In Honduras to establish links between bird clubs in the U.S. and Honduras -- Day 1

               Building linkages between bird clubs in New York (and elsewhere in North America) and Honduras is off to a fantastic start.  On Wednesday 12 October, I was picked up at the airport in San Pedro Sula by Katinka Domen, half of the dynamic duo (along with William Orellana) who operate Beaks and Peaks Birding and Adventure Tours out of the Lake Yojoa area.  In late afternoon, she dropped me off at D and D Brewery Lodge and Restaurant in Los Naranjos.  I had time to do some birding before the sun set at about 5:45pm (and when the sun goes down here, it gets dark without much of any twilight).  Sixteen species right around the cabin area, including Stripe-throated Hermit, many Rufous-tailed Hummingbird sparring over the feeders, Lesson’s Motmot, Altamira Oriole and Montezuma Oropendulas. 

The entrance to D and D Brewery Lodge and Restaurant in Los Naranjos,

Honduras.  A birder's delight to visit.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

               In the evening, Walter Mejia, the birding guide at D and D (yes, a micro-brewery lodge and restaurant has a birding guide!) introduced himself to me.  I enjoyed talking with Walter about his interesting life journey to become a birder.  Just a few years ago, he met William Orellana, and was enthralled with William’s vast knowledge and appreciation of birds and the ecology of habitats on which they depend.  Walter calls William his inspiration, and it’s easy to see why when the two of them get together. 

A head-on picture of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird visiting one of the feeders at

D and D Brewery Lodge and Restaurant in Lost Naranjos, Honduras.  I also saw 

Stripe-throated Hermits (another hummingbird species) visiting these feeders today.

Photo credit: Jody Enck. 

          Walter was told “it’s really hard to become a bird guide because you have to learn so much.”  William told Walter to come back and talk to him when he could identify 100 birds.   I think Walter took that as a challenge because he started studying and obtaining all the resources he could locate.  He was working as a wait person at D and D Brewery Lodge and Restaurant at the time and had to study at home after work.  He located books, went on-line and found the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “shape and size” on-line course, connected with Robert Gallardo and took a couple of field course with him in Honduras.  And, he spent a lot of time in the field learning birds by sight and sound.  After just about three months, he went back to William Orellana and said, “OK, I am ready for a test.”  They walked around the area and William quizzed Walter on the birds they saw and heard.  Walter aced the field quiz!

A little later in the evening at D and D Brewery, Lodge and Restaurant, Katinka and William joined Walter and me.  Over Pena Blanca Ale made right here at the Brewery, I heard about the genesis of Beaks and Peaks Birding and Adventure Tour company only three years ago.  William’s dream was to build a birding and conservation culture in a country that mostly lacked both birders and any kind of focus on conservation issues.  He started making connections with the Honduran government, especially the Honduras Tourism Department.  By chance, the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras (James Nealon) is a birder.  So, a bit of funding for eco-tourism and conservation projects started to trickle in through USAid projects. 

In 2008, the Honduran Ornithological Association (ASHO) was started to focus attention and actions on building the birding and conservation culture in the country.  ASHO is a mix of university and professional ornithologists, some professionals from the eco-tourism industry, and representatives from each of the six or so birding clubs that now exist in the country.  William has been a part of ASHO since its beginning.      

In addition to these top-down connections, William is a master at building relationships from the ground-up.  He tirelessly works to have local businesses recognize the connection between birds and the people who frequent those businesses.  He also is astute enough to know that local residents whose lives and livelihoods are inexorably tied to the land (and using the resources associated with that land) need to benefit economically from protecting birds and their habitats.  You can’t just expect to set aside land as a park or protected area when people need to cut wood for cooking, clear land to grown corn and beans, or help produce the coffee beans that we Americans love so much. 

The D and D Brewery, Lodge, and Restaurant in Los Naranjos is an example.  William got the folks there to hang some hummingbird feeders, actively promote the main eco-tourism sites around the Lake Yojoa and Santa Barbara National Park areas.  Plus, Walter is now a full-fledged birding guide for hire here at the Brewery.  They also have an active web presence (webpage and Facebook page).  Tourists from around the world are coming to this business now to experience the fine beer, nature and birding experiences, and to enjoy the warmth and hospitality of Hondurans. 

Anyone can enjoy a vast array of eco-tourism opportunities in the Lake Yojoa and

Santa Barbara National Park areas.  Photo credit: Jody Enck

William also has worked very hard to visit and interact with all of the half-dozen clubs in the country to talk about how they can engage in conservation actions that have sustainable development benefits to them as local residents.  This includes everything from helping people become birding guides to working with agricultural cooperatives.  He and Katinka also try to support these clubs by facilitating development of birding expertise.  The Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz is a prime example of this.  In addition to a multiple-day monitoring event where the diversity and abundance of bird species will be documented, there are several workshops to help participants learn about identification of flycatchers and other hard-to-identify groups of birds, and how to use eBird as a monitoring tool. 

After a couple of hours of conversation and beers, William and Katinka had to head home to take care of some last-minute details for the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz that starts tomorrow afternoon.  I had to try to get some sleep after not sleeping the previous night due to too much excitement and a long day of travel.  As we said our goodnights, we made plans to meet at 6am tomorrow for some birding at William and Katinka’s home base on Lake Yojoa.  We will be joined by Walter Mejia and two birders from Club Tanunas (which means Lesser Roadrunner in the local Lenca language) in Gracias in western Honduras.  In my cabin, I listened to the various night noises and wondered how I could possibly top the incredible experiences I have had on my first day in Honduras.  A Vermiculated Screech-Owl outside my window serenaded me as I drifted off to sleep. 

A really comfortable room awaits visitors to the D and D Brewery, Lodge and

Restaurant in Los Naranjos, Honduras.  Photo credit: Jody Enck

Establishing Sister Bird Clubs in North and Central America -- The Adventure Begins!

          October 11th, 2016.

           Today it became real.  The planning is done -- at least as much as can be done from a long distance away.  My bags are packed, and I only had to leave a few, unimportant items behind.  Don't know how much my bags weigh, but I suspect I be paying overweight charges at the airport.  In addition to the 16 copies of the brand new field guide to northern Central America by Jesse Fagan and Oliver Komar, I am also taking along several other, older field guides and a couple pairs of binoculars donated by members of the Cayuga Bird Club to distribute to birders in Honduras.  Plus, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology graciously donated a number of items for me to take as well.

Packing my bags.  More items to donate to bird clubs in Honduras than clothes

for me to wear.  Thanks to members of the Cayuga Bird Club and to the Cornell

Lab of Ornithology for donating items for me to take down to Honduras to share with

birders there.  Photo credit: Jody Enck

          After packing my bags and making some last minute email connections with more people to visit in Honduras, I loaded the car and headed towards Philadelphia.  I'm staying with my niece, nephew-in-law and their two kids tonight.  Then I'll fly out of Philadelphia early tomorrow morning. 

          The only challenges on the way down were a non-functioning GPS (thankfully, I had good ol' hand-written directions as a back-up), and a check engine light that came on when I got near my destination (I'll deal with that when I get back from Honduras.

          I stopped and took a couple of pictures of the amazing fall foliage near Ithaca before I left town.  By the time I get back from Honduras, all those colors will be a distant memory.  The trees near Ithaca will be bare, and there could even be some skiffs of snow on the ground. 

all colors on a hillside outside of Ithaca, NY today.  It sure won't

look like this when I get back from Honduras in a month.

         The calendar might say it's fall, but it sure will not feel like fall in Honduras.  Temperatures in the lower-elevation areas will range from the mid-80s to the mid-90s F during the day and only get down into the 70s F at night.  Even the higher elevation areas won't exactly be cool.

          My adventure has started.  I am excited to meet some of the wonderful people of Honduras, to see some neat birds and other animals, and to learn something of how Hondurans relate to our "birds of summer" when they become their "birds of winter."  There still is time to donate to this effort to support my travel within Honduras.  Head on over to my campaign site, and check it out. 

October is Sparrow Season in Ithaca

          I've written on this blog before that I enjoy marking the passage of the seasons by paying attention to the birds that I observe in my local area.  Some species like Blue Jays, American Crows, and Black-capped Chickadees live here year-round.  Some bird species just pass through my area on migration, like those that breed in the arctic (e.g., Snow Geese and some shorebirds) or the Boreal Forest of Canada (e.g., some of the Neotropical warblers).  I've recently written about some species of Neotropical migrants that breed here in the Ithaca area in late spring and summer, and then migrate south to Central and South America for the winter.  A few species breed here or farther north, and then migrate short distances to the southern U.S. to winter.  A number of sparrow species fall into this latter category.

         Each year for the last several years, the Cayuga Bird Club has led field trips in early October specifically looking for some of these sparrow species.  Many sparrows like weedy or brushy, old field habitats with a diversity of flowering plants that provide abundant seed sources in the fall.  We are lucky to have one of the Cornell Community Garden areas nearby that provide an abundance of seed-bearing, flowering plants.  Many of the people who use these plots are not content to grow only vegetables as many also grow an amazing variety of flowers.  By October, most of the human food has been harvested, but the bounty for sparrows and other birds is at its height.  This bounty attracts a great diversity and abundance of sparrows.

Great sparrow habitat is provided in the

Cornell Community Garden plots near Ithaca, NY.

Photo credit: Jody Enck

           On Saturday 8 October, seven hardy humans braved rain, cool temperatures, and a surprisingly chilly southwest breeze to see what they could find in the garden plots.  The weather might have been soggy, but our spirits were bright as we logged 28 species of birds in a couple of hours of looking.  The species list included these sparrows: Song (dozens), Savannah (5), Chipping (4), White-throated (3), White-crowned (3), Lincoln's (3), and Swamp (1).  According to eBird records, other sparrows recorded here in late September or early October include Field, Grasshopper, Vesper, and Dark-eyed Junco.

          As I noted above, most of these sparrow species are either year-round residents or short-distance migrants which winter in the U.S.  When I head south in a few days to meet with members of bird clubs in Honduras to explore the idea of establishing sister birding clubs between North and Central America, I'll only have a small chance of seeing a couple of these sparrow species.  Some Chipping Sparrows are found in Honduras as year-round residents.  Lincoln's, Savannah, and Grasshopper Sparrows are uncommon winter visitors there.  The other species that we enjoyed seeing in Ithaca on that Saturday are not found as far south as Honduras.

Field trip participants discussing the finer points of 

distinguishing between Song and Lincoln's Sparrows

in the field.  Photo credit: Jody Enck

          What birds are passing through your local area at this time of year?  Are they the same species that breed there or spend the entire winter?  Or, do they just pass through a during migration?  If you want to connect with the ones that pass through on migration, explore areas of good habitat for those species. 

          When the calendar indicates that it's sparrow season, head to old fields filled with weeds and seed-producing, flowering plants.  Maybe you can find a convenient community garden area near you.  These areas often provide great fall habitat for sparrows and a variety of other birds too.

          Wherever you live, go out and see what bird species you can find.  You never know what's lurking in a patch of habitat that you might pass by almost everyday. 

Getting Ready to Meet Birding Clubs in Honduras

          Less than one week to go before I head to Honduras to meet with Birding Clubs there about the idea of establishing a network of sister clubs between Central and North America.  Many of the bird species that we think of as our "birds of summer" are experiencing steep population declines.  One of the major culprits is habitat loss in both breeding and wintering areas.  As a birder living the in northeastern U.S., I know first-hand how much the dawn chorus of birdsong has diminished over the last couple of decades.  Next week, I'll get to see first-hand what the habitat conditions are like where some of "our" birds, like Wood Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak overwinter. 

          To get ready for my trip, I have been studying about Honduras, trying to bone up on my limited skill at speaking Spanish, and of course learning all I can about the birds I'll see in Honduras.  Luckily for me, I have the privilege of getting my hands on a copy (well, 16 copies actually) of the brand new Peterson field guide to birds of northern Central America by Jesse Fagan and Oliver Komar.  This book came off the presses at the beginning of October, just in time for the Honduras Birding Tour for Conservation.  It also will come in handy when I participate in the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz where I will meet some of the members of the Tautunas Birding Club from the city of Gracias in Lempira department. 

         What am I going to do with 16 copies of this field guide, you ask?  I'll be hand-carrying these down to Honduras to give to co-author Oliver Komar at Zamarano University where they will be used for educational purposes.  It's a great field guide, covering Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras.  The book illustrates and describes 827 species of birds that occur regularly in northern Central America, including the 763 species that are possible to see in Honduras. 

          My plans for meeting with Birding Clubs in Honduras continue to evolve and firm up.  Last night and this morning I've been working on arrangements for meeting with members of the Cotinga Bird Club in La Ceiba on the north (Caribbean) coast in Atlantica department.  This is one of six clubs in the country with whom I hope to interact during my trip.  Remember that you can follow along with my travels on this blog.  Plus, it's still not too late to help support my in-country travels at my Go Fund Me campaign. 

          Excitement is building.  Now it's time to get back to studying! 

Getting ready to see our "Birds of Summer" at their homes in Honduras

          I leave for Honduras a week from tomorrow.  Part of my trip will be devoted to meeting with local birding clubs in Honduras to explore the idea of establishing a network of sister birding clubs in North and Central America. 

          I envision several specific outcomes from establishing the network of sister birding clubs.  Initially, we can start a virtual relationship through which we skype, share slides, stories, etc. of what is going on with migratory birds in our areas (e.g., timing of migration, species, seen, pictures and video of the habitats used by these birds, relationship (or lack of relationship) between these birds and the lives and livelihoods of birding club members, etc.).  North American clubs can obtain and donate resources (e.g., optics, field guides, etc.) to Central American clubs, which largely lack these resources.  Ultimately, I envision some reciprocal visits.  Nort Americans can go visit the small communities where these Honduran clubs occur, stay in local (not ecotouristic lodges) accommodations, eat in local restaurants, and make a commitment to buy shade-grown coffee.  I’d also love to have kids in the clubs start a pen-pal kind of relationship with each other.  The ideas and possibilities are endless.  I hope to learn from them what would be useful and meaningful when I am in Honduras.

Members of the Cayuga Bird Club in Ithaca, NY scanning Cayuga Lake

for birds in the late fall.  What birds that either breed in NY or pass

through on migration will I see in Honduras?  Photo credit: Jody Enck

          What benefits to North American clubs do you think could come out of a network of sister birding clubs linking the migratory pathways of Neotropical migratory birds?  Put your ideas in the comments section and I'll post about them in the future.

          It's not too late to donate travel funds to this project.  Please go to this link to support my travel within Honduras to meet with the local birding clubs there.  Thanks!

Filling the Larder for the Winter

I always am interested in noting the behavior of the birds I am watching.  The birds in my local patch have telling me a lot lately by their actions.  In particular, the feeding behavior of the birds has really caught my attention over the last couple of weeks.  The Neotropical migrant warblers passing through my patch on their way south to their respective wintering grounds have been feeding voraciously on any insects, spiders, and other arthropods they can find.  It’s a nonstop flurry of activity for these birds as they pack on the calories for the immediate task of accomplishing long-distance migration.  The resident birds – Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and White- and Red-breasted Nuthatches – are showing a very different behavior right now when it comes to food. 

          Instead of gorging themselves in preparation for a long migration journey, they are making seemingly nonstop forays to and from the seed feeders.  They are not eating these seeds, but rather are taking them away and storing them in crevices, under bark, and in lots of hiding places.  Later, during winter, they will re-find these seeds and eat them as a source of protein and fat to get through the food-scarce months of winter.  This act of filling the larder for the winter is called food caching.

Black-capped Chickadees at my feeder selecting sunflower

seeds to cache out in their winter territories.  Photo credit: Jody Enck

          Among the birds North American birds that are known to cache food are various species of Corvids (i.e., Jays, Crows, Nutcrackers), Parids (i.e, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches), and some Woodpeckers (e.g., Acorn is the most well-known, but some Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers also cache).  These birds will go back and re-find their caches months after they are stored.  A few other North American bird species store prey items for the short-term.  These include some American Kestrels, a few of the smaller owl species (e.g., Boreal and Saw-whet), and of course, Shrikes.

          Evolutionarily, caching of food seems to have emerged from those groups of animals that take food to their young (as opposed to taking their young to food as in precocial species like turkeys, grouse, ducks, and shorebirds).  This occurs in some species birds, some mammals (e.g., Chipmunks), and some wasps (yes, wasps).  But, food caching is performed by only a small minority of species in those groups. 

A Black-capped Chickadee flies away from my feeder

with a Sunflower seed to cache somewhere in the woods. 

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

          Various species of Jay are particularly adept at caching food, and take their behavior even farther than the Chickadees, Titmice, and Nuthatches.  Jays are particularly good at being thieves.  That is, they watch other birds caching food, and then steal those food items and re-hide them for themselves.  Apparently, Jays that are thieves themselves, have learned to be extra careful when they cache their own seeds.  These birds watch the other birds around them.  If they notice that they are being watched by other birds that might subsequently steal those seeds, then the Jays go back after the other birds are no longer watching, and they re-hide their own seeds so they don’t get stolen by the other birds.

How do these birds remember where they cached the seeds so they can retrieve them later?  Some studies have found evidence that the environmentally stressful conditions faced by food-caching birds (think cold, snowy winters that make finding food difficult) cause slightly elevated levels of glucocorticoids (especially corticosterone) in their brains.  The elevated levels of these steroids, which are naturally produced in the adrenal gland, improve the spatial memory of these birds.  Release of corticosterone actually increases the size of the hippocampus part of the brain – that part of the brain that involves spatial memory.  This makes the birds better able to recall where they cached these seeds, makes them more efficient at finding food during the environmentally stressful winter, and increases their chances of surviving.

A Tufted Titmouse repositioning a sunflower seed

in its mouth by holding it briefly in its feet.  This bird

flew about 150m away into the woods to cache its prize.

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

In my patch, I love watching the birds making forays to the feeder, grabbing a sunflower seed, and flying off into the woods to hide their prize.  I conduct a point count in my woods about 150m from my backyard.  This time of year, it is fairly common for me to sit at my point count and watch Nuthatches, Titmice, and Chickadees bringing sunflower seeds out into the middle of the woods and hiding them in various crevices under the bark of trees.  Later in the winter months, I’ll enjoy sitting at my count site and watching these birds re-find and eat their cached food items.  When the birds fill their larder with these seeds, it not only ensures that they will have food to make it through the winter, but this food-caching behavior ensures that I'll have more fun behaviors to watch as these birds re-find their prizes when the snow flies here in my part of the world. 

Bird Migration Connects People All Along the Migratory Pathways

               That swirling noise you hear outside is more than the colorful leaves of fall being moved about by the wind.  It’s also the restlessness of migratory birds feeding voraciously as they pack in energy for the next leg of migration toward their non-breeding areas.  Unlike birders, birds can’t grab a handful of granola bars to take with them while they go about their important activities of the day.  The only place they can carry fuel is internally as stored fat.  If you get a chance, go out and check the back corners of your yard or apartment complex grounds to see if you can spot some of these migrants fueling up. 

               My sister who lives in northern Virginia sent me a picture this week of an immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that came to her feeder.  To her, it looked like an oddball because it had molted partway towards adult plumage.  None of her field guides showed this transition, and it confused her a bit.  It was just starting to get that rose-colored breast that gives the bird its name.  Its head was still mostly streaky brown and white like a female, and it was just partway through replacing the brown body and flight feathers it had when it fledged from the nest with the black and white feathers of an adult male.  

An immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that visited my sister's feeder in northern Virginia in late September 2016.  Photo credit: Tamea Boone.

               I sent her back a picture of a bird I found at my feeders in early September that looked nearly identical to the picture of the bird that visited her.  I told her that it was possible that it was the exact same bird.  The bird I photographed through my scope as it visited my feeder had even fewer adult-like body and flight feathers, but it showed the wash of rose color on its breast.  Bird migration is a special thing that can connect birders, habitats, and communities all along the migratory pathways.

An immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak visited my feeder in upstate New York in late August 2016.  It is possible that this is the same bird that visited my sister's feeder in Virginia a month later.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

               If that was indeed the same individual bird, I could see it again soon in its non-breeding area in Central America.  I will be traveling to Honduras from mid-October to mid-November as part of a new effort by the Cayuga Bird Club to establish sister birding clubs in North and Central America.  Many populations of Neotropical migratory birds, our “Birds of Summer” here in North America, are declining.  One of the main causes of these declines is habitat loss in both the breeding areas in North America and the non-breeding grounds in Central and South America. 

               Linking sister birding clubs along the migratory pathways can help us all understand better what is happening to the birds we all love so much.  If you want to support this effort please see my Go Fund Me campaign aimed at raising funds to travel within Honduras to visit as many of the six existing birding clubs as possible. 

This is what adult female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks look like.

All young of this species look a lot like this when they

fledge from the nest.  By early fall, males start transitioning

from this plumage to one that looks a lot more distinctive with the

rose-colored breast, and black and white feathers replacing the

brown on the head, back, wings, and tail.  Photo credit: Audubon.org.

               Also, check out this animated eBird occurrence map that shows the ebb and flow of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks just within the United States during migration.  These birds winter mostly in Central America and very northwestern South America.  In the animation, notice how none of these birds show up in the U.S. until the end of April when their population seems to "explode" up through the Mississippi River valley during spring migration.  Although difficult to tell from this map because it shows only the U.S., Rose-breasted Grosbeaks breed from the northeastern US, up through Canada and across the Boreal Forest to British Columbia.  Watch the animation as the range of these birds contracts back south during fall migration.  Virtually the entire population of these birds is gone from the U.S. by the end of September.   

Adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak,

showing what the birds my sister

and I saw will become. 

Photo credit: Animalspot.net.

               My sister and I were lucky enough to document the passage of some Grosbeaks as they flew south on their epic migratory journey.  I hope to be lucky enough to see many of these birds when I visit Honduras soon.  Stay tuned!