Nazca Booby, Life Bird, San Diego, CA, February 2018

With business trips to southern CA and the San Francisco Bay area on consecutive weeks, I decided to stay out in CA and take the weekend “off” instead of flying back and forth both weeks.  Not only would it save my company some money, but it would also give me some birding time in the region.  For a few years I’ve been thinking of adding some vacation time to a southern CA trip to head to the Las Vegas area to work on my NV list, and this would be the ideal opportunity.  I set up an eBird Needs Alert for NV and there were indeed lots of possibilities for my NV list.  Things were coming together.

But just as I was starting to plan for NV I remembered seeing reports of Nazca Booby’s somewhere in southern CA.  With a bit of research on the eBird Rarities Alerts I found daily sightings of up to 4 Booby’s in San Diego Bay.  And then I noticed multiple sightings of Streak-backed Oriole in Tucson.  Both would be life birds for me.  Could I make a giant loop south to San Diego, east to Tucson, north to Las Vegas, and then back toward Los Angeles to fly north to SFO?  I wouldn’t be proud of my carbon footprint, but it was all possible if I made it a 3-day weekend, though I wouldn’t have much time in NV.  And of course it would help if my key targets (the Booby and Oriole) were cooperative.  So I started planning for all 3 parts of my trip.

Birders were principally reporting the Nazca Booby’s while standing at 3 locations on the west side of San Diego Bay, with sightings from land mostly being pretty far away.  The prime location to look for the birds seemed to be from Attu Avenue.  Given the distant views, some birders were renting boats to get closer looks at the birds.  The Booby’s were often reported perched on buoys, especially buoy #34, rather than in flight.  So with these details, and daily positive reports, I was optimistic that I could see one or more birds quickly with an early morning stop, and then head to Tucson for the Oriole.

Then again, the Oriole was a different story.  It was coming to a feeder in a suburban yard, but not very reliably.  In fact one birder posted that he finally saw the bird on his 11th try!  That post made me dig a bit deeper and I was able to start to find negative eBird reports for that hotspot.  As my trip neared I saw no positive reports for the 5 days before my birding weekend, and several negative posts.  Typically birders will post if they see the target, but often won’t post if they miss it.  So no positive reports at all was probably bad news, especially for several days in a row.  Should I pass on the Oriole and “just” make it a San Diego and Las Vegas trip?  I waited until the last night of work but again only saw negative posts.  So at that point I revised my itinerary to head out early morning to San Diego, and then make my way to Las Vegas, skipping a try for the Oriole.

I arrived at Attu Avenue on the west side of San Diego bay as it was just starting to get light, and then made the short walk to the shore.  The bay was full of waterfowl – diving ducks, Brant, Aechmophorus grebes, and more.  But I was there for the Booby’s, so I quickly focused my attention on finding the buoys that were their preferred roosts.  From what I could tell from the eBird posts, the buoys would be northeast of my location, and likely on the far side of the bay.  Plus recent photos of the birds’ favorite buoy 34 had the broadside of a large gray ship in the background.  So I started to scan in that general direction and began to find buoys in the area, but it was still pretty dark so I wasn’t seeing numbers on them.  Then as I continued to pan a bit farther to the north I came upon a ship that looked like the one in the photos.  And sure enough there was a buoy in front of it.  I was in the right general area.

As I started to settle in and wait for sunrise I relooked at that buoy in front of the ship – wasn’t there a large pale bird on the lower level of the buoy?  I zoomed in to the fullest extent of my 50x eyepiece, and sure enough it looked like I might have my target bird roosting right there on the buoy.  But it was really far away (I later estimated 1.25 miles), and still pretty low light so I couldn’t be sure - basically I was seeing little more than a white dot in an all dark background.  But a couple minutes later the bird stretched its wings and I could see the diagnostic white body and leading edge of the wings, with black wingtips and trailing edges.  It was indeed a Nazca Booby!  Or maybe more accurately, either a Masked or Nazca Booby.

I continued to watch the buoy and could see the Booby move around a bit.  And then a bit later it was finally light enough for me to see the number on the buoy – it was #34 – its favorite.  A bit later the Booby stretched again, and then took off flying south down the far side of the bay low over the water.  As I continued to stay with the bird a second Booby joined it.  It must have been perched on another buoy nearby.  I watched them both for the next several minutes, diving a couple times, and generally making their way south.  Eventually both birds disappeared to the south at the closed end of the bay.  I decided to head down that way to Grand Caribe Shoreline Park hoping to re-find them perched closer nearby, but I could not relocate them.  Perhaps they headed out to the open ocean for their breakfast.  Or perhaps they had turned around and headed back north.  I thought about heading back to Attu Ave. to try to see if they had returned there, but given my plans for NV, I decided to make an early exit and head off to the Las Vegas area. 

But then again, with success finding the Booby’s so quickly, should I head to Tucson for the Oriole after all?  I quickly checked all the websites – there were no updates on NARBA, eBird, or the AZ listserve.  So although I was disappointed to pass on another possible life bird, it was indeed on to NV.

As I started the drive from San Diego I started to reflect a bit on my Booby sighting.  The key field mark to tell Nazca from Masked Booby is the bill color – orange to red for Nazca and more yellowish for Masked.  It was certainly not possible to see bill color when I had the one bird perched on the buoy.  And even though the 2 birds were a bit closer when they flew by, they were still maybe three quarters of a mile away at their closest point.  So I still couldn’t see bill color even then.  Other birders seemed to lament the same issue in their reports on eBird, which although the listed ID was Nazca Booby, several included comments that indicated bill color couldn’t be determined.  At least there were some photos of the birds seen at close distance with definitive IDs (when birders were on a boat out in the bay).  And there were no Masked Booby’s reported in the bay.  So although I couldn’t eliminate Masked Booby, I guess I could go with the Nazca Booby ID as many other birders did at least based on strongly circumstantial evidence. 

Nazca Booby was my Continental ABA bird #751 and Lower 48 #730.  And I can’t forget it was a new statebird for me in CA - #390.

And although I’ve never been to Attu (in Alaska), I guess I can now say at least I’ve birded Attu Avenue…

Ferruginous Hawk, Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR, TX, February 2018

While on my November 2017 trip to Houston my eBird Needs Alerts included several reports of potential new TX statebirds in and around the Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR west of the city.  Not only does the refuge have countable Greater Prairie Chickens, though precious few of them, there have also been a few reports over the last several years of Ferruginous Hawks and Prairie Falcons wintering in and around the refuge.  Both raptors are reasonably common in far western TX, but they are rare this far east in the state.  I need all 3 species for my TX statelist, so I spent a couple hours late one day birding the area.  Although I didn’t come up with any of my targets on that November trip, I got a good feel for the area and made a mental note to try to come back to the refuge on a future winter day.

The opportunity for that return trip occurred in February when another Houston business trip would afford me a few hours one early morning to bird the area.  There were a couple Ferruginous Hawk and Prairie Falcon sightings in the area in the previous couple months, so both were potential targets, though I figured each was a low probability.  Unfortunately most of the wild Prairie Chickens did not survive the flooding associated with Hurricane Harvey, so the chances of running into one of these critically endangered birds was close to 0. 

As I neared the refuge that morning I started to find several Red-tailed Hawks perched in trees along the road.  And an occasional Kestrel kept me on my toes.  And as I started on the auto tour road I spotted a couple more Red-tails, multiple Caracaras, and several Harriers.  Definitely good numbers of raptors in the area – but none of the target species.  Then I spotted a large Buteo flying low over the grasses with shallow wing beats alternating with short glides.  I quickly hopped out of the car and looked for additional field marks – reddish mantle, white patches near the wing tips, pale reddish tail with white base – it was a light phase adult Ferruginous Hawk!  I followed the bird until it landed on a low post in the distance.  With the bird facing me I could see the pale chest and reddish feathering of the legs.  Nice to get such a cooperative bird.

I continued around the auto tour road and found quite a number of additional raptors, but no more targets.  One of the other highlights though was a recently burned field that was absolutely loaded with passerines feeding on the bare ground – I made a conservative estimate of 250 Savannah Sparrows, along with numerous Red-wings, Cowbirds, and Brewer’s Blackbirds, Horned Larks, and Pipits.  A nice collection of birds.  And nice to get a new statebird so quickly before heading off to work.

Ferruginous Hawk was number 440 for my TX statelist.  TX was my 15th state for this widespread bird of the west (see my statebird map below).

 

Five Statebirds in the Mid-Altantic – and “Reportable Plus 15” in Virginia, January 2018

A trip to visit relatives in MD in January gave me an opportunity to fill a few gaps in my Mid-Atlantic statelists, not to mention pursue a few rarities.  With the help of eBird Needs Alerts in MD, DC, and VA I found several targets in the area, though they were pretty spread out.  In DC potential statebirds were Turkeys and Lesser Black-Backed Gull both seen occasionally in Anacostia River Park.  Plus there were several sightings of Common Goldeneye and older reports of Tundra Swan in the Potomac seen from the Alexandria waterfront (the whole river is in DC).  The VA targets were more numerous, including a long-staying Clay-colored Sparrow at the Laurel Hill Equestrian Center, seemingly reliable Iceland and Glaucous Gulls at the Occoquan Regional Park and sites downriver, and a Rough-legged Hawk and Short-eared Owls at Dulles Airport.  And in MD there was one key target – an overwintering Harris’s Sparrow at Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

That gave me a lot to search for.  Luckily I had a full day and an early morning of another day to chase after my targets, and I’d likely need all of that time.  Of all those targets the most important ones were in VA since my state total was 14 over the old reportable threshold, putting me just 1 short of my somewhat arbitrary “Reportable Plus 15” goal.  So my plan was to make a couple quick stops in DC and then spend the rest of the first day in northern VA.  Then early the next morning I would try for the Harris’s in MD. 

Anacostia River Park is a nice urban park running more than 2 miles along the southeastern side of the river.  This stretch can have some nice waterfowl (I had Cackling Goose here before), and wintering gulls including Lessers and Iceland.  And then there is the potential for Turkeys – this is basically the only spot for them in DC, though they are often elusive.  (I’ve tried for them unsuccessfully quite a number of times.)  I arrived in the park at dawn and drove slowly along the road looking for Turkeys to the inland side and gulls on the river.  But I was coming up empty on both targets.  Finally I got to the southern end of the park and noticed a few gulls on the ice.  A quick binocular scan yielded one darker-backed bird in the distance.  With the scope I confirmed it as an adult Lesser Black-Backed, and I was able to get this distant phonescoped photo. 

DC was my 29th jurisdiction for this rare but increasing Larid (see my statebird map below), and it was #184 for my DC list.

I spent a few more minutes touring the park without finding any Turkeys (again!), so with the key VA targets still ahead of me, I quickly headed to Alexandria to try for the waterfowl.  My first stop was at the Washington Sailing Marina and it was absolutely loaded with ducks – I guessed 3,000 to 4,000 birds total.  But despite lots of scanning I couldn’t find a lone Goldeneye that had been seen there recently.  And a local birder I ran into there said the Tundra Swan hadn’t been seen for several days.  So rather than further stops for the Swan, it was on to VA.

My first stop was at the Laurel Hill Equestrian Center where a Clay-colored Sparrow had been seen daily for some time feeding with White-crowned Sparrows along the grassy edges of the parking lot.  Seemed like a slam dunk.  As I pulled into the lot I spotted a couple birders a short distance away and asked if they had seen the bird.  One birder mentioned she had spished it in earlier in some brambles, but it hadn’t been since recently.  Another birder said to find the White-crown flock and you would find the Clay-colored.  But there were no sparrows at all feeding at the edges of the parking lot.  And although I found a number of sparrows including a few White-crowns in the brambles throughout the area, I never found a pure flock of White-crowns.

After about an hour I spotted a mid-sized raptor fly into a tree almost directly overhead.  It was a Merlin that stayed for at least 10 minutes.  Needless to say it scattered the sparrows down below.  While I waited for it to fly away so the sparrows would come back out, I mentally reviewed by VA state list and I realized that I actually needed Merlin for VA – that was number 247 for VA – 15 over the old ABA reportable threshold!  I now have 40 states plus DC meeting my Reportable Plus 15 goal.  My Merlin statebird map is pretty spotty for a species which is reasonably common country-wide.

But now it was time to get back to the sparrow search.  I spent another hour scouring the area, finding more sparrows including more White-crowns, but no Clay-colored.  Since Occoquan Regional Park was only about 15 minutes away, I decided to head there to try for the white-winged gulls, and then come back to try for the Clay-colored again.  Both Iceland and Glaucous had been reported at the park several times recently on eBird, as well at sites farther down the river, so I figured both would be somewhat reliable.  As I pulled up to the park I could see a couple birders already there with their scopes trained on the river and the flock of about 150 gulls out there on the ice.  I hurried up to them only to find out that not only did they not have the target birds, but one birder had been there for a while without success.  And worse yet - he had looked for the gulls there several times without any luck.  I asked about the spots down river and the birders suggested they would be even longer shots.  Though one birder did give me a new tip for finding the Clay-colored.

The target gulls certainly weren’t in the park, so I decided to head downriver to try for the gulls there.  I found good numbers of gulls on the water and shorelines, but couldn’t tease out any of my targets.  I had struck out on the white-winged gulls.

So I made my way back to the Equestrian Center to try for the Clay-colored again.  I figured I could give it about an hour before having to make my way to the Dulles Airport to try for the Rough-leg and Short-ears there.  First I checked on the grass around the parking lot and again found no sparrows at all.  Then I headed to the spot suggested by the birder at the Occoquan Park.  It had lots of sparrows, but no Clay-colored.  After my allotted hour I gave up and chalked it up as yet another missed target.

I wasn’t being too successful in VA – things had to pick up at Dulles, right?  The key location for the recent Rough-legged Hawk and Short-eared Owl reports was a hotspot called “Dulles Airport- Snowy Owl Observation Point”.  After some research it looked like this spot was actually a parking garage, which I confirmed by asking a few birders I had met earlier in the day.  They also confirmed that security wouldn’t arrest a birder using a scope there to peer out over the runways.  (It’s never good to be arrested while birding.)  I think I had it figured out.

I needed to get there early enough to try for the Rough-leg but stay late enough for Short-ears to appear.  So I arrived at 3:45 to give me maybe an hour to look for the Rough-leg before dusk.  I started my scans of the areas around the runways, and soon spotted several Red-tails perched in trees around the perimeter of the airport, but no apparent Rough-legs.  Then in the distance I spotted 3 Harriers dive bombing what appeared to be a large dark raptor perched on a low post.  After some time I could eventually pick out some field marks on the perched bird and it appeared to be a Rough-leg.  But it wasn’t until I watched the hawk fly a short distance down to ground apparently to capture prey that I could confirm it was a Rough-leg.  Not bad for a bird more than a mile away!  VA was my 30th state for Rough-legged Hawk – I still need it in a number of states especially in the upper Midwest.

Harriers will often roost in the exact same areas as Short-ears.  In fact, Harriers head to these roosts in the evening at about the same time that Short-ears come out to start their “day” – a changing of the guard kind of thing.  So since there were 3 Harriers harassing the Rough-leg late in the day, I was hopeful that I might find Short-ears in the same area as dusk approached.  While I was waiting for it to get darker (dusk was still an hour away) a couple other birders arrived, and I got them on the distant Rough-leg.  And sure enough the Harriers were still harassing it.  And then as I was pointing out the raptors to one birder I noticed a different bird harassing the Rough-leg – it was a Short-eared Owl!  I was able to watch the owl on an off for the next 10 minutes as it flew around the area.  Nice to not have to wait for dusk.  My statebird map for this species is really spotty – I still need it in many different states across the country. 

That gave me 249 on my VA statelist – now 17 over the old ABA threshold.

The next day I planned to head down to Bladensburg Waterfront Park in MD to try for the Harris’s Sparrow that had been at the park for some time.  The bird was most often seen feeding in one stretch of one of the trails with other sparrows, eating seed that had been placed there by helpful local birders.  Although that all seemed easy enough, actually the bird wasn’t being seen on every trip there.  My guess was that if a group of birders was at the site they might end up scaring away the sparrows along with the Harris’s, keeping them from feeding out in the open.  So to maximize my chances I decided to get to the park as early as possible and be the first birder to the site.

Right on schedule I arrived at the park about 20 minutes before sunrise, and quickly took the 15 minute walk to the area where the sparrow was being seen.  I was the only person there – so far so good.  As I neared the bird’s preferred part of the trail I could see a number of sparrows up ahead feeding out in the open.  I stopped for a while optimistically searching through them but there was no Harris’s.  Then I happened to look farther down the trail and there was another flock of sparrows feeding there as well.  I got a few steps closer to that second area, though still keeping my distance, and scanned through that second group.  And within seconds the Harris’s popped out into the open and fed right out in the trail, providing distant but excellent looks at this continuing rarity.  Isn’t it nice when your plans come together so well.  That was #331 for my MD statelist.  MD was my 6th eastern state, along with 1 western state (WA) where I’ve seen Harris’s Sparrow as a vagrant, along with most of the central states where it is a common migrant and wintering species. 

A nice couple days of birding with 5 new statebirds, especially for states where I already had pretty good lists.