My work travels take
me to the San Francisco Bay Area frequently, and on several of those trips I’ve
added a vacation day to either chase after a rarity (Falcated Duck no less than
5 times - all unsuccessfully) or pursue other statebirds. Twice I’ve headed east to NV to work on that
statelist, specifically to the greater Reno/Carson City area. There I’ve teamed up with local birder Rob
Lowry who really knows the local area, and has given me some excellent advice
to help me find my targets. Since I
still need a number of birds for my NV statelist that summer in that area, I
thought I’d add a day during my upcoming May trip to the Bay Area to try to
fill in some of those gaps.
Before this trip I
had 242 species in NV which is exactly the old ABA reporting threshold, last
updated in 2010. The most recent NV
checklist published on-line (as of March 2015) by the Nevada Bird Records
Committee is 492. Using the old ABA
formula that the threshold is half of the total statelist, the new threshold for
NV would be 246. So saying I’ve reached
the old ABA threshold is a rather hollow victory in NV, and a good example of
why I’ve set a somewhat arbitrary goal of being 15 over the old ABA thresholds
in each state. So with a number of
potential targets, advice from Rob, and a lot of research on eBird, I was
optimistic that I could make good progress on reaching the “Reportable Plus 15”
goal for NV. Realistically I hoped for
at least 5 new statebirds on the trip.
The first stop was in
the little town of Verdi just barely east of the CA/NV border to try for Acorn
Woodpeckers. There were several recent
sightings with a pretty specific location given (the Bridge St. bridge over the
Truckee River). But a 45-minute stop
yielded only a pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers and a pair Flickers nesting in
the dead cottonwood snags. And even a
quick stop at a nearby patch of woods where one was seen the day before was
unsuccessful. Interestingly, I never saw
a single oak tree at these locations. Not
a very good start to the day.
Then it was on to
Pyramid Lake to try for a number of waterbirds and migrants. The route to the lake passed through some
desert which had had a number of recent Golden Eagle sightings. Although most appeared to be just lucky
sightings of birds passing through the area, there was one eBird post of a pair
carrying food at a nest. A specific
location was given, though of course you never know how accurate the eBird
locations are. I got to the reported
nest location and scanned the mountainside with my binoculars, but did not see
a nest. But then I noticed a bump on one
of the rocks, and with a scope view confirmed it was an adult Golden Eagle –
statebird #1. Hats off to the eBirder
for putting in a very accurate location of the nesting spot! I’ve now seen this species in 15 western
states but only 4 states in the east.
(see my statebird map below)
The next stop was a
spot called The Willows on the west shore of Pyramid Lake. This is an oasis consisting of a thick stand
of mature willow trees that can be quite a magnet for migrants. I spent about 90 minutes there and found a
number of passerine migrants, but they were all the regulars – like Wilson’s,
MacGillivray’s, Yellow-rumped (both Audubon’s and Myrtle), and Yellow Warblers;
Dusky and Ash-throated Flycatchers, Western Pewee, and Black-headed Grosbeaks. Nothing new here, though a Great Horned Owl
was nice. Then I spent some time at the
lake where late Greater Scaup and a Red-necked Grebe had been reported a couple
weeks earlier. But they were long gone,
though the lake was teaming with Western Grebes.
Then it was on to the
southern end of Pyramid Lake in hopes of Long-billed Curlew and other
shorebirds. Although there had been no
recent Curlew sightings here or elsewhere in the area, this had been a location
for several sightings at this time last year.
But no luck here – the only shorebirds were 4 Red-necked
Phalaropes. I’ve looked for Curlew on
all 3 of my trips to this area without success.
I also spent some time trying to find a summering odd gull but could
only find California and Ring-billed. On
a brighter note a rare Common Tern mixed in with the Forster’s and Caspian Terns
was nice.
It was now past noon,
and I only had 1 statebird in four stops.
Things had to pick up, right?
Then I was on to Mira
Loma Pond in the Reno suburbs where a Common Goldeneye had been reported 2
weeks earlier. Of course there was a
good chance that this was a late migrant duck that was long gone (like the
Greater Scaup and Red-necked Grebe at Pyramid Lake). But over the years I’ve picked up a number of
normally wintering waterfowl as statebirds during summer, so I was hopeful that
this bird too might have decided not to migrate north for the summer. And besides, this was a small pond and right
on my route to the next location so it would be a quick stop. When I arrived I scanned the far side and got
some nice dabblers, a late Bufflehead, and several families of Canada Geese,
but no Goldeneye. Then I noticed a small
group of waterfowl practically at my feet and there was the female Common
Goldeneye (statebird #2). I’ve now seen
this species in 43 states across the country.
The next stop was
Davis Creek Regional Park which is the spot for Calliope Hummingbird in
the area. It seems a male Calliope likes
to perch on one specific bare branch where the nature trail crosses the road
near the group picnic area. That sure is
a specific set of directions – though when I was in the area last year I spent
over an hour at this spot without finding the bird. So I gave myself at least an hour to try for
the bird this time. I arrived at the
spot and didn’t see the bird at first, but then looked a few feet away and
noticed what almost looked like a small bump on a nearby bare branch. With binoculars it was obviously the very
tiny Calliope Hummingbird (#3). I go
this phone-scoped picture of this most cooperative bird – where was it last
year?
And then the bird
flew off and was replaced by this bird with a remarkable gorget.
I still need Calliope
in OR and MT in its regular breeding range, though I’ve seen it in four eastern
and central states as a vagrant.
Then I was off to
meet up with Rob Lowry so he could take me to a nest box southeast of Carson
City where he had a Western Screech-Owl nesting. After a short walk we arrived at the nest box,
and Rob opened a panel of the box to reveal an owlet inside the box (#4). Very cute.
A nice addition to my statebird map, but I still have several gaps for
this species.
The last stop of the
day was at Mason Valley WMA which was about a 90-minute drive to the
southeast. A couple weeks earlier Rob
had had two of my targets there – American Bittern and Black Tern. He gave me excellent directions to the two
locations of these birds, but I wondered if they were just migrants and likely
long gone, or would they be nesting locally.
Rob’s hand-drawn map to the spot was perfect, and I first went to the
marsh where the American Bittern had been seen.
I’ve never had much luck getting bitterns to reply to taped calls, so I
wasn’t sure how this one would go. I
started playing tape but got no response.
While I waited I noticed several terns flying around the marsh, but they
were all Forster’s. Now I wondered if I
would miss both birds. I walked a little
bit farther along the marsh and played some more tape – still no response. Then I thought I heard a faint call in the
distance. I turned off the tape and sure
enough it was a distant calling American Bittern (#5).
Now I needed to focus
on the terns. This time I did a more
thorough scan of the marsh but once again only came up with Forster’s. But then I re-checked Rob’s map and realized
he actually had the Black Terns in an adjacent marsh, not the one I was looking
at. So I redirected my attention to the
neighboring marsh and instantly saw 3 Black Terns flying over the reeds (#6). Things usually turn out better when you
follow directions! I’ve now seen this
species in 41 states across the US, with the biggest gaps being in the Midwest.
The next morning I
woke up early to try for a pair of owls recently reported nearby – Flammulated
and Saw-whet. Both were reported more
than 2 weeks earlier pre-dawn at Chimney Beach along the eastern shore of Lake
Tahoe, barely in NV. This is the spot
where last year I got Pacific Wren and Pileated Woodpecker – two great birds
for NV. I arrived a bit before 4 and
walked a short distance to the north to get into the conifers. It was extremely quiet with no wind, so
conditions were great. Soon after
arriving I started to hear Poor-wills calling – likely 3 different birds. But there were no owls. I started to play Flammulated tape and within
a minute one was calling back (#7). It
continued to call the entire time I was there.
That was only my 3rd time hearing a Flammulated (CA and UT are my other
states); I’ve still never seen one. I
also played some tape of Saw-whet but couldn’t coax one into responding.
That gave me 7 new NV
statebirds and 90 species for this brief outing - a most successful trip. And now with a statelist of 249 in NV, I’m 7
over the old ABA threshold and well on my way to “Reportable Plus 15”. Or more accurately, I’m 3 over the calculated
threshold based on the recently published NV statelist. I’m tentatively planning a trip to northeast
NV in summer 2016 to look for the Himalayan Snowcock and spend at least a day
working on my NV statelist. I’m hoping
that after that trip I’ll be over the threshold to stay.
And now onto
California –
After my
mini-vacation in NV I returned to the Bay Area for my business trip. One morning I had a couple free hours so I checked
the eBird CA Needs Alert for local possibilities. I keyed in on nearby Coyote Hills Regional
Park which regularly had reports of American Bittern, and recently had a report
of Black Rail. I spent 2 hours there
early that morning, and although I dipped on Black Rail, I did have a flyover
American Bittern - #376 for me in CA. I
really like the eBird Needs Alerts! Even
after adding American Bittern in CA and NV my coverage for this species is
still very spotty - like I said I've not had a lot of luck getting bitterns to respond to tapes.
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