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The Joy of Bird Migration with Mariah Hryniewich and Luis Eduardo Gles
780 Plays1 month ago
On this week's episode, Dexter and Jason sit down with two fun and amazing folks, Luis Gles and Mariah Hryniewich of Woodstars Nature Tours. Mariah and Luis speak to us from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas about manning the Florida Keys Hawkwatch and experiencing the greatest Peregrine Falcon migrations on record. The Hawkwatch also boasts incredible numbers of Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites, Bahama Swallows, and tons of warbler flight. If that extreme heat, humidity, and mosquitoes weren’t enough, Luis and Mariah now spend the spring and summer months in the Bering Sea on St. Paul Island, AK, leading bird tours and doing surveys. You never know what can show up on the island. This year, they got folks on a Smew and a Garganey, Song Thrush, and Little Bunting. They discuss biting on the island and how it differs from the Hawkwatch.
You will hear about more different bird species in this episode than in any other episode. Have those Google fingers ready to explore and enjoy!!
Be sure to follow our podcast on Instagram at @thebirdjoypod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction to Bird Joy Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the bird joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson. And I'm Jason Hall. This is the podcast for all the bird nerds and homies out there. They love to find a little bird joy. Yes, yes, yes. Are you ready for some bird joy? If you are, let's go. What's up, man?
00:00:17
Speaker
What's up, man? Really, really excited. We have some special guests again for our session today, don't we? Yeah, we do. We do. Today, we are happy to bring you two of my favorite people that I met a few years ago, Mariah Crinywich and Luis Glass. So welcome to the podcast, you two. How are you doing?
00:00:36
Speaker
Hi, hello, Happy to be here in the and the birdie enjoy, Patka. Yeah, thank you so much for having us. Yeah, we were listening a few days ago. You're beginning of the second season. I was happy to kick out, so we're happy to be here and enjoying with you guys that the new new season.
00:00:56
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome.
Meeting the Birding Experts
00:00:57
Speaker
Awesome. So I'm just going to introduce you guys a little bit. Um, so I met Luis and Mariah a couple of years ago during COVID my family, we had to the opportunity to to get out of Pennsylvania for a little while. And we decided, you know, because things were pretty wild. We just took a road trip to the keys and got a little place down there. And, um, one of the first nights I was there, I i think I posted on Instagram or something.
00:01:20
Speaker
that i was in the keys and i need to go look at some birds and um i don't remember if it was mariah or louise but one of you reached out and was like hey there's a ah weird what was it it was a uh fallow rope a weird fallow rope in one of these uh waterways over here and i i met up with them pretty much on the side of the road like Like like weirdo birders do, like we just show up and hang out with each other unannounced. And um yeah, I got to learn a little bit about what they did. And and so they both are founders of Woodstar's birding and nature tours. They do amazing trips all over, in particular they have some really cool ones coming up to Columbia late this year in 2025. They are the lead Hawk Watchers at Curry Hammock State Park in the Florida Keys so and they both guide and survey on St. Paul Island in Alaska and have found some amazing rarities. So well we'll talk about that a little bit today. Mariah is from Port Charlotte, Florida, and also does some bird survey work for the Avian Research and Conservation Institute, and is also the birding and social media manager for Phonescope and Cowa Sporting Optics. Luis is from Colombia, and does some volunteer work at Cape Florida Banding Station. um He leads tours in North America, the Caribbean, Central America, and Colombia.
00:02:31
Speaker
And I believe he's also still a Cali USA ambassador. Is that right? I think so. So yeah, so welcome to you both. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me here. Happy to be here. I remember when we, when we cross path, we do and, and grassy key. Yeah, it was grassy key. Yeah, it
Birding Adventures in Florida Keys
00:02:50
Speaker
was grassy key. And we have the Wilson Farrow, which was like kind of a rare bird and the keys because time of the year, there's nobody birding in the keys. There was this Farrow just in the little nice pond. It was nice, I remember. Mm hmm. Couple of years.
00:03:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think like you said, it must have been 2020 or 2021. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was then. Yeah. It was a Wilson's Fowler rope and I'm never going to forget it for two reasons. One, I met you both there, right? Which was awesome. It was cool to feel like I knew some birders in the keys. And two, I don't know what kind of mosquitoes you have down there, but my legs were lit up for like three weeks straight after that, and nobody told me. I don't know what these little black flies were, but I was sitting at home in Pennsylvania three weeks later, still itching, and I was like, never again. I will learn my lesson to wear pants forever as soon as the sun goes down in the case. Sounds like little St. Simon's Island, Jason.
00:03:45
Speaker
It was not good. Welcome. Welcome you all to the Birdjoy Podcast. Y'all have been all over the world. Where in the heck are you today? Today, we are in Rio Grande Ballet in South Texas. We are here for the weekend, for this coming week to enjoy, to participate in the Rio Grande Ballet Festival, Burning Festival. We'll be guiding almost all week.
00:04:08
Speaker
Yeah, from the festival will start Wednesday and we go through Sunday. So we're excited, very excited to be down here. be this Actually, it's a new spot for us. We haven't been burning in South Texas at all. ah Even in Texas, we passed a couple of times in Rocktree over nor taxes in Texas and see you. Bye, keep going. Probably put some gas, cheap gas out here.
00:04:32
Speaker
Are there, you said you've never been to South Texas.
Exploring South Texas
00:04:35
Speaker
Are there any birds that you are looking forward to possibly seeing that you haven't seen before? Or have you seen, I don't know. I'm just curious is being in a new area and you've traveled so much. Did you check like birds in the area and see what might be there and and and try to go find them?
00:04:53
Speaker
Yeah, definitely, definitely. That's why we get a little a little early before the festival just to get familiar with the the area. there is so Most of the birds are like a bird specialty for the ballet. I see an airswear in Yucatan, or I see it in Costa Rica, or the case kitty I grew up with Quizkitty in Colombia. So it's just a new addition for the ABA area. And it's good to connect with those birds in this part of the world. And it's like a new old friend for some of those birds. Hey, remember you back home. Nice to have you for the ABA, US lease. And there is a few lifers that I definitely would get lights on sparrows, did my eyes like the black crested, hoping to see them.
00:05:40
Speaker
Cassians, sparrows, a lifer, all the sparrows. Some of those little birds that I can probably add to my life list and enjoying the lifer. Some beers, lifer beers that we like to get.
00:05:56
Speaker
Yeah, life for beer sound. Life for beer sound really good. We do life for dances. Some people do life for pies. I got some homies, Angela and Jeff, to do life for beers too, I think, after a good birding adventure. What is he said? A Cassin Sparrow. I'm going to have to go look that one up because i i've I've never been to Texas. There's a ton that I probably need to go look for. But that's super awesome. You guys are out there a little early. Gonna do a little guiding or sounds like a lot of guiding for the ah Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, which I was supposed to be at this year. Had some other things scheduled and had to stay home. So one of these years I'm gonna i'm gonna get out
Florida Keys Hawk Watch Highlights
00:06:32
Speaker
there. One of the things you guys did or you guys do is man, the, uh, the Florida keys, Hawk watch, do that, uh, Curry hammock state park. And I was able to come over and hang out and, and, and do it with you guys one day. It was pretty slow, right? Cause it was August and I know that's not a heavy migration time, but can you tell folks like what's, what's so special about that Hawk watch and what have, what have been your experiences there?
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, so the Florida Keys Hawk Watch is a wonderful location. It's the southernmost hawk watch in the United States. And it's so unique because um Florida acts like a funnel peninsula into the peace chain, island chain. And birds tend to follow land as they migrate. So they just kind of funnel all the way down until they get to the Keys. And then they have to decide whether or not they're going to make that jump to Cuba or the jump to the Yucatan. And we'll we'll observe that quite a bit, actually.
00:07:22
Speaker
Um, that's, that's, that's pretty dope. If people are able to, to look up any of the videos, right? Like I, you guys have some days there that look pretty wild, right? I saw online that it's the's the, it's the Paragon Falcon migration capital of the the world, I guess. Uh, and so like. It seems like like we have Hawk Mountain up here, which I think is also part of the part of the network that kind of comes down the East Coast and eventually gets to you guys before those birds make that jump. Can you talk to me about like some of the most, I'll call them insane, some of the most insane days of bird watching you've had there. I've seen videos of like hundreds of kites and all kinds of stuff. like Talk to me about what those really banner days are.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, you did mention it's the peregrine falcon migration camp of the world, which means we count the most peregrines in a single day and in a single season than anywhere else. During migration. It's quite incredible, honestly. We'll count 500, 600 in a day of peregrine falcons. and In mid-October, second week of October is peak time for them.
00:08:21
Speaker
Especially there is something about, we celebrate 1010 as a Peruvian day, Dia de los Peregrinos, actually we call it in Spanish. The connection in most of these birds spend most of the time in Latin America when the most, the nature of the language is Spanish. So it was something that came out with the director of the project, Rafael Galvez.
00:08:41
Speaker
So most of these peregrines migrate through the keys during, as Maria mentioned, the two first weeks of October. But they, for some reason, October 10, tend to be this miracle, this, like, they, like, we all have to pass through. And there the day I get, like, the reason why I ended the project and be part of the project was in 2015, October 10, they have this 1,506 peregrine in a single day.
00:09:10
Speaker
So I was like, I saw the pose and said like, what a second, I'm here in Florida. I was just moving from Colombia in 2013. They're like, what is happening? I need to go down there. They got all these birds. So the next year I went in 2016, I went as a volunteer for a couple of weekends. And in 2016, I joined us the crew. And before I get to the hogwash, the hurricane shut down. by In 2018, I got back part of the project and we had
Challenges and Rewards of Birdwatching
00:09:38
Speaker
the experience of 10-10. It was a good bird good number of programs, but I get 10-10 and we have 500 programs. Literally 500 programs.
00:09:49
Speaker
ten ten And it's funny because that day we were doing a program day, which is like a band that we do on the project. Our sponsor was in Key West doing the pointing out birds, because in Key West, since all birds, as Marida was mentioned, all birds falling down in the Keys, and they get to Key West, one of them, especially juveniles, and they don't know what to do. And they just hang out in Key West, so it's a great spot for learning. So the workshop and all that about the program day, we used to do it over there. So the whole crew was there, the counter was at the hard work, and Jeff Boughton came out, ki which is from Coa. He said, how many birds you guys are there? We don't know, it's a lot. And then he started tidying up for us, like 100 birds last hour, probably 380, something like that. And then my colleague, like, yeah, probably high 30. And then he turned on his phone and it was like five zero zero, like 500. And he said, like, no, that looks like made up number. No, no, no, no, no, no. We got to stay here looking for more, I'm not quitting now. And it was like 50 minutes, no bird. And we decided to stay like an hour and never see another program the whole day. And it was like, but it was the highest number of programs again in 10-10. And then if you see the numbers in hot count, you can see like 10-10.
00:11:06
Speaker
At least for Peregrine Falcon or Falcon in general, the Peregrine Falcon migration capital of the world, the hogwash and the keys is guaranteed. It's a spectacle guarantee during the second wheel of October. It's an awesome place. Unfortunately, actually this year, Luis and I did not count this year. There was another team down there this year and we joined them the last week in October, but Hurricane Milton came through at the exact peak time of Peregrine Falcon. so Unfortunately, they didn't see the same pattern as previous years, but they still had a couple hundred. I think one of their highest days was close to 300 or just over 300. They couldn't come from the platform, so they didn't come as a subtle spot. Yeah, the the park had closed due to this hurricane, but they still did what they could and had a great, great turnout. So that's one of like those migrations. Another spectacle I can remember is when we decide to start with a with the organization and the proposal is to start kite flight. That's why with the reason we were early in the season when we met you and the kids. Yeah, so that must have been 21 because we didn't do kite flight in 2020 when we met you. It must have been 2021.
00:12:18
Speaker
And then to count migrations of swallowtail cats because they migrate early in the season. So usually when the Hogwarts Star was in September, historically it was the first of mid-September. So we decided to start in August.
00:12:35
Speaker
and we start getting like good numbers but nothing until we have this day it was really for for for solo telekite migration we learned that as nasty sorry for the vocabulary the day it is like boggy humidity like nowin no no wind as more desperate you feel like you don't really want to be the Still up in your body for the mosquitoes no seeing all those things said that was bothering you. It was just it's bad It feels so bad, but that's when the swallowtail guys like and you say okay We just it's a sacrifice and one of those day I think I was I was 17 and we have these in 10 minutes. We have 900 In In nine, Swallowtail Kai just passed through at once. At once, and it was just the sky, it was just like an angel's passing through. We do, to to we we we post a video because it was just like you set the camera on one side and you see like they just passing through the sky. It's incredible. And 10 minutes later, nothing happened. If you work, if you went to the bathroom, those 10 minutes, it's like nothing happened throughout the whole day. And you say the day will suck. It happened with Kimberts. I remember seeing one time Kimberts, like, we had over 400 Kimberts. Kimberts, like, passing through, like, in 10 minutes. And then after that, nothing would have happened the whole day. If we just missed those 10 minutes of glory throughout the day in migration, you just missed it all. Yeah.
00:14:06
Speaker
It's true. Okay. i like First of all, I'm stealing your saying of 10 minutes of glory because my next question, like because I wanted to ask a little bit about like ah this takes a lot of patience and you describing like the best kite days or the same days that it's hot and humid and no wind and the bugs are active. right So yeah, they want to fly, eat on the wing maybe or just like that that's the kind of weather that they love. right and like I'm thinking to myself, I hate the heat, I hate the humidity. right and sacrifices must be made. Sacrifices you guys obviously made serious sacrifices to be out there and to get that 10 minutes of glory like sounds absolutely insane. So like
00:14:49
Speaker
you know, describing that, like, how do you guys, how do you stay focused for like an eight hour shift of watching or probably longer is sometimes like, are there certain tricks you use to like they focus? Like, you know, I, I have a problem. I'd be looking down at my phone, you know, I'd be checking out sparrows on the parking lot ground instead of looking up at the sky. Like, how do you guys stay focused when you're doing stuff like that?
00:15:13
Speaker
Um, yeah, so I got to tell you, it is, it is difficult and it's hot. And like Louise said, when the nociums are biting you, you just like want to lose your mind. But then when you get that kettle passed by that 10 minutes of glory, it's like, it's amazing. It's just jaw dropping and you've never seen anything like it. And you know, there are days where it's very slow. And I remember last year there were many days in August. As Louise mentioned, we just started kite flight, so we don't really have a pattern. We just noticed more so with the winds and kites. That's what what you got to pay attention to. And I remember early August last year, there was no no kites all day. It would be just be dead. But then at four o'clock, something happened and the wind shift. And then every day for like four or five days, it got to the point where I could tell people, come back at four o'clock and the kites will be here.
00:16:05
Speaker
And it was just like, it's it's amazing to see that and to witness it. And there are times where, you know, we're looking at the the sparrow on the ground or the butterfly in the tree next to us. And that happens, but that's also, we also find rare birds that way in rare butterflies. And this hawk watch, our main focus is the hawks, but we also, we keep track of everything with feathers. So we- And without feathers. And without feathers and wings.
00:16:33
Speaker
wings in general. So it's we try to keep track of everything and log everything and collect data on everything that we can. That's probably one of the, you know, always it's hard to keep like the enthusiasm because it's like three, four days, nothing happened. One of the things that I always, like in the recent one of the reasons why I love the hogwatches, and even know only the hogwash, probably now I'm going to be in love with Texas as I happen with St. Paul. It's like that seems like, you know, like, okay, not the regular stuff are not happening, the migration regular migration is not happening. Like at the hogwash, the last few days we were like the past week.
00:17:11
Speaker
and talking with the crew and it's like, yeah, we have too much east wind. So like, guys, it's too much east wind and migration sucks with this wind. I i know, but there is high river migrants are there and it's too much east wind. There's something out there. yeah And then that helped me out to keep out like in the sky, look in the sky because that in the in the past I paint off like boring, nothing happened. Just keep looking in the sky and then, oh, in the middle of the sky. That's why it's okay for her. her hair Yeah, and in the sample, like the only two records, Mariah got one. Why these birds so bright and white? And then check like, oh, Bahama Swallow, shut this thing, please. Mariah, and things like that rare bird that can show up from the crib is one of the motivation to keep me like focused in the sky.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah. And not so much even rare birds. One time, I remember in August, middle of the day, two o'clock in the afternoon, hot as heck. And we just have these clouds of warblers migrating. And it was like, yeah that was crazy because we had never seen anything like that before. It was just.
00:18:12
Speaker
Middle of the day, moving, just yeah hundreds of warblers. And the same thing like ah for a couple of men, it was the stream, the stream stuff for 40 and then another stream of warblers mixed up with some night catchers in the middle of the day. And I remember one of those days, same thing with slow day, and we look at our bird bat, and there was like 17 Tennessee warblers, eight black tortilla greens, and it was like from nowhere. Those are the, like, you know, we are in a little island that creates those oldest F.S., like, island F.S., like, birds can drop. And you just gotta a keep looking and out, like, Moriah has seen flamingos flying by and the keys while you do service.
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, you never know what can happen. And what I was mentioning, even when the winds are not correct for migration, it's just, okay, it's good for for bringing birds from Cuba because coming from the south. Oh, it's coming from the east. Probably something coming from the from the Bahamas and Maydrop already it has to be fine. And sometimes you're lucky, it sometimes you find something, sometimes you're not, but it's always the hope. You're lucky and find the black face grass with it. Or you're lucky and have the smoothie lining that passed by, or red legged honey creeper that just flew by for two seconds at the platform.
00:19:31
Speaker
Those are like the moments of keep you like looking for birds in the platform. He just dropped so many bird names. I know. I know. Wait, wait, wait a minute. You saw that in the U.S.? Yeah. Hello, man. I'm a little jealous. I'm a little jealous right now at the work that you do. And speaking of the work that you do, like, how did you how did you get into it? Like, how did y'all get into this doing surveys just as a whole? Like, what what got you into this type of work? I studied economics in Colombia. And when I started birding was to a friend that was studying economy as well. And the day I came out, he was probably for a week or so hanging around with a little pamphlet with the 100 more common birds for the city in Cali, Colombia. So I just, like a week after seeing him, I was like, what are you looking at? We're in this park in the middle of the city. And just sitting over there, it was like 34 species just sitting naked eye, like cheddar from the macao, yellowback oil.
00:20:28
Speaker
Kiskity, a vermilion flycatcher, and it was like a plumber of alcohol. And I was like, wait, what else am I missing? What is this thing? And I always was an outdoor person and playing soccer and going hiking and camping, but you know, never paying attention to
Beginnings in Birding
00:20:45
Speaker
a bird that was a lot more light. It was jello bellybirds with red bellybirds, hawks and pigeons, and that's it.
00:20:52
Speaker
And that was the moment like boom and spark. And then I've tried to focus on my location and into the birds. So my thesis was about a diploico tourism, the Western Andes. Then I moved and into 2013 and I just get involved with Aruban and start get a more tropical Aruban in South Florida, more involved with the programs they have. And that's how I came to the hog watch and the Cape and the bending station in Cape, Florida.
00:21:21
Speaker
and as a volunteer helping over there. And I started guiding in Colombia through the work for TC, like the foundation, all the development, all these places. And then right here on the stage, I just started to continue guiding to more and then I just offered for guiding like tours for different companies and then we got guiding in Colombia through the foundation we have it with our friend in Colombia and now we have our tour companies since like two years ago we decided to And to a friend I get in Alaska, got in St. Paul as well. That was even like really pure luck just last minute. And I was able to link it down and say, well, this is what I like. This is like a champion league to find in Rareberry. You know, you are in the big stage and you came out every day and say, well, what is today for the men? And we're making goals and we got a,
00:22:19
Speaker
Bullfish showing out. Oh, we have a great wacktail. What we have for today. So it was that sense of finding rare bird art. I really love birding. It was like boosted up in St. Paul. That's how I get my life in those places and keep guiding mostly nowadays through for our company. Yeah, so you me. um yeah um ah Growing up, I've kind of always loved being outside and being outdoors, like Louise mentioned, running around. And I have six siblings, so we all were always outside. But um I didn't really get into birding until um after high school. I was started carrying my camera around with me everywhere every time I went out and just started taking photos of everything. And eventually I started taking photos of birds.
00:23:04
Speaker
And I started asking a dear friend of mine what these birds were. And he said that after I started asking what these birds were, he knew it was over from there. It was done deal. You're you're hooked from there on out. So that's kind of what got me interested in birds and then I just slowly tried to get into birding festivals and volunteering where I could and Louise and Jeff Boughton actually are the ones that mentioned the Florida Keys Hawk Watch to me and at the time there was
00:23:37
Speaker
uncertainty if it was going to happen because it was COVID. It was 2020. And so we just were waiting. It was kind of a waiting game. And then eventually it all came together last minute. So we got to spend about six weeks down there in 2020. And I was just, I was hooked. It hooked me. I love migration and I love the Raptors. So that was just kind of a, I really, really loved it. And then I met Gina actually, we met Gina Kent with Avian Research Conservation Institute. through kind of the hawk watch and just being out in the field. And she asked us if we would love to help with some projects she had. And that's kind of how we got to field work over there. And it just kind of spiraled. You know, once you got into the burning community, it kind of just opened my eyes to this whole other world that I didn't even know existed and just started opening doors that were like a dream come true. You can just
00:24:28
Speaker
do this fieldwork and guide and we now have our own company like Louise mentioned and we we bring people all over from Florida to Central America and Columbia and Jamaica. So it's been crazy, crazy roller coaster.
00:24:45
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. That's why it's interesting, the different paths that people take to get to this. And that's a good question. So why do we like to ask it? Right? Because there's a lot of people out there that might be listening and they're like, you know, it seems like such a ah niche thing. Like how to, you know, how do I even attempt to move my life in that direction and hearing about
Birding in Diverse Environments
00:25:04
Speaker
really about the human interactions you guys have with other birders and other people that kind of here and there steer you to the right place. Right. And sometimes you're fortunate enough to end up on st paul island which we're gonna talk about which is pretty crazy like i am i'm just i'm looking at this and i'm like okay these homies are down here in the keys there on this little chain of islands here right and i had no idea that you guys are going to st paul right i think i was looking at louise's page one day is instagram and i was like i'm used to seeing the keys i'm used to seeing columbia trips.
00:25:35
Speaker
And all of a sudden I'm looking at like this grassy expanse, you know, of somewhere and some little, I don't remember what it was, a sandpiper or stent or something like that. And I was like, where in the world are they? Like, what is going on? Like, how do you go from like, like literally, it's like two extremes, an island chain off of Florida and then an island chain off of.
00:25:54
Speaker
off of Alaska, which I know St. Paul's a little bit above it. But like what is that like to go through those extremes? right Because staying on that island, pretty destitute. right like It's not like a heavy population center. so like What are you guys doing up there? How different is it? like How long have you been doing it? like Just talk to us about what that experience is like. so paul yeah St. Paul, St. Paul.
00:26:15
Speaker
As far as you can, put St. Paul is in the part of the Prival of the Island. It's in the middle of the Bering Sea. Most of the people know about St. Paul when you talk about the deadly scotch. It's one of those famous places where the boats, the crab boats go in the middle of the Bering Sea. They have one factory over there and 350 people live on the island. They have one bar. They have one store, one hotel. Very remote. Really remote. Really remote native town. And the difference is our another 50 degrees difference and sometimes even more of temperature. The difference of like not having trees is one of those big difference. There's no trees on the island, so that's that's different. you knowre When you go birding, you're not it's not the same kind of birding you would do in Florida.
00:27:11
Speaker
And then another big difference is you get to know every single car of the island. There is the same single car and you know, you see the car. So it's get like really family or small community in that space. It's like, it's kind of nice. You know, you don't have to know much traffic. You wave to everyone as you pass them. So we came back to Florida and we're pulling our hands back from trying to wave to every car we passed by in Miami.
00:27:39
Speaker
So that's another like different compared to like in the keys when you have like just 200 car passing for per minute in the overseas highway this time of the year. So that's another. And very wise, it's just, I got like the same sense that it's ah like a migratory spot where not many things happening. There's a few breeding birds, same poles as being like in the middle. It's like the the mirror in the middle of two wars.
00:28:06
Speaker
It's in the western and the with the Eurasian and all North America. It's also known as to be the place where you can see we have been reported all the shorebirds on the war in that little island, the migratory of shorebirds. It's kind of awesome to have those two places that you can have birds from different areas of the war. It's still a touching like US soil and m Yeah, in addition to the rarities, there's all these cliff nesting birds, too. So there's a thousands of cliff nesting puffins and aqualets and mers and all these seabirds. It's crazy. This year we spent a whole five months there. So like in the spring, we saw these cliffs covered in seabirds and just noisy and all these babies show up. um And then come, when did we leave? Early October. It's like bare. There's nothing on these cliffs. You wouldn't believe us if if you weren't there in the spring. So that's another different like compared like the keys is just flat compared to this island with cliffs and all this nesting seabirds. Yeah in addition to this the birds too there's there's fur seals and there's orcas.
00:29:13
Speaker
and Arctic Foxes. So, you know, we kind of traded alligators and manatees for orcas and and fur seals. So yeah, that's one of the parts of the island that is like kind of the difference. This was my third season. My first season went in 2022 and I it went just for summer because I was already compromised for the hot clutch and went for the summer last minute. And last year, Mariah enjoyed us for the summer, and I do the whole season, i stay from May to October, the whole five months. And this year, Mariah decided to stay the whole five months with us, and that's why we miss most of the season. Actually, we miss the whole hey fully floia howard insists on this season. yeah I don't have regrets because as you guys probably, people who follow the ABA, Rare Bird, Alergen, all that, it's just the sense of any bird can show up. Like we have field fair this year. We have like First Island recordings. Rare, like most common biker and the United States, like Newfoundland.
00:30:22
Speaker
New Jersey, Massachusetts, that was area. But for Alaska, it's like the fourth, what's the fourth or fifth record for Alaska? First island record. Then we have this massive migration, push of background, the Sontroge. Another, like, Eurasian migrant that just showed up for first island in the U.S. in We have, like, three, probably, this season. And there was one in in in Campbell in one in eight hours is like this bird for never show up in white now is like five dead in one year. Those are part of the excitement moment that we like that life is personally i like the most in simple way. But rare birds on the shelf from what part of the world we have. We were coming from probably from a Iceland or from the UK. Yeah, there's been a few first North American records and second North American records of birds.
00:31:16
Speaker
out there. So it's like Luis said, you never know what's going to show up for and from what part of the world either. You know, we had a black headed grow speak out there a few days before we left the first island record. And it's it's not rare. It depends on where you go. It's all relative, you know, so like, it's not rare for like North America, but you know, for that little island, what's this bird doing? 300, 400 miles out of this What are you doing up here? I remember my first year, I have a red wind black bear in the middle of the summer. And I was, it's kind of sometime in summer when the no red birds are showing up. So the photographers show up for the cliff. And that day I was just driving with this photographer and I just see this red wind black bird just crowding and said, red wind black bird. And I just, my instinct, like red bird, just going through bag and then I just chasing this bird. And they kind of like, what bird you say? you Got it? Say like, red wind black bird. let's say Oh, we got a lot of there in Wisconsin. And then ah like in that moment, you're like, oh my God, I'm not with a birder than with a photographer. I was just chasing this bird. And then they're like, this guy, I cannot justify for a photographer. I'm gonna chase Red Wing Blackbird, so stab my chase.
00:32:26
Speaker
Second Island record, not even photos of other red-winged blackberry for the island. A lot of stories like that. Stories like that. Birds like are not rare for the rest of North America.
Surprising Bird Migrations
00:32:37
Speaker
and We have birds birders who come in. I remember last year, a lady from Texas who was driving and she said, what well, what was second was second. That was solid driving and solid stabbing. She looked at it and said, oh, a restaurant. And Soli just jumped from the band because it was Second Island record he needed for the island lead. Like we we get crazy for Osprey for example. This year we got an Osprey and then we just jumped out of it. i was I think I was off that day when they Soli sent me a message like Osprey came out, Osprey and an ice pound running for the Osprey and it was like the second that year and they that's her favorite bird I can see. It's joy. It's so awesome having this bird. We got it. It's like like seeing him one, and that's my joy. And we see him migrating over 800, 600 migrating daily at the hardwood. So it's like... Wow, that sounds absolutely insane. Dexter, they got your bird. And they also got some... Yeah, I was over here doing the happy dance. Yeah. It had me thinking about like you mentioned um on the ah last episode is vagrant season. And I always love seeing like these vagrant birds like American goldfinch pops up in Europe and people lose their freaking mind. It's like a mile. long line for people to go see the bird and then like you're seeing a red-winged blackbird on this island and you're like Wanting to chase it, and you know Osprey shows up. So I always just find so much joy, bro Like in these just random birds that just pop up vagrants We had a field fair that popped up in Wisconsin and people were driving all like across the state to go see it the Rosie finches Yeah popped up in in Wisconsin and people are like chasing the Rosie Finch
00:34:21
Speaker
I just always get really excited about these random birds and sometimes common birds in uncommon places and it makes it really cool. I was telling you, I haven't traveled much, like, especially not nearly as much as you all, but I did leave the country one time and I went to the Bahamas.
00:34:37
Speaker
And everybody was like, what was the coolest bird you seen? And I remember telling them it was the great blue heron. And everybody was like, what? Don't you see them in Wisconsin all the time? I said, that's exactly why I was excited because I was like, dude, you might have been in Wisconsin and now you're way down here in the Bahamas. And I found myself freaking out over this just ah a great blue heron because I saw one in the Bahamas.
00:35:00
Speaker
And it was not the rarest bird I saw. It wasn't a lifer or any of that, but that's literally the bird I remember most on my trip to the Bahamas because I see them all the time in Wisconsin. And I found myself thinking about his migration and thinking about like the fact that maybe this bird was in Wisconsin and now with hanging out in the Bahamas and it blew my mind. So I think about you all that I'm hearing you tell those stories that I'm just smiling because I always find joy in those moments. I know you do, too, Jason. I do. I do. And I think it's pretty hilarious that it was a photographer from Wisconsin that didn't want to chase the Red Wing Blackbird. So talk to your people, Dex. You know what it was. Talk to your people, Dex. He's probably been jived by him more than a few times in the spring. And he has a complicated relationship with the Red Wing Blackbird. That's probably what it was. Listen, if I'm in a car with Mr. Glass and he says, we got to turn around, I'm turning around. I mean, that's to me. There's got to be rules here.
00:35:58
Speaker
But I, you know, I really, um, really appreciate that. And just some of the birds, if if you've never looked up to birding on St. Paul, I i encourage you to go to Ebird and do it. But I'm looking at some of the things seen there that, that I would love to see at Tarek Sandpiper, Tim Extent, uh, Smu. You guys saw a Smu up there, which looks amazing. Field Fair, Common Crane, right? And I think Mariah, were you... This is maybe crazy. Yeah, like, Mariah, were were you the one to find the black-headed gross beak? I saw it on your e-bird checklist. And and what was that what was that story like? Tell me about that. Yes. So Luis was with me. I just happened to be the one to spot it first. If you spot it, you get the glory. oh So we had just, it wasn't even a really great birding day, honestly. We we just woke up early. Extremely windy that day. Extremely windy. But in the fall, you try to be the first on the road because birds can be in the road and flush. And then of course, they typically don't come back.
00:36:56
Speaker
So we woke up early and drove all the way to the northeast point of the island. It takes about 20 minutes. And then on the way back, we're like, let's just stop at Paula Vina Hill. Quick check. The wind direction is good. So the cut is, it's sheltered. And we checked the little front soil dump, we call it. And we checked the little front bowl and nothing. And we were just about to turn around and I just saw a little, little movement of the head there. And I was like, wait one second. And then we both. got our bins on it and I was like are you seeing what I'm seeing and Luis is like are you seeing what I'm seeing and so we got to uh we got to enjoy that for a few minutes and then it's always kind of funny because tomorrow it's like at first she and then she looked like I don't know probably was the the the brief the brief said no no what is it I I seen something in the way wait a second parking lot And then I just see this, this really patterned bird, like face pattern, like going as like, one second, let's, let's watch this one. I know that my first thing in the brain, it was, I always, since I'm in that place, I'm going for the rarest bird. So my first thing in the brain was like pine bunting, like really marking the face. Let's go down. And we go down the car and we get it moving, not seeing well. And then the burp pipeline and you see it pretty well. It's okay. Black-headed girls. My first impression, I just see it moving around. I was like, oh my God. hoping is I just was hoping to be something from the old world because it's made more
00:38:28
Speaker
But then it was the first island record. It was like, Blackhead and Grossby. So we enjoyed it for a few minutes. And then we're like, okay, we got to we got to leave it alone because Soli, the other guide on the island, needs to
Birding Strategies on St. Paul Island
00:38:42
Speaker
see this bird. And it actually kind of vanished. Like we lost it. I didn't get a picture or nothing. And we're just like trying to get on the side to get better view. And then There was like this ridge line and it kind of, it must have gone over the top and then flew around or something. I don't know. in naean and they was who sent the message to salli said well the burvin naan but we live in
00:39:04
Speaker
thinking well he will be fine and later and then the bird in the row like in him in says said well he's going enjoy the whole day here Yeah, Solly is chasing at it. No, no clients to enjoy that. Yeah. All the clients had left about a week before, a week and a half. And so it was just us building the island, seeing what we could find. And it was great.
00:39:25
Speaker
But it's always like that, like, you know, it can be just a regular bird by you just in your, at least I'm always to have the brain set up for like, here is a rare bird can show up even sometimes just brown bird that you see is it. I didn't get a good look of that can be ah just lost for buy. I want to make sure that it's not a little bump in something else where Which is one of them. Back to the the question you asked me about, the St. Paul Island. St. Paul Island for the location is the island. A lot of sunbirds show up and people who like to boost their app or have the best list in the U.S. Those kind of people like to go over there during migration time, and early in in spring or late.
00:40:07
Speaker
in full to get those rare birds from Asia. And I know what was the photographer I was mentioning in the wildlife, people, the lovers that like to go to the island for the seals I mentioned and the foxes we have also cruise ships stopping by the island during the timeframe, the weather allows it. That's crazy. And I, you know, actually we need to go there by the way, we need to figure out, we need to find a sponsor or something. We, it looks like we know a couple of people that might know a couple of people. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. We need to go there. Um, I find that to be so incredibly wild and I, and I wonder like, you know, what, what it's like to, to bird there, right? Cause like I, everyone knows that, like knows that feeling where most, most, most, most birders know that feeling right of like you drive in or you walk in and you see something and it's like, Did I see that? Did I not see that? Should I stop? Should I not stop? Is it, is it going to be something that I've already seen before and I'm just going to get faked out? Right. And so you gotta, I have a homie that says bird every bird, right. And I think I've heard others say it right. And it really is kind of a monster, right? If you have the time at the moment, like.
00:41:15
Speaker
stop and look cuz you know you may find something pretty special and i wonder like what it's like to like we talked about the patience on the keys right and like you're watching the sky a lot of the times and the weather is terrible at times hot i know it gets cold on that island i had some homies get stuck out there i think in june we got stuck out there on one of the other tours when you're on an island like that where like anything can show up You're not necessarily thinking that all the time in the keys, right? There's a, it's not coming over top of the Arctic circle, right? But you may get some stuff that comes the wrong direction from the Caribbean or otherwise, but like on that Island, anything can show up. So like, how do you, when you wake up in the morning, you said you go to the road first, but like, like my brain was shut down. Cause that would be like, well, anything can show up. So how do I even start deducing what this is that I'm seeing? Like, how do you guys approach that? Yeah, that's a great question, actually. Because in the spring and in the fall, we birded differently. Typically, we look at the winds first, because some spots are more shelter from the wind than other spots on a certain wind direction. And then between the three of us, typically in the spring this year, we actually had a fourth guide out there. But we try to just make sure we cover the best spots between all of us, make sure we we do what we can.
00:42:34
Speaker
With the wind direction you mentioned, we that gives us the expectation as well, too, for the previous night. If it's a system we've been tracking, it's okay, this system is bringing us a lot of east winds. It's connecting mainland Alaska with the island, or it's connecting Russia, the peninsula with us. So that gives us like the the expectations. And for the then the same thing with the wind, as Mario mentioned, okay, this place is shelter. And the other the other thing that helped you for the expectation of how to prepare, what how you have your mind to asking for life. We always make a bet or we put names of birds that can show up and all that came from time frame migration. Some birds, you know, like we are
00:43:20
Speaker
In the spring, earlier spring, there is some type of shorebird that may really likely to show up, like, come on some piper or drag this thing that will be in any moment since we arrived to the island. We pay attention to the tides and the water levels of certain marshes.
00:43:40
Speaker
So it's he just that, but most those two things like wind eruption and then like timeframe, that's how it's like, okay, this time of the year, even if it's just one record, like one record and not and that goes 10, or meet Agos for and Chinese Palm Hair and say, oh, Agos is dead, but say, well, time to go out, maybe this is a Chinese Palm Hair and it's an anniversary. I remember my first year doing a really long hike in the day of the anniversary of the Spoonbell Sun Piper to this little, where the bird was seeing one of the most farthest pond. And I went over there like nothing, not even doubt, just nothing.
00:44:16
Speaker
That's part of the things that keep you like, okay, and Buba was seeing in late August, so it's dead, but Buba was seeing this time frame, a little west wind, so why not? Let's go and put a little effort, put some time, you know? I always say, like, gotta be some correlation in, like, mathematic formula that as much time as you go out burning, you will get a good bird light. For 50 times you go out burning, you got a rare bird. 20, you got a decent bird. So you just put a number to just give me like the joy and happiness to go out and birding and keep up finding, like keep up looking for birds so I can find it. It's more, more probabilities, more chances. So you all, you co-founded Woodstars Nature Tours and you got some pretty cool trips coming up to Columbia.
Birding Tours in Colombia
00:45:05
Speaker
What should folks be excited to see? How can they learn more about what you all got going on?
00:45:10
Speaker
Columbia is probably our main focus since I'm Colombian, still dealing to learn English. I apologize for my strong accent that I forgot to mention at the beginning. Probably one of the most like popular birds I will see and would like to see.
00:45:26
Speaker
is the on the cacti and caca the wrong one really below bird for us is there a multi color tenagers is really like a parallel looking tenager with dark chicks the male dark belly as well the male is green with some jello is blueish wings in the back like when is when with some dark especially.
00:45:49
Speaker
really color flu latin thing i got in my Beautiful bird, an endemic. An endemic of Colombia, the western end is. Those are like the birds that we are really looking forward to seeing. and People are really like, you know, and then we have a nirida coming up this year. that is That's a prime burning spark in the Y San Forest and the Amazon basin. and between That's where the Y Anan Shell break and with the Amazon Shell. This is one of them. We also, during our tour, we visited Mavi Kure, which is the oldest rock in the world. We see some pin dolphins and we just go see some Rare birds, ah I like to always try to have the option to go see some really rare birds on our tours. So we have like re-ordinoco, spanetail birds have probably like less than 25 e-bird records and probably no more than, when I got mine last summer, it was like less than five records for Colombia.
00:46:51
Speaker
So go check it out that bird and Iber at least, you know, there's some people that never submit to Iber or have this personal the checklist, at least with Iber records. So that's one of the birds I really want to see and we look forward and in India. And as well, they have all the Scottingas or parrots. and Yeah.
00:47:11
Speaker
going through the life looking between birdies, patches, going in canoe. It's kind of really nice experience down there in the Amazon, always bringing different vibes. The vibe sounds immaculate. It does. It does. It does.
Podcast Conclusion
00:47:26
Speaker
What you all do sounds fascinating and wonderful. Thank you for sharing all those stories and your expertise with our listeners today. I know I learned a ton. I'm, yeah, I'm just, I'm blown away. So keep, keep doing what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. Just so appreciate it. and And thank you guys for spending some time with us today. If you're listening to this episode and you find yourself Googling all of these birds, you're not alone. I've been doing it while they've been talking um and just kind of all over the place with it. So yeah, thank you guys again for joining us and to the homies out there. Thank you for joining us for this episode. We always love having you to the homies and Philly and color birding.org. We may have some events coming up here soon for the fall and winter. to So definitely check us out. Yeah, yeah, we hope you all really enjoyed exploring the world of birding with us today and our special guests. Please share, subscribe, and shout out the podcast to all your fellow birders and help us spread a little bird joy. Thank you all so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoy your time wherever you end up next.
00:48:30
Speaker
Thank you so much, guys. We could talk to you for hours. This has been a lot of fun. Especially with stories of about migration and bird-birds and chasing here and there. Thank you for having us, the Bird Joy podcast, and looking forward. Yeah, looking forward to your stories as well.