Recent Photos Gallery - October 2019

Welcome to our October 2019 Recent Photos Gallery! We trust your autumn migration season has been a bounteous one and that you're already enjoying the transition into the season of waterfowl (in so many places in North America, also the season of prized vagrants). Our tour groups and guides, newly returned from Brazil, Ethiopia, Maine, Peru, and Alaska, have sent in scores of fine images to help tell the tales of their travels. Here, the bird's-eye view of Monhegan Island, Maine from its lighthouse, from the Maine in Fall: Seabirds & Coastal Migrants tour. This and following photos by guide Eric Hynes.

In Maine, small gestures such as this one are quite genuine. And coastal Maine also welcomes a great mix of birds in fall: local nesting species (including some that have yet to migrate) and waves of birds that have arrived on the coast during migration. The coast and offshore islands concentrate migrants much as locations like Cape Cod and Cape May do.

Had this little warbler been discovered in Maine rather than New Jersey, its name might have been Cape Elizabeth Warbler (Cape Liz, for short) rather than Cape May. This bird was one of many on Monhegan Island, which helped the group get comfortable with one of several potentially "confusing fall warblers," as Peterson called them. On the group's final Monhegan morning, they witnessed a "fallout" of thousands of warblers and other migrants!

Monhegan Island often harbors "reverse" migrants, those that seem to be traveling in an atypical direction, such as this White-eyed Vireo. Scientists still aren't sure why some birds like this one move northward during their fall migration period. Other highlights here were Dickcissel, Lark Sparrow, Philadelphia Vireo, Black-billed Cuckoo, and lots of hunting Merlins!

Other rare southerners, like this young Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on Monhegan, probably disperse northward to the Maine coast and islands after the nesting season, to take advantage of the remaining warm days and abundant food before moving southward as winter approaches.

On land, one can't get farther east in the United States than West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine, a place well known for winter birding but equally dynamic in autumn. And did you know that West Quoddy Head is the closest point to Africa in the contiguous United States?

Also in Lubec, Maine Coast Heritage Trust manages the lovely Boot Head Preserve, incorporating 700 acres of rugged coastline, upland forests, bogs, and coastal wetlands. The group walked a bit of the preserve’s two miles of trails, which afford sweeping views of Grand Manan Island.

At Boot Head, the highlight of the short hike was this handsome male Spruce Grouse, which was first found high in a tree, eating spruce needles, but soon came down to check out the group.

And we headed offshore, too. The group joined Maine Audubon's annual pelagic trip into the Gulf of Maine, seeing boreal seabirds such as Leach's Storm-Petrel, Atlantic Puffin, Red Phalarope, Northern Fulmar, and Great and Manx shearwaters, plus herds of entertaining Atlantic White-sided Dolphins.

The Humpback Whales in the Gulf of Maine are well known to researchers, who identify them by their distinctive markings and give them names. On this outing, the whales named "Churn" and "Victim" put on quite a show, breaching fully out of the water multiple times!

Pomarine Jaegers also put on a show, some almost overhead, and Great Skua was ... well, seen a bit more distantly ... but what a neat experience to see these seabirds in their pelagic habitat.

A short hike to White Head on Monhegan Island (that's Matinicus in the distance) made a nice occasion for a group photo. Eric looks forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Toco Toucan: we have moved from Maine to Brazil, for the Safari Brazil tour, a perfect tour for first-time visitors to this bird-rich country. We might be accused of overdoing it with Toco Toucan photos, yes, but this relatively common bird of the Pantanal is a true work of art! (This photo, and most that follow, by guide Marcelo Padua.)

On the Safari Brazil tour, the cerrado (tropical savanna) seems to have tyrannid flycatchers at every turn, like these strange Streamer-tailed Tyrants (not to be confused with Strange-tailed Tyrants)....

... and this sharp Cock-tailed Tyrant, catching a fly in midair ...

... and this cocky Sharp-tailed Tyrant ....

... and of course the swallow-like Cliff Flycatcher, which in Brazil is distinguished by some authorities as Swallow Flycatcher (Hirundinea bellicosa), split from the Cliff of northwestern South America. Taxonomy aside, at least these flycatchers are colorful and distinctive!

The cerrado is also home to an impressive array of larger birds--tinamous, raptors, and parrots among them. Participant Doug Clarke sent in this grand portrait of a Small-billed Tinamou, a fairly common bird of the savanna that was often heard during the tour but is seldom so nicely photographed.

Many of the species on the tour are easy to study in these open habitats, such as the lovely Savanna Hawk, whose colors, much like those of the Cliff/Swallow Flycatcher, complement the reddish soils and brown grasses of the region.

The group was privileged to see the endangered Chaco Eagle, a huge bird of prey that probably numbers fewer than 1000. This species hunts armadillos, skunks, weasels, rodents, and monkeys but also takes large birds such as tinamous on occasion. It was once known as Solitary Crowned Eagle.

The well-named Curl-crested Jay is nearly a Brazilian endemic, found also in small portions of Paraguay and Bolivia. A classic bird of the cerrado forest and riparian areas, Curl-crested goes around in small groups, eating mostly insects, fruits, and nectar.

Much of the ground covered on the main part of the tour is pastureland, or a mosaic of pasture and native cerrado, and in some cases, ranchers work with conservation groups to promote both biodiversity and ecotourism.