I don’t know if its Facebook or WordPress’ fault but the picture that comes up when I post the blog link isn’t the one that appears on my Facebook Timeline. Can anyone help me stop this?
On 13th February we attended a lovely evening at the Lighthouse in Poole entitled ‘Yet another evening with Rick Wakeman’ Just the man himself and a piano, this proved to be a wonderful evening showcasing his fantastic keyboard skills as he played a series of pieces depicting various times in his life.
Musician, composer, TV personality, raconteur and comedian, Rick told stories about the recording of ‘Morning Has Broken’ with Cat Stevens, his time with Yes, describing singed Jon Anderson as ‘I have never known someone who cares so deeply about the planet whilst living on a totally different one’ and what happened when his mother took all the inhabitants of an old people’s home to see one of his extravagant rock concerts.
Over a month later on the 15th March we visited the BIC to see the lovely and very talented Paloma Faith in concert. Her music was wonderful (although I found the sound mix to be a bit strong on the treble for my ears) but what really grabbed my attention was the support act ….
…. I had never heard of California band Vintage Trouble before (although I have seen singer Ty Taylor performing with Paloma on the Jools Holland Show). The musicians played excellent blues and rock style but Ty Taylor stole the show, if you shut your eyes you could believe you were listening to James Brown or Otis Redding. His energetic act took him all over the stage and indeed all over the auditorium. He returned to perform an Aretha Franklin song with Paloma during the main set.
Stupidly I didn’t take my camera so these shots were taken on my phone. This was particularly annoying as we had great seats just behind the mixing deck free from other people’s heads. Here Ty Taylor, Rick Barrio Dill, Nalle Colt and Richard Danielson line up to be photographed by and with the fans.
In the second half Paloma Faith did a great set on her white art deco stage, complete with a ten piece band (most of whom are hiding in this shot).
And here dances with her backing singers.
Some family news. Our granddaughter Amber is still working in Essex and living with her aunt and uncle Anita and John. She came back to Dorset for a week and paid us a visit or two. As those of you who have visited us might notice, we have had all the doors and some internal windows in the house replaced recently which gives it a much brighter look.
John and Anita also paid us a visit on the way back from visiting friends in Weymouth and Kara popped in too. Coincidently it was Mother’s Day so that was a nice treat for Margaret.
In the last fortnight I have had a reunion with an old friend and had to say goodby to some new ones. Alan Martin, treasurer and one of the leading ringers in Stour Ringing Group up to 1996, was back in Dorset on business so three of us joined him for a drink in Wareham on 13th. L-R Bob Gifford, Alan Martin and Ian Alexander
We were all back in a pub in Wareham (well nearby Stoborough to be precise) on the 17th to say farewell to two members of the ringing group. Simon Breeze, a warden at Durlston is leaving for a new job in Somerset and Mick Cook has decided to retire from ringing due to other commitments. L-R Ian, Bob, Shaun Robson, Simon Breeze, Mike Gould, Sean Walls and Mick Cook. We wish them both well but manning the ringing site at Durlston without their input and their expertise is going to be a challenge .
On 18th it was back to Wareham again, this time for the AGM of the Dorset Bird Club which we held in the Methodist church. The Club had looked like it was in danger of folding but thanks to a very generous offer from the Birds of Poole Harbour charity, Marcus Lawson has been employed for two years to take the Club forwards. After the AGM we had a fascinating talk from Magnus Robb on the new Sound Approach book ‘Undiscovered Owls’. We heard some of the wonderful sound recordings (the one of a Ural Owl was so atmospheric), were informed about Magnus’ discovery of the Omani Owl and learned about how the Little Owls over much of Europe, North Africa and Asia are not Little Owls at all , but a separate species they are naming the ‘Cucumeow’. It was one of the most entertaining and informative talks I have ever been to.
Magnus answering questions after his talk on Undiscovered Owls. It looks like this book is going to be of an even higher standard than the four the Sound Approach has produced already. See http://soundapproach.co.uk/product/undiscovered-owls/ for details including a pre-publication discount offer.
On the morning of the 20th there was the long-awaited partial eclipse of the Sun. It was going to be about an 88% coverage of the Sun by the Moon but that would have been spectacular enough. However there was thick cloud in our area and all we noticed was a drop in light levels and temperature. Fortunately I have seen several partial eclipses and a total eclipse, although the latter only briefly. In August 1999 I took a flight from Hurn airport specifically to see the total eclipse. We flew SW of Cornwall to the area of totality. Views through the aircraft windows were good but not excellent, because in spite being in a window seat as soon as I had seen it I had to duck down to let the other two passengers in my row have a view and because almost immediately the pilot had to turn the plane around to let the other side have a chance. As a result views of totality were restricted to a few seconds. One of the most memorable things was watching the shadow of the Moon race across the clouds towards us leaving a dark purple stain in its wake.
Although far better shots can be seen on the internet I have uploaded a scan of this photo which was taken from the cockpit of the 1999 charter flight and was delivered as print to all the passengers. It has been on my sideboard for the last 16 years and has faded some what. This along with it being taken though an aircraft’s window explains the poor quality.
And finally I delayed posting this entry until after our Ringing Group’s AGM on the 22nd. I thought it would be nice to have a photo of all of us together, well 13 out of the 16 of us actually. The evening went well and we made lots of plans for the future, sorted out a few issues and awarded the ‘Stoate Award’ for the worst paperwork entry of the year, but after the meeting had broken up I realised I had forgotten to take any photos. We have managed to go three years since the last AGM (does that make it a TGM?) so it might be 2018 before I have a chance to do that again.
The Phoenix organisation, to which Margaret and I are members, advertised a charter flight from Bournemouth to Tromsø in arctic Norway that joined a three night trip on board one of Hurtigruten’s cruise ships. Although I had been to arctic regions four times before and seen most of its wildlife it had always been in summer with its 24 hour daylight and so had never seen the aurora borealis or northern lights as it is generally known now. The Gulf Stream keeps the waters off northern Norway ice-free throughout the winter and indeed makes this area about 20c warmer than it should be for this latitude.
We arrived at Tromsø to very mild conditions. It was raining and 6c. Not what you would expect at nearly 70N in March. The heavy snow seen in this photo was taken on our return five days later.
The following day most of the group opted to try dog sledding at a centre some 30 minutes out-of-town.
Quite contrary to my belief, these huskies were mild-tempered and docile.
And the puppies were quite adorable (and obviously were excused sled pulling activities).
I have never seen dogs so eager to perform as these. They would strain at the leads whenever the brake was on and leap forwards the moment it was released. A few of the sleds got caught up in small trees or overturned so there was a bit of delay. We were out for an hour and it was pretty exhilarating.
Most of the rest of the Phoenix group. Only Davril and Margaret stayed behind. Yes, I did go on holiday with nine women.
In the afternoon we boarded the MS Midnatsol which sailed at 1800.
Of course the main reason for coming on this trip was to see the aurora. It runs on an 11 year cycle with this year being at or just after the peak. Even so, the display wasn’t as good as some published photos would have you believe, however those photographers can chose the best nights and best locations for their stunning panoramas.
The problem I encountered was that my bridge camera wouldn’t give an exposure longer than one second. As a result I had to set it on 6400 ISO hence the grainy images. Also of course the photos were taken from a moving ship, further blurring the image.
Dawn the next day saw us steaming north through the many fjords.
Conditions were a bit colder here and snow came down to the foreshore. Very few birds were seen except the ubiquitous Herring Gull and Kittiwake.
Late morning we called into the pretty village of Honningsvåg on the northernmost island of Magerøya.
We transferred to the North Cape, generally considered at 71 10′ 21”N to be the most northerly point of Europe, although the next peninsula is 1.5km further north and of course Svalbard is nearly 1000km further still.
It was windy when we arrived but it soon got much worse. Even standing up to get your picture taken at the globe was a trial.
Things deteriorated rapidly when a hail shower driven by force 8 winds struck and caused everyone to run for the visitor centre.
Later we cruised eastwards towards Mehamn. Here we passed a rock formation that bore a strange resemblance to a Finnish church.
It was relatively sheltered with calmer seas in the fjords.
We arrived in Varangfjord at dawn the next day. We were now as far east as Istanbul or Durban in the southern Indian Ocean.
Varangerfjord is famous for its wintering seaducks. Hardy species from arctic Siberia don’t need to travel to the Atlantic coast for winter which they consider to be just for wusses. They prefer the harsher conditions of the eastward facing Vrangerfjord. The best views were in Vadsø harbour where I photographed these Long-tailed Ducks ….
…. this raft of Common Eider ….
…. and the wonderful King Eider, here on the sea ….
…. and here in flight ….
Best of all was the much scarcer Steller’s Eider named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, the naturalist on board Bering’s 1725 expedition across Russian searching for an eastern route to the New World. Indeed Steller became the first westerner to reach Alaska from the east.
The Steller’s Eiders stayed at the back of the flock, just a bit too distant for photography, so I have copied this stunning image of a drake by M Ravasini from the Internet Bird Collection.
We saw few birds as we crossed Varangerfjord on our way to Kirkenes on the southern shore. The best that Kirkenes harbour could offer was this Black Guillemot moulting from its mainly white winter to it mainly black summer plumage.
For an excursion we took a bus trip to the Russian border, mainly so we could get out of the town and see if there were any birds around. Here we are crossing the Pasvik river, proposed in the mid 19th century as the border between Russia and Norway, but Russia wanted some territory on the west bank so it could access an ancient Russian Orthodox Church. Norway managed to trade a few square km on the west bank for over a hundred on the east bank.
I have Russian visa for my trip in May but didn’t push my luck and try to cross. I’d have certainly missed the boat back to Tromsø.
We glimpsed a few birds in the Pasvik valley, a Fieldfare, a few Redpolls and a Great Tit and briefly saw flocks of Waxwings in Kirkenes, but from a birding perspective it was rather frustrating, but I was glad to visit this famous birding area as time did not permit this on my trip to Varanger in June 1987.
Today was Julie’s birthday and the others had arranged a cake. Bottom row L-R Sue, Julie, Linda. Top row L-R Di, me, Rosemary, Davril, Helen, Von and Margaret.
We crossed back to the north shore of Varangerfjord and sailed around the eastern side to the town of Vardø, situated on an island connected by a tunnel to the mainland. The wind increased markedly and so did the bird activity as we passed the seabird breeding cliffs of Hornøya. Identification of the many (thousands) of auks in poor light and in flight was tricky, but I thought the majority were Brunnich’s Guillemots with smaller numbers of Razorbills and even fewer Common Guillemots. King and Common Eiders abounded and I saw at least 15 Glaucous Gulls, some Gannets and a White-billed Diver. Pride of place however goes to this large pod of White-beaked Dolphins, a species I have never seen before in spite of going on dedicated boat trips to look for it.
The overnight passage was quite horrendous, the wind increased to force 10 and we were sailing straight into it. That said, the boat remained remarkably stable but we had a pretty bad night’s sleep as something came loose in the roof space above us and crashed and banged with every lurch of the ship. In the late evening we went up to the top deck to see the aurora, sheltering behind the funnel from the wind and ambient light.Very dramatic, with back-lit spray billowing around and above us whilst the green fingers of the northern lights danced in the background. The following morning things had calmed considerably as this photo shows.
Our first stop that day was at Havøysund where this black cloud ….
…. dumped a whole load of snow on us.
We had a couple of hours to look around Hammerfest, which at over 70N is claimed to be the northernmost town in the world (but again they seem to have forgotten about Longyearbyen, the capital of Svarlbard).
Perhaps Hammerfest’s claim to fame is being home to the most northerly House Sparrows in the world (unless of course you know otherwise)
A flock of Common Eider in the harbour gave better views than was possible from the ship.
So the rest of the day was taken up with the journey back to Tromsø, again there was wonderful scenery at every turn.
Our final stop in daylight was the little town of Øksfjord just before it got dark.
We arrived at Tromsø at 2345 but instead of going straight to our hotel we transferred to Tromsø’s Arctic Cathedral for a wonderful musical recital in a church with the most perfect acoustics I have ever heard. A beautiful end to a beautiful trip.
This is the fifth and final report on my north-east Brazil trip.
From Boa Nova we continued south to the Serra das Lontras range and the Serra Bonita reserve. From here we headed south-east reaching the coast at Porto Segura before heading north towards Salvador for our flight home.
We spent three nights at the private reserve of Serra Bonita near the town of Camacan which produced some excellent birding.
There was a beautiful panoramic view over the town from the restaurant, especially first thing in the morning.
Here are a few birds from the Serra Bonita forests – Rufous-throated Jacamar ….
…. Crescent-chested Puffbird ….
…. Blue Manakin ….
…. but the star bird was this undescribed species of Heliobretus treehunter. A full description is in the pipeline and it will probably be given the vernacular name of Serra das Lontras Treehunter. This is a copy of a print by Ciro Albano https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciroalbanofotos/ and is used with permission.
A middle of the day shower produced a stunning rainbow over the town
… giving some most unusual effect when I engaged the maximum zoom setting.
Feeders around the HQ gave some great photo opportunities – here a White-necked Thrush with two Green-headed Tanagers.
A Green-headed Tanager with a Green Honeycreeper.
Female Green Honeycreeprs are just that, but the male is more of a blue colour.
Chestnut-bellied Euphonias were out numbered by their orange-bellied cousins but I have kept a photo of that species for later.
and finally the incredible Red-necked Tanager.
The hummingbird feeders were filled just before dusk to give the birds some calories before their overnight fast. Here Sombre Hummingbirds and a Black Jacobin vie for position.
A male Violet-capped Woodnymph catches the light just right.
Only the immature Black Inca shows this brown moustachial stripe.
A tiny female Frilled Coquette. The smallest hummer in the world is the Bee Hummingbird of Cuba but the coquettes are not far behind.
Our final success at Serra Bonita was distant views of the rare Mantled Hawk from the highest peak.
The owner of Serra Bonita is a moth expert and runs a mercury vapor light regularly. Of the 24,000 species known from Brazil, he has identified 12,000 just on this reserve. This contrasts with just 2,500 ever recorded in the UK where there are thousands of moth enthusiasts trapping on a regular basis. I’ve no idea of the name but presume this is some species of Hawk-moth.
An unidentified micro-moth, a clearwing and what I presume is a one of the Geometridae.
From Serra Bonita we continued to the most southerly point of the trip at Porto Segura. On route we saw many interesting species varying from the widespread Variegated Flycatcher ….
…. Olivaceous Flatbill ….
…. and Southern Roughwing ….
…. to the range restricted Eastern Striped Manakin ….
…. and Least Pygmy Owl.
Porto Seguro is famous as the first place in modern Brazil to be visited by Europeans, being first visited by the Pedro Álvares Cabral expedition in April 1500. As the area lay within the part of the world allocated to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas, a Papal Bull declaring that all newly discovered lands were to be divided up between Spain and Portugal, the region was claimed for Portugal. This characature of Pedro Álvares Cabral was painted on the wall of the foyer of our hotel.
From Porto Seguro (the southernmost point of the trip) we headed north to Itacaré, our final birding destination. On route we stopped at our guide Eduardo’s brother’s house where we could see lots of nice birds coming to the feeder such as this Orange-bellied Euphonia ….
…. Red-legged Honeycreeper ….
…. and a female Brazilian Tanager
The following day we birded nearby forests seeing many species such as this Black-necked Aracari ….
…. and this magnificent Black-and-White Hawk-eagle. This is the first time I have seen an adult of this species and the first time perched.
Later in the day we called in at an extensive area of mangroves in the hope of see the two species of rail that we had failed to find earlier in the trip, Little Wood-rail and Mangrove Rail. It was very hot and we had no luck. We hoped to return the next day but unfortunately it didn’t pan out that way.
We had lunch by the beach at Itacaré ….
… at a beach restaurant run by (on the left) Eduardo’s brother Leo.
In the afternoon we visited the Catitu private reserve.
We saw four excellent species of cotinga, both Black-headed Berryeater
…. and White-winged Cotinga showed well. Bare-throated Bellbird was seen at a distance (but I only got very poor photos) but the best of all, the rare Banded Cotinga, was seen perched at such a distance that it couldn’t be identified until it flew.
Our final night was again spent in the pleasant holiday resort of Itacaré. The following morning we revisited Catitu in the hope of better views of Banded Cotinga. We had a very birdy morning but failed with our primary target. This was the only day on the whole trip when I failed to pick up a life bird.
Then it was long drive north to Salvador for our flight to Lisbon and home. Initially following the coast road, the journey was delayed by poor roads, heavy traffic, a funeral procession and (above) a fiesta, but we arrived at the airport in good time, so concluding an excellent trip. I personally recorded just short of 500 species. I had expected 65 life birds, 70 if I was very lucky, I got 78 and saw a couple of fantastic species that I didn’t know were even possible on this itinerary. There is a lot of driving on this trip but the results make it more than worthwhile.
But I will finish this narrative with another bird that deserves the epithet of ‘bird of the trip’ and one that wasn’t on my radar at all at the start. We bumped into Ciro Albano and his group at Veracel reserve near Porto Segura and after dark we all were able to get great views of two White-winged Potoos. Photo by Ciro Albano from the Internet Bird Collection.
Continuing the journey south through north-east Brazil, our group arrived at Boa Nova in Bahia State on the afternoon of the 23rd.
Although I have stayed in worse, the accommodation in Boa Nova was clearly the least luxurious of the trip. Entrance to our rooms was through a padlocked gate in the street. I understand that a new hotel has been opened recently so this shouldn’t put others off visiting.
Rooms were a bit dingy, there was a lot of noise from the street and I was plagued by mosquitoes in the night. There was even the legendary chewing gum on the bedstead (from 1950’s Lonnie Donegon song for those too young to remember).
The birding however was outstanding. This Black-billed Scythebill, a rare relative of the woodcreepers, gave reasonable views.
Several Pink-legged Graveteiro’s, showed in the canopy. This species of furnarid was only described in 1996.
Sharpbills gave their falling bomb whistles from the trees. This species has been considered to be a cotinga or has been placed in a family of its own, but has now ended up in the Tityridae along with such other neotropical oddballs as the tityras, royal flycatchers, schiffornis, myobious, purpletufts (see below), xenopsaris (see below), becards and some of the mourners.
As usual ant-thingies were a regular feature. This is an Ochre-rumped Antbird ….
…. a male Slender Antbird ….
…. and here the even more elusive female Slender Antbird.
One of the cutest birds of the trip was the diminutive Buff-throated Purpletuft. Now, as I said above, a member of the Tityridae.
Mammals even got a look in. This is the rare Weid’s Black-tufted-ear Marmoset.
In a drier, more open area we saw a pair of White-naped Xenopsaris. This species occurs over a wide area but is always scarce. This is the fourth South American trip I have seen this bird on, but up to now it’s just been one per trip.
Part of two afternoons were spent searching a rocky outcrop ….
… it was covered in cacti so you had to watch your step.
We had great views of several seedeaters including this White-throated and the rarer Dubois’ ….
… but our main target was Pygmy Nightjar which we found just before dusk, perfectly camouflaged on the rock.
The flowers of the cacti attracted many hummingbirds ….
…. a female Ruby Topaz Hummingbird ….
…. and the brighter male. Hummingbirds have feathers that shine iridescent from certain angles. The entire bird will never glow at the same time. As this bird turns its ruby crown will turn black but its gorget will light up a bright orange.
Similarly this Glittering-bellied Emerald will only live up to its name when viewed from a certain angle.
But the bird of the day, no, the bird of the trip, was seen at a nearby marsh after dark. We had fantastic views of a Giant Snipe by torchlight. Almost half as big again as a Eurasian Woodcock, this monster of the marshes showed well for several minutes. OK the photos aren’t brilliant but it was some way away and lit just by the torch beam. Araripe Manakin and Lear’s Macaws were expected highlights of the trip, this wasn’t, hence my decision to give it the honour of ‘bird of the trip’.
The last Brazil post dealt with our visit to the Canudos Biological Reserve and its wonderful Lear’s Macaws. From here we drove south-east to Jeremoabo and the following day continued to the coast at Palmares in coastal Pernambuco.
Pectoral Antwren, one of many species of antwren seen on the tour and one that is restricted to far eastern Brazil, was a highlight of our time at Jeremoabo.
Burrowing Owls could be seen along the sides of the road in open areas.
The area around Palmares is part of the ‘Pernambuco centre of avian endemism’. Unfortunately the vast majority of forest has been converted to sugarcane or banana plantations and the remaining endemic birds are critically endangered. Some forest does remain, but it is severely fragmented. In Europe or North America forest birds would disperse from one patch to another so bolstering the population, but here each population becomes increasingly isolated and inbred so numbers are falling at an alarming rate. Alagoas Foliage-gleaner, Pernambuco Pygmy-owl and Cryptic Treehunter may already be extinct and Alagoas Antwren, Pinto’s Spinetail and White-collared Kite may soon be following them into oblivion. Originally three days were scheduled for this area but rather than ‘flog a dead horse’ our time was cut to a day and a half, allowing us to see some of the specialities without wasting time on birds that had already disappeared.
Frei Canaca reserve is typical of the plight of the NE Brazilian coastal rain forest, being encircled with and fragmented by plantations. We saw some good birds here but they were in very low density and it was hard work!
I wasn’t able get good photos of any of the Pernambuco forest birds but in coastal marshes we saw and photographed the equally rare Forbe’s Blackbird.
The attractive White-headed Marsh Tyrant is a much commoner and widespread bird.
Overhead we had great views of the largest of the lowland New World vultures (the Andean Condor of course is the largest).
Further south in coastal Bahia State we came across another range restricted antbird – Fringe-backed Fire-eye.
We visited nearby palms at dusk and were fortunate to see …
…. the endemic Jandaya Parakeets flying to roost.
Searching mangroves the following morning we located several of the recently split Mangrove Rails, but they refused to be coaxed from deep cover and remained a ‘heard only’. However a chance encounter with another tour group gave us great scope views of the coastal Rufous Crab-hawk, but it was too distant for decent photos.
On route we saw the trip’s only Comb Duck, a species recently split from the Old World Knob-billed Goose.
Chestnut-headed Blackbirds frequented these roadside marshes.
Moving back inland, we stayed for a couple of nights in the charming town of Lencois. From here we explored the nearby Chapada de Diamantina and surround caatinga.
You’re not going to be confused as to which is which with these toilet door signs!
A nearby river valley held two very special birds ….
…. Sao Francisco Sparrow, named after the regions largest river ….
… and Ash-throated Casiornis, a seldom seen tyrant flycatcher that looks more like a furnarid.
The Chapada de Diamantina consists of many tepui-like rock outcrops and is scenically very attractive.
Among the many great birds we saw was Sincora Antwren, a bird described as recently as 2007 ….
…. and Serra Finch, another eastern Brazil speciality.
One of the best birds we saw in the area was another recently described species, Diamantina Tapaculo. To get to see this rarity we had to battle our way through thick scrub and climb down into this rocky gully. Our first attempt was unsuccessful, which was frustrating as our leader had already located it on a ‘recce’ whilst we were having lunch, so we knew it was there. But our attempt the next morning was successful, but no pictures were obtained of this little skulker.
This slightly blurred photo of a Red-cowled Cardinal looks like (but isn’t) something out of John Dunning’s ‘South American Land Birds’. Long before any good field guides existed for South American, JD mist-netted many South American species and photographed them in a special photography cage, complete with a few branches to perch on and a pale blue background to mimic the sky. For a long time this book was the best guide available.
Also endemic to NE Brazil is the Campo Troupial, a species of icterid or New World blackbird.
Cinnamon Tanager, another eastern Brazilian bird.
The former Hepatic Tanager has been split into three, the Central American populations which reach as far north as the south-west USA, retain the name Hepatic Tanager, the Andean forms are now known as Tooth-billed Tanager and this, the lowland form, is appropriately known as Red Tanager.
The following morning we climbed high into the tepui-like cliffs of the Chapada de Diamantina, but early morning mist obscured the views.
Out targets, Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch ….
…. the beautiful Hooded Visorbearer ….
… and the drab Velvety Black Tyrant soon fell.
On the way down we found the cloud had lifted slightly, partially revealing the dramatic scenery.
Lower down we found the stunning Blue Finch, but at a considerable distance. However this Black-throated Saltator performed at close range.
The Shrike-like Tanager is just that, a spitting image of the Old World Lesser Grey Shrike, apart from lacking a hooked bill and an evil look to its beady eye.
Not far from Lencois we birded an extensive area of caatinga.
Plumbeous Seedeater was one of many scarce or range restricted seedeaters we were to see on the tour.
We had great views of Collared Crescentchest. The four species of crescentchest are now considered to be a separate family Melanopareiidae, rather than being included in the tapaculos.
Other goodies included the tiny Grey-backed Tachuri, a diminutive tyrant-flycatcher ….
…. the dainty Sharp-tailed Tyrant ….
…. and some scary looking spiders.
Dark clouds gathered as dusk fell ….
…. but that didn’t prevent an impressive gathering of 15 or so Least Nighthawks.
From here we continued south heading for Mucage and Boa Nova. This will be the subject of the next post.
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