The Accidental Birder

Places we’ve traveled to find birds

Below are the places we’ve traveled to and links to the stories/blog posts I’ve written about them. As I write more, I’ll update this list, so come back and check this index if you’re looking for something about a particular area. I hope it inspires you and helps if you ever journey to any of these wonderful places on our planet.

Belize

• House wars: Pale-billed Woodpecker vs. White-fronted Parrots
• Life at Crooked Tree in Belize
• Okay, call me lazy. But I prefer canoeing over walking. (Macal River)
• Extreme Birding (El Pilar)
• Birding Mountain Pine Ridge in Belize

Canada

Ontario

• About 800 miles off course (Point Pelee National Park)
• Looking for the White Wise Spirit (Wolfe Island, Ontario)
• Helping Eastern Bluebirds Shelter at Home (Ontario)

Costa Rica

• Birding Costa Rica: Arenal and Hanging Bridges (Arenal and La Fortuna area)
• Costa Rica: Loads of Birds at Arenal Observatory Lodge
• Costa Rica: Birding Rio Celeste
• Costa Rica: From Guanacaste to Dominical
• Costa Rica: Birding Puerto Jiménez
• Costa Rica: Cloud Forest Birding at Savegre
• Costa Rica: A final stop at Rancho Naturalista
• Hummingbirds of Costa Rica

Ecuador

• Angry Hummingbirds (Pas de Aves)
• Come hell or high water: In search of the Torrent Duck (Guango Lodge)
• We’re at bird camp (Amazon)
• Birding high atop the canopy at Sacha Lodge (Amazon)
• It’s elementary my dear Hoatzin (Amazon)
• I held a hummingbird in my hand today (Tandayapa Lodge)
• The tree tomato welcomed me to Ecuador (from my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years)
• The Amazon and Sacha Lodge: Getting there is half the fun (from my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years)
• See, taste and experience Otavalo Market (from my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years)
• Picturing Quito (from my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years)
• Hope is a thing with Feathers (looking for the Esmereldas Woodstar in Río Ayampe in Machalilla National Park)
• There’s nothing wrong with easy birding (Machalilla National Park)
• I take more photos of birds when I’m not suffering (Cerro Blanco and Punta Carnero)
• Strip birding. Because sometimes you have to. (Manglares Chorute Ecological Reserve)
• High again. (El Cajas National Park)
• Come take a walk with me in Cuenca Ecuador (on my other blog Baby Aspirin Years)
• Pressures of Ecuador

Ecuador – Galapagos

• Just try and stop me from seeing the Waved Albatross
• Battle for Love (Great Frigatebirds on Genovesa Island)

Guatemala

Iceland

• The Pivot: Birding Iceland
• The Bébé Birds of Iceland
• Arctic Terns: Long-haul Migrators
• An Arduous Drive to See Puffins

Mexico

• Celestun and the “bottomless passion of mosquitos” (Yucatan peninsula)
• Birding on our honeymoon (Yucatan peninsula)
• Not exactly the pelagic lifer I was looking for (Western Caribbean)
• More cowbell (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)
• Like and angel passing through (El Tuito, Mexico)
• Granting wishing (Puerto Vallarta)
• Unexpected Awe (San Sebastian)
• Night of the Iguana (Mismaloya)
• Shhh…don’t tell anyone about this place (Rancho Primavera near El Tuito)
• In Plain Sight (El Tuito)
• Between Yelapas (Yelapa)

Panama

• How I’m planning our Panama birding adventure
• Resources for our Panama birding adventure
• Finding the right guide is no accident: Interview with a Panamanian Bird Guide
• Birding in Cerro Punta, Panama: Seven Lifers in Seven Minutes (Cerro Punta)
• First full day birding Panama: Loads of birds! Tons of lifers! (Cerro Punta)
• My first birding century! I got over 100 birds today in Panama (Cerro Punta)
• Another day of 100+ birds in Panama (Cerro Punta)
• Don’t hate me, but I got 61 more “Lifers” while birding Panama (Gamboa)
• Panama birding continues: Invasion of the army ants. (Gamboa)
• A girl in pursuit of army ants. (Actually, I didn’t want to seem like a wimp.) (Gamboa)
• Adios, Panama (Gamboa)
• Another Panama Bird Report. “Will it ever end?” you ask.
• Tanagers of Panama. It’s like having a closet full of shoes.
• Hummingbirds of Panama
• Oh little birds, why must you hide from me? (Some rarities from Panama)
• Birding Panama–Don’t let the rain deter you (El Valle)
• What a little sunshine will do (Carretera a Juan Hombrón and Laguna a Juan Hombrón)
• All alone in Panama (Whistling Herons!)
• Birding Panama’s Ammo Dump Ponds
• Something better (A special find at Ammo Dump Ponds)
• Birding Pipeline Road. Again.
• Birds and the Bees
• A bad day of birding is better than a day at the office
• Canopy Tower Birding

Trinidad and Tobago

• Trinidad and Tobago: The Opening Act
• Trinidad and Tobago: Caroni Swamp
• Trinidad and Tobago: It’s Easter Week
• The Tobago Part: A Long Tail and Tall Tale
• The Tobago Part: And Then There Were Two

United States

Arizona

• Birding at Whitewater Draw in Arizona
• Wishing it was a Rufous-winged Sparrow
• Snow birding it for a weekend in Arizona
• The technicolor world of Bisbee, Arizona (on my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years)
• What Hummingbird banding teaches us (Hereford–an hour southeast of Tucson)

California

• Birding San Diego and chasing some lifers
• Silicon Valley Birding: Shoreline Park (Mountain View)
• Silicon Valley Birding: Rancho San Antonio Park (Los Altos Hills)
• My first pelagic trip (Monterey Bay)

Florida

• Business, birds, gators and drones. It’s all here. (Sanibel Island)
• Sanibel Island’s Bailey Tract is not a bad Plan B. (Sanibel Island)
• Listen to me. Always take the binoculars. (Sanibel Island)
• Leave no stone unturned (Biscayne National Park)
• Idiot moments in birding (Key West)
• Adjacent Birding in Kissimmee, Florida

Hawaii

• Learning patience while birding in Maui
• Finding birds on O’ahu, Hawaii
• Aloha to the Pacific Golden Plover

New Mexico

• Lens Envy (Soccorro, New Mexico)

Oregon

• Rescuing Larry, the Pacific Loon (Cannon Beach)

Texas

• Where there’s 350,000+ Purple Martins there’s a party (Austin)
• Choices, warnings and surprises: All in a day of birding (Balcones National Wildlife Refuge, Austin)
• Nighthawks, Dickcissels and Boat-tailed Grackles at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge
• Great Egret and her chicks: Learning to eat takes practice (High Island)
• The Roseate Spoonbill Project (High Island)
• When momma calls it’s time for some crawdads (High Island)
• There’s a lot going on (High Island)
• Partly cloudy with no chance of showers (Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival)
• Finding refuge (Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival)
• Chasing Parakeets and Parrots (Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival)
• Being saved at Sabal Palm Sanctuary (Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival)
• The ecstasy and irony of finally getting that special lifer: the Swainson’s Warbler (Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival)
• Looking for Whooping Cranes (Aransas National Wildlife Refuge)
• West Texas birding
• Wild courting (Rattlesnake Springs–in Texas, near border of New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns National Park)
• Layer upon layer of birds (Big Bend National Park)
• Hornsby Bend Observatory (Austin)
• Fallout: A Birding Nirvana (High Island)
• Bird photography lessons at Brazos Bend (near Houston)
• Unprepared at Lost Maples (Hill Country – Central Texas)
• Abundant Cranes and Endangered Cranes (Port Aransas)
• It’s that time of year (Rockport)
• Migrating Warblers–Fallout at High Island (guest blog by Steve, my husband)

Utah

• Birding at Antelope Island
• Sometimes birds just don’t cooperate (Okay, most of the time) Antelope Island
• Random acts of birding (Delta, Utah)
• Baby Grebes: Prepare to go “Awwwwww!” (Bear River National Wildlife Refuge)
• The medicinal effect of birding Antelope Island
• A Barn Owl and a Porcupine walked into a bar… (Antelope Island)
• For the love of brine flies, brine shrimp and phalaropes (An excellent scientific explanation about Antelope Island by guest blogger, Steve, my husband)
• This is what Antelope Island looks like in October
• A date, a smelly lake and a pair of binoculars changed my world (Antelope Island)
• A last day at Antelope Island