Birding Around the World

MONDAY, AUGUST 14:

I took advantage of our one free morning here in London, England away from chaperoning the children’s choir, to bird the Waldhamstow Wetlands in northeast London off the Victoria tube line.

I was greeted by introduced EGYPTIAN GEESE:

Flyover EURASIAN SHAG:

There were many rafts of primarily TUFTED DUCKS out on the Reservoir:

Shag and a duck:

A few COMMON TERNS flew over:

CANADA GEESE, I believe an introduced species over here:

EURASIAN COOT:

COMMON POCHARD:

GREAT CRESTED GREBE:

Juvenile:

BLACK-HEADED GULL (basic plumage):

COMMON MOORHEN:

Juvenile:

EURASIAN MAGPIE:

EURASIAN ROBIN:

COMMON WOODPIGEON:

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL:

I stopped at a bird blind on the south pond where I was stopped in my tracks: there, flying from branch to branch, was my life bird COMMON KINGFISHER, or as I sung in my Ravel this summer, un Mârtin-Pècheur!!! Not only is this an awesome lifer, but perhaps it is one of the most beautiful birds in Europe and one I have been waiting on seeing for a number of years. Absolutely awesome!!! They are also tinier than the Kingfishers back home; perhaps about the size of a Catharus thrush.

A beautiful LITTLE EGRET was also in the vicinity:

There were a number of nice songbirds on the way out like WILLOW WARBLER:

And LONG-TAILED TIT, a species I have only seen once before, at London Wetlands with my dad in 2014.

Later in the evening after Evensong, I hit a location much closer to the hotel: St. James Park in central London. Many Woodpigeons were about:

As well as GRAYLAG GOOSE:

COMMON POCHARD:

GREY HERON:

MUTE SWANS:

My best bird here was a heard-only TAWNY OWL right after the sunset, another species I have only ever had once before: in Urbania, Italy back in 2018 with Ann (who I coincidentally recently saw in Idaho!).

And here are a few photos from singing in and touring the cathedrals and other great spaces here in England; it is truly all magnificent:

Bird-of-the-day to my life bird Common Kingfisher with runner-up to the Tawny Owl.

A great day of birding nestled among incredible experiences singing Evensong and other services in the greatest cathedrals in England. It has been an amazing summer, for sure! Here are all of the lifers I have gained since may:

May 21: Greater Prairie-Chicken, Bartel Grassland, Kinmundy, IL
July 4: Common Chiffchaff, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Yellow-billed Chough, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Ring Ouzel, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Fieldfare, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Northern Wheatear, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Water Pipit, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Rock Ptarmigan, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Wallcreeper, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Alpine Accentor, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Bearded Vulture, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: White-winged Snowfinch, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Eurasian Nutcracker, Mürren, Switzerland
July 4: Common Firecrest, Mürren, Switzerland
July 5: Lesser Whitethroat, Mürren, Switzerland
July 5: Willow Tit, Mürren, Switzerland
July 5: Spotted Flycatcher, Mürren, Switzerland
July 6: Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Mürren, Switzerland
July 7: Eurasian Crag-Martin, Verbier, Valais, Switzerland
July 8: Goldcrest, Verbier, Valais, Switzerland
July 25: Crested Tit, Mauvoisin, Valais, Switzerland
August 3: Pinyon Jay, Barton Rd, Pocatello, ID
August 4: Greater Sage-Grouse, Rinker/Rock Creek Canyon, Blaine, ID
August 14: Common Kingfisher, Waldhamstow Wetlands, London, UK

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1172 Species (1 life bird today: Common Kingfisher)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8:

This morning was my last one here in Idaho before my flight back to NYC (and eventually onwards to London), so I took Caroline and Ann on a walk out Warm Springs Rd. A few birds were present such as WILLOW FLYCATCHER:

We made it to Dollar Lake which was gorgeous as always and a delight for them to see:

A GRAY CATBIRD was also present at the lake:

This male LAZULI BUNTING, my bird-of-the-day for today, was a pleasant sighting on the walk back to the condo and it was great to get Caroline and Ann on this beautiful bird, as well.

Then, it was time to drop off Caroline and Ann at the ski lift for their day on Mt. Baldy and my turn to get to the airport. It was wonderful to have you with us this year, you two~

Thankfully, my flights to Denver and Laguardia ran smoothly and I was able to net window seats on both which is a necessity for my sanity on airplanes.

Next stop: NYC for a night to record with a composer and former professor of mine from MSM, and then off to the UK to sing on tour in the great cathedrals of England: Westminster Abbey, Ely Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and Liverpool Cathedral!

Hopefully, I will fit in one or two mornings of birding there and will eventually get around to updating on here, haha!

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1171 Species

MONDAY, JANUARY 7:

My mom and I awoke at the crack of dawn to hike up to West Pass in the Boulder Mountains, a hike that my dad and I tried twelve years ago but didn’t make it to the top, so we wanted to give it a go this year. Target birds for today include Black and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, high alpine species of which the latter would be a life bird and the former an awesome year bird.

We were on the trail around seven in the morning, following a brief lost phone scare that was resolved when I found my phone wedged deep in the crevasse between the center console of the car and the driver seat. Alas…

Our first impressive sight, of many along this trail, was a collapsed glacier that had slid down the mountainside, over our trail, and onto the river below. It was covered in dirt and debris from the resulting landslide but there was a thick layer of ice below. Impressive to see this late in the season:

Following that sighting, we were treated with some of the most scenic valley and wildflower views of any hike we have ever taken:

Birds abounded, too, including male WESTERN TANAGER:

And a FOX SPARROW, a great species that we missed yesterday so I was happy to clean this one up:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHERS abounded along the hike:

As well as their long-tailed cousin, the DUSKY:

The views kept getting better and better:

CHIPPING SPARROW:

Along with a female Tanager:

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were omnipresent for much of the subalpine part of this hike:

As well as YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, in Audubon’s form:

BREWER’S SPARROW:

We flushed a couple DUSKY GROUSE which proceeded to omit a cacophonous whirring with their wings clumsily barreling through the dense spruce saplings and shrubs adorning the trail. A great F.O.Y. bird:

After a few hours of relentless climbing, the trees opened up into a snowy alpine meadow where the views were nothing short of astonishing:

A couple GOLDEN EAGLES drifted by:

And the alpine wildflowers and butterflies did not disappoint:

CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, the quintessential alpine hummer:

As we got nearer and nearer to the treeline and the summit of the hike, the flora and fauna trended increasingly alpine. We were treated to views of rare high-elevation mammals such as the cute Pika:

And Yellow-bellied Marmot:

Finally, I heard what I had been waiting for: the “cheep! cheep! cheep!” call reminiscent of the House Sparrow, but reverberant among the alpine rocks and amphitheaters: that of the denizen songbird of the Rocky Mountain West, the BLACK ROSY-FINCH! Absolutely awesome to hike up this bird on its breeding grounds, yet another incredibly difficult species to get in Idaho (this time of year).

I have only seen it twice before; Old Hyndman Basin and the basin above Profile Lake, both locations also being high alpine cirques adorned with snow and above the treeline. This species, along with the other two rosy-finches, truly have a peculiar affinity for the most windswept, inhospitable locales of the intermountain west.

Though inhospitable, the surrounding views were nothing short of legendary. One side looked high above the cirque from which we had just climbed, and the other direction gave an overarching view of the Boulder & White Cloud Mountains to the north. We hunkered out of the wind and took in the beautiful surroundings. At nearly 10,200 feet above sea level, this was the highest elevation we had ever hiked in Idaho.

That is, until I got distracted by birds. These MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS were my F.O.Y:

Flyover RED-TAILED HAWK:

Soon, it was time for the descent where we once again soaked up the incredible montane views:

The standout avian highlight from the downslope section was my F.O.Y. TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE, a species of high Rocky Mountain woodlands that I seem to always find in low numbers on my highest hikes here in Idaho. Absolutely awesome:

Following the hike, the many morel mushrooms from yesterday were enjoyed by Caroline, Ann, mom, and I — on top of steak!

It was a terrific end to the day, capped off by a few hilarious episodes of Arrested Development with Caroline.

Bird-of-the-day to the Black Rosy-Finches with runners-up to the Fox Sparrow, Golden Eagles, Calliope Hummingbird, and Townsend’s Solitaire. Fantastic mountain birding!

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1171 Species

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6:

After a wonderful day at Redfish yesterday, as well as welcoming Caroline and Ann to our condo, today was another (and the last of this year’s) full day of birding with Poo and Kathleen. Our goal for today was to go up and over Galena Pass in hopes of finding montane species, specifically the black-backed-type woodpeckers in burned areas, as well as Great Gray Owl - AKA the “Phantom of the North.” Great Gray would be particularly fun as it is my second favorite bird in the world (second-only to Resplendent Quetzal) and I haven’t seen one at our spot for them in Idaho since we got it as my lifer there in 2015. (though I have seen them since, including over the New Year this year, in Minnesota where they are “easier”)

Our first stop was over to Triumph, ID to visit a prime hummingbird feeder house where apparently all four local species were visiting. On the way, we heard EVENING GROSBEAKS fly over so it was time to lean out of the window and photograph:

They were gorgeous!

And the hummingbirds were prolific in numbers, as well, with BLACK-CHINNED leading the charge:

As well as a number of RUFOUS including this stunning male:

At least one bright-green, smaller, CALLIOPE was present as well, always a nice sight as it is one of the two rarer species in the area:

We also had a heard-only BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD buzz us at one point; however, we could never narrow down exactly which female it was as they were all moving by so quick. All we know is that it was extremely loud and buzzy compared to the other hummers, and this is its telltale identifying trait. Awesome to get all four in one spot!

Plenty of other birds were present in the yard, as well, probably owing to all the mosquitoes — BULLOCK’S ORIOLE:

BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK:

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER:

We then continued northwards, passing one of my favorite views in Idaho: the Boulder Front.

The moon!

A stop at Baker Creek Road didn’t net us the hoped-for Fox Sparrow, but we did get an actual Red Fox trotting along the road!

As well as a DUSKY FLYCATCHER:

And a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW:

Next we birded the Titus Lake Trail for a bit:

We had a few birds but they were all relatively common such as MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE:

Policecar moth — thanks for the ID, Poo!

And male CASSIN’S FINCH:

Another Cassin’s posed beautifully for us on a pull-off just on the other side of Galena:

And a Golden-mantled Ground-Squirrel at the Sawtooth Overlook:

Great views from the Overlook:

Kathleen’s car ride shenanigans!

Next, we tried a burned area from last year’s forestfire in search of woodpeckers.

Our best woodpecker species there turned out to be a juvenile Red-naped Sapsucker:

But the real highlight was finding not one, two, or three, but TWENTY-SIX Morel Mushrooms growing in the burn.

Poo and Kathleen both had plenty still from this spring, and were astounded to find this many growing so late in the summer. It was pretty unprecedented, but explained possibly due to the combination of the burn last year and the wetter summer this year. So awesome! I brought these home and Caroline, Ann, mom, and I enjoyed a steak dinner rich with morel mushrooms. Delicious!

Next, after a brief obligatory stop at Smiley Creek Lodge, Poo took us to another burned area where earlier this year she had a Long-toed Salamander poking its head out of a hole in the ground, and since this would be a lifer for me, we started flipping.

Sure enough, on the third flip, the moist ground underneath revealed two incredibly-beautiful, bicolored Long-toed Salamanders, the one salamander native to this specific part of Idaho. I have been wanting to find this species for a long time and especially wanted to be a lifer to be an adult, so I was ecstatic to find these beautiful specimens!

Here is a comparison photo to my hand to show size. Poo had only ever seen two before, and this was Kathleen’s lifer, so suffice to say it was an awesome highlight of the day— one of the few herps that calls the boreal Sawtooth Valley home. What a stunner.

Next stop was Alturas Lake where we posed for a few photos before it rained a bit. Again, it is been unseasonably wet and cool while I have been here this year.

Soon, the Sawtooth Mountains were shrouded with rain:

We stopped along Highway 75 for a drenched PRAIRIE FALCON, the first of this species I have ever seen in the Sawtooth Valley:

After dipping on our “trusty” Spruce Grouse spot, we continued on to the Stanley Sewage Ponds in search of shorebirds and other species to add to our day list. By this point, the weather was starting to clear for gorgeous views of the Sawtooths — the weather always changes quickly in the mountains:

We were greeted by some waterfowl including a pair of BUFFLEHEAD:

GADWALL:

NORTHERN SHOVELER:

I asked Poo and Kathleen if we were gonna check the back pond and Kathleen replied, “Well, I don’t know!” so I took that as my cue to scan the pond and I am glad I did, haha! There was a WILSON’S SNIPE:

SEMIPALMATED (right) and WESTERN (left) SANDPIPERS, note the straight bill and grayer appearance of the right bird, though this is admittedly a tough ID. Unfortunately it had flown before Poo and Kathleen could get to it:

LEAST SANDPIPER, the third local Peep species (yellow legs):

A nearby forest service road provided beautiful views but few birds:

Our next stop netted us OSPREY:

COMMON MERGANSERS:

Female YELLOW WARBLER:

Along with a fuzzy juvenile:

And finally, it was that time of the evening to carry on to our Great Gray Owl road, which is always birdy (and great for large game, too!) no matter if we get the owl or not.

Today was no exception, with WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW:

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET:

Beautiful views of silhouetted SANDHILL CRANES:

DUSKY FLYCATCHER:

Plenty of Pronghorn Antelope were around:

Along with Elk:

Then, at 8:49pm, I spotted a large, rectangular bird perched across the meadow on a snag seven feet over the willows and I instantly knew what it was—

IT WAS A FRIGGIN’ GREAT GRAY OWL!!!!!!!

Ahhhh!!!!!

This is one of the toughest breeding birds in Idaho to get as they are uncommon, local in territory, crepuscular, and their sightings are completely censored online as to protect the wellbeing of this highly sought-after species. It is, perhaps, the crown jewel of central Idaho birding, and suffice to say it was a perfect way to end three incredible days of birding with Poo and Kathleen. I have found this species now just twice among eight times of specifically seeking it out in Idaho to give an idea of how challenging it is to find, and there is something particularly magical about seeing it out here since you have to find it yourself as opposed to twitch a telegram message in the Sax-Zim Bog. Just wow.

Takeoff.

We watched it hunt for just under ten minutes, taking these distant photos, before a light drizzle seemed to usher it back into the dense forest nearby, and like a phantom, it silently disappeared from sight. These birds rely on open meadow and willow habitat for hunting small rodents, bordering dense conifer forest for nesting and roosting. WHAT a BIRD! This is one species that is so exciting to see that it seems like a lifer, every time you see it. There are very few species this magnitude of exciting.

Special shout-out to Nubs Fratt who was a dear friend of ours who passed this May and I know would’ve loved to join us on this trip. He was well aware of my obsession over Great Grays and we like to think that he sent us this bird. Love you, Nubs, and rest in peace…

Our evening wasn’t over; though, as stargazing and owling in the dark up on Galena Pass yielded a single meteor, a few satellites, and one lone hoot from a LONG-EARED OWL. Super cool!!!

Bird-of-the-day to the Great Gray Owl with runners-up to the Evening Grosbeaks, Prairie Falcon, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Long-eared Owl. Special shout-outs to all the tasty Morel mushrooms and my lifer Long-toed Salamanders. What an amazing day in the thick of the Idaho wilderness with great friends.

Already looking forward to next year’s adventures, Poo and Kathleen. Thanks for everything.

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1171 Species

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4:

Still LOTS of catch-up to do, between editing photos and preparing music for upcoming projects, I haven’t even had time to write these posts on the plane like I usually do so it has been very slow-going preparing these photo-heavy posts, as are typical from my jam-packed productive birding days in Idaho!

And this day was no exception! Read on for more.

The day’s sightings started even before Poo and I pulled up to Kathleen’s house when this male CALIFORNIA QUAIL blocked our way in the road, hah!

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS proliferated at Kathleen’s feeders:

And soon, we were off! Our goal today was to hit Rinker Rock Creek Ranch and a few other nearby sagebrush steppe areas in hopes of flushing the random Greater Sage-Grouse, a bird for which I have now been searching ten years! As usual, VESPER SPARROWS were abundant along the sagacious route:

As well as SAGE THRASHERS:

Our day started off with some gorgeous views.

We had a large flock of perching CLIFF with this one VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW mixed in:

And a BANK:

WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

BULLOCK’S ORIOLE:

AMERICAN KESTRELS were abundant:

Then, I spotted a small, different-looking sparrow that seemed to be hunched over on top of a sagebrush. Sure enough, it turned out to be GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, a rare breeder for the area, carrying food for nestlings, which is evidence of breeding! I believe this is my first or second visual GRSP ever seen in idaho!

After moving on for not even five minutes through the sagebrush, our car flushed a large, flapping grouse out of the ditch and Poo and I shouted “SAGE GROUSE!” at exactly the same time!!! Kathleen slammed on the brakes but not before I whipped open the door, jumped out, and snapped photos of it flying over the sagebrush steppe.

You can even see its diagnostic black belly! Yep, a second day in a row, a second nemesis conquered!

Aweeeeee-some!!!! Lifer #1171.

Rejoicing after the lifer!!!

Our next stop was at the north end of the Magic Reservoir where we had a brief, distant flyby PRAIRIE FALCON:

RED-TAILED HAWK:

NORTHERN HARRIER:

TURKEY VULTURE. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - one of my favorite parts of central Idaho birding is that it has the greatest density of breeding raptors in the WORLD. Yes. The entire world.

Female NORTHERN FLICKER appearing to pant even though it wasn’t nearly hot by Idaho standards.

GRAY FLYCATCHER is always nice:

We soon ended up seeing over a dozen LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES which was rather unprecedented as this is an expected desert breeding bird, but not in such high numbers! It was so cool to see so many of Poo’s spark bird.

Superficially-similar EASTERN KINGBIRD:

WESTERN GREBES including this pale one, perhaps a juvenile, or maybe even a hybrid with a Clark’s? Grebe experts, how’s your time to help a birder out.

Cute family of COMMON MERGANSERS:

Juvenile HORNED LARK along Magic Desert Road was really cool:

We also flushed a SECOND Greater Sage-Grouse which was crazy, and possibly due to the extensive amount of die-out we saw of the sage near this road, as this bird was hunkered down in one of the few remaining live patches. Awesome to get a second of this lifer species for me, abut unfortunate given the degraded habitat.

The Grouse unfortunately went unphotographed, but closer again to Magic Reservoir (the west side this time), we had a covey of CALIFORNIA QUAIL:

A really obliging pair of ROCK WREN:

And my F.O.Y. SAY’S PHOEBE, awesome!

VESPER SPARROW was nice to pick up:

And a pair of SWAINSON’S HAWKS right in the center of the town of West Magic, including this juvenile:

And the pair of adults:

Waterbirds were present on the reservoir, though not quite in the numbers we were hoping for. EARED GREBE family:

There were high numbers of this species around:

Flyover WHITE-FACED IBIS in the distance:

More Grebes:

Flyby Yellowlegs sp. with WILLETS (the ones with flashy black and white wings):

CALIFORNIA (darker-mantled) and RING-BILLED (lighter-mantled) GULLS:

Poo spotted this PIED-BILLED GREBE:

There were many flocks of NORTHERN SHOVELERS:

Alternate-plumage FORSTER’S TERN:

More shovelers:

Distant AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN with the shovelers:

Another family of COMMON MERGANSERS:

Breeding-plumage COMMON LOON:

And the final bird photo of the day was this beautiful male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH on the sunflowers on our drive out of Magic:

The aforementioned sunflowers on the way out, as well as an intense storm that later pelted the area with rain, thunder, and flooding. Wow!

Bird-of-the-day of course goes to my life bird Greater Sage-Grouse, with runner-up to all the Loggerhead Shrikes we found: twenty-four in total by the end of the day!!!!

It was a fantastic day capped off by a wonderful Symphony concert that Poo, Kathleen, and I watched while my mom slayed some Ginastera. Brava!

It seemed like I had brought the Switzerland weather with me, as the mountains were wrapped in a gorgeous fog — a weather pattern that is very un-Idaho in august. It was beautiful and we all admired it post-concert!

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1171 Species (1 life bird today: Greater Sage-Grouse)