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Fun Airplane Flight Activities and Supplies

Hans Suter Wildlife Area, Oso Bay, Texas, Birding Outing

Bob and I walked the trail along Oso Bay and out on the boardwalk into Oso Bay Friday to see what we could see while the maids were at work cleaning up the condominium. The highlight of the trip turned out to be spotting a Sora rail, just as we were leaving. It is much smaller than the Clapper Rail we saw on the North Shore. We had quite the experience birding spotting 31 different varieties--very good luck for a birder.

Birds spotted: Eastern Phoebe, Northern Cardinal, White Pelican, Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, Coot, Pintail, Snowy Egret, Gadwall, Shoveller, Neotropic Cormorant, Tricolor Heron, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Great American Egret, Great-tailed Grackle, Redwing Blackbird, Stilt, Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull, American Wigeon, Short-billed Dowitcher, American Avocet, Caspian Tern, Green-winged Teal, Royal Tern, Double Crested Cormorant, Pied-billed Grebe, Sora, Little Blue Heron, Osprey,

Today's outing to a ranch in Beeville got cancelled by the strong northern wind, a bad thing to have while birding for passerine birds. But, we were surprised to see a Crested Caracara, so not all was lost.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Return Visit

Bob and I returned to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas on Wednesday, January 21, 2009, after almost ten years since our last visit. Surprisingly, I recalled some of the area. We immediately checked out the Rail walk first, but to our sadness, didn't find any rails. We did spot Wilson's Snipe or Common Snipe. Fun to see so many individual birds and fairly out in the open.

Other birds spotted:

Robin, Coot, Moorhen, Redwing Blackbird, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Mockingbird, Blackheaded Vulture, Killdeer, White Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, Harrier, Chipping Sparrow (saw a juvenile that took us quite some time to identify because of the greyness in his head and striping on his breast), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Voice of Great Horned Owl, Mourning Dove, Common Grackle, Red-tailed Hawk, and later at the ferry crossing to Aransas Pass, Black-crowned Night Heron

Animals spotted:

Most fun was this time we spotted easily maybe a dozen Javelina, White-tailed Deer, Raccoon,Turtles, Squirrel (variety?), Turtle (variety--red spot on face and stripes), Armadillo

Also saw a Merlin on a lamp post on North Padre Island, Texas near the golf course the day before.

A review of Captives by Tod Hasik-Lowy :: The Compulsive Reader :: A Haven for Book Lovers

Link

Captives is a unusual story, tense from the beginning as Daniel starts trying to understand his desire to play the assassin and quickly captures the reader with the variety of events that unfold.

Up Early to Cock of the Rock Lodge, Manu NWR, Peru

We are up early to catch our bus with Mano Wildlife Tours. We are on our way to a nine day trip to the Amazons. Our first stop will be at the Cock of the Rock Lodge, in Manu National Wildlife Reserve but first we must drive over the top of the Andes -- the photograph above is the view of the Andes on the road to Manu on the western side. Note how dry everything is in the spring. When we reach the top, we enter into Manu National Wildlife Reserve and Cloud Forest owned by Peru Verde as part of the park. In the photograph below, Cloud Forest is exactly that.

 

Birds spotted on this part of the trip, including a stop at a lake in the Sacred Valley in search of hummingbirds:

Andean Guan, Neotropic Cormorant, Black-crowned Night Heron, Mountain Caracara, American Kestrel, Rainbow Starfrontlet, Highland Motmot, Golden-headed Quetzal, White-browed Chat tyrant.

Travel Blogs and Articles

I've been snooping around the internet looking for great places to find travel articles and have found several recent ones that were new to me. Travelwriters.com is a great place to network with other travel writers and learn how to build your credentials. Travelblog.com has lots of beautiful pictures along with well-written articles for every place you can imagine. TripAdvisor.com was used by many of our companions on our tour to Peru as a way to help them find out good places to stay. All three are well publicized on the web and well managed. They provide a great source of information.

Sacsayhuman, Cusco, Peru and Peruvian Birds

 

Bob and I took a taxi to the top of Sacsayhuman, an Inca Fortress that overlooks the town of Cusco. As you can tell from this photo of my husband, the stone work skills of the Inca were quite advanced. It's an interesting couple hour walk (especially if you're affected by high altitude like us) and if you are a birder. Places to find birds include along the fields and near the entrance where there's a small forest on the hillside. We were going to walk back down but a taxi took us there much quicker without the hassle of walking on the road.

Birds spotted : Andean Lapwing, Eared Dove, Andean Flicker, Rufous Collared Sparrow

Arrival in Cusco, Peru

 

Photograph of the Andes on our flight to Cusco, Peru

Wow, definite kick to the lungs when you climb to 10000'. you can breathe but suddenly you get dizzy after a few steps. Then you stop and pay attention to your breathing. I developed a headache by nightfall and was very pleased to crash after finding a restaurant, the place next to the very popular Jack's restaurant by mistake. Still, the food was good and well cooked. A tour of the Cathedral had me exhausted with just a few brief moments to see the Plaza des Armas. By staying at Torre Dorado hotel, we had a fantastic time, had great help with our arrangements and were delivered to and from the downtown area.

First day in Lima, Peru

Our first day in Peru, Bob and I accomplished little more than arriving downtown at the Plaza de Armas in Lima and seeing the changing of the guard at the Palace of the Governor, Palacio de Gobierno, We met up with my friend Daniel Meija and having lunch. We also toured the Gold Museum which provided much interest in their historical and modern exhibits. Other than our reading, it turned out to be our first taste of Peruvian culture. We dined at L'eau Vive and our return walk took us past our first birds, a Black Vulture sitting on the head of one of the saints at the Cathedral and Rock Doves.

Lima, Peru experience delights

My husband and I have found our way to Lima, Peru. The trip is somewhat exhausting with many short nights of rest, some disturbed by noise, some by too much excitement, some from too much coca tea, but we finally adjusted enough to the high elevation here in our second stop at Cuzco to get a good walk. In general we've had tasty food, good service, and many new people equally excited. We took lots of pictures and today had the first newbirds for the trip: Eared Dove, Andean Flicker, Andean lapwing, RufousCollared Sparrow, Chiguanco Thrush. We spotted several others but didn't get a definate id. Tomorrow we head into the Amazon.