King Ranch rare ducks

The world famous King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas has been a birding mecca for as long as I've been a birder. Long before I began travelling to see birds, I knew the name "King Ranch" as one of those revered American birding meccas, reknowned for some incredible specialty birds including Audubon's Orioles, Tropical Parula, and Ferruginous Pygmy Owls among others!

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl digiscoped @ King Ranch November '05

The ranch is enormous (>800,000 acres) and is split into different units which offer different habitats and species diversity, so every trip to the ranch doesn't target the same species. Not surprisingly in today's litigious society, the only way to access the ranch is through one of their excellent guided tours (offered regularly on most days of the week) or through a pre-arranged custom tour.

I'd just rolled into Port Aransas and heard that birders were seeing numbers of the incredibly rare Masked Duck on the King Ranch about an hour away. This species is common to Mexico and throughout Central America, but almost never seen here in the United States. I knew I would be tied up every other day of my trip working the Whooping Crane Festival, so my only chance of seeing these birds was to get out there on that day. Being last minute, I knew it was a long shot at best, but still I hoped there might be someone going out in the evening to see the birds.

Tom Langscheid and his son David @ the Whooping Crane Fest

On my very first, exciting visit to the King Ranch years ago, I was met by an extremely knowledgeable and talented guide, Tom Langscheid. Tom was instrumental in establishing the current nature tour programs on the ranch since their inception back in the 1980's. Since that early meeting, Tom has given up as the head of the tour program, although he still guides on occasion at the Ranch. I've also since had opportunities to guide different bird trips alongside him and even meet his family. So I was real excited to discover Tom was heading out to the ranch, and had no idea I was in for a very special bonus! I (along with two other friends, Tom and Ben) had the rare opportunity to join Tom and his talented young son David Langscheid, for a bit of late evening birding on the ranch, which would hopefully also lead to seeing these rare ducks!

Harris' Hawk, adult digiscoped w/Leica APO Televid scope, Kingsville, TX 2/21/08

Tom, as always, was wonderful to drive along with. His passion for the ranch and the wildlife it supports hasn't seemed to fade at all. A born tour guide, he regaled us with interesting historic facts about history of the ranch and the area as we drove along. His son David, was every bit engaging though, pointing out the various species of raptors (including Crested Caracara, Harris', Red-tailed, and White-tailed Hawks) and offering wonderful natural history information and anecdotes as we drove toward our main quarry! They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and David is a chip off the old block! Remember the name folks, If young David Langscheid remains interested in nature I fully suspect we'll see him on TV some day soon.

Masked Duck pair digiscoped w/Leica APO Televid, King Ranch, TX 2/21/08

Before long, we drove past a tiny watering hole/pond on the left side of the van, and I was able to clearly see two distinctly flat-headed ducks with multiple stripes on their face with my naked eye before we even stopped! The birds were easily viewed on the pond which was ~50 feet across and completely devoid of floating vegetation. This was a real treat and the birds were new birds for both of my friends as well as young David. Once I realized this, I stopped my digiscoping and hoisted David up for a look through the scope. It was an amazing evening with great fortune, beautiful weather, good birds, and even better company! David, I hope we get to bird together soon buddy. I think I enjoyed birding with you even more than seeing these REALLY cool ducks!

Masked Duck, digiscoped King Ranch, Kingsvile, TX 2/21/08

The highest count of Masked Ducks was 8 individuals seen recently. I was tickled to ONLY see two on our short visit! For those interested in seeing these birds or for visiting the INCREDIBLE King Ranch to view other wildlife, or to learn more about the rich history of the place (something I highly recommend everyone interested in birds and wildlife do), visit their website for more or call the visitor's center @ (361) 592-8055.

http://www.king-ranch.com/nature_tours.html

San Diego Bird Fest intro

For those not familiar with the spectacular San Diego Bird Festival, let me provide a brief overview. Since it is held at a time when much of the world is still scraping their windshields each morning, the mere thought of a warm, sunny destination surrounded by sparkling waters and palm trees is inspiration enough to consider attending this event. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The San Diego area offers an amazing variety of habitats and birds that are easily accessible within a 30 minute drive. The nearby mountains of Cuyamaca State Park offer potential to see mountain bird species like Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, Steller's Jay, Band-tailed Pigeon, and even White-headed woodpecker with a bit of luck (among MANY others).

female White-headed Woodpecker I digiscoped during the 2007 SD Birdfest

The grasslands near Ramona offers fantastic potential for viewing raptors. This year in less than 4 miles of road I saw numerous American Kestrels, a perched Merlin, multiple Northern Harriers, many Red-tailed Hawks in all plumages, an adult Golden Eagle perched low in a tree, three CA race Red-shouldered Hawks, 2 perched Cooper's Hawks, and 6 individual Ferruginous Hawks including a stunning dark morph adult! All in less than 2 hours time.

adult light morph Ferruginous Hawk near Ramona, CA digiscoped during 2007 fest

The amazing Anza Borrego Desert State Park is easily reached and birded within a day trip, providing a whole host of additional desert specialty species including: Black-throated Sparrow, Roadrunner, Costa's Hummingbird, Crissal & (hopefully) LeConte's Thrashers, among many others.

LeConte's Thrasher digiscoped during San Diego Birdfest 2007 - Leica APO Televid

Of course, I've barely scratched the surface and haven't even begun to consider the enormous assortment of birds found in the IMMEDIATE area which is every bit as spectacular. The habitats listed above are merely the icing on the cake! Last year I took the maniacal approach and raced all around the area to all of these sites, however this year I opted to kick my heels back and just enjoy the more local birds and sites. I was admittedly a bit exhausted following back to back to back festivals/shows in FL, and 2 in Las Vegas....

I'll provide more on this year's SD birding in short order, now I've got to get over to yet another show! ;)

San Diego stylized loony sculpture

After leaving the zaniness of Las Vegas, I was in the mood for something a bit less artificial and happily flew off to San Diego! Upon landing I pondered a bit over this one. A nice sculpture but the birder in me kept thinking are these things loons or long grebes?... and why in the world has one speared a giant silvery egg?... To get to the bottom of this, I headed straight to the San Diego river to see if I could observe anything similar.

Eared Grebe digiscoped with Leica APO Televd scope & C-Lux 2 camera, San Diego, CA

I found similar candidates right away but they seemed too slight, were the wrong color, and showed no interest in shiny silver eggs so I figured Eared Grebe was not the right candidate. The very similar Horned Grebe (seen below with a Ruddy Duck) seemed too compact and showed more white than in the sculpture as well, so it was quickly eliminated.

Horned Grebe winter plumage,digiscoped in San Diego River 2/6/08, w/ Ruddy Duck

There were numerous Western Grebes floating in small flotillas with their heads tucked on their backs here as well. They looked to have the right proportionsbut were slightly less gray. I held some shiny silver quarters up but they showed no interest. They just continued riding the current with heads tucked tight. I figured I should continue to look.

Brant digiscoped in Mission Bay, CA 2/6/08 - Leica APO Televid 77 & C-Lux 2

The Brant were long enough through the neck and showed similar color on the flanks, but they seemed to have the wrong bill shape and were definitely more interested in eel grass than eggs. I finally figured these had to be some other species and left it to be figured out another day. Besides I was birding now and with each new sighting was beginning to feel more and more like myself again.

Las Vegas woes

For anyone who loves nature and the outdoors a trip to Las Vegas is likely not the highlight of your year. Especially if you're stuck on the strip, that most artificial of all spots in the US. Recently, duty called and I was forced to spend a week here. The only highlight was that I was at least able to view a Flamingo regularly from my hotel window!

Flamingo Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV

Of course, business is business and even though there were about 8 bazillion places I'd rather have been, I stuck it out and did what I had to do, working the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center and answering questions about Leica products and varying uses.

Leica product testing, Las Vegas, NV

Perhaps the worst part of this particular duty though was the thought of missing that great American tradition, the Superbowl! Yep, that's right in very unpatriotic fashion, someone went and scheduled convention hours right over the top of this celebrated American holiday. Not surprisingly, the show floor became a veritible ghost town after kick-off leaving only dedicated manufacturer reps to talk amongst themselves. It was with great relief that we discovered a visible flat panel screen broadcasting the event some 150 yards or so away. Ever conscientious about quality control, myself and a number of my Leica coleagues set to testing the resolving power of the new Leica Ultravid HD binoculars. In this way we were able to view the game in HD, and were not surprised a bit by the extreme high quality images delivered by these superb optics!

an impromptu digiscoping demonstration

Unfortunately, there were far more interested in testing this for themselves than there were binoculars available. I decided the best course of action was to set up a digiscoping demonstration as a distraction and to fully show the complete capabilities of the fine Leica equipment. I quickly trained my Leica APO Televid scope on an interesting subject (picked at random of course), mounted the tiny C-Lux 2 camera, and ran the included cable to a nearby monitor so all would be able to see my demonstration clearly.

another successful digiscoping demonstartion

In very short order, a crowd of would be digiscopers had amassed and were marvelling at my prowess as well as the quality of the imaging capabilities of the Leica glass. Many seemed even captivated by my demonstration and stood transfixed by the beautifully clear subject matter! Others refused to believe that the scope and little camera were producing the amazing image they were viewing. To prove it, I'd step in front of the scope, bringing immediate disapproval from some of my most engrossed digiscoping students ever. Shouts of, "Down in front!" and similar were uttered almost instantly. When the "battery save" mode kicked in and the subject disappeared momentarily (as seen above) there was a near riot until I deftly pushed the shutter release restoring the view!

Fortunately for all interested parties, we were able to leave in time to catch the final quarter of the big show! Our heart felt thanks go out to the players on both side of the field, who held all of the real excitement until the last 8 minutes or so. Those of us stuck at the show surely appreciated that. At any rate, it appears I've unwittingly discovered a brand new user group of digiscopers, and a new descriptive phrase has even been coined to boot. We now call this new approach "digipoaching"! ;p

Pelagic bonanza!

January pelagic, Space Coast Bird & Wildlife Fest, FL

For those who don't turn green at the thought of riding a boat all day, a Pelagic trip is a fantastic opportunity to explore the seas for birds seldom seen from shore. Of course, passionate birders who don't have the best of "Sea Legs" always seem to join these cruises and usually pay a high price for this. You can usually recognize these folks by the 4 patches behind their ears, multiple wrist bands, and the way they nervously gnaw on saltines as the rock back and forth on the dock prior to boarding the boat. Invariably it seems these poor souls will get horribly sick before the boat gets too far from shore!

So far, I've shown a great resistance to "rail hugging" though and am always happy to have an opportunity to go offshore in search of wonders unseen. So when given the opportunity to be a leader aboard the Spacecoast Bird & Wildlife Festival annual pelagic, I gladly accepted. Especially in areas where pelagic trips are few and far between, the sense of anticipation can be quite high. You just never know what you might see.

immature Northern Gannet, 1/28/08 Florida

As soon as we cleared the breakwaters the boat was surrounded by gulls and Northern Gannets. Digiscoping was obviously not an option on a pitching deck, but many of the birds that came by were so close I was actually able to snap an image of them with my tiny 4x C-Lux 2 point & shoot. Northern Gannets were neither unexpected nor unusual though. The first surprise bird came as a 1st cycle Iceland Gull swung in from a nearby shrimper to investigate our boat. This is typically an unusual bird in FL, but there have been a number around this winter. Next we began seeing flocks of Red Phalaropes. The first group had near 12, then 4, followed by another group. No one knew for sure how significant this was at the start but all of us "Floridians" agreed we'd never seen Red Phalarope numbers like these (by the end of the day we would record a new high count for the state near 650 Red Phalaropes).

lines of Sargassum Weed at the edge of the gulfstream

We continued bravely on, tallying more Phalaropes and scanning diligently for signs of something different. After steaming out beyond 20 miles, our "something different" appeared. A dramatic color change in the water (turning a deep blue), signified the edge of the gulfstream. Where these currents met there was a near solid line of Sargassum weed floating, so we turned 90 degrees and begun running this little patch of habitat. Many more phalaropes and Bonaparte's Gulls were feeding here, and within minutes of making the turn our next significant bird was found.

"Sabine's Gull!...." The bird was directly in front of the boat working the nutrient rich rip marked by the floating mats of weeds and debris. Shortly after this we'd spot our first of three Audubon's Shearwaters. Both Pomarine & Parasitic Jaegers streamed by to boost the list even more! Since so few winter pelagic trips have been run many of these sightings proved significant. For example, this was the first winter record of of Sabine's Gull in FL, and one of only a handful of mid winter records for the US. Audubon's Shearwaters sightings were significant too.

Leatherback Sea Turtle 1/28/08

It wasn't all about birds though. Bonita were chasing bait at the surface in many spots, a Hammerhead Shark swam by, 3 individual "Ocean Sunfish" were seen lounging on their sides, and a Sailfish leapt out of the water shaking furiously. We also had many small cetaceans. Bottlenose Dolphins (common from shore) were not at all surprising, but we had nice views of bow-riding Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, and at least one other species that I now believe were Common Dolphins. Of course, the MOST significant observations were the Sea Turtle sightings!

Leatherback Sea Turtle swims under boat 1/28/08

Before long we began noticing large numbers of jellyfish. One of the guides suggested that a lot of jellies could mean Leatherback Sea Turtles, and as if summoned the 1st of 9 individual Leatherbacks was called from the bow. We would also have great views of 13 individual Loggerhead Sea Turtles, and at least 3 individual Green Sea Turtles. None on the boat could remember a better day for sighting Sea Turtles. It was a fabulous day with great folks!