It was a smooth ride out aboard the Yankee Freedom II, aka the Yankee Cat, to the Dry Tortugas (above) 70 miles west of Key West. A couple of quick moving rain showers dampened the start but there were a few Northern Gannets to keep us happy. With the winds continuing to whip out of…

We began the day in the hardwood hammocks (above) and mangroves of the Upper Keys. Our search for a Mangrove Cuckoo seems to become tougher with each passing year. It has been another dry year and the canopy is mostly bare. This at least makes it easier to see singing Black-whiskered Vireo, who never seem…

With the tour designed to give us a little leeway should a Caribbean vagrant show up, we had the opportunity to head to Bill Baggs State Park, at the tip of Key Biscayne, for a LaSagra’s Flycatcher that was banded the previous afternoon. Other birders had also come to look which always helps, but the…

Since we arrived on the early side to look for Short-tailed Hawk, we had a chance to bird the adjacent woods. We parked the vehicle and as we asked a homeowner if they had seen a Barred Owl (above), one flew out of the tree above us and landed 60 feet away! The area was…

Open prairies, pinelands and lakes make up a large portion of southeastern central Florida. Bald Eagles thrive in this region and seeing ten at once is not uncommon. Their nests can be seen in stately pines, whereas Ospreys, which are just as numerous, prefer dead pines to nest in. Families of Sandhill Cranes (above) roamed…

In late April 2009 I led a 9-day tour of South Florida and the Dry Tortugas for the 12th time. This is the first of eight blog reports of that trip. It was a pack first day as we began in Miami with an assortment of psittacids. Red-masked and Mitred Parakeet proved to be an…

In the foothills of the Front Range on the western side of Colorado Springs is the aptly named Garden of the Gods (above), anchored by the two towering red sandstone Gateway Rocks. The first tour paid a visit here because the big attraction is nesting Prairie Falcons – and we had not seen it! As…

Colorado is so scenic. Every turn brings another awe-inspiring jaw-dropping vista. From the wide valley of the North Park to the climb over the Continental Divide. Through coniferous forests of Sub-alpine and Douglas Fir, Englemann Spruce and Lodgepole Pine carpeted in white to the rolling snow-capped peaks of the upper reaches of the Rockies. Sadly…

In north-central Colorado, the North Park (above) is a gorgeous area of high mountain valley with sage brush flats and meandering streams, lined with red-and-orange willows -perfect habitat for Moose. This is the best place to observe Greater Sage-Grouse. The full moon melted below the rockies and once again the North Park was in darkness.…

It is another long ride from Grand Junction to Craig in the northwestern part of Colorado, as we follow the Colorado River to Rifle, before heading north along a stretch of scenic wilderness to Craig. The Yampa River runs westwards from the continental divide east of Steamboat Springs, through the town of Craig, and into…

West of Gunnison lies the extensive Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest. Amongst the rolling sagebrush hills that covers acre after acre around the reservoir, we enjoyed an early arriving Sage Thrasher (below) that was proudly showing off the new territory it had claimed. A great deal of the Blue Mesa Reservoir (below) was ice free…

It is 5:11am on a calm 23 degree morning in the Gunnison basin of south west Colorado and the window to the trailer that acts as our blind has just been opened. We are at the Waunita Hot Springs Lek waiting to get our first glimpse of Gunnison Sage-Grouse. This is the only official state…