David McDonald Photography: July 2010

Monday, July 26, 2010

Bulletin #117 – Alaska #5 – pelagic trip

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
July 26, 2010

Bulletin #117 – Alaska #5 – pelagic trip

Hello friends,

I had a great trip to Alaska with TOS (Texas Ornithology Society). They run an annual trip to Alaska in early June. We visited Anchorage, Nome, Barrow, Denali Highway and had a pelagic trip out of Seward. It was a fantastic trip with most usual birds seen and photographed along with numerous mammal species.

The pelagic trip out of Seward was a great success with many alcids seen as well as mammals. The alcids are a family of sea birds in the northern oceans that occupy the same environmental niche as the penguins in the southern oceans. The main difference is that the alcids can fly. As you know, all penguins are flightless. To be totally correct, there was 1 alcid, the Greak Auk, that was flightless. But it has been extinct since the early 19th century, having been rounded up and exterminated for their feathers.

Everybody loves the comical looking puffins. There are 3 species worldwide with 2 in the Pacific. The Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) has a beak that is yellow at the base and red at the tip. The face is white with a black horn above the eye. Both puffins were life birds.

The Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) has a mostly red beak with long yellow tufts extending down the back of the neck from the eye.

The Common Murre (Uria aalge) is a large (17.5") seabird IDed by dark upper parts (brown in breeding, black in winter) and white underparts. It has a long thin bill. It occurs from Alaska to central California and in the north Atlantic as well.

The similar Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia) is IDed by the shorter bill and white line along the bill. We saw several of these birds on a ledge where they were nesting among a large colony of the Common Murres. This bird was another lifer for me.

Murrelets, as the name suggests, are smaller cousins of the murres above. The Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) is a small (10") black and white seabird IDed by the black hood over the head and neck, white line on the back of head and yellow tipped bill. This is the breeding plumage.

Two very similar species were both life birds for me. The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) has the unusual nesting habit for a seabird of using old growth forests to nest in treetops, as much as 50 miles inland from the coast. It has a plain back.

The Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is similar but has a speckled back.

Two other small alcids are called auklets. The Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) is a 15" black seabird with 2 white stripes on the side of face, and a red bill with white horn on it. This is the breeding plumage.

The 10" Parakeet Auklet (Aethia psittacula) has a short red bill and single stripe on the side of head. This was another lifer for me.

There were 3 members of the cetacean family of mammals (whales and dolphins). None of them were lifers for me, but this was the first time I obtained photos of these species.

The best was the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). I had tried to photograph this whale breaching on a previous pelagic trip out of Monterey CA, but only ended up with big splashes. On this trip, there was a mother and baby who were breaching repeatedly. The boat raced over to get closer to the pair and I got several photos of the whale. One can see barnacles all over the throat of the whale. In the second photo, a large pectoral fin is straight up out of the water. The front of the fin has the knobs. Notice that there are even some barnacles on the tip of the fin.

The Killer Whale or Orca (Orcinus orca) is the creature of legends as the most feared predator in the dolphin family. I’m sure that you have seen photos of them eating seals, other whales etc. However, these orcas in the North Pacific off Alaska and British Columbia primarily feed on salmon. It is IDed by the very tall dorsal fin with white patch behind the fin.

Lastly, we had a pod of Dall’s Porpoises (Phocoenoides dalli) riding the bow wave of the boat. These porpoises occur only in the North Pacific. They are IDed by their shape with a very thick body and small head. They have a small dorsal fin and white underparts.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

I will be giving several talks in the evening on bird photography, Photoshop etc.

The price will be $1960 double to $2380 single. This includes hotels, all meals, guide, transportation in Costa Rica etc. The only other cost will be airfare and personal purchases (alcohol, souvenirs etc) . Space is limited to 10 persons to maximize our opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I have birded in Costa Rica previously. It is a wonderful country to visit and the bird life is exceptional. I hope that you can join us.

Here is the schedule of payments for the trip.

$ 25 reservation fee (not refundable)
$ 575 due April 30, 2010
$ 600 due July 30, 2010
$ 740 due January 15, 2011
Please send deposits to:

ScoBar Inc.
34 Galway Place
The Woodlands, TX 77382

Note - we will try to pair up singles and triple would be $1890 per person.

There are only 2 spaces left for this trip as of today, so please email me, if interested.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Bulletin #116 – Alaska #4 - waterbirds & herbivores

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas
July 18, 2010

Bulletin #116 – Alaska #4 - waterbirds & herbivores

Hello friends,

I had a great trip to Alaska with TOS (Texas Ornithology Society). They run an annual trip to Alaska in early June. We visited Anchorage, Nome, Barrow, Denali Highway and had a pelagic trip out of Seward. It was a fantastic trip with most usual birds seen and photographed along with numerous mammal species.

There are 5 loon species worldwide, and all 5 of them are in Alaska. Unfortunately we found only 3 of them. The large (32") Common Loon (Gavia immer) is also known as the Great Northern Diver in Europe. In breeding plumage here, the bird is IDed by the black head, red eye, and speckled back.

The smaller (25") Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica) has a gray head, black throat and white spots on back. The sexes are similar. I did not get a good photo in Alaska, so here is a photo I took in CA. This is the breeding plumage.

The Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) is very similar to the Pacific Loon but it has a red throat rather then black, and the back lacks the white spots.

The Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) was very common on the lakes around Anchorage. It is an easy ID in breeding plumage with the bright red neck and yellow bill.

We found 2 tern species both of which were life birds for me. The most common tern in Alaska was the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). This small tern has a blood red bill and red legs. It is #100 in the book ‘100 Birds To See Before You Die’. It is included in the book for the fact of its long migration from the arctic to antarctic and back annually. It is a long lived bird (20 or more years), so the authors state that they may migrate 1 million kilometers (650,000 miles) during their lifetime.

The Aleutian Tern (Onychoprion aleuticus) has a black bill and white forehead patch. It resides in western coastal Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. We saw a pair of them in Nome.

We had a number of gull species as well including some arctic species. The Mew Gull (Larus canus) is the smallest white headed gull in North America. It has a plain yellow bill, yellow legs, gray wings and black wing tips with white spots.

The large Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) is an almost pure white gull of the arctic. The adult has pink legs with a yellow bill. The bird shown here in Barrow is a 2nd year bird that has a pink bill with black tip.

A life bird for me was this Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus). This is a bird from Siberia and it is the only dark backed gull to be found in the Bering Sea.We saw it in Nome. It is the dark backed bird in the center of the photo. The others are Glaucous-winged Gulls.

The Sabine’s Gull (Xema sabini) is a small black-headed gull of the arctic. It is IDed by the unique upper wing pattern of black tips, gray central patch with white ‘V’ in between. The bill is black with a yellow tip. We found a pair of these gulls at Barrow.

The last gull is the Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). This bird nests on cliffs in the north Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is a white headed gull with black wingtips and no white spots. The wing tips look like they were dipped in ink. The bill is plain yellow and the legs are black. We saw hundreds of these gulls on the pelagic trip out of Seward including huge nesting colonies.

We saw 3 large herbivores in Alaska. 2 species of deer were located on the trip. We saw several Moose (Alces alces) but unfortunately, no males with antlers. This is the largest member of the deer family at 600-1200 pounds. Here is a female that ran across the road right in front of our van.

The other ‘deer’ we saw was a Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). I was expecting to see caribou in Alaska. After returning home and researching the photos, I discovered that the reindeer from Eurasia and the caribou in North America have been reclassified as the same species. My old mammal book had them listed as separate species. The reindeer is a slightly smaller subspecies than our native caribou. In Nome they have Reindeer that were imported from Europe as a meat source for the Inuit in the early 1900’s, as they were no native caribou there. We saw several herds of these reindeer on the tundra. We also ate some reindeer sausage, which is sold throughout Alaska. We looked diligently for the reindeer with a red nose, but didn't find him. I guess he was closer to the North Pole than Nome AK. Both the moose and reindeer were life mammals for me.

The other mammal was a Muskox (Ovibos moschatus). This member of family of sheep, goats and oxen is more closely related to goats and sheep than to oxen, despite its name. It originally occurred across arctic North America and Eurasia. It was hunted to extinction everywhere except northern Canada, but with protection, captive breeding and reintroduction, it has rebounded well. It can be domesticated and yields meat, milk and highly prized wool called qiviut. The animals shed the wool in spring and it brushes off against bushes, where the Inuit collect it to make into yarn. It is stronger and warmer then sheep wool and softer then cashmere! Follow the link to read more about this unique product. It is IDed by the massive size (400-750 lbs), shaggy coat reaching almost to the ground and curved horns.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Bulletin #115 – Alaska #3 – shorebirds, red fox

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas
July 9, 2010

Bulletin #115 – Alaska #3 – shorebirds, red fox

Hello friends,

I had a great trip to Alaska with TOS (Texas Ornithology Society). They run an annual trip to Alaska in early June. We visited Anchorage, Nome, Barrow, Denali Highway and had a pelagic trip out of Seward. It was a fantastic trip with most usual birds seen and photographed along with numerous mammal species.

A number of shorebirds are primarily Eurasian species and can only be seen in Alaska for Asian species, and New England and the Canadian maritime provinces for European species. In Alaska, several species nest there as well as eastern Siberia. They winter in Asia, Australia etc. We were fortunate to find several of these unique species on the trip.

The first of these is the Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica). This Asian species breeds along the western Alaska coast. It is IDed by the typical upturned godwit bill and rufous neck and breast in the male. This life bird was found our first day in Nome.

Another godwit, the Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica) breeds in the Anchorage area. It is a spring migrant through the upper Texas coast where a few are seen annually. In Anchorage, we saw several flocks of them. The male is IDed by the typical upcurved bicolored godwit bill, dark chestnut belly and gray throat.

The female is larger and has duller coloration. In this group photo there are 3 males across the front, and 2 females at the back. Notice that the bellies on the females is much paler than the males.

The next Euarsian species is the Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis). As its name implies, it winters in the south Pacific. Some breed in western Alaska on mountain top tundra. There is only 1 location that is accessible outside Nome. It requires driving 70 miles, then hiking up the mountain about ¼ mile to the tundra. So all birders seeking this species, have to go to the same place. There were perhaps 30-40 people on the mountain the morning we looked for it. It is IDed by the downcurved curlew bill, striped head and buffy rump and tail as seen, in flight, in the second photo. This was another life bird for me.

Dowitchers are difficult to separate in the field for many birders. Fortunately in Alaska, they have differing ranges with the Short-billed breeding along the south coast and the Long-billed breeding on the arctic coast. This Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) perched on the railing of the boardwalk at Potter’s Marsh in Anchorage. This afforded a nice eye-level picture.

The Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) is a 9” plump shorebird of rocky coasts in western Alaska. It is IDed by the reddish back and black belly patch. They usually breed north of Nome, but this bird was seen on a mud flat outside of Nome. It was another lifer.

Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotis) migrate through the Houston area in spring to their breeding grounds in the high arctic. This bird was found in Barrow. It is IDed by the yellow legs and sharp demarcation of the breast streaking to the white belly.

The Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia) in breeding plumage is an easy bird to identify, as it is our only sandpiper with a spotted breast. It also has yellow legs and bill. It has a distinctive bobbing motion of its body as it feeds. This one was in Anchorage.

There are 2 species of sandpiper with the name Yellowlegs - Great and Lesser. As the name suggests, they are different sizes. However, to identify them in the field one has to use the bill size and shape as they are seldom found together. The Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) has a long slightly upcurved bill. The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) has a shorter straight bill. In Anchorage, we found this pair of birds side-by-side so the size difference can be readily seen. The Greater is sleeping on the left and behind the Lesser, but is still taller.

Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) are small (6”) sandpipers with dark legs and short bills. They are rather drab even in breeding plumage as this bird is. They may have a little reddish color on their backs or head. This bird was found in Nome.

Leaving the best sandpiper for last was this beautiful breeding plumaged Ruff (Philomachus pugnax). This is another Eurasian species that may show up in North America on either coast. I have actually seen a female twice on the Texas coast, so it wasn’t a lifer, but it was my first time to see a male in breeding plumage. The male of this species has a collar of long feathers that he fluffs up in his display to attract a mate. We found this bird in Barrow and he put on a show close to our bus. This is #83 in the book ‘100 Birds to See Before You Die” The authors state you must see the breeding plumaged male to count it.

Plovers are another family of shorebirds. The group of Golden-Plovers are particularly beautiful in breeding plumage with their golden speckled backs and black underparts. The American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica) has a white stripe down the neck to the wing that separates the golden back from the black throat and breast. They winter in South America and migrate through Houston in the spring to the arctic coast. This bird was seen in Barrow.

The Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) has the white stripe continuing all along the flanks. They breed along the western Alaska coast and winter in south Pacific. They can be seen in winter all over Hawaii on lawns and golf courses. This bird was photographed in Nome.

We saw several Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes), but this one was closest to the road and provided the best picture.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Bulletin #114 – Alaska #2 - Raptors, Owls and Bears

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood, Texas

July 2, 2010

Bulletin #114 – Alaska #2 - Raptors, Owls and Bears

Hello friends,

I just returned from a great trip to Alaska with TOS (Texas Ornithology Society). They run an annual trip to Alaska in early June. We visited Anchorage, Nome, Barrow, the Denali Highway and had a pelagic trip out of Seward. It was a fantastic trip with most usual birds seen and photographed along with numerous mammal species.

With all the wide open spaces in Alaska, I expected to see numerous hawks and eagles. Needless to say, I was surprised that we found only single specimens of Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Peregrine, and Merlin. These were basically flyovers.

There were about 2 dozen Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) as I expected. The best photos were of this bird perched on a channel marker in Seward harbor as we returned from the pelagic trip. He allowed the boat to completely cruise around him as we all eagerly took photos from 50 feet away. This was by far my closest encounter with this magnificent bird.

And here he is looking at us and not showing any sign of concern.

The other raptor that I was able to photograph was our largest falcon at 22", the Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolis). Fortunately for the tour group, a pair was nesting under a bridge on one of the roads out of Nome. All you had to do was drive up to the bridge and park alongside the road. This was a life bird for me and most of the tour group. Here is a parent in the nest with chicks. The gray color is the most common, but they also come darker and also white. The white birds tend to be in Greenland or Iceland. The Gyrfalcon is #55 in the book '100 Birds to See Before You Die'. The authors state that you have to see the rare white birds however to count it!

4 Owl species were another treat for the trip. One species we missed was the Northern Hawk Owl. Fortunately I had seen it in Duluth MN in February (photo1, photo2). Of course with the almost 24 hour daylight during the summer, these birds are much easier to find. A Boreal Owl was heard only, but we never could locate it.

Here is a Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus). This medium sized (15") owl was seen twice on the trip. Both times, it was on the ground.

The best bird of the entire trip was a Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa). This is our largest owl at 27" in length, but it tends to be uncommon and hard to find. I was fortunate to see it on my second attempt (I missed it in Duluth, MN in February). It was a lifer for almost everyone on the trip including the guide! To see the bird on the nest was an extra bonus.

We saw 4 Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca), all in the Barrow area. They were always on the ground. I would have expected to see some on power poles etc, but we never did. This all white adult bird on the snow is a treat to see.

In Barrow was this sign at the site of an ancient village, in use for 2000 years. The settlement was called "The Place Where We Hunt Snowy Owls" in the Inuit language. It seems hard to believe that people would eat these noble birds, but they did and still can. Barrow is one of a number of places in Alaska that allows subsistence hunting by the natives. This means that they still hunt and eat whales, seals, birds etc any time of the year.

There are 3 species of bears in North America with all 3 present in Alaska. Unfortunately we missed the polar bears, but did get the other 2.

The Black Bear (Ursus americana) is the smallest at about 6 feet in length and 200-450 pounds in weight. It is also the most widespread of the species. We actually saw this bear on the pelagic trip out of Seward. He was climbing down a steep cliff, apparently to get at the eggs of nesting seabirds and gulls.

Here he is climbing back up.

Then he settled down in a patch of wildflowers that look like lupines, similar to our Texas Bluebonnets.

The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) is the large brown bear of the west. It is up to 7 feet in length and 850 pounds in weight. The coastal Alaskan bears are a different subspecies and can be much larger up to 1500 pounds. When we first saw him outside of Nome, he was perhaps 1/2 mile away on the far side of an inlet. We watched as he slowly made his way around the end of the inlet and started coming towards us. When he got to within 150 yards we all got into the vans for safety sake. He continued to come closer and closer. He stopped about 40 yards away. Our driver called out to him and he started running right at us. When he was 15 yards away, we started the van to get away and he stopped dead in his tracks. These photos of him are uncropped. What an amazing encounter!

When he was walking around the lagoon, he found a piece of paper trash on the ground. It must have had food smell or residue on it, as it seemed to be like catnip for him. I was taking the still photos of him when this performance started and we all laughed as we watched him at play with this piece of paper. Here is a slide show of the bear at play. Click the link, then set the speed at 1 second.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.