My fifty favorite bird species

One of my life goals was to observe 1000 species of birds. In February 2026, I got my 1000th species on a birding trip to Colombia. One of the things I wanted to do to celebrate was to go through my life list and pick out some of my favorite birds. I had previously done that after we left southern Africa in 1986 (when I had seen fewer than 400 species) and I thought it would be fun to do it again after I had more to choose from. By the time I got around to going through the list, I had actually seen 1388 species following a trip to revisit southern Africa.

Criteria

Since I'm only doing this for fun, my selection criteria are a bit loose. But they include: being beautiful and colorful, having interesting or unusual features, and having weird or unexpected characteristics. The species gets bonus points if spotting it was particularly exciting or if it happened in an interesting place. 

My 1986 list was a "top 10" list, but after seeing over 1300 species, it was way too hard to limit the list to 10. Because nobody wants to read a post that's too long, I will try to limit the list to 50 while noting that there are many amazing species I've seen that I had to leave out for brevity. 

I've divided the list into four somewhat artificial categories:

• colorful and beautiful birds
• birds with amazing body parts
• birds with interesting behavior
• cool unusual birds

For perspective, there are about 10,000 known species of birds, so this list is taken from about 13% of the world's bird species. So there are many other amazing birds that I may see in the future that aren't on this list!

Colorful and beautiful birds

Lilac-breasted Roller

(c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

If you gave kids a package of crayons and asked them to color a bird any way they wanted, you might end up with the Lilac-breasted Roller. This southern African bird perches in the open on short trees, making it easy to see. When it flies, its color pattern is equally spectacular.

Painted bunting

The painted bunting has a similar vibe to the Lilac-breasted Roller, but using the RGB color pallet rather than CMYK. We chased them through forests in southwest Louisiana, never getting more than a glance of them flying. Finally we gave up and sat by one of the water "drips" to rest and one flew in and took a bath directly in front of us!

Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia

The South American version of a bird colored by kid's crayons is the interestingly-named Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia.

Wood duck

In addition to the amazing color patterns in male Wood Ducks, it is also super-weird to see a Wood Duck standing high in the branch of a tree.

Knysna Turaco

On our first trip into South Africa, seeing the Knysna Loerie (now called the Knysna Turaco) was our dream. It was a magical moment when, on a hike through the rainforest of Tsitsikamma National Park, we spotted one clambering in the trees over our head. The cool crest, amazing "eye makeup", and brilliant flash of red in flight (see the image at the beginning of this post) put this bird near the top of my "favorite bird" list. We were able to repeat the experience this year, when we once again hiked the same trail. Schalow’s Turaco, which we saw along the Chobe River in Botswana this year, has a crazier crest and was formerly considered the same species.

Eastern Rosella/Crimson Rosella/Scarlet Macaw

These are the three most colorful big parrots I've seen. 

Surprisingly, these two amazing Rosellas were common birds in urban areas of the Australian Capital Territory and Hobart Tasmania.

I was standing in a parking lot outside of a conference in Costa Rica and suddenly several Scarlet Macaws flew over and landed in the trees at the edge of the parking lot. It was a magical and unexpected moment!

Velvet-purple Coronet

Velvet-purple Coronet, Montezuma Rainforest Lodge, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

There are so many incredible and beautiful hummingbirds that it is difficult to choose one to single out. But the Velvet-purple Coronet is one of the most spectacular. It has the nickname "thousand-colored" hummingbird because of the many iridescent colors that show up as the lighting angle changes. It is difficult to capture all of the colors in a single photo.

Greater Double-collared Sunbird

In Africa, sunbirds fulfill the ecological pollinator role that hummingbirds play in the western hemisphere. As with hummingbirds, it's hard to choose a favorite from among these beautiful, iridescent birds.

ʻIʻiwi

This beautiful bird is one of the few surviving native Hawaiian honeycreepers. One of our most fun birding adventures was a multi-hour trek on the Pu'u O'o Trail across ʻaʻā lava flows on the slopes of Mauna Loa. The trail lead to old-growth 'ohi'a lehua forests that were in pockets isolated by the lava flows, called kipukas. When we finally reached the distant kipukas, we were rewarded by the sight of the ʻiʻiwis feeding on the beautiful red blooms of the 'ohi'a trees.

White-fronted Bee-eater/Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Bee-eaters are another interesting and colorful group of insect-eating African birds. 

White-fronted Bee-Eater (c) 2026 Jessica K. Baskauf

Southern Carmine Bee-Eaters hawking insects (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

We spent an hour in Chobe National Park in Botswana watching a large group of Carmine Bee-Eaters fly from perches out into the headwinds coming off the river to snatch insects out of the air before returning to their perch to eat their prey.

Prothonotary Warbler/Blackburnian Warbler

There are so many beautiful warblers that it is very difficult to choose one. I chose two of the most brightly colored of my favorites.

 It is always a joy to see a Prothonotary Warbler hopping around in a tree next to a pond or wetland, or coming out of a nest hole. They are like little glowing yellow ping-pong balls.

It is sometimes a challenge to spot Blackburnian Warblers in their favorite spot at the top of a tall tree. With luck, we sometimes see one at eye-level, which is a special treat.

Others of my favorite warblers include Cape May, Canada, and Magnolia. They are truly gems of the eastern U.S. forests. 

Half-collared Kingfisher/Malachite Kingfisher

Kingfishers are cool group that can have exciting colors as well as interesting behavior. Watching them dive to catch a fish is an unforgettable experience. Two of my favorites are from southern Africa.

 

Half-collared Kingfisher, Chobe River, Botswana (c) 2026 Jessica K. Baskauf

Red-headed Barbet

Red-headed Barbet, Tatamá National Park, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

I particularly love the "super hero" vibe of the Red-headed Barbet.

Colombian tanagers: Beryl-spangled Tanager, Hooded Mountain Tanager, Grass-green Tanager, Crimson-backed Tanager

There are so many amazing and beautiful neotropical tanagers that it is extremely difficult to choose among them. Their glowing colors often seem unreal.

Northern Cardinal

The bright red color, crazy crest, black mask, and huge variety of songs and calls could be under-rated because this species is so common and ubiquitous where we live. But it really is a spectacular bird, a characteristic shared by its other cardinal cousins, such as the Vermillion Cardinal. 

Birds with amazing body parts

In my favorites list, bird species get extra points if they have long tails or crazy bills, especially if they are also colorful.

Keel-billed Toucan/Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan

The classic "Fruit Loops" toucan has the craziest bill of any bird I've seen.

Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, El Paraiso, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

The Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan adds amazing feather colors to a colorful toucan bill.

Pin-tailed Whydah

When we lived in Eswatini, we got used to routinely seeing the crazy, long tails of the Pin-tailed Whydah. 

Red-collared Widowbird/Long-tailed Widowbird

Another bird we routinely saw sitting on the fence across the road from our house in Eswatini was the Red-collared Widowbird. It is hard to believe that it's even possible for them to fly with such ridiculous tails!

The Long-tailed Widowbird, which we saw in Chrissiesmeer, South Africa, has an even more extremely long tail.

Resplendent Quetzal

All trogons are beautiful and exotic, but the Resplendent Quetzal is over the top with it's incredibly long, green tail feathers. We struggled to see one in the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica, but later one landed on the deck railing of our cabin in the Cerro del Muerte. 

Violet-tailed Sylph/Long-tailed Sylph

Combine the iridescent colors of hummingbirds with crazy long tail feathers and you end up with Colombia's amazing sylphs.

Violet-tailed Sylph, Camino Montezuma, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

Sword-billed Hummingbird

Sword-billed Hummingbird, El Paraiso, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

Out of the 45 species of hummingbirds we saw on our birding trip to Colombia, none had a longer bill than the Sword-billed Hummingbird.

Long-billed Curlew

Also falling in the category of birds with unbelievably long bills is the Long-billed Curlew, which we saw poking around for prey in the salt flats of coastal Texas.

Birds with interesting behavior

Several birds made this list because they had some cool behavior that set them apart from other birds.

Torrent Duck

Male and female Torrent Duck, El Cedral, Colombia (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

These chic ducks are extremely entertaining to watch as they plunge into a raging river, then clamber out to stand on wet rocks until the next dive. 

Southern Masked Weaver

It is incredible that the males of this species can weave such tidy grass nests with their bills. They then hang upside down under the nests flapping their wings to attempt to get females to choose their nest. Unfortunately, they have a tendency to build their nests on small twigs hanging over water, so after windstorms many of the nests fall when the twigs snap.

Three-wattled Bellbird

The white head and strange dangling wattles are enough to distinguish this odd bird. But the real oddity is the strange ear-splitting call that carries for kilometers in the mountain cloud forest of Costa Rica.

Secretarybird

A photo of this bird cannot capture the vibe of this odd-looking bird as it marches across the savannah looking for small animals to eat. Sadly, since we saw it in the 1980's it has become endangered.

Long-tailed Manakin

The bright colors and long tail feathers of the males would be distinctive enough, but the truly amazing aspect of this species is the display that the males do in their lek. The dominant male, assisted by an apprentice junior male leap over each other while making a distinctive buzzing call. Discriminating females select the males with the best display to choose as mates. (If the embedded video does not load, you can watch it here.)

Andean Cock-of-the-rock

The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is another bird that would be amazing based solely on appearance. The strange, brilliant red crest makes it hard to figure out the outline of the head. But the males gather in large numbers at lekking sites to do their strange call and bobbing display. (If the embedded video does not load, you can watch it here.

Red-billed Oxpecker

Red-billed Oxpeckers on the back of a zebra, Kruger National Park, South Africa. (c) 2026 Carol J. Baskauf

These strange-looking birds with bright red bills and piercing yellow eyes ride around on large mammals eating ticks and other insect parasites. The benefit to the mammals cause them to tolerate the birds, including having them hang form odd positions on the heads of antelopes!

New Zealand Fantail (pīwakawaka)

This perky and friendly bird is not brightly colored, but it has the fun habit of flipping open its fan-shaped tail at regular intervals. (See this video.)

Blue Jay

The strikingly patterned, crested jays are clever and intelligent birds that are adept at stealing food from picnicking humans and that can fool birders by mimicking the calls of various hawks.

Cool unusual birds

My last category of favorite birds are ones that are cool because they are atypical in some interesting way. Some are unusually big, or have some interesting morphological characteristic, or both.

Common Loon

Nothing gives the vibe of wilderness better than the sound of a loon calling on an isolated northern lake. The red eye and striking plumage adds to the effect.  I have fond memories of our first loon on the aptly named Lower Paradise Lake during our honeymoon in a cabin in Chugach National Forest in Alaska. 

Pileated Woodpecker/Crimson-mantled Woodpecker

Whenever I see a huge Pileated Woodpecker hopping up the side of a tree, I don't have trouble believing that they are the dinosaurs that never went extinct. I also love their loud, raucous call and the way the wood chips fly when they hammer away at a dead snag going after insects. The Lineated Woodpecker and Crimson-crested Woodpecker of South America are similar in size and effect.

After birding in Colombia, it's hard not to also recognize the spectacular Crimson-mantled Woodpecker. It's not as large, but the "masked super-hero" vibe gives it extra points.

Roseate Spoonbill

The strange bill and brilliant pink color make this weird wading bird a one-of-a-kind.

Gray Crowned-crane

The large size, striking color pattern, and amazing "crown" are the reason why this may be my favorite bird of all. But there are so many competitors! Sadly, this beautiful bird is now endangered.

Marabou Stork

There is no way that you could call this bird beautiful. But I love it's macabre appearance and habits: it behaves more like a vulture than a stork when it hangs out at a kill and eats carrion. Super interesting bird!

Common Ostrich

What is there to say? The ostrich is the world's largest bird species. Our first encounter with one was riding in an open-backed bakki (pickup) in Mlilwane Game Reserve, Eswatini, where a male chased us down the dirt road!

African Penguin

One of our bucket list items was to see penguins. When we lived in southern Africa in 1983, we were too cheap to pay for a boat trip to the offshore islands where we could have seen African Penguins. We have regretted that ever since. In 2026 we finally saw them on a beach south of Cape Town! (If the embedded video does not load, you can watch it here.)

In 2023 I also had an opportunity in Tasmania to see Little Penguins coming in from the ocean to their burrows at dusk. They are incredibly cute!

Top ten

After completing this post, I went back through the 50 birds and forced myself to actually rank my top 10. A major consideration was how I actually feel about the birds, not objectively how beautiful or weird they are. So things like the experience I had when I first saw them is a major factor. Here's the list:

1. Gray Crowned-crane
2. Lilac-breasted Roller
3. Resplendent Quetzal
4. Velvet-purple Coronet
5. Knysna Turaco
6. Long-tailed Manakin
7. Secretarybird
8. Blackburnian Warbler
9. African Penguin
10. 'I'iwi

Camping at Windigo in Isle Royale National Park

 Our family loves to visit U.S. national parks and we have visited most of the ones that are easy to get to. We had pretty much written off going to Isle Royale due to its remoteness and the difficulty of getting there. However, our daughter did some research on what it would take to get there and we decided to give it a try. In this post, I will share some information we gained about making the trip that would have been good to have known as we were planning.

Who does this apply to?

There are several ways to visit Isle Royale. The information I'm providing here will mostly apply to people who:

• want to camp
• who are NOT backpacking
• who are arriving on the west side of the island from Minnesota by ferry.

It generally does not apply to people arriving by float plane, who are going to the east side of the island from Michigan, and who are going to stay in the Rock Harbor Lodge.

I also should mention that our visit was late in the season when there were fewer visitors than during the peak of the season. So, if you go earlier in the summer when it is busier, you may have problems that we did not encounter. Also, this information is current as of September 2025. As time passes, it will become less accurate as conditions change on the island.

Getting there

There were three reasons why we decided to visit the western end of the island. One reason was that our daughter lives in Minneapolis. Another was that the ferry crossing from Minnesota is significantly shorter than the crossing from Michigan (2 hours vs. 6 hours). The final reason was that fewer people visit the west end of the island, and since it is not possible to making camping reservations, we thought that it was more likely that we could get a non-reservable campsite there than on the eastern end.

The ferry terminal is located in Grand Portage at the extreme northeastern tip of Minnesota. It takes five or more hours to drive there from Minneapolis. So unless you want to start driving in the middle of the night, you'll probably want to stay in Grand Portage the night before a morning departure. Pretty much the only place to stay there is in the hotel of the casino (Grand Portage Lodge; no AirBNBs or other hotels there). The nearest other U.S. town is Grand Marais, MN, which has places to stay, restaurants, and stores, but is about a 45 minute drive from Grand Portage. (Thunder Bay, Ontario is under an hour away, but involves the additional complication of a border crossing.) There is a large parking lot at the ferry terminal where you can park your car while you visit the island. Be prepared to pay a small parking fee to the Village of Grand Portage, which owns the lot (credit cards accepted).

Sea Hunter III at the Grand Portage dock. This is the smaller ferry that runs between Minnesota and Windigo

There are two ferries that run from Grand Portage in the morning, and during most of the summer season there is at least one leaving on most days of the week except Tuesday.  There are ferries returning in the afternoon most days except Monday. Check the schedule for detailed information on days and times. You need to make reservations well in advance of your trip, as the ferries have limited capacity and fill up weeks or months in advance. The cost per person is about $200 round trip and is probably the largest expense in visiting. 

Voyageur II at the Windigo dock. This is the larger ferry between Windigo and Minnesota

One important thing to pay attention to is the time. The terminal in Minnesota is on Central Time and Isle Royale is on Eastern Time. The ferries from Minnesota express all departure times on Central Time regardless of whether you were departing from Grand Portage or Windigo. If you have a conventional watch and don't change it, then their times will make sense. However, if you use your phone to set an alarm or to use as a clock, and if you use the Internet on the island (yes, there is Internet -- see below), your phone may automatically update to Eastern Time. The main point is to PAY ATTENTION to what time it is when your ferry is arriving to take you back to Minnesota and what time your timekeeping device thinks it is. 

Washington Harbor from the Windigo boat dock

The crossing itself was interesting and provides the best opportunity to see Lake Superior and the shores of Isle Royale. The park facilities at Windigo are located on the long and narrow Washington Harbor, so once you arrive, you aren't likely to see Lake Superior again before you leave unless you do significant hiking. 

Road from boat dock to Washington Creek campground. This is one of the backpacks we rented.

The ferries are passenger-only and there are no vehicles on the island, so that means that you need to plan to carry everything that you will need on the island, or buy it in the camp store in Windigo. One of the key pieces of information that we had trouble finding online was just exactly how far the Washington Creek Campground was from the boat dock. It is 0.4 miles on a flat and easy road from the dock to the campground entrance and you could wind up walking a few tenths of a mile further depending on how far your campsite is from the entrance. So even if you aren't backpacking, you'll need to have some means to carry your gear and to keep the weight down to what you can carry that distance.

Camping gear

As I mentioned earlier, one of the complications of doing non-backpacking camping on the island is that you have to carry everything on the ferry and to the campground. If you exclusively do car camping, then you probably don't have backpacks. One extremely useful thing that we learned was that the University of Minnesota recreation center will rent backpacks and other gear to the general public. We rented backpacks and bear canisters from there. Although there are no bears on the island, there have been cases of wolves being habituated to camp food, so all food must be kept in bear canisters to keep the food secure from any animals it might attract. Because bear canisters are pretty expensive, it was nice to be able to rent rather than buy them. The type of canister we rented from them was BearVault BV 500. For more information about outdoor gear rentals, see the recreation center website. NOTE: The location shown on Google Maps for 244 Walnut St. SE, Minneapolis is the correct location for the loading dock where you pick up the rental equipment. However, using Google Maps to navigate there will send you to the other side of the building. So look at the map to find your way there rather than following the directions given by Google Maps.

Although you will probably want to bring your food, it is good to know that there is a camp store near the dock and visitors' center in Windigo. Supplies are somewhat expensive, but it is good to know that you can pick up most of the basics if you run short on food. They do have standard size butane cylinders for sale and there was even a box outside the store where people left partially used cylinders for anyone to take. We had bought an extra cylinder in case we ran out and that was unnecessary because of their availability on the island. (Note: depending on where backpacks are being stowed on the ferry, you may have to place butane cylinders in an outside location on the boat. So make sure that you have written your name on your cylinders and kept them near the top of your pack before you get on the ferry.) The store also sells a limited selection of prepared foods like pizza and hot dogs in the event that you get tired of rehydrated backpacking food.

Because of the necessity of carrying everything, we packed backpacking tents rather than our larger (and heavier) car camping tents. When we arrived at the campground, we were surprised to discover that there were multiple shelters available. Supposedly you pitch your tent in the shelter, but we just left our tents packed and slept in our sleeping bags directly on the wooden floor of the shelter. However, since there's no guarantee that a shelter will be available, you probably will want to bring a tent even if you hope to get a shelter.

Amenities detail

Campsites. In contrast to the relatively expensive ferry, camping on the island is free. When you arrive, you can get a free permit to camp. When we arrived, one of the rangers met us to issue our permits at the kiosk by the dock. However, you will need to pay an entrance fee for the park, unless you already have an annual or permanent park pass. 

At the Washington Creek campground, there are 10 shelters and 5 tent campsites without shelters. The signs at the shelters said that it was not allowed to pitch tents on the site outside of the shelters, although this apparently is not enforced and we saw people doing it. One of our major concerns was what we would do if we got off the ferry and discovered that there were no sites available. Online information indicated that one could potentially appeal to those who were able to obtain a site to share their sites with you. However, the dynamic we observed was that when all of the sites were taken, people camped in the group campground next to the regular campground. So the group campground was effectively an overflow campground.

Shelter, back view

Shelter, front view

Inside of a shelter

When we visited at the end of August, at the time of our arrival on a morning ferry there were several shelters available, and most of the tent campsites were unoccupied. However, as the day progressed and backpackers arrived from other parts of the island, all of the shelter and tent sites were full and people were having to go to the group campsite. As far as I know, site sharing was not necessary. It is likely that earlier in the season when visitation is higher all of the main and overflow campsites might be full, at least by the end of the day.

Water. Potable water is available, so we did not end up using the water purifier that we brought. There is a spigot near the boat dock that was the most convenient one for us since we regularly went from the campground to the dock area to use the nice bathrooms there. We later discovered that there was another spigot located at the second entrance to the campground (see map), but the spigot shown on the map at the first entrance was no longer there.

Bathrooms. There were three pit toilets located at the campground (see map) but be aware that they were not stocked with either toilet paper or hand sanitizer. There were nice bathrooms located near the dock that had toilet paper, hot running water, soap, and electric hand driers. So we used them in preference to the pit toilets when practical. The bath house also had pay showers and laundry facilities, but we did not use them so can't comment on their quality.

Kiosk with WiFi near boat dock

Technology. We had been warned that there was no cell service on the island, although it may be possible at some high places on the island to pick up Canadian cell towers (possibly resulting in large international charges depending on your plan). We were therefore very surprised to discover that there was free public WiFi at the kiosk near the boat dock. So it is possible to send emails and iMessages, and to do limited Internet audio calls from that location. The bandwidth is pretty narrow, so video calling would be sketchy. 

There are electrical outlets by the sinks in the bathrooms, so it's possible to recharge mobile phones and portable power supplies there.

Trash. You should be prepared to pack out the trash that you generate when camping. There were trash cans in the main bathroom, but they are intended for bathroom trash only. There was a trash can outside of the store, so it is possible to discard small items there (e.g. waste from prepared food purchased in the store), but don't plan to discard your camping waste there.

Food locker for tent campers

Backpack cage at kiosk near boat dock

Food storage. As I mentioned earlier, it is required to store your food in bear canisters. The campground has metal lockers into which you can place the canisters if you are sleeping in a tent. If you are able to get a shelter, we were told that it was OK to keep the canister in the shelter. When arriving and departing, there is a cage by the kiosk where you can put backpacks while using the bathrooms and visitors center. 

Bear canisters rented from U of M rec center

Since anything with food scent needs to be secured inside the bear canisters, we ended up primarily eating the type of backpacking meals that you prepared by pouring hot water into the pouch containing the dehydrated food. That avoided the need to clean cooking utensils and dispose of gray water from dishwashing. The used pouches can then be rolled up, closed, and returned to the canister. Scented substances like toothpaste also need to be kept in the canisters, so careful planning is necessary to keep the food volume below the capacity of the canisters. We were (barely) able to fit food and snacks for three people on a 3 night trip (two full days and two half days) into two canisters.

Visitor Center. The National Park visitor center is the place to go for information about trails, wildlife. There is also a part of the center that sells postcards, books, and maps.

Activities

Paddling a canoe in Washington Bay

Paddling up Washington Creek from the bay

View of Lake Superior from Grace Creek overlook

Using Windigo as a base, we were able to enjoy three days of activities with no problem. One day we rented a canoe at the camp store and paddled around the relatively sheltered Washington Bay and up Washington Creek. We also did a nice, easy day hike to the Grace Creek overlook, which gave us our only look at Lake Superior proper from the island and a panoramic view of the pond and wetlands associated with Grace Creek. We also did the short nature trail loop near the visitors' center and took the Feldmann Lake trail as far as Washington Creek. If we had been more ambitious, it would have been feasible to hike to the Minong Ridge overlook as a day hike.

Moose in Washington Creek from our campsite

We were relatively lucky with animal sightings. From our campsite we twice saw a moose wade along Washington Creek, and we also saw a moose (possibly the same one) in the bay in the shallow water near the mouth of Washington Creek. We spotted a red fox and saw two river otters playing in the bay. At the Grace Creek overlook, we saw a family of kestrels doing aerobatics below. We did not see or hear any wolves, but did find a fresh wolf footprint on a trail. We met some people who did not see a moose during their entire visit, so what you see may just depend on your luck.

Conclusions 

With some careful planning, we were able to execute a three night camping trip on the island at a reasonable cost. Although much of the scenery and vegetation were similar to what you might see in Michigan's upper peninsula or northern Minnesota, the isolated location and wilderness character of the island made it a nice place to visit if you enjoy nature.