at 9 AM in the morning they were still celebrating with the fireworks. The constant booming had the birds all a bit spooked, but it worked out, as I got every bird on my target list, except one.

Next was the fresh water reservoir, Presa Buena Mujer, or Good Woman Reservoir. This 50 acre body of fresh water in the middle of the desert can be one of the most incredible spots I have ever been, except for today. I was late getting there, and most of the birds were not moving around muck. I had to cover a lot more area than usual, but still did pretty darn good.

The it was back to the La Paz waterfront, from the center of town, and down around Marina Palmira's long breakwater. By now the tide was way out, and I had hoped that by walking out the breakwater, I would have access to some of the birds that are harder to track down from shore. It worked...and it didn't. I got a couple of my targets, but blanked on a couple to.

Well, the sun has set, and day one is in the books. Drum roll please for the announcement of the first days totals...   102 species in the first day!!  I know that I will never keep that pace, but a huge number is on the board, and I am pretty darned excited. I will do my very best to keep this blog as up to date as possible, with a running total, and the what and where's of all this adventure, so please check back, and drop me a note sometime, just so I know somebody is watching all this!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Tom

The 10000 Bird version of the story...

Here is the version of our story, that I posted on 10000 Birds

www.10000birds.com/the-big-year.htm

Back to blogging, and a catch up!

I know I have been absent fr way to long, but things have been a bit crazy. We have sold our business, La Paz Cruisers Supply, then we sold our only home of the last 16 + years, Eagle our Freeport Islander sailboat, Now it is time to go traveling. I have been asked several times as to what we are going to do, so rather than type it over and over, and typed up the brief itinerary, and saved it, so here is what's going on!

I don't know how much you have heard thru the grape vine, but there are some big changes going on down here in La Paz, Mexico. Rich and Lori Boren, SV Third Day, the owners of Cruise RO Water and Technautics Cool Blue Refrigeration have agreed to buy our business, effective February 1st. Well stay on until that point, and have been training them in all the idiosyncrasies of the Mexican Government, banking and tax situation!

And....just yesterday, we signed papers to sell our boat! After 18 years, full time live aboard, we are moving ashore. The check has not cleared the bank yet, but we aren't too worried. There are a few tears, and a few lingering smiles from anchorages past...and mostly of the great friends we have made along the journey

We have bought a really BIG truck, as in Ford 350, Super Duty, 4 door, long bed, turbo diesel...in order to pull our 32 foot 5th wheel. Our plan is to continue with our private bird tour company, FocusOnFeathers.com here in La Paz during the winter months, and travel during the summer in the northern climes.

But....some of that will be interrupted this year with a different sort of plan. We will drive our new rig north to Seattle starting on Feb. 5th, put it is storage up in the Seattle area, and then board an airplane to New Zealand on Feb 28th. Arriving in Christchurch, we will pick up a motor home for two months, spending the first month on the south Island, and then the second month on the north Island, this to include a service to spread Jeanne's mother’s ashes on the beach near the home and property that they owned for many years.

But wait there is more....We figured if we are this close to Australia, why not just pop by for a month or so? We land in Melbourne, spend a few days there, then fly to Alice Springs, pick up a motorhome for a week to explore the Ayers Rock and surrounding area. Then we fly to Sydney for a few days, then fly to Cairns, pick up a motor home to explore that area for a week. We then fly to Darwin, pick up a motorhome, and explore that area for a week. We then fly to Perth, and explore from hotels and a rental car for 5 days.

By now we are just having way too much fun to go home, so one of our customers is giving us use of his 4 bedroom home on the border of Kruger National Park, in South Africa for 18 days! We fly to Johannesburg, then drive to the house. Lions, Tigers, Hippos, and Giraffes! After the stay there, we drive back to Jo'burg, and fly to Cape Town to explore for a week.

Then, we fly to Doha for a couple of night to visit with some old cruiser friends that are living there, before flying on to Edinburgh, Scotland. We pick up a motor home there for three weeks of exploring and driving the Highlands and the North Coast 500. Highland games, Loch Ness Monster, Highland Games and good scotch, I have no doubt we will find something there to like!

Finally we have to start heading back towards home, but we are giving ourselves 9 days of exploring to drive the 380 miles from Edinburgh to London. From London, we fly to Seattle, to complete our circumnavigation!

Once we get back to Seattle, late part of July, we will pick up the truck and 5th wheel and wander...not sure where or when, or how fast, but probably end up back in Mexico at some point! There will be a few weeks visiting family in Oregon as well. We have an awful lot of great friends from this boating life, that have invited us to “Stop By” as we meander around, so there will a lot of mini-reunions.

Like always, we are hardly ever bored! Jeanne will be starting a new blog (as yet to be named, or located)  to cover our travels, and I will activate my old bird blog  RamblingsOfTheBirdNerd  so I can keep all the birders updated on the birds I find on the trip...

So, I am going to make every effort to use this blog as my everything source of information. I will continue to write for10000 Birds, but that will just cover the birds, while there will be a little more detail about the areas, and the people. I hope you will follow along, and lets see how much fun we can have!

Bird behavior on 10000 Birds

I posted a fun story on some interesting bird activities in this weeks story on 10000 Birds. Check it out!

survival-challenges-in-the-wild.