2013 Birding Year in Review

2013 was once again an exciting birding year, featuring 7 new ABA lifers (8 for my Lower 48 List), 2 new ABA reportable states plus several others safely over the reporting threshold, and another year closer to my goal of 2,000 in New England. 

The first birding adventure of the year was a short trip to southern AZ in January with birding friend Denny Abbott to pursue two lifebirds - newly countable Rosy-faced Lovebird and a returning Nutting’s Flycatcher.  We were successful on both targets with great views of these lifers.  We also spent some time statebirding principally on Arizona’s “West Coast” (aka the Colorado River), finding 17 statebirds.  That put my AZ state list up to 292, finally putting me safely above the ABA threshold of 270.

My big statebirding trip in 2013 wasn’t a trip out west as in previous years, but instead a Midwest trip to MI, OH, IN, and Ontario.  The primary objective of the trip was to see Kirtland’s Warbler in MI – a bird which was only on my lifelist based on a supposed heard-only bird more than 40 years ago.  And of course I also wanted to do some statebirding in each location.  Although I was already reportable in IN and OH, my lists were only a few over the old ABA thresholds, so I wanted to add enough to get to at least 15 above threshold.  And my ON list was only 147, so lots of potential there.  I ended up with 194 species on the trip, including - nother state where I had considerable success in 2013 was CA.  I travel to CA regularly for business, and with just a couple hours free for birding on 4 different trips, I added 13 new statebirds.  But more importantly, 4 of these were new lifers –

• MI - the Kirtland’s actually turned out to be quite easy – I saw 3 birds and heard nearly a dozen others at 3 locations.  This species is really making a comeback.  Plus I added 8 statebirds raising my MI state list to 240 and 24 over threshold
• OH – although migration at Magee Marsh was slow, I added 12 statebirds giving me 226 total and 15 over threshold
• IN - added 16 giving me a statelist of 232 and 24 over threshold
• ON - despite very slow migration at Point Pelee I added 34 to my province list giving me 181 – still a long way from the 240 threshold

Despite the obvious success on the trip, I still like western birding trips better.

 

Another focus in 2013 was to work on my NM list, with trips to northcentral NM in March and July, and a brief visit to the southeast corner in May.  The March trip was principally for wintering birds including the Rosy Finches at Sandia Crest.  I not only found all 3 Rosy Finches but also local targets like Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, and Three-toed Woodpecker among my 35 new statebirds.  During my May trip I was lucky enough to experience a spectacular migrant fallout at multiple desert hotspots, finding a number of eastern rarities like White-eyed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Northern Waterthrush, Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, and several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  In my roughly 5 hours of birding I saw 88 species, 20 of which were new for my NM statelist.  What a day!  And lastly my July trip was planned for summering birds in northern NM.  But as the trip neared, a Rufous-necked Wood-Rail was spotted in southern NM at Bosque del Apache NWR.  Of course I extended my trip to try for this mega rarity, but alas, I was there the first 2 days it wasn’t seen.  Despite that disappointment, I still added 31 birds to my NM statelist on this trip, which gave me 283 for the state and 19 over the ABA reporting threshold.  NM was my 42^nd reportable state.  I posted all my 2013 NM trips on e-bird totaling 201 species.

NM hummingbird feeder

I also took a 4-day trip to the western tip of the OK panhandle and southwest KS as an add-on to a business trip.  Both locations are well-known as having local populations of a number of western species not likely to be seen elsewhere in those states.  Plus I took the trip in September to coincide with fall migration to hopefully add even more statebird potential.  Heading into the trip I was just 3 short of reportable in OK, and just 1 over reportable in KS, so my goals were to not only reach the threshold in OK, but get at least 15 over threshold in each state.  The trip was amazing – not only was I successful in finding most of the local specialties, but also had a number of migrants including several rarities.  The highlight was a very high number of both eastern and western Empidonax flycatchers – there were more Empids than warblers at most sites.  At one point I had a Cordilleran, a Dusky, and a Hammond’s in one binocular field!  Other rarities included Broad-tailed Hummingbird in OK as one of 5 species of hummers for an area with no breeders.  This was all despite very rainy conditions in what is typically an arid part of the country.  In OK I had 102 total species, 31 of which were statebirds giving me 265 for my OK statelist and 28 over threshold; OK is now my 43^rd reportable state.  In KS I was accompanied by 3 KS birders who had birded the area extensively, and together we found 115 species including 26 new statebirds.  That gives me 263 for my statelist and of course well over the ABA reportable threshold. 

One of the KS stops was a location called Point of Rocks which was a prominent landmark in the 1800’s for the travelers on the Santa Fe Trail (and good for Rock Wrens and Poor-wills).  Looking down today from the top of the point, you can still see the tracks used by those wagon wheels even after all those years.  Pretty awesome.  As are the views of the cottonwoods in the Cimarron River valley as far as you can see.  Although the river is typically dry, some small pools remained after the big late summer rains that occurred in the area that year.

Santa Fe trail still visible from Point of Rocks

Cottonwoods along the Cimarron River to the horizon

Another state where I had considerable success in 2013 was CA.  I travel to CA regularly for business, and with just a couple hours free for birding on 4 different trips, I added 13 new statebirds.  But more importantly, 4 of these were new lifers –

• Bell’s Sparrow – newly split species outside Los Angeles
• Arctic Loon (new for Lower 48) outside Los Angeles
• Blue-footed Booby - north of San Francisco
• Nutmeg Mannikin – newly countable population in Los Angeles

(I also had Belding’s Sparrow in LA – wonder if that one will be split from Savannah  some day)

Not bad for such a short amount of time.

2013 also featured some very brief but most productive side-trips to business or family trips, including -

• TX – with a quick trip to the Rio Grande Valley I was able to add Amazon Kingfisher as a lifebird
• CO – 6 new statebirds in January including a rare Iceland Gull, and 3 migrants in a brief stop after my OK/KS trip
• LA – an impromptu trip to the southwest corner of the state gave me 5 new statebirds, putting me 11 over the threshold – but still too close
• NY – 2 statebirds in my first time birding in Central Park

On all my trips I received tremendous help from local birders.  Many thanks to all you out there you gave me great advice! 

And of course there’s my New England birding, where I continue on my long-term quest to reach 2,000 statebirds.  2013 was a pretty slow year for me with just 23 ticks tying my lowest total since I moved to New England in 1993.  My low 2013 total was partly due to bad timing on my part (I was in OH when the Ringed Plover showed up in MA), more than a typical number of missed stakeout birds, and a lower than normal number of rarities in the region.  Plus of course as my numbers go up there are less new birds to chase.  Nevertheless, I did get a life bird in MA this year – Fieldfare.  My New England total is now 1,954, just 46 short of my goal.  Hopefully I’ll reach the magic 2,000 in 2015. 

Here’s the year by the numbers -

Lifebirds -

• 7 new ABA lifebirds and 1 additional Lower 48 lifebird –
• Nutting’s Flycatcher – Bill Williams River NWR, AZ
• Rosy-faced Lovebird – Phoenix, AZ
• Fieldfare – Carlisle, MA
• Bell’s Sparrow – Angeles National Forest, CA
• Arctic Loon (Lower 48 only) – Bonelli Regional Park, CA
• Blue-footed Booby – Gull Rock, Marin, CA
• Amazon Kingfisher – San Benito, TX
• Nutmeg Mannikin – Harbor Regional Park, CA

Plus I “sanitized” Kirtland’s Warbler on my lifelist

• ABA total now at 739, US at 741, and Lower 48 at 717

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

• Newly reportable in NM and OK
• ABA reportable now in 42 states plus DC  
• 255 statebirds added in 20 states, plus 34 more in Ontario
• 23 new statebirds in New England – 1,954 total ticks now in New England
• Total Ticks – now at 12,701, with 12,437 of those in the U.S.
• Over the last 10 years I’ve added statebirds in every state except HI, MT, and SC  

 

Statebirding will continue to be my priority in 2014.  I’ll be pursuing my lifelong goal of reaching what used to be ABA’s reportable thresholds in all the Lower 48 states plus DC – just 6 more to go!  I used to think that I could also be reportable in AK and HI some day, but I don’t think those are very realistic goals any more.  I also need to continue to add statebirds in states where I’m just a bit over the old ABA threshold since those thresholds (defined as half the total of species ever seen in that state) continue to inch up over the years.  I have 7 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 46 to go I’m hoping to be just 2 years away from my reaching my target.  And although adding lifers hasn’t really been a high priority, I have to admit that as I near 750 in the ABA region, chasing lifebirds has become of greater interest.  Perhaps if the trend of more and more splits continues I can get to 750 without seeing anything new.  I just need more Masters and PhD students to publish papers justifying more splits.

As for potential 2014 trips, I’ve been considering a summer statebirding 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, plus see Snowcock in NV, and have a lot of room between my totals and the ABA thresholds for WA and ID.  Or maybe I could take a summer trip to MT and ND which would finally give me respectable lists in those 2 states, though still below reportable.  Then there are my regular business trips to various spots around the country, with hoped-for trips into WV, WY, NE, and CA.  And maybe I’ll finally spend some quality birding time in Canada.