Late in December 2022 I noticed a post from a local birder where he mentioned he had just seen a White Wagtail in FL. That would be a lifebird, one I missed back in 2016 practically in my backyard in NH because I was out of town. Although I’ve had the eBird ABA Rarities alert turned on for years, I haven’t been checking it lately since I’m not doing much traveling during Covid. So a Wagtail in FL wasn’t exactly on my radar. But with some quick eBird searches I found out that the White Wagtail was being seen nearly daily in Tallahassee. That seemed pretty far away, but with a drive time of “only” 7 1/2 hours, it was actually about the same amount of time it takes to drive to the NC Outer Banks. The hunt was on!
It turns out the White Wagtail first arrived on November 24,
and was being seen quite reliably at a couple runoff retention ponds in downtown
Tallahassee. It was feeding along muddy
shorelines, and judging by the excellent photos posted on eBird, birders were
able to get quite close to it. In theory
I could drive down to Tallahassee in one day, hopefully see the bird, and drive
back the next day. But why not add a
couple days to the trip and look for some statebirds in the FL panhandle and in
southern and central GA on the drive back.
So I started planning for a 4-day trip to try for the Wagtail as a
lifebird and a number of statebirds in both states.
I first focused on potential statebirds in FL within a
couple hours of Tallahassee. I used to
live in Gainesville, FL, and remember that the Tallahassee area was home to a
number of wintering birds that are very difficult to find elsewhere in FL,
including – White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, and Dark-eyed
Junco. And an agricultural area a short
distance west of there was the only spot for Horned Larks in the state. I only made it to the panhandle in winter once
before but focused on water and marshbirds during that trip, so all of these
local specialties were still targets.
And speaking of waterbirds, my eBird research revealed a number of other
possible statebirds at nearby St. Marks NWR.
All told I had a possible 14 targets in FL (including the Wagtail), which
was a surprisingly high number given that my FL list was already at 320. I realistically hoped to find perhaps 8 of
them.
Then it was time to research targets in GA. My statelist was only 258, so there would be
lots of possible statebirds. My route to
and from Tallahassee would go through much of GA, way too much to bird
effectively on this short trip. Plus all
my GA stops would have to be just be on the way back home since I wanted to
make a beeline for Tallahassee on the first day of the trip in search of my key
target, the Wagtail. So I needed to
focus on potential targets that might be closer to my direct route home, thus minimizing
drive times for side-trips. That meant I
wouldn’t be able to get to the coast, which was unfortunate since there were a
number of my targets there. And north of
Atlanta would be out of bounds as well. Despite
all those constraints, I was still able to map out a route back taking me
through the center of the state then heading northeast to Augusta that would give
me 12 possible statebird targets. I
figured if I could find 6 of them that would make for a successful GA portion
of the trip.
As I was making my final preparations for the trip I heard
from my birding friend Bill Hooker that he and his wife Anita were planning to
head to Tallahassee for the Wagtail the same day I was. That would be great – whoever got there first
could report their results to the other.
The trip was really coming together!
This post covers the FL portion of my trip. The next blog post will cover the GA half of
the trip.
Day 1 - January 5
I was out the door earlier than expected on the 5th and
luckily made the trip around Atlanta through the morning rush with no
backups. My ETA in Tallahassee was around
2 PM. That gave me lots of time to think
about seeing my target Wagtail. The bird
was being reported from 2 runoff retention ponds – nearly daily at Lake Elberta,
and occasionally at the nearby Mills Street Pond. Unfortunately, there had been only 1 report of
the bird on the 4th, at the Mills Street Pond.
And there were a couple posts where the Wagtail had not been seen that
day. And even worse, a Merlin was
included on one checklist. The Merlin might
keep the Wagtail away from its regular feeding spots. Or even worse, the Wagtail could become
Merlin food.
So with the less than stellar reports from the 4th, I was very
anxious to check reports from the morning of the 5th to see if the Wagtail was
re-found. The first report from Lake
Elberta was posted about 8 AM - no Wagtail was seen. Two others from Lake Elberta were posted soon
thereafter and again no Wagtail was included.
Then there was a report from Mills Street Pond – no Wagtail there
either. Was I going to be a day too late
for the Wagtail? Then at 11 AM another
Mills Street checklist was posted - I was almost too afraid to open it. But I scrolled down to the end and there was
the Wagtail complete with a picture. The
Wagtail was back! I could breathe again! I shared the news with Bill and Anita, and it
turned out they would be arriving just a few minutes after me. I pushed the accelerator down a bit harder as
a I realized that I still had 3 hours to go before I got there.
After taking what seemed like forever to navigate through
the traffic lights of downtown Tallahassee, I finally pulled up to the Mills
Street Pond. Pretty unremarkable
actually.
Just up ahead there was a car parked on the side of the road with a camera sticking out of the driver’s window. This was looking positive - “bird the birders” as I always say. I pulled in front of the birder’s car and quickly scanned the small grassy mudflat while still sitting in my car. In just a few seconds I picked out the White Wagtail walking along the mudflat, wagging its long tail as it went. I called Bill and gave him the news, suggesting they stay in the car when they arrive. A few minutes later they pulled in, and Anita got this great photo of our key target bird.
Unfortunately, my digi-binned photos were not nearly as good. I tried to get out to get a phonescoped photo but the bird flushed to the southern end of the pond. At least we got to hear the 2-note “pipit” call when it flew.
White Wagtail was #763 for my Continental ABA list, and #743
in the Lower 48. It was the first new lifebird
I had seen since 2018, though I’ve added at least one new lifebird each year
since then due to ABA splits or decisions that certain introduced species were
now countable.
With our key target out of the way, we could focus on our
other birding priorities for the trip – mine were new statebirds and Bill’s
were county birds. But Bill mentioned
that since so many of my statebird targets were pretty rare in FL, he would
come along with me and try for them as well.
Afterall, they would likely be new county birds for him as well.
And since we saw the Wagtail so quickly we had quite a bit of birding time left that day. Our next stop was just a short 30-minute drive to the east at the Fred Myers Williams Fish Pond where a large flock of Brewer’s Blackbirds were reliably being seen. A little surprising to have Brewer’s at a fish pond – normally they’re associated with cattle feed lots – but we’d give it a go. As we pulled up to the hotspot location we saw a small herd of cows in the field immediately to the right, and sure enough there was a large flock of blackbirds with them.
With a quick scan we realized that nearly all of them were Brewer’s – we estimated 300 (FL statebird #2) – with just a few cowbirds mixed in. We never did see a pond. My statebird map for Brewer’s Blackbird is inserted below. The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range. The 3 cross-hatched states are the last ones in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it. And the 5 brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Brewer’s as a rarity. Since I moved to NC I’ve added Brewer’s Blackbird to 5 southeastern statelists – VA, NC, SC, GA, and now FL.
We had time for one more stop that afternoon, and decided to head to Faulk Drive Landing on Lake Jackson where a Clay-colored Sparrow had been reported earlier in the week. Unfortunately, the only sparrows we had there were a couple Swamps in the marsh. A consolation prize was a most cooperative Orange-crowned Warbler. A nice way to end a most successful day.
Day 2 – January 6
Our first stop of the day was at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park on
the north side of Tallahassee. There had
been a number of recent reports of Dark-eyed Junco in the park with specific
directions to one spot near Gate A. It
was also known as one of the better spots for White-breasted Nuthatch in FL
(though with no recent reports), and occasional winter sightings of Brown Creeper
including one in the past week. A
target-rich location. We didn’t have
specific locations for the Nuthatch and Creeper, so we’d just have to get lucky
to run into them.
We arrived at Gate A a bit before sunrise and quickly heard
a couple Great Horned Owls as our first birds of the day. As we headed over to the trail where the
Juncos had been reported we were surrounded by excellent hardwood and softwood
woodlands. We kept our ears open for our
Nuthatch and Creeper targets and crossed our fingers. While we waited for the morning sun to hit the
Junco trail we played some Screech Owl calls nearby and were inundated by
passerines with big numbers of Pine Warblers, Chickadees, and Titmice, a few
Brown-headed Nuthatches, and goodies like Yellow-throated Warbler and
Blue-headed Vireo. But none of our
targets stopped by.
Then we walked over to the spot where the Juncos had been reported
most often and I noticed some movement in the grass. There was a group of 3 Juncos foraging on the
ground at the edge of the trail (FL statebird #3). FL was my 48th state for Dark-eyed Junco – I
have to get back to ND to finish filling in my statebird map for this species.
We headed back to the car and kept our ears open for Nuthatches and Creepers but to no avail. At least we added one of our targets.
Next we were on to Gardner Road Landing just to our north
where Winter Wrens had been rather reliable, and quite vocal. When we arrived we found quite a bit of very nice
wet wooded habitat perfect for a Winter Wren.
We listened for their chattering calls but only heard Carolinas. We then walked a short distance to the end of
the road and noticed some movement low in the brush. Then the small brown bird started to chatter
and gave us brief views – it was our target Winter Wren (FL statebird #4).
After a quick view of the wetlands at the end of the landing road, we headed off to Roden Cove Landing where there had been a report of 2 White-faced Ibis. Unfortunately that was 10 days ago, so this one could well be a long shot. We took a short walk to the edge of the wetlands and began to scan. There were quite a number of birds there, dominated by at last 1,000 Coots. And the marshy edges had good numbers of waders, including a small group of White Ibis, but no dark ones. Then I spotted a flock of 6 dark Ibis in flight in the distance, unfortunately way too far to ID. And they kept flying farther away and eventually disappeared. That was frustrating.
We went back to scanning the closer marsh and picked up
another dark Ibis foraging alone. This
one was close enough for a potential ID, but we had left the scopes in the
cars. So Bill and I rushed back to get the
scopes and Anita stayed with the bird. When
we returned the bird had moved a bit but was still close enough to try to see
eye color. The Ibis was actively feeding
so it took a while to get good views of the face, but we could definitely see
red eyes. Plus the wings and mantle were
greener than you’d normally see on a Glossy – we had our target White-faced
Ibis (FL statebird #5). FL was my 9th
state seeing this species as a rarity.
White-faced sure is prone to vagrancy in the east.
A bit later we found another group of 7 dark Ibis nearby, though the difficult sun angle made it tough to see eye color. Luckily one bird was close enough that we could see it had dark eyes and confirmed it as a Glossy. We started to take a hike along the marsh edge to change the sun angle on the others but decided it would be best to spend that time looking for our other targets instead.
We headed back to the parking lot which was nearly
surrounded by mature live oaks. There
had been a recent report of White-breasted Nuthatch at this hotspot, and these
trees looked like an ideal spot for one.
We played some Screech Owl tape, getting a number of birds to respond,
but not our target Nuthatch. I hated to
leave that one behind, but with no specific locations for the Nuthatch, and several
targets waiting for us at the coast, we decided to pack up and headed south.
Our next stop was St. Marks NWR, a spot I had not visited
since I lived in FL in the late 80’s. I
had 3 possible statebird targets there, the first being a long-staying American
Golden-Plover that was reported to be most cooperative at the East River
Pool. Little did we know that our
biggest problem finding this bird would be gaining access to the pool. The 2-lane road was being repaved, and nearby
parking lots were full of construction vehicles.
But Bill was able to talk one of the workers into allowing us to park briefly in one of the lots, giving us enough time to walk to the pool. With the clock ticking we quickly made it to the metal pier and almost instantly picked out the American Golden-Plover (FL statebird #6). Most cooperative indeed.
Although I lived in FL for a time, I was never able to see any of the “grasspipers” including Baird’s and Buff-breasted. Interesting that I finally saw the Golden-Plover in FL in winter when they are normally supposed to be in southern South America.
The next target was a Long-tailed Duck that had been
reported for awhile at the end of the Cedar Point Trail near the Lighthouse
Pool. But the sightings had been
intermittent. In fact, as we walked down
the trail we met a couple groups of birders coming back from unsuccessful
searches for the bird. So I wasn’t very
optimistic. We got to the end of the
trail and started scanning the offshore waters.
There were quite a number of Scaup and Bufflehead in the distance, but
no sight of my target bird. Then in one
of my distant scans I noticed some ducks in the foreground. I focused on the closer waters and there was
the Long-tailed Duck (FL statebird #7). It
was diving frequently, along with a small group of Buffleheads. Maybe it was overlooked by the other birders
because they were focused on the more distant ducks, like I did initially. I was able to get Bill and Anita on the bird,
along with a number of other birders that passed by. FL was my 4th state with Long-tailed Duck as
a rarity.
Our next target was a long-staying American Flamingo that is often seen in the Lighthouse Pool. I had seen Flamingo before in FL – a flock of 16 off of Snake Bight Trail at Everglades NP in 2008. But I could never turn down an opportunity to see such a striking bird. Unfortunately, the Flamingo was not on the flats at the pool, nor on the small offshore island it sometimes frequents. Though the pool was full of waterfowl and shorebirds.
Our last stop at St. Marks was to bird the offshore waters near the lighthouse to look for a Surf Scoter that was first found there in late December. Although it had been spotted numerous times since then, it was last reported 3 days ago. There had also been occasional reports of Black Scoter from this spot. I did several scans from the parking lot but came up empty. We then walked west along the south shore, and I scanned at several more vantage points but to no avail. With no other possible spots for Surf Scoter I hated to give up, but it was time to throw in the towel. Even though we missed a couple targets, it was still fun to bird St. Marks again after so many years.
Our next target was Black Scoter which was quite often seen
nearby at Alligator Point and Bald Point SP.
In fact, I had a 20-year-old FL birdfinding guide that said that
Alligator Point was the best spot in the area for Black Scoter. The local birder I ran into at the Wagtail
spot mentioned that they are best seen near the “area of new pavement”. As we arrived near the point this spot became
obvious– there was a section of the coastal road that had apparently washed out
in a recent storm and had just been replaced.
And sure enough large rafts of ducks were there just offshore - we
estimated 500 birds. With a quick
binocular scan all I could find were Greater Scaup. But with so many divers surely there were
Scoters mixed in somewhere. I scanned
through the flocks more closely and picked out a few Redheads and even a
Ring-necked Duck, but no Scoters.
I could see another raft in the distance a bit farther west
so I decided to change my vantage point and give them a look. But a couple scans revealed just more
Scaup. Then I spotted a group of 4
larger, all dark ducks just offshore which only provided a quick but tantalizing
view before they dove. Did I have my
target bird? A few seconds later they
all resurfaced - they were indeed Scoters but surprisingly they were female
Surf Scoters instead of the expected Black Scoter (FL statebird #8). I’ve now seen Surf Scoter in each of its
expected coastal and Great Lake states except for PA, plus have seen it in 4
inland states as a rarity.
I then spotted another Scaup raft a bit farther to the west and again picked out 2 more Surf Scoters diving at the nearshore edge of the flock. Anita was able to get this nice picture of this pair of birds.
It sure was great to find these 6 Surf Scoters, especially since they had not been reported here recently. But we were still missing our target Black Scoter which was supposed to be the Scoter species for this spot. There had been a Black Scoter report from nearby Bald Point SP the day before, so maybe we’d get lucky there. It took us a while to find the park and an access point to scan the offshore waters, and it was now closing in on sunset. But at least we were looking nearly due east with the setting sun to our backs, and the water was almost flat, giving us excellent visibility. An initial scan revealed just a couple Scaup and little else. So I started scanning farther out and picked out perhaps 200 Scaup and 10 Redheads far in the distance but they were way too far out to try to see if a Scoter might be mixed in.
What an excellent way to end the day, finding 2 Scoter species and Long-tailed Duck on the Gulf Coast. When the eBird checklists were all compiled (thanks to Bill for maintaining the checklists!) we came up with 109 species for the day – an outstanding total for a January day.
Day 3 - January 7
We had just one more planned stop together in the FL portion
of our trip – a set of fields in Jackson County in the panhandle close to where
AL, GA, and FL come together. This area
is well-known as the sole spot where Horned Larks are somewhat reliable in FL. In fact, I remember this location when I
lived in FL in the 80s but never made the trek there to give the Larks a
try. There were also a couple recent records
of Lapland Longspur mixed in with the Larks and Pipits. Another one to watch and listen for.
We left the hotel pre-dawn so that we could arrive at the
Concord Road Ag Fields hotspot by sunrise.
When we arrived I was bit surprised to see that the soil in the
agricultural fields was nothing but sand.
Must be tough to grow a crop there.
But it sure was great habitat for those “prairie birds”. And the roads were mostly just compacted sand,
though hard enough to be passable. Here’s a picture of one of the fields with the
road in the foreground.
Our first birds of the morning were a pair of Great Horned Owls calling in the distance. Then we picked out a Harrier sitting in the fields. A nice start to the day… But it was time to focus on our targets. Eventually we started to hear Pipits calling overhead or out in the fields. And with scope views I could see some Pipits flying far out in the fields. Then we heard the characteristic calls of Horned Larks as a pair flew overhead. And a couple minutes later a flock of 4 Larks flew over low enough that we could see their unique face pattern (FL statebird #10). Horned Lark is 1 of only 26 species that I’ve seen in all 49 continental US states and Washington D.C.
I then spent a little time scanning the fields hoping to find a Longspur. But with the exception of that initial group of distant Pipits, I could find no other birds foraging in the fields. I was tempted to spend more time scanning additional fields but had a full day of stops planned through GA as I headed back toward home. So I decided to pass on further attempts for the Longspur to ensure I had enough time for my GA targets. And with Bill and Anita now focused on birding other nearby counties in the FL panhandle, we wished each other good birding and went our separate ways for the rest of the trip.
I ended the FL portion of the trip with 10 new statebirds,
including of course the White Wagtail as a life bird. That’s much better than the 8 I had hoped
for. That brings my FL list up to a
respectable 330.
The GA portion of my trip is summarized in my next blog
post.
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