Jeffrey A. Gordon

Atlantic Puffins at (Machias) Seal Island

You don’t need a fancy camera to take a puffin photo like this one–you just need to be in the right spot. I took the above shot with a compact, point & shoot stye camera. And you can, too, if you want. Or you can just enjoy one of North America’s great natural spectacles, right in front of you.

I’m looking for a couple more people to join me in August for a wonderful week-long getaway to the Bay of Fundy region, just Down East of Maine. Of course, the trip is built around a visit to Seal Island, also known as Machias Seal Island, which features the most enjoyable seabird colony experience I have ever had, with the sole exception of Antartica, a much more difficult and expensive trip, to say the least. 

It’s loaded with gawky but gorgeous Atlantic Puffins and dapper Razorbills, with the occasional Common Murre thrown in for good measure. There are also Common and Arctic terns, plus plenty of Leach’s Storm-Petrels, though these last generally remain unseen in their burrows. 

While a number of sites could boast a similar species list and some are larger, what makes Seal Island the very best is the chance to land–weather permitting, of course, but it usually does in early August–and view these birds from blinds set only feet away from the birds. It’s not uncommon to hear the pitter-pat of puffin feet as they go marching across ther blind’s roof!

Seal Island is certainly the high point, but it’s got stiff competition from the rest of the birding in the Grand Manan/Bay of Fundy region, not to mention whale watching (possibly including spectacular North Atlantic Right Whales), scenery, and local seafood. And don’t worry–if you’re one of those unfortunates who doesn’t like lobster, there’s plenty of other great food to keep you happy and healthy and enjoying the trip.

Time is of the essence here: the trip begins August 8th in Bangor, Maine and ends there on Agust 14th. If you’d like to join a small, aimiable group please contact me ASAP–we need signups by July 1.

For more information, you can e-mail me at jeffgyr@mac.com, or call or e-mail Karen Turner at the Field Guides, Inc., office (kturner@fieldguides.com / 800-728-4953). I may be a bit out-of-internet the next day or two, so Karen may be the better bet for now.

Thanks for considering the trip, or for passing the info along to anyone you know who might be.

Tags: bayoffundy, fieldguides, puffins, tours, Travel

Male Wilson’s Warbler, San Mateo County, CA

Here’s a shot I would describe as a likable miss. It’s not very sharp (light was incredibly low, requiring slow shutter speeds) and there’s too much obstructing vegetation. But that vegetation, especially the way its pink and green colors complement the yellow and black warbler, is also what makes the shot worth sharing, I think.

For the ornithologically inclined among you, I’ll pass along something my host in Central California, the estimable Alvaro Jaramillo, pointed out to me: Look how golden the forecrown is on this bird–much more so than the plain yellow frontlet shown by birds I see in the East. Cool, huh?

Tags: alvarojaramillo, california, warblers

Hello out there!

I’m checking in, as it has been 2+ weeks since my last post. In the meantime, I’ve been madly working away on a photography project that has taken me to four states, including Oregon–a lifer for me and the 49th U.S. state in which I have set foot.

On top of that, today is my birthday–my 45th birthday. Maybe next year I can go to South Dakota for my birthday for an even 50. Or maybe I should wait 5 years. Hmmmm, 50 states–50 years. That’s got a nice ring to it.

Oh, and don’t forget: today is Flag Day in the United States. Fly ‘em if you got ‘em!

Tags: birthday, blackbirds, Oregon

Mr. & Mrs. Gordon

Redden State Forest

27 May 2009 

I think I may have missed the boat here. Looks like the traditional gift for 3rd anniversaries is, um, leather…

Oh well. We went out taking pictures of birds (and bees!) instead. It was not the most romantic anniversary ever, but it was lots of fun. Thanks to Kevin Fleming for taking this picture of us.

Tags: anniversary, bees, camo, lizzie

…if you don’t stop and smell the roses along the way!

Rough Greensnake near Trap Pond State Park, DE  sunning on road and climbing multiflora rose 

19 May 2009

Tags: lyrics, multiflora, snakes, trappond

So my swinging cousin Kevin–no, silly, not that Cousin Kevin, but my most successful and swinging cousin Kevin who is also a famous photographer, who is so wild he even made a book called Wild Delaware, calls me up and tells me he knows about this fox bar. He says the foxes there are very beautiful and they are very easy to cruise successfully. He asks me if I want to go there, so I say, “Why not? There’s nothing preventing us! Those foxes are sure to be impressed with the great big bulges on our tripods!”

So we get to the place and Kevin is right! It is crawling with foxes! Beautiful American foxes who are unafraid of two unique guys such as us.

These foxes are not only very beautiful, they are very young, making them easy to cruise for swinging guys like us with our loose nylon shorts.

And here is something I will tell you–these young American foxes were not even afraid to come right out on the road, right in front of us. Such a thing would never have happened back in Czechoslavakia, where young foxes will only talk to high party officials!

This hot young American fox is coming right over to check out Kevin. Hey look! She is even smaller than the very impressive bulge on his tripod!

Then this fox went off to the side of the road, where she started digging some kind of crazy American fox hole. My cousin Kevin and I could not believe how wild this fox was! Never before have we had a fox dig a hole right at our feet.

Just when we thought our evening could not get any wilder and more successful, well, I have some news for you–the fox’s sister showed up! Now, there were two foxes for us to cruise.

When the one fox sister was done digging her small hole, the two foxes decided to get a little more comfortable, pretending to not even be concerned with me and my cousin.

You can even see that their ears are full of large American ticks, which make the hot young foxes very, very itchy.

Though they did not speak good English like me and my cousin, it was easy for us to see that the itchy young foxes wanted to swing with us!

We were ready to go back to their fox den right then, but the young American foxes told us that they still lived there with their parents, who might not like to see guys so unique as Kevin and me with large Japanese bulges on our tripods. So we said, “Hey, that’s no problem!  We can meet you back at our swinging pads. Just be sure to bring many birth control devices with you!”

Well, I am a little sorry to tell you, the foxes never showed. Perhaps their parents came home and told them to watch out for guys so swinging as us. But that’s OK–we will be sure to get back to that fox bar sometime very soon. Why don’t you make a bet on it, O.K.?

Tags: bombayhook, foxes, kevinfleming, lamehumor, ticks

May oh May! There is always something going on in May. In my case, not much blogging so far. And not much today, either, but I wanted to put up a quick post to just check in and say hello.

Here are two views of a Marsh Wren I took this morning while out photographing with Kevin Fleming. You can see a nifty Yellow Warbler picture that Kevin got this morning here.

My favorite part of this shot is the contrast between the stiff, delineated primaries and the soft, rather amorphous undertail coverts. Below, a landscape view, where the bird melts, as Marsh Wrens will, into the vegetation.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re getting out and enjoying the explosion of natural activity that is May. See you soon.

Tags: delaware, kevinfleming, wrens

I’m just back from the New River Birding and Nature Festival, held each year near Fayetteville, West Virginia. It has become one of my favorite annual birding events, so much so that I was really bummed out when it appeared that scheduling conflicts were going to keep me from going this year. Fortunately, that issue worked itself out and I was able to rejoin the guide roster just a couple of weeks before the festival kicked off. Even better, I was able to talk my mother, Kathleen, into joining me for the trip. I knew she would love the place, the people, and the event, and I was right on all counts.

One thing that I was especially interested in this year was a gathering of bird and nature bloggers many of whom collectively refer to themselves as “The Flock.” Their presence certainly added a great deal of energy and camaraderie to an already energetic, friendly group. Meeting them and getting to spend time in the field was really cool. In fact, I’m going to largely direct you to their blogs to read about the goings-on at New River this year.

I won’t be making too many posts about this festival (perhaps 3), for a number of reasons:

1. There are going to be a lot of posts about it by other talented bloggers, many of them much more widely read than me.

2. I’ve got a couple of other birding activities coming up very soon I want to spotlight here. And I’m not even done with Ecuador yet.

3. I did a miserable, miserable job of recording the event in pictures.

When I speak or write about birds and birding, I try pretty hard to set the scene in a way that lets the audience see the context in which the birds are living and in which the birding is occurring. Of course, I love taking a good bird photo as much as the next person, but it’s so often the people pictures, the scenery shots, and other marginalia that I think make for a good story. And I just didn’t do it this time.

It wasn’t as if I lacked for opportunity. With the bloggers, my Mom, birding buds and celebrities aplenty, I could have done a lot. Ditto the scenery, the plants, the efts, and on and on. But my camera stayed in its case most of the time. Partly that was weather–it rained a lot. Partly it was having to lead trips, manipulate iPods, and so on. But mostly, I just didn’t keep up with it, knowing that the event was going to be so well covered.

I did get out to take a few pictures though. One day, after field trips had finished and then on the way home Sunday. Below are my favorites, which I hope that you’ll enjoy. But they are all pretty much just birds–there’s not much backstory. For that, I direct you to the list of other blogger-participants at the end of this post.

Here then, are a few birds. As always, you can see them bigger and better by clicking on any or all.

A male Scarlet Tanager inspects a stream pool where he is in the process of drinking and/or bathing. Unfortunately, he’s perched in a patch of Japanese Knotweed, an invasive exotic plant that blankets many roadsides and stream beds here.

Here’s a male Blue-winged Warbler, photographed in a more botanically pristine setting.

While Blue-winged is an OK name for this bird, I have to say it could be improved. Black-lored Warbler, maybe? I’d like something that highlights that nifty little narrow black mask.

If it’s blue wings you want, you can’t do much better than the Cerulean Warbler, which I think sports one of the coolest and most appropriate monikers of the whole tribe.

It’s just so, so wonderful to see and hear Ceruleans in good numbers. How good? Well, it’s easy to encounter half a dozen or even a dozen in the course of a morning’s field trip to proper habitats. Here’s the same guy, head on.

Also head on and also very blue: a male Northern Parula. His unusual name reflects a bit of taxonomic confusion. Linnaeus originally believed them to be kin to titmice and chickadees and placed them in the genus Parus with the old world tits. Yes, that’s right, he literally called it, “American Tit.” Whatever you call them, parulas are darn cute.

So that’s about it. They are lovely birds, aren’t they?

As I said, I’ll have a post or two more on New River coming, but for the big picture, I suggest that you check in with the following blogs and bloggers, who are listed in no particular order. 

Tags: bloggers, newriver, tanagers, warblers, westvirginia

I spent much of the last several days leading trips and hanging out at various events associated with the Delmarva Birding Weekend. Though I had a great time, I took virtually no pictures. When you’re leading a big group of people it’s darned near impossible, in my experience, to take any time out even for scenic and group shots, to say nothing of bird photos. But when we had a major celebrity sighting at Thursday evening’s tally rally, generously and deliciously hosted by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, I just had to snap a quick photo.

I knew I recognized her right away–that actress from The Matrix and Memento and so on–I just couldn’t remember her name. Fortunately, Jim Rapp, who is pretty much the Oz behind the entire birding weekend, in addition to being the Director of DLITE, whipped out his pathetically cracked but still-functional iPhone and looked her up. Carrie-Anne Moss–that’s her name! We were all excited to have such a hip pop culture icon out enjoying birding and natural history (and craft brewing) on the Delmarva Peninsula. The only cloud over the whole experience was that our friend Sally O’Byrne had apparently headed to the rest room or something and missed the whole thing. And sure enough, Sally re-appeared just a couple of seconds after Carrie-Anne vanished. And I do mean vanished–we tried to find Ms. Matrix again so that Sally could see her, too, but it was like she had just evaporated or something. Kinda trippy.

After the weekend, I was really itching to go out and take some bird photos, so Monday morning I decided to go to Redden State Forest and surrounding areas, where there are hundreds of newly arrived warblers and other neotropical migrants. I figured that in addition to taking some photos, I could work in a little scouting for the Delaware Bird-a-thon, which I’ll be participating in next week.

Redden has a nice mix of  pine and deciduous forest types, plus lots of regenerating areas where the timber has been harvested. In one of those cutover spots, I found this Prairie Warbler.

He was happy enough perching and singing from trees both deciduous and evergreen.

Also singing were Black-and-white Warblers–two different ones this time–again in both gymnosperm and angiosperm settings.

I was especially hoping to get a really great portrait of a Worm-eating Warbler. These rather plain but still strikingly beautiful birds are surprisingly common around here.

This was the best I came up with. It’s not bad, but I’m definitely still looking for that ultimate Worm-eating shot.

This Kentucky Warbler proved to be a even more challenging target, but it’s such a cool bird and so seldom seen by most of us that I couldn’t resist including it.

Finally, an Ovenbird. These guys are downright abundant in decent forest around here. I spent less time on them than I did on the other species, but I still thought the pose here was pretty cool.

So that was my morning. Not officially part of the Delmarva Birding Weekend, but it gives you an idea of some of the birding we enjoyed. Tomorrow, I’m off to another great birding event: the New River Birding & Nature Festival. It’ll be great to see a bunch of old friends, plus this year’s event is chock-full of bird bloggers, many of whom I’ll be meeting F2F for the first time. Perhaps the best part, though, is that I’ll be heading out there with my Mom, who I know is going to love not only the birds and the birders, but also the fabulous botanizing. We’ll see how I do photo-wise there…I’m sure I’ll have something to show you when I get back.

Tags: delaware, delmarvabirdingweekend, dlite, jimrapp, reddenstateforest, spring, warblers

Ornate Flycatcher, Milpe, Ecuador

How often do you find the words cute and unmistakable in the same sentence with flycatcher? Bob Ridgeley combined them to capture much of what makes this bird special. My photo, unfortunately, only shows the ventral side of the bird. Add in the glowing yellow rump and rusty-based tail and you’ve got quite a cute, small, essentially unmistakable flycatcher.

That’s all I’ve got time for today! Off to teach a saltmarsh/bay ecology class to a bunch of 8th graders, then lead a birding boat cruise on the Delaware Bay and Broadkill River for the Delmarva Birding Weekend. Whew!

Tags: bobridgeley, ecuador, flycatchers, milpe