LeConte’s Sparrow, Concord, MA, February 2013

I was away on a business trip when the first post came out on the listserve that a LeConte’s Sparrow was found feeding on a cleared shoulder of a small suburban road in Concord.  A few years back I had tried for a LeConte’s in MA found at Great Meadows NWR (also in Concord amazingly).  I think I heard that bird calling from the cattails where it had been reported, but could never get a visual on it.  So I was very interested in trying to see this newly reported bird and fill that gap in my MA statelist.  It was reported to be very tame, and easily found by everyone that posted.  The problem was I wouldn’t be home for 3 more days – would the bird hang around that long?  And if it did stick around, and if my late afternoon flight back home was on time, I would be able to get to the bird’s location en route back from the airport with about an hour of sunlight to spare.  And then there’s the third “if” - if the bird was cooperative then I should be able to see it that afternoon.

The bird truly did stick around, and was reported the morning of the day I came back home.  And my flight was actually early, so everything was falling into place.  I arrived at the spot and saw 6 birders up ahead standing along the roadside – with binoculars and monster lenses apparently trained on the bird.  Amazingly they were practically looking down at their feet.  I walked up and realized the bird was no more than 5 feet away from me, crawling mouse-like under grasses on the road shoulder.  After a few seconds there was movement in the grasses, and I got amazing views of the head and back of the bird.  What a gorgeous little bird!  All things considered it turned out to be one my easiest New England statebirds in some time.  There was no need to stress about it afterall. 

MA is my second New England state for LeConte’s having seen one in Maine in 2010.  I also found and photographed one in Wyoming some years ago – one of only a handful of sightings for that state.  And I’ve also seen LeConte’s in 5 central states in its normal winter and breeding ranges.

Northern Lapwing, Little Compton, Rhode Island, February 2013

As a next chapter to the amazing Lapwing story this winter following Superstorm Sandy, two Lapwings were reported in Little Compton, RI in early February.  Unfortunately they were reported by a worker at a farm within a very large complex of fields on private land with next to no access.  Birders were limited to viewing only a portion of these fields from the shoulder of SR-77.  Apparently the birds were principally being seen about a quarter mile from SR-77, in a portion of the fields which cannot be seen from the road.  So the lucky birders that saw these birds were those that happened to be along the public road during the rare times when the birds ventured into fields close to the road.  A couple days after they were first seen, my good birding buddy, Denny Abbott, and I decided to head down to Little Compton in hopes of being two of those lucky birders.  And just in case our luck wasn’t too good, we were prepared to spend the whole day there. 

We arrived at 9:30 with no Lapwings in site.  Worse than that, we were disappointed when we realized what little acreage was actually visible from the road.  Undaunted, we donned all our layers of winter clothes and were ready to wait them out.  At one point we had a flyby of 3 Killdeer - we got all excited because there had been a report that the Lapwings were with Killdeer.  But still no Lapwings.  A number of birders came and went during the day, including a couple that had seen 1 or 2 quite close to the road in previous days.  They were luckier than us.  But a couple others mentioned that the birds were not seen the previous day at all.  Ugh.  We finally called it quits at 4 PM and retreated to the car to warm up and head home.  That meant 2 consecutive days with no sightings – had they moved on?

The next day there was a report of a sighting from late in the day, so they were still around afterall.  So Denny and I decided to give it another try the following day, but only if there was a positive report.  And sure enough, around noon the next day, a report was posted of one Lapwing near the road.  So Denny and I instantly hit the road and were back at the spot by about 3 PM – but no Lapwings.  While we were there we talked to some local birders that came by and pieced together a timeline that showed that there were no sightings since at least 12:30.  Another disappointment.  Undeterred we continued our vigil.  We were about to leave at 4:20 when amazingly we were able to get one sighting of a Lapwing quite far from the road.  Perseverance, and a lot of luck, really paid off. 

That was my third New England state for Lapwing, and the second one (after MA) this winter.

And now for a little speculation on the Lapwings this winter.  Many feel that these birds were blown off-course from their normal Europe-to-Africa migration by the huge wind field of Superstorm Sandy.  Since Sandy’s passage, Lapwings have been reported in the US in ME, MA (initially 5 and still 2 remain on Nantucket), RI (2), NY (2), NJ (3), MD, VA, and GA, and in Canada in NS and NL.  Plus who knows how many more are around that haven’t been spotted yet by birders.  It seems a bit odd that these RI birds would have first showed up in the area in February.  With the hundreds and hundreds of acres of pasture in Little Compton alone, they could have easily been somewhere in the town since last Fall but not reported till now.  And the next question is whether Lapwings might actually end up breeding somewhere in the US or Canada this year.  I found the following information on the timing of their breeding season from http://www.arkive.org/lapwing/vanellus-vanellus -  During February, males begin to perform display flights over breeding territories in which they climb steeply upwards before tumbling down close to the ground. Between March and early July, three or four well-camouflaged eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground.  Maybe we should start watching for them to start their display flights soon.  Time will tell.

6 New Colorado Statebirds, January 2013

A particularly heavy travel schedule for work of late had become quite trying and tedious, with no time for birding during those trips.  So as my third trip to Denver in 4 weeks came up, I decided to try to see if I could squeeze in at least a little time to fill some gaps in my CO statelist.  With 266 birds on my CO list I don’t need too many regular birds, but I was hopeful that at least a few less common birds might be staked out in the greater Denver area.  The CO listserve is a good one, including an updated statewide RBA every couple days with sightings separated by county.  So as long as you know which counties are in your area, a little research on the listserve can be a big help in planning a statebirding trip to CO. 

So I opened up the CO listserve and quickly saw that there were a number of potential statebirds being seen in and around Denver, and many had been present for some time.  Now the question was whether I could have time to try for them.  Based on my initial work plans it looked like I might have an entire morning free, along with a couple early morning hours on a second day.  So I set up my plans to pursue 6 potential stakeout statebirds.  During my free morning I would start at dawn in Fort Collins at a spot with both Redpolls (including a first state record for Hoary), then head south to Lower Hoffman Lake for Trumpeter Swans, then farther south to Valmont Reservoir for Tundra Swans.  Then in my free early morning I would start at dawn at a Red Rocks Park feeder for a Golden-crowned Sparrow and then a quick stop at a marsh at the Wheatridge Greenbelt park for a Swamp Sparrow.  All in all a very doable schedule.

When I arrived in Denver one of the first things that happened was my work schedule changed, and now my free morning was going to be consumed by meetings.  Ugh!  Hate it when work gets in the way of birding.  So now I needed to rethink my schedule.  That would mean there would be no chance to get up to Fort Collins for both redpolls, but there was a feeder in Wheatridge with a small flock of Common Redpolls that I could squeeze into a lunch break instead.  And maybe I could get to the lakes with the Swans either at the end of a work day, or at dawn before work started.  So maybe I could still squeeze in attempts for 5 targets.

As the first day’s work neared an end, it looked like we might be done at 4:30, and sunset was 5:10 so a 30-minute drive to try for the Trumpeters could be feasible, though with little time to spare for searching for the birds.  As I left the office the light snow that was falling that afternoon was just ending, so I hit the highway and quickly got to Lower Hoffman Lake.  But it was surrounded by a suburban subdivision, so it took me a few minutes to find access.  When I finally got access to the lake, all I could see was ice.  Had to be some open water somewhere.  Eventually I found a different access point and saw some open water.  Sure enough there was a Trumpeter Swan in with quite a number of dabbling and diving ducks.  And as the light waned, large flocks of geese flew into the lake to roost on the ice.  This included several Cackling Geese – one was calling as it flew in with the Canadas.  This was my 12th state for Trumpeter Swan – aided by the big reintroduction program and their subsequent expanded breeding success.

 The next day my work meetings started at 8 AM, but with sunrise about 7, I figured I could get to Valmont Reservoir before work to try for the Tundra Swans.  I had been there back in 2007 to take in the spectacular gull show that occurs in winter evenings as gulls descend into an overnight roost on the open water of this power plant reservoir.  I arrived at 7 (even though an overnight snow made the drive challenging) but couldn’t find an access point on the north side of the lake.  But then I remembered that in 2007 we accessed the lake from the east, so I headed there and was able to drive toward the edge of the lake.  As soon as I parked I noticed a flock of at least 500 gulls circling low directly overhead.  I started scanning through the flock and quickly found a small white-winged gull – either a first year Thayer’s or an Iceland.  I watched it for at least 60 seconds – it had a thin all dark bill, never saw any darker coloration to the primaries or secondaries, and its tail was only slightly darker at the tip than at the base.  So although I never saw the bird from above, I concluded it was an Iceland Gull.  This or another Iceland was seen at Valmont the next day.  CO is now my third Midwest or West state for Icelands, in addition to seeing them in 11 states in the northeast,.  And that was my 10th gull species for CO – not bad for a state in the Rockies.

Next my attention turned to the Tundra Swans.  From the car I could see only a small portion of the reservoir, but no large white birds (just 3 large dark birds which were immature Bald Eagles).  So I started to walk over toward the lake and soon found quite a bit of open water and a flock of Canada Geese.  And then with a slightly different angle I found the flock of 12 Tundra Swans at the edge of the ice.  After a quick walk back to the car I was able to drive to work with and got to my meeting with just a couple minutes to spare.  Although my statebird map for Tundra Swan is a bit spotty, it’s pretty well filled in for the eastern and western migration and wintering populations. 

The next target was the Redpoll flock coming to a feeder in Wheatridge.  I only had a small window of time over lunch before having to go back to work, so I needed the redpolls to be pretty cooperative.  After a quick MacDonald’s stop I arrived at the house, but there were no birds present.  But luckily only 10 minutes later a mixed flock of finches flew into trees next door – Goldfinches, House Finches, and a couple Redpolls.  Soon the flock dropped into the feeding station and was joined by 30 or more other finches.  There were about 8 Common Redpolls in the flock, including one where the red pigment was replaced by orange.  This bird was also quite pale, but had a light tan rump, and a couple dark undertail coverts.  It was most likely just a Common Redpoll with some pigment issues.  Although CO was my 13th state for this species, my statebird map is pretty spotty except in the Northeast.

The next morning I had 2 free daylight hours of birding time before heading to the airport.  So I left the hotel before dawn to head to the beautiful Red Rocks Park, and specifically the Trading Post where a Golden-crowned Sparrow had been visiting a feeding station for most of the winter.  It was 20 degrees and quite breezy when I arrived (I was definitely underdressed for that windchill) but there were many birds at the feeders.  Most were juncos, and I counted 6 different races – Pink-sided, Oregon, Gray-headed, White-winged, Slate-colored, and Cassiar.  It was quite a show.  After about 15 minutes the Golden-crowned showed up (a nice adult bird), though it was only in view for about a minute before running back into the adjacent brush.  I waited for another 45 minutes but it not reappear, so I guess I was lucky.  By the way the “White-winged” Juncos were only my second in the west.  I mention “in the west” because I had a junco at my feeder in Massachusetts a couple years ago that had white wingbars but I guess it was more likely an aberrant Slate-colored than a White-wing.  That was my 5th state for Golden-crowned Sparrow, and my first as a rarity away from its normal range. 

The last stop was the Wheatridge Greenbelt which is a linear suburban park along a river that flows through the Denver suburbs.  There was a post from about 10 days earlier about a Swamp Sparrow in a cattail marsh, with very specific directions to the location.  So although the post was a little old, I thought I’d give it a try in hopes that this was a wintering bird.  I got to the park at about 8:30, and although the temperature was up to 25 degrees the wind had increased, so the wind chill was likely even lower.  A short walk later I was at the cattail marsh where the sparrow had been spotted – everything was completely frozen and the wind was howling.  But a Song Sparrow was chipping in the marsh so I had some hope.  Swamp Sparrows can be very tape-responsive, and I had planned to bring along my MP-3 play and speakers.  Unfortunately I forgot to pack them (doh!), so the night before I went to the Xeno Canto website and had picked out one recording of call notes and one of songs that I could play from my iPhone.  I started to play the call note recording and almost instantly had the bird respond.  The bird eventually appeared and gave me brief views before it went back to its hiding places in the frozen cattails.  Luckily that only took a couple minutes because I was really getting cold.  I’ve now picked up Swamp Sparrow in a number of western states as a rarity –maybe it’s easier to find as a rarity than other species.  On the way back to the car I found a Snipe along the edge of the open water along the river – didn’t expect that one in January in Denver. 

So that gave me 6 new statebirds, putting my CO state list at 272.  Certainly was fun to be able to see so many of my target birds - plus finding a rarity - even though my birding time was so limited.