Rocky Point Gull Workshop

The first ever joint Arizona Field Ornithologists and Tucson Audubon Society gull workshop was held in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora on February 20-21, 2010.  Fifteen participants from central and southeast Arizona converged on Rocky Point to sample from the diversity of this gull rich area and to brush up on their gull identification skills.  Chris Benesh and Dave Stejskal led the outing.  In total, ten species of gulls were seen, along with a few interesting hybrids.  Two additional species (Mew and Glaucous-winged gulls) were detected during scouting, but did not put in an appearance during the workshop.  Other interesting sightings included a first cycle California Gull with a band indicating it was banded as a chick last summer at Mono Lake, in eastern California (home of the second largest colony of California Gulls), and an amelanistic Yellow-footed Gull.  A list of gulls seen includes Bonaparte's, Ring-billed, Heermann's, California, Lesser Black-backed, Thayer's, American Herring, Western, Yellow-footed, and Glaucous gulls.  Hybrids included Western X Glaucous-winged and Am. Herring X Glaucous-winged.  

Some of the many elegant Heermann's Gulls that frequent Rocky Point.

Yellow-footed Gull one of the real highlights of the northern Sea of Cortez. 

This amelanistic Yellow-footed Gull stood out in the masses.  Looking all the world like a white-winged gull, its massive proportions helped indicate its real identity. 

Another white-winged gull in the crowd was this second cycle Glaucous Gull that put in a brief appearance.  

This first cycle Thayer's Gull was one of a few seen over the two days of birding.  

A first cycle Western Gull stands next to a first cycle Yellow-footed Gull.  At one time these two were considered the same species.  

This first cycle California Gull sports a band it received at Mono Lake, California this past summer. Mono Lake has the second largest colony of this species.  

Small numbers of these tern-like Bonaparte's Gulls were evident at the sewage ponds. 

A third cycle Olympic Gull (Western X Glaucous-winged) was present at the landfill.  

A first cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull that was present for two days at the sewage ponds.  

The first of two Mew Gulls found at the landfill during workshop scouting.  

The second Mew Gull that was briefly at the landfill during scouting. 

Group scanning through masses of gulls in the late afternoon.  

Fork-tailed Swift in New Zealand

On the afternoon of November 26, 2009, Nick Quickert spotted a swift flying around the Penguin Place Yellow-eyed Penguin colony at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin, New Zealand. Once the group got my attention, I was able to see that it was a Fork-tailed Swift (a rarity for New Zealand). I was able to take some documentation quality images as it zoomed around (see attached composite image). Conditions were partly cloudy with extremely high winds. Photos © Chris Benesh.

A Tough Day to be a Coot

While birding yesterday at Laguna Atascosa in south Texas, my group and I came across a group of folks looking intently at something along the shores of a lagoon. When we went over to check it out, we realized that they were looking at an American Alligator in the process of eating an American Coot. At this point, the coot was already dead, yet the alligator spent a good deal of time tenderizing it before it eventually swam off with it still dangling in its mouth.

From the Fire Swamp come Rodents of Unusual Size

Looking remarkably like the Rodents of Unusual Size familiar to some from the Fire Swamp in The Princess Bride film comes the first ever video of an ancient lineage of mammals known as a Solenodons.  The video features  Solenodon paradoxus, a relict population that persists on the island of Hispanola in the caribbean.  One of the many curious aspects of Solendons are that they possess a toxic saliva with a salivary duct placed at the base of a lower incisor.  Not rodents at all, Solenodons are in their own family and traditionally placed in the order Insectivora, though recent treatments place them in the order Soricomorpha, which includes many shrews. 

A Wonderful Day Out at Cheyne Beach

This morning I was out early (4:45 am to be exact) to seek out some of the rare birds found on the southern sea coast of Western Australia east of Albany. Not only did we have great luck with a couple of these, but I even managed to see a Noisy Scrubbird singing from a song perch. I have seen several of these crossing roads and paths, but this was the first time I actually saw one as it was singing. Quite an impressive sight! On top of that, the nearby bay was full of Southern Right Whales. There must have been at least nine animals, with several young calves swimming close to their mothers. They spend most of their time lazily swimming at the surface looking a lot like exposed rocky shoals that are in some of the bays in this region. As I am a cetacean nut, this was the high point of my day. I took this as some sort of an early birthday gift to myself. Perhaps tomorrow has further adventures in store for me.

Look closely at the second image and you can see four different Southern Right Whales. 

Wombat Scratch

Today at Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia we saw three separate Wombats. The first was a rather blond colored individual that was out at Darby Beach. It looked remarkably like one that I had seen there many years earlier. We went on to see a couple more near Tidal River. One caught on video stops to scratch its back as it crosses under a wire barrier.

She Wants More Fairywrens

Okay, she said she wants to see more fairywrens. Well, since I'm back in Australia, I'm back to seeing fairywrens. So here is one for your viewing pleasure, the male Superb Fairywren. It is indeed superb. I've seen some other fun birds in the last few days including Superb Lyrebird, Powerful Owl, and Swift Parrot. On top of that, I had the best look at a Blue Shark that I had ever had.