Merry Christmas from our dancing birds

 

What's that bird's name?

 ABA published article on bird nomenclature by Ted Floyd well worth reading.

Proclaiming Ownership of the Hazelnut Bush

Proclaiming Ownership of the Hazelnut Bush by Harold Eyster, doctoral candidate University of British Columbia, Canada

ABA article: Out Owling for Saw-whets

A couple of days ago a friend sent me an email that I nearly missed amongst all of the political spam that has been clogging my already heavily spammed email address to alert me to a November 4, 2020 ABA article in the Current section of their on-line journal that included a photo I took many years ago on Belle Isle.

Titled Out Owling for Saw-whets and written by Greg Neise, a Chicago birder and photographer, about Saw-whet owls, my photo is the first in the piece.  It's an extensive article that also includes vocalization recordings.

My photo in the piece is from years ago.  I have not been a good curator of my own photos and was unable to find this same photo in any of my own photo collections.  But, I did find one from January 3, 2009 in that same tangle.  I think the photo used in the article is from a later date, because the Saw-whet was found in the same tangle for at least two years in a row and possibly even three.  

Saw-whet Owl in tangle on Belle Isle.

This tangle disappeared when a clean-up to remove non-native species also destroyed the little owl's winter hideaway.

The World through a Lens

In 2010 I traveled to England for a two week visit with friends.  Joy and Cliff Young indulged my passions for travel, birding, photography and then later blogging about it all.  Cliff is also a landscape photographer.  They made amazing arrangements to visit a variety of spectacular places - one of which was coastal Wales.  We stayed at a hotel on a golf course with views of a spectacular bay from my room window.  To this day I think of this hotel stay as possibly the nicest I have ever experienced.

Dawn view from my hotel window with the putting green in the foreground

While in Wales the plan was to visit Skomer Island for close-up views and photos of nesting Altlanic puffins.  We all piled aboard a boat carrying perhaps 20-30 other passengers for our Skomer visit.  The cool sunny morning and the bright blue sea were amazing.  When we got to the island the seas were too rough to make the landing at the rocky docking area and we had to turn back.  Everyone on the boat was crestfallen, even though we had all been forewarned that this was a possibility.  I recall sitting across from a man with his approximately 7-8 year old daughter who had awakened at 4:00 am to make the boat launch.  This is what I wrote in my 07/10/2010 blog post: 

"Because we wanted to get a good seat on the boat, we ended our rambling and walked to the boat launch to stand in line with a dad and his seven or eight year old daughter.  I gave my typical greeting, "Hi, how are you?" to which he replied, "Okay, I guess." He explained that he and his daughter had left their home in north Wales at 4:00 am to be assured a place on the boat for the Skomer Island landing.  It was right then that I perked out of my funk at not being able to land on the island. Everyone here today was just as disappointed as I was. What was I thinking?  Later, on the crowded boat, the little girl fell asleep resting against her father and with the hood of her pink jacket shielding her eyes from the bright sun.  At the time I didn't think of it, but now I wish I had got a photo."   

When I re-read the paragraph above from this day I realize how much my photos and writing have changed from 2010 to now.  Now I would never have missed a photo of that child with her father.  

As a consolation, it turned out that even the boat ride to and from Skomer Island was spectacular, and when we returned to the mainland we spent the day birding along the coastline.  As you can see below in my copied blog posts - also spectacular.

Another consolation prize was to visit Ramsey Island the next day. Both islands are included in the 10/12/2020 NYT article below.

A Glance at Daily Life Among the Caretakers of Britain's Small Islands

My blog entry from 07/10/2010:  Skomer Island

And from 07/12/2010:  Ramsey Island

Male/female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

From National Geographic:  Male/female Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

An Essay from Helen MacDonald

The Mysterious Life of Birds Who Never Come Down

by Helen MacDonald, New York Times, 07/29/20

Two NYT articles from May, 2020 to save

How Animal Observations Can Free Us From Ourselves by Helen McDonald

7 Tips for Watching Birds in Spring During Lockdown by David Allen Sibley

Final photos and final blog post

On September 30th, 2008, I began writing Into the Woods and Elsewhere with an inviting and cleverly titled post, "Starting a blog ..." From this inauspicious start and over the course of nearly 12 years I entered 481 posts, this current post being #482.  Several friends and respected birders had started blogs and it seemed like a fun project.  I asked one friend why she had started her blog and she responded, "to improve my writing."  To me she was already a good writer.  Another friend was an accomplished bird photographer and I admired the way he posted his photos in context with his birding outings.

I, too, enjoyed writing and knew I needed a lot of improvement, and I loved birding.  As for taking photos, I was a true novice and would mostly forget to take along a camera.  This was a failing which I came to regret.   In early April, 2005, while scouting at Tawas State Park for an upcoming trip with Maryland friends, I came across what would have been the lower peninsula's first documented Smith's Longspur. The female bird was often no more than five feet away from me.  Did I have a camera?  No. Was my Smith's Longspur sighting accepted by the Michigan Bird Records Committee?  No.  That experience hustled me to improve my computer and digital camera skills and after that I came to think of both binoculars and camera as essential tools.  My blog was the next step.

My first posts were clumsy, but the whole thing was fun and the learning was great, both with computer and camera. Over the years my posts became more involved as I documented all kinds of birding trips; local, statewide, across states and international trips.  Over time I became more and more interested in a wider variety of wildlife; butterflies, wildflowers, dragonflies, mammals, habitat, scenery ... I was seeing the bigger picture and I wanted to photograph it and write about it.  

Just over 14 years ago I began a job that has since come to take over my life.  For the past five years I have worked essentially 60 hours per week.  In these years the work has required increasing levels of OCD which I had previously reserved for birding and the observational skills birding requires.  Outings for birding and other wildlife became fewer and more precious.  I still managed one big trip each year and, upon returning, obsessively blogged about it using all of my best, and not so best, photos.  Still work went on and birding became less.  

Now having returned from India just over two months ago, it seems a good time to stop this blog.  Just under 12 years is long enough.  Google has changed their blogger format and it is not the relatively clean and easy process that it had been for years.  I can only enter photos when I am in Google Chrome and I'm not a Google Chrome user.  Working 60 hours per week and the current COVID-19 pandemic leaves me no time, or desire, to figure out the new format.  It does make me sad that I won't complete my India trip blog; so much seen, so much to write about and all left undocumented.

I thought about deleting this blog and starting another that would be differently formatted.  But for now, there's just too much here that gives me great memories that I am not ready to part with - 481 posts that I worked hard on.  I still go back to re-read old posts and to look at some of my favorite photos.  And, even when I have not added a post in a month or two or three, I still get between 30-50 hits each month.  "Gray squirrel with white ear tufts" from several years ago remains popular.  Go figure.

My writing is clear, but stylistically my voice and delivery have remained largely unchanged.  When I read over some of my old stuff, it seems quite stilted.  My photos have improved but by becoming a photographer my birding skills have declined.  Tradeoffs.  

In about 9 months I plan to retire.  In the interim, I will be thinking of different ways to share photos and document trips.  Flickr and eBird may be two avenues for this.  A different blogging site may be tempting. When I was able to do it well and in a timely manner, blogging was an enjoyable hobby.

I leave with three photos - "best bird of the trip" - of Green-billed Malkoha taken in Kazaringa National Park in Assam.  I was in the lead vehicle with the our field guide when he became very excited, "green-billed malkoha, green-billed malkoha!"  Another member of our group had asked to see this bird.  You know how it sounds when a bird gets called out with that pitch in your guide's voice.  Super exciting and I got these nice photos.      

Green-billed Malkoha (Rhopodytes tristis)

From Princeton Field Guide, Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, 2nd edition, by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp, 2011, page 210.

Resident. Himalayas, NE and E. India and Bangladesh.  ID Large and very long-tailed.  Grayish-green in coloration with lime-green bill, red-eye patch, white-streaked supercilium and broad white tips to tail feathers.  VOICE  Gives a low croaking ko... ko... ko and a chuckle when flushed.  HH Rather shy; usually keeps out of sight.  Creeps and clambers unobtrusively through branches low down in thick vegetation. Dense broad-leafed forest and thickets.  Globally threatened.  TN Formerly placed in Phaencophaeus.

By the way, good field guide!   अब के लिए अलविदा             

 

A mere smattering of Ranthambhore birds

See next blog entry

                                                                      Alexandrine Parakeet

                        

                                                                                Spotted Owlet

The tigers were super exciting and are, by far, the main attraction of this park.  But being a national park, there are also a lot of other things to see in Ranthambhore.   In no particular order, another smattering of photos.

Rufous Treepie

Painted Stork

Great Thick-knee

River Tern eating a catfish minnow.

                                                                       Black-headed Ibis

                                                                        Indian Thick-knee

Ringed Plover

                                                                         River Tern again

                                                                    White-browed Wagtail

Asian Open-billed Stork

And so many more!  But that's all for this blog.

Tigers

As I write my India blog, I've been keeping a close eye on Matt Hysell's 2020 Ecuador trip blog on Birding Berrien and Beyond.  Just as I was leaving for India I saw his February 17th entry, Down the Shiripuno river and I was a little envious.  Typically, I would have been on this trip, having gone with Matt's group the past 6 years to Central and South America.  I love Matt's trips because they are typically pretty adventurous and energetic, (ex: the past couple of year's we been freezing at 15,000 feet in Ecuador), and this year seems to have been no different.  Matt's blog can be pretty spare on narrative, but Ecuador 2020 is more descriptive, probably because of the experiences they had.  I definitely recommend following Matt's trip blog.

But in a roundabout sort of way this India trip called to me and I had to switch course for this year.  However, in most ways, my trip was not energetic or even particularly adventurous.  Riding around Ranthambore in a 4 person jeep is not particularly energetic unless I count absorbing the bumpy trail roads and keeping my camera safe as energy-consuming.  Each day was like being able to bird all of Point Mouillee in an open car.  Sweet birding, but not high-level physical activity.

I digress.  Back to tigers.  We left the hotel in the dark and entered the park just at dawn.  Again, within a very short time, another tiger.  This time we were one of the first jeeps to arrive and, although the tiger was obscured by grass, we had plumb viewing.

Another young tiger.  After drinking, it jumped across the water and began to walk through the grass. 

Two tigers!  We were told they were siblings.

Playful sparring

Slowly walking away.

It had become crowded with other tiger viewers and, between the prior day's great viewing and this morning, we felt like we could leave and let others in for closer views.

After driving around and finding birds and other things our guide, Jyoti, got bored and wanted to go back for more tiger viewing.  We were glad he did because this time we came upon the family of three; mother and the two siblings.  They were most often not very visible, but we could hear their growls at they sparred in the bushes.  There was a thought that there was a kill hidden in the bush and that they were taking turns eating.

It was after this second viewing that we began to hypothesize about Jyoti, who seemed to be one of the park's senior guides.  More about this later if I can work it into the narrative.

One might think that tiger viewing, as we experienced it, is easy at Ranthambore.  At this point, we thought it was.  However, we later learned that we were very lucky.  Many other visitors did not see tigers. If you had only a couple of safaris scheduled, your chances might be slim.  We learned that, Bob, our trip planner and our guide, Ansar, had scheduled six safaris to enhance our chances and because Ansar knew it was possible not to see any tigers at all.  Since there is a lot to see at Ranthambore the six safaris was always well-spent, with or without seeing tigers.  For our remaining safaris we always looked for tigers but never again saw them.  We had been lucky.

Finally, it is possible also to see leopards at Ranthambore, but much more difficult.  I and a few of us did, fleetingly, see a leopard (some even got a couple of photos) at the end of one afternoon safari.  It was thought that the leopard had came into the open to collect a dead langur that had been killed in recent territorial fight.  We missed the fight, but saw the dead langur lying at the edge of the road.  Later when we returned along this same route, the dead langur was gone.  It was shortly after that we saw the leopard very near this same area.

This ends post #5.  Next post:  Ranthambhore birds  

Tiger

We left Agra just as the day was dawning for the six hour drive to Rajasthan.  Between Agra and Rajasthan we were treated to endless sightseeing from the van window.  We stopped for bathroom breaks and even these were sight-seeing treats.  Technically speaking, this is a birding blog, which my India trip will challenge and change, but for now, I'll add these bird photos to represent the sightseeing.

Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus)

Singing Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)

Tailorbird with rusty cap visible

We arrived at our hotel, the Ranthambhore Kothi, checked into our rooms, had lunch and then immediately jumped into open cars and went to the national park for our tiger hunt.  Ansar said, "don't stop for monkeys, deer, antelope, birds or anything else.  Focus on the tiger."

That's Jyoti, our guide, standing with hat and scarf.  Within less than an hour we were viewing a tiger sleeping in the dry grass.  As you can see by the number of jeeps, it was a challenge to remember we were seeing a wild tiger.  Probably 200 others were doing the same.   

We were told she was a yearling female, with a twin, and that her mother and sister were probably somewhere nearby.

These are the smattering of the 50 or 60 photos I took of the sleeping, and then waking, tiger.

She was a stunningly beautiful creature.

After about a two hour wait, she got up and began a slow walk.  She walked closer to us to a stream and began drinking water.  (I took a few photos and then switched to video.  To my dismay, my computer software was not adequately updated to download the video.  Still working on this.)

Note:  I have found Ranthambore and Ranthambhore used somewhat interchangeably on-line, hence the two spellings.

This ends post #4.  Next post: Tigers

Taj Mahal

So beautiful, so iconic, the Taj Mahal needs no introduction or words. This was the first official day of the start of our trip and, after our drive from Delhi to Agra to get here, we spent the rest of the day touring the Taj Mahal and the Taj Fort. 

Of the dozens of photos I took, below are just a random smattering and are in no particular order.  The photos do not cover how much there is to see here. 

Must have been drunk when I took this

Rhesus Macaque

Five-striped Palm squirrel

Cattle Egret

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

In training for Trump visit

There is a story attached to this.

We visited on Sunday, February 23rd - the day before Donald Trump's visit.  Everywhere the streets were being cleaned, barricades put up and ubiquitous signs like the one above hung from every lamppost, fence and building.  Most of the signs were of  Trump standing alone or juxtaposed with Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister.  The Indians certainly had Donald Trump's number.  Once inside the Taj Mahal grounds a few of us were sitting on a ledge waiting for our guide to rejoin us.  Out of nowhere, a young woman with a microphone in her hand came up to us and asked where we were from.  Carli proudly announced "California" (six of ten in the group were from California.) The reporter asked if we would mind commenting on Donald Trump's visit for their news story.  When she walked away to get her cameraman we were in a panic.  Oh my god, what are we going to say?  We knew we couldn't say anything uncomplimentary.  We didn't have time to think about it because she was back in seconds and was holding the microphone up to Carli.  "He's going to love the Taj Mahal.  It's so beautiful.  We love it."  Moves to the next of us who repeats the same thing.  Next, the same; next the same.  Finally she gave up.  The reporter must have thought she was interviewing a bunch of dummies.  I hope they didn't show it on their evening news.

One of the signs, however, did show something which I liked very much.  It showed Modi and Trump standing together with the following words written above, "The world's oldest democracy meets the world's largest democracy."  I liked the sound and the feeling of that.

For our very early departure the following morning even more barricades were up and our van had to find a way around these.  It was obvious that men and women had worked through the night to finish the spruce-up and were still at work in the early morning.  It was touching to see how nice everything looked.     

Sleeping bats

Architectural detail

Spotted Owlets from the Taj Fort grounds

Our north India group!

Of course, the Taj Mahal is now closed secondary to coronavirus.  But it will reopen one day.  One cautionary note, I learned from a colleague that the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays.  So, if you go, don't plan your visit for a Friday.

This ends post #3.  Next post:  Tiger