2012 Birding Year in Review

My 2012 birding year was once again pretty exciting, featuring 9 new ABA lifers, great results in New England, and 2 new ABA reportable states. 

By far the highlight of the birding year was a 2-week trip to Alaska, featuring extended stops in Anchorage, and my first ever trips to Nome and Barrow.  This tremendous trip featured seeing all 5 of my target life birds (Arctic Loon, Yellow Wagtail, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Bluethroat, and Spectacled Eider), and a number of rarities like Ivory Gull, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Slaty-backed Gull, and an amazing breeding plumaged white Ruff.  I was also able to get 42 new statebirds that gave me 209 for my Alaska statelist.  That’s nowhere near the ABA threshold of 253, but enough to let me join the Alaska 200 club.

My other successful trip to try for a lifer was to the Rio Grande Valley for the Golden-Crowned Warbler that was being seen at the Frontera Audubon Sanctuary.  I got the warbler within 10 minutes of arriving at Frontera, and spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the local specialties, including seeing what was likely the same Black-vented Oriole that I saw last year.  It was at a Bentsen SP feeding station which was loaded with birds like Green Jays and Altamira Orioles – I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say that I’ve seen enough Green Jays. 

On the downside, not all my trips were successful.  I went on 2 different 1-day trips specifically targeting reasonably reliable lifebirds which unfortunately decided to not cooperate for me.  The first was a Chaffinch coming to a feeder in NJ in January.  The second was the Falcated Duck in CA in February which was seen every day for 3 months except the day I was there and the day before.

My big statebirding trip in 2012 was a May trip to southern NV and southwest UT with my good birding friend David Donsker.  The southwest corner of UT has many desert species that you cannot get anywhere else in UT, so this is a must location for a UT statelister.  I added 31 new UT statebirds which put me safely over the ABA reportable threshold – my 40^th reportable state.  In NV I added 22 new statebirds, to give me 215.  That’s still pretty far from the 242 threshold, but that was only my 4^th trip to the state.  Our last day in NV featured an absolutely amazing fallout at the Corn Creek oasis north of Las Vegas.  In addition to huge numbers of many regular migrants we had several rarities including 1-2 Indigo Buntings, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Black-and-White Warbler, and a Hepatic Tanager.  We finished with 183 species for the entire trip.

Distant male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Cooperative Bendire's Thrasher - framed by Joshua Tree

I also had a number of shorter statebirding trips, typically a day or 2 added to a pre-planned business trip.  These included –

• Southeastern IA in March – I had only been to Iowa once before, and with a paltry statelist of 135 I had lots of potential.  I ended up with 109 species, 43 were new for my list.  Highlights included only my second ever Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Gray Partridges, and several rarities including a flock of White-winged Crossbills, and Thayer’s, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls on the Mississippi River.  The Great Black-back even flew into IL air space so I added it to both statelists.

• Reno, NV area in June – this was a part of the state that I’ve only barely birded, so again lots of target birds.  Although I only had a short day of birding in the area, I added 16 species to my list, including several that you can only get in this part of NV such as close-up looks (my best ever!) at Mountain Quail, White-headed Woodpecker, Williamson’s Sapsucker, and the colony of NV Tricolored Blackbirds.  Also had a visual on a Pygmy Owl (only my second seen bird).  With a statelist at 231, I’m only 11 away from reportable – maybe just 1 more NV trip to go?

• Southeastern Ontario in July – With a family trip to Buffalo, NY I decided to add a day of birding in Ontario.  My ON list was just 102, so adding 45 new species was not too surprising, though 13 species of shorebirds along the rocky shorelines of Lake Erie weren’t expected.

• Southeastern ID in September – I was just 19 short of reportable before my trip, even though I had birded ID for just 5 days.  My shorebird list was limited, so I spent a lot of time at mudflats though admittedly my trip was past the peak of shorebird migration.  I added 21 statebirds (8 of them shorebirds), making it my 41^st reportable state.  My 124 species included the South Hills race of the Red Crossbill – an endemic that may someday be determined to be a separate species.

• Southeastern NM in October – NM had been another state where I had done quite limited birding in the past with a statelist of only 162 before my trip.  I ended up with 109 species, including 35 new statebirds.  That’s still a long way from the ABA reportable threshold of 264, but getting closer.  Several of my statebirds were eastern species near the western limits of their ranges, including White-throated Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and Brown Thrasher.  At one location I had Eastern Phoebes interacting with a Black Phoebe – not too many places where that can happen.

On all my trips I received tremendous help from local birders.  Many thanks to all you out there you gave me great advice!  And I’ve really gotten into using eBird to help me find my targets – it’s a great resource.

And of course there’s my New England birding, where I continue on my long-term quest to reach 2,000 statebirds.  2012 was a good year for me with 37 ticks, giving me a total of 1,931.  Four of my New England statebird totals reached magic thresholds during the year –

• MA – reached exactly 400 – my 2^nd state of at least 400
• CT and RI – both reached 300 – 8^th and 9^th states with at least 300
• VT – reached 250

Perhaps my most satisfying new statebird was also a lifer – Red-billed Tropicbird off the coast of Maine.  That was my 4th try for this bird that had been coming to off-shore islands each year since 2006.  This trip required a ferry from the mainland and then a 12-mile trip in a lobster boat to reach Seal Island where we got excellent looks at this wayward bird. 

Another key highlight of the New England year was Superstorm Sandy and all the birds potentially blown off-course by the massive windfield of this storm.  Birds I added to my local statelists possibly brought in by Sandy included Lapwings and a Little Egret in MA, and White Pelican in CT.  

Im. Little Egret

Here’s the year by the numbers -

Lifebirds -

• 9 new ABA and 4 Lower 48 lifebirds –
• Golden-crowned Warbler – Frontera Audubon, TX
• Tropical Mockingbird at Sabine Woods in TX (hopefully the experts will conclude it is a countable bird)
• Arctic Loon, Yellow Wagtail, Bristle-thighed Curlew, and Bluethroat in Nome and Spectacled Eider in Barrow, AK
• Red-billed Tropicbird in ME
• Nanday Parakeet – seen in Tampa in June 2010 and recently added to the ABA list.
• ABA total now at 732, US at 724, and Lower 48 at 709

Statebirding (my statebird maps with totals for each state is inserted below) -

• Newly reportable in UT and ID
• ABA reportable now in 40 states plus DC  
• 260 statebirds added in 17 states, plus 45 more in Ontario
• 37 new statebirds in New England – 1931 total ticks now in New England
• Total Ticks – now at 12,413, with 12,183 of those in the U.S.
• Added state birds in DC (including finding a rarity – White Ibis) to put a bit more room between my total and the threshold

Statebirding will continue to be my priority in 2013.  I’ll be pursuing my lifelong goal of being reportable in all 50 states plus DC – 10 more to go!  I also need to continue to add statebirds in states where I’m just a bit over the ABA threshold since those thresholds continue to inch up over the years.  I have 12 states where although reportable, my total is less than 10 over the threshold, so not very safe.  Chasing after New England statebirds will continue, though they get harder and require more chasing each year.  My goal is to get to 2,000 – with just 69 to go I’m hoping to be just 3 years away from my reaching my target.  Of course I’ll still chase after lifebirds where feasible. 

As for potential 2013 trips - I have a trip planned for AZ in January where my lifebird targets are the returning Nutting’s Flycatcher and the newly ABA-reportable Rosy-faced Lovebirds.  For my big statebirding trip I’m tentatively planning a June trip to southwest ID, northeast NV, eastern OR, and eastern WA.  If all goes well after the trip I could be reportable in NV and OR, and have a lot of room between my totals and the ABA thresholds for WA and ID.  Then there are my regular business trips to various spots around the country, with hoped-for trips into NM, KS, and OK.  Hopefully 2013 will be just as exciting as 2012!