Category Archives: Trip Reports

2016 Big Years Tours is in Louisiana

Posted on by
Reply

Yep. We’re in Louisiana right now! And we’re having a blast! I cannot wait to come back. Grand Isle is a WONDERFUL place to visit!

Check out my Big Year Blog for the latest updates and tally of species!

And if you wanna go on a tour with me, then take a look at what is still available at the Big Year Tours page.

All the tours are being run by Wildside Nature Tours. And for each person who signs up, a donation will be made the ABA (American Birding Association) Young Birders. Not only are you signing up for a fun tour with me, you’ll be supporting a very worthy group of aspiring young birders.

And thanks to Leica for the terrific optics I am using to do what I love this year…birding with passion and getting people hooked on it. You should see the really cool binoculars I am using this year–the newly released Leica Trinovid 10×42 HD binoculars! They are light weight. The view is crystal clear. They perform wonderfully in low light. And the close focus is so good you can even look at Chestnut-sided Warblers at Magee Marsh in Ohio during Biggest Week in American Birding. That is because these birds are ridiculously, reach-out-and-touch-them close. And now you can look at specs on an individual feather with these new binoculars.

November 2014 Rio Grande Valley Trip Report

Posted on by
Reply
Green Jay shucking seeds - Sabal Palm Sanctuary - Brownsville TX - 2014-11-17

Green Jay shucking seeds – Sabal Palm Sanctuary – Brownsville TX – 2014-11-17 photo by Greg Miller

I led a trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas November 16-23 for Wildside Nature Tours.  We had a very chilly start but ended up with a nice list of birds.  Here’s my trip report.  If you are stuck inside on a cold evening, this will probably warm you up a little.  Texas birds are pretty magical.  I bet you’ll sleep better.

Texas – Lower Rio Grande Valley with Greg Miller – Nov 16-23 2014 (corrected)

I am here in Florida this weekend.  I will meet Kevin Loughlin in a day or two to set up the booth for Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival here in Titusville, Florida January 21-26, 2015.

2014 Ecuador Trip Report

Posted on by
Reply
Sword-billed Hummingbird hovering - Guango EC - 2014-08-14

“Thee Creature of Extreme Awesomeness“, Sword-billed Hummingbird hovering – Guango EC – 2014-08-14 photo by Greg Miller

Nothing like a little shooting at the local mall to keep me indoors long enough to complete a trip report on the most phenomenal birding adventure I have ever experienced.  Ecuador.  It is a fantastic place full of thousands of orchids, fresh fruit all year (no seasons), deliciously strong, dark coffee, 16,000-foot mountains with cloud forests in the West, the Amazon Basin rainforests in the East, many wonderful people, and bird diversity like nowhere else in the Western Hemisphere (and arguably, the World).

Northern Ecuador – Andes & Amazon – Aug 2014

 

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Posted on by
3

Raindrops on roses and… Wait. That's some 1960's movie. But Biggest Week in American Birding is almost here. And really these little gems called warblers decorate the trees and fill the air with song. In short, they make me happy. Here are a few birds I got photos of in 2013. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Festivals Recap – February-March 2014

Posted on by
1

Events

High Plains Snow Goose Festival Feb 20, 2014 Lamar, CO
Beckham Bird Club Annual Dinner Mar 11, 2014 Louisville, KY
Big O Birding Festival Mar 13, 2014 LaBelle, FL
Nature Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival Mar 20-23, 2014 Spring Hill, FL
Road trip from Ohio to Arizona Apr 11-23, 2014 OH to AZ
Verde Valley Birding and Wildlife Festival Apr 24-27, 2014 Cottonwood, AZ
Biggest Week in American Birding May 6-15, 2014 Oregon, OH
Acadia Birding Festival May 29-Jun 1, 2014 Bar Harbor, ME
Ecuador: Northern Andes and Amazon with Greg Miller Aug 8-23, 2014 Quito, Ecuador

 

Prairie Falcon

At the end of February I went to Southeastern Colorado for the High Plains Snow Goose Festival. And there were thousands of Snow Geese. For me, the raptors were a treat. This Prairie Falcon is one cool camper! And ther are Red-tailed Hawks of all different colorations. Below is a “Western” Red-tailed Hawk.

Western Red-tailed Hawk

And a beautiful light morph Ferruginous Hawk.

Light morph Ferruginous Hawk

After a few short days at home I drove to Louisville KY to speak to the Beckham Bird Club. We had a great time during my quick visit. Below is one of the Red-necked Grebes on the Ohio River.

Red-necked Grebe

In the next day-and-a-half I drove 1,000 miles to reach LaBelle FL for the tail end of the Big “O” Birding Festival. I birded Devil's Garden during the day and gave a slide presentation that evening. The next day I got to bird Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA5). Here are a few highlights.

Barred Owl

Eastern Meadowlark

Purple Swamphen

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Snail Kite

After the Big O, I traveled north to Spring Hill FL for the Nature Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. It was cool to bird this area of Florida–an area I had only birded once before. I visited lots of cool places. And the Saturday keynote went very well. I had a great time. Highlights of Naure Coast are below.

Swallow-tailed Kite

Boat-tailed Grackle

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Water Lily

After a fun-filled schedule at Nature Coast I drove north to Tallahassee FL for a couple days of recovery and also to wait out the snowstorm in West Virginia. While in Tallahassee I got to visit Maclay Gardens–an awesomely beautiful place to visit at this time of year. Enjoy the pics!

Maclay Gardens

Maclay Gardens

Maclay Gardens

Maclay Gardens

Maclay Gardens

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

 

Space Coast Festival and Florida Birds Workshop – January 2014

Posted on by
3

Some Upcoming Events

High Plains Snow Goose Festival Feb 20, 2014 Lamar, CO
Beckham Bird Club Annual Dinner Mar 11, 2014 Louisville, KY
Big O Birding Festival Mar 13, 2014 LaBelle, FL
Nature Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival Mar 20-23, 2014 Spring Hill, FL
Verde Valley Birding and Wildlife Festival Apr 24-27, 2014 Cottonwood, AZ
Biggest Week in American Birding May 6-15, 2014 Oregon, OH
Ecuador: Northern Andes and Amazon with Greg Miller Aug 8-23, 2014 Quito, Ecuador

I've finally waded through 8,000+ photos. My amateur strategy for good photos=volume. When shooting, it's easy to say “It's digital” and shoot away. What is harder is going through the results of that “digital” logic. Volume takes a lot of time. But I have to say that I like taking photos. And lots of them. In the end, I ended up with a number of decent photos that were very satisfying to me.

I have to say that I enjoy photography enough that I actually am willing to put some work into becoming better. Why? Well. Because I want to. Here are few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them, too.

Continue reading →

Great Blue Heron Eating Fish

Posted on by
Reply

Yes.  It has been forever since my last post.  I just returned from a 10-day trip to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival and a Florida Birds Photo Workshop with Wildside Nature Tours.  I am going through my 8,000+ photos while occasionally glancing up at possibly the most boring of Super Bowl games ever.  Even the commercial are mediocre.  Well.  Here is something new.  I will try inserting an animated picture here.  It is not a video.  And I am sure it will not work in the email form of this blog (sorry).  I will have plenty to post in the coming days.

Great Blue Heron eating large fish - Viera Wetlands FL - 2014-01-28

Great Blue Heron eating large fish – Viera Wetlands FL – 2014-01-28 photos by Greg Miller

2013 RMBO 25th Anniversary

Posted on by
2

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 5, 2013. A nice crowd showed up for the event. Above, folks gathered to hear some guy talk about being a bird consultant for a Hollywood movie, The Big Year, and his experiences meeting Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson.

 

We had a good turn out for a very chilly early morning bird walk. This is a phone-scoped picture of the morning sun beginning to light up a very distant Long's Peak. It was taken handheld with my iPhone through my Swarovski ATX 80 telescope at 25x.

An American Kestrel posed long enough for everyone to get a scope view and fortunately, long enough for me to capture a quick phone-scoped picture (same set up as above).

And as all my readers know by now, I love visiting local restaurants and trying out new dishes. This is a “regular” sized bowl of Pho (noodle soup) at a Vietnamese restaurant in Brighton, Colorado. It was gargantuan! I didn't even make a significant dent in this Goliath-sized bowl of soup. I think it must be half a gallon. Haha. Check out that quarter beside the glass of water for a size reference! The portion I ate was delicious, too.

 

Colorado October 2013

Posted on by
2

Wow! What is not to like about aspens in the fall? I am here in Colorado for Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s BBQ with the Birds tomorrow, October 5, 2013. Check out the RMBO website for more information. And of course, if you are in the area why not come and join me for the day’s festivities!

Continue reading →

2013 MBS & OFO

Posted on by
2

MBS & OFO? What is that, you say? Midwest Birding Symposium and Ontario Field Ornithologists. MBS was a week ago already and OFO was this past weekend. I'm writing from a hotel in Lexington, Nebraska on my way to Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory in Brighton, Colorado.

I'm always thrilled to see young birders' enthusiasm. Nathan already has a keen eye (OFO at Pt. Pelee).

The banquet Saturday night at OFO. Over 240 participants!

We had a large group for a field trip to the tip at Pt. Pelee. That's me in jeans and a light shirt with the green Biggest Week in American Birding backpack about half way. (Photo by Steve Pike)

This is a Blackpoll Warbler at Magee Marsh during MBS. Note that it is showing off the pale soles of its feet…just to taunt birders with the difficult identification.

Golly. This looks delicious. (The berry silly–not the Ring-billed Gull)

Nom-Nom-Nom. Looks so good I think I'll swallow it whole.

Oofah. That was larger than I thought.

Ewww. Gonna have to walk this one off!

Funny sequence of a Ring-billed Gull with a large “snack” at East Harbor State Park during MBS.

Gotta run. Off to Colorado!