Christmas Bird Count December 14, 2012 – Jan 05, 2013

Tags

Audubon Annual Bird Count, Birds of Ecuador's Mangroves, Ecuador Mangroves, frigate, Heron, Ibis, Mangroves, Snowy Egret, Stilt

My Chatty Neighbor Mister Kingfisher!

Each year nature lovers participate in Audubon’s  annual Christmas Bird Count.  Ecuador again trumped all others last year with a whopping count of  492 species in the Yanayacu area.   Mindo Ecuador reported 432 birds, and Costa Rica took third, fourth and fifth places with 382, 378 and 340 counts.  See the top tallies for North, South and Central America HERE.

Birds Birds Birds!

I respect all who devote an entire day to counting as many species as possible:  I also encourage everyone to keep a pad handy and note the birds one sees from now until January 5th.

Ah, the mangroves provide visual comfort!

So what’s stopping you?  Peer out that window and start scribbling and see how many species live in your neighborhood!  Challenge your neighbors, your loved ones, especially the youth and direct them to noting the beauty of nature!

Here are some images of my neighbors the birds.

Hey guys! Check out the dame with the white plumas!

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Who, Me? Passionate about Nature?!

Tags

Birds of Manabi Ecuador, Cocoi heron, Egrets, frigate, Living in Harmony, Mangrove Destruction, Pelicans, This Man's Journey, Weekly Image of Life: Passion

5 a.m. Playa San Miguel Costa Rica

“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour, and for a moment, something awakens which slumbers the rest of the day and night…   (Thoreau/Walden)

Dawn – Republic of Panama – Balboa

…it matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes of man.. morning is when I am awake, and there is a dawn in me.” (Thoreau/Walden)

Black Crowned Night Heron and Green Kingfisher

This morning I awakened to the blissful stillness of life on the river,  just minutes of latitude south of the equator.   The rat-tat-tattling of a lucky kingfisher announced his score on an early-morning breakfast just beyond the deck of the house!  Crickets chirped,  herons squawked, faraway ibis whimpered and even-further-away ocean waves crashed with the ebbing tide.  Humpback whales surely cruised the deeper waters in the distance.

My neighbors the birds

  This Man’s Journey/The Island Traveler asks this week,  “What makes you feel alive? What inspires you and keeps you motivated?”

When home on the river, I awaken  with a profound awareness of nature .  

Croaking Ground Doves

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Vermilion flycatchers, wrens and finches serenade from the garden landscape while flocks of seagulls, pelicans, ibis, comorants and frigates add a cacophony of ecstatic joy from the river.

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A pair of croaking ground doves add their unique melody to the morning’s serenade.  All sounds of modern man are removed, and I ponder that I could be awakening a thousand years in the past – or a thousand in the future.  

From the Deck, A Bird List

Tags

Ecuador, Ecuador Bird List. Birding, frigate, kingfisher, pelican

A birding friend recently asked, “How many birds can you see from your front door?”

I retrieved my modest scribblings and began to count.  Though not taken from the vantage point of the door,  this list documents birds seen from the deck that faces the river.