JAB-BERWOCKY Part I

 The main thrust of the day was the Covid Booster Jab for which we had to make the drive to Weymouth (including Portland), a method in our madness as it kind of forces us to keep up the association with what for many, many years were our home towns. With high hopes of finding some interesting nature en-root but there was the attention to the Moth Traps to address first

which included a First for the Year

DECEMBER MOTH
along with another

FEATHERED THORN
Unhampered by the previously reported Major Road Works within 30 minutes we we at Lane End and already hearing the gritty refrain of

YELLOWHAMMER
(male)

(female)
which seemingly are still being fed by the new residents of the Farmhouse and or General Public?

It took a while for the first

BROWN RAT
to appear but worth it as boarding our (now) trusty steed we may have missed the high-flying

RED KITE
had there been no delay with the next Port of Call, with time still on our side, being

but Bird Watching not as we like it!

Firstly just c3 equally high flying and almost out-of-sight

GOLDEN PLOVER

reducing us to a visit to the archive to bring you representationwhich was also the case with the
None Event of the Year

with the

SNOW BUNTING
(we don't see them performing like this in the good old U of K)
still in the now cleared Sun Flower Field but viewed as an ancient

Charlie Chaplin
might be, a small flash of white, a similar flash of grey which wouldn't have reached the notebook let's say on Bird Race Day!
(images taken on the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea)

In company were also c3 also reluctant
BRAMBLING

which, like the
SKYLARKs,

were following the
HARROW

while we thank the Gentleman with the telescope for allowing us to get a little closer to the subject matter. To be continued......

Seven Wonders - Fleetwood Mac - Guatamala Part II

Our last 3 or 4 days in this wonderous country were spent mainly sight-seeing, which we will cram into a single Post, for fear of boring you, and begin with a stroll around the facinating city of

ANTIGUA
pursuing other interests such a architecture and others but by no means abandoning Birdlife in the numerous parks, starting with

BLUE-CROWNED MOTMOT
while comparing the new Cathedral with the old

struck like so many others in the Caribbean region by earthquakes,

with both inside and out these
SAND TAPISTRIES
before heading on to the

MYAN CITY of TIKAL
and its attendant birds such as the raucous

MONTEZUMA OROPENDOLA

particularly when at their Communal Nest Sites.

The Twin Temples of the
GREAT JAGUAR

sometimes known as the temple of
AH CACAO

COATA MUNDI
along with numerous

STELA STONES

Banners raised to Glorify the King.

CHAAC

Rain God of the Myan People

along with

GREAT CURASSOW
before leaving in hopes of finding the 'Bird of the Trip' with sights set very high we headed for

LAGO ATITLAN

and its fabled (artists impression)
GREBE
This is how Wiki describes it.

The Atitlán Grebe (Podilymbus gigas), also known as Giant Grebe, Giant Pied-billed Grebe, or Poc, is an extinct water bird, a relative of the Pied-billed Grebe. It was endemic at the Lago de Atitlán in Guatemala at an altitude of 1700 m a.s.l. It was described in 1929 by Ludlow Griscom based on a specimen collected in 1926 and had been overlooked in the past. American ecologist Anne LaBastille observed the decline of this species over a period of 25 years and was declared extinct by 1990. Maybe needless to say "we didn't find one"! but very much enjoyed the scenary, freshwater fish dinner at lakeside

COLLARED ARACARI

TO BE CONTINUED!

HAD WE NOT POSTED THIS TODAY BY NEXT SUNDAY IT WOULD SURELY HAVE BEEN FORGOTTED!

Seven Wonders - Fleetwood Mac - Guatamala - Part I

 Our young taxi driver (no more than 14 years old and car 5x that age) had done remarkably well to get us to the

GUATAMALAN BORDER POST
at all let alone before dark, but still a few more miles to find what passes for civilization around here.

Lucky then to find an
OCELATED TURKEY

in the gloom before reching our destination with Billy disappearing poste haste to find a

HOTEL
for the night (nothing to do with skipping his corner of the taxi fare??) which was all one would want on the inside while outside it sounded as if we had clued up next to a zoo, but we had overlooked

HOWLER MONKEYs
First plan of attack the following morning was to take the short stroll to the nearby city of

ANTIGUA
likely to be familar to many, even though not having been there, but as something of an icon in advertising and other TV images.

RUFOUS MOURNER
in the park, but what was worrying was the fact that the 3 Portly Amigoes agreed that climbing the still active

VOLCAN PACAYA
the next day was the best option. Completing the deal and handing over our hard earned dollars, there was never any mention of a fully armed 3 man protection squad, who made it clear as we set off next morning, that we were not allowed to photograph them and would check our cameras on our return, as there were still bandits operating in 'them there hills'!

MANGROVE CUCKOO

before we left vegetation behind with the only birdlife thereafter being

swirling

and magnificent

SWALLOW-TAILED KITEs
With fine pumice not allowing for much grip it was considered by the 'unfit' to be heavy going

BILLY
and we'd lost Jim halfway!
You're halfway up and you're halfway down

And the pack on your back is turning you around
Throw it away, you won't need it up there, and remember
You don't look back whatever you do

Better start doing it right.

Dance on a Volcano - Genesis

In fact it was only the spritely

AULD FELLA
who made it to the sumit but again we were as one reaching

BAT FALCON
level, the stratigically placed

BEER BAR
and yet another addition to the
World Bird List

LINNEATED WOODPECKER
After all that climbing we didn't have the energy to complete the Guatamala Saga so may put an end to it tomorrow as a bonus - Best Wishes to One and All!

Maybe we can squeeze Part II in tomorrow - Alert Your Friends - Cheers!