May in Wisconsin

It is a time of renewing old friendships, visiting favorite birding spots while trying to get a year's worth of Wisconsin birding in 5 weeks.  We visited and camped at Wyalusing, Devil's Lake & Blue Mounds State Parks; birded Albany, Avon Bottoms, and Brooklyn Wildlife Areas; Spring Green Prairie, Baxter's Hollow & Horicon NWR.  Some of these plus Gov. Dodge S.P. will be revisited on our way to this coming year's adventure.

It was great to see friends and relatives in Janesville, Montello, Howard's Grove, Sheboygan, Oconto Falls, Neenah and a 5 day stay at Lake Farm Park in Madison.  Our son Troy and his wife Carmen birded with us at Picnic Point, Pheasant Branch, Nine Springs & the UW Arboretum. Great Fun!

Next was Green Bay and many bird walks with friends at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.  We presented travelog programs at the Cup 'o Joy and to the Bay Area Bird Club.  Thanks to all of you for joining us.  It was great seeing everyone at Celebration Church for the 3 Sundays we were in Green Bay.  Thank you most of all to Joan Grant for hosting us and letting us park by her house for our stay.

We had opportunities to bird along Lake Michigan from near Port Washington to Door County.  It has always been one of our favorite places to be along the shores of this beautiful lake.  We are going with the Bay Area Bird Club on their field trip to the Buena Vista Grasslands, Sandhill Wildlife Area and Necedah NWR hoping for Prairie Chickens, Upland Sandpipers and other birds to fill in our Wisconsin list which stands at 222.  Our year list which started in Arizona & Texas is at 424 and our "trip" list is at 580. Just a good start to the coming travels in the month's ahead.

We will head north along the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers then around the north shore of Lake Superior.  We will head east through Canada to the Maritime Provinces, down the east coast and wintering in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Please keep us in your prayers as you are in ours.
Ty & Ida Baumann

Migrating North

 Seeking target birds brings us to a new habitat - the Pine Forests of Eastern Texas in the Angelina National Forest.  The challenge to finding the endangered Red-cocaded Woodpecker in mature pine stands was made easier by locating nesting trees conveniently marked with white rings and yellow signs.  (Pictured)  We enjoyed several sightings of this small woodpecker along with Brown-headed Nuthatches, Bachman's Sparrows plus 40 other species.

 Another great find was this Box Turtle - finally a slow moving photo opportunity.


We then headed north - last stop in Texas - Atlanta State Park where we finally found Fish Crows along a large reservoir.  We were interviewed by a local newspaper reporter for the "Cass County Life" about what we enjoyed about the park and area.  He was amazed at all the birds that were around him.  We left Texas with 343 species for the state and 367 for 2012 and 575 for our trip list.

 We spent three days slowly moving through Arkansas and its beautiful Ozark Mountains.  We added Chuck-will's-widow and Whip-poor-wills that were calling at the National Forest Campground.  We went through a corner of Missouri, Tennessee, and into Kentucky staying at a Confederate Historical Fort at Columbia-Belmont State Park on the Mississippi.

Into Southern Illinois and the Cache River Wildlife Area with the most northern Cypress swamps in the U.S. (Pictured to left).  We walked several boardwalks and found many Prothonotary, Yellow-throated, Nashville, & Black-throated Green Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush and a new trip bird - the Prairie Warbler.  We also saw three Championship trees - Tupelo, Bald Cypress, and Cherry-bark Oak.

We traveled through the Shawnee National Forest camping at "Garden of the Gods" park named for the beautiful rock formations along the trails. (Pictured to the right).

We stopped at Horseshoe Lake in East St. Louis to find the Eurasian Tree Sparrow and found 8.

We are now following the Mississippi north into Wisconsin completing our year long journey.

Ty & Ida

Texas Barrier Islands

 Northward bound, our first stop was Mustang Island where we camped at the State Park.  The beaches produced numerous beautiful but dangerous Man of War jellyfish washing up in the rough surf. (Pictured to the left)  The high winds shook the RV all night and tornados were reported inland.



Cross Aransas Pass on the ferry to the Rockport area.  Spent a day birding with Jerry & Karen Smith and had our highest one day count with 117 species including 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers and 5 Whooping Cranes.  Later at Goose Island (where these Blue Bonnets covered the open areas as pictured below to the right) we found a life bird - a Blue Bunting.  Hooded Warblers foraged in and around our campsite.

 Spent time driving through the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge seeing more Whooping Cranes, Egrets, Herons and Shorebirds.

At Matagorda Jetty we found thousands of birds: highlights were Wilson's, Snowy & Piping Plovers, Least Terns and flocks of Am. Avocets.

San Bernard NWR had more mosquitos than birds but we witnesses a first for us - a very large bull Alligator roaring - sounding over the marshland.

At Brazos Bend State Park we walked miles of nature trails encountering a good diversity of birds and once again numerous alligators.  Each night we were serenaded by several Barred Owls, and small-mouthed toads, (that bleat like sheep) and a myriad of other amphibians and insects.

We returned to the beach at Galveston Island State Park where we saw 7 N. Gannets feeding with the Brown Pelicans, gulls and cormorants.  Another ferry took us to Bolivar Flats and the Shorebird Sanctuary.  More great looks at Am. Golden Plovers and Whimbrels.

Next stop - High Island and the Houston Audubon's numerous sanctuaries.  Spring passerine migration is just beginning with warblers arriving daily over the gulf.  This Spoonbill/Great Egret/ Neotropic Cormorant Rookery is part of the Smith Oaks acreage.  The elevated photography blinds provide excellent close views and the cacophony of grunts, squawks and chatter.

Anahuac (pronounced An-a-whack) NWR had lots of shorebirds including a Ruff.  Early in the morning we encountered 4 Barn Owls on the drive to the refuge for the Rail Walk.  Pictured to the right, Ty (on left) and the walk leader are dragging gravel filled milk jugs on a rope through the Spartina grass in water with fanned out participants, in an attempt to flush rails.  This exercise was repeated later that afternoon with Yellow Rails, Sora, Seaside Sparrows and Sedge Wrens observed.


One last trip out to the Texas Coast at Sabine Pass and a visit to Sea Rim State Park that has been destroyed by 2 Hurricanes (Rita & Ike). Spent the day at Sabine Woods where we enjoyed a nice fallout of 12 species of warblers (including Worm-eating, Swainson's, Hooded & Yellow-br. Chat), Rose-breasted & Blue Grosbeaks, Baltimore & Orchard Orioles.

Looking forward to migrating north with the birds.  Ty & Ida

South Texas - Gulf Coast

 On March 1st we drove from the dry thorn forest to the tropical forest of Sable Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville, TX; then unto the Gulf Coast at Boca Chica.  The Beach was littered with washed up Man of War jellyfish (with warning flags for venomous sea life).   But the birds were numerous including 52 Piping Plovers, Willets, Sanderlings, Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls and 6 species of Terns (Sandwich, Gull-billed, Royal, Caspian, Forester's, & Least).

Rio RV Park owner just happened to be the local Audubon president who offered to drive us to Brownsville's most "famous" birding area - the Sanitary Landfill.  We not only saw literally thousands of gulls, vultures, caracaras, cattle egrets, and Chihauhaun Ravens but the much sought after Tamaulipas Crow.  We saw both morphs of the Reddish Egrets on the delta plains to Boca Chica along with White-tailed Hawks and many flocks of ducks headed north along the coast.

 Our next destination was South Padre Island and a week's stay at Andy Bowie park across from the World Birding Center and also access to miles of beach.  Our twice daily visits to the elevated boardwalks provided a great variety of interesting birds: Black Skimmers, Am. Oystercatchers, Tri-colored, Little Blue & Great Blue Herons, Snowy, Reddish, Cattle & Great Egrets, Yellow-Crowned & Black-Crowned Night-herons, Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, Black-necked Stilts, Am. Avocets, Sora, Clapper & King Rails, a Short-eared Owl and a Wilson's Plover.   Ducks and Coot were staying clear of this 8 foot long Alligator, (pictured to the left).

After 5 days of 85 degree weather, a large cold front dropped the temps 30 degrees with rain and high winds.  This produced a fallout of passerines including a nice variety of warblers: Yellow-throated, N. Parula, Black & White, Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-thr. Green and the hotline rare bird - the Golden-cheeked Warbler last seen on the Island in 1997 which brought dozens of birders to the area.

As Spring Break college kids were arriving - we were leaving, last stop church at the "Chapel by the Sea".  We drove north to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and the 15 mile auto tour.  Bird & animal highlights include: Botteri's Sparrow, Swallow-tailed Kite, many Roadrunners & Chachalacas, Green Jays, Nilgai ( large Pakistani hoof stock escaped from King's Ranch) 8 foot long Indigo Snake and Coyotes.

On the way to Port Mansfield, we had great looks at an Aplomado Flacon, Scissors-tailed Flycatcher and earlier that morning; Com. Poorwill, Com. Pauraque, and Barn Owl.

As we head north along the coast we are looking forward to a great Spring migration.
Our best to all,  Ida & Ty

Rio Grande Valley

 For the month of February we are based at Bentsen Palm RV Park adjacent to the World Birding Center of the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park.  It's great to be able to walk next door to miles of trails.  The park affords opportunities to experience sub-tropical environment including a new variety of plants and animals.  These Green Jays to the left are one of the specialty birds that people come to see in S. Texas.

We also traveled to nearby birding areas for some of the rarities:  Estero Llano Grande State Park with it's great variety of habitats where we found all the herons and egrets, many ducks and shorebirds and the specialty everyone was looking for - the Rose-throated Becard.

Quinta Mazatlan, a historical 1935 adobe estate now a city park dedicated to birds where we found a Tropical Parula and our first Carolina Wren.

Anzalduos County Park where we found and reported a Horned Grebe (rare inTexas) and a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet.

Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco where we
searched for hours in the warm rain and found the Golden-crowned Warbler - a life bird for us.

To the right is pictured the Hawk Tower and Resaca (Rio Grande oxbow) at Bentsen where we spent many hours scanning the skies for vultures and birds of prey drifting from Mexico into the United States.  We saw White-tailed Kites, Red-shouldered and Harris's Hawks, and a Zone-tailed Hawk.  Looking below in the resaca we had many ducks, shorebirds, waders, flycatchers and pipits.

Pictured to the left is a Plain Chachalaca scarfing peanut butter by the Nature Center in Bentsen.  Many of these noisy birds came as soon as the feeders were filled.  There were also Clay-colored Thrushes, Altamira & Streak-backed Oriole, Pyrrhuloxia, Greater Kiskadees.  On the grounds we found Vermillion Flycatchers, Gray Hawks,  Green & Ringed Kingfishers, and Black-headed Grosbeak.  Spiny Blue Lizards, Diamond-backed Water snakes, Nine-banded Armadillos, and large variety of butterflies constituted additional wildlife.

We also found Hook-billed Kites and Monk Parakeets in Hidalgo, White Ibis in Edenburg, and enjoyed a day and a half at Santa Ana NWR.


It has also been fun connecting and birding with friends from Wisconsin.  Spending the winter here at Bentsen are Tom & Carol Sykes and Jerry & Karen Smith who directed us to area target birds.  Our nine month journey list stands at 540 and counting.

We have enjoyed attending Palm Valley Church here in Mission,Texas through which we supported Guatemalan orphanage missionaries for many years.  Bye for now,  Ty & Ida

West Texas

Our trip through far Southeastern Arizona and New Mexico was a bit chilly and only a few birds were found.  A couple nights had temps down to 18 degrees.  We did see Scaled Quail and Sage Thrasher plus a great look at a gray fox curled up in the branches of a pine tree about 12 feet off the ground at the cemetery in Deming, NM.





Drove through a dust storm near El Paso on our way to spend 3 days at Davis Mountain (pictured at left) State Park. Highlights: Montezuma Quail, nightly visitors to our campsite were 19 Javelinas (pictured left, below) a gray fox and a striped skunk (luckily stink free).

 Drove south to the 800,000 acre Big Bend National Park, staying 2 days at Cottonwood campground.  We spent a day at Santa Elena Canyon with its 1,000 foot walls towering above the Rio Grande.  This Roadrunner posed while warming his back in the morning sun.  After 8 hours of searching, we were rewarded with a life bird - the Nutting's Flycatcher.  On the southeastern edge of Big Bend is the Boquillas Canyon where the sheer canyon walls flanked the Rio Grande resounded with the song of the Canyon Wren and a local Mexican vocalist hoping for a donation.

Following the Rio Grande southeast, we stopped at San Ygnacio bird sanctuary where we encountered the tropical South Texas birds: Chachalacas, Green Jays, and Kiskadees.  A stop at Zapata for the White-collared Seedeaters was successful with 11 birds.  Then to Falcon State Park for a 6 day stay in the desert with a couple trips to Salineno.  We had nightly serenades by the coyotes and Pauraques.  The picture to the right are Kiskadees (up to 35 at once) at the Salineno feeders where we were treated also by the rare Brown Jay, Audubon, Hooded & Altimira Orioles; White-tipped, White-winged, Inca & Com. Ground Doves.  We also spent many hours watching along the Rio Grande where we found another "life bird" - a Red-billed Pigeon.  There was a nice group of people at Falcon that we joined for Pot Luck supper and a music night where Ida joined in with a few songs on the Q-Chord.

Adios amigos from the Rio Grande Valley,   Ty & Ida

Birding Southeast Arizona

After spending a great 5 weeks in Tucson, we are on to more birds and wildlife in Southeast Arizona.  Our last outing was to the heights of Mt. Lemmon where we were amazed at the rock formations as these pictured on the left.  As we climbed higher we came to the snow, just in case we missed winter.  We ended the year with 477 species of birds, now we are starting over with our 2012 list plus adding to our trip list.  Species of note on the summit were large numbers of Pygmy Nuthatches, Yellow-eyed Juncos, Mountain Chickadees, Stellar's Jays, and Pine Siskins.

What is most interesting in traveling the road from the Tucson valley floor at 2,500 feet above sea level to the 9,100 foot summit in a distance of 25 miles is the definitive life-zone transitions.  Saguaros cut off at exactly 4,000 feet, giving way to cedars and finally the large pine forest of the summit. Each zone has its complement of birds and wildlife.

We spent 2 days at Madera Canyon hiking the trails and locating the Arizona Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse, Mexican Jays, Hutton's Vireo, Olive Warbler, Townsend's Solitaire, Dusky Flycatcher, and the most rare for Arizona - an Olive Sparrow.

We traveled on to Patagonia Lake State Park and walked the creek pictured to the right.  Here we added Plumbeous & Cassion's Vireos, Lark Sparrows, Ash-throated & Gray Flycatchers, Green-tailed Towhees, Mountain & Western Bluebirds plus 75 more species in 2 days.  Here we also found deer and Jack Rabbits.

We made several stops along the Huachuca  Mountains and are now in the historical mining town of Bisbee.
Wishing you all the best in the new year.  Ty & Ida