Spring Migrants in Fargo, North Dakota

May 16, 2008
Fargo, North Dakota

Early on the morning of May 16, Magdalena and I spent several hours birdwatching in Fargo, North Dakota. My parents Wayne & Wanda Easley have lived in North Dakota for the last 7 years and recently we decided to pay them a visit. Both of my parents are quite keen birders and they know all the local hotspots to find great birds in the state. They also joined us on this short outing as we made our way from Minneapolis, MN to the famous small town of Harvey, ND where they live. I guess it's only famous if you live there, ha!
We only spent a couple of hours birding in two of Fargos small town parks, Trefoil and Oak Grove Parks. Magda was able to add several lifers to her growing list. Orange-crowned Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-crowned, White-throated (photo above), Lincoln's and Harris's Sparrows were the new ones she was able to pick up.
Spring migrants were in full force and several of the other interesting birds seen were:
Sora, Double-crested Cormorant, Cooper's Hawk, Chimney Swift, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Least Flycatcher, Purple Martin, Cliff & Bank Swallows, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, Gray-cheeked & Swainson's Thrushes, Gray Catbird, Magnolia, Yellow, Palm (photo above), Nashville, Yellow-rumped, Black & White, Wilson's and Black-throated Green Warblers, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Chipping & Clay-colored Sparrows, Common Grackle, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbird, Western Meadowlark and Baltimore Orioles.
We also were able to find a spectacular Great Horned Owl adult setting next to it's adorable young chick. We had smashing views and both were photographed at fairly close range (photos above).
A few miles down the road, after leaving the Fargo area, we came across a large flock of Lapland Longspurs. This was my wifes 7th new bird for the day, certainly an excellent find.
We then made our way safely home to Harvey, ND where we will be based for the next few weeks.
I will be sure and keep you all posted on all of our adventures in the Big North D!
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY

Muñeco - Hidden Treasure in the Clouds!

Hello Friends,
This is my first attempt at this blogging thing, so bear with me. I hope the information posted will be informative and fun to read.

Muñeco May 6 & 7, 2008
Tour Partipants - Bart Brown, Magdalena Easley and Steven Easley

On the afternoon of the 6th we visited a birding site called Muneco. It is located near the Tapanti National Park in Costa Rica. This wonderful cloud forest reserve is open to the public and there are no charges to enter. It can only be reached by 4x4, and even after the tough road a lot of hiking is still needed.
The purpose of our visit was to locate as many new species as possible for Bart and my wife as they are working on building up their Costa Rican bird lists. Both have seen more than 700 species in the country, so as you can imagine it is much more difficult to find new birds.
We arrived late in the afternoon and barely had enough time to get in some birding. The only star bird noted on the late afternoon outing was Streaked Xenops.
We started early the next morning and quickly the birds started piling up. Some of the many highlights on the day were: Highland Tinamou, Black-breasted Wood-Quail, Barred Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk (dark morph), Chiriqui Quail-Dove, Black-bellied Hummingbird, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, Scintillant Hummingbird, Resplendent Quetzal, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Scaly-throated Foliage-Gleaner, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Three-wattled Bellbird, White-winged Tanager, Elegant Euphonia and Yellow-bellied Siskin.
However, the highlight of the day was finding a large Army Ant swarm on the edge of the trail. We were treated with close range views of the rare Black-banded Woodcreeper as well as stunning views of Emerald (Blue-throated) Toucanet, Prong-billed Barbet, Spotted Barbtail, Hairy Woodpecker, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, Three-striped Warbler and a tail-bobbing Immaculate Antbird.
We are all looking forward to our next visit to this magical pristine enviroment.
Bart finished with 5 additions and Magdalena added 2 more to her list.
Hope you enjoyed this brief report, I'll post as much as possible in the future!
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY