All-Day Birding Trip in Georgia Yields a New Statebird in South Carolina, January 28, 2023

Wait, what?  How do you get a new bird in SC when you’re on an all-day trip to GA?  The answer is you still have to drive through SC in order to get to and from GA…

I signed up to attend a Greenville County (SC) Bird Club walk at Lake Hartwell on January 28, 2023.  Lake Hartwell is a large man-made lake along the SC/GA state line near the northern end of both states.  With the exception of an initial couple stops in SC, the remainder of the trip was to be spent on the GA side of the lake.  We hoped for rarer waterbirds such as a Red-throated or Pacific Loon, Red-necked Grebe (seen on the lake 10 days earlier), a Scoter, or maybe a Long-tailed Duck.  And since most of our stops were in wooded campgrounds and picnic grounds, I was hopeful for a Brown Creeper that I still needed for my GA list.

But the lake did not give us any rarities that day.  Even though I counted an even 50 Loons, all were Commons.  And although our 176 Horned Grebes was probably the most I’ve seen in a single day, we could not find any other Grebe species.  Landbirds were quite plentiful, but not my target Creeper.  I even added an extra stop on my own at the end of the day in woodlands at the dam just barely in GA, but still couldn’t get a Creeper.  Though a rare Blue-headed Vireo was a nice consolation prize. 

I was just about to call it quits for the day when, on a lark, I decided to check my eBird Needs Alert for SC just in case something had recently been reported nearby.  Amazingly, the first bird that popped up was a Ross’s Goose spotted earlier in the day in nearby Abbeville County.  And it was re-found within the last couple hours.  A quick Google Maps search showed that the bird was only 20 minutes off my route home, so it was definitely worth giving it a try.  The chase was on!

As I headed there, I re-reviewed the eBird reports.  The Ross’s was found on Paco Road at 8 that morning with these details: “First spotted associating with an agitated pair of CANG by the pond, later flew to top of pasture with them.”  Then at 2:30 the same birder noted that the bird was continuing in the pasture with Canadas.  The satellite view of Paco Road on Google Maps showed a small pond with an adjacent pasture along this short road.  It all looked promising.

As I neared Paco Road I started to see several farm ponds scattered throughout the fields.  I figured the Ross’s Goose could actually be frequenting any of these ponds in the area so I watched for any Canadas, or better yet white geese, as I passed by.  Then just before taking a right turn onto Paco Road I came to a pond on the left.  With a quick glimpse I saw something white in the field nearby. 

I pulled off on the shoulder and put it in my binoculars – it was indeed a small white goose in a flock of Canadas.  Then with a scope view I confirmed the ID as the diminutive Ross’s Goose.

Good thing I noticed it there instead of going right to the pond on Paco Rd.

Ross’s Goose had been somewhat of a nemesis bird for me in SC, having chased after several reported birds with no luck.  So it’s finally nice to add it to my list - #297 in SC.  Even though virtually all my birding time that day was in GA. 

And it was a great way to cap off the month of January 2023 in SC where I added 3 rare waterfowl to my state list – Common Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, and now Ross’s Goose.

My statebird map for Ross’s Goose is inserted below.  In its regular range the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species, and the cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it.  The numerous brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity as this species is prone to vagrancy throughout much of the east.