Lack of Wisdom (teeth) August 4, 2009

Yesterday I had my wisdom teeth removed.  Happily, and despite the many stories I’d heard to the contrary, it was uneventful.  I had two teeth that were in (the uppers) and two teeth that were impacted (lowers) so I received IV sedation.  Having never been “put under” before, I was definately more than a little bit nervous but it all happened so fast!  As soon as that needle was in I felt very, very sleepy and next thing you know, it was all over.

Jennifer had been roped into babysitting me yesterday, and she did a great job!  In the morning, while I was nervous, her deliberate stream of chatter made me distracted.  After surgery she did a great job of keeping me hydrated, and bought me puddings to eat (yes, I am on an all dairy diet right now {ice cream, ice cream], thought hopefully today I can eat a really soft avocado/peach I have waiting).  Also she helped time my ice packs and thanks to that the swelling today is not so much.  I owe you a big one, Jennifer!!

The only drugs I am on are Lodine (sort of like taking 8 advil at once) and a anti biotic.  Though I woke up early this morning in extreme pain, its not un livable and the workaholic in me will go to work.  My mom and Chris both told me the surgery was not a big deal so I made all these plans for work this week.   Maybe dumb, but we’ll see.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and words. It did the trick and here is hoping for a speedy recover AND the ability to eat lobster this weekend in Maine!!

Welcome, Olive July 20, 2009

Well, first of all my niece was born this weekend.  I have one niece already, the amazing Haley,  from Chris’s side, but this was the first “Browning” offspring. Her name is Olive and she is a real cutie!

Olive was due July 12, but I went and had a chat with her (yes, I spoke directly to Laura’s  [my sister in law's] belly) and asked if she could just wait until after my work trip to Bald Head Island, which was July 12-17.  Very nice of Olive to oblige. Don’t think Laura was too thrilled though, she was getting really uncomfortable!

Friday night Laura went into labor and off to the hospital she went!  I was deep asleep and missed my brother’s 11:30 call telling me that the epidural had been given, but when the phone rang at 4am I heard it.

Olivia Marie Browning

Next thing you know, I am getting all teary eyed on the phone and then I go to the hospital where I cried tears of joy all over my brother, Laura, Olive, and Carter’s in laws.  I don’t think anyone minded.

Olive has thick curly dark hair, which maybe came from the Brownings or her Italian heritage, but she looks cute in that infant way of  looking  like an old man.

Olivia, I look forward to watching you grow up!  Welcome to the world.

Joys of summer July 9, 2009

A few things that are good about this July, and the month of July in general:

-This weekend the free live show in downtown Raleigh is Joan Jett

-I am going to a Durham Bulls game. I want a Q Dog!  For those of you uninitiated, a Q dog is a foot long hot dog topped with nc barbeque.

-Last weekend we went to the mountains and it was so nice, we rented bikes and biked through the Smokies and on the way back I was all hot and sweaty so I jumped in a creek.

-I ended up buying a lovely new mountain bike which is so fancy but best of all fits me.

-Ribs and beer.

-Eating outside.

-Next week I am going to Bald Head Island for work!

-Riding the bike trails at Lake Crabtree.

-Freezing in my office and then walking outside and thawing out.

-My niece is going to be born any day now.

Final Europe Recap: Rome June 30, 2009

Day 7

We took the overnight train from Paris to Rome, and it was really fun (for the first 14 hours, more on that in a moment).  We had our own “room” with bunk beds and as the sun set I really enjoyed watching the many castles on the French countryside as we rode past.  We drank some beer and ate chocolate we bought in Paris before turning in.  We couldn’t eat from the dining car as we were out of Euros and they do not take credit cards. Doh! That’s ok.  Both of us slept pretty well with the rumbling of the train.   Our scheduled arrival time for Rome was 10:30 am (we had left Paris at 7pm the night before) but at 8:30 our train stopped.  In the middle of nowhere, for an hour and a half.  And then, later on, it stopped again!  We were 5 hours late arriving in Rome and we were famished!  No one told us why, though apparently this is not uncommon with Italian trains.  Who knows.

Once we arrived we hopped on the metro to Circus Maximus, to see our pal Melanie who was hosting us for this leg of our trip.  Melanie originally hails from Western NC but has been living in Rome for two years working for FAO, which is the Food and Agriculture Branch of the UN.  She speaks 3 languages and has lived in more countries than I have visited.  Plus, she is a lot of fun!  Her office overlooks the Coloseum and the Palatine Hills, which sure beats my view of the basement hallway.

We loitered around the Circus Maximus until Melanie finished work and we rode home on the most crowded bus I have ever been on (she told us she usually walks).  Melanie lives is the Trastevere neighborhood (translates too “across the Tiber”) in a neat flat that is happily 30 seconds from a tasty gelato shop.  After showers and a nap we walked through winding cobblestone streets past a number of lovely piazzas to a small restaurant that turned out to provide the first of the three amazing dinners we ate there.

After an amazing dinner we went to Isola Tiberina, a small island in the Tiber River connected by bridges.  Well, a better name for the Isola would be “Cocktail Island” because during the summer months all these temporary bars pop up and all the city goes there to drink and hang out.  We sat on a pile of cushions on a blanket and watched the river cross over rapids as we enjoyed a drink.   Romans love cocktails, which surprised me. I would have though they were all into wine!

Day 8

We pounded the pavement in Rome!  Visited the Palatine Hill ruins (where many of the early emperors lived) and then the ruins of the roman forum, the temple of the Vestal Virgins, the arch of Titus, and all kinds of amazing roman architecture. I am not going to lie that watching the first series of the show “Rome” helped me understand some of the time line.   It is amazing what they accomplished.  We learned that Romans are great recyclers, and that the finery from the emperor’s palaces; statuary, marble and the like, is all at St. Peters Basilica now.

We also visited the Colosseum, which is really large and then walked across the street to the Celian Hill, where there is a large park and the Church  Santa Paulo and Giovanni, two Roman soldiers who were martyred.  Then we walked over to the super swanky Aventine Hill, where the US Embassy and some enormous homes are located.

We met Melanie at her apartment after work and again she led us through piazzas past fountains, the Pantheon, and great statues to another great night out:  drinks along the Tiber with her pals Vilan and Valentina and then dinner.  Her coworker and friend Mami joined us for dinner.  Mami is a marathoner, and holds the record for being the 16th fastest woman in Rome.   On the way home we saw the ruins of Argentina Largo and the statue of the elephant with an obelisk on its back.  If Napoleon had sticky fingers when it came to Egypt, the Ancient Romans were even worse.  Melanie told us there are more obelisks in Rome than in Egypt.

A few bits of Rome trivia:  there are lovely water fountains throughout the city that you can drink from.  They come straight from an aquifer and are so nice and cool!  Feels great when its hot out.  Also, cats are revered in Rome for saving the city from a plague many years ago. Every ruin or monument had a dish of cat food somewhere nearby.  There are cats everywhere!

Day 9

We woke up late and went to the Vatican.   Instead of taking us 20 minutes to walk there it took us 2 1/2 hours because I got us really lost.  Oops!  The upside was that we ate breakfast from a bakery we stumbled upon and it was the  most amazing donut I have ever eaten in my entire life. Ever!  Filled with real deal Holyfield pastry cream.  Mmm. We finally found the right way, which was through Janiculum Hill which afforded us fine views of the city and the Garabaldi Memorial.

Anyway, we made it to St Peters, and all I can say is, wow.  Words cannot describe how beautiful it is.  There is art in every corner of the room.  It is so massive you could fit St Pauls, Westminster Abby, and Notre Dame in there and still have room for my house, or 4 of my house.   We skipped the Vatican museums on account of the fact we couldn’t actually find them and it was pretty late at this point.  We wandered off across the Tiber river, got lost again and found the Pantheon, which we were able to go inside of (our previous visit with Melanie was at about 10pm and it was closed).  We did some drinking and shopping (yes, I spent 70 Euros on olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other food items) and never did find our way back to the Tiber so we took a taxi home.  Just fine as our feet were about to fall off!

Another fine dinner with Melanie!  It was Thursday, which is the only day most restaurants make gnocchi.  Melanie and I both had gnocchi with radicchio and clams and it was amazing.  A great dinner on which to end our vacation.

Epilogue

We made it home just fine, though flying to the states from Leonardo DaVinci airport is a little bit of a nightmare.  There were luggage issues so it took everyone forever to get checked, and sure enough Chris’s suitcase got lost.  It finally showed up in Raleigh the next day.  When we opened it we found it had been tampered with:  the balsamic vinegar had been unwrapped and put back in the suitcase (not interesting enough to steal, I guess) and hilariously enough, in Chris’s suitcase was an article of  someone elses’s clothing, specifically, a pair of bikini bottoms that probably belonged to a 10 year old girl!  I bet right now her parents are mad and accusing her of leaving it in Rome when in truth it was a very slack airport employee.

A wonderful vacation.  Thanks to everyone who gave us travel tips, and special thanks to Tom and Tallie and also Melanie.  Thanks!

Oh yeah, and of course

Birds Seen on the Continent!

Goldfinch, finally

Monk Parakeet

Tree Creeper

Serin

Hooded Crow

Siskin

House Martin

Redstart

Black-headed Gull

Swift

the European  oriole that was yellow with black wings, can’t remember the name.

Europe Part 2: Paris June 30, 2009

Unfortunately for poor Paris, it got the short end of our schedule: we were really only there for Sunday and Monday and Sunday all the restaurants are closed and on Monday all the museums were closed!  Things to save for next visit.  We arrived very late on Saturday night, just enough time for a stroll to the Eiffel Tower and Jardin de Trocadero before crashing into bed.

Paris trivia:  first of all,  the person who designed and built the Eiffel Tower was named Gustav, NOT Alec Eiffel like the Pixies song always led me to believe.  Secondly, it was the winner of a contest to design a  gateway to the 1890 worlds fair.  The design that came in second place?  A giant guillotine.

Day 5

Again we started off our visit by participating in a Fat Tire Bike Tour, as we did in London.  We had another great leader who maneuvered us safely around some of the city’s great landmarks:  The Louvre, Les Hospital de Invalids, the Place del la Concorde, Musee D’Orsay.  Apparently, Napoleon had very sticky fingers and is responsible for the obelisk in the Place de la Concord and most of the Lourve’s Egypt collection, which is quite extensive.

After our tour it was fairly late, and because it was solstice the big celebration Fete de Music we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.  We spent the next 6 hours walking around the Latin Quarter drinking wine in cafes and checking out bands.  We did make it down and into Notre Dame, which is so huge, I think you could fit about 10 of my house in there.  The amazing thing to this woman who lives at the 34th latitude?  How late the sun went down.  It was still light out at 11!

Day 6

Breakfast was  Pan au Chocolate from a local patisserie, yummy!  Those French know how to eat.  The only museum that was open was the Louvre, so we headed over there.  Here is what I learned about the Louvre, that probably everyone else knows and I didn’t is that it used to be a really, really large castle.  And on the inside, it is gorgeous!  The rooms are so ornate they are as lovely as the art on the walls.  We wandered through and kept getting lost, but enjoyed everything we saw.

For lunch we went to a cafe where I had duck and Chris had (drumroll) Steak Tartare.  Yes, it is raw ground beef, and yes, it was on accident that he ordered it.  But, here is the thing: its pretty good!  Those of you who like sushi, it tastes and the texture is very close to salmon sushi.  And its served with pickles and cabochons to cut the richness of the beef.   We managed to make quite a dent in it.

We did a little shopping in the afternoon, more wine at cafes,  and then went to catch our overnight train to Rome!

See photos of Chris’ raw meat mountain, as well as other Parasian delights over here.

Europe Trip, part 1 June 27, 2009

We just got back from a lovely European vacation.  I hadn’t ever been there, and for Chris it had been about 10 years.  Our friend Melanie lives in Rome,  and decided to go for a visit via London and Paris.  Below is a description of our escapades.

Photos on Flickr Posted soon!

Day 1

Direct flight from Raleigh to London, which arrives at Heathrow at in the morning.  We take the underground to the hotel (Millennium Mayfair Grovesnor Square, which was a fabulous place to stay) where we drop off our bags and, since it is too early to check in, immediatly start exploring our neighborhood, namely, we go to the British Museum.  When the Brits colonized everyone, they brought back treasure and it is all displayed in this enormous, very well organized musuem.  We take Rick Steve’s advice about the British Musuem and focus on Egypt, Greeks and Mesopotamia (and we do see the Rosetta Stone, how cool).  We also look at China, India, and Indonesia but by that point were so dead on our feet that we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap.

After the nap, we did a Fat Tire Bike Tour of the city.  In my opinion, this is the way to see a city.  You see all the highlights without having to pound the pavement!  The bikes are very comfy 3 speed beach bikes, and it is not strenuous, we even stopped at a pub midway for a beer.  The guide was really knowledgeable and funny, too.

After the tour, dinner at a pub and then bed!  We were so tired.

Speaking of pubs, we had previously decided to only drink beer while in the UK.  Here is a list of the beers we drank.  Chris was impressed by all the cask ales: every pub seemed to have one.

Here is a list of the beers we drank (over the course of a few days)

London Pride

Toddy Lager

Bombadeir bitter

Sam Smith bitter (from a cask, the best beer we tasted overall)

Youngs bitter

Youngs special ale

Youngs Waggledance

Staropramen

Some Lemongrass thing, and some summer ale, cant remember the brewer

Spitfire Ale (Kentish style)

Greene King IPA

Day 2

Tower of London, baby!  We spent almost the entire day here.  There was a big exhibit of Henry VIII’s arms and armor in the White Tower, which was really interesting.  We did the beefeater tour which was very cool, and it turns out “our” beefeater spent 3 years guarding Rudolph Hess.  Not at the tower, so far as I know. Checked out the crown jewels and and exhibit on crown making (did you know they recycle the gems from crown to crown)?

We did a bit of wandering after that, ended up at St. Pauls which was the first of many lovely churches we viewed, walked the Millenum Bridge and wound up at a Pub on the Thames.  After a few beers we tried to get tickets for the Globe Theatre (sold out) so we rode the London Eye instead.  Yes, even me Miss scared-of-heights. It wasnt that bad though there is a photo of me looking distinctly nervous.  The view really is amazing from the Top.

Ate Indian food for dinner.  Mmm.

Day 3

We started off the day with a visit to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. This was a highlight of the entire trip, and I really do recommend it. It was fascinating!  The cabinet war rooms are a maze of underground space where Churchill and his cabinet worked during WWII.  It was amazing, and interesting.  The museum,  which is off to one side, is a great exhibit of Churchill’s exemplary life.

After this we got a bite to eat and went to  St. Martin-in-the-fields for a free concert, which they do a few times a week.  Anyone who listens to WCPE radio in the morning, like we do, knows that host David Ballentine LOVES to play pieces recorded from this lovely church so we had to check it out for ourselves.   The concert was a clarinetist, a tenor, and a violinist from Wellington College who each performed a few solo pieces.  Lovely.

We had about an hour to wander around the National Gallery before catching the tube out to Richmond for dinner with my cousin Tom Fishburne and his family.   Tom, Tallie and thier two little (hilarous and adorable) daughters Martha and Scarlet have been living here for 2 1/2 years. Richmond is a really cute town on the Thames home to Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, and is famous for the bar where the Rolling Stones got their start.  It was so great to see the  Fishburnes, and my cousin is so talented I have to plug his website right here.  (He is a marketing guy, cartoonist, and all around cool dude).

Day 4

We started out downtown, watching the changing of the guards and then Westminster Abbey before going out to Notting Hill to wander Portobello Road’s Saturday Market (trivia: did you know Orson Wells lived on Portobello Road)?  The intense crowds scared us off so we went back to Oxford St and, at Tallie’s reccomendation, had a proper English tea at Selfridges (which itself was a madhouse due to a big sale they were having.  50% off Prada bags, anyone?)  That was a really tasty treat!  I love love love clotted cream, and would like to eat it everyday.  I also love minature food, like tea sandwiches.  Crayfish salad with rocket was my favorite.

After that we went to a pub and drank a bunch of beers before heading to St. Pancras to catch the high speed chunnel train to Paris!  More on that, later.

Finally, what you have all been waiting for:

list of birds seen in the UK

Chaffinch

Great tit

Blue tit

Long-tailed tit

Jackdaw

Grey Heron

Shag

Cormorant

Lesser black-backed Gull

Tufted Duck

Coot

Mistle Thrus

Blackbird

Starling

Magpie

Woodpigeon

Mute Swan

Pochard

Carrion  Crow

Herring Gull

some parrots I need to look up….

Absence June 27, 2009

Makes the heart grow fonder?

Sorry to have been so far from this blog for quite some time now. Its been a crazy spring. As most of you know, my boss has cancer and I have never worked so hard in my life.  Then, field season hit and our tech got sick.  So its been crazy because I have been in the field so much working. I don’t know at this point if life will get any easier but I will try to be back in the blogosphere!

Making of a Hockey Fan April 5, 2009

My husband got tickets to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals the year the Carolina Hurricanes won, and that caused his somewhat latent love of hockey to come out into its own.  This season, he and his pal Joe got a 12 pack of tickets.  Well, thanks to Joe’s dad, who is an every game, season ticket holder, Joe and Chris frequently have extra tickets (the how and why of this has been explained to me, but its complicated).  Consequently,  I have been to a lot of Hurricanes Games this winter.  More than I ever have before, total, in my life.  We spent my birthday, Christmas and New Years with the ‘Canes.  It looks like we are on track to spend Easter with them too.

Here is the thing.  At first, I liked the games for the spectacle of it; lights, fan games, Dancing Granny, etc.  And the company I was with, of course.  Then I got captivated by the game.  Its so exciting!  Reminds me of Roller Derby:  those guys go hard, without a break, for the whole game.  You know how sometimes you see chubby baseball players?  You would never have a chubby hockey player. The play is so fast, action packed, and some of those shots are amazing.   I have really fallen in love with hockey.

I don’t really want to go into the whole reason of what really makes the ‘Canes special, because there are many many great blogs that do that well.  But after spending this season with the team I can truly say that I am  a fan. For example:  last night we went to a dinner party, and I was horrified by the fact that basketball was on instead of the very important Hurricanes/Penguins Game.

Which the Hurricanes won, and clinched a playoffs berth. Yay!

Date Night in Durham! March 23, 2009

For our anniversary, Chris got tickets for us to see Fiddler on the Roof in Durham at the new Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).   I don’t get to Durham often enough considering how many good places to eat (and great people!) there are there.   The city has created this amazing American Tobacco Historical District project right in downtown,  featuring places to eat, the Durham Bulls stadium, WUNC studios, and now the DPAC.  Its really quite amazing.

We started off the night by checking out Toast, a “paninoteca” in downtown Durham.   It was amazing!  Small, bistro style, with all kinds of wild panini, bruscetta, and crostini options  (warm goat cheese, local honey ancracked pepper anyone?) .   Not expensive either, so go check it out.

The musical was amazing.  I loved all the songs, and the star, Topol, was amazing.  Dpac has comfy seats and great sound.  All the ushers were really super friendly too, which was nice.

Beyond that, I was not that impressed with Dpac.  At the intermission the line for the ladies room was, no joke, 75 people deep and cut into the line for the concessions.  There’s a design flaw!

In addition, there is the new light sculpture out in front of Dpac.   Created by Jaume Plensa, the renowned Spanish artist responsible for Chicago’s Centennial Park, it was originally destined for downtown Raleigh.  Raleigh city council didn’t want it so it was donated to Durham.  The main feature is a beam of light that shoots up in the air.  This feature, combined with the fact that the Dpac  building itself is a glass cube makes this a migratory bird death trap.

From American Bird Conservancy:  “The intrusion of light into migratory bird flyways poses added danger to an already perilous journey. The interior and exterior lights on tall buildings and bright uplights used for decorative illumination of monuments, government offices, parking garages , and other structures of all heights, emit light fields that can entrap birds. The birds are reluctant to fly from a well lit area to a dark one, particularly during periods of low cloud cover or inclement weather when views of the stars and moon, which serve as navigational aids, are obstructed. The birds circle repeatedly within the light field, and as more and more birds are drawn into the light, they collide with each other and the building, or fall to the ground from exhaustion. If they are not killed immediately by the collision, they are at risk for death from injuries they have incurred, predation on the ground, and collisions with windows during the following days.”

Its really too bad, because Durham so far has done such a nice job with the revitalization.  I am not sure that folks are going to be so thrilled about finding dead and dying birds everywhere.   Most discouraging is that there is a movement now to have the sculpture lit 365 days a year (currently it is only lit on show nights).   Hopefully this will get shot down.  At my job we have already written letters to the Durham City Council and the Durham paper about this (we did this before it was installed).  You know what would be really great, is if they could shut down this light sculpture during migration (like NYC and Toronto do with skyscraper lights).   A chance for conservation and education!

Final score?  Toast yes, Fiddler on the Roof yes, Dpac no.  This Friday we head back to Durham, to the Carolina Theatre to see the Gondoliers.  I am already wondering which of the fabulous Durham Restaurants we should eat at.   Cake, perhaps you can help us choose?

Nica Highlights March 15, 2009

Now that I have explained the how and why of the trip, here is a quick rundown of some of the highlights!    In total, we saw over 200 species of birds and 12 mammals and a handful of herps.

Day 1:

-3am wake up to get to the airport, painless flights to Managua.

-3 1/2 ride to Finca Esperanza Verde, located at 4000 feet.  Its so beautiful, with great views and amazing birds seen on our first short hike.

-We all go to bed early, I share a cabin with the 3 female students and Mariamar.  The beds are super comfortable and we sleep like logs.

-Best birds:  Yellow-throated Euphonia, Yellow-winged Tanager, Blue-crowned Motmot.

Day 2:

-Long morning hike on a finca trail over hill and dale, come back to the farm for lunch and relaxing, and then a hike through the coffee gowning area in the afternoon.  A night hike reveals a possum and some alarmingly large spiders.

-We see both 2 and three toed sloths on our hikes.

-Best birds: Bat Falcon, Violet Sabrewing, Rufus-winged Tanager

Day 3:

-Start banding!  We catch Wood Thrush, Black-headed Nightingale Thrush, and a Cocoa Woodcreeper among others.  I have done a lot of banding but this is the first time I hear Howler Monkeys while opening nets in the morning.

-Lunch today is a masa ball soup, and like all the food here at the finca is fabulous: rich broth overflowing with veggies and meat.  The vegetarians have their own meat free version and indeed they eat well the whole time we are in Nicaragua.

-After lunch Lynn gives a lecture about Tropical Ecology, and Pasqual, the coffee manager, explains how coffee is grown, harvested and roasted.

-At night Cesar, a local former Sandinista soldier,  gives us a great talk about the history of Nicaraguan government and Nica/US relations.  Suffice to say, the US has never been very nice to Nicaragua.  Its a very interesting, non biased talk.

-Best Birds: Slaty Antwren, Brown Parrots,  and I want to mention that every day we had many Swallow-tailed Kites soaring overhead.  I never get tired of those birds!

Day 4:

-Banding in the morning.  We catch a Bright-rumped Attila that I still bear scars from: a lovely feisty bird with a hooked bill that it repeatedly bites me with.   We also catch a Long-tailed Hermit (we can’t band hummers but record data about their health and status before release).

-We leave the finca for a field trip to “General Nestor’s land” a nearby finca at as lower elevation.  A creek with an amazing swimming hole runs through the middle, so we all swim and enjoy a great barbeque lunch.  After lunch we bird the lowlands.

-Its worth mentioning that the road into the General’s land is sort of like driving on the surface of the moon, if it was at a 45 degree angle. I have never been on a road like that before!

-Best birds: Common Tody Flycatcher, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Collared Trogon, Emerald Toucanet.

Day 5:

-Last day of banding.  We band all day, and at this point the students are really getting the hang of handling birds, putting the band on and recording data.

-At night the finca has a fiesta for us; a local band comes to play and we dance around the bonfire for hours.  The full moon makes the night so lovely and bright, a very special time.

-Best birds: Pale-billed Woodpecker, Chesnut-headed Oropendula

Day 6:

-We leave the finca (sadly) and head to Selva Negra, another private preserve. We search here for Three-wattled Bellbird and Resplendent Quetzal but are dissapointed.  The very windy conditions make birding more difficult, but we stumble upon huge flocks of neotropical warblers as well as an army ant swarm that has attracted the attention of woodcreepers and Grey-headed Tanagers, among others.

-After a long ride back to the lowlands, we go to Las Isletas, an archipelago of tiny islands created when Mombacho Volcano erupted millions of years ago.  On an sunset boat ride through the canals, we spot almost 40 bird species.

-At night we stay in the pretty town of Granada, in a hotel right on the main square.

-Best birds:  Limpkin! Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Northern Jacana and White-necked Puffbird.

Day 7:

-In the morning we explore Domatila Private Preserve, the largest Dry Tropical Forest Preserve in the country owned by the amazing Dona Maria Jose.  The forest is amazing, and so different from where we have been.  We get a prehensile tailed Porcupine snoozing in a tree, as well as one of my nemasis birds, the Green Kingfisher.

-After a delicious lunch and nap at the Domatila, we head up to Mombacho National Park.  This high elevation cloudforest is amazing!  Trees covered with epiphites, orchids, and bromiliads.

-The road up to the top is extremely steep: here in the US mountain roads tend to hug the contors, but in this park the road goes straight to the top.  We ride up in huge former military troop transport vehicles.

-Best birds:  Mountain Elania, Purple-throated Mountain Gem, Black-headed Trogon, Ferruginous Pygmy-owl and did I mention that I finally got my nemasis bird, the Green Kingfisher?

Day 8:

-We go to Montibelli Private Reserve and spend the day birding.  Its another habitat type, similar in elevation to the finca but a little less humid.  I like the veranda, where you can sit and see all kinds of birds.

-In the heat of the day we go to Masaya Volcano, which is actively spewing out all kinds of fumes.   We do not see the parrots that live in the inside of the crater, but there are tons of black vultures around which cause us to speculate that they come from the volcano instead of being born in nests.

-The rooms at Montibelli are so nice, its like staying in a treehouse! The food is amazing, too.

-Best birds: Long-tailed Manakin, Collared Aracari, Canivet’s Emerald.

Day 9:

-Another 3am wake up to catch our flights back to the states

FOR PHOTOS, GO HERE