Category Archives: Travel

Sleepy Eyes, Thick Knees

June 28, 2017Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Eurasian stone curlew in France (photo by Pascal Aleixandre via Wikimedia Commons)

There’s a page in the Birds of Europe that shows a “curlew” unlike any found in the United States. In fact he’s not related to them.

The Eurasian stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) and his Burhinidae relatives have been hard to classify. They somewhat resemble bustards so were placed in the crane family, Gruiformes, but now they’re with the shorebirds in Charadriiformes. Even so, stone-curlews are far away in the family tree from our curlews, the true sandpipers Scolopacidae.

Eurasian stone-curlews breed in dry open places in Europe and spend the winter in Africa. They’re nocturnal birds the size of whimbrels with thick knees and large eyes that look perpetually sleepy. At night the stone curlew sings a loud wailing song.

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“Eurasian Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)” from xeno-canto by Stanislas Wroza. Genre: Burhinidae.

We have no stone-curlews or thick-knees in the U.S. but they are in our hemisphere. The nearest species lives in Central and South America, the double-striped thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus).

Double-striped thick-knee in Costa Rica (photo by Steve Garvie via Wikimedia Commons)

Photographed northwestern Costa Rica, this bird is showing off his thick knees.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)

Spoonbills Here and There

June 27, 2017Beyond Bounds, Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Eurasian spoonbill (photo by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons) — Eurasian spoonbill in the Netherlands (photo by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons)

A bird this unusual must surely be from the tropics, but not this one.

The Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a large white wading bird with black legs and a spatulate bill that’s black with a yellow tip. In breeding plumage they have feather crests and yellow chins. Click here for another view.

Spoonbills live in fresh and saltwater wetlands where they hunt for prey by sweeping their long bills side to side below the surface, snapping them shut when they feel prey close by.

Amazingly this spoonbill nests in both temperate and tropical zones. Though they’re sparse in Europe, their range extends to Africa and wide swaths of Asia (see map). Four hundred years ago Eurasian spoonbills disappeared from the British Isles. Happily, they returned to breed in the marshes of Norfolk County in 2010.

Range of Eurasian spoonbill, 2023 (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Of the six spoonbill species on Earth, all but one are white. The pink one lives in our hemisphere, the roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja).

Roseate Spoonbill (photo by Steve Gosser)

Click here to see the six species of spoonbills, Platalea. Ours is the one with “A ha ha!” in his name: Platalea ajaja!

(photo credits:
Eurasian spoonbill by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons
map of European breeding range from Wikimedia Commons; click on the map to see the original
Roseate spoonbill by Steve Gosser)

The Rarest Warbler in North America

June 13, 2017Songbirds, TravelKate St. John

Kirtland's warbler, Montgomery County, Ohio, 6 May 2016 (photo by Brian Wulker on Flickr, Creative Commons license) — Kirtland’s warbler, Montgomery County, Ohio, 6 May 2016 (photo by Brian Wulker on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Kirtland’s warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) is one of the rarest songbirds in North America. I have never seen one. Today’s the day.

This morning nine friends and I are embarking on a Michigan Audubon Kirtland’s Warbler Tour to visit its breeding grounds near Grayling, Michigan.

The Kirtland’s warbler is a habitat specialist, breeding only in young jack pine forests and almost exclusively in this area of Michigan. When the forest became fragmented and no longer burned to regenerate, the warblers’ population crashed in the 1960’s and early 70’s. Listed as endangered, it recovered from a low of 400 individuals to an estimated 5,000 birds thanks to careful forest management and control of the brown-headed cowbird, a nest parasite.

Without human help the Kirtland’s warbler would be extinct by now. The people of north central Michigan are understandably proud of their work to save the bird and happy to share their rare gem with visitors. There’s a Kirtland’s roadside marker in Grayling and a monument to the warbler in Mio. Read more about local efforts in this article from Michigan Live.

When not in Michigan, Kirtland’s warblers winter in the Bahamas, then migrate north through Florida and Ohio. During migration solo birds are sometimes found in Ohio in early May. This one, photographed by Brian Wulker, was in Stubbs Park near Dayton on 6 May 2016.

Kirtland's warbler (photo by Brian Wulker via Flickr, Creative Commons license) — Kirtland’s warbler (photo by Brian Wulker via Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Kirtland's warbler, Montgomery County, Ohio, 6 May 2016 (photo by Brian Wulker), Creative Commons license on Flickr) — Kirtland’s warbler, Montgomery County, Ohio, 6 May 2016 (photo by Brian Wulker), Creative Commons license on Flickr)

I can tell you there are plenty of insects for birds to eat in north central Michigan’s woods. The mosquitoes are frightful!!

UPDATE: yes we saw the Kirtland’s warbler. It’s amazing how loud his voice is, even when he sings with his back to us.

(all photos by Brian Wulker on Flickr, Creative Commons license; click on the images to see the original)

Graceful

March 8, 2017Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Costa Rica, Nesting & Courtship, TravelKate St. John

Swallow-tailed kite in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

We use words like powerful, strong or fierce to describe raptors but this one is different. The swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) is truly graceful.

Named for their beautiful black tails, their flight is so buoyant that they barely flap as they swoop and turn to grab food from the air or the treetops. They seem to be moving in slow motion and it’s true. They can fly slowly because their wings and tails are so long.

Swallow-tailed kites live year round in South America but only visit the southern U.S. and Central America to breed. They eat mostly insects which they capture with their feet but supplement their diet with frogs, lizards and nestling birds during the nesting season.

I’ve seen solo kites returning to Florida in late February but my best experience was last month on the Road Scholar birding trip to Costa Rica. We saw flocks of swallow-tailed kites and they were spectacular!

At a pond near the road to Agua Buena, three kites skimmed the water, drinking and bathing, as graceful as swallows. They flew so low that we could see the bluish sheen on their backs. Jon Goodwill photographed them in the flight.

Swallow-tailed kite, bathing (photo by Jon Goodwill) — Swallow-tailed kite, bathing or drinking in flight (photo by Jon Goodwill)

Swallow-tailed kite lifting off from its bath (photo by Jon Goodwill)

Later we took a detour … and we were lucky. Our guide Roger Melendez saw a pair of kites building a nest. Bert Dudley zoomed his camera for this video of the female arranging the sticks. (You can hear us talking in the background.)

I would love to show you the beautiful flight of these graceful birds. This video of three man-made kites flown by Ray Bethell is the closest approximation.

Swallow-tailed kites are so graceful.

(top photo from Wikimedia Commons, bathing and drinking photos by Jon Goodwill, video by Bert Dudley. Click on the images to see the originals)

Not A Squirrel

March 7, 2017Mammals, TravelKate St. John

Central American agouti, in Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

What rodent is as big as a groundhog, looks like a squirrel, and has long legs like a small dog?

The agouti (pronounced “a GOO tee”) lives in forests, nests in burrows, and eats fallen fruit and nuts. Eleven species in the genus Dasyprocta range from Mexico to South America and in the Caribbean. Four are endangered because of habitat loss and over hunting but the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata), the species I saw in Costa Rica, seems to be doing fine.

Agoutis look like very large squirrels but their bony legs and extremely short hairless tails set them apart.

Central American agouti, walking in Gamboa, Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons) — Central American agouti in Gamboa, Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Like squirrels, they are diurnal but avoid humans because we hunt them. Where they feel safe, though, they’re almost tame. At Las Cruces Biological Station they’re protected so they stroll around the Wilson Botanical Garden and stop by the bird feeders every morning to glean the fruit knocked off the feeders.

This agouti was wary when I followed him at the garden to take his picture. I was amazed when he raised the greenish fur on his rump when I got too close. He lowered it when I stopped following him.

Agouti at Las Cruces Biological Station, February 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

Despite their physical resemblance, agoutis aren’t even related to squirrels. Their nearest relatives are guinea pigs.

(top two photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals. Last photo by Kate St. John)

Tanagers True And False

February 28, 2017Costa Rica, Songbirds, TravelKate St. John

Silver-throated tanager, Cherrie's tanager, yellow-crowned euphonia, Feb 2017 at Las Cruces (photo by Jon Goodwill) — Silver-throated tanager, Cherrie’s tanager, yellow-crowned euphonia, Las Cruces, Feb 2017 (photo by Jon Goodwill)

When I visited Costa Rica this month I saw more tanagers than I’d ever seen before … but some of them weren’t really tanagers.

Tanagers (Thraupidae) are the second largest family of birds on earth but their membership is constantly in flux as DNA tests move birds in and out of the family every year. In the photo above, all three birds used to be Thraupidae but one of them moved out in 2012.

Thanks to photos from fellow travelers Bert Dudley and Jon Goodwill, and from our guide Roger Melendez, here are tanagers we saw in Costa Rica, both true and false.

True Tanagers whose names include the word tanager:

Blue gray tanager (Thraupis episcopus), seen everywhere on our Costa Rican trip.

Blue gray tanager (photo by Jon Goodwill)

Cherrie’s tanagers (Ramphocelus costaricensis) were plentiful at Las Cruces Biological Station. Here’s a male, in velvet black and orange with a blue-gray beak, perching next to a female.

Cherrie's tanager, male and female (photo by Jon Goodwill) — Cherrie’s tanager, male and female (photo by Jon Goodwill)

The two palm tanagers (Thraupis palmarum) in front are photobombed by a red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus). The honeycreeper happens to be a tanager, too.

Palm tanagers with red-legged honeycreeper in the background (photo by Roger Melendez)

Speckled tanagers (Tangara guttata) are subtly gorgeous birds. These were at Las Cruces.

Speckled tanagers (photo by Bert Dudley)

Silver-throated tanagers (Tangara icterocephala) are very common.

Silver-throated tanager (photo by Bert Dudley)

True Tanagers whose names don’t say “tanager”. These species are in the Tanager family but you’d never know it by their names.

The red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus), posing above with the palm tanagers, is in the Tanager family.
The green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza), below, is too.

Green honeycreeper (photo by Jon Goodwill)

The scarlet-thighed dacnis (Dacnis venusta) has beautiful scarlet thighs. Too bad the leaves are hiding them.

Scarlet-thighed dacnis (photo by Bert Dudley)

The streaked saltator (Saltator striatipectus), with a beak like a grosbeak, is a tanager.

Streaked saltator (photo by Roger Melendez)

The slaty flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea) is a recent move (or about to move) into the Tanager family. Some websites still list him as a Sparrow/Bunting (Emberizidae). Notice his hooked beak for piercing flowers.

Slaty flowerpiercer (photo by Jon Goodwill)

False Tanagers that are still called “tanagers.” These birds in the Piranga genus were moved to the Cardinal family (Cardinalidae).

Flame-colored tanager (Piranga bidentata), plentiful at Savegre.

Flame-colored tanager (photo by Bert Dudley)

Summer tanager (Piranga rubra). Another cardinal relative.

“False” Tanagers that used to be in the Tanager family, though “tanager” is not in their name.

The yellow-crowned euphonia (Euphonia luteicapilla), pictured at the top with two true tanagers, was in the Tanager family (Thraupidae) until 2012 when he became a Finch (Fringillidae). This didn’t affect the euphonia’s life but it scrambled our field guides.

Yellow-crowned euphonia (photo by Roger Melendez)

As you can see, the Tanager family can change in a flash!

(photos by Bert Dudley, Jon Goodwill and Roger Melendez)

The Falcon’s Laugh

February 27, 2017Birds of Prey, Costa Rica, Travel, VocalizationsKate St. John

Laughing Falcon, Costa Rica (photo by Bert Dudley)

27 February 2017

On my trip to Costa Rica I wanted to see a laughing falcon. And then I wanted to hear it.

Laughing falcons (Herpetotheres cachinnans) are very vocal birds that live in Central and South America from Mexico to northern Argentina. They specialize in eating snakes — even poisonous ones — which they kill by biting off the heads. Ch’ol Maya legend says the birds can cure themselves of snake bites. And yet, the birds sound spooky.

At dusk laughing falcons raise their voices in advertisement calls or duets. They start with a gwa call, getting louder and louder, that usually morphs into two syllables: gwa co.

One evening before dinner at Las Cruces Biological Station, Bert Dudley filmed this laughing falcon warming up at dusk.

The two-syllable call gave the bird its common name, halcón guaco, but those calls don’t sound like laughing.

Here is his laugh:

“Laughing Falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans)” from xeno-canto by Mario Trejo. XC771495

The falcon only laughs when he’s worried or upset.

(photo and video by Bert Dudley)

The Walking Palm

February 19, 2017Costa Rica, Travel, TreesKate St. John

Here’s a tree whose roots are taller than a man and are said to “walk” 20 meters a year(*). Really?

The walking palm (Socratea exorrhiza) is native to Central and South America where its narrow trunk grows 50-80 feet tall with stilt roots up to eight feet high. The walking palms at Wilson Botanical Gardens, Costa Rica were so tall that I couldn’t get their tops in the viewfinder.

Walking palm trees, Wilson Botanical Garden, Costa Rica, 2 Feb 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

The tree’s claim to fame, repeated by local guides and the BBC, is that it can “walk” more than 65 feet a year by throwing out new roots to one side, leaning toward the new roots and abandoning those on the trailing edge.

But this is not true.

Reality Check: 20 meters per year is 65.6 feet, the height of 6 story building. At 5.5 feet per month it’s a distance that’s easy to see and hard to ignore. You would notice that the plant is not where you left it!

Scientists have measured over and over and the walking palm never walks. But they are puzzled why it has enormous stilt roots. It occurred to me that an old theory about the roots may have spawned the walking legend.

In 1980, John Bodley and Foley C. Benson proposed that the tree has stilts so it can recover when downed by another tree, as shown in the diagram below.

How the stilt roots of Socratea exhorriza allow it to right itself (Bodley, John; Foley C. Benson (March 1980) via Wikimedia Commons) — 1980: How the stilt roots of Socratea exhorriza allow it to right itself (from a paper by John Bodley & Foley C. Benson, March 1980, via Wikimedia Commons)

Tree #4 took root from the crown that hit the ground. Its distance from the old root system is the height of the old tree. The trees average 65 feet tall. Hmmmm!

Other fallen trees can sprout roots, too, and later studies disputed Bodley & Benson’s theory, yet none have solved the underlying mystery. Why does Socratea exorrhiza have such long stilts? No one knows for sure.

Meanwhile, at Wilson Botanical Gardens the walking palms stay rooted where the Wilsons planted them. Otherwise they’d be half a mile away by now.

(*) Meters or centimeters? See the comments here!

(photos by Kate St. John. Diagram from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

Ornate From Head To Toe

February 14, 2017Birds of Prey, Costa Rica, The Collection at CMNH, TravelKate St. John

Ornate hawk-eagle legs, Bird Hall, Carnegie Museum (photo by Kate St. John) — Legs of the ornate hawk-eagle, Bird Hall at Carnegie Museum (photo by Kate St. John)

14 February 2017

Museums inspire me.

The first time I saw the ornate hawk-eagle specimen at Carnegie Museum I didn’t even know the bird existed. Its beauty impressed me (ornate legs shown above) and that was before I learned what he can do with his head feathers! (photo below from Wikimedia Commons)

I hoped to see this bird in the wild some day, but I never expected it would happen.

Ornate hawk-eagle (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Ornate hawk-eagles (Spizaetus ornatus) live in the rainforest from southeastern Mexico to Colombia but are rarely seen. Their numbers are declining because of deforestation, so it was quite a thrill when our Road Scholar birding group saw one at San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica on 4 February 2017. We learned afterward that none had been seen in the area since a flyover two years before and prior to that 10 years. We were very lucky.

This video from the Organization for Tropical Studies shows how beautiful they are.

video embedded from Organization for Tropical Studies on YouTube

Ornate hawk-eagle voices are high pitched, similar to those of bald eagles and ospreys. The bird we saw made no sound.

video embedded from American Bird Conservancy on YouTube

(credits are in the captions)

In The Subduction Zone

February 11, 2017Costa Rica, TravelKate St. John

Subduction landscape along the Costanera Sur, vicinity of Quepos (photo by Kate St. John)

Reflections on a trip to Costa Rica, Jan 27-Feb 6, 2017:

One of the unusual features of Costa Rica’s landscape is the bumpy-looking surface in the subduction zone. Pennsylvania has nothing like it.

Near Costa Rica’s Pacific shore the Cocos tectonic plate dives under the Carribean plate. This slow but relentless movement causes ripples in the landscape with small stand-alone hills and pockets where the surface was dragged under. (Here’s a diagram of tectonic subduction.)

The photo above was taken in the subduction area on Route 34 near Quepos. Below, I’ve marked light pink circles for each small hill and dark pink for the visible subsidence pockets among the grass.

Hilltops (light pink) and pockets (dark pink) in the subduciton zone near Quepos, Costa Rica (retouched photo by Kate St. John) — Hilltops (light pink) and pockets (dark pink) in the subduction zone near Quepos, Costa Rica (retouched photo by Kate St. John)

This isn’t a stable place to build anything. Even the road has dips and ripples.

We don’t have a subduction zone in southwestern Pennsylvania but we know something about subsidence. In Washington and Greene Counties, longwall mining machines remove the coal seam and then back out of the mine causing the roof and surface to collapse. You can see its effect in the roller coaster appearance of Interstate 79 in Washington County. Click here for DEP photos of longwall subsidence problems on Interstate 70 and here for a PDF with maps describing longwall mining plans under both I-70 and I-79 in 2004.

Pennsylvania’s man-made subsidence has a cost.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Outside My Window

A Blog of Birds & Nature with Kate St. John