The Healing Milestones from Birding

 It has been a few years since I achieved the 100 mile marker on my lifebird list. In fact, it was 2021 when I first began that slow climb to the next hundred new birds.  A little over a week ago, I surpassed the 1,300 marker. So about 2 years in the making?  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my stories about New Zealand and how I planned the trek out.  These trips have been personal journeys to reconnect with friends and family around the world and I'm glad I have done them.  It has been healing.  Next year, I will complete my journey to West Africa to let go and say my final farewells to the past.  And in doing so, I will also bird around the islands of Cape Verde. 

What is the hardest part about this lifelong journey? It's getting older.  The trails for some of these birds are difficult! I am harshly reminded to keep hiking and keep my body in somewhat shape to do the trails. It can be tiring but the excitement of finding a new bird gets that adrenaline flowing! The other part to that life list is also losing loved ones along the way.  I am more understanding and sensitive to this time of my life.  There are no guarantees.  You can't be there for everyone.  You do what you can but ultimately, you can't be there for everyone.  And it's okay. My dear friend from college said, "We'll see you again." And my response was, "I sure hope so, but if you don't see me again, know that I love you."  That is what Sydney, Kathy, Debra, Mary Jo, Sam, Captain Andy and Sergio have taught me.  Recently, a popular birder and guide by the name of Tom Johnson passed away at the young age of 35.  It was unexpected and I feel for all the people who knew him well. All of these passings put things into perspective.  And I guess it's part of getting older. 

 But this list is also about life and the discoveries beyond my human understandings. Knowledge and experience can be addictive. I want to know more and see more.  This is what climbing the life list ladder looks like.  It's not just about the birds but the experiences and friends made along the way. Since I was a child, I've always wanted to know what was "out there".  And I would die trying to do it all. In any case let's get on with this post and have some fun! I'm looking forward to reliving the last 100 birds. 

Haitians and many others risk their lives to live in other countries.  While birding in indigenous waters, we saw canoe after canoe coming through the dangerous waters of the Darien Gap. 

Beginning at 1200, we find ourselves back in the Darién Gap!  Gods that was a fun trip.  For this trek, we were guided by Canopy Lodge. This is a safe and easy way to get onto tribal lands without having to do the paperwork.  After the Darién, I went solo throughout Panama reuniting with some wonderful people. This was right after covid so travel was still slow and testing had to be done.  I stayed in Panama for 3 weeks to get some work done.  

At 1200, I find myself back in the misty sleepy town of Boquete.  The sky bridges were all shutdown because the jungle had taken them over during covid, making the hikes a bit dangerous.  I stayed on the edge of the ravine and put my binos up to discover the Mistletoe Tyrannulet.  It's a thrilling group of flycatchers. The clouds had rolled in surrounding me.  The park rangers told me not to go any further so I found a birdy spot and watched the world pass me by. It's listed as least concern and can be found around coffee plantations and secondary growth. People describe it as drab.  You make your own decision. 

                                                         Mistletoe Tyrannulet

At 1210, I hiked into an indigenous village on a muddy hillside.  People stared at me, especially the kids. I laughed out loud because I must have looked like a disaster but they came down to see what I was doing showing me all their birds:) A smile goes a long way. As I lugged up the slippery hill above the town of Boquete, I noticed a beautiful bird known as the Scarlet-thighed Dacnis.  Just the regular Blue Dacnis is gorgeous, but a Scarlet-thighed!  Wow!  That was something fun! The misty highlands dulled the brilliant plumage of this bird.  I tried for several days to get this bird in better light but no love:)

                                                            male Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
As a side note, some birders have the strategy to go to places where they can get high numbers of birds.  I am the slow methodical type.  I like studying maybe 50-100 birds at a time. In Panama, and in a lot of South America, parts of Africa, we're talking hundreds of birds at a time.  It can be overwhelming!  In fact, I realized I hadn't added this Scarlet-thighed Dacnis to my pic files for ebird or to my personal library! So this is a first to the blog. 

We move up to 1220 on the list and find another exciting bird in Boquete, the Chestnut-capped Brushfinch!  I was with birding guide and Boquete bird leader Jason Lara as we explored the beautiful Finca Lérida on my last day. This is a bird listed as least concern enjoying the upper levels of secondary forest around coffee plantations. It also likes pine-oak forest understory. 

Chestnut-capped Brushfinch

On my last day anywhere, I treat myself to a personal guide.  They are always puzzled why I, as a guide myself, would do this.  I'm paying for their knowledge and know-how.  They've earned that money by learning their habitats and birds. The least I can do is pay them for their time. Education is everything. 

I also felt it important to support the birding community that was devasted by covid.  He was grateful for the business and I was grateful his knowledge and kindness.  If YOU go to Boquete, get an Uber or taxi to the Finca and just bird away.  This is by far THE best birding location of Boquete.  Don't forget to stop for some coffee and carrot cake.  You might have a special bird friend join you to grab a piece of frosting off your cake.:)

This is fun reminiscing.  It's a lot of work doing the research but again, it's fun work.  I like doing my own studies because I can go at my own pace and take the time to learn vocalizations of birds. And so it was.  At 1230, I found myself with my birding friend Khanh Tran studying the vocalizations between Sooty and Dusky Grouse in Oregon and Washington.  I love grouse very much.  It is one of THE most exciting bird groups out there. We played detectives in the snow to find this Sooty female grouse below.  It was.....magical. Absolutely magic.  And to witness it with a friend high up in the Cascades, even better. 

Sooty Grouse

I had seen Dusky Grouse before but I wanted more study.  I wanted to see them boom in their habitats. The Sooty Grouse was up in the redneck savagery of Timber outside of Portland, Oregon.  It was quite magical but I wondered if we would get shot at some point from the strange mountain people that dwelled in the cold and wet forests. There's a sketchy part of the northwest, especially in the mountains. Not only did we feel the Sooty Grouse's BOOM inside our hearts, we also noticed that many of the males parked themselves high up into the trees. 

I also would like to mention something about my Sooty Grouse experiences.  Mt. Rainier was another place we went to do some investigations on owls.  We weren't lifer chasing there......just taking it all in.  And in the process, we saw many Sooty Grouse along the road near the visitor center.  I highly recommend a visit to this incredible national park. It was breathtaking. 

Later we heard the soft booms of the Dusky Grouse and one nearly tried to kill me. It was fun! When they are not breeding, they are difficult to find.  They are an incredibly strange and beautiful grouse to North America.  

As you will see, I made my way around the world meeting up with friends to reconnect. I needed to heal from the losses of covid. I went through some sort of depression.  I've never gone through anything like that at all but I needed to be around people to remind me that life still went on. I also needed to be away from the toxic kinds of people. Still do actually. I have found that much of the birding community takes me away from these things. 

At 1240, I met up with my friend Homer outside of Miami, Florida where we spent time together birding or just hanging out.  I stayed around the area of Miami to do my work.  While not native to Florida, what is?, I found my first swamphen....the Gray-headed Swamphen. These birds have naturalized around southern Florida. Their native range is around India. I saw my first one outside a mall.  BUT let me give you a better place to find one.....the Green Cay Wetlands!  You won't regret it.  And thank you to Homer for telling me about these stunning wetlands. 

                                                                  Gray-headed Swamphen

More healing happened at 1250 when I went back to Mexico to visit my Mexican family.  I lost my brother at 54.  It was sudden and I needed closure since I was not able to leave my work for the funeral.  We all did.  After we spent several weeks together, I treated myself to a very humid vacation in touristy Puerto Vallarta, that is also bird central to some awesome species.  I went to the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens and picked up so many lifers.  I also sweat a lot but I'd do it all over again. I got to see the Yellow-winged Cacique!!!  Talk about a stunner with a fro! Go to the botanic gardens!  You won't regret it!  I took an Uber there and a taxi back down.  There is a wonderful restaurant at the gardens but do bring water during the summer months as it is humid. But you'll see some top hummingbirds and MANY other species. 

Yellow-winged Cacique

OOOOOOh!  1260 is the Sinaloa Crow in San Blas.  This was the day Antonio Robles took me to see them!  You have to go to San Blas as very few crows make it into Puerto Vallarta.  In fact, San Blas is another big birding area.  It was so birdy and the crows were everywhere. This was an exciting bird for me.  I love my crows and ravens.  

Sinaloa Crow

Now we finally venture into New Zealand, specifically the North Island where my friend and college roomie lives with her family.  There are about 3 trips in the future that will include Australia as well because that flight was looooooong. We had a great time and one of the first birds we saw was the Pukeko or Australasian Swamphen. Currently listed as 1270 and yet another swamphen on this post.  It has a mean look and there were many out in the open on grasses eating.  Not a hard one to find. Look to the wetlands around Wellington. 

                                                                      Australasian Swamphen

Another easy one was the Pied Cormorant, or as they call it....Shag.  There was some discussion about what the differences between Shag or Cormorants were.  They're in the same group of birds and let's just say there was a lot of confusion in English between me and everyone else.  Eventually I could sort of decipher what they meant.  I go by ebird names but I also recognize the local names as legit as they are THEIR birds.  Who I am to argue?  But as for ebird and the guides, I have to follow that name.  Pied Cormorant was 1280 and another easy one to see almost everywhere there was water, whether it be inland or on the coast. 

                                                                            Pied Cormorant
And yet another common species seen everywhere, including my friend's home was the Silvereye. As I've seen white-eyes and now this Silvereye, I can see the similarities but also the slight differences.  This bird was a bolder larger one with light rufous sides.  The song was quite different.  It's a sturdy bird for sure at 1290. 

                                                                             Silvereye
Finally, at 1300, this was one of my top 10 birds I wanted to see on the North Island.  Truly a dream bird, the Stitchbird.  I focused a lot of time on this very endemic bird. It is listed as vulnerable.  It was worse but New Zealand is turning that trend around and I'll get into all of my studies in future posts.  The pic below is from the pest free island of Kapiti.  While on the dark forested trail, one male came up to me to check me out.  For 1300, that is not a bad bird at all.  It was a very special sighting.  Their sound is described as 2 marbles rolling together.  And it sounded like that....and that's how I found this quick moving endemic!

                                                                       Stitchbird
Life is truly a dream.  I am a fortunate soul, but I have worked hard to get to this place in my life. I have taught myself "bird" and will continue to do so. It isn't easy but over these past 2 years, it has been healing and I am ready to take on more of the world.  I just have one last mission next May. I have found myself in love with the world's islands and our Americas.  As I approach retirement, there's a sea of endless possibilities out there.  What will 1400 teach me?  Can I make 1400?  Each day is a gift. 

Until next time.......