Connecticut Hoary Redpoll and Bullock's Oriole - January 2013

Back in December I made 2 unsuccessful attempts for a Bullock's Oriole that had been sporadically visiting a feeder in Ellington, CT.  But the oriole kept coming to the feeder, and with each post about the bird on the CT listserve, my interest in going after it kept increasing.  And then a couple Hoary Redpolls were reported in a big redpoll flock in Winchester, CT.  So that was more than enough to justify a trip to Connecticut to go after my first New England statebirds for 2013.  The oriole had apparently become a bit more reliable (though just barely) in the mid-late afternoon, so I decided to go for the redpolls in the morning, and then the oriole in the afteroon.

At mid-morning I arrived at the address for the redpolls - a birder's house who invited everyone to his backyard for close views.   But there were no birds of any type at the feeders.  I waited a few minutes and still no birds.  But in the distance I started to hear some redpoll call notes, and tracked them down in the general direction of a farm house across the road.  Soon I could tell that I had found the flock - there was a virtual cloud of redpolls flying around the backyard of the farmhouse, apparently visiting a feeder behind the house out of view - maybe 150 birds total.  The flock would occasionally fly into a tree behind the house, offering distant scope views.  At one point I picked out a very pale bird, and with all white undertail coverts, but my view wasn't the best.  A few minutes later they all took off and were milling around the area.  So I returned to the backyard of the first house in hopes that they would come there and provide close views.  But still no birds at all at the feeder (was there a Cooper's nearby?).  Again I heard the birds in the distance and watched them return to the farm house across the road.  A couple minutes later they took off and all landed at the top of a bare deciduous tree.  I scanned through the flock with binoculars and quickly picked out a very pale bird.  Then after putting the scope on it I was able to see most all the fieldmarks - white undertail coverts, pale back including broad white wingbars, white rump, and limited barring on the sides.  Even though it was too far away to see the shorter bill, I concluded this was a female Hoary. 

CT was my 5th New England state for Hoary Redpoll - I only need it in Maine.  Plus I have it in MD, WI, and NY as a rarity and on its breeding grounds in the tundra of AK.  Then again, recent studies published on the internet suggest that there is only one redpoll species afterall.  See - blog.aba.org/2013/01/open-mic-redpolls.html   But for now ABA counts 2 redpolls, so I will too.

With one down and one to go, I headed to Ellington to try for the oriole.  I arrived at 12:30 to start my vigil.  There were a fair number of sparrows and other feeder birds around, but no oriole.  All along I had been thinking that the oriole must be coming to one or more other feeders in the area - it couldn't just be living on food from an occasional visit at this one feeder.  But where were those other feeders?  The homeowner came out and mentioned that it had sometimes been associating with House Sparrows.  There had been quite a number of them coming to the feeder in each of my 3 visits there, but I had never seen an oriole with them.  At about 2:30, with no birds at all at the feeder, I was beginning to think I was going to get skunked again.  Then in the distance I heard some House Sparrow call notes, and since nothing was at this feeder, I decided to track them down.  It only took a couple minutes but I found another feeding station a short distance to the north in the backyard of a house.  In addition to the House Sparrows there must have been 50 other birds at the feeder.  Did I find that other feeder where the oriole was spending much of its time?  I really wanted to stay and watch for the oriole, but directly behind the feeders was the back of a house.  So not wanting to get arrested because someone thought I was peering into their windows, I reluctantly left and returned to the original feeding station.

When I returned there were a few sparrows at the feeder but not much else.  Then a few minutes later I got a brief glimpse of a bird drop in from above the house - it seemed bigger that a sparrow and reasonably pale - could it have been the oriole?  A minute later I got a glimpse of a larger bird on the ground a bit obscured by arborvitae bushes next to the feeder.  I got a 1-second view of the bird in my binocs and it was likely the oriole.  A bit later it was back on the ground and my 3-second view confirmed it was the target bird!  I only had one more view of the bird, and although this one was still brief, I got to see the bird well.  So after 9 hours of waiting over 3 trips, I finally saw the Bullock's Oriole, though only for 3 brief views that maybe totalled 10 seconds.  Good thing it wasn't a lifer.

I now have Bullock's in MA and CT in New England, plus as a winter feeder bird in PA.  And of course in a lot of western states in its normal range.