A Photographic Guide by Steve N.G. Howell

“For some people, even if they are involved to the hobby of birding or bird-photography_ the title of this guide might not sound  very impressive just being only three kinds of birds which are not entirely well known, you might think it wouldn’t amount to much ado, however, you’d be surprised about how misinformed you’ve been about this:

From the 140 known tubenoses species in the world, 50% of them occur in North America.

Mr. Howell has compiled the most informative guide in both text and visual form into a book, 483 pages of detailed and intelligent descriptions, Geographic variations, field identifications, scientific data, comparisons, Conservation, Migrations, Oceanic currents maps, strategies of migrations, habitats and behavior. And the list would be too long to mention in a paragraph. The photographic plates are impeccable and they visually self describe the intended textual description or observation made by the author. This is a guide well structured as much as well written. It had all my attention and educated me about those magnificent birds of the sea. This guide will be happily added to my Book Library!”

Review made by: H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101 – January 26, 2012

Since the weather has improved some and got slightly warmer I’ve seen a lot of birds flying in my backyard, birds such as:

• C. Crows
• N. Mockingbirds
• H. Finches
• C. Chickadees
• M. Doves
• F. Sparrows
• N. Cardinals

Then I placed  bird seeds  in clay dishes on my deck table and I had the opportunity to shoot some pictures from inside my kitchen, through the glass door. I felt good to use my camera again.

Here I’m posting some of them.

Field Sparrows

House Finch and F. Sparrow

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

It appears that a storm and associated cloud cover was a key factor in causing the birds’ confusion, as well as a glistening parking lot surface that may have looked like a water body in conditions of poor visibility.

Eared Grebe © Alan Wilson

According to American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, several traits of this bird likely played a role in this incident. Grebes are only able to land and take off from water so a shimmering parking lot on a stormy night may have looked like a natural landing area. The Eared Grebe carries out the latest fall migration of any bird species in North America, putting it in this storm at a time when other migrating birds likely have already arrived South. The Eared Grebe only migrates at night, which increases the risk of the bird getting confused by city lighting and cloud cover.

“Night-flying birds use dim light from the moon and stars and the earth’s magnetic field for navigation. Adverse conditions on Monday night may have caused the same kind of disorientation that can afflict pilots in fog – the birds may have flown directly into the ground, not realizing they were descending. Urban lights attract and confuse birds, so when you bring the storm into play, I think this is a serious possibility,” said Dr. Christine Sheppard, Bird Collision Program Director for ABC.

“However, we will probably never know for sure exactly what happened, so it may be very hard to know if it is something that can be mitigated. Large kills of night-migrating birds are unfortunately not unusual, and are generally related to man-made light sources—from spotlights to cell phone towers. Even light from office windows, street lights, and decorative lighting can attract birds to land in cities, where they are at high risk of colliding with glass on buildings as they try to feed the next day. Reducing unnecessary lighting can reduce this type of mortality, but in the case of the grebes, we simply don’t know if they took tarmac for a body of water or lost orientation,” Sheppard said.

Eared Grebes are the most abundant grebe in the world. They breed in shallow wetlands in western North America. The Eared Grebe occurs in greatest numbers on Mono Lake and the Great Salt Lake in fall, where it doubles its weight in preparation for a nonstop flight to its wintering grounds in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a small waterbird – about 9-12 inches long – with a wingspan of about 23 inches. The bird’s diet consists of mostly aquatic insects and crustaceans, occasionally tadpoles, small frogs, and small fish.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to conserve native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas.

Gray and dark days, some morning are as dark as night. You can see the school buses picking up kids in the dark.

North Alabama got the worst part of this chain of storms and high winds. Also hit in lesser intensity the North west part of Georgia. Where we live. Luckily we didn’t get any tornados.

Snowy Egret

Tricolored Heron

Willet

Brown Pelican

 All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

Common Grackle - Canon 20D - f/ 8.0 - 1/ 500 - ISO 800

Chipping Sparrow - Canon 20D - f/ 8.0 - 1/ 250 - ISO 800

White-throated Sparrow - Canon 20D - f/ 5.6 - 1/ 500 - ISO 640

Green Heron - Canon 60D - f/ 8.0 - 1/ 400 - ISO 125

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

Green Heron - Canon 60D - f/ 8.0 - 1/640 - ISO 125

Ring-billed Gull - Canon 60D - f/ 8.0 - 1/ 640 - ISO 125

Snowy Egret - Canon 60D - f/ 8.0 - 1/ 125 - ISO 125

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

These signs are at the entrance by the parking area

• Downy woodpecker 1
• Cooper’s Hawk 2
• Brown-headed nuthatch 1
• Red Tanager 1
• Yellow warbler 3

I heard many woodpeckers all over but I couldn’t find them! Same happened with song birds. They were hiding obviously!

I took some shots of birds on flight:

• Turkey Vultures
• Black Vultures
• Flocks of Great Blue Herons

I’m almost sure that this Sanctuary gets very busy when most birds return from their migrations, I think I’d be worth it to come back here then.

We returned home on the early afternoon. By the way I forgot to mention that I was trying and testing my new camera Canon 5D Mark II ( Thank’s to Lucy) I wanted to have a full frame sensor digital camera for long time.

Black Vulture

Great Blue Herons

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

We had reached the nearest point toward our camp via boat already, now we have to take a hike to the camp. We walked on a path, very narrow, almost brushing the plants that surround you. The guide trims the plants that have grown too close to the path with his “machete”, we’re walking mostly on dark mud. Rain forests are dark too because of the canopy formed by large trees, they cast shadows and where there are openings the sun rays look like beams of bright light cutting through the shadows.

After going across creeks with primitive bridges made of fallen trees and some banana patches we got to the camp. The camp consists of series of thatched huts connected by covered pathways, all these are built on high stilts, main concern here is the rain, when it rains it rains copiously! Very heavy downpours and you can see water running like a river under the huts. We had cots for sleeping with mosquito nettings over it and outhouses. Also a place to shower.

The heat and humidity is very intense and unless you’re very tired it’s hard to fall asleep. In the mornings we usually left with our guide to explore what’s the rainforest all about.

He showed us giant trees which are a habitat for a number of species of birds, insects, monkeys and you name it. One tree is like the world for many creatures.

Showed us holes in the mud where tarantulas the size of soup dishes live. If you just keep quiet and do not walk they start coming out, the biggest I’ve seen in my life! Butterflies of all shapes and colors and huge! Capybaras in ponds, snakes around tree branches, small alligators  basking under the sun at the edge of ponds. Worms and weird insects all over. Large mud licks for birds and butterflies. Parrots are noisy and fly al over! One time I stepped on a rotten branch on the side of a path which broke in pieces with my weight. In seconds there were thousands of ants crawling all over! Some came to me and quickly crawled on my legs inside my pants and they bit me many times, I smashed them with my hands and our guide helped me smash them with the flat side of the machete. The ants were black and large and their bite was painful. After that day I tucked my pant’s legs to my socks. Later after the trip was over I had some of the bites infected for awhile and had marks for about a year. It was some experience! ( I’m glad they weren’t spiders! I hate spiders!)

It’s a whole different world of animals here. When the night comes it’s pitch black if you don’t have a flash light you would find in total darkness!. We had gas lamps in camp. In several points to make us more comfortable. Just don’t get too close to where is to lighted because flying insects will star clinging on you!

The day came when we went to visit the tribe village.

It’s amazing to see how contrasty our world is! We live in a sophisticated society with comfort and latest technology, stylish and vain. The world of modern humankind! However, here I see generations of people that still live like when men lived in caves. They mostly walk around and live nude, they have taking dress a bit since they have learned the way that “civilized people” live. Their village is a mixture of huts made their way and some other made from what they’ve learned from modern times using slats of wood. Either way they’re at total poverty line grade. They manage to live eating roots, banana, plantains, fruits, rice, fish, yucca, cacava, monkey,etc. They love to trade their trinkets like beads, arrows, blow guns etc. They will trade for what ever the visitors have to give them like food, sweets, gum, hats or money, etc. In general, their living conditions are precarious and riddled with health problems, mostly inherited form the “Outsiders” When the people from the old world got in touch with the people of the new world not only brought them new trades and knowledge… along brought disease and pestilence. This is the sad reality of these people. Many say that they’re the forgotten people, they are not considered much into our daily trivialities. Thousands of  forgotten people, die every year in the world and we are not so concerned. They too count and could possibly become extinct!

“I wish more people will read this blog perhaps as my last futile attempt to bring some insight about this recurring problem. I’ve tried before to raise my voice but unfortunately not many people has the desire to listen.”

I’m sorry that this is not like the popular “Reality Shows” they show on TV. Must be a different kind of reality!

The End

Lucy and I crossing a creek

Lucy climbing stairs to the camp site

Lucy showing the cover passageways in camp

Connected passageways on stilts

Near sunset in the jungle, before the pitch dark night.

Native trading her trinkets with visitors.

This photograph is the poster for "Sad Reality"

All text and photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

We departed from Iquitos to navigate East on the Amazon river

While navigating the Amazon river we experienced the torrential downpours that can hit you any time when water-heavy clouds appear appear in the sky. The river’s water turns chocolate color because of the mud. After a few minutes the sun comes out again and the humid heat envelopes you again. Vegetation is abundant, when seen from the sky the jungle is like a green sea as far as you can see in the horizon and the river is like a giant brown snake undulated and endless.

The storm clouds are approaching rapidly, rain is imminent!

After the storm the sky opens up again into a bright day, the river has changed color to brown.

We saw pink dolphins in those waters, they followed the boat for a while, their snouts are longer and they can actually turn their heads like we do. The local people have myths about the dolphins that were once people that were cursed and converted to what they are now.

Here and there you see flocks of birds flying high, also the “charapas” (large water turtles) by the edge of the river. After about 5 hours of navigating we got to a dock where we unloaded all our gear and went for a hike through a sugar cane field. The boat crew and guide helped carrying our stuff. After a healthy walk (Our legs were num by the hours of sitting during the boat ride) We reached a smaller river approximately 50 feet wide sided by walls of large trees and dense vegetation. There, at a small pier we split into 2 groups and boarded 2 longe motorized wooden boats in shape like canoes with a flat bottom, these were our transport to reach our final destination… Our camp.

We touched land and unloaded our gear.

We transfered to smaller boats and to smaller river, going to our camp.

 All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz -Avian 101