West Virginia Statelist Over 200 with Five New Statebirds, October 2014

I’ve been to Pittsburgh for business trips several times this year, and have taken short extensions on a number of those trips to work on my WV statelist.  I’ve successfully added 20 new statebirds, putting me 20 over the old ABA threshold.  That puts me over my rather arbitrary “Reportable Plus 15” goal for WV, and at 198 for the state.  Though sure would be nice to get to 200.  So when another business trip to Pittsburgh was being scheduled in October, I naturally turned to my WV target list to see what statebird potential there might be, and to see if I could get at least 2 more to reach 200.  But I was a victim of my own success.  The list of possible new statebirds was getting pretty short, and what was left wasn’t very likely.  So I was leaning toward not doing any birding on this trip at all.  But then several of my meetings fell through and it turned out I would end up with almost an entire day of spare time during the trip.  So I turned to my local birding friend Terry Bronson to get his advice to find for some of my targets.  Terry came up with suggestions for a number of targets, but none would be easy.  In fact, there was a good chance that I might not get any new birds for my list at all.  But even with limited statebird potential, at least the weather forecast was a good one and it would still be a nice day to be out birding. 

My first stop was the Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area about an hour’s drive southeast of Morgantown.  This spot is one of Terry’s favorite places, with a large wetland and numerous sparrow fields.  And a review of the recent e-bird reports yielded two of my targets – Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Marsh Wren.  And the wetland edges could always harbor a Wilson’s Snipe – another of my targets.  Plus a Nelson’s Sparrow was spotted there back in October 2013.  So there was some pretty good potential here.  I arrived there at dawn and started by birding along Upper Pleasant Creek Road.  There were numerous sparrows feeding right along the roadside, but no Lincoln’s were mixed in.  Notable birds included several flyover Siskins and Purple Finches which are not too common this far south, though perhaps not so unusual in this good flight year.  And a bit later an immature Bald Eagle flew over startling the Canada Geese in the adjacent wetlands. 

I then drove a bit farther down the road to get to the wetlands where I thought the Nelson’s Sparrow had been seen a year ago.  I walked down to a nice area of cattails and started to play some Marsh Wren tape.  Within seconds sparrows started to respond, with 8 to 10 perched just a few feet away.  With quick looks they all appeared to be Swamps, but I wanted to look at each bird closely to be sure there wasn’t a Lincoln’s in the group.  As I bounced from one bird to the next all of a sudden a sparrow with an orange face pattern appeared.  I watched it for at least a minute at close range and checked off all the field marks of a Nelson’s Sparrow (including eliminating LeConte’s Sparrow with no white central crown stripe).  Statebird #1.  That was a real long shot and one I wasn’t really planning on.  And quite a good bird for WV too.  Not to mention a remarkable response to a Marsh Wren tape! 

WV is only my seventh state for Nelson’s Sparrow (see my statebird map below).  Previously I had seen the coastal race as a breeder in ME and NH; coastal and/or inland races as migrants in MA, RI, and CT; and as a wintering bird in LA and AL.  I’ve yet to see the inland race on its breeding grounds.

I then walked another 100 feet down the edge of the wetlands and played some more Marsh Wren tape.  This time a Marsh Wren responded instead of sparrows, staying in the open for quite a while.  Statebird #2, and WV statebird #200!  Marsh Wren is not a typical nester in WV, and apparently a not so common migrant as well.  So another good tick for WV.  I’ve now seen Marsh Wren throughout the Lower 48 except for IA, KY, and TN.

It was still early, so I decided to bird a couple other parts of the WMA before heading to my next stop.  In a few minutes I was at another part of the wetlands and noticed some birders in hip-waders sloshing through the marsh looking for rails.  I watched them for a while hoping they would flush a Snipe, but it turned out they struck out both on their target and mine.  As they reached the shore and I was about to tell them about my finds they told me they had 2 other Nelson’s and several other Marsh Wrens.  Took the wind out of my sails a bit.  They also told me about a Lincoln’s Sparrow they had seen just a few minutes earlier.  I went right to that spot but didn’t see a single sparrow.  Ugh…

My next stop was Silver Lake which was about an hour to the east and just a stone’s throw from the MD line.  A Snow Goose had been reported there for several days about a week earlier in with a flock of Canadas.  Although there had been no reports (positive or negative) from this spot since then, I hoped it would still be around, and all the local birders who wanted to see it had already been by the spot earlier.  I arrived at the small lake and counted 310 Canadas either on the water or on adjacent grassy shores.  But no white goose was visible.  I had a slim hope that more geese might be just out of view in some hidden part of the lake so I decided to drive around to a different vantage point.  As I passed over a small bridge I flushed 3 sparrows which landed just off the road side.  Although they looked like Songs, on a whim, I picked up my binocs and the very first one I looked at was a Lincoln’s.  Statebird #3.  Amazing that I probably looked at a couple hundred sparrows at Pleasant Creek with no luck, but the very first one here was a Lincoln’s.  And I didn’t even need to leave my car.  WV was my 39th state for Lincoln’s - I still need it in a few Midwest and several Southeast states.

Despite a couple more angles on the lake I never did find the Snow Goose.  But the Lincoln’s Sparrow was a great consolation prize.

My next stop was the WV University Reedsville Farm to try for Wilson’s Snipe.  It was another hour plus drive but through some very pretty WV countryside so it was a very pleasant ride.  Along the way I passed through a couple rural towns, and at one point slowed to under 25 mph to pass through “downtown” Kingwood.  Just then I noticed a rather large falcon passing overhead.  Luckily I was able to instantly pull over and get the binocs on it.  Although my initial reaction was Peregrine, I watched it for a while and decided it was a large female Merlin.  Statebird #4.  I was really lucky not only to have noticed it but also to be able to pull over right away to see it with my binocs.  My statebird map for Merlin is very spotty – I’ve seen it in only 34 states.

 

I eventually made it to Reedsville Farm and headed to a grass-lined creek that Terry had suggested for Snipe.  I spent some time walking along what seemed to be good Snipe habitat but with no success.  As I pulled out of the area I remembered seeing a wet grassy field at the edge of the farm and decided to give it a try.  I put on my wellies and started to splash through the wet grass.  I had just gotten done saying to myself what nice Snipe habitat this was when one flushed right in front of me.  Statebird #5.  And as I walked back to the car I flushed another Snipe.  It was amazing how easy it was after having looked for Snipe so many times in WV.  I now just need Snipe in SD and MI to sweep the mainland states.

 

That gave me 5 new statebirds on a day that I thought I’d be lucky to get any at all.  Pretty amazing. 

That puts my WV list at 203 – my 48th state with more than 200 statebirds.  Only IA, DC, and HI are below 200.  Plus since WV’s old ABA threshold of 178 is the second lowest (only DC is lower), my 203 is a very respectable 114% of threshold.  That is my 15th best percentage of all my statelists.  At the beginning of 2014 my WV list was my 43rd best based on percentage of threshold.  That’s quite an improvement over just one year.  Couldn’t have done it without the help of Terry Bronson who knows the birds of the area so well.

Four Statebirds in Louisiana, Reportable Plus 15, September, 2014

The old ABA state reporting thresholds were calculated as half the total number of species ever recorded in that state.  Those thresholds would slowly inch up over time as new birds were added to statelists.  At least the thresholds used to increase, since the ABA no longer publishes these thresholds.  As a result, to stay comfortably over what would be newly calculated thresholds, I’ve revised my statelisting goals to be at least 15 over the old thresholds.  In other words, as long as less than 30 new birds are added to a given state’s list, my “Reportable Plus 15” goal would keep me above newly calculated thresholds. 

My LA statelist has been over the old ABA reporting threshold for some time, but was only 11 birds over the old threshold.  That meant I needed 4 more to reach my Reportable Plus 15 goal.  My biggest opportunities for new statebirds in LA are migrant passerines and freshwater shorebirds, so a short trip in spring or fall migration could be pretty fruitful.  I had been thinking about a migrant trip in LA for some time, but had never gotten around to it.  Then with a business trip to Houston coming up in September, I decided to add a vacation day and do some birding in southwestern LA, one of my favorite birding areas, in hopes of finally getting some nice migrants.  I contacted my LA birding friend Marty Guidry who knows that part of the state like the back of his hand, and he came up with an itinerary to hit a number of passerine and shorebird hotspots.  Better than that, Marty was available to join me and show me around.

The day was forecasted to be hot and humid, so I was mentally prepared for the 75 degree dewpoint when I stepped out of my hotel room pre-dawn that morning.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the horde of biting insects at our first stop at Sabine NWR.  Although the DEET kept the mosquitoes from biting it had no effect on the deer flies.  We had hoped for Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at this dawn stop, but after just a few minutes we decided to head to our next spot and hopefully less bugs. 

Next we headed to the coast to check out a recent report of two of my targets, Barn Owl and Chuck-will’s-widow, in a patch of woods.  But the directions were not very specific, so we checked out a couple spots before stopping at a homestead surrounded by live oaks.  As we pulled up we flushed a large owl, which got us excited initially, but just turned out to be a Great Horned.  A few seconds later I noticed some movement in the trees and found a female Wilson’s Warbler – statebird #1.  Our first migrant passerine was a new statebird.  If only it continued to be that easy the rest of the day.

In my statebird map for Wilson’s Warbler I’ve seen it throughout the west, but in far fewer states in the east and especially in the southeast where it is less common.

Next stop was Peveto Woods which is well known as a migrant hotspot.  As we got out of the car we were instantly attacked by a swarm of deer flies.  Then the mosquitoes found us.  We could have probably coped with all the biting flies if we were seeing a good number of birds, but instead the woods were dead.  We had exactly 2 migrants – a Redstart and a Magnolia Warbler.  Although we might have found something else if we decided to stay longer, once again the flies caused us to retreat to the car after a short stop.

Our next several stops were along the coast at the southwest corner of the state to try for migrant shorebirds and maybe some passerines.  However, we were not successful on either accord.  The highlight though was an aerial display of a Caracara and Peregrine Falcon chasing each other low over the trees. 

It was almost lunch time and my new statebird total was stuck at a disappointing 1.  After a quick burger, we headed to East Jetty Beach in Cameron to try for Snowy Plover.  There were quite a number of shorebirds, terns, gulls and pelicans on the beach to scan through.  Eventually I found 1 very distant very pale plover that Marty and I both felt was a Snowy.  Statebird #2.  I’ve now seen Snowy Plover in most of its regular coastal states (just missing it in MS), and also in 6 states where it is an inland nester.

 

Marty then took me to several more islands of woods where he’s had good number of passerine migrants in the past.  But we kept striking out on the migrants.  At least the flies weren’t a problem anymore.  At one spot we were walking through the woods a short distance apart and I heard an odd sound of something flying overhead towards where Marty was.  I didn’t see it through the tree canopy, but it sort of sounded like muffled bird’s wings.  A few seconds later Marty yelled over that he just had a Barn Owl fly in, and then fly back my way.  Again I didn’t see the bird – ugh – missed it a second time.  But soon we heard several Blue Jays calling loudly nearby.  Thinking that maybe they were attacking the owl, we tracked down the Jays and sure enough there was the Barn Owl.  Statebird #3.  My statebird map for Barn Owl is really spotty – I’ve mostly only found this species when a local birder knows of a stakeout location.

Our last stop was back at the Wetland Walkway at Sabine NWR, where the flies had been so bad at dawn.  This time they were bearable, and we made a quick loop around the walkway.  As we neared the wooden observation platform I noticed a flycatcher fly up to the railing – a male Vermilion Flycatcher!  A very nice bird, and certainly the rarest thing we saw all day, but I didn’t need it for LA.  We scanned the open water for whistling ducks but with no success.  As we continued around the loop I tried playing some tape for Virginia Rail, another of my targets, whenever we got near patches of cattails.  Several times I got responses from King Rails giving their slow and low pitched grunt calls.  And then finally I heard two responses that were faster and higher – Virginia Rails.  Statebird #4.  I’ve had this common marsh bird in most states, but still have some gaps to fill in the eastern US.

With 4 new statebirds that gives me 251 in LA and puts me 15 over the old ABA threshold for LA – Reportable Plus 15!  LA is my 32^nd state with at least 15 over threshold, and have 13 more that are at least at the threshold though not 15 over.  With a little research I found that the LA statelist as of March 2014was 479.  That would yield a threshold of 239.5, up from 236 in the last ABA report in 2010.  That means I’m 11 ½ over what would be the present threshold.  So I’m safe until there are 23 new birds added to the LA statelist.

Pomarine Jaeger, RI Pelagic, September, 2014

Most of my birding efforts in off-shore RI waters have been limited to several rides on the ferry to and from Block Island – I’ve called them “poor man’s pelagic trips”.  Then last year I found out that there is a whale watch company in RI, and took one mid-summer whale watch trip.  That’s not to say I haven’t tried to go on real pelagics out of RI.  I think I’ve signed-up for no less than 4 pelagic trips organized by local birder Carlos Pedro, though each one has been cancelled by weather or mechanical issues.  But despite limited opportunities I’ve done pretty well in RI, getting the four typical Shearwaters (Great, Cory’s, Sooty, and the less likely Manx), and the expected Wilson’s Storm-Petrel along with the rarer Leach’s Storm-Petrel.  Alcids have been limited to Razorbills and Common Murres, seen both from shore and on one winter Block Island trip.  And even with one very distant Parasitic Jaeger I’ve seen from shore, I have lots of potential pelagic statebirds to hope for.  As a result I jumped at the opportunity to go on a pelagic trip scheduled in late September by the newly formed Ocean State Bird Club.  With good weather predicted, it looked like I would finally get on a RI pelagic.

With hopes of seeing Jaegers and Phalaropes (and dare I say even rarer species), I arrived at the dock in Galilee quite early.  There were a number of fishermen milling about with their gear and coolers, all eventually boarding the larger boats of the Frances Fleet.  As the birders started to arrive we soon realized we had been relegated to one of the smaller boats, which was likely not going to be fast enough to chase after anything.  And since the boat was small it’s a good thing that seas were predicted to only be 1-3 feet. 

We left the dock at 7 and started motoring SE towards deeper water.  Soon after we left the harbor an adult Gannet passed close by followed by several more individuals.  Then a few minutes later I noticed a large dark bird flying near the boat.  I quickly got it in my binoculars and it was an adult Jaeger.  It passed right by our bow, and several birders got photographs.  We all agreed that it was a Parasitic – not a new statebird but certainly a much better view than the one I had from shore a couple years ago.  This was a great start well before we had reached Block Island. 

A bit later we turned a bit more to the east to head toward a large number of fishing boats.  Included in the group was a trawler that had just hauled in its nets.  As we neared the trawler we could see a fair-sized flock of gulls on the water, and lots of dead bait fish floating on the surface.  It was sobering to see all these fish killed in the trawler’s nets and then just cast overboard.  We waited in the area quite a while, and eventually saw one Cory’s Shearwater join the gull flock, but that was all.  We then headed farther southeast to another group of boats, but just found a few gulls there. 

As the day progressed we continued to search for pelagic birds with no success.  Late in the day we made our way back to the initial group of fishing boats and threw out chum.  Eventually a few gulls joined us.  Then some time later a birder yelled – “Jaeger!”.  It quickly passed by the boat, and a few minutes later it made another pass.  This was an adult bird, which I instantly thought had a heavier body and slower wingbeats than a Parasitic.  We compared notes afterwards and agreed that this one was a Pomarine Jaeger.  With no other pelagic birds in site, we headed back to shore soon afterwards. 

With respect to numbers of pelagic birds, this turned out to be my slowest ever pelagic trip.  In fact it was even slower than any of the whale watches I’ve been on.  I saw just 1 Parasitic and 1 Pomarine Jaeger, 1 Cory’s Shearwater, and about 10 Gannets.  Though with a new RI statebird I’m not complaining. 

Pomarine Jaeger was RI statebird number 315 for me, and my eight state for this species (see my statebird map below).  This was statebird number 1,985 in New England - I’m closing in on my goal of 2,000. 

Vermont Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin and Hudsonian Godwit, September, 2014

The second annual Lake Champlain “pelagic trips” were planned for a Saturday and Sunday in mid-September out of Burlington, VT.  Last year’s trip was tremendous with good numbers of numerous species more typically seen on the ocean waterfront, including 3 VT statebirds for me – Red Phalarope, Little Gull, and a distant Jaeger, sp.  This year’s trips were a couple weeks earlier in the year and more closely timed with Jaeger migration which were my key targets.  Needless to say I was really looking forward to the 2014 trip, signing up for the Sunday trip hopeful that it would yield a couple statebirds.  And since the boat leaves early in the morning, my plan was to get a hotel in the area the night before, and do some birding in northwest VT on Saturday as well.

As the Sunday of the pelagic trip approached I researched the VT listserve and e-bird for possible new statebirds to chase after from land.  But although there were a couple recent sightings of possible target birds, none seemed like they would be chaseable.  I was quickly coming to the reality that I would not likely get any new VT statebirds from land.  And then came worse news that the trip was postponed due to predicted strong winds.  The trips were rescheduled for the following weekend, but I had a pelagic trip planned off the RI coast the following Sunday which would conflict with the new dates.  To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

But then I started thinking about some options and driving times.  If I could sign up for the Saturday option for the rescheduled trip, I would still have time to make my way to the RI coast Saturday night before the Sunday RI pelagic trip – after all it was “only” a 5 hour drive from Burlington to the RI coastline.  I contacted Allan Strong who was organizing the trips, and he was able to put me on the trip the following Saturday.  So I was in business, though I wouldn’t have any extra time for birding RI from land before that second boat trip.

And with a week delay in the VT trip it was time to re-research possible target birds.  Unlike last week, there were a couple target birds being seen in the area that were likely chaseable – Dunlin and Black-bellied Plovers were being seen in small numbers at several sites.  And then there were tantalizing reports of a Hudsonian Godwit at Brilyea Access and another at Goose Bay way up at the northwestern tip of VT.  Unfortunately neither Godwit was being seen as my trip neared, so they weren’t very likely.  After receiving some excellent advice from several local birders, I was optimistic that I might see a couple statebirds from land along with several possibilities from the boat.

I finally arrived in northwest VT around Noon and my first stop was the southern end of the Colchester Causeway.  Local birder Ted Murin suggested I check out mudflats that had formed to the southwest of the causeway adjacent to a small island, and his advice was perfect.  As I neared the flats I scanned them from a distance with my binoculars and quickly picked up a larger shorebird that was likely a Black-bellied Plover.  I picked up my pace as I walked a bit further down the causeway to get closer to the flats.  I set up my scope and started looking for the Plover.  I quickly found it, and then another, and then 3 more for a total of 5.  And then I noticed 4 larger peeps a bit farther away – Dunlin!  That was both of my expected targets in just a few minutes of birding.  Also feeding on the mudflats were a Sanderling (only my second time in VT for that species), 2 Baird’s, 6 Semi Plovers, and 3 Semi Sandpipers.  Quite a nice diversity for that late in the season. 

VT was my last New England state for both the Plover and Dunlin – I now have 232 species in each of the 6 states.  My statebird maps for these 2 species are rather similar – I’ve seen both in all the coastal states and many inland states but still have a number of gaps out west. 

With a lot of time on my hands, I started to weigh my options.  I could check Brilyea and Goose Bay to try for the Godwits, though they hadn’t been seen for days.  I could also spend time on a lake watch, with the Charlotte Town Beach typically being the best spot.  But since I was already way out on the lake on the causeway, I decided to spend a little more time there hoping to see something migrating down the lake.  After 30 minutes I only saw one migrant, a Peregrine, so the lake watch options didn’t seem like they would be too fruitful.  So I decided to head to Brilyea and search for shorebirds (and the Godwit) there.

After a somewhat tortuous drive through Burlington I finally made it to Brilyea and soon arrived at the spot just south of Route 17 where the Hudsonian Godwit had been seen.  A couple birders were there with their scope and said they might have the bird.  But it turned out to be just a Yellowlegs, and the only other shorebird there was a Pectoral.  My next stop was the upper impoundment which was being drawn down, and had yielded my first VT Stilt Sandpipers earlier in the month.  Along the walk to the end of the impoundment I found a number of both Yellowlegs, Semi Sands, Killdeer, and a distant Dunlin.  Surprisingly there no shorebirds at the upper reaches of the impoundment, though a flock of 60 Green-winged Teal was a bit of a surprise.  And the early fall colors in the fields and woodlands were nice too.

Although it was getting late in the day, I figured I might have just enough time to make my way up to Goose Bay to try for the other Hudsonian Godwit.  I had good directions to the location to get the best views of the mouth of Dead Creek.  But I was told that the birds were far away, and not easily identifiable if there was any heat shimmer.  Plus I would be looking to the west, so afternoon viewing conditions were bad.  But despite all the negatives, I decided to give it a try.  Since that was the first time I had ever been to that spot, it would still be nice to get to know the location for future trips even if the Godwit was no longer around.

About an hour before sunset I finally arrived at Shipyard Road in Highgate, just 3 miles south of the Canadian border.  I set up the scope and although viewing wasn’t great, it wasn’t nearly as bad as advertised.  I quickly found several Black-bellied Plovers on the flats – eventually counting 9 in view at one time.  And in the foreground (though still nearly ½ mile away), I found a flock of Dunlin that I estimated at 40.  (That gave me 45 Dunlin at 3 locations and 14 Black-bellies at 2 locations.)  There were also a number of other smaller peeps too far to ID, several yellowlegs, a number of Great Blues and Great Egrets, and distant dabbling ducks.  Then I started to pan to the left and came upon a very large shorebird feeding in the channel.  It looked like a football with long legs.  Could I have re-found the Godwit?  I watched for at least the next 5 minutes until I eventually was able to see the long up-curved bill and felt 100% sure of the ID as the Hudsonian Godwit.  That was quite a surprise since it had not been seen for almost a week.  And I was very lucky to have found it since there was a lot of habitat where the bird would be hidden from view.  I spread the word about re-finding the bird, and it and a second one were seen in the area for the next couple weeks.

I’ve now seen Hudsonian Godwit in 8 northeast coastal states as a regular fall migrant, 3 Plains states as a spring migrant, in AK as a nester, and now OR and VT as a rarity. 

I had 3 statebirds already, and hadn’t even gotten on the boat for the “pelagic” trip.  Which as it turns out was a good thing, since the boat trip was really slow.  On the bright side, the weather was great – clear skies, almost no wind, and temps rising from the 50s to the upper 60s.  But migrants were few and far between, with just a couple small migrant flocks of White-winged Scoters and Greater Scaup, and several Red-necked Grebes on the water.  Luckily one of the Grebes was on the NY side of the lake, which was new for my NY list (now at 267).  But there were no birds for my VT list.  I’ll guess I’ll just have to wait for next fall’s pelagic trip, or maybe a lake watch from Charlotte Town Beach, for a chance at Jaegers and even rarer species for my VT list.

With 3 new species for VT I ended the trip with 267, and now have 1,984 for my 6 New England states.  Just 16 more to go to reach 2,000.