Photos need new homes!

After nearly 40 years, Worldwide Camera in Savannah is closing. I appreciate the support I have received for my photography through the years from owners Pam & Tom Coffer. For nearly three years, 15 of my photos have hung on the wall outside their shop. Now these images need new homes.
They are 16x20 photos, framed to 24 x 28 in simple black frames with white mats. We are asking $100 per framed photo, but no reasonable offer will be refused. You can stop by Worldwide or contact me at dichurch@bellsouth.net.

Here are the images:

Anhinga About to Fly

Anhinga Reflections

Barred Owl with Moss

The Beach Crowd

Bluebird with Bug

Bald Eagle - Eyes on the Prize

American Goldfinch Eats Fluff

Great Egret Plumes

Great Horned Owl on Nest

Least Bittern

Northern Parula on the Branch

Sandwich Terns Dance with Fish

Three Black Skimmers Skimming

Snowy Egret Wings Wide

Swallow-tailed Kite with Bug

Here are a couple of examples of how they look in the frames.

A "Ruff" day on Tybee Island

I spent the day birding with a woman from Vermont. We ended in the evening on Tybee Island North Beach and walked up to the little pond near Polk Street. We had just seen a greater yellowlegs on the beach as I stared at a yellowlegs-like bird with white around its face, a heavily patterned back, and a beak that just didn't look quite right for a yellowlegs. I thought "ruff???" and checked my Sibley Eastern but the pictures just didn't match up. I took several photos.

When I got home, I consulted the Shorebird Guide by O'Brien, Crossley and Karlson and found a photo of a juvenile ruff that showed the white around the face and patterned back. After a brief interlude to complete my checklist and upload photos, I headed back to the pond where the bird was still hanging out.

I was able to get one other birder, Joel Ludlum, out to see the bird. It hung around until just before sunset and then took off towards the beach in the direction of Ft. Pulaski.

The first time I watched the bird, it flew to the side of the pond where the light was good.

Ruff at Tybee Island North Beach 4/18/16

Ruff giving itself a shake

When I returned, the ruff was still there but hanging out on the shore where it was backlit. Still very nice looks though.

Ruff feeding

The ruff steps out

 For an extra bonus, my first of the season Gray Kingbird showed up on the railing and did some flycatching over the pond. What an evening!

Gray Kingbird appears while I am ruff-watching

Panama - Metropolitan Nature Park

I arrived in Panama late on Friday night, January 8th. At the Riande Airport Hotel, I was greeted by my good birding friend Lainie Epstein. She led the way to our second floor room and informed me there was no elevator as we lugged my bags up the stairs.

Lainie at the Riande Airport Hotel

The next morning, I was up early and looked out the balcony. The first bird call I heard sounded like a robin. It was, in fact, a Clay-colored Thrush - close relative of the robin.


After breakfast at the hotel, I was thrilled to get to see a Panamanian friend. Darien Montanez spent a year in Savannah in 2005 getting his Master's in Architecture at SCAD. He is also an avid birder and I used to pick him up at his dorm for Ogeechee Audubon field trips. Darien now lives in Panama City, teaches some architecture classes, does architecture, and has a new full-time job at Panama's new BioMuseo.

Darien and his brother Camilo came to the hotel and took 8 of our group across town to the Metropolitan Nature Park for our first Panama birding experience.

Lainie, Dot Bambach, Darien Montanez, Martha Vaughn & John Kricher birding at Metropolitan Nature Park

The Park is a 265 hectare forested park with several trails and was created in 1985 to preserve some natural habitat near the Panama Canal. Here are a few of the birds we saw during our visit. Darien was calling out names of birds that he heard, and I felt like a new birder all over again.

Social Flycatcher

Ruddy Ground Doves - abundant everywhere we went

Two-toed Sloth - our first mammal sighting

Red-throated Ant-Tanager Female

Variable Seedeater

Sign describing the Slaty-tailed Trogon

The Slaty-tailed Trogon herself!

Southern Bentbill - one of many flycatchers we saw

Geoffroy's Tamarind - another mammal

At one checkpoint, a guard checked our tickets and then led us over to a nearby tree and pointed up.
There snoozing like an extension of the branch was one of two species of Potoos that are found in
Panama. They are nocturnal, like our whip-poor-wills and chuck-will's widows. This one is the Common Potoo.

Common Potoo

We saw two species of Euphonia - Thick-billed and White-vented. Darien was excited about the White-vented as that one is seen less frequently. Euphonias are small and colorful.

White-vented Euphonia

Thick-billed Euphonia

As we walked back to the cars in the now sweltering heat as it got close to noon, Darien spied an American Pygmy Kingfisher perched in the shadows on a branch low over the water of a small pond.

American Pygmy Kingfisher

It was a very satisfying as well as frustrating morning. I re-discovered the challenge of photographing birds in shady forest, and the challenge of hearing and seeing lots of unfamiliar birds.