Another Rare Phalarope in Western NC, Lake Julian, Asheville, NC, October 24, 2022

It was early on October 24th when this text came across the Blue Ridge Audubon text group –

“Phalarope species at Julian just now”

Any Phalarope in the western NC mountains would be a rarity.  And this time of year the most likely species would be either a Red-necked or even a rarer Red.  I needed both species for my Buncombe County list, and better yet I needed Red Phalarope for my NC state list.  So within minutes I was out the door to chase after the still unidentified rarity. 

I was part way along my 25-minute drive to Lake Julian when the next text came across –

“We’re leaning Red…bird is pretty distant but the bill looks too thick”

At that point I pushed the accelerator down a bit harder.  The 25-minute drive seemed like 25 hours.

Along the ride I mentally reviewed the salient fieldmarks to separate the Phalarope species.  I’ve seen quite a number of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes over the years, including hundreds on pelagic trips when they were often distant birds either foraging on the ocean surface or flying by in flocks.  In non-breeding plumage the most important field mark on those distant birds is the mantle color – solid gray on a Red, and streaked gray and black on Red-necked.  Bill length and thickness are also good fieldmarks, but the slightly shorter and slightly thicker bill of a Red Phalarope are less likely to be noticeable on a distant bird, though of course that would eliminate a Wilson’s.

When I finally pulled into Lake Julian the first thing I saw was 2 birders standing at their cars.  My heart sunk as my first thought was that the Phalarope had flown away and the birders had given up.  Instead, they were just heading out after long views of the bird and other birders were still on it.  Crisis averted.  A minute later I was at the shoreline with 3 other birders watching the distant Phalarope.  I shared my ID details with the other birders who had limited if any experience with these species, and started my own review of the bird.

The Phalarope was perhaps 75 to 100 yards out on the lake, which sure complicates the ID on an 8-inch-long bird.  Luckily the water was smooth as glass and there was no heat shimmer.  It was actively foraging, rapidly picking at morsels on the surface, with frequent spinning along the way.  Classic Phalarope activity.  And the bill was short and thick.  Now to concentrate on the mantle.  The sun seemed to be washing out the bird, but the back did indeed appear to be pale and uniform.  Though there were a couple darker feathers in the folded wings.  A bit later the bird swam more to the west changing the sun angle, giving even a better look at the mantle – truly looked uniform gray.  It seemed good for a Red Phalarope, but it sure would be nice to have a closer look.

After I left, three birders rented a paddle boat and were able to paddle right up to the bird getting great looks confirming the ID as a Red Phalarope.  It was likely a juvenile bird still molting into its first winter plumage.

Per eBird, there were 3 previous records of Red Phalarope in western NC – the most recent of which was in 2004.  Interestingly, all 3 were in Transylvania County.  In two of these older records it was noted in the eBird checklist that the bird was seen right after wind and rainstorms, which is typical for inland Phalarope records.  But you certainly couldn’t attribute the Lake Julian bird to a storm event – we were in the middle of a mild drought with no rain for several weeks.  Just a bird passing through I guess.  Another surprising migrant for the NC mountains.  In fact, I’ve seen all 3 Phalarope species in western NC since I moved to the area in 2019.

Red Phalarope was #321 for my NC state list.  NC is now my 11th state with all 3 Phalaropes.

My statebird map for Red Phalarope is inserted below.  The blue states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular coastal range and as a breeder in AK.  Cross-hatched Oregon is the last state in its regular range where I’ve yet to see it.  The seven brown states are those where I’ve seen it as an inland rarity. 

 

Two New Statebirds and a Third One Clarified, South Carolina Coast, October 17-21, 2022

My wife had been talking about going on a family vacation to the coast of SC for some time.  Ever since I moved from New England I’ve really missed birding the coast, so I was looking forward to spending some time with those coastal birds.  After a bit of research, she settled on a trip to Kiawah Island on the mid-coast in October 2022.  When I heard Kiawah Island I quickly remembered that was the location where a Bar-tailed Godwit overwintered last winter for the first SC state record.  A nice one to look forward to, but would it return this winter?  And even if it did, the bird wasn’t found last winter until October 25, so the bird would have to arrive a bit earlier than last winter.  A long shot but certainly one to hope for.

But my research of possible new statebirds didn’t stop there.  The second key target for the area was Clay-colored Sparrow, which is routinely found in the fall at Fort Moultrie just an hour’s drive from Kiawah.  This one too I remembered from last year.  On my way to a birding trip on the GA coast in September 2021 I had initially planned a stop at Fort Moultrie for the Clay-coloreds.  But they weren’t reported the week of my trip so I passed on them last year.  Once again, I needed my target species to return this year.

My last potential target was a bit complicated.  I’ve birded the southeast Atlantic coast for many years; in fact many decades.  Much of my coastal birding time predates the split of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow into Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows.  So when the split occurred I simply had Sharp-tailed Sparrow on my statelist for each of the coastal states.  Unfortunately, back then I did not look close enough at the sparrows to note the differences, so I have no idea if I saw either one or both species.  And both are present in SC at the same time of the year, so the timing of my past trips doesn’t help me to determine which species I may have seen.  So for now, I arbitrarily put Saltmarsh on my SC state list.  And when I got back to Spartina marshes on the SC coast, if I saw a Nelson’s that one would replace Saltmarsh on my list.  And I would still have to see both species in order to have a net addition to my SC statelist.  Make sense?

As the trip neared it was time to fine-tune my research.  First the good news about the Bar-tailed Godwit – it was re-found on September 18 more than a month before it appeared last year.  Once again it was near the east end of Kiawah Island near the Ocean Course (or “OC” as the locals call it) golf course property.  This was private property, as was the entire island.  But once you’re on the island successfully you can access the golf course.  Now the bad news – it was not being seen reliably, and in fact was not reported after September 22.  But not to worry – it was spotted again on October 13 “near the spit”.  Suddenly I was quite about more optimistic.  I reached out to one of my local birding friends, Nate Watkins, who was working at the banding stations on Kiawah.  Nate agreed to go with me to try for the Godwit so I was good to go.

There was similar good news for the Clay-colored Sparrows.  Right on schedule they showed up again at Fort Moultrie starting on September 13 with regular reports of up to 3 birds continuing through October 15.  I had contacted local birder Craig Watson last fall for advice on finding the birds, and did the same again this year.  Craig offered to meet me there and look for the sparrows together.  Another helpful connection!

Then onto the Nelson’s and Saltmarsh sparrows.  Although it was still early in the year for them, several of both had recently been reported in marshes nearby.  Nate also suggested looking for them at the bridge onto Kiawah Island at high tide. 

Everything was falling into place.  With some help from my local birding friends I was hopeful that I would be able to add 3 new birds to my SC statelist.

First up was my try for the Bar-tailed Godwit.  Nate suggested the bird might be easiest to find at high tide.  There was an afternoon high tide the entire week of our trip so that worked out well.  And our schedules meshed on Tuesday the 18th so I picked up Nate at 2 and made the short drive to the OC golf course.  We walked out to the lagoon at the edge of the driving range, but found few shorebirds.  The water level in the lagoon was quite high, likely the result of Hurricane Ian’s passage a couple weeks early.  I tried to remain hopeful.

We continued to walk east toward the spit, the site of the most recent report.  Soon we could see a small mudflat up ahead with a fair number of shorebirds.  We set up our scopes, quickly picking out good numbers of Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers.  Then I spotted a sleeping bird, standing on one leg, that was much bigger.  It was so much bigger than the Plovers and Dowitchers that it had to be a Godwit.  It was facing us, mostly white below, showing faint streaking on the chest, and a bit of streaking on the flanks.  We had our target bird!  Here’s a phonescoped picture of the sleeping bird dwarfing the nearby Dowitchers.

Then it briefly woke up showing its long, slightly upturned, two-toned bill.

SC is now the 4th state where I’ve seen this species.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve also seen it in WA and MA as a rarity (the brown-shaded states), as well as AK in its regular breeding range (a blue-shaded state).

Before we left we spotted this Whimbrel at the edge of the flock – a nice addition to the day list.

Later we did some landbirding nearby and picked up a number of migrant passerines in some nice habitat.  An excellent ending to the day.

My next statebird search was for the Clay-colored Sparrows at Fort Moultrie on October 20.  During my hour drive to the site I recounted notes from the recent reports that they were often seen perched in their “favorite tree” near the row of cannons, and along the fencing near the SPAWAR building.  But they were also reported in various other places in the grasses and fields at the fort.  So it almost sounded like they were foraging throughout the entire site.  I arrived at 7:45, quickly met up with Craig, and we started our walk towards that favorite tree.  It turned out to be a small tree partially broken down by the recent hurricane.  And there were a couple birds perched in it – but just Savannah Sparrows and a Palm Warbler.  We would have 20 or more Savannahs in the general area, but we couldn’t turn any of them into our target.  We continued our walk around that park of the park, adding Song and Field Sparrows, but no Clay-colored.

Next we turned our attention to the SPAWAR building – that’s the one up on the hill with all the antennas in this picture.  The Battery Jasper is straight ahead.  Sure is lots of great sparrow habitat to search!

We flushed a few Savannah and Song sparrows here and there, but still no target.  As we started to walk clockwise around the fence surrounding the SPAWAR building Craig pointed out a tree on the hill near the building known locally as the “giving” tree since many rarities have been found perched there.  Just a couple minutes later we noticed some birds perched near the top.  Three were Bluebirds but the fourth was much smaller.  The bird was a bit distant but we could tell it was a sparrow – and it had no streaking below.  We eventually got a quick but good look at the head and it had the characteristic supercilium and moustache streak of the Clay-colored Sparrow.  Success!

In my statebird map below I’ve seen this species in most of its regular range in the central portion of the US (the blue-shaded states), but still need it in several other states where it’s regular (the cross-hatched states).  And SC is my 11th state seeing Clay-colored as a rarity (the brown-shaded states).  The bird is certainly prone to vagrancy on both coasts.

As we headed back to the cars we flushed another small Spizella sparrow – but this one was just a Chipping, though it provided a nice comparison to the Clay-colored. 

My search for the marsh sparrows came later on the 20th.  The local high tide was just after 5 o’clock, which made it ideal to coordinate a trek through the marshes with a drive to a restaurant for dinner take-out.  Per Nate’s suggestion I headed to the Spartina marshes near the bridge onto the island arriving right at high tide – it looked ideal for all the marsh sparrows.

With my “wellies” on I started walking through the vegetation at the edge of water.  Just a minute in I flushed a dark brown sparrow that flew out farther into the marsh – likely a Seaside Sparrow.  Soon thereafter I flushed a smaller and lighter brown sparrow that flew a short distance then perched nicely in view.  I could see indistinct, blurry striping on the flanks and chest, with buffy color on the chest.  I had a Nelson’s of the Atlantic race.  Now I needed to find a Saltmarsh to be able to add a statebird.  I continued to walk slowly through the marsh and flushed another Seaside that perched nearby most cooperatively.  If only I could get a Saltmarsh to do the same.  Over the next 30 minutes I flushed no less than 5 other smaller, lighter colored sparrows, but all flew deep into the marsh and dropped in without perching.  Undoubtedly all were Saltmarsh or Nelson’s, but none cooperated enough for a definitive ID.  Although I couldn’t add a statebird, at least that clarifies the marsh sparrows for me in SC – I added Nelson’s and took off Saltmarsh.

My Nelson’s Sparrow statebird map is inserted below.  All my sightings have been in coastal states and in WV and VT as a rarity.  I still need this species throughout its breeding and migration range in the central part of the country.  And I still need to clarify this species on the GA coast as well.

With 2 new statebirds that brings my SC state list to 294.  I ended up with 104 species for the 5-day trip.  All in all, a most pleasant trip giving me my coastal birding “fix”, at least for now.

Brown Booby in Southwestern Virginia, October 5, 2022

On my last trip to the VA coast in February 2022 one of my long-shot targets was Brown Booby.  There had been a few sightings of one or more Brown Booby leading up to my trip, but sightings were scattered on the coast and none were reliable.  Little did I know that my best chance for this vagrant in VA would come in the mountains in the southwestern corner of the state. 

On September 23 I checked my eBird VA Needs Alert and along with reports of several shorebirds and passerines I needed was a report of a Brown Booby.  I just assumed it was on the coast, but was shocked to see it was in Smyth County – one of the VA counties in the southwestern portion of the state where I birded a week earlier in search of migrant passerines.  Certainly notable, but since it was nearly a 3-hour drive away, I didn’t think too much of it. 

But as the days passed the reports continued on a daily basis.  And looking ahead, we were planning a vacation to visit family in the Mid-Atlantic states starting October 5.  Our route would take us up I-81 within 15 minutes of the reservoir where the Booby was residing.  Certainly worth a short side trip, but would the bird stay around that long?

It was still being reported daily as our trip neared.  So I started compiling information on the sightings to prepare for my search.  The bird was being seen at a large lake at Hungry Mother State Park.  Several sightings were from the dam, and most others were near the beach often loosely associating with a flock of Canada Geese.  But it seemed like the bird might well be frequenting all parts of the lake so it might take some searching, and luck, to find it.  I also reached out to Allen Boynton, the birder I birded with in the area just a couple weeks earlier.  Although he had already seen the bird, he agreed to meet me there to try to get some better photographs.  Our plan was set.

We pulled into the parking area for the dam at the state park at about 11:30 and Allen was there waiting for us.  We quickly walked to the top of the earthen dam and started our scan of that portion of the reservoir.  Unfortunately, despite lots of scans, the bird was nowhere in sight.  The beach area wasn’t visible from the dam, so Allen suggested that I go up to the beach and he would stay at the dam looking for it there. 

A few minutes later we pulled into the beach parking lot and were greeted with this nice scenic shot.

Then almost instantly I spotted the Brown Booby in flight just off the beach.  I texted Allen about the sighting, and then went back to looking for the Booby.  After a while I re-found it flying over the reservoir, and even watched it plunge dive for food.  Much like its Gannet cousins on the coast.  Very neat!  Eventually it flew to a low perch across from the beach where it sat for the rest of my stay.  I got this heavily cropped phonescoped photo of the Booby perched just a foot off the water on the opposite side.

With a long trip still ahead of us, my wife and I stayed with the bird just a few more minutes, then bid farewell to Allen and got back on the road.  Nothing better than a cooperative super-rarity fitting so nicely into the family plans.

Brown Booby was #272 for my VA state list, and the 6th state where I’ve seen this species.  My statebird map is inserted below – I’ve seen it in FL which is the only state where it is regularly seen from shore (shaded in blue).  Plus I’ve now seen it as a rarity (the brown-shaded states) in 5 others.  As my map shows, Brown Booby’s are certainly prone to vagrancy.

Second Time is the Charm for Eared Grebe in Tennessee, September 28, 2022

In January 2022 I chased after an Eared Grebe in the northeast corner of TN at South Holston Lake.  The bird had been seen nearly daily for 2 weeks, and was reported 2 days before my trip.  So I was optimistic about my chances.  But it turned out that the last time the Grebe was spotted was indeed 2 days before I made the drive to TN.  Despite lots of searching I was the first person to come up empty on the Grebe.

So when reports of an Eared Grebe started to show up in September 2022 just west of Knoxville they really caught my attention.  The bird was at quite a small lake on the campus of Pellissippi State Community College in Knox County.  It was first reported on September 10 and continued to be seen on a daily basis.  I wasn’t too worried about chasing after it right away since vagrant Eared Grebes are often long-staying birds.  Then again, the South Holston Lake bird only stayed for 2 weeks, so I probably shouldn’t wait too long. 

I finally cleared my calendar to chase after the bird on September 28, and started to make my plans for the trip.  I also needed several migrant passerines for my TN state list, so I searched for migrant hotspots near the Community College that I could stop at while in the area.  A nearby eBird hotspot called Sharp’s Ridge had nearly daily reports of migrants, and was generally on my way back home, so I decided to give that one a try.  Although it would likely be best to look for the migrants in the early morning, my key target was the Eared Grebe.  So I decided to first look for the Grebe as my top priority bird, then try for the passerines afterwards if time allowed.

I was out of the house before 6 on the 28th, and pulled into the campus of Pellissippi State Community College about 8:15.  The small lake was right in front of me as I parked in one of the large parking lots (luckily no parking permits were needed).

I got out of the car and quickly scanned the lake with my binoculars.  There were a few Canada Geese and a number of domestic Muscovy Ducks, but no Grebe.  I scanned again but once again came up empty.  Several of the recent reports mentioned that the Grebe would dive frequently so I tried to remain optimistic.  Though with each additional negative scan I couldn’t help but remember my failed search for this same species in TN back in January.  Finally on one of my scans I briefly spotted a bird near the northeast end of the lake just a fraction of a second before it dove.  Was it the Grebe?  I trained my binocs at that end of the lake for several seconds until a bird finally popped up to the surface – it was indeed the Eared Grebe.

The Grebe continued to feed at that far end of the lake, so I walked around for a closer look.  Eventually the bird stopped diving and swam quite close to shore.  I got these passable “digi-binned” shots of my target bird. 

My statebird map for Eared Grebe is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range; cross-hatched MO is the last one in its regular range where I have not yet seen it.  And now TN is the 8th eastern state (shaded in brown) where I’ve seen Eared Grebe as a rarity.  It was #253 for my TN state list.

The Grebe continued at the community college stay at least through October 4.  Like I said – no need to rush after it. 

I only stayed at the college for a few minutes – after all there were other birds to chase after.  Next I headed to Sharp’s Ridge for some migrants.  My most likely target was Gray-cheeked Thrush which was seen there a number of times recently, including the previous day.  One recent report had Gray-cheeked and other thrushes at a fruiting black gum tree by “the ranger’s house”. 

I pulled into the park just before 9:30 and after a bit of driving found what was likely the ranger’s house.  And about 150 ft away found the fruiting black gum tree and it was indeed full of activity.  I spent at least 60 minutes watching the tree as numerous thrushes and mimids came in to feed including – Mockingbirds, Robins, Catbirds, Thrashers, and Bluebirds.  Eventually I spotted a couple Catharus thrushes but they were just Swainson’s.  I wandered around the park a bit and ended up with a respectable tally of 10 warbler species, but couldn’t come up with a Gray-cheeked.  At least the views from the ridge were nice.

 Oh well, it gives me a reason to come back to TN during fall passerine migration.

Four Fall Migrants in Southwest Virginia, September 18-19, 2022

Soon after I moved to western North Carolina I put together a list of potential targets I needed for my Virginia state list that might be feasible in the southwestern corner of the state.  Although that is the closest portion of VA to my home, it is still at least a 2 hour drive just to reach the NC/VA stateline, and of course longer to get to any VA birding hotspots in the area.- As a result, I hadn’t yet made any efforts to bird in the area. 

But then as Fall 2022 approached I opened up my target list to see what migrants might be feasible as new VA statebirds.  There were actually a few pretty common migrants I needed, like Cape May, Tennessee, and Magnolia Warblers, and quite a number of rarer ones as well.  So I started to research potential VA birding locations as close to home as possible.  And given the distance, I figured it would be best to make it a 2-day, 1-night, trip.

While doing research for the trip I noticed that many of the eBird reports from the area came from local birder Allen Boynton.  So after I had pinned down what appeared to be the key hotspots I should bird I reached out to Allen to ask for some advice for birding those sites.  In his response Allen offered to bird with me if schedules meshed.  I never turn down an opportunity to explore a new area with a local expert, so I quickly accepted his offer.  And soon afterwards we had pinned down the dates for the trip – September 18 and 19.

We set the dates more than a week before the trip, long before there were any predictions for the size of the migration on those days.  So I just crossed my fingers that those dates would be good for migrants.  Unfortunately, it turned out that we picked some of the worst dates for migration in the entire month.  Although there were exceptionally high numbers of migrants earlier that week, the nights before my 2 planned birding days were among the worst that week.  Here is the reported number of birds crossing Grayson County the week of my trip, per BirdCast (dashboard.birdcast.info):

Night of –           Sept. 13 – 1,653,000

                             Sept. 14 – 1,548,000

                             Sept. 15 –   781,000

                             Sept. 16 –   334,000

                             Sept. 17 –    91,000 (night before Day 1)

                            Sept. 18 –   390,000 (night before Day 2)

                             Sept. 19 -  951,000

And ironically, migration picked up the night I left.  Go figure…  Despite the slow migration I still hoped for maybe 4 new statebirds on this trip.

My research also showed that a number of my targets were local but reliable breeders in the area as well.  That would of course need to wait till next summer, but a secondary objective of my September trip would be to get acquainted with some of these locations for a future summer trip.

Day 1 - September 18

I was out the door at about 5:45 on the 18th, and met up with Allen at 8:30.  First we headed to Homestead Road in Grayson County – one of Allen’s favorite spots.  We started at the eastern end of the road, which was quite birdy, with several warblers including Ovenbirds, Hooded, and Black-throated Blue.  There were also a number of Swainson’s Thrushes, and I was lucky enough to pick out one Gray-cheeked mixed in.  A bit later as we scanned a small feeding group in a treetop Allen spotted a Tennessee Warbler, which I quickly got on (new statebird #1).  My statebird map for Tennessee Warbler is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; the cross-hatched states are those in its regular range where I’ve yet to see it.  Now that I can color in VA I have just two states along the western edge of its range where I still need Tennessee.

We continued to bird the site picking up more Thrushes and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and several Hummingbirds.  Then Allen spotted a Philadelphia Vireo high up in a tree.  Luckily the tree was pretty bare so I was able to get on the Vireo before it took off (statebird #2).  Thanks Allen!  Although the Philly Vireo range is quite similar to that of the Tennessee Warbler, my statebird maps are very different – I still need this less common species in many states in its regular range.  Though I have seen it in NM as a rarity (brown-shaded state).

We made several more stops on Homestead Road, including visiting quite a number of very nice habitats, but found no more migrants.  Definitely a place to come back to on a future trip – either for nesters or on a better migration day.

Next we were onto the Elk Garden Trailhead area.  This site features a grassy bald that has nesting Vesper Sparrows, which are occasionally reported into fall.  Just after we reached the parking lot we noticed a small group of juvenile sparrows foraging in the gravel.  Although I had Vesper on the mind, they were just juvenile Juncos.  We walked up the hill through the grasses, eventually connecting with the Appalachian Trail, looking for Vespers but just found Fields and Songs.  And we had a few migrants in the low trees at the edges of the bald, including Palm, Black-throated Blue, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a couple early Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but no key targets.  It was nice to see the site though and be able to know where to look for Vesper Sparrows on a future summer trip.

Then it was on to Whitetop Mountain which is a great spot for a number of my breeding targets like Least Flycatcher, Magnolia and Blackburnian Warblers, Vesper Sparrow, and Saw-whet Owl.  Though on this trip our principal targets were additional migrants.  Our first stop was a pullout just 0.7 miles up the mountain on Mud Creek Lane which Allen recommended as the best spot for Saw-whets.  But it was quite slow – in fact I don’t think we had a single bird.  Then we drove slowly up the rocky road through the grassy habitat hoping for Vespers to no avail.  A walk through the conifers near the top of the mountain was slow but yielded both Kinglets and a Sapsucker.  Another spot to file away for a summer visit.  Here’s a shot of the grasslands and conifers near the peak of Whitetop Mountain. 

And the beautiful scenery in the distance.

We visited three other spots later that afternoon hoping to run into foraging groups of migrants, but just found 3 Redstarts.  We ended the day with just 9 warbler species, and we had to work hard for almost every one of them.

Although I was planning to end the day with some nocturnal birding to try for Saw-whet Owls, I was pretty tired and decided to just try for them during the breeding season when they would likely be more vocal.

Day 2 – September 19

I woke up early on the 19th and went right to my phone to see the BirdCast report for the night before – migration numbers were better but still not the best.  The plan for this day was to meet Allen at Grayson Highlands State Park at sunrise to once again try for some migrants.  And as I planned my route I realized that on my way to the park I would go right by Whitetop Mountain where Saw-whets were possible.  It was early enough that I would have perhaps 30 minutes to try for them and still get to the park by sunrise.  It was a long-shot, but why not.

I reached Allen’s recommended Saw-whet spot on Mud Creek Lane at 6 and got out of the car.  Clear skies, calm winds, and no traffic suggested conditions would be perfect for owling.  I played some tape and listened, but heard no replies.  About 10 minutes into my stop I spotted a large bird fly into a tree nearby.  With my binoculars I could see a silhouette of a large owl, most likely a Barred, which continued to perch overhead for my entire stop.  My only other birds at this stop were 3 calling Swainson’s Thrushes – at least a few migrants were moving. 

Next it was onto Grayson Highlands State Park, where I met Allen at 7 AM.  Our first destination was the Visitor Center, but the gate to the Visitor Center roadway was closed.  Undeterred, we walked the last mile up the road to reach the empty gravel parking lots.  Since we were the first ones there that morning, we hoped to find Ruffed Grouse gritting in the lots, but not this time. 

Now we waited for the rising sun to illuminate the foliage to warm up the migrants, and their insect food, on that chilly morning.  We were at the hill just below the Visitor Center when the vegetation came into the sun.  And right on cue we started to see some activity.  It turned out to be a nice wave of warblers especially featuring Tennessee’s and Black-throated Green’s.  Soon after that wave moved down the road another wave appeared in its place.  Again, more of the same, along with a couple Redstarts and Yellow-rumps.  At one point Allen spotted a Cape May though I didn’t get on it until it was flying down the road – too late for a positive ID.  Luckily a third wave appeared a bit later, and this time I found another Cape May mixed in (statebird #3).  And just a minute later I spotted a Magnolia Warbler in that same wave (statebird #4).  My statebird map for Magnolia has many more shaded states than the one for Cape May – a comment on the fact that Maggie is generally quite a bit more common than Cape May.

And a bit later a fourth wave came by as well, like the others passing along this sunlit edge.  In less than an hour we ended up with 10 warbler species, and at least 200 individuals, predominantly Tennessee’s and Black-throated Green’s.  Unfortunately, at least half passed by without stopping long enough for IDs.  Here’s a picture of the edge where we had most of our warblers.

By 9 AM the warbler activity had ended, so we headed back down to the cars.  Along the way we were serenaded by both Kinglets, Brown Creepers, and Red-breasted Nuthatches as we passed through some great mixed spruce/fir forest.  And we couldn’t resist at least a brief stop at an overlook with this amazing scenery.

Our next stop was the Massie Gap area which is the best spot for nesting Alder Flycatchers locally.  They were long gone by September, but Allen showed me the wet area where they breed.  Yet another spot to remember on my summer trip to the area.  On the way back we ran into a few more warblers, notably another Cape May and another Magnolia. 

It was now early afternoon, and with a long drive home ahead of me, I decided to call it a day.  I ended up with 61 species for the 2-day trip, including 14 warbler species.  Very respectable numbers given the limited migration that occurred while I was in town.  And most importantly I added 4 new statebirds.  That brings my VA statelist up to 271. 

I can’t thank Allen enough for all of his help.  Not only for his tips on this trip but also for his advice to help me look for my summer target birds.  Hopefully I can get back to the area next summer and keep filling gaps in my VA statelist.

Two Lifelong Goals Achieved on Western Montana / Idaho Panhandle Trip, July 6-16, 2022, Part 4 of 4

In 2014 a trip to the upper Midwest enabled me to get both my SD and ND statelists above 200.  Those were my 47th and 48th continental US states to exceed 200.  That left MT as my last of the continental 49 states with a list below that threshold.  Admittedly that is a somewhat arbitrary goal - it’s a lot easier to get to 200 in larger states like CA and TX with large statelists than in places like NH and RI with smaller statelists.  But ever since 2014, I’ve wanted to get back to MT to get my last continental US statelist over 200. 

I started planning a western MT trip back in 2019, and had hoped to go in June of that year.  But that was the year my wife and I moved from MA to NC, and I was focused on selling the old house and buying the new one.  So I put the trip off to 2020.  But then Covid hit, so I delayed it to 2021.  And then with the pandemic continuing, I delayed the MT trip to 2022.  Then in February 2022, being fully vaccinated and boosted, I finally decided that it was safe enough to get back on the road and schedule the trip.  I reached out to my good birding friend David Donsker and he agreed to go along as well.  We made our plane reservations for July 6-16 to Missoula, and were all set.  That is except for lots of planning – hundreds of hours of planning.

I’ve birded in MT on 4 previous occasions, most recently a 4-day trip in May 2014, giving me a total of 175 species.  Each of these trips was in the eastern or central portion of the state dominated by various plains and grassland habitats.  So since I had never been to the mountains of western MT with a very different mix of bird species, I had significant statebird potential on my first trip there.  Certainly, it should be easy to at least add the 25 I needed to get to 200.  And since we’d be in the northwest corner of MT not far from ID, I decided to add a couple days in the ID panhandle. 

My planned route would give me a whopping 84 targets in MT though I’d be happy if I found just 47.  That would put me 6 over the old ABA reportable threshold for MT of 216, and of course way over my goal of 200.  Plus I had another 26 targets in ID with a realistic goal of finding 12. 

If I met my expected totals I would add 59 new statebirds in MT and ID.  That would give me 14,989 Total Ticks – the sum of all my US state and Canadian province lists.  Just 11 short of my goal of the nice round number of 15,000.  But with a bit of luck (and good planning) 15,000 ticks might be within reach.  Sure would be nice to reach both lifelong milestones, all continental states over 200 and total ticks of 15,000, on the same trip.

With a bit of luck this could be a really exciting trip!

This blog post is the fourth of four parts summarizing our trip, covering days 9 through 11 in MT. 

Day 9 – 7/14 – Many Glacier Entrance of Glacier NP and Freezout Lake NWR

The plan for the day was to bird the morning around the Many Glacier entrance of Glacier NP in the morning, which would be our last birding in the park.  Then we would drive southeast out of the mountains to Freezout Lake NWR for shorebirds and others wetland species. 

On the drive to Many Glacier I spent some time thinking about my chances of reaching the 15,000 Total Tick milestone yet on this trip.  With 14 in ID and 45 so far in MT that put me at 14,989 ticks – 11 to go.  I still had a number of targets in the mountains around Many Glacier, though after spending several days in those same habitats, none of those targets was particularly likely.  On the brighter side, I had 7 reasonably likely targets in the Freezout and Benton Lake refuges, and a couple I hoped for when we got back in Missoula.  So, reaching 15,000 on this trip might be a possibility yet. 

Our Many Glacier hike would start at the Many Glacier Lodge and then head southwest on the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail along the south shore of Swiftcurrent Lake.  Then we would bird along the south shore of Lake Josephine, before heading back along the north shore of Lake Josephine.  Birding was a bit slow at first though it was a pleasant walk through a very nice conifer woodlands.  And then we came to an opening giving us a view of Swiftcurrent Lake.  On the far side there was a spit with roosting gulls and waterfowl.  It was a bit distant but we were able to pick out 14 Common Mergansers, 4 Ring-billed Gulls and one Franklin’s Gull.  Plus there was a female Barrow’s Goldeneye swimming nearby.  The Franklin’s was a bit surprising but our sighting would be put into context later at Freezout Lake.

We continued along the trail and birding soon picked up as we checked off many of the regular species in this habitat like Pacific Wren, Swainson’s Thrush, and both Kinglets.  Then we noticed some movement in the distance and we spotted a female Rufous Hummingbird that had come to a nearby perch (#46) – our first hummingbird for MT and our first of the entire trip away from feeders.  On most of my other western trips I’ve seen quite a number of hummingbirds so I was surprised that we had seen so few on this trip.  I still need Rufous in a few states where it is a regular migrant or winterer.  I’ve also seen it in 7 northeast states as a rarity.

We continued down the trail and soon heard some chirping noises that sounded like young woodpeckers.  We had found several Red-naped Sapsucker nests in the past couple days, but these calls were different from those we had heard at those other nests.  Maybe these babies were younger so they were giving different calls.  Or maybe we had found a nest of another species of woodpecker.  I bushwhacked a bit off the trail and eventually found the nest hole in a dead conifer where the calls were coming from, and waited for one of the parents to come in.  A moment later I noticed some movement and a mid-sized woodpecker flew in –it was a female Three-toed Woodpecker giving us great views (#47).  A minute later the male came in to feed the young as well.  What a show!

And then just a short distance down the trail we heard a woodpecker drumming.  We softly played some tape of various woodpeckers drumming and it was a perfect match for Black-backed.  We played some Black-backed tape and it responded several times.  But it never came into view and soon stopped drumming.  David and I talked through the options and concluded we had heard a Black-backed Woodpecker (#48).  After all that hiking through suitable habitat and seeing evidence of Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers, we finally had both species. 

It's interesting that the distribution of these 2 species is quite different.  Whereas the Three-toed is principally a bird of the Rockies within the US, the Black-backed is more scattered throughout the northern tier states.

The trail continued through excellent habitat as we passed along the south shore of Lake Josephine, picking up goodies like Boreal Chickadees at three locations, and our only Wilson’s Warblers of the trip among 6 warbler species.  All in all, it was one of our birdiest single hikes in Glacier, with 35 species.  It was a great way to end our birding time in Glacier NP!

Next we were off to the prairie to the southeast especially to bird two large refuges – Freezout Lake WMA and Benton Lake NWR.  My targets were principally breeders or early migrants in the wetlands that I had missed on my earlier trips to eastern and central MT.  Breeders included Sandhill Crane (still!, after missing them at several locations on this trip), White-faced Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Curlew, and Short-eared Owl.  And possible early migrants included Greater Yellowlegs, and Western Sandpiper.  Plus some relative long-shots like Short-billed Dowitcher, and Peregrine and Prairie Falcons.  Certainly different species from those in the mountains at Glacier NP.

On our way to Freezout Lake we picked up a few new birds for the trip like Horned Lark, Western Meadowlark, and Swainson’s Hawk.  Then just outside of the little town of Bynum we spotted a flock of good-sized birds in a cultivated field next to the road.  We were able to pull over and counted 10 Long-billed Curlews just loafing in the field (#49).  I’ve seen this species throughout the west, but still need it in several states there and along the southeast coast as an uncommon wintering species.

There had been a lot of Curlew reports at the refuges earlier in the summer, but I had been a bit worried about finding this target once they were done breeding and might disperse from their breeding sites.  A couple minutes later we had a lone Franklin’s Gull over “downtown” Bynum.  A bit of foreshadowing for what was to come.

The first wetlands we came to was Priest Butte Lake just north of Freezout.  A number of my targets had been reported here recently, so we were optimistic.  We found what was likely the only viewing spot for the lake, and set up our scopes.  Much of the lake was quite distant and just as we started to scan a Bald Eagle came by flushing a flock of about 100 Avocets.  We searched through the flock hoping to find some darker Stilts mixed in but to no avail.  Other shorebirds were limited to a Long-billed Curlew, a couple Spotteds, and a Willet.  Great Blue Heron was the only wader we could find.  A raft of about 200 Eared Grebes floated by, along with about 20 White Pelicans, a few Clark’s and Western Grebes, and a couple Ruddy’s.  A small group of Franklin’s and Ring-bills rounded out the list.  Pretty slow all told.

Then we went a short distance down the road to the entrance to Freezout Lake WMA.  We weren’t quite sure how to bird this site – there were many miles of roads through the refuge and waters levels seemed lower than normal, so it might be difficult to find the best viewing spots.  But we found a brochure at the entrance titled “Birding at Freezout Lake” which gave info on suggested birding spots throughout the area.  Unfortunately, it was a bit out of date, but still a help.

We started birding along the auto tour route but frustratingly the water edges were quite far away.  The marshes featured many singing Marsh Wrens and Red-wings, and we picked up a number of dabbling and diving ducks in the distance but nothing unusual.  Then we spotted a large flock of perhaps 300 Marbled Godwits flying by to the north.  We watched as they landed in the distance in a nearby impoundment and tracked them down.  Not only was it an impressive flock of Godwits, but there were at least 50 Dowitchers mixed in.  The flock was pretty distant, and lighting wasn’t good, but I started to scan the Dowitchers to try to find a rarer Short-billed among the expected Long-billed.  Quickly I picked out one bird that was perhaps 20 percent smaller, lacked the hump-backed “swallowed a football” look, and had a shorter bill.  We had our Short-billed Dowitcher (#50).  Short-billed is mostly a bird of the east and the immediate Pacific coast, but it will mix with Long-billed flocks throughout the west as well.

We also had a few Wilson’s Phalaropes that looked tiny compared to the Godwits and Dowitchers but couldn’t find any peeps. 

We left the tour road and headed to 5th Lane NW - a dirt road along the west side of the area where Short-eared Owl had been spotted recently.  Although there were several recent Short-ears seen throughout the refuge (all daytime sightings by the way), this was the only one where a specific location was mentioned, so we targeted this site.  The bird had been photographed perched on a metal fence post, so we kept our eyes open along the way looking at all the posts we could find, but with no luck.  The habitat at the southern end of the road looked great for Short-ears, so we decided to give it a try at dawn the next morning.  On the way back to the main road we picked up both Sora and Virginia Rail in the adjacent cattails, along with a cooperative Upland Sandpiper.

We made one final stop back at the headquarters buildings hoping to run into Gray Partridges at the shelter belt but just added Eurasian Collared-Dove for the day list.

Day 10 -7/15 - Freezout Lake WMA and Benton Lake NWR, Missoula

I started the day just 6 short of my 15,000 Total Ticks goal.  I had quite a number of potential targets to hope for that day, many of which were, dare I say, likely.  So, with a bit of luck July 15 might just be the day I hit 15,000!

Our initial plan for this day was to head right to Benton Lake NWR to get an early start to the day.  But given our reconnaissance of the area at Freezout Lake with a recent Short-eared Owl report, we decided to try our luck there at dawn first.  It was just 15 minutes from our motel in Choteau, and the sky was just getting light when we arrived at the Short-eared area a full 30 minutes before sunrise.  We drove along slowly checking all the possible low perches and scanning the fields.  And just a couple minutes later I picked out the characteristic floppy flight of a Short-eared Owl (#51).  It must have been actively hunting because I was only able to watch it in flight for a few seconds before it dropped down in the vegetation out of sight.  Unfortunately, all this happened before David got on it.  While we were standing by the car hoping in vain for the owl to reappear a Sandhill Crane called in the distance (#52).  Thankfully the bugling call really carries.  And a bit later we had a second bird calling as well.  Nice to fill in the MT gap in my statebird map for this species, which I’ve seen in most of its regular central and western states, as well as 12 in the east where it is a rarity though expanding.

What a great start to the day!

The sun was just starting to rise when we got back to the highway to drive by the Freezout impoundments.  I noticed a large number of white birds at one of the impoundments in the distance so we pulled over to check it out.  It was a huge flock of Franklin’s Gulls feeding on the flats – I made a wild estimate of 4,000 birds.  It was a spectacular site looking to the west with the rising sun illuminating the birds.  At one point the whole flock took off to fly north.  Here’s a still shot of a video I took of part of the flock as it was passing by.

The impoundment also had a number of shorebirds, including a flock of about 100 Avocets, and this time we picked out Black-necked Stilts mixed in – 21 of them (#53).  Other shorebirds included 100 Wilson’s and 20 Red-necked Phalaropes, 45 Marbled Godwits, 15 Willets, and 50 Long-billed Dowitchers.  Plus a calling Sandhill Crane – perhaps one we had earlier.  An amazing spectacle enhanced by the dawn lighting!

Although we thought we’d head right to Benton Lake we had another change in plans.  We were going right by a possible spot for Burrowing Owl which I had planned to try after Benton.  But Burrowing Owls can be difficult to find when it’s hot as they will tend to hide in their burrows to avoid the heat.  So rather than stopping there in the afternoon, we decided to try for them first.  The location was a prairie dog town at the First People’s Buffalo Jump SP.  I had traded e-mails with a birder who had them there a month ago, and with his specific directions, we were hopeful.  We pulled into the spot and soon realized it was a very large prairie dog town covering many acres – this might not be easy.  There were lots of potential burrows for the Owls.  We did several quick scans but came up empty.  I got my scope out and started looking in the more distant portions of the area and finally picked out a pair of Burrowing Owls (#54).  Not the best view but good enough.  Just a couple more states to go to fill in my statebird map for this species.

Other birds at the park included a number of Horned Larks and singing Vesper Sparrows, and a pair of Rock Pigeons that might actually have been nesting “naturally” on the cliffs of the mesa.

Now we were finally heading to Benton Lake NWR, two ticks short of 15,000.  The entrance road cut through beautiful grasslands full of Savannah and Vesper Sparrows and Horned Larks., accentuated by the occasional Upland Sandpiper.  We even found a family group of Uplands with a couple half-grown fledglings. We made a few stops along the way and heard Sandhill Cranes at 3 different stops.  I guess there was no need to make all those stops looking for Cranes near Kalispell earlier in the trip. 

As we neared the main lake on the refuge we could see that it was full of birds.  We parked at the first arm of the lake we came to and quickly spotted a number of White-faced Ibis feeding in the distance (#55).  There were large mixed flocks of Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalaropes spinning on the surface nearby and in the distance.  We conservatively estimated perhaps 200 Wilson’s and 50 Red-necked.  I was lucky enough to get a phonescoped photo of this White-faced Ibis with both Phalarope species in the background. 

And here's a shot of one of the mixed Phalarope flocks.

Then we started to notice a few Yellowlegs along the water’s edge.  We spent a bit of time to be sure but were able to pick out several Greaters in with their smaller Lesser cousins.  Greater Yellowlegs was my 56th new MT bird, making it Total Tick #15,000!  Here I am with the wetlands in the background where we had the Greater Yellowlegs.

I guess I had hoped #15,000 would be a rarity, or perhaps at least a very attractive eye-catching species.  But I certainly had a lot of both while building my state and province lists over the decades.  As a comment on how common Greater Yellowlegs is, I've now seen it in 50 states and DC - just need it in ND.

After a couple minutes of muted celebration we were back to birding – after all there were a lot more birds to look through on the lake.  Larger shorebirds included roughly 100 Marbled Godwits and 4 “Western” Willets that were small in comparison to the occasional Long-billed Curlew mixed in.  We even had family groups of both Godwits and Curlews in the grasses along the tour road, complete with half-grown babies.  Then we spotted a small group of peeps in the distance which at first looked to be 10 Baird’s Sandpipers.  Then with a little more searching we noticed one smaller peep in the group.  Eventually this bird gave us a nice profile view revealing a noticeably downturned bill - a Western Sandpiper (#57).  Later we came to small islands with roosting flocks of about 50 Avocets and an exact count of 52 Black-necked Stilts. 

And we can’t forget the waterfowl.  We estimated 150 Eared Grebes, with a single young baby following most every adult.  Dabblers were in drab plumage, but we were able to pick out Cinnamon Teal and Pintail among the Mallards.  Plus a few Redheads and Coots rounded out the mix. 

Then there were the gulls and terns.  Our conservative estimates of Franklin’s Gulls was 300, along with 50 Ring-bills and 75 California’s.  And at least 3 Forster’s Tern were feeding nearby.

The last new species for the refuge were a Loggerhead Shrike and an obliging Swainson’s Hawk perched in an adjacent cottonwood as we drove by.  We left Benton Lake after 2 ½ hours with 40 species.  What a great spot!

Our hotel for our last night in MT was back in Missoula where we planned to do a bit of evening birding.  Along the way we stopped for lunch in the little town of Lincoln, MT.  As we sat at a picnic table behind the restaurant David noted that the pine forest surrounding the restaurant looked good for Cassin’s Finch, one of my last remaining targets.  A quick eBird search showed that there was actually a recent Cassin’s Finch report from the town, at Hooper Park, which turned out to be less than a mile away.  We drove to Hooper Park only to find that some kind of fair was occurring there.  So we decided to turn onto a small road that passed along the edge of the park that was still in nice pine woodland.  At the end of the road we took a trail through the woods and almost instantly heard a singing Cassin’s Finch (#58).  And we heard 2 others as we drove back to the main road.  That was quite a pleasant surprise.  I’ve now seen this species in each state in its regular range except for its local populations in NE and SD.

When we got back to Missoula we unfortunately continued 2 trends on our trip – limited success in general birding in the late afternoon and evening, and no success with Western Bluebirds.  We headed to Blue Mountain in western Missoula specifically to try for Western Bluebird where there had been numerous recent reports.  We found a number of bluebird boxes but no Bluebirds.  We also searched several areas of nice habitat but again couldn’t come up with a Bluebird.  The best we could do was find our only White-breasted Nuthatches (of the Interior West race) of the trip.

Day 11 – 7/16 – Upper Rattlesnake Canyon in Missoula

In our last morning of MT birding we met up with Jillian Leblow again and birded Upper Rattlesnake Canyon in Missoula.  Jillian first took us to a riparian area where she had routinely had both Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds.  We arrived in the area of excellent habitat soon after sunrise, and waited for it to warm up a bit for the little hummers to become more active.  Jillian described how a Rufous and a Calliope had territories adjacent to each other, and there was an area along the trail where the 2 could be seen interacting to defend those territories.  She also pointed out the Calliope’s favorite perch.  A few minutes later we spotted our first Rufous, and a few minutes later a male Calliope (#59), both in their territories just as Jillian had described.  And a bit later the Calliope landed on its favorite perch again as Jillian had said.  Just one more state to go to see this species in each state in its regular range.

Later we would find a pair of Rufous and a pair of Calliopes there.  We walked a bit further along the trail adding birds like Veery, Catbird, and MacGillivray’s Warbler in the riparian area, and then entered into pine woodlands with species like Western Tanager and Hammond’s Flycatcher. 

Just before we got back to the car Jillian took us to the site where she had a family of Western Bluebirds a few days earlier.  But once again we struck out on this target.  We even found a nearby homestead with boxes where the birds likely nested, but they were nowhere in sight.  I guess they really scatter after fledging.  A tough way to end the trip, but as they say, it gives me a reason to go back.

Trip Summary

We ended the trip with 170 species in MT and 93 in ID, and a total of 180 for the entire trip.  The eBird Trip Reports can be found here –

              Entire Trip - MT/ID Trip 2022 - eBird Trip Report

              MT – MT Trip - 2022 - eBird Trip Report

              ID - ID Trip - 2022 - eBird Trip Report

I added 73 new statebirds - 59 in MT bringing my total to 234, and 14 in ID giving me a new total of 224.  That was way over my initial goal of 59 for both states combined.

Plus of course those totals enabled me to reach my two big lifelong goals.  Dusky Flycatcher on July 8th was my 200th bird in MT.  I now have 200 or more species in each of the continental 49 states. (I’ll never be able to get to 200 in Hawaii).  My eBird profile map of my US totals is inserted below.

Then there’s the goal of reaching 15,000 total ticks, which I achieved with the Greater Yellowlegs at Benton Lake NWR on July 15th.  I ended my trip with 15,003 ticks - 13,506 in the US and 1,497 in Canada.  Here are my maps showing my totals by state and province.

In reality, 15,000 total ticks wasn’t exactly a lifelong goal.  Early in my birding career I hoped for 10,000 total ticks.  But I reached that smaller goal relatively early in my birding career on December 11, 2003 (Lapland Longspur in Arkansas) so I had to set a much loftier total tick goal to strive for.  It “only” took me about 18 ½ years to go from 10,000 to 15,000 total ticks.  What’s next?  16,000?

And I’m already thinking of what my next state/province birding trip may be.  Perhaps it will be to eastern WA and OR – a part of the country I’ve never birded.  Or maybe Manitoba or Saskatchewan where each of my province lists are less than 50.  Lots of state and province bird potential remains.