Sequim, WA and a Trip Around Protection Island

I'm going to make this a quick (and easy) photo blog of Dan's and my trip out to Sequim for a boat trip around Protection Island. The goal was to see Alcids (mostly Rhinoceros Auklets and Tufted Puffins). But we were fortunate enough to have a wonderful Heerman's Gull mixed in with the Glaucos-winged flocks, giving us a total of two life birds for this trip -- the Puffin and the Gull, since we had already ticked the Auklets at Whidbey Island the previous day.

This first photo is the lineup for the ferry. Sequim was having its annual Lavender Festival.

The weather on the ferry ride out was beautiful, so we had high hopes for the day.

We took a short detour to a place called Troll Haven. The next few photos give an impression of this incredible place. It's not a tourist attraction -- but a private residence. So I think we only saw a small piece of its whimsy.

After spending some time at the Lavender Festival, we drove over to the Marina. The weather had turned sour. We wanted to stop and have some coffee at the restaurant there, but they were booked solid and didn't even offer us a cup to go. So, we waiting by the overhangs until our boat came in.

This was what the weather looked like from the window of the boat. But, when has that ever stopped birders?

Tufted Puffin!!!:

Hauled out Elephant Seal:

Hauled out harbor seals and a juvenile Bald Eagle:

My son Dan took a photo of me. You can see his reflection in the window:

A couple of great sunset shots:

These are mostly Pigeon Guillemots flying back to their nesting holes:

A Day on Whidbey Island, WA -- 7/14/2011

I always enjoy visiting my son in Seattle. There's good coffee, cooler weather, beautiful scenery, and Pacific Northwest birding.

When I was planning the trip, I built in a day for one of Washington State's famous pelagic tours. As it turns out, the week I had booked was the one week there was no trip. So, I settled for spending a day birding Whidbey Island and a second day up by Sequim (on the peninsula) followed by a birding cruise to Protection Island.

I used Hal Opperman's A Birder's Guide to Washington (ABA Birdfinding Guide) and was accompanied by my son, Dan, and his friend Sam.

Summer is not the optimal time for birding in Washington. But we still managed to pick up a few life birds from the 26 species we saw that day. If we had been able to positively identify our empidonax flycatcher as a Pacific Slope Flycatcher, we all would have been up one more.

Possible the best sighting of the day, though, had nothing to do with birds. It was a family of Sea Otters frolicking around the beach and in the water.

Of course, no trip to Whidbey Island (or Washington State) is complete until you see several Bald Eagles. Many of the ones we saw were first or second year youngsters. But, toward the end of our day, we came across this beautiful adult who sat and posed for us.

The list (life birds in bold):

Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
California Quail
Black Oystercatcher
Herring gull
Caspian Tern
Pigeon Guillemot
Rhinoceros Auklet
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
unknown Empidonax
American Crow
Barn Swallow
American Robin
Swainson's Thrush
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
House Sparrow

Meanwhile, Back in the Yard

We had a visitor to our yard yesterday -- a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk, just sitting on the railing, while all the birds (including Hummingbirds) and a squirrel sat around, keeping an eye on it. I'd say it sat there for about fifteen minutes, giving me ample opportunity to shoot photos and a video through our window.

There's a nest somewhere in the canyon; so we assume this is one of this year's fledglings.

And now for the video:

Next stop, Seattle, where I will attempt to book a trip around Protection Island to see the nesting Tufted Puffins, et al. Unfortunately, the weekly pelagic trips aren't exactly weekly. There isn't one during my week and a day there. Maybe next year?

Stay tuned!

About Cuba

For many reasons, we've opted not to publish an actual trip report of our birding survey in Cuba. However, if you're interested and would like to hear about it, please send me an email (available by clicking on my profile info).

But, just to be fair, I'll post a couple of bird photos from the trip, a Cuban Black Hawk and a digiscoped Stygian Owl.

Mother's Day Morning at Warbler Woods

Spent a nice, relaxing morning at Warbler Woods in Cibolo/Schertz. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it -- especially during spring migration!

Today's list (of course, many other species of Warbler came out after we left -- Sigh!):

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White-winged Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-chinned Hummingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Carolina Chickadee
Black-crested Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

We Have Travel Packets!

Yesterday (Thursday, Feb. 17), a week and a half before we’re scheduled to fly from Miami to Havana, we received emails from Marazul (the travel “agents”) asking us to confirm the use of our pre-authorized credit cards and our mailing address. A second email notified us our travel packets were going out that evening.
Well, it’s just before 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18 and they’ve arrived. My level of anxiety regarding the unknown travel factor has disappeared.

A photo of my portion of the packet is below. Avi received identical papers, except with his name on everything.



It contained:

1. Our tickets for our flight booked by Marazul, chartered by Gulfstream Air, and provided by Sky King. The guessing game we’ve been playing these past few days about the type of aircraft we’d be on has been resolved as well. We’ll be flying a Boeing 737 with an allowance of 44 lbs. each. I’m anticipating we’ll be at 44 lbs. combined, since we prefer to travel light. ($349 each R/T)

2. A travel contract between us and Gulfstream Air, which we have to sign and hand in at the Miami airport.

3. Our Cuban Tourist Card, which cost $50 each.

4. A paper giving us information regarding our Cuban health insurance, which we are required to purchase in order to visit Cuba. Apparently we have $25,000 worth of coverage each, with $7,000 more for transportation home in the event of injury or death. All this for $3/day.

5. Our license from the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, making this a legal trip for humanitarian purposes.

6. Information on Cuban money exchange. Between the exchange rate and the exchange “premium” (thanks to the U.S. embargo discouraging U.S. dollars from entering Cuba), there’s a 20% loss when exchanging dollars for CUC’s. We could exchange our dollars into Euros here and then into CUC’s. But it all seems too complicated, and I’m not sure there would be that much in savings. We’ll see what we decide when we read this a bit more carefully.

7. A 17 page booklet from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control titled Cuba: What You Need to Know About U.S. Sanctions Against Cuba. A pretty dry read. Most of the material doesn’t apply to us. It just speaks about who may or may not travel to Cuba and what we may and may not purchase there. At least it looks as though Avi can bring back some music.

This weekend we’ll be getting things out and in order for packing. It seems particularly important we not forget anything we need, since we’re not allowed to buy much in Cuba.

Next Stop: Cuba!

Many, many months ago, just after our return from our birding trip to Ecuador (Galapagos), Andy Griswold from the Ct. Audubon Society's Ecotravel decided to try and tempt us into booking another trip. First he sent us information on their trip to Trinidad and Tobago -- it look interesting, but we decided it was a bit too rich for our blood. But Andy is a smart man. The next offer hooked us and reeled us in. It was a two-week birding survey of Cuba in conjunction with the Caribbean Conservation Trust.

Perhaps a little bit of backstory would be in order here. I used to have family in Cuba. My grandmother had two aunts who lived there and ran a, um, er, "business" in Cienfuegos or Matanzas. (Both areas came up when she would tell the story.) My grandmother visited her aunts there before Batista was deposed and frequently told us it was the most beautiful place she had ever been. I have several photos from her time there, but will post just one, since I think it's the most historically significant (check out the poster to my grandmother's right).

Basically, the poster says:

Workers
We march on May 1st
United front to the divisionists (?) and against anti-union attacks!















We signed up. The process hasn't been an easy one.

We're flying in and out of Miami through a Cuban charter company called Marazul. We ARE traveling legally, with a license from the U.S. Treasury Dept. since this is considered a scientific trip which falls under humanitarian travel. As of now, I'm still not sure everything is in order, since we have yet to receive our travel packet: airline tickets, Treasury license, proof of Cuban health insurance (required of all foreign visitors at a cost of $3/day per person), and who knows what else. With only two weeks before our trip, I must say I'm a bit nervous.

I guess our target bird should be Cuba's most famous, the Bee Hummingbird -- about the size of a quarter. But I'd really like to see the Cuban Tody, a very cute, brightly colored piece of feathery fluff (and probably one we're much more likely to see).

Our trip to and from Florida will also include a visit with our daughter, who is living in Hollywood and will be our means of transportation to the Miami airport on March 1. We'll probably get in a bit of birding there as well, though not as concentrated an effort as the two weeks which will follow.

So, stay tuned. I'm pretty sure there won't be much Internet access during our time on the island. But I'll be keeping my journal and logging the photos each day so I can post gradually once we arrive back in the U.S. For now, I'll leave you with one more photo with my grandmother and her cousin (the daughter of one of the Cuban aunts who was raised as her sister in the U.S.) with some Cuban friends.