Summer Tanager and Ruff, RI, May 2016

Summer Tanager and Ruff – a pair of rarities not normally seen on the same day anywhere in New England.  But I was able to see both birds on the same day in southern RI, principally thanks to a considerable amount of luck.  Both birds were first spotted just about the same day while I was out of town on business travel.  The Tanager (an adult male) was at Miantonomi Park in Newport – amazingly there is a Summer Tanager reported from this small suburban park almost every spring.  The Ruff (a female) was in salt pannes in the Misquamicut section of Westerly.  It would be close to a week before I would be able to break free to try for them, so I never thought they would stick around long enough to give either one a try.  But I was lucky enough that both continued to be reported each day, so I tried to remain optimistic.

Finally the time arrived when I could head to RI to try for them.  My plan was to be at Miantonomi Park at dawn, and then head to Westerly.  But as I gathered details on the Tanager I found out that the bird not very easy to find.  Although it was reported every day, and from seemingly anywhere in the park, a number of birders had tried for it several times without seeing it.  (As is usually the case, you don’t often see negative posts.)  At least the Ruff appeared to be seen quite reliably.  What if I didn’t see the Tanager quickly?  Should I stay there longer, trying for the “easier” Ruff later in the day?  Or should I spend a little time for the Tanager, then hopefully tick-off the Ruff, before heading back to Miantonomi?  At least I had the whole day free if needed to search for them both.

Just before I arrived at Miantonomi I got an e-mail that the Tanager was seen at dawn in the southern end of the park.  Suddenly I was more optimistic about my upcoming search.  Minutes later I was in the park and headed right to the spot where the Tanager was seen.  But the woods were extremely quiet and there was no Tanager in sight.  So I started wandering slowly along the trails hoping I would run into the target bird.  The park continued to be very slow, with only an occasional Cardinal, Robin or Titmouse to break up the monotony.

At one point I noticed a pair of Robins fly across the trail and heading high up in the canopy.  Maybe out of boredom I followed them with my binoculars up to their perch in a recently leafed-out beech tree.  Then I noticed a slightly smaller bird fly into the same tree – my first glimpse was brief but the bird was all red – was it the Tanager?  With a couple more views I was able to see the solid red body and large pale bill, confirming that it was indeed the Summer Tanager.  No more than 30 seconds later the bird flew off through the canopy to the east and was gone.  Boy was I lucky!  And by spending less than an hour in the park I didn’t have to worry about whether to cut the Tanager search short to try for the Ruff.

RI was my 33rd state, including my 4th in New England, for this generally southern species.

Now I was off to Westerly to try for the Ruff.  This bird had been reported feeding reliably in the salt pannes right along the Atlantic Ave. between telephone poles 31 and 33, generally accompanied by a small group of Greater Yellowlegs.  That’s about as specific as you can get.  When I neared the location I started picking out the numbers on the poles and quickly found 31, 32, and 33.  The salt pannes were right along the north side of the road, so I figured this one would be easy.  I got out of the car and scanned with my binoculars – there were 3 Yellowlegs feeding in the pools, but there was no Ruff in sight.  This one would take more work after all.  I got out the scope and started scanning more slowly.  At one point I noticed some movement in the grasses – it was a shorebird mostly obscured by the vegetation.  Then it walked out into the open and it was the Ruff.  I watched it for the next 15 minutes as it most cooperatively fed no more than 50 feet from the road.  I got these phonescoped photos of this photogenic bird.

I’ve now seen Ruff as a rarity in 7 east coast states (including 4 in New England) and in Alaska.

With 2 new statebirds in RI that gives me 325 for my statelist, and the first time since October of 2015 that I saw 2 new birds for my New England lists on the same day.

Ironically, later in May a Ruff and a Summer Tanager were both reported the same day in south central CT.  I couldn’t get there that day, but gave it a go the next day and missed them both.  I guess I used up all my luck pursuing these rarities in RI.