Wheatear in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, October, 2013

Several years ago I chased after a Wheatear at a sod farm in Rhode Island.  The bird had been around for over a week when I was final able to get to the area.  Unfortunately I was there the first day it was not seen.  So of course Wheatear in Rhode Island has been a key target for me ever since.

Fast forward to 2013 – a Wheatear was found at Peckham Farm in South Kingstown the day of my VT pelagic trip (see my earlier post).  Although I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to skip the excellent pelagic trip to be able to go for the Wheatear, I sure hoped it would stick around so I could do after it later.  And sure enough the bird was seen again the next day, so I was off to southern RI for my second attempt at Wheatear in the Ocean State.

I arrived at Peckham Farm and saw a birder walking toward me.  He had just had the bird at the south end of the complex, so I got back in the car and drove to the south where there were several cars and birders with scopes.  There was the bird – feeding on the ground.  Interestingly this site turned out to be a sod farm complex just like the location of the first RI Wheatear I chased after.  Luckily the results were better this time.

I’ve now seen Wheatear in 5 New England states plus Alaska (see my statebird map below).  And Wheatear was number 310 for me in RI.  

Vermont Pelagic Trip on Lake Champlain – 3 Statebirds, October 2013

For years I’ve salivated when reading posts about sightings of seabirds on Lake Champlain.  Most every Fall there are sightings of rarer gulls (Little, Black-headed, Sabine’s), all 3 Jaegers, Purple Sandpiper, Red Phalarope, Gannet, and sometimes even Eiders and alcids.  Although I’ve seen some of the more common seabirds on Lake Champlain (all 3 Scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Red-necked Grebe), and a couple of the rarer ones (Harlequin Duck and Black-tailed Gull), there are still many of these real rarities to hope for. 

The typical approach to see these birds is to position yourself on the VT shore line, set up your scope, and stare across the water into the teeth of a bitter northwest wind in hopes that something will pass by close enough to be able to identify.  But this fall some VT birders came up with a new idea – rent a boat and take it out on the lake in an attempt to get much closer to birds that may be migrating down the lake.  A pelagic trip in Vermont!  So when I heard about the planned trip I signed up right away with my fellow New England statelister Denny Abbott.  As the day approached the forecast for the day was for a stiff breeze out of the south.  Typically these migrants are only expected to move on a north or northwest wind, so it was unclear how successful we would be that day.  With about 20 optimistic birders on board, the boat departed at 7 AM with views of a beautiful sunrise.   

Soon after we left the dock we started to see a number of Common Loons migrating overhead – a sign of good things ahead.  A bit later a White-Winged Scoter flew by, then another group, and later a small flock of Surf Scoters.  Then came the first of several flocks of Brants.  We had flocks all day long - before that day I had seen just 1 Brant ever in Vermont.  But still no statebirds.  Then I noticed four small shorebirds flying south down the middle of the lake – they were very pale above and below and showed a considerable wingstripe.  Unfortunately we were on the eastern side of the lake at the time so didn’t get to see these birds too closely as they passed by.  But everyone agreed that they were Phalaropes, and very likely Red Phalaropes.  I checked the bar charts for Phalaropes in late October and Red is by far more likely than Red-necked – maybe even the only one.  So admittedly no one was 100% sure just based on the sighting, and one couldn’t be 100% sure just based on the date, but all of these features were highly suggestive of Red Phalarope.  So based on a preponderance of the evidence, I checked them off as Red Phalaropes and a new VT statebird.  That was my 11^th state for Red Phalarope, with many of those coming in the northeast, either on pelagic trips or as a rarity on-shore (see my statebird map below).

The next excitement came just a few minutes later when a birder yelled – I’ve got a young Little Gull!  The bird was flying south by itself, first passing right by the boat, and then landing on the water a short distance away.  The Captain was able to maneuver the boat to get close to it for all to see.  What an amazingly cooperative bird, and statebird #2.  VT is my 4^th New England state for this rare but regular gull.

Another highlight of the trip were the small number of Red-throated Loons we saw, mostly flying south alone.  I had only ever seen 1 Red-throated Loon before in VT, and it was a distant bird next to impossible to see very distantly bobbing in the waves on the lake.

And the last highlight came as we reached the northern end of the route.  I was scanning the water to the north and noticed a small flock of gulls (likely Ring-bills) a considerable distance away – far enough away that they were little more than white specs.  Then I noticed them start to wheel around in a small ball, almost as if they were being harassed.  And just then an all dark bird roughly the size of the gulls made a very rapid pass through the flock.  Over the next 30 seconds I saw it make 2 rapid passes through the gulls 2 more times.  It was a Jaeger!  At that distance I certailnly couldn’t tell which species it was, but based on larger size and dark plumage it was most likely a Pomarine or Parasitic.  But since I have no Jaegers for my VT list, I could add Jaeger, sp. as a new statebird for VT.  That gives me 258 for my VT list.

The count for the trip included the following highlights –

    Brant - 676 (in 8 flocks)

    Snow Goose - 60

    Greater Scaup - 1

    Greater/Lesser Scaup - 4

    White-winged Scoter - 10

    Long-tailed Duck - 3

    Common Merganser - 18

    Red-breasted Merganser - 10

    Red-throated Loon - 6

    Common Loon - 81

    Horned Grebe - 1

    Red-necked Grebe - 2

    Double-crested Cormorant - 204

    Red Phalarope - 4

    Jaeger, sp. - 1

    Little Gull - 1

What a tremendous trip!  Though we were very lucky - the boat went out again the next day and the birders saw almost nothing of interest.  Maybe it was just one too many days of southerly winds for any good migrants on the lake.

The folks that organized this trip are considering doing it again in September next year - sign me up!

Lake Champlain looking North (NY on the Left, VT on the right)

Blue-footed Booby – Lifebird – Marin Co. California, October, 2013

I have business trips to the Bay Area in California almost every month.  But since I don’t typically have any spare time on these trips, I usually do not do any birding in the area.  One notable exception was 2 years ago when I added a day of vacation to chase after the Falcated Duck that was seen nearby every day for months except the day I was there (but that’s another story).  On this month’s trip it looked like I might have a couple free hours early one morning, so I brought by binoculars along to do some nearby dawn birding.  Since I had no particular targets in mind, I thought I’d just do a bit of research once I arrived and find a nearby birding hotspot to check out for a couple hours.

Early in my trip I started my research by checking the e-Bird rare bird alert for California.  I was hoping that there might be an eastern warbler nearby to chase after as a possible new CA statebird.  But way before I could scroll down to the warblers I noticed many reports of Blue-footed Boobys, including several very recent sightings.  I’m used to seeing reports of this species from the Salton Sea, but I was surprised that they were reported in so many different counties.  Since that would be a lifebird, I wondered if any could be close enough to try for.  I downloaded a map of the counties of CA, and checked all the counties listed in the e-Bird Booby sightings.  Sure enough there was a recent sighting of one in Marin County, just an hour away, at a place called Gull Rock.  Apparently it (or several birds!) have been there for weeks.  I didn’t realize that 2013 had been something of a record year for Blue-footed Boobys in CA, with over 100 seen so far.

Now I just needed to figure out the logistics of trying to see the bird.  Gull Rock was close enough that I could easily get there by dawn, look for the bird for a while, and still get back in plenty of time for work.  So that wasn’t an issue.  The problem was that the posts suggested the roosting spot was pretty far from the viewing locations – likely too far for binoculars.  If only I had researched this before leaving I would have brought my scope along.  What to do?  My spare time was the next morning so I had little time to come up with a plan.  I decided to see if I could find a local birder who might meet me there with a scope.  I went on the local listserve and found numerous posts of birders seeing this bird, some dating back several weeks.  I sent e-mails to many of these folks, and got responses from 5 or 6, with each giving good advice for finding the bird.  And 1 responded saying he could meet me there with a scope.  The only problem was that he was a professional guide.  I didn’t want to have to pay to see this bird, but this seemed to be my only option.  So I hired the guide and hoped that I would get a good return on my investment and get good looks at a lifebird. 

The next morning I met the guide and we arrived at Gull Rock a bit before dawn.  The rock was indeed quite distant, and covered with hundreds of Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, along with a few Brown Pelicans and Heermann’s and Western Gulls.  As I started to scan the rock with my binocs I noticed a bird on the edge of the rock that was similar in size to the cormorants, but was sitting with a different profile – more horizontal than vertical.  And it wasn’t as dark as the cormorants too.  So I wondered if I had found the Booby.  Just then the guide mentioned he thought he had the Booby in his scope – when I looked through the scope it was the same bird I found and it was indeed the Blue-footed Booby.  The bird could have been a half mile away, so even in the scope at 50X it was tough to see.  But good enough to count as a lifer.

To get better looks we went to another location that, with a short walk, we would be able to get much closer to Gull Rock.  We eventually refound the bird from this vantage point, but it was mostly obscured by cormorants.  I got brief views of the bird in the scope including stretching its wings and even flying off the rock to feed on the ocean.  Much more satisfying views than at the first location.

Gull Rock in the distance - from the "closer" viewing spot

Another highlight of this spot was the numerous passerines in the brush on the coastal hillside, punctuated by numerous calling Wrentits, including one that we saw very close.  That’s the first Wrentit I’ve seen in many years.  Other birds included Bewick’s Wrens, White-crowned Sparrows, and Spotted Towhees.  A very birdy spot!

The Blue-footed Booby was ABA lifebird number 737, Lower 48 lifebird number 715, and CA statebird number 357.  And although a bit of planning on my part would have avoided the need to hire a guide (and a scope!), I did indeed get a good return on my investment.  After all, I’ve spent more to get a lifebird in the past, and spent more to chase after a lifebird that I’ve missed.

Palm Warbler and Gray-cheeked Thrush, Central Park, NY, October 2013

The family is in the midst of the college search process for my daughter, and she has picked a number of possible universities in New York City.  So over the Columbus Day weekend we planned a trip to Manhattan to visit several of them.  And with no schools to tour on Sunday, that would give us some free time to visit some of the local attractions.  I had never been to Central Park, but of course had heard a lot about the birding potential in this urban oasis.  So with everyone likely to sleep in that day, I decided to plan an early morning trip to the park to try for some New York statebirds.  I’ve got a pretty good list for NY (264), but still have a number of fairly easy birds to target that had been seen recently in Central Park (per e-Bird) including Palm and Pine Warblers, White-eyed Vireo, and Gray-cheeked Thrush.

Now I needed to figure out where to go in the park.  Central Park is very large, and I would only have chance to bird a very small portion in one morning.  With some research on the web I found a bit of information about possible birding spots, and there were indeed many spots mentioned.  Though I couldn’t find any good site guides for birding the park (maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right places).  I also found that there are regular birdwalks in the park on Sundays, but they charge $10 to participate.  I’ve never been fond of paying to participate in a birdwalk that is in a publicly accessible spot, so I decided to go it alone.  I would have a taxi drop me off near the middle of the park and I’d wander around from there looking for good habitat.

After a short taxi ride I arrived at 79^th and 5^th Avenue at dawn and began to walk to the west.  Most of the immediate area consisted of manicured lawns and isolated trees, though there was some patches of brush here and there.  Not surprisingly the brush contained the most birds (mostly White-throated and Song Sparrows) and the lawns had quite a number of Robins.  But I needed to find better habitat.  A bit to the west I noticed a more extensive brushy area so I headed there and found some very good habitat.  Highlights were a skulking Winter Wren and a berry-laden bush with a couple Hermit Thrushes.  I turned the corner and found even better habitat in a place which was called the Maintenance Field.  Notable birds here were flocks of 50+ sparrows of 5 species (including 2 Fields), Blue-headed Vireo, more Hermit Thrushes with a couple Swainson’s, a very late “Traill’s” Flycatcher, and a late flyover flock of Chimney Swifts.  In one berry bush I got a brief glimpse of a Catharus thrush that could have been a Gray-cheeked.  But it disappeared in the bush not to be seen again.  Here I ran into a birder who was most helpful and he advised me to head into The Ramble which is an extensive area that is more natural with significant undergrowth and mature deciduous trees, along with some streams and ponds. 

At my first stop in The Ramble I ran into more of the same – sparrows, a couple Sapsuckers, and more Hermit Thrushes.  Then I saw a flash of yellow fly by and it turned out to be a Palm Warbler – a new NY statebird.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve seen this species in most of its normal range though still need it in WV.

 Other warblers that morning were numerous Yellow-rumps, a Yellowthroat, a late Black-throated Blue, and a very late Ovenbird.  And along with 3 Blue-headed Vireos that was a pretty good mix of late warblers and vireos.

Maybe the best highlight of the morning was the thrushes.  In addition to many Robins I had an estimated 15 Hermits and 2 Swainson’s Thrushes feeding in the numerous berry bushes in the area.  And at one spot I found a very late Wood Thrush foraging on the ground.  But the best sighting was at a small spring with adjacent berry bushes.  I had run into a novice birder at this spot and was helping him identify the Hermit Thrushes feeding there.  And just then another thrush flew in and posed very cooperatively at the top of the bush – a Gray-cheeked; a second new statebird.  I haven’t seen too many Gray-cheeks – and my statebird map shows that I still need this uncommon migrant in many eastern states.

In my 4 hours birding I ended up with 50 species in this very birdy area, and only had a few Starlings, House Sparrows, and Rock Pigeons.  Birding really slowed down quite a bit after about 10 as more people filled the park so I’m glad I got there early.  I spent almost the entire time in The Ramble, and still only birded less than half of that area.  There will likely be more college trips to NYC so maybe there will be more opportunities to fill gaps in my NY statelist.  And many more areas in Central Park to explore. 

View of "The Lake" looking west