Third Time’s the Charm for American White Pelican, New Castle, NH, December 2018

American White Pelican is a rare vagrant in New England, as it is throughout virtually all of the eastern US.  And in New England, only rarely do birds stick around long.  Often they are seen as one or more high flying birds passing by on the coast.  Needless to say those birds aren’t chaseable unless you’re already on the coast and are lucky enough to be able to catch up with them as they head out of town.  As a result, in New England I’ve only seen White Pelican in MA and RI, and both birds were ones that had luckily stuck around for a couple days allowing for successful searches.

Then there was this interesting set of events in December 2018 -

It was Sunday afternoon, December 9, and at about 2 PM I received a text from Steve Mirick’s NH rare bird alert that an American White Pelican was reported heading south from Wells, ME.  Very appropriately Steve suggested it was worth keeping an eye out for the bird in NH.  Later in the day an eBird Maine Needs Alert came across with a White Pelican in York County.  The checklist was apparently from a full day of birding with the listed location being “York County”, and with no details on the location or time of the Pelican sighting.  Though there was a photo of the bird sitting in dry Spartina grasses in a coastal marsh somewhere.  Undoubtedly that was the bird reported in Wells which was last seen heading south.  Certainly not chaseable, right?

Then late in the afternoon Monday came yet another eBird Maine Needs Alert with a Pelican sighting.  At first I just assumed it was a second sighting from Sunday, but when I opened the e-mail I realized it was actually a Monday sighting once again from Wells.  The bird was seen swimming in the Webhannet River – apparently the bird was still around.  The post came across too late to give it a try that day, but it was certainly worth a try on Tuesday.  Especially since I didn’t go after chaseable White Pelicans (3 of them!) seen in Wells in May earlier this year. 

Tuesday morning I teamed up with Davis Finch and Mike Beck to search for the Pelican in Wells, ME.  But despite 3 hours scouring the waters and marshes of the Webhannet River we were unsuccessful.  Though it certainly was great to catch up with Davis and Mike!  Oh well – “a day late and a dollar short” as they say.  Tuesday evening while posting our sightings on eBird I noticed a post on the NH listserve that a White Pelican was photographed from Odiorne Point State Park that day.  The post was on a Facebook site and was not posted until dinner time that day.  Apparently our target bird was in NH while we were looking for it in ME - ugh.  And like Monday’s post of the bird in ME, it came across too late to chase that day in NH.  So once again it was time to plan for a chase the next morning.

Wednesday morning at 7 I met David Donsker at Odiorne in Rye, NH to look for our target bird.  But once again, I came up empty.  We searched the area around the Odiorne boat ramp where it was seen on Tuesday, as well as the Odiorne coast all the way to Frost Point, the New Castle coastline across the river from Odiorne, and as much of the remaining Newcastle coastline as we could access.  Once again I missed it by a day. 

Tallies from my 2 unsuccessful chases on consecutive days in 2 states – 7 hours of driving, 5 hours of birding, 0 White Pelicans. 

Two days later, Friday, I was in RI starting my day successfully adding Evening Grosbeak to my RI list as part of some inland birding in the morning.  That afternoon while doing a rather unremarkable seawatch from Point Judith, RI I got a text from Steve Mirick that the White Pelican had been re-found in New Castle, NH.  Even if I left that second I wouldn’t be able to make it to New Castle before dark.  My original plan was to spend the night in RI and participate in a Christmas Count the next morning.  But earlier in the day I had decided to pass on the CBC since I had come down with a pretty miserable cold.  Though my cold wasn’t bad enough to prevent me from chasing after a potential state bird!  Once again I planned an early morning trip to try for the Pelican – once again time back on the NH coast.

The bird had been seen on Friday from the “green bridge” – a narrow 2-lane metal bridge on Route 1B that takes you onto the island that makes up the majority of the town of New Castle.  It was also seen in the marina just east and south of that bridge.  But there was no place to pull over while on the bridge.  And the marina was private property requiring permission to access.  And did I mention that there are almost no public parking spots in the area?  Needless to say this could be a challenge.

At 7:10 Saturday morning, 12/15, while I was still in route to New Castle, I got a text from Steve that the Pelican was still there, seen from just west of the metal bridge.  Twenty minutes later I turned onto Route 1B, and luckily at that time of the day there was almost no traffic.  As I neared the green bridge there were no cars in sight behind me, so I was able to come to a full stop on the bridge.  I quickly looked to the right (south) where all of Friday’s sightings had been, but there was no bird.  Then I took a bit longer scan of the water and shorelines below but still no bird.  Then I made a quick look at the bit of the marina that is visible from the bridge, but again came up empty.  I was starting to worry.  Then I looked to the left, and peering between the bridge railings, I could see a large white bird swimming in the estuary to the north.  A quick binoc view confirmed I had the White Pelican!

I pulled ahead and parked in an “almost-legal” parking space, and there was the Pelican right in front of me.  Here’s a shot of the bird with no magnification.

And here’s a phonescoped photo of this most cooperative bird. 

Third time was the charm!

In subsequent days the bird was routinely being seen near the green bridge, and on the southern New Castle coast line opposite Odiorne.  Both of these areas were places David and I checked on Wednesday.  We also checked the edges of the marina as well, though couldn’t see into the center of the marina where even a large white bird could easily hide behind a boat and out of sight.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pelican was there all along, though I doubt that David and I overlooked it.  Instead I bet it was hanging out at the marina out of view when we were searching for it earlier in the week.  In any case, good thing that it stuck around for many to see it.

American White Pelican was #369 for me in NH, and my 36th state for this species which is prone to vagrancy across the US (see my statebird map below).

And now for a post-script –

At 3:30 in the afternoon of the 24th a (the?) White Pelican was spotted in Falmouth, ME – 50 miles (as the Pelican flies) northeast of New Castle.  The last eBird post of this bird in New Castle was at 11 AM on the 24th.  Was this the same bird, flying 50 miles to the northeast that day to return to the ME coast?  Or have there been 2 birds all along – one preferring the NH coast and a second bird that never left the southern ME coast?  The Pelican was not found in NH on the 25th, but one was seen in Portland, ME that morning, though just for a couple hours before flying out of sight.  So it’s looking more likely that it is indeed just one bird and not two.  Is it too late to ask for a chaseable Pelican in ME for Christmas?  Stay tuned…

MacGillivray’s Warbler, Odiorne Point State Park, First NH Record, September 2017

“Probably MacGillivray’s Warbler at Odiorne along east side of Boy Scout Trail” – that was the text that came across on Steve Mirick’s rare bird text chain.  Then a few minutes later I received this text – “DEFINITELY a MacGillivray’s Warbler”.  A first NH state record!  It was early Labor Day morning and I wanted to run right out of the house to give it a try.  But I had all day commitments at home and couldn’t break free. 

But what about tomorrow?  If it stuck around I could head out pre-dawn, and maybe even get back home before anyone was awake.  But that would be a big if.  Sometimes fall migrants stick around for a few days, but often they are one-day wonders.  The bird continued to be seen off and on into the early afternoon so that was good news.  And with southerly winds predicted overnight, perhaps the bird wouldn’t want to continue to migrate south.  That is if this western rarity even wanted to migrate south at all.  So I planned for an early trip to Odiorne Point State Park the next morning, optimistically hoping for the bird to continue at least into that next day.  Not surprisingly the MacGillivray’s had spent much of its time skulking in low vegetation, especially patches of goldenrod, right along the trail.  And most importantly, it was often quite vocal, giving series of sharp chip notes reminiscent of a Cardinal.  So I had a good idea where to look and what to listen for.

I arrived at Odiorne at about 7 AM and quickly headed to the beginning of the Boy Scout Trail as it’s called just off the southern tip of the parking lot.  As I arrived at the first patch of goldenrod I could see 3 other birds up ahead – they hadn’t had the bird but had just arrived.  It was a pretty chilly morning and likely this insect-eater’s food wouldn’t be active yet, so perhaps the target bird wouldn’t be moving around yet either.

I started to head back to the car to get a light jacket, and just as I neared the beginning of the trail I heard several sharp chip notes coming from the brush.  I stopped in my tracks, and listened intently – there it was again.  I got another birder on these chip notes, which soon became louder.  We both peered into the vegetation where they were coming from, but saw no movement.  Then it was silent.  I turned to the other birder and remarked that I thought that was the MacGillivray’s.  The birder I was with happened to have heard and seen the bird yesterday, and she agreed that those call notes sounded like what she had heard yesterday. 

So the bird was still around, but now I wanted a visual.  Unfortunately I had no other activity from the thicket for quite some time – no visuals or other chip notes.  It was now 8 AM and there were at least a dozen birders there with me searching for the bird.  But no one had any sightings.  Then I heard the sharp chip notes again, and got another birder on the calls.  We listened as the MacGillivray’s gave a series of 12-15 call notes from low in the goldenrod thicket.  Then it was quiet again.  The calls were coming from just 15 feet away but we saw no movement at all.  Very frustrating…  I stayed until about 8:45 when I had to head home, confident in the fact that I had heard the bird, but disappointed that I didn’t have a visual.

Later in the day there was one brief visual sighting of the MacGillivray’s from this area, and another sighting the next day as well.  And then amazingly the bird was re-sighted about a week later elsewhere in the park, a good half mile away!  Maybe it will stick around well into the fall.

MacGillivray’s Warbler was #364 for my NH list, joining MA as my only New England state for this rare western vagrant.  I’ve also seen this species throughout much of its regular western range in the US and Canada, though I still need it in AZ and MT as a regular breeder.  Not to mention I found one years ago as a rare spring migrant in ND.  (see my state and province maps below)