Heading to Guatemala!

In about 6 hours, I will be boarding a plane to Guatemala! I'll try to update if possible from there, but if not, be sure to check back for lots of photos and stories of my adventures after April 2nd!!

Guatemala, 2013

Spring Migration is Upon Us!

It may still seem like winter out there, but the birds have already begun their annual spring migration back north to their breeding grounds! I had an awesome weekend witnessing some early spring migration!

You may not know that my current job is working as an intern for local photographer, David FitzSimmons. This past weekend, he was leading a bird photography workshop in Linton, Indiana, and invited me to go along to help identify and point out birds to the groups he was leading. If you haven't heard of Dave, you should definitely check out his amazing photography in his Curious Critters book series, that he wrote and published! They are wonderful books for children to learn about and begin to appreciate nature and wildlife while having fun and reading! I have given copies of Curious Critters Volume One to two of my nephews and they both absolutely love it!! If you live in Ohio, specifically, central Ohio, you should consider going to the ODNR Wildlife Diversity conference THIS Wednesday in Columbus!! Dave is the Keynote speaker, and I will be there too!

Goose Pond Wildlife Area, located in Linton, Indiana

Anyway, back to the weekend: On Friday morning, we left Ohio and headed southwest to Linton to get some scouting done, and good thing we did! Birding on Friday evening was SPECTACULAR!! The field location for the workshop was Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, which is an integral stopover site for birds migrating in the Mississippi Flyway. Evidence of migration was everywhere and Dave and I estimated nearly 20,000 Sandhill Cranes on Friday evening!

Sandhill Cranes in the morning fog

Throughout the weekend, we also estimated around 5,000 Snow Geese, several thousand Greater White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese, at least a thousand individuals in mixed flocks of blackbirds, including Red-winged Blackbids, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, and European Starlings. I even saw and heard some early migrating individuals: a tree swallow, field sparrows, and several American Woodcocks, American White Pelicans, and Killdeer, to name a few.

Snow Geese

We spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday in the field sharing this wonderful experience with nearly 50 other people! The best part of the trip was being able to share my knowledge of birds with all of the people. The photographers came with various experience levels but across the board, nearly all were interested in, but knew very little about birds. I was able to point out life birds to many of the folks who were then able to document their finds with their images!

Sandhill Cranes forage in fields before continuing their migration north.

It was a blast seeing the excitement from photographers seeing their first Northern Pintails and American Wigeons through my scope and hearing their interest when I explained things such as how Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls inhabit the same areas and nearly fill the same niche other than the time of day that they are active. One of the most exciting events was when we had one of the small groups watching an easily accessible Bald Eagle nest. The nest could be clearly seen from the roadside without disturbing the pair who seemed to be sitting on eggs. While I had the sitting eagle in my scope for everyone to easily see her, three migrating Bald Eagles circled above. The eagle in the nest began calling incessantly; warning the migrating birds that this was HER territory and that they should keep moving. While she warned the intruders, her mate flew in to preen in a nearby tree. This was a great treat for the photographers to witness this behavior and gain a better understanding of the eagles' interactions!

A Bald Eagle sitting on eggs

We tallied 59 species of birds for the weekend at Goose Pond and even had a chance to observe a highly endangered species, which was absolutely incredible and also a life bird for me! If you ever find yourself in Linton, Indiana or Goose Pond, I recommend stopping by Monical's Pizza Restaurant in Linton. Their specialty is their thin crust pizza, and it is some of the best pizza I have ever had (and I love pizza and eat it frequently, but I'm picky!) It was so good that after having it on Friday, we decided to go back for more on Sunday before heading out of Linton!

Sandhill Cranes

March: The adventures begin again!

It has been a long winter. I love winter and the snow, cold weather, and winter birding that goes along with it, but I haven't been traveling any. Instead, I have been working several jobs through the winter to save up for this year's adventures, and I have some fun things planned!! One of my jobs has been working for a local photographer/author/publisher. My first trip this year is going to be with him. He is leading a bird photography workshop this weekend at Goose Pond in Indiana, and I will be going along to help out and be the bird guide during that event! I am really excited because I have a decent chance of seeing a new life bird: Whooping Cranes!

Less than a week after I return from guiding in Indiana, I will be heading south to Guatemala for 20 days of birding with my friend, John Cahill, who is doing a Guatemala Big Year to raise money for cloud forest conservation! During his last big year, in 2012, he was able to find 591 species; this year he is hoping for over 600 and he is well on his way with already over 500 species at the end of February! While I am there, we will be visiting some areas on the eastern side of Guatemala, including Punta de Manabique which is a peninsula in the Caribbean Sea! Be sure to check back for photos and stories from my trip! You can follow John's exciting year on his blog:
http://bigyear.cloudforestconservation.org/johncahill

As you may know, in March of 2013 I was also in Guatemala, and while I was there for a very different reason, I fell in love with the country and I'm very excited to be going back! Check out these photos from last year's trip...

Homes in the Guatemala City dump

Me with a boy who lives in the city dump community

Black Vultures flying over the dump behind the cemetery 

La Limonada; the highly populated ghetto in Guatemala City

Turkey Vulture soaring above Lake Atitlan in Panajachel, Guatemala

Black-handed Spider Monkey hanging out while I was hiking at Reserva Natural Atitlan

Bushy-crested Jays in Guatemala, one of my favorite corvids

Delicious Guatemalan bananas!

After I return from Guatemala on April 2nd, I will be moving to northern Indiana to start working on a sustainable farm!! With a 40 acre restored tall grass prairie on the property, I assume I will be seeing quite a few grassland birds without even leaving the farm! Doing a little research on eBird, I was able to find out that I will also be about 8 miles from the top eBird hotspot in the county as well!

Keep checking back to hear the details of the birds I'm seeing and the fun along the way!