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 I recall fondly
midnight on December 31st, 2010 as the clock struck midnight and we
welcomed
2011. We were still crossing the Drake Passage and Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
crossed
the bow while Humpbacked Whales breached in the waters along us. A great start to 2011 and another year of
planning and adventure ready to greet us. Of
course Antarctica
put us in a little bit of a hole in terms of
vacation time and vacation dollars but we would gladly take the
experience and
are certainly grateful to be able to.
In
March we set off
with High Lonesome BirdTours
for Honduras
- the 2nd largest country in Central
America. Our trip focused in
the Central Highlands and Yojoa
Lake area including the
Panacam
Reserve, the Santa Barbara Mountains, the highlands above Maracal, Copan and
ultimately
finishing at Pico Bonito Lodge - considered one of the "Small Luxury
Hotels of the World." Our trip to Honduras provided us with the
perfect blend of first-rate accommodations, excellent food,
beautiful natural scenery and a great variety of specialty birds like
the endangered
Honduran Emerald, the stunning Lovely Cotinga, the rare Blue-throated
Motmot and
the “Vulnerable” Keel-billed Motmot.
Over the summer we
made our traditional long weekend trip in July to Twin
Lakes Village in NH
as well
as a few day trips to Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Overall
we stayed relatively close to home and again had
to pass on our Rangely
Lakes trip in
ME scheduled for
the 4th of
July weekend as it conflicted with the Museum of Science 4th of July
Celebration which Paul had to work.
As September
approached our destination was California
for
pelagic trips with Shearwater Journeys to Bodega
Bay & Half Moon Bay and to visit Diana’s Uncle Mario and
Aunt Lorraine in Stockton. Our
time filled quickly catching up with
friends as we birded in the Davis Area with Allison Kent and Holly
Jessup, met
Diana’s former co-worker Dipika in Palo Alto and later on reconnected
with Holly and her dad,
Alan at Point Reyes National Seashore. As
our trip came to a conclusion, we drove along scenic Big Sur Coast Highway
which provided us spectacular views of California Condor.
Our
“Major Trip” for
2011 in November was to Madagascar
- often referred to as the eighth continent - with
Birding Africa. Its
birds
exemplify this: about 140 species are endemic or near endemic,
including
several spectacular and rather strange families: the Ground Rollers,
Vangas,
Mesites, Cuckoo Roller, Asities, and Couas (the latter a subfamily of
the cuckoos).
But the
major draw
for us was one of the island’s other oddities - the fantastic and
diverse lemurs.
With a name derived from the Latin word for "ghost," lemurs are a
link to ancient primates and are known as prosimians ("before
monkeys").
The bird life, the
reptiles and the lemurs made for an amazing experience; Madagascar
is truly
one of the world’s
most unique
natural destinations.
During the year Diana’s
group has been spun off from Nokia to Accenture and thus she enters
2012 with a
high degree of uncertainty. Paul
continues his work at the Museum
of Science and
sees no
shortage of “opportunities” with the multitude of projects on the
horizon. Overall it has been another year
of great
memories and much to be thankful for.
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