In my early days of statebirding, my GA
statelist was one of my best. I reached
200 in GA way back in 1989 as a result of short trips I would take to southern
GA when I was living in northern FL. At
the time, it was only my eighth state with 200 (today I have 47 states over
200). And I reached the ABA reportable
threshold for GA in 1994 – my 14th reportable state at the time,
whereas today I have 45 over threshold.
But then my travels to GA became few and far
between, and the last time I added any statebirds to my GA list was in 2005. At that time I had 224 on my statelist, which
was 16 over the ABA threshold. But the ABA
threshold (calculated as half of the total statelist) slowly increased to 212,
putting me only 12 over. Since the ABA
stopped publishing the thresholds, I’ve set a goal of being at least 15 over
threshold in each state to make sure I stay above half the total statelist
hopefully forever. I call this “ABA
Reportable Plus 15”. So I needed at
least 3 more in GA to reach this somewhat arbitrary personal goal.
My opportunity to reach ABA Reportable Plus
15 in GA arrived February 2015 with a business trip to Atlanta. As the trip neared I reviewed my statelist
and realized I had several gaps that could be quite easy to fill. That included Gadwall which I had seen in
each state in the Lower 48 except GA. And
that doesn’t include any rarities that might be around. With a fair amount of eBird and listserve
research I came up with a list of 17 possible statebirds to pursue, including 3
rarities – Mute Swan (which was hopefully countable), Cackling Goose, and Ross’
Goose. My typical results on these types
of trips is to find about half of my possible targets, so I was hopeful that I
could add more than the 3 needed to reach my goal.
My plan was to start north of Atlanta and
work my way south throughout the day. My
first stop was Dogwood Lake in Calhoun where 2 Cackling Geese had been
reported. Since this was a small lake,
and there were only about 50 Canadas there, I hoped I would pick out the
Cackling Geese pretty quickly. I arrived
shortly after dawn and found the small flock of Canadas on the near shore. But with a quick binoc scan I didn’t find the
Cacklers. I pulled out the scope but
still couldn’t turn any into the target birds.
I scanned the far shore and found a few more Canadas, but still none of
their smaller cousins. The most recent report
was now 5 days old, so I wondered if they had moved on. Then I scanned the lake with my binocs and
noticed 2 small geese swimming by themselves out in the middle. I put the scope on them and they were indeed the
continuing Cackling Geese (statebird #1).
I got this phonescoped photo of the birds -
As I was about to get back in the car I
heard a small flock of Juncos flyby (statebird #2). This species was rather regular north of
Atlanta so I was hopeful that I would run into it somewhere. But since I had no stakeout spot for this
one, I was happy to get it out of the way.
GA was one of my last states for this species in the “Lower 49” - Lower
48 plus DC (see my statebird map below)
The next stop was nearby Mansfield’s Pond
in Bartow County where a Ross’ Goose had been reported. After a short drive I was able to find this
spot but the only waterfowl there were a couple Canadas. In the far distance I could see a larger lake
which was only partially visible that had a lot of geese and ducks. I scanned the portions of the lake that I
could see, but saw no white geese at all.
Who knows if the Ross’ was tucked away in a part of the lake that was
not visible. But I did find another
target – Gadwall (statebird #3). I’ve
now seen this species in all the Lower 49.
The next stop was Brandon Farm where Brewer’s
Blackbirds had been reported most of the winter, though recent reports said
numbers had dropped to just 2. Other
targets there were Sandhill Cranes and Pipits, so I was hopeful this could be a
good stop. I didn’t have a specific location
for the Blackbirds, but when I arrived I noticed that this was a cattle ranch and
found a feeding trough in the distance. I
know Brewer’s like to be at feedlots, so I scanned this area as best as I could
but only found Starlings. I drove along
a bit farther and found 2 other feeding troughs right along the road and
thought I had the right spot. But
despite quite a bit of effort, I only found a large flock of Starlings with a
few Cowbirds. I also listened for Cranes
and Pipits with no luck. Things weren’t
looking up for me - not only had I missed my last 4 targets, but I was now quite
a bit behind schedule.
Next stop was at Ellison Lake where a Virginia
Rail had been reported. It took me a
while to find the wetlands where the Rail had been heard, but could not find a
way to get close enough to play tape and hope for a response. The only silver lining of this miss was that
I spent a lot less time here than planned since I didn’t even do much birding
here.
Lake Lanier was my next destination where
Horned Grebes had been reported. This is
a large manmade lake, so I wasn’t sure how easy it might be to find my targets
here. As I approached West Bank Park and
was driving along the water’s edge I noticed 2 small black-and-white birds in a
cove. Could these be the Grebes? Unfortunately there was no place to pull
over, so I continued to drive to the park and did my best to figure out which
cove the birds might have been in. I quickly
put my scope on the area and instantly found a Horned Grebe (statebird
#4). I’ve now seen this species in all
but 7 states – all in the central part of the country.
Now I was ahead of schedule so decided to take
a little time to scan the lake to see what else might be around. I started to notice a lot of gulls near the
dam – mostly Ring-bills and some immature Herrings – maybe 200 in total. Then I noticed a different bird – Herring-sized,
long-winged, dark checker-boarded back, pale head, all dark but small bill. It was very distant but I thought I had a
first-year Lesser Black-backed. I got
back in the car and found another closer viewing spot. Luckily the gull was still there and it was
indeed a Lesser (statebird #5). Finding a
rarity makes up for some of my earlier misses.
Lighting was bad, but I got these barely passable phonescoped
pictures.
I’ve now seen this species in 27 states throughout
the eastern and central portions of the country.
Next I was on to Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve
where a flock of 3 Fox Sparrows had been reported “near the entrance” the
previous day. I got to the Preserve and
found 2 different entrances, but realized there was a feeding station near one
of them. So I headed to that spot and
noticed some movement in the brush. The
bird was very obscured but it was in fact a Fox Sparrow (#6) – the first bird I
saw there. In the next few seconds it
and two others flew from the brush. And
then two others popped into the open – 5 Fox Sparrows in one bush!
Next stop was Panola Mountain State Park where
a Mute Swan had reportedly just shown up at Alexander Lake. The Swan was easy to find as soon as I
arrived. It was mixed in with a number
of Canadas, mixed dabblers, and a few divers.
It was free swimming, free flying, and didn’t appear to be tame. I assumed it was a “wild” bird and counted it
as statebird #7 – hopefully it is indeed countable. I’ve now seen this species in 20 states as it
has expanded beyond its traditional range in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
After a bit of a drive I was at my next stop
at the E. L. Huie treatment ponds. This
had been my key spot for Gadwall, though of course I had already found them, as
well as Pipits and Cranes which had been reported there at least infrequently. There were indeed many Gadwall there, along
with a few other waterfowl, but the area otherwise was pretty slow. My strategy for the Pipits was to scan the
water edges hoping to see them as they foraged.
Luckily I didn’t need to do this for long since a flock of three flew
almost directly overhead when I reached the second pond – very helpful to know
their call (statebird #8). I've now seen American Pipit in all but 7 states across the county.
But once again I struck out on Cranes.
But once again I struck out on Cranes.
The next location was Nash Farm where
Cranes were observed in nearly every eBird post, along with infrequent
White-crowned Sparrow sightings. Just
about the first birds I noticed at this spot was a flock of about 50 Canada
Geese foraging in a field. I started to
scan through the flock and the field beyond hoping to find some Cranes when I
noticed a flash of color – it was a group of 4 White-fronted Geese in with the
Canadas. Although I already had this
species on my GA statelist, it was nice to find these rarities. I spent a fair amount of time looking through
sparrows at the farm but didn’t find any White-crowns. And I kept my eyes and ears open for Cranes,
but with no luck as well.
The final stop was a suburban pond in
Springwater Chase where a female Canvasback had been wintering in a large flock
of Redheads. But despite 45 minutes of
distant scanning, I could not find the Canvasback. At times a portion of the flock would
disappear out of view, and additional birds flew in at one point. So maybe the bird was hidden or at some other
nearby location when I was there. At
least I sure think I would have been able to pick it out if it was in view
while I was there.
That gave me 8 new statebirds and 77
species for the day – a very nice day of birding.
But my statebirding wasn’t quite done. My business meetings were downtown, just a
5-minute walk from a spot where Peregrine Falcons had been reported a month
earlier. And on the first day of the
meetings one was once again reported perched on the same building at the Lenox
Towers. During a late afternoon break I
took a short walk and eventually found a Peregrine perched on the corner of one
of the buildings (statebird #9).
My GA statelist is now 233 – 21 over the
old ABA threshold. And with this trip GA
is now my 34th state over my goal of ABA Reportable Plus 15.
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