I grew up in Maryland and during that time
really focused on my MD statelist. As a
result I developed a pretty good list while living there, standing at 321 when
I moved out of the state almost 30 years ago.
At the time it was my single largest statelist, and MD was my first ABA
reportable state. Since then my focus
has turned to exceeding ABA thresholds in all states, so since then I haven’t
gone out of my way to try to add birds to my MD list. Not surprisingly, I have only added 5 new
birds to my MD list since I left, mostly with some opportunistic birding while
visiting relatives in the area.
But now I set a new goal to get to 15,000
total ticks. To reach that threshold I
can’t turn down any new reasonably feasible statebird, even in states with my
largest lists. So with an upcoming trip
to MD in January I set up an eBird Needs Alert to see if any new birds might be
around. To my surprise many species
popped up, including several species that were now regular in MD but weren’t
even on my radar screen back in the 80’s – like Cackling Goose, Ross’s Goose,
and Trumpeter Swan. But more importantly
the alert included a reliable rarity – Black-throated Gray Warbler. This bird had been seen since late November
in the small Tydings Memorial Park in Havre de Grace. I only had a few hours available on one early
morning to give it a try, but if I got there at dawn I could give it a couple
hours before I had to head out. Plus
there was a reliable Trumpeter Swan a short distance away at Perryville
Community Park. So ever the optimist, if
I could get the Warbler quickly, I could even try for the Swan as well.
I arrived at Tydings Memorial Park a bit
before dawn to pea soup fog, and temps in the 30s. Given the cool conditions I had expected this
insect-eating bird to get active when its food started to get active, most
likely in the first trees to be illuminated by the rising sun. Apparently its favorite trees were a row of 4
cedars planted atop a hill in the park (recent directions put them at the east
end of the park but it only took me a few seconds to find them at the west
end of the park). These would be the
first ones to be in sunlight at dawn so my logic was coming together. But that morning the rising sun was obscured
by fog, and dawn arrived without any sunlit trees anywhere in the park.
After a few minutes of searching with no
luck I noticed another birder had arrived.
Hoping that he might have better directions I went over to him to
compare notes. To my surprise it was Jim
Stasz, a birder I spent many hours birding with in the 70s and 80s. In fact he was my key birding mentor from my
younger formative days. Amazing
coincidence! He too thought that the
cedars would be the best spot to check at dawn.
But the fog was spoiling our plans.
Jim also mentioned that the bird was sometimes seen in the suburban
neighborhood just to the north of the park, so that might be an alternate
location to try.
In the next hour at least 8 other birders
arrived, and we all fanned out throughout the park. But to no avail. Eventually the sun did come out, and a few
birds made their way to the cedars, but no one spotted our target bird.
It was now time for me to head out having
missed the Warbler, not to mention not even having a chance to try for the
Swan. I said goodbye to Jim and drove
out of the park. As I passed by on the
road skirting the northern edge of Tydings Park, I noticed the birders all
scurrying over to the neighborhood, crossing the road in front of me. I pulled over and got the news – a birder had
just found the Warbler one block to the north.
Seconds later I was with that birder standing at the base of the large
spruce tree where he had heard the bird a couple minutes earlier. Within a minute I heard the bird’s
characteristic chip note, sounding much like a Yellow-rumped. We all tracked the bird as it passed through
the neighborhood, getting several brief looks at the bird as it continued to
call from the treetops. Eventually it
flew over to the park, seemingly heading to its favorite row of cedars. If I had left just a minute earlier I would
have missed it!
MD was my fourth state where I’ve seen
Black-throated Gray Warbler as a rarity – along with MA, GA, and ND, plus I’ve
seen it throughout its normal range out west (see my statebird map below). And it was number 327 for my MD list.
But that was just 1 new MD statebird, and
the title of this blog said I added 4 in MD.
The other 3 came on my next trip “back home”. Energized by the success of using a Needs Alert
on my first trip, I set up another alert for my second trip. Once again Cackling Geese, Ross’s Geese, and
Trumpeter Swans dominated the report.
And all 3 were being seen close to my home base in Baltimore. Most recently a Ross’s Goose and 2 Cackling
Geese were being seen in a flock of Canadas 45 minutes northwest at Study Road
Pond in Carroll County. This flock also
had an immature Snow Goose and a couple White-fronts – good birds for the area
but not new for my MD list. As with my
first trip I had just a few hours free for birding, but these birds looked to
be pretty reliable so it seemed to be worth a try. Plus if I got these birds quickly I could try
for a Trumpeter Swan just discovered in a small pond on the southwest outskirts
of Baltimore.
After a short ride into northern Carroll
County I turned onto Study Road, and quickly spotted the pond ahead of me, along
with a flock of geese on the grassy field above it. And a second later I picked out a small white
goose. Within seconds I had the Ross’s
Goose in my scope, and got this distant phonescoped photo of this most
cooperative bird. Needless to say a
white goose in a flock of Canadas feeding in a grassy field really stands out.
MD was my 30th state for this
expanding species. And although I had
seen Ross’s Goose in DE while I lived in the Mid-Atlantic, I don’t believe it
was even on the MD statelist at the time.
Now I needed to search for the much less
obvious Cackling Geese. I quickly panned
through the flock with my binocs and almost instantly picked out a group of 3
smaller geese feeding on the hill. With
the scope I could tell all 3 were much smaller than the Canadas, but they were
facing away so I couldn’t see their bill and head shapes. Eventually they turned and I could see all 3
had the stubbier bill, and more vertical forehead shape of a Cackling
Goose. But one was slightly larger – the
rightmost bird of the trio in this photo.
And now in the middle in this photo.
Could the smaller birds be “Richardson’s”
Cackling Geese and the larger one be a “Taverner’s” Cackling Goose? Or maybe the larger bird is just the male of
this potential family group, since males tend to be a little larger than
females. A bit later I found this other
Goose that seemed small enough to be a Cackling, but its head/bill shape was
more Canada like. Not sure what to make
of this one – maybe a small “Parvipes” Canada, or dare I say a hybrid?
Later I found the immature “Blue Phase”
Snow Goose, but with a quick scan I couldn’t locate a White-front. Although I thought about spending more time
looking for that fifth goose species, since I got my target geese so quickly, I
decided I should head out to make a very quick try for the Trumpeter Swan. Luckily the Swan had been seen on a small
pond, so it wouldn’t take long to either find it or realize the bird had moved
on. Maybe even easier than the Ross’s
Goose.
Potentially a bigger issue with the Swan could
be gaining access to the pond. The bird
was seen on the property of a gated retirement community, but one eBirder
mentioned he just asked for permission at the gate and was given access. So I wasn’t too worried when I drove up to
the gate to ask as well. However, the
guard said she couldn’t let me on the property.
The pond was not visible from the road, so now what should I do? I quickly pulled up the area on my map app in
the satellite view, and could see the pond on the eastern edge of the retirement
community property. Maybe I could get a
view of the pond from the back side of one of the businesses to the east. I drove around to a couple spots and
eventually found one that gave me a view to at least a portion of the
pond. And sure enough on my second stop there
was the immature Trumpeter swimming down below. Makes up for not being able to
try for the Trumpeter on my first trip to MD. I got this miserable shot of the bird by holding my phone up to my
binocs.
MD is my second east coast state where I’ve
counted the reintroduced Trumpeter Swans – luckily they have been accepted on
the MD statelist.
That gave me 4 new birds on my MD list in
just 1 month, raising my total to 330.
After I entered all my sightings in eBird my MD Needs Alerts now only
had a couple entries. Though
unfortunately none of the remaining birds were close enough to chase after, but
I was very happy with adding 4 new birds in such limited birding time.
With so much success using a MD Needs
Alert, I started to think about setting up Needs Alerts for nearby states. Although my statelists in adjacent states
were also pretty good, they weren’t as good as my MD list, so there would
likely be several targets to pursue. The
problem was I didn’t have any more spare time while I was in Baltimore. But I still had to drive back to MA at the
end of the trip, so maybe there would be some statebirds I could pursue close
to my planned route home with just some short side-trips. I started with a Needs Alert in DE where my
statelist stood at a very respectable 270.
My planned route would take me on I-95 through New Castle County in DE,
and sure enough there were several potential targets in that northernmost DE
county. And with a bit of research I was
able to find 4 reasonably likely targets to pursue close to my I-95 route –
Ring-necked Duck and Common Merganser at the Newark Reservoir, Black-capped
Chickadee at feeders at the Tri-State Bird Rescue, and Cackling Goose at
Bellevue State Park. Despite having to
make stops at 3 different sites, my total additional drive time was just 45
minutes. If I made short “tactical” birding
stops at each location it would all be feasible - my plan was set.
After just an hour drive from Baltimore I
neared the DE stateline and took the exit to head to the Newark Reservoir. Several recent eBird reports had included
small flocks of both Common Mergansers and Ring-necked Ducks there, including
just 2 days before my visit. (Not
exactly sure why I still needed these quite common species in a state where
I’ve done so much birding over the years…)
There were also a couple reports of Cackling Geese there a few weeks earlier,
so another one to watch out for. I
needed a short walk uphill to gain access to the reservoir, but I hoped to be
able to quickly check off both the Ring-neck and Merg once I got the reservoir
in view. As I headed up the path to the
reservoir I saw a duck flying overhead – it was a male Common Merganser. That was easy! Now I just needed the Ring-necks to be as
cooperative. Unfortunately it wasn’t to
be. Although I had 9 Common Mergs on the
water, I could not find any Ring-necked Ducks.
And there was only 1 Canada Goose – none of its smaller cousins were
around.
My statebird map for Common Merganser
pretty closely matches it regular range, though I still need it in OH. And as a postscript – if I had found a
Ring-necked Duck I could have filled in DE in my statebird map as my last continental
US state for that species. (I’ve seen 26
species in every continental US state.)
Next I was off to nearby Tri-State Bird
Rescue and Research, where a few eBird posts had reported a Black-capped Chickadee
coming to their feeders. The northern
tip of DE is traditionally near the southern edge of the range of Black-caps,
especially in winter when a few birds tend to move a bit south of their normal
breeding ranges. And many of these birds
are reported from feeders, not surprisingly with several Carolinas, as was the
case with the Tri-State feeders. That
brings up the challenge of identification of these 2 very similar species. Luckily I’ve grown up near the edge of the
Carolina/Black-capped ranges, so I’ve spent a lot of time with these 2
species. To me, the biggest ID clue is
the size difference, though interestingly that feature isn’t stressed in the
field guides. When I travel to MD and
see a Carolina Chickadee, after spending years with Black-caps in New England,
my first thought is how much smaller Carolinas are.
With prior approval to bird at the
Tri-State feeders, I arrived mid-morning and headed to a deck overlooking their
feeding station. I quickly found 4
Carolina Chickadees actively coming to the feeder to grab a sunflower
seed. They would then fly to a bush just
a short distance away to open the seed. They
would chatter a bit, and then head back to the feeder to repeat their
cycle. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t
turn any of them into a Black-cap. After
20 minutes I was starting to second-guess my efforts. After all it had been more than a month since
the last eBird report. Then I spotted a different
Chickadee fly in from the south. I
instantly thought that this bird was bigger.
And when it landed near the feeder I could see its whiter wings, rustier
sides, and more ragged edge to the bib – a Black-capped Chickadee. However my look was brief, as it stayed near
the feeder for just 10 seconds, never actually stopped at the feeder, and then
flew off to the north. In other words it
wasn’t even associating with the Carolinas that had taken up residence at the
feeding station. I’ve now seen Black-capped
Chickadee in just about all its regular states, including down the spine of the
Appalachians in VA, NC, and TN.
I was now quickly back on the road driving
through some suburban streets headed off to my next stop. As I neared a red light I could see a large
flock of crows circling overhead. I
half-heartedly told myself to keep an eye open for Common Raven which had been
occasionally reported from the general area.
As I sat at the light I noticed one more distant Corvid that seemed to
be doing more soaring than flapping. On
a lark I picked up my binocs from the passenger seat, lowered my window, and
focused my binocs on the bird in question – it had a wedge-shaped tail. Amazingly, it was indeed a Raven! I continued to watch it glide along the edge
of the flock of Crows; that is until the light turned green. Thank goodness for long red lights. With the exception of NJ, I’ve seen this
species in all its regular states and a few others as it continues to expand
its range.
Next I was off to Bellevue State Park to
try for Cackling Geese. A flock of 5 had
been reported there in early January, but that was now more than 2 weeks
ago. But I tried to remain
optimistic. Once I got to the park it
was pretty easy to find the lake and adjoining fields where the mixed Canada
and Cackling Goose flock had been reported.
And sure enough up ahead there was a small flock of about 200 geese
grazing in the field. A quick scan did
not reveal any smaller geese. So I got
closer and with just a bit of searching found a flock of 5 smaller Cackling
Geese feeding together. Perhaps a family
group? Amazing that they have stayed in this park for so long. I got this photo of the 5
Cackling Geese with 2 larger Canadas off to the side.
My Cackling Goose statebird map is less a
reflection of the wintering range of this species than it is indicative of the
states in which I’ve birded in the proper season since Cackling Goose was split
out as a separate species.
That gave me 4 new DE statebirds, bringing
my list up to 274. And along with my MD
success, amazing to add 8 new birds to my already substantial Mid-Atlantic
statelists despite making just 3 short birding trips. As I continued my drive north up the NJ Turnpike
I was half-tempted to pull over and set up a quick Needs Alert in NJ. But that will have to wait for a future trip.
I love Needs Alerts…
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