davidjean1971

A long day of driving for David, but he does such an amazing job, even in the anxiety-raising 3-dimensional spaghetti junctions. We headed out from the hotel by 8 and crossed the crazy long bridge across Lake Pontchartrain (which averages 14’ in depth) – the longest bridge continuously over water (unlike the Florida Keys which are water and island mixes). And guess where we went? Back to try to find the XXX red cockaded woodpeckers. Still struck out on them. But at the boardwalk over the marsh the King Rail was making his loud sounds, like bull frogs really, and we used the Merlin app to call back to him. He actually managed to cross from one side of the boardwalk to the other TWICE without our seeing him. Then I caught a glimpse but David ... read more

After a very comfy night's sleep, we had a pretty early start driving to some birding places north of Lake Pontchartrain. Sadly, the target bird (the red cockaded WP) wasnt cooperating. We chatted to a very nice local couple, where he is a pastor from Honduras and she from Indiana, and they said they see the woodpecker there frequently, but not today. Today they heard a king rail, but we did not. 6 ospreys at a big nest though and a lovely sunny but cool day. We then drove about a half hour to another place, a very nice state park with a beach onto the lake. Another very nice walk, but few birds. However, when we walked to get closer to some really big turtles around a little fishing lake, we stopped in our tracks ... read more

Dear friends and family, For this blog, I’m going to try something new. I’m trying to dictate the news on my phone. Why? Because when we are in Ecuador – our next big adventure – I don’t want to have to take 2 laptops (one for me to write the blog and the other for David to be culling his photos) – or to wait forever and fall asleep. We made it to Banner Elk North Carolina with no difficulty, and had plenty of time to share a nice dinner at the red Onion with Cinda Williamson, just like we did three Christmases ago. In fact, we had enough time to stop at a birding area on the amazing but hilly campus of Appalachian State University, which is right in the center of Boone, North Carolina. ... read more

Another busy and fresh-air day. It is almost 9 pm and we are finally in for the night, having left just after 8! This vacationing is quite challenging! Our first stop was Ramsey Canyon, 2 hours away. It is a Natural Conservancy – used to be a privately held area. There are still a few houses here and there in the lower areas. We walked about ½ mile along the canyon, and then climbed all the way up the Hamburg Trail to the Overlook – at least 500’ elevation change – to get into the pine forests and try to find the red crossbill (some people coming down had seen it that day). It was quite a challenging climb – glad I took my hiking poles. We were rewarded by the lovely smell of the pine ... read more

Today was dry. Yeah. We said good morning to a passel of 10 Gambrel Quail in our garden, and then we were off to Patagonia, a community very near the border with Mexico, along the Sonoita Creek. Paton’s Hummingbird Center is there, and that was our first stop. BTW, Tucson is about 2300’ elevation, Patagonia is 4000 (and Madera Canyon about 5000 the other day). Elevation really affects the varieties. Actually there are only 2 types of hummers here now, the tiny broadbill and the violet-crowned Hummingbiards. Staff had taken down all the seed feeders (!) because of increasing avian flu, but there were still birds in the pecan trees and shrubs. We learned about the symbiotic relationship between the Gila woodpeckers and Ladder-backed woodpeckers with the pine siskins. The woodpeckers broke open the pecan pods, ... read more