Wilson’s Warbler, Cottonwood Trail, Spartanburg, SC, May 8, 2021

Wilson’s Warbler was a target of mine for both my NC and SC state lists when I moved to western NC.  I was lucky enough to find this rare but regular migrant in western NC in May 2020, plus had a most unexpected Wilson’s at my feeding station for several visits in December 2020 – the first December records for this species in Henderson County, NC.

But my Wilson’s Warbler luck wasn’t nearly as good in SC.  I was unsuccessful chasing after one seen at the Parkway Retention Pond in Greenville in May 2020.  And wasn’t able to find any on my own despite numerous trips to the Upstate during warbler migration seasons.  And then came a report from my friend Michael Robertson that he had found a singing Wilson’s at the Cottonwood Trail site in Spartanburg on May 7, 2021.  I couldn’t chase after it that day, and had other birding plans with Gary Harbour for the following day.  But going after a statebird was more important, plus it would be a lifebird for Gary.  So it was easy enough to talk Gary into going with me to Cottonwood Trail the next morning to give it a try.  Though I’m always worried that a spring migrant will only be around for one day as it hurries on to its eventual breeding area.  (Michael had also found the Wilson’s I chased after the previous year at the Parkway Retention Pond – I hoped my luck would be better this time.)

Gary and I arrived bright and early on the 8th and went right to the area where Michael had seen it the previous day – a brushy area near an old defunct metal tower near the footbridge over the river.  We watched and listened for a while at this spot with no luck.  So we expanded our search area to cover a few nearby brushy areas but still came up empty.  I was starting to have that sinking feeling again – yet another unsuccessful search for a Spring migrant that hadn’t stuck around. 

But then again, the wetlands at the site was surrounded by low wet brushy habitat that would be ideal for a Wilson’s.  So we decided to head out the elevated boardwalk into the marsh to cover other possible sites.  That’s when we started to hear a Canada Warbler a short distance away – that’s a pretty uncommon bird as well but not our target.  I often find migrant Canadas in the same type of wet brushy habitat as Wilson’s so maybe we were on to something.  And then practically right next to the Canada we heard the distinct trilling song of the Wilson’s Warbler – the first trill was higher and the second was lower, faster and shorter in length.  The bird continued to sing off and on for an hour along the brushy edges of the marsh, though without giving us any views (despite being no more than 20 feet away at times).  And then we finally got a visual of the bird surprisingly singing higher in the mature deciduous trees overhead - all yellow below, black cap, no white in the tail, no barring, greenish-yellow above, and no wingbars.  Great to actually be able to see such a handsome bird!

Wilson’s Warbler was #286 for my SC state list.  In my statebird map below the blue shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; the cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it.  Although Wilson’s Warbler is a wide-ranging species, it is decidedly less common in the east, which is certainly borne out in my statebird map with all the cross-hatched states in the east.

Eastern Road Trip Nets Three Rare Nesters for the Carolinas, May 17, 2020

In February I noticed an eBird report of a Barn Owl to my east in Lattimore, NC.  That’s one I need for my NC list, so at first I was disappointed that the specific location for the bird was not provided.  But then again it’s best not to include locations of roosting or nesting owls to protect them from too much harassment.  Then in early Spring I met birder Bill Hooker from Cleveland County who had mentioned he had stakeout locations for Barn Owls.  Lo and behold he was the eBirder that reported one back in February.  He invited me to come visit one day to give it a try, though he stressed that perhaps I had just a 50/50 chance to see the Owls on any trip. 

I decided I’d wait until the Spring migration season was over to make the road trip to look for the Barn Owls.  So as migration was winding down I started to make my plans to visit Bill.  And while monitoring eBird I noticed reports of two rare breeders just a short distance southeast of me in the Upstate of SC – Dickcissel, and no less than 2 pairs of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Perhaps I could make it into one longer trip, first into SC then a bit farther east into Cleveland County, NC.  But wait there’s more…  Two days before my trip a Wilson’s Warbler was spotted by my SC birding friend Michael Robertson in Greenville, SC, close to the Dickcissel and Flycatcher locations.  The Wilson’s was re-spotted the day before my trip, so now I had 4 targets.  The plan was to start with the Wilson’s, then off to try for the Dickcissels, then on to 1 or both Flycatcher spots, and then finally try for the Owls in the afternoon.

The Wilson’s Warbler was seen at a small hotspot in the Greenville suburbs called the Parkway Retention Pond.  Not only did it of course include a retention pond but also a trail at the edge of brushy woods along the back edge which is where the Wilson’s had been spotted.  Actually based on eBird photos it looked like there were at least 2 birds – both a female and a male had been photographed there.  I arrived by 7:30 and started slowly walking along the short trail.  The spot was rather birdy, but I could find no warblers at all.  It was now 9 AM which was my planned departure time, but it was tough to leave my first target of the day after an unsuccessful search.  I wanted to have enough time for my other targets, but what if I ended up getting the others quickly?  I would end up kicking myself for not having spent enough time trying for the Wilson’s.  However, given that the retention pond was pretty small, I felt like I had covered it quite well even in just 90 minutes.  So I stuck with my original plans and left at 9 AM.  It turns out that the Wilson’s were not re-found; I guess I made the right decision to not extend my search for the Warblers.

The next targets were the Dickcissels.  Per the National Geographic Field Guide, Dickcissels are “irregular east of the Appalachians; occasional breeding is reported outside mapped range.”  That was certainly the case in the Upstate of SC where Dickcissels were recent breeders in several locations.  There were several reports of likely breeding birds down in Anderson County, but the closest reliable location (just 15 minutes from the retention pond) appeared to be on Snow Mill Drive in Woodruff, with eBird reports dating back to 2018.  After the short drive I was now really close to Snow Mill, and as I pulled up to a stop sign I heard the characteristic song of the Dickcissel.  (Of course I was driving with my windows open listening for birdsong!)  But wait – I wasn’t at Snow Mill Drive yet.  I parked safely and looked at the map – I was still a quarter mile from Snow Mill.  I got out and walked toward the singing bird, nicely perched in a small roadside tree adjacent to a hayfield.  I got this barely passable photo holding my phone up to my binocs.  

As I tried for a better photo another bird flew into that same tree – it was a female Dickcissel.  And then I heard a second Dickcissel singing a short distance away.  Nice to find a new location for Dickcissel, though there was one reported from this location back in 2018 by another of my SC birding friends Gary Harbour.

Then again perhaps the Snow Mill birds had relocated to this spot.  After a quick “high-five” I drove a short distance to Snow Mill and almost instantly heard a Dickcissel there as well.  I only spent a few minutes here, but heard at least 2 singing males.  I also heard Bobwhites here – a bird I haven’t heard in years as they have become extirpated in New England (where I’ve done much of my birding recently) and their numbers have dropped dramatically even in more southern locations.  I also had a Bobolink here which is not supposed to be breeding this far south.  Perhaps it was a last holdout from a large likely migrating flock that was reported here recently.  And along with typical grassland birds like 8 Grasshopper Sparrows, 2 Meadowlarks, and 2 Blue Grosbeaks, it was a great stop!

Dickcissel was #266 for my SC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Dickcissel in its regular range; the cross-hatched states are those where I still need this species.  The tan-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species as a rarity, at least based on Sibley’s range maps.  Those maps indicate that Dickcissel is a regular winterer on the Mid-Atlantic coast, but a rarity in a number of others in the east and northeast.  Though some might argue that Dickcissel is regular in many of these locations, including SC.

With Dickcissel nicely checked-off, it was time to try for Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Amazingly there were not 1 but 2 pairs of Scissor-tails in northwestern SC this year.  Plus 4 birds likely nesting near Rock Hill.  One pair in Cherokee County to the east had already started nesting in the same location where nesting occurred last year.  A second closer pair was more recently discovered in Spartanburg County along Thompson Creek Drive near the town of Boiling Springs, though many eBirders commented on having just brief views of the bird(s).  Although this was a new location, last year they nested just a short distance away, so perhaps this was the same pair returning to the general area.  The Cherokee County birds were likely more reliable since a nest had been located.  But then again, that was on private property and viewing was apparently from a considerable distance.  Since I was now ahead of schedule I figured I could first try for the closer albeit perhaps less reliable birds, and then if I struck out there, I could try for the more eastern birds.  And both stops would require just short side-trips in route to Lattimore, NC to try for the Barn Owls.

After a short drive I pulled onto Thompson Creek Drive and quickly located the single house on the road - a couple posts mentioned the Flycatchers were perching on wires opposite that house.  I stopped a short distance away so as not to disturb any birds that might be near the house.  And with a quick binocular view there was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher perched on the wires opposite the house, just as described in recent posts.  And perhaps just a minute later the bird flew to tall trees surrounding the house and disappeared.  I was hoping for better views, so I drove to the other side of the house and started to search from there.  I noticed some movement in the field to the west and spotted both Flycatchers flying to and from the treelines.  And then watched the birds fly to the cell tower and the chain-link fence surrounding the tower.  They would often go to the same area part-way up the tower – wonder if that might become a future nesting site.  I got these phonescoped photos of one of the birds on two of its favorite perches.

And while watching the Flycatchers this Grasshopper Sparrow perched up most cooperatively.

I texted Michael Robertson about my success with my last 2 targets, and he responded with a quote from Meat Loaf – “two out of three ain’t bad”.  So true, especially since the Wilson’s Warbler was a long shot at best.

In my statebird map below I’ve seen Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in all its regular south-central breeding states, and less common wintering state of FL, plus now 5 eastern states as a rarity. 

Now with Scissor-tailed Flycatcher added to my SC stateliest as #267, I didn’t need to look for the pair in Cherokee County.  So it was off to meet up with Bill Hooker and his wife Anita to try for their Barn Owls.  After crossing the stateline into NC and driving through similar agricultural areas I couldn’t help but wonder why there were no breeding Dickcissels and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers nearby in my home state.  The nearest Dickcissels were east of Charlotte nearly 2 hours away.  And there were no Scissor-tails, at all.  Though after my trip, on May 23rd, there was a tantalizing report of a flyby bird in Cleveland County.  Hmmm…

Just after lunchtime I met up with Bill and Anita in “downtown” Lattimore.  They described how they had found Barn Owls for a number of years in various former agricultural buildings scattered throughout the area.  Though they once again stressed that the birds might only be found on half their trips.  We hopped in our cars and I followed them to our first stop west of Lattimore.  We pulled up to an old building where a couple months ago a birder was able to find many fresh owl pellets though no birds.  We walked slowly around the perimeter, trying to peer into any opening we could find, but didn’t happen on any Owls.  Nor did we find any fresh pellets.  Perhaps the Owls were no longer using this building to roost.

Next we headed off to the north near Polkville to another former agricultural building.  A birder had recently found 2 Barn Owls at this location so we were hopeful.  First we sized up the building – seeing a couple likely openings where Owls might come and go.  Then we poked our heads into one open window without any luck.  We continued around the side of the building and noticed a pair of doors that could be opened.  So I headed over to start to slide one of the doors open.  Just then Bill yelled that he had an Owl flying away from the building.  We all quickly looked over and there was a Barn Owl flying from the building to the nearby trees.  And just after it landed a second Owl flew from one nearby tree to another tree – that one must has flown from the building a bit earlier and we hadn’t noticed it.  I wouldn’t have seen the birds at all if I had been there on my own.  Thanks Bill and Anita for all your help!

Barn Owl was #296 for my NC list.  And NC is my 25th state for this quite common species, though often a challenging one to locate.

If Meat Loaf thought that “two out of three ain’t bad”, then three out of four must be pretty darn good!

Missed My Two Target Birds But Still Got a Statebird, Biltmore Estate, NC, May 13, 2020

The local Blue Ridge Birders text group had been abuzz reporting on good numbers of migrants at the Biltmore Estate, highlighted by a report from Aaron Steed of 85 species in just 4 hours.  Interestingly, this came at a time when migration had slowed in my yard.  Then early on the May 13th came a report of an Olive-sided Flycatcher there, with very specific information on the location.  Since things were slow in my yard, and most importantly since I had an annual pass for the Biltmore, I decided to give it a try.  Though first I had to make a reservation to access the grounds, and luckily there were openings for the very next hour.  And just before I hit the road I got directions to the Black-billed Cuckoo spotted there the previous day.  Both birds had been spotted close to the Lagoon, so with a bit of luck I could possibly come up with 2 possible statebird targets in the same general area.

I arrived at the Lagoon within an hour of the sighting of the Olive-sided, and joined several other birders already on site.  And we soon found the exposed perches where the bird had been spotted on an island in the river.  But unfortunately there was no Flycatcher, as least not right now.  There were plenty of potential perches and habitat in the area, so after a couple minutes we decided to split up and cover more area up and down the river.  I decided to head down river toward yesterday’s Cuckoo location – maybe I could run into both birds.  How lucky would that be?

Just a few minutes later I got a text that the Olive-sided had returned to its original perches on the island.  Although I instantly started to run back to the Olive-sided, it took a lot longer than I had expected – I had covered at lot of territory.  I finally made it back to the island, but unfortunately the bird had just left a few seconds earlier.  Alas, the Cuckoo search took me too far away from the Olive-sided spot and cost me the Flycatcher.  As Maxwell Smart used to say – “Missed it by that much.”  (And by the way, I never even made it to the location where the Cuckoo was seen the previous day.)  Ugh…

The good news was the bird was still around, and it certainly had preferred perches.  So I decided to just stay at the island to wait for the bird to return.  About an hour later I received a text that a Wilson’s Warbler had just been spotted near the other end of the Lagoon, within just a couple hundred yards from where I waited for the Flycatcher to return.  I needed the Warbler for my statelist as well, and started to wonder if I should give up on the Flycatcher to try for the Warbler.  There had been no sightings of the Flycatcher in an hour, and the Warbler had just been spotted.  But I decided to stick with the Flycatcher search as it was the rarer of the two.

My vigil was now going on 2 hours still with no sightings.  And just then I spotted a large dark flycatcher flying across the river, leaving the Biltmore side roughly even with the island.  I followed it in my binocs as it continued across the river and land in a tree on the far side.  It was pretty far away – roughly 500 feet – and I couldn’t be sure of the ID.  It was large and darker above, and it could well have been the Olive-sided.  Though I couldn’t eliminate Phoebe.  Then again no one had spotted a Phoebe in the area.  And I would think that if a Phoebe had been nearby I would have heard it calling before its flight across the river.  A maybe – but not definitive.

At 2 PM I finally threw in the towel on the Olive-sided after a 3-hour wait.  I had not only missed the 2 previously reported targets (1 by less than a minute), but also hadn’t chased after the Wilson’s Warbler.  On a whim I decided to head back to the area where the Warbler was reported, even though it had been 2 hours since I had received the text.  On the way I ran into Bob Butler who said he just had a female Wilson’s at the original location.  With renewed optimism I went to the spot where Bob had his bird but could only find Redstarts.  Once again dejected, but undeterred, I walked a bit further along the river’s edge in nice brushy wet habitat and spotted a glimpse of yellow.  A second later I had a male Wilson’s Warbler in my binocs! 

Wilson’s Warbler was #294 for my NC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular though I’ve yet to see it.  I still need this species in a number of eastern states, as it is much more common in the west.

I briefly thought about returning to the favored perches of the Olive-sided, but decided I had given that one enough of a try.  I may have missed my initial key targets, but at least I was still able to find one new unexpected statebird.  It was a bittersweet trip, though I can only imagine how I would have felt if I hadn’t been able to re-find the Wilson’s Warbler.

Least Bittern – a Rarity in Western North Carolina, May 11, 2020

Early morning on May 11th I received a text from the local western NC text group that a Least Bittern had been found at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary in Asheville by Aaron Steed.  Then a couple minutes later another text came across – there was a Wilson’s Warbler there too.  I need both birds for my NC state list.  Plus Least Bittern is quite a rarity locally.  So minutes later I was out the door and heading to Beaver Lake.

I arrived at the park within an hour of the initial sighting, and soon was at the South Overlook as suggested in the text.  There was another birder already there, though the bird had not been seen since that first sighting.  On a positive note, he had gotten the specific details on the location from Aaron – the Bittern was seen among the vegetation at the edge of the creek just a short distance away.  There seemed to be pretty limited habitat for a Bittern, so I was hopeful that it didn’t go far.  But the vegetation that was there was pretty thick and more than enough for an elusive Bittern to hide in.  Ever the optimist, I started my vigil scanning the vegetation waiting for the Bittern to reappear.

It had been about 30 minutes since I started my search, and there were now 3 or 4 other birders on site.  The most excitement we had was when a Green Heron flew into that same area of the creek.  For a second or two we thought that we had the Bittern, but it was certainly not its smaller, browner cousin.  A couple minutes later the Green Heron flew off behind the creek and disappeared behind a tree line.  Was there a larger marsh back there out of view?  Could that mean there was a lot more habitat for the Bittern to be foraging in?  I briefly thought about changing my search to look for the Wilson’s Warbler, but realized I should maintain my focus on the much rarer target instead.

I now repositioned myself a short distance away to the North Overlook, getting me closer to the creek and giving me a different set of angles into the creek edge.  Other birders walked a short distance up the creek to get different views as well.  And just then I heard local birder Jay Wherley say that he had the bird.  Within seconds I was about 20 feet farther up the creek peering into the thickets.  After some anxious moments I finally noticed the tawny brown and yellow colors of the target Least Bittern, just a few feet away but mostly obscured by the vegetation.  I got this barely passable phonescoped photo of the bird as it perched motionless in the brush.  Just a minute later the bird had disappeared back in the vegetation – we got the bird just in time.

Least Bittern was #293 for my NC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular though I’ve yet to see it.  And the 2 tan states, NV and NH, are those where I’ve seen Least Bittern as a rarity.  In both states it wasn’t my first time searching for this elusive species – I remember those searches well! 

With a bit of research I found only 6 previous eBird records of Least Bittern in western NC, with several of these records going back to the 1980’s.  It sure was quite a local rarity. 

After a bit of well-deserved celebration, I started my search for the Wilson’s Warbler.  Almost the entire park has low wet habitat which is ideal for this species so I was hopeful.  But despite 3 hours slowly wandering through this small park looking and listening for the bird, I came up empty.  I’m sure glad I maintained my focus on the key goal - the Least Bittern.

Wilson’s Warbler, Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI, May 2015

Wilson’s Warblers were being reported almost every day in mid-May from Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.  Although a key target of mine, and one I missed by just a few hours the week before, my work commitments prevented me from getting to Swan Point to try for it.  Finally I had an upcoming morning free, so I planned to get there soon after dawn that day to see what kinds of migrants had arrived overnight.  Unfortunately, the weather the night before my planned trip was not very conducive for migration - cool with light northwest winds.  Undeterred, I decided to give it a try anyway.

I met up with a birding friend at 7, and we headed to the southern part of the cemetery.  This area is a bit wetter and brushier than most of the rest of the cemetery, so more likely to harbor a Wilson’s Warbler if one was around.  Birding started pretty slow with just a few late migrants here and there.  But then we found an area with a little more song so we decided to stick with this spot for a while.  There were several Redstarts, a Magnolia, a few Blackpolls, and a Parula as migrants, along with the ever-present Yellow Warblers.  Then I heard a distant trill – could it have been a Wilson’s?  I took a few steps in that direction and it sang again – it was indeed a Wilson’s Warbler!  Unfortunately it never sang again, but good enough to check it off.

Wilson’s Warbler was number 322 for me in RI, and the 236th species I’ve seen in each of the 6 New England states.  My statebird map below shows that I’ve seen it throughout most of the country, with the obvious exception being the southeast where it is less common.

Wilson’s warbler 2 map

Wilson’s and Mourning Warblers, East Rock Park, Hamden, CT, May 2015

An upcoming short business trip to western CT was a bit too far away from home to go down and back in the same day.  So with a hotel stay required, I started to think about whether I could squeeze in a little local CT birding time not too far from the site.  I need several not-so-rare migrant passerines for my CT list, so there could certainly be some possibilities.  The day before the trip two of my targets, Wilson’s Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher, were seen at East Rock Park in Hamden, CT.  It wasn’t too far from my project site, so I figured I could squeeze in a couple hours birding there in the evening.  I had never been to the park, but got some excellent directions from some local birders, and made a plan to go there the next day.

But migration was very limited the next day, and there were no reports of Wilson’s or Olive-sided.  Do I rethink my plans?  But later in the morning came a report of a third CT target, Mourning Warbler, also at East Rock Park.  It was seen a few times during the day in a thicket below the Trowbridge stone bridge, but it was a real skulker and only gave brief and infrequent views.  So I kept with my original plans though of course my target bird changed.   

I arrived at about 5 PM and quickly found the stone bridge and the thicket beneath it.  But other than a pair of Redstarts and a Magnolia Warbler, the area was extremely quiet.  I made my way down to the thicket and spent the next 90 minutes patiently waiting for the Mourning to reappear, but to no avail.  At times I thought about heading to other places in the park where Wilson’s had been seen the day before.  But since there were no Wilson’s reported in the park that day, I figured it was best to just keep waiting at this spot for my only real possible target bird.

It was 6:30 when I heard a few chip notes in the brush a short distance to the east.  I went over to investigate and found a small warbler flock with 1 each of Black-throated Blue, Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, and Black-and-white.  Then in the distance I heard a two-part trill – slower initially then stronger and faster at the end.  It sang a couple more times, and I moved closer to try to hear it better.  I pulled up the Wilson’s Warbler song on my app and it was a near-perfect match for a couple of the songs.  It continued to sing over the next 10 minutes.  That sure was unexpected. 

I returned to the thicket where the Mourning had been seen and saw some movement in the low branches – but it just turned out to be the same female Yellowthroat I had seen earlier.  But then there was a bit more movement a couple feet from the Yellowthroat.  I never saw the bird, so just assumed it was one of the other warblers I found a few minutes earlier.  A minute later I saw some more movement and then a bird flew across the trail.  I saw a flash of yellow in the short glimpse I had – could it be the Mourning?  I continued to see movement in the brush and peered through the foliage getting only tiny glimpses of parts of the bird – first I saw a yellow belly, then a greenish back, then a dark upper chest with a darker line as a demarcation from the yellow.  Although I only saw the bird for maybe 3-4 seconds, and never saw the whole bird at one time, it was the male Mourning Warbler.  Interestingly, the Yellowthroat popped into the open a few seconds later and gave good views.  Why couldn’t the Mourning have been that cooperative?

Wilson’s and Mourning Warblers were #317 and #318 for my CT list.  I’ve now seen Wilson’s in 35 states, with the biggest gaps coming in the southeast states - it's a much more common species out West.  (see my statebird map below)

By comparison I’ve only seen Mourning Warbler in 15 states – in 7 states as a breeder and 8 states as a migrant.

And I now have 2,002 statebirds in New England.

Four Statebirds in Louisiana, Reportable Plus 15, September, 2014

The old ABA state reporting thresholds were calculated as half the total number of species ever recorded in that state.  Those thresholds would slowly inch up over time as new birds were added to statelists.  At least the thresholds used to increase, since the ABA no longer publishes these thresholds.  As a result, to stay comfortably over what would be newly calculated thresholds, I’ve revised my statelisting goals to be at least 15 over the old thresholds.  In other words, as long as less than 30 new birds are added to a given state’s list, my “Reportable Plus 15” goal would keep me above newly calculated thresholds. 

My LA statelist has been over the old ABA reporting threshold for some time, but was only 11 birds over the old threshold.  That meant I needed 4 more to reach my Reportable Plus 15 goal.  My biggest opportunities for new statebirds in LA are migrant passerines and freshwater shorebirds, so a short trip in spring or fall migration could be pretty fruitful.  I had been thinking about a migrant trip in LA for some time, but had never gotten around to it.  Then with a business trip to Houston coming up in September, I decided to add a vacation day and do some birding in southwestern LA, one of my favorite birding areas, in hopes of finally getting some nice migrants.  I contacted my LA birding friend Marty Guidry who knows that part of the state like the back of his hand, and he came up with an itinerary to hit a number of passerine and shorebird hotspots.  Better than that, Marty was available to join me and show me around.

The day was forecasted to be hot and humid, so I was mentally prepared for the 75 degree dewpoint when I stepped out of my hotel room pre-dawn that morning.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the horde of biting insects at our first stop at Sabine NWR.  Although the DEET kept the mosquitoes from biting it had no effect on the deer flies.  We had hoped for Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at this dawn stop, but after just a few minutes we decided to head to our next spot and hopefully less bugs. 

Next we headed to the coast to check out a recent report of two of my targets, Barn Owl and Chuck-will’s-widow, in a patch of woods.  But the directions were not very specific, so we checked out a couple spots before stopping at a homestead surrounded by live oaks.  As we pulled up we flushed a large owl, which got us excited initially, but just turned out to be a Great Horned.  A few seconds later I noticed some movement in the trees and found a female Wilson’s Warbler – statebird #1.  Our first migrant passerine was a new statebird.  If only it continued to be that easy the rest of the day.

In my statebird map for Wilson’s Warbler I’ve seen it throughout the west, but in far fewer states in the east and especially in the southeast where it is less common.

Next stop was Peveto Woods which is well known as a migrant hotspot.  As we got out of the car we were instantly attacked by a swarm of deer flies.  Then the mosquitoes found us.  We could have probably coped with all the biting flies if we were seeing a good number of birds, but instead the woods were dead.  We had exactly 2 migrants – a Redstart and a Magnolia Warbler.  Although we might have found something else if we decided to stay longer, once again the flies caused us to retreat to the car after a short stop.

Our next several stops were along the coast at the southwest corner of the state to try for migrant shorebirds and maybe some passerines.  However, we were not successful on either accord.  The highlight though was an aerial display of a Caracara and Peregrine Falcon chasing each other low over the trees. 

It was almost lunch time and my new statebird total was stuck at a disappointing 1.  After a quick burger, we headed to East Jetty Beach in Cameron to try for Snowy Plover.  There were quite a number of shorebirds, terns, gulls and pelicans on the beach to scan through.  Eventually I found 1 very distant very pale plover that Marty and I both felt was a Snowy.  Statebird #2.  I’ve now seen Snowy Plover in most of its regular coastal states (just missing it in MS), and also in 6 states where it is an inland nester.

 

Marty then took me to several more islands of woods where he’s had good number of passerine migrants in the past.  But we kept striking out on the migrants.  At least the flies weren’t a problem anymore.  At one spot we were walking through the woods a short distance apart and I heard an odd sound of something flying overhead towards where Marty was.  I didn’t see it through the tree canopy, but it sort of sounded like muffled bird’s wings.  A few seconds later Marty yelled over that he just had a Barn Owl fly in, and then fly back my way.  Again I didn’t see the bird – ugh – missed it a second time.  But soon we heard several Blue Jays calling loudly nearby.  Thinking that maybe they were attacking the owl, we tracked down the Jays and sure enough there was the Barn Owl.  Statebird #3.  My statebird map for Barn Owl is really spotty – I’ve mostly only found this species when a local birder knows of a stakeout location.

Our last stop was back at the Wetland Walkway at Sabine NWR, where the flies had been so bad at dawn.  This time they were bearable, and we made a quick loop around the walkway.  As we neared the wooden observation platform I noticed a flycatcher fly up to the railing – a male Vermilion Flycatcher!  A very nice bird, and certainly the rarest thing we saw all day, but I didn’t need it for LA.  We scanned the open water for whistling ducks but with no success.  As we continued around the loop I tried playing some tape for Virginia Rail, another of my targets, whenever we got near patches of cattails.  Several times I got responses from King Rails giving their slow and low pitched grunt calls.  And then finally I heard two responses that were faster and higher – Virginia Rails.  Statebird #4.  I’ve had this common marsh bird in most states, but still have some gaps to fill in the eastern US.

With 4 new statebirds that gives me 251 in LA and puts me 15 over the old ABA threshold for LA – Reportable Plus 15!  LA is my 32^nd state with at least 15 over threshold, and have 13 more that are at least at the threshold though not 15 over.  With a little research I found that the LA statelist as of March 2014was 479.  That would yield a threshold of 239.5, up from 236 in the last ABA report in 2010.  That means I’m 11 ½ over what would be the present threshold.  So I’m safe until there are 23 new birds added to the LA statelist.