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.