Birding Haiti

Haiti is no place for tourists of any kind let alone birders.  The environmentally-minded among us are probably familiar with the country's reputation for degraded landscapes and that only 1% of forest cover remains.  But set foot in its capital and it becomes intimately clear that Haiti has far more urgent issues that need addressing before there's any hope of salvaging what remains of its biodiversity or restoring its ecosystems.

Port au Prince is essentially a refugee camp of 3 million people.  There is no road maintenance, no garbage collection, no water system, no sewer.  Walking the streets among the throngs is like participating in the obstacle-course-based TV game show Wipeout except that the hazards are rubble piles, heaps of garbage, and speeding motorbikes; and the sludgy water below just might harbor Cholera.  It's no wonder that aid workers don't set foot on the streets and pass their time safely cloistered within their Landcruisers.

There is subsistence agriculture in rural areas, but Haiti is a net importer of food, which comes mainly in the form of handouts from NGOs and foreign governments. Perversely this encourages more people to flock to the already crowded capital hoping to get their dole.  Some Haitians are trying to construct more housing (in the popular architectural style of unpainted cinder block), but the uncertainty about property ownership, multiple layers of corrupt politicians, and the fact that squatters have just about every square meter of ground inhabited snarls much of the effort to rebuild.

As far as I can tell there are no public buildings and few finished structures of any kind.  The National Palace is still a wreck two years after the earthquake.

The National Palace

The adjacent central square, the largest and possibly only remaining public space, was a tent-ville until a few months ago when the inhabitants were forced out to who knows where.

But you didn't come here to read about humanitarian and political disasters.  I'll get to the birds shortly. First I just have to say the Haitians I met were so incredibly friendly and seemingly happy despite the state of their country.  Playing basketball, trekking pants zipped in half, in front of a paying crowd of several hundred in Cite Soleil (per Wikipedia: "...generally regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere...") is an experience I'll never forget.

Ballin' in Cite Soleil

And amazingly I never witnessed violence, or even anger (except once over a game of dominos).  I was panhandled less frequently in Port au Prince than I usually am wandering around Durham. 

Now onto birds...

Historically Haiti was home to all of Hispaniola's 31 endemic species, but in reality at least a few of these have probably been extirpated. And bird life in general among the scattered urban trees around the capital is rather sparse.  Notable exceptions were a pair of "Pajaros Bobo" or Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoos, an endemic, and a nest colony of Village Weavers, an introduced species from Africa. 

I was determined to reach National Parc La Visite, where ornithological groups from Cornell and Vermont had recently visited to study Black-capped Petrels and Bicknell's Thrushes.  It is the wrong time of year to see either of these species, but supposedly the park contained remnant, albeit dwindling fragments of broadleaf vegetation that harbor some of the rare and endangered endemics.

A pair of Hatian taptaps, the popular mode of transport

  
To get there we crammed into the safest most efficient form of Haitian transportation, the "taptap" (see above). After lurching and bouncing for some four hours up a mountainside our truck could go no further because of poor road conditions, so we disembarked and hiked another four-plus hours passing women with impossibly heavy loads balanced atop their heads. 

Haitian deforestation

The upside of hiking in the Haitian mountains is the lack of trees means there is always a fabulous view.  A few birds were around making use of what cliff-side shrubs remained and the odd tree that had been spared.  Some were familiar, such as Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, probably not too troubled by all the open space.  Others were more exciting, such as Black face Grassquit,

Black-faced Grassquit

and a couple endemics: the very common Hispaniolan Woodpecker

Hispaniolan Woodpecker

and Black-crowned Palm-Tanager.

Black-crowned Palm-Tanager

 Finally we reached a plateau and my first Haitian forest.

Forest of Hispaniolan Pine

Of course it was all pines.  Broadleaf vegetation is cut for charcoal wherever it can be found and heavy grazing pressure ensures that none can regrow.  But the fresh air and flowers were a welcome change from the sights and smells of garbage and motorbikes that prevade and permeate Port au Prince.

flower

Best of all, the hike through the pines yielded flocks of endemic and threatened Hispaniolan Palm Crows and the endemic and endangered Hispaniolan Crossbill.  I also found the endemic Hispaniolan Emerald flitting along a stream.

We hiked through the pines to an inn (the only one around) where we would stay the night.  The surrounding gardens were filled with Antillean Siskins (another endemic)

Antillean Siskin

and the hibiscus was popular with an Antillean Mango.

Antillean Mango

We woke up early the next morning and went with a local guide named Wilfred on a hike out into the park.  

a national park?

 Despite being a national park, there were farmsteads and rows of crops.  It made for a charmingly pastoral scene, but not what you expect in a supposedly protected area.

Wilfred took us to a beautiful karst waterfall.

Waterfall at La Visite

Because of the steep ravines along the sides of the stream, some broadleaf shrubs and bushes remained and here the bird life got more exciting. The best bird was a Western Chat-Tanager, an endemic and threatened skulker that Wilfred spotted for me. We also had Red-legged Thrush and a couple more endemics: Narrow-billed Tody

Narrow-billed Tody

 and Hispaniolan Pewee.

Hispaniolan Pewee

On our way back to the inn, I came across an interesting mixed species flock that contained a Greater Antillean Elaenia, a Pine Warbler, which belonged to the endemic resident subspecies, and a Black-and-white Warbler, which was an early migrant and quite a surprise. 

I had hoped to see Haiti's national bird, the endemic Hispaniolan Trogon, as well as the endangered and endemic La Selle Thrush, but these birds are apparently difficult (if not impossible) to find along this stream.  The best dwindling remnants of broadleaf forest in the park were at least a couple hours hike from the inn and we just didn't have the time to go that far.  Ahead of us was a long hike down the other side of the mountain (where I saw 4 Hispaniolan Orioles--another endemic species) followed by a white-knuckle motorcycle ride over treacherous roads and through bustling villages to the city of Jacmel and a seaside hotel.

The words the ornithologists have used to describe the state of the habitat and prospects for maintaining the biodiversity of La Visite as "grim" or "dire." But I almost think that's too generous.  Given the social and political backdrop the term "futile" is probably more fitting.  Perhaps that sounds overly pessimistic, but on the bright side these birds really aren't concerned about political borders and are doing just fine 100 miles to east in the Dominican Republic, right?  I certainly hoped and expected so.  And I couldn't wait to find out.

After a morning playing in the surf of a beach that would have been beautiful were it not for the dense wrack of washed up garbage, we made the pilgrimage back to Port au Prince.  The next morning I got up early to catch the first bus bound for Santo Domingo, eager to escape a nation in the throes of humanitarian catastrophe, speak some Spanish, and search for thrushes and trogons in a greener setting. 

Stay tuned for my next installment on birding the Dominican Republic.  And in the meantime appreciate your access to potable water, a toilet and a nearby park and its birds. 

Top 10 birds of 2011

Yes, this is coming out 6 months late.  And it is on a much lower plane compared to my top ten from 2010 (it’s what I get for visiting Europe instead of the Neotropics).  But better late than never!

In 2011 I saw 405 bird species, of which 92 were lifers (way down from 907 with 649 lifers in 2010).  About two-thirds of these lifers I found on a couple trips to Europe, with 48 coming while exploring Greece and Croatia and 15 more from a later trip to Prague to attend a Society of Wetland Scientists conference. 

Making a top-10 list is a highly subjective (not to mention silly!) exercise.  Last year every bird I listed was a life bird from the tropics and listed by the IUCN as a species of concern. Also most were endemic and thus could only be found in a relatively small geographic area.  

This time around I didn’t see nearly enough endangered, impossible-to-find birds, so I’m mixing in some somewhat mundane birds that were significant because of where I found them.  But I’m only considering including birds that I found (or co-found); chases don’t count.  So the Allen’s Hummingbird in Catawba Co., NC and the Franklin’s Gull at Jordan Lake, for example, won’t make this list despite being fantastic birds for North Carolina.  Other people (Dwayne Martin and Thierry Besancon) did the hard work of finding and identifying these out-of-range rarities.  

Otherwise I’m making selections based on rarity, difficulty to find and/or identify, and to a lesser extent on charisma/looks.

In keeping with last year, we’ll make this a challenge.  I’m sure many folks have seen many of these birds, but has anybody seen them all?  Send me your total out of ten and whoever has the most will win a prize: an original Brown Boobies t-shirt in the size of your choice (S M L XL). 

On to the list!

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10. Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher - Pocosin Lakes NWR

This is a declining species that is a pretty rare migrant through North Carolina.  It is especially rare in the coastal plain where there have only been a dozen or so records.  I found mine on August 11 in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.  

Nice tuxedo jacket! A rare sight in coastal NC

*bonus point if you have seen one in the coastal plain of NC*

9. Eurasian Bee-eater

Eating bees! (I think)

Also not particularly rare, but perhaps the most colorful European bird (a relatively unimpressive accomplishment in a continent that has nearly cornered the market on Little Brown Jobs).  I saw hundreds of these (quite a spectacle!) migrating through the Greek Isles while I was Island hopping my way from Rhodes over to my brother’s wedding on Paros. 

Lot's of Bee-Eaters!

8. Greenish Warbler

Greenish Warbler and its genus–phyloscopus—are prime example of the uninspiring plumage and identification challenges that the European birder faces.  It wouldn’t even matter if I had a decent photo of it…it would still be a drab bird and there still would be lingering identification doubts.  Luckily it was singing in the Red Bog I visited on a field trip as part of my conference in the Czech Republic. This wetland we visited has relict boreal vegetation from the Pleistocene and may be one of the southernmost refuges for this high-latitude species.  

7. Anhinga

Anhinga - Durham, NC

Tom Krakauer and I found this bird at a housing development pond in Northern Durham County, which was the first record of the species for the Durham Christmas Bird Count. 

It was a mild enough winter I guess

These are trash birds in Florida, but very rare in Durham...especially so in winter. 

Anhingas in Florida are hard to miss

*bonus point if you've seen an Anhing in Durham*

6. Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail (female) in Rhodes, Greece - rare this far west

I found a female in a creek bed in Rhodes Greece in May.  It was flagged as "rare" by ebird's filters and apparently it does not frequently stray this far west on its migration.  Unfortunately it was not the colorful male, but I was lucky that it was keeping company with a couple Yellow Wagtails, which made it much easier to identify. 

*bonus point if you've seen a Citrine Wagtail west of Asia*

5. Eleonora’s Falcon

Eleonora's Falcon - light morph

This is a really cool raptor with a relatively small breeding range that covers some Mediterranean Islands.  I saw dozens on the Greek Island of Tilos, which is thought to support 10% of the world's population.  It comes in two color morphs.

Eleonora's Falcon - dark morph

4. Short-toed Eagle

I'm not sure how rare a bird this is, but a woman from the Hellenic Ornithological Society on Tilos told me that it had not been previously recorded on the island.  So it was completely unprecedented  here at least!

Short-toed Eagle - a first for Tilos, Greece

I wrote up a formal description and sent them links to my video, but never heard anything back from any ornithologists or bird records people. 

*bonus point if you've seen Short-toed Eagle on Tilos*

3. Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher - Falls Lake, NC

I saw a lot of rare shorebirds on Falls Lake at the end of last summer, but this is the only one that I "discovered."  I was surprised later when I couldn't find any previous records for Durham, so as far as I can tell, this bird was a Durham County first. 

A first for Durham (?)

Perhaps others have had 'dowitcher sp.' at Falls Lake that were suspected of being Long-billed that were never confirmed.  Mine was kind enough to vocalize so there wasn't any doubt.

*bonus point if you've seen Long-billed Dowitcher in Durham*

2. Audouin’s Gull

Audouin's Gull is the only bird on this list that is currently experiencing any sort of extinction risk according to the IUCN which declares it to be 'near-threatened.'  In the 1960s it was one of the rarest gulls on Earth with only some 1,000 remaining.  Now the population is some 10 times the level of its low point, and stable thanks, no doubt, to some diligent effort by conservationists.  Despite the recovery, Audouin's Gull is still a rare bird that is pretty strictly pelagic, so tough to see.  I saw mine from a ferry near Nissyros, Greece.

1. Yellow Rail

I actually went on two successful Yellow Rail trips in 2011. Both were in Carteret County in sections of North River Marsh, one was in January and the other in December. This is one of the most difficult to see of all breeding North American bird species. Our (now infamous) method for finding them is documented here and here.

* * *

So leave your score in the comments below (the bonus points are to break a tie) and take your shot at the prize!  

Hopefully somebody can top Derb Carter (last year's reigning champ).  I haven't gotten him his t-shirt yet, but I'm sure he doesn't need two!

Breeding Black-billed Cuckoos in coastal Carolina

Black-billed Cuckoos are tough to see anywhere.  Even in the mountains of North Carolina, where they breed, there is no reliable method for tracking them down.  They vocalize sporadically and spend most of their time perched in dense vegetation scanning their surroundings for caterpillars or large insects.

Until a few days ago Black-billed Cuckoos were known only as rare migrants in the eastern part of the state, with the most recent breeding record a specimen collected from Bertie County in May, 1896.  Observations made by John Fussell (who wrote the book on birding coastal NC) of birds singing in the Croatan National Forest and in nearby North River Farm seemed to suggest the potential for breeding, but this needed to be confirmed.

And since I also needed this bird for my life list (I had heard one in Vermont five years ago during a softball game), I woke up early and went out with Fussell himself on June 28 to Catfish Lake Road in the Croatan to some spots where he had heard cuckoos coo-coo-coo-ing 10 days prior.

Black-billed Cuckoo habitat? - Catfish Lake rd., Croatan National Forest

At first we heard no cuckoos of any kind.  John said that when he has heard Black-billed Cuckoos singing in June, they usually stop by the beginning of July.  And after a fruitless three hours, I was ready to accept the null hypothesis: that these cuckoos were just late migrants.  After all Black-billed Cuckoos are weird birds that often defy conventional bird wisdom: they shed their stomach linings to expel caterpillar spines; their young leave the nest faster than any other bird (17 days from egg lay to fledge); and they are just so cryptic and elusive.  Perhaps they could migrate through coastal areas on occasion in late June with the intent to breed later in July at some caterpillar hotspot somewhere else?

But we finally heard a cuckoo sound...(turn your volume way up)



We heard this call regularly for the better part of an hour, but couldn't coax a bird into view.  And the source of the sound didn't seem to be moving at all.  Perhaps it was sitting on a nest?

We moved in closer, pinpointing a dense vine-tangled bush. Then John finally spotted a cuckoo, but it looked pretty dingy... a fledgling!  Then an adult popped out of nowhere to feed it.  Wow!

I filmed the ensuing scramble made by the youngster as it tried to hide itself...



If you don't like videos, here are a few stills I extracted...

Fledling Black-billed Cuckoo

showing the short tail while scrambling away

This was the last we saw of the fledgling.  At one point we heard a fledgling call from another bush 20 feet away, so we suspect there were at least two young. As we worked our way out we saw one adult pop up out of a ditch and cross the road. And then we flushed a second out of some rank vegetation.

Adult

This one was incredibly cooperative, sitting up on exposed twigs in the power line cut.  We even had time to get scopes on it!

From the road we saw one of the adults working the edge of the powerline cut and then disappearing into the bushes to feed its brood.

What a successful and "historic" morning!  The handful of Swainson's Warblers we heard singing seem hardly worth mentioning.

This is my second significant encounter with a bird that begins with "Black-b." this year (the first).  So I've got high hopes for stumbling upon a Black-bellied Whistling Duck or Black-bellied Storm-Petrel in North Carolina sometime in the next 6 months!

Birding Viera Wetland

The 9th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference brought me down to Orlando, Florida for a week of academic lectures and elbow-rubbing with some of the world's top wetland scientists.

I had been invited to give a 20-minute presentation on my dissertation research (which went great by the way) but I'd be damned if I was going to drive so far south without getting out to see some birds!

So I woke up early one morning and zipped out to Viera Wetland (aka Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands) for some birding appropriate for a wetland scientist.

Viera Wetland

 The place is a Mecca for wading birds with Ibises everywhere...

White Ibises

Glossy Ibises

...and a variety of herons...

Tricolored Heron

...and egrets...

Cattle Egrets

Dozens of Black-bellied Whistlling-Ducks were nesting in hollow palm trunks all over the place.   

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

I had only seen these cute guys once before and way down in Panama back in 2008 (ABA bird #338).

The same was essentially true of Roseate Spoonbill, a bird I had seen only once before seen in Nicaragua.

Roseate Spoonbill

They look so pretty from far away, but up close the bald head and red eye look downright sinister to me (well if you ignore the comical spoon-shaped bill). This one was my ABA #339!

Least Bitterns were calling everywhere and even a few showed...

Least Bittern

I saw three of them throughout the morning and one was even prowling around on lily pads!

Hiding in plain view

I guess it was doing a frog impression?  Life bird #1554!

telescoping neck!

And then there was a pair of Sandhill Cranes...

Sandhill Crane

Just more trash birds by Florida standards! 

As you can see the birders in this state are spoiled rotten for cool wetland species.  And the photographers who visit Viera Wetland are as well.  The site consists of 5 wetland treatment cells, each with a different water level for maximum habitat diversity.  And the border of each cell is a high drivable berm.  The result is the ultimate lazy nature photographer's dream; simply drive along until you see the right bird in good light and fire away.  No need to even leave your vehicle!

The one exception and only time I actually needed to use my scope was when a group of four Crested Caracaras flew along the treeline and landed in a distant pine.

Crested Caracaras

Of course it's tough to get a good shot from half a mile away, but I'm always amazed that the birds are even identifiable at that distance.  I had seen Crested Caracara's a handful of times in the tropics, but this was my first sighting in the US (ABA #341).
 
The only bird I was hoping to see and missed was Purple Gallinule.  But their "Common" cousins were ubiquitous and I even saw some downy chicks!

Common Gallinules with chicks

It took me a few loops around the wetland cells to get my real target bird...

Limpkin

...Limpkin!  This species looks like it should be a skulker like a rail, but that just isn't the case.  Limpkins aren't especially shy, they just aren't very common...

Yum! Lifer #1555

...and only found in areas with an abundance of their prey of choice: snails.

By this point my three hours were up and I had to race back to the convention center for more concurrent sessions and important networking opportunities.  But the visit to Viera Wetland was definitely worth the trip.  I'm not sure if there is another spot in this area that can offer up such a complete and reliable menu of so many cool species with such great opportunities for photos.

~~

On our way back north Katie and I dropped by Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in search of Florida Scrub-Jay, which proved to be easy enough.

The light was terrible for photos, but I was just glad to see this endemic, IUCN-listed species.  And I really like Jays.

Florida Scrubu-Jay

We also stumbled upon the most cooperative Bobwhite I had ever seen.

Northern Bobwhite

We did a little bit of exploring some of the refuge's vast tracts of wetlands and saw some other cool birds such as Wood Stork, Reddish Egret, Black-necked Stilt and more Roseate Spoonbills, but with a 10-hour drive back to Durham looming, we had to cut ourselves off and hit the road. 

Hopefully my next trip to Florida will include the Everglades and the plethora of specialties that can be found in the nether regions of the state.  But I have certainly had my wetland bird fix for now!

Warblings in Wake!

Emails were flying around over the long weekend about a pair of Warbler Vireos nesting in Raleigh.  I really wanted to see these birds, but was stuck up in New England (looking at different Warbling Vireos, among other birds).  So as soon as I got home and had the chance, I zipped out to Shelley Lake Park to see them for myself.

Why are these birds so special?  Well, just take a look a Cornell's breeding range map for the species...

(map by Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Central North Carolina is just about the only spot in the country that these birds should not be breeding.  Yet here one is nesting in Wake County....

Female Warbling Vireo nesting in Raleigh

And this is a species that is tricky to find anywhere in NC (state bird #313 for me!).

I've heard birders say that song birds don't sing when they're sitting on eggs.

Male Warbling Vireo singing while incubating

Well it wasn't true with this pair at least.  I saw the female fly off the nest and then off to forage and the male take her place and continue singing away while incubating the eggs (a rare male multi-tasker!).  And when he wasn't on the nest he was very busy chasing away grackles.

It will be interesting to see how this pair does so far out of their expect range and in a spot with such a high density of nest predators (i.e. grackles, crows, Blue Jays). The odds-makers on the carolinabirds listeserve don't seem to have much confidence!

Congratulation to Lynn Erla Beagle and her group from Wake Audubon for finding this unusual pair.  And thanks to Mike Turner for posting detailed instructions and GPS coordinates that many folks (including me) used to easily locate the nest.