For Luke Tiller, lifelong outdoor enthusiast, self-taught hawk expert and tour guide, and environmental consultant, watching birds is all about their behavior.

“I like leading tours where it’s not just chasing some rare bird, but there’s some kind of spectacle,” said Luke. “I want to see something amazing that kind of knocks your socks off.”

Like many birders, Luke took a circuitous path to birding. After growing up in London and earning a degree in Philosophy, Luke found his way through various nonprofits to a management and marketing job with Connecticut Audubon. That’s how Luke discovered his love for raptors – which he describes as an “acceptable gateway” to birding.

“They’re big, they’re voracious. If you have a bald eagle flying over your head it seems to have more of an immediate impact on people,” said Luke.

When he got sick of working in offices, Luke found a way to make a living outdoors by running hawk watches on the East Coast and the Great Lakes, running the “Soaring Bird Surveys” in Israel, and guiding tours on major raptor migration routes. According to Luke there’s no magic or secret to becoming an expert in raptors – it’s comes just from watching them for a long time. After more than 15 years of focusing on raptors, Luke has definitely earned his expertise.

Unlike songbirds, raptors migrate during the day – so you can actually watch migration happening in real time. In the Americas, birds like the Swainson’s Hawk, the Broad-winged Hawk, and the Turkey Vulture migrate from the Northern continent to Central and South America in the fall (August to October), and back again in the spring (March to May). A similar migration pattern happens from Europe and Asia to Africa, for other raptor species.

Because raptors don’t usually migrate over the ocean, the land’s geography forces them to funnel through chokepoints – leading to a phenomenal number of birds in the sky.

“I’ve been in Panama when we’ve had had one million birds migrate in one day,” said Luke. “The sky gets blackened with birds.”

And what exactly keeps these powerful birds away from the water? The absence of thermals to keep them aloft. Instead of wasting energy on flapping, most raptors spend their time simply gliding from one thermal to the next. Flying distances of up to 7,000 miles, which the Swainson’s Hawk accomplishes every year, they need to be as efficient as possible. But above the massive heat sink that is the ocean, thermals don’t usually form.

In fact, Luke points out, seabirds can be quite dangerous for a raptor that ventures too far from shore. To cross between North Africa and Spain, raptors will get as high as they can above land and then coast over the Straight of Gibraltar. But sometimes they don’t make it.

“They are a fish out of water on the ocean. Gulls will force them out of the air and down to the water and drown them and eat them. And gulls don’t have talons like raptors, so they just rip them apart. It’s kind of gross.”

Some raptors, like Peregrine Falcons and Ospreys, are more adapted to life on the water, and consequently are built for lots of flapping, rather than gliding.

Apart from these natural chokepoints, raptors congregate in other places as well. The Amur Falcon, Luke says, migrate from Siberia and Korea to South Africa along the Doyang river. Before making the 3,000 mile journey over the Arabian Sea, they stop at a hydroelectric dam in Nagaland, a northeastern state in India, hundreds of thousands of birds at a time. Luke was lucky enough to guide the first commercial tour to see this gathering.

The tour was motivated by a remarkable story: with fishing stock decimated by the dam, the local people turned to the Amur Falcons as a food source, repurposing fishing nets to catch the birds. During the huge migration event, they were caught by the thousands, and within a couple years the decline in population was noticed at their wintering grounds. But when Bano Haralu, a local journalist and conservationist, uncovered the source of the population decline, multiple organizations stepped in to protect the birds. They explained the problem to the villagers subsisting on the falcons, who then decided to stop hunting the birds and invest in tourism instead.

As a keystone species, the Amur Falcons’ story is not just about the birds, it’s about the ecosystems that depend on them. With the help of the government, forest service, NGOs and local communities, zero Amur Falcons are captured or killed in northeast India now – a resounding success for the environment.

Luke is fond of many environmental success stories with raptors, citing it as another reason to enjoy hawk watching. Bald Eagles, for example, were down to 500 breeding pairs in the 1960s. But after reducing the use of DDT, their numbers have soared past ten thousand pairs. Reduction of pesticides, along with a captive-bred release program also allowed Peregrine Falcons to recover.

“When you are talking about the environment many stories are depressing. I think it is important to share stories of success, especially when the problems are usually manmade,” said Luke.

Though he’s reluctant to pick a favorite – “Favorite birds are whatever you can think of when you get asked that question, and they change often,” – Luke said his current favorite is the Harpy Eagle.

The national bird of Panama, the Harpy Eagle is endemic to South and Central America, living in pristine forest habitat. Because of this, they can be somewhat hard to find. Luke puts a sighting between uncommon and rare. But, if you know the location of a Harpy nest, chances are good, as their chicks stay around for up to a year. Luke had the great fortune to travel to a Harpy nest in Panama a couple years ago.

“We had an hour drive, a two hour boat ride, about an hour and a half hike through the jungle where it was 90 degrees and 100 percent humidity. But it was all worth it when we finally got to the nest. Here was this baby Harpy and the mother sitting together. It was pretty amazing,” said Luke. “That’s why I like hawk watching and migration. You go to interesting places and you see this incredible spectacle.”

If you’d like to learn more about hawk migration in the U.S. check out the Hawk Migration Association of North America. You can also find hawk watch site near you on Hawk Count, which maintains a database of bird counts at over 300 sites across North America.

The post Luke Tiller has his eye on raptors appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

One thousand. That’s how many birds in Mexico Rene Valdes aims to identify before he turns forty. He’s got two more years and only 31 species to go — and after learning that Rene basically lives and breathes birding, we won’t be surprised when he hits his goal.

How did Rene get into birding? In high school he volunteered to develop nature trails in an estuary preserve in Mazatlán. The lead on the project, a birder from the Netherlands, lent Rene his binoculars and challenged him to find “Woody Woodpecker” out on the estuary. That first bird, actually a
Pale-billed Woodpecker, got Rene hooked — soon he was identifying all the birds in his hometown, and a little later began photographing birds. Little did he know that there are about 1,100 bird species native to Mexico.

In college, Rene chose to study biology, but specialized in ornithology by joining in research projects, sometimes at other universities, to study birds and conservation. At one point he put his formal studies on pause to spend four months in Peru, studying parrots in the Amazon. That experience led him to research parrot conservation in Northeast Mexico for ten years after graduating college.

During this time, Rene focused on the Maroon-fronted Parrot, an endemic species to Mexico that is endangered. While living and studying in Northeast Mexico, Rene started guiding in his free time. He just couldn’t get enough of birds. He started leading tours in Mazatlán and the Pacific Coast, but branched out to new spots he learned about from his personal birding trips — Chiapas, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Monterrey, where Rene now lives. “Chiapas is one of my favorite places,” Rene said.

In 2011 Rene stopped doing academic research, switching to consulting with private companies. But he’s always watching birds, and studying their behavior for fun. “Last year I was studying a nesting colony of terns and gulls,” Rene said. Now he works with wind farm companies to do bird surveys on the Yucatan Peninsula to better understand how building windmills will affect bird populations. His studies aim to minimize the effects of wind farms on birds.

For the past six years, Rene has also guided tours for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, which focuses on birds living along the border. It’s a huge affair with almost 100 guides — well worth checking out if you want to add more than 30 new birds to your life list. (This year’s festival is Nov 6-10, so there’s still time to plan a trip!)

Disclaimer: Rene also works for BirdsEye, developing content, uploading new content, approving photos on birdseye.photo, and coordinating citizen science projects. He’s worked on creating Birds of Ecuador, Birds of Peru, and Birds of New Guinea — some of our apps that streamline guidebooks into excellent smartphone apps. And he reviews eBird sightings for three states in Mexico.

Like many birders, Rene is also a photographer. I might be biased, but Rene’s photos are stunning. But he’s never had lessons or taken any classes. So how did he hone his skills? “It was just practice.” Rene said. “I made a lot of mistakes. I started with a film camera, so I learned from my mistakes and tried to fix them.” Rene did get help from a friend to jumpstart his editing skills in photoshop, but after that he says he learned by himself, again, through lots of practice.

You can view many of Rene’s best photos on his birdseye.photo page.

Rene’s favorite bird may not be what you expect. In a country filled with vibrant birds in a rainbow of colors, Rene’s pick is a simple black and white: the Tufted Jay. “Very endangered species, but it is beautiful. There are no more than 1,000 birds left in the wild. It is gorgeous,” Rene said. Rene’s favorite tours are to the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Durango, where groups of up to twenty Tufted Jays can be seen.

Rene is also partial to the Horned Guan because of the effort required to find its territory. You have to hike 5-6 hours to the top of a cloud forest in Chiapas to reach one of the only places it is known to live.

It’s hard for Rene to pin down exactly why he loves birding. “It’s addictive actually,” Rene said. “I travel a lot in Mexico to find birds that I have never seen before.” His Mexico list sits at 969 bird species identified, though Rene says he’s only snapped photos of about 600-700 different species from Mexico. “Discovering a new bird that is awesome, colorful, just beautiful birds. That helps people get into birding,” Rene added.

“As I say to my friends, when you have very few birds left, it is very expensive to get them. You have to travel a lot for only one bird sometimes. The first 200 or 300 species are for free.” 

Even still, Rene saw five new birds on a recent trip off-shore of Baja. Yep, he’s going to have no problem getting to 1,000. Go Rene!

The post August Birder of the Month: Rene Valdes appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

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All images courtesy of Michael Montier. Click and hover on an image for the species’ common name.

Our November 2018 Birder of the Month has the honor of being the first user-nominated birder to be featured in this space. Michael Montier lives on the Spanish isle of Mallorca, a Mediterranean birding hotspot, where he fills an outsized role on the island. He runs a thread on Birdforum—updated daily—dedicated to the latest sightings around the island, and for many years, he wrote a birding column for the Majorca Daily Bulletin that detailed the beautiful birds he’d spotted, from soaring vultures to flamingos. Furthermore, he serves as the Vice President of GORA, a raptor study group on Mallorca that monitors birds of prey. His most important contributions to Mallorcan birding, however, are his generous gifts of time and knowledge to beginning birders on the island.

Michael Montier birding on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

Montier frequently tutors novice birds on Mallorca, showing them around hotspots and imparting his enthusiasm for birds. The lessons are free and are intended to spread excitement about both birds and the greater natural world. “The more birders there are in a world that needs nature more than ever, the better,” he says.

Birds have carried him through some dark days in his life, Montier explains, and he wants only to pass along his love of nature to a new generation. “If I have managed to fire their imagination, then I could not ask for more than that,” he says.

Montier grew up in London, England, and was first exposed to birds by his grandfather. They would walk in the countryside where his grandfather would pause to point out a bird, or just as importantly, a birdsong. The walks and birds remain vivid in Montier’s mind, particularly the yellowhammer, which still stands out. The memories remain with him today and sparked his lifelong passion for birds and big open spaces. The sense of freedom—inspired by the birds and their environment—continues to thrill him and drive his contributions to the birding community. Like many birders, Montier boasts a substantial collection of bird photographs—he has been snapping birds since 1969!—and particularly values his photos from his travels in Scotland.

Although he has served as a guide for visiting birders on many occasions, Montier has resisted becoming a birding professional. Today, he and his wife travel abroad as frequently as possible to birdwatch. They often visit the U.S. to canvass birding hotspots like California, Arizona, Florida, and Mississippi. After decades of birding and international travel to find new species on his life list, Montier is often asked what his favorite bird is. His reply? “I find it impossible to answer because there are so many species that I love. The nightjars must be near the top of my list though, and I go to see them at every opportunity.”

BirdsEye thanks Michael Montier for his contributions to the birding community and his commitment to our feathered friends. Keep up the good work, Michael!

The post Michael Montier: November 2018 Birder of the Month appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

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Species, listed from left to right in gallery:

Whiskered pitta (Erythropitta kochi), Sulawesi dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx fallax), Scarlet-bellied mountain tanager (Anisognathus igniventris), Royal flycatcher (Onychorchnchus coronatus) – female, Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) – male, Red-headed barbet (Eubucco bourcierii), Red-capped parrot (Purpureicephalus spurius), Red-bearded bee-eater (Nyctyornis amictus), Long-tailed sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii), King vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), Greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), Fiery-throated hummingbird (Panterpe insignis), Chestnut-crowned antpitta (Grallaria ruficapilla), Banded kingfisher (Lacedo pulchella) – male

Users of eBird, the citizen biodiversity project, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have collectively spotted 10,364 species, roughly the entire canon of bird life on the planet. And Alex Vargas? He’s personally tallied 5,138 species on his life list—and counting! For his prolificness and sensational avian photography, Alex is the BirdsEye Birder of the Month for October 2018.

Alex Vargas offers bird photography tours in locales around the world.

Alex is a native Costa Rican who has been birding for over 30 years, first as a childhood hobby and later as a birdwatching tour guide during his teenage years. Since 2009, he has led dedicated bird photography expeditions around the world. Alex inherited his love of birds from his father and grew up studying birds on his family’s farm in Costa Rica’s Caribbean Lowlands, where he created his first bird feeder at age 12. He nabbed his first naturalist gig shortly after that when the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) recruited him to work at the La Selva Biological Station in Sarapiquí. At 16, he was certified as a “Naturalist Guide” by WWF and OTS.

Alex started photographing birds when the industry entered the digital era. He carried his scope everywhere as he led birdwatching tours, and he got hooked on photography for good when a friend gave him a small point-and-shoot camera. When he moved to Asia, he found more time to shoot birds and pursued photography more seriously. He was later granted the title of “Pro Photographer” from a private school in Japan.

Alex leads bird photography tours around the world for Bird Photo World, his own agency. He regularly visits Costa Rica, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, and the U.S. He previously worked in research and conservation, as well as a Tourism Business Administrator at various times, but has focused on tours and photography since 2009. He currently lives in Indonesia with his family but plans to relocate to the Americas to work on growing his business. In the coming, Alex hopes to expand to Ecuador and Brazil in 2019 and Guyana and Africa in 2020.

Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)

When pressed, Alex admits that the Resplendent Quetzal is his favorite bird: “They are marvelous, enigmatic birds, and I have spent a long time with them; it is even the bird in my company’s logo” he says. He admits, however, that he has too many favorite birds and expressed a fondness for kingfishers, pittas, hummingbirds, Australian parrots, and the various red-billed, multi-colored species found in Asia.

For novice birders, Alex recommends “practice, practice, practice! But have fun while you’re at it”, he says, “especially when you’re young and can travel without roots pinning you down.” He suggests that if you encounter a challenge identifying certain birds, learn to embrace it and keep moving forward. “Think it’s hard to tell flycatchers apart? Gulls are even harder!” he jokes.

As a final point, he emphasizes that birders should seek out the fun in birding and not make it a competition, which can take away the beauty of the activity.

Congratulations to Alex Vargas for being named the BirdsEye Birder of the Month for October 2018. Keep up the great work, Alex!

All images courtesy of Alex Vargas.

BirdsEye is always looking for ways to highlight the people doing exceptional work in the birding community. Do you know a deserving birder worthy of being featured? If so, please email us at info@birdsinthehand.com with your nominations.

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