This post is not only about
the Tennessee Warbler as a new statebird in RI, but also about reaching my 20-year goal of recording 2,000
statebirds in New England. First, some
background on how I got started on New England statebirding -
Soon after I moved to New England in 1993 I
met Denny Abbott, a long-time birder from New Hampshire. Denny is well-known for his birding efforts
throughout New England, and at the time, Denny told me about his goal to record
2,000 New England statebirds – the sum of his 6 New England statelists. Since I had always been into statebirding,
Denny’s long-time mission sounded like a fun one to try. After all, since all the states except Maine
were pretty small, it seemed like it would be much easier than trying to maximize
my lists in areas where the states are much bigger. When I moved to New England I had just 723
statebirds in the 6 New England states (MA was my highest list at 138), so I had
a long way to go.
Denny would end up reaching his target in the
year 2001 – his #2,000 was a Lark Sparrow in CT. Though he didn’t stop at 2,000 - he has kept chasing
New England statebirds ever since, and his total is now up to a remarkable
2,232. We’ve birded together in every
New England state over the years, and have picked up a number of birds that
were new for both of our lists. Though
since his lists are much higher than mine, I’ve gotten more statebirds on these
trips than he has.
Now nearly 22 years later I was closing in
on my goal of 2,000 statebirds in New England.
I finished 2014 with 1,993, and with a recent average of 32 new birds in
New England per year, I would be on pace to reach my goal in Spring 2015. This Spring I was planning to spend more time
than usual pursuing some not-so-rare migrant passerines in RI and CT (I needed
several in each state), so I made a prediction that #2,000 would be a regular
migrant in RI. Though of course any bird
that I still needed after 22 years of birding in New England would be rare in
one way or another.
So with a total of 1,999, and a reasonable
prediction of a good migration day coming up, I planned to head to Swan Point
Cemetery in Providence, RI, generally the best spring migrant passerine spot in
RI. The night before I coordinated with
a couple RI birders who reported not only seeing a Wilson’s Warbler at Swan
Point, but also a Tennessee Warbler at nearby Lonsdale Marsh in Lincoln – two
of my target birds. And then came a
report of a Eurasian Collared Dove in Stratford, CT. The Dove is certainly quite a rarity so a
higher priority than the warblers. But I
figured that if it was still around it would stay for a while, while the
migrants are most reliable early in the morning. So I decided to head to Swan Point first, and
then go to Stratford if the Dove was re-spotted.
I was about halfway to Swan Point the next
morning when I got a call from a RI birder – the Tennessee Warbler was back at
Lonsdale Marsh. And armed with what
seemed like good micro-directions (“just past the rusty fence in an apple
tree”), I changed my route and was headed to Lonsdale Marsh.
Just a few minutes later I was at the Lonsdale
Marsh parking area, and started the walk down the trail. Up ahead I could see another birder, and as I got closer I could see a rusty chain-link fence running perpendicular
to the trail. And just beyond that I saw
several crabapple trees in bloom – right where the other birder was
standing. So it looked like I would be
in luck. But when I arrived at the spot,
the other birder said he had not seen the Tennessee despite waiting for a
while. So much for my optimism.
We split up and decided to bird nearby
parts of the woods. I headed to the east
and soon heard a very distant trill that could have been Tennessee-like – but
it was really far away. I told the other
birder and we both headed in that direction.
Soon I was hearing the bird again, and it was indeed the Tennessee. We eventually got fleeting glimpses of the
bird in a honeysuckle tangle, and then followed it back to the main trail. It spent the next 15 minutes singing from
either of 2 blooming crabapples where we got great views of the singing bird.
RI was my 37th state for Tennessee Warbler
– I’ve now seen it in almost all the states east of the Rockies (see my
statebird map below).
And now for some reflections on reaching
2,000 in New England. First about which bird turned out to be #2,000 -
After chasing all those rarities across New
England it is a bit ironic that #2,000 would be a regular migrant. Perhaps Swallow-tailed Kite in RI which I got
at #1,999, or Surfbird which was a first New England record and was my #1,997, would
have been more appropriate. But
Tennessee Warbler and the other not-so-rare migrants I still need in southern
New England have similar patterns of occurrence – although seen each year in
low numbers they are not generally chaseable when they are spotted. So even though I’ve done a lot of birding in
migration in RI, I’ve never been lucky enough to find Tennessees on my own, and
have not been able to chase after one.
That is until now.
By the Numbers -
A number of birders have asked for my New
England state totals -
- MA - 405
- NH - 354
- ME - 336
- RI - 321
- CT - 316
- VT - 268
Although my highest total is in MA, my NH
total is actually the best one on the basis of percentage of each state’s total
statelist – I’ve seen 89% of all the species on the official NH statelist as
compared to 83% of the MA statelist. But
to put these state totals into context – Denny’s amazing total of 2,232 in New
England is an average of almost 40 more than I have in each state. And most of his birding was done before
e-mail, listserves, and of course e-Bird!
Some more “gee-whiz” numbers - Tennessee
Warbler was the 235th species that I’ve seen in each New England state, and
I’ve seen 429 species at least once somewhere in New England.
Reaching 2,000 had required quite a bit of
effort – who knows how many trips and hours of birding have been involved. And of course a lot of driving has been
necessary. To reduce my carbon
footprint, I drive a hybrid, plus I generally limit my driving distances to a
2-hour one-way trip. That has meant
missing out on some rarities found in western CT, northern VT, and northern
ME. Though as my lists have grown I have
found that I’m more likely to extend my drive time at least a bit.
Finally, some thoughts on what the key
factors have been that allowed me to reach 2,000. In increasing order of importance –
- Luck – this is very over-rated in my mind. What some would call good luck or bad luck can more likely be attributed to how good your preparations and planning have been, or whether you got proper directions to look for a rarity.
- Birding Skills – of course this is important, but when you’re chasing after a rarity your identification skills aren’t as important for seeing a bird that has already been identified. Then again, if I wasn’t familiar with Collared Dove identification I would have incorrectly added Eurasian Collared Dove to my CT list.
- Time to Chase After a Rarity – it’s really important to have the time to run around New England to chase after rarities when they are reported, particularly if you can drop everything and chase as soon as something is reported.
- Receiving Accurate and Timely Directions – my chances of seeing a rarity are greatly improved if I hear about the sighting in a timely manner, and if directions are accurate and complete. Many thanks to all those New England birders who have given me great birdfinding advice over the years – without that support I would have never reached 2,000. Then again, some of my most satisfying chases have been for species where I’ve had to do a lot of detective work to piece together incomplete, or even inaccurate information to find the target bird – the detective work is actually more exciting than seeing the bird sometimes.
But I can’t stop at 2,000. First of all, there are published papers that
suggest that Hoary and Common Redpolls could be lumped into one species – that
would mean I would lose 5, putting me back to 1,995. (Though there are also suggestions that I
could add 5 others though possible splits – Sooty Fox Sparrow in NH; Audubon’s
Warbler in NH; and Eurasian Teal in MA, VT, and ME.) And secondly, of course it’s been in my blood
for 22 years to chase after each rarity as it gets reported. So I can’t just turn it off.
On to 2,001…
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