Spring Migration: Finally!!!

After what seemed to be an eternal winter, finally, spring is here, together with spring migration! No more winter clothes, ridiculous sock on my lens (look at earlier post) and being unemployed. I have found a job as an museum educator in the Sciencenter, which is really nice, but that means that I have less time to go birding (but enough of my boring personal life).  I have to admit that my first winter in Ithaca was kind of tuff, but I survived and that is all in the past and the birds are here, well for now at least...

Spring migration is awesome! Coming from Puerto Rico I am very use to only seeing warblers jump around silently, only doing a little "chip" once in a while, and relying totally on my sight and making sounds to be able to see them. Here in Ithaca where there are many species of warblers that either stop here for a short period of time or breed, and the woods are full of songs. This definitely makes finding them much more easy, though taking pictures of them is still challenging, thanks to their very active behavior. This has also forced me to learn the songs of all these warblers and many other species that I didn't have to worry about before. This has proved to be a very challenging task, since they are so many and they sing so similar, but I will eventually get it and I am sure it will enhance my birding and photographic experience. Here are a few pictures different species singing.


Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina)


Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)


Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)


Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea)

Some warblers I've seen in Puerto Rico look nicer in Ithaca also, since here they have their breeding plumage, this also makes it easier to identify them. So far I've seen around 25 species! Here are a few pictures of them. My favorites so far are the Cerulean Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Canada Warbler and the Blackburnian Warbler which I am Dying to take a picture of but he doesn't come down from the tree canopies!


Canada Warbler (Wilsonia canadensis)


Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea)


Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea)

In conclusion, the long wait was definitely worth it! 


You can find some more warbler and other bird photos from Ithaca and Puerto Rico on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/puertoricanwildlifephotography/


Enjoy!

Back to square one...

Its been a very long time since my last post, and the main reasons are the following: I believe that not many people follow my blog LOL! and because I recently moved from Puerto Rico to Ithaca, NY. So, why back to square one? Well, after approx. six years of studying Puerto Rico's biodiversity and educating people on how to conserve it, I am now faced with having to start all over again in learning about the biodiversity of a whole new country, a huge one I might add. I have to learn how to cope with WINTER! Something that is totally new to me coming from a tropical island. As a photographer Ive had to learn how to protect my camera equipment from snow, which forced me to create a winter coat for my lens made out of a sock! (Below).
I am currently unemployed also, so I have to start looking for a new job in times when they are very scarce and specially for biologist. On a positive note, at least Ive had more time to explore Ithaca, and its gorgeous!

I even thought about starting a whole new blog maybe titled "Like a fish out of water" LOL! Because basically thats how I felt when I got here. But that would have really taken me to square one in my blogging efforts. So I shall keep on writing in this blog, but not that much about spectacular places in Puerto Rico to go and take pictures of Puerto Rican Wildlife anymore I guess, but I will definitely try to once in a while, to help me with my home sickness issues. Now Im thinking about focusing more on my efforts in documenting North America's wildlife. This new challenge began in August and its been very fun. First of all almost everything is new to me, so in my first week I was overwhelmed with tons of new species, specially birds. I felt like a little boy in a toy store or a candy shop once again! I was already use to going birding without a field guide, but now I feel lost at times without one, specially when I encountered my first Empidonax flycatcher! (Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax trailli) (Below). In Puerto Rico flycatchers are fairly easy to ID but here there are various members of this genus in which the best way differentiate them is by call or by holding them in your hand. Experience also helps, which in my case it definitely wasn't enough to identify this species, so I had to ask for help from the 10,000 birds bloggers and the cayuga basin birders.

Luckily I am in one of the states where birding is a very popular pass time, and in the city where the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is found, which is one of the leading institutions in Ornithology in the world. Ive also been very fortunate in meeting very kind people that I cant even mention all because there are so many.

Ive seen approx. 40 new species of birds that were new to me in around six moths!! This includes common species like the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla) (Above) and trickier species to spot like the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) (Below). Something that would have been almost impossible to achieve in Puerto Rico since Ive seen a fair amount (more than 50%) of the species reported to occur in P.R.

So far one of the most impressive species Ive seen is the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) (Below). It is a very impressive bird, its the biggest woodpecker Ive seen for starters, and I love that he's red headed just like me LOL! This picture is of an adult male, which you can tell by its red stripe on its face under the eye.

So, I hope to write more often and keep everyone(?) updated. If you want to see more pictures of species Ive encountered so far in Ithaca, Puerto Rico and other places Ive traveled to, please visit my flickr website.

BioBlitz in the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón

Todays post isn't about photography but I definitely think it is appropriate for promoting the conservation of Puerto Rico's biodiversity. I was invited for a second time to the Anual Bioblitz held at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón. I gave a presentation about basic techniques for identifying birds and I was responsible for identifying birds, reptiles and amphibians with other colleagues. My favorite part of the day/night had to be when we went searching for species that are commonly found in urban areas.

The Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), the Puerto Rican Crested Anole (Anolis cristatellus)(seen above) and of course the Coquí (Eleutherodactylus coqui) were some of the species seen. Like I said in my first post , you can find interesting and cool stuff even in your backyard, and when I lead the groups of biology students and general public they were amazed of all the different species that they could see at the university which is located in a urban area surrounded of buildings, roads and houses (photo below).
It was a very good group, they worked very hard and they enjoyed themselves while learning about the biodiversity of Puerto Rico (Below some pictures of the groups). Activities like these are very important for educating the public, and for teaching future biologists, ecologists, doctors, etc. the importance of conserving the biodiversity of Puerto Rico and I would like to thank Dr. Concepción Rodríguez for giving me this opportunity.

Birding at Carite National Forest: A great place for endemics!

Its been a long time since my last post, but I am back and with nice photos. These past few months I have been trying to take pictures of all the endemic birds of Puerto Rico. I decided to go to Carite National Forest to finally capture some good pictures of the endemic hummingbirds. The first day I went with Vanessa, no hummers, I might have gone too late. The second day I went with Hector and I found them!!, but I wasn't able to take any good pictures worthy of publishing in the post. I had the chance to take a picture of the Puerto Rican Emeral (Chlorostilbon maugaeus), and I blew it!! I took a couple of hours and some good pictures of other species to forgive myself. He was so close that I just froze and admired him, end when I woke up he was already gone. I will definitely be back at Carite, to accomplish my mission. Although I wasn't able to capture the hummers but, I did take great pictures of other endemic species of birds.The Puerto Rican Spindalis (Spindalis portoricensis) (Above) is an endemic species that is wide spread all over Puerto Rico, but it is most common in forested areas. I was able to capture this picture the first day of my trip and I was very pleased with the results. After taking this picture I though things couldn't get an y better but I was also able to capture the Puerto Rican Tanager (Nesospingus speculiferus) (Below) the only endemic genus of birds we have in Puerto Rico. He is mainly found in forests at high elevations, and he is a shy bird, although he did cooperate that day.The second day of my trip to Carite, the day I blew my chance with the emerald, I was able to capture a nice picture of the Puerto Rican Bullfinch (Loxigilla portoricensis) (Below). Its not very close, but I like the colors and the composition of the picture. This is also a very shy bird, that you hear all over the trails, but you rarely see. It is mainly found in forests at high elevations and in the karst regions.

And finally a definite bonus was being able to take a picture of the Antillean Euphonia (Euphonia musica) (Below). This species is believed to be an endemic sub-species and possibly in the future it will be considered as an endemic species. It is found in forests that have different varieties of mistletoes found in the tropics. It depends on these plants because its diet as almost exclusively composed of these parasitic plants.

So, if you want to take pictures of endemic species of birds in Puerto Rico, the Carite National Forest is a good place to visit. You can also find many native and migratory species also, but they are not as abundant as the endemics.

A good birding day, but not a good photo day!

I went birding today with Hector (my birding buddy), with hopes of seeing birds I haven't seen before and of taking good pictures of them. Well, the mission was partially completed. I first tried to reach Caño Tiburones, the largest wetland in Puerto Rico. On my way there I stopped to take a few pictures of a Belted Kinfisher in the coast of Barceloneta. They didn't turn out that bad, but he was too far! Then when we reached the wetland we encountered two West Indian Whistling Ducks but they fled very rapidly. We saw common migratory warblers, like the Northern Parula, Northern Waterthrush and a Prairie Warbler. We also saw a a Great Blue Heron. No pictures!! Then we stopped at a place called Cerro Nacho looking for the Magnolia Warbler, and we saw lots of migratory warblers but no Magnolia. We saw: Northern Waterthrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Parula, Blak and White Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird and Prairie Warbler. No pictures!!! So our last stop (hope) was Julio Enrique Monagas park in Bayamón. Here I saw for the first time a Worm Eating Warbler, and it was awesome!! but no pictures!!, well two actually but horrible ones that I shall not show... We also saw other migratory warblers here, including a spectacular Hooded Warbler which I took a so so picture of. At the end of the day I saw a species I had never seen before but, barely any good pictures...

My first post!

This is my first post, and I hope not the last. I chose this picture for my first post to remind people that nature is all around us, and that you don't have to go real far to appreciate its beauty. This is a Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica), it is considered as a uncommon migratory species in Puerto Rico. I was very surprised when I saw this species of warbler, because I never expected to see it in my own backyard. So, this is the first place I recommend to all of you to go on a wildlife photo safari trip! Puerto Rico, USA, China, anywhere! You could be amazed of all of the spectacular treasures that you can find in your own backyard! I live in one of the most densely populated areas of Puerto Rico, cement all around, with very few patches of trees, but my 15' x 36' backyard was enough to attract this warbler. The funny thing is that a friend of mine, that I will not disclose his name (HECTOR), has been trying to see this species, looking in nature reserves in the coast and in different parts of Puerto Rico, and he only needed to take a train or a bus to my backyard and he could have seen it for the first time, sorry, I couldn't help myself LOL!!. So, the next time you go to the backyard, take a closer look, you might find some interesting and cool stuff!!