White-faced Ibis, North Hampton, NH, July 2015

Although White-faced Ibis is now seen annually in MA and ME, it is still quite a rarity in NH with only 3 state records before this year - all one-day wonders and all in April.  I was very close to seeing the bird back in 2010 the last time it was found in NH, but work commitments kept me from squeezing in a trip to the coast to see it.  Elsewhere in New England, I’ve recently seen White-faced Ibis in CT and RI, to go along with earlier sightings in MA and ME.  And since it isn’t yet on the VT statelist, that meant that NH was the last state I needed to complete the New England portion of my statebird map.  So given my near-miss 5 years ago, needless to say I really wanted to see White-faced Ibis in NH.   

I would finally have the chance to try for this bird in July 2015, though not without some significant challenges.  A White-faced Ibis was found early on a Sunday morning with a flock of Glossy’s and numerous Egrets in the marshes off Huckleberry Lane in Hampton, NH.  The good news was that the bird was present for several hours.  Unfortunately I didn’t get the news for a while, and I arrived at the site about 30 minutes after the last sighting.  Despite searches of several nearby marshes I saw no Ibis at all.  Another frustrating miss.

But there was hope - on Thursday that week the White-faced Ibis was again reported, this time at the large Little River marshes just to the north.  The bird was still around – this time it wasn’t a one-day wonder!  And then on Saturday a flock of dark Ibis was seen at the same marsh.  But since they were seen at a distance, only half could be identified as Glossy’s.  Could the target bird have been in that flock?  In any case, it seemed like it was worth a shot to try for the bird again, so I made plans to give it a go the next morning. 

I arrived at the coast at 6:45 Sunday morning and first headed to Huckleberry Lane, but found no waders at all.  Then I went to the Little River marshes and found just one Snowy Egret in the distance in the northwestern portion of the marsh.  Within a few minutes it was joined by 5 other Snowy’s.  Could this become the critical mass of waders needed to attract the Ibis flock?  Unfortunately, after another 15 minutes of waiting, no other waders came in.  So since the Ibis flock was not in the marsh now, I decided to take a quick drive north up the coast to check other places where waders could be feeding.  Then if I didn’t find them to the north, I’d return to Little River in hopes that the Ibis flock would return there.  But despite making multiple stops all the way to Odiorne, I found just a few Egrets and a Great Blue, and no Ibis.  The waders certainly weren’t north of Little River. 

As I turned around and headed back to the Little River marshes I wondered if I had made the right choice to take the hour round-trip drive north – not only did I not find any Ibis, maybe I had missed the target bird at Little River.  I returned to the Little River overlook on Route 111 and quickly refound the Egret flock – there were now at least a dozen birds feeding in a distant channel.  Notably they were only occasionally in view, even though they were tall white birds in a sea of green.  I kept scanning the area and after just 5 minutes I noticed a dark Ibis fly out of that same channel.  I quickly got on the bird with my binoculars and watched it fly in profile low over the marsh for maybe 10 seconds before it disappeared behind an island of trees in the marsh.  Even though it was pretty distant I definitely noticed that its face was much paler than the rest of the head and body.  The pictures I had seen of the target bird (when it was much closer!) showed that although it did not have a bright white ring around the face it did have a broader, less well-defined pale area.  It sort of reminded me of the graying face of an old dog.  And that was exactly what I saw, even though the bird was quite far away.  Another concern was that this morning’s bird was feeding with Egrets and not Ibis, even though earlier sightings of the White-faced put it with other Ibis.

I was pretty sure I had just re-found the White-faced Ibis, though I was troubled about the distant view and the fact that the bird was with Egrets.  The bird may well have dropped into the southeast part of the Little River marsh, so I headed to Appledore Ave. to try to get a closer look at that part of the marsh.  Although all the property here is private, I was able to talk one of the homeowners into letting me walk through their trees to the marsh edge.  From here I stood and watched the marsh, finding up to 20 Egrets, but no Ibis.  After nearly an hour wait I noticed 4 dark Ibis fly into the northern part of the marsh, roughly the same distance from me as my first Ibis sighting.  Even though I only got fair looks at 3 of the 4 birds, I could tell they did not have the required white area on the head to make any into a White-faced.  I now felt much better about my ID of the first bird as a White-faced Ibis. 

Just as I was about to leave my post on Appledore Ave. a dark Ibis flew out of the marsh near me, and flew off to the far northwestern part of the marsh.  Although I watched it for 10 seconds or more, I never saw the head of the bird due to its flight direction.  I wouldn’t be surprised that this was the White-faced Ibis I saw earlier – luckily I saw the first bird in profile and was able to see its head.

Interestingly, later in the day, another birder reported the White-faced in the Little River marshes, again associating with Egrets and not with Glossy’s just like my sighting that morning.  Although this time it sounded like the bird was a lot closer - I was jealous!

White-faced Ibis was #357 for me in NH.  And despite the fact that NH is by far my best statelist as a percentage of the total ever recorded in that state, this was my third NH statebird in just over a month.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve now seen White-faced Ibis as a vagrant in 5 New England states and New York.  And with their numbers increasing in the east, maybe it will show up in VT some time soon too.

Long Island, NY – 9 Statebirds, July 2015

With an upcoming July vacation on Long Island of course I wanted to squeeze in some birding time.  My NY list was pretty good at 267, with many of those birds coming from upstate while I was at grad school at Cornell.  By comparison my downstate birding has been somewhat limited, featuring a couple trips to Jamaica Bay NWR, and some incidental birding through multiple work trips to New York City.  But since there are quite a number of NY species only seen near the coast, or at least much more likely downstate, I figured I would have some significant statebird potential. 

So now it was time for a bunch of research.  My first step was to set up my new favorite tool – the e-Bird Needs Alert.  Of course NY is a big state, but by focusing in on reports from Suffolk and Nassau Counties I was able to find quite a number of likely statebird possibilities.  They generally fell into 4 categories –

• Regular birds that should be relatively easy to find, though nothing is guaranteed – Whip-poor-will, Pine Warbler, Orchard Oriole (filling in some gaps in my NY statelist);
• Less common local breeders – Roseate Tern and White-eyed Vireo;
• Stakeout rarities – White-faced Ibis, Yellow-throated Warbler; and
• Rarer possibilities but not necessarily likely at any stakeout site – Any pelagic, Royal and Arctic Terns, Chuck-will’s-widow, and Blue Grosbeak.

I would have a couple early mornings available, generally before the family was awake, and at least 1 evening, so I developed itineraries for each day and hoped to get at least 4 or 5 new NY statebirds.

Day 1 Evening -

Whip-poor-wills had been reported from a number of sites in central Long Island, and there were also a couple Chuck-will’s-widows reported.  Though the Whips were reported into early July, the last Chuck report was from early June so I was less optimistic about finding that one.  I picked out Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area as the best spot – with many Whip reports, one older Chuck report (though without a specific location), and many Pine Warbler reports, and only about 30 minutes from the hotel.  I arrived at Rocky Point about an hour before sunset hoping to hear the Pine Warblers before dusk, and with overcast skies hoping that I could hear the Whips a bit earlier than normal.  My first 2 stops didn’t yield any Warblers despite good habitat, but on my third stop I heard a Pine Warbler singing as soon as I stepped out of my car (statebird #1).  I heard another one at the next stop, but those were the only 2 I heard despite over an hour in good pine habitat.  NY was an obvious gap in my statebird map (how did I miss it during my time birding upstate?) – I’ve now seen it throughout all of its regular eastern range except MN, and as a rarity in CA and CO. 

 

I was driving around the area to look for likely places to listen for Caprimulgids at dusk, when I came upon a large field that seemed like good habitat for Blue Grosbeaks.  So I decided to get out of the car to see what I might find.  Within a few seconds I heard what I thought was a singing Blue Grosbeak in the distance.  I’m not too familiar with their song, so I pulled up my bird song app and it seemed like a pretty good match, though not perfect.  Since I wasn’t 100 percent sure I played a little tape to see if I could elicit a response.  Within a couple seconds I heard the sharp “chink” calls that I am familiar with – it was indeed a Blue Grosbeak (statebird #2).  The bird had flown right in to some trees near me, and although it was getting quite dark, I was able to see all the features of an adult male.  Although there were a few recent Blue Grosbeak reports from Long Island, none seemed like reliable stakeouts, and it appeared like this species was not a regular local breeder at least in significant numbers.  So I was very happy to find this bird listed as a rarity in e-Bird.  Although I still need it in a few of its regular states out west, I’ve seen this species in 37 states, including 5 New England states and now NY as a rarity or accidental.

It was now almost dark so I drove to a small parking area I had found earlier and started my efforts to listen for Whips.  Although I didn’t hear anything right away, I’ve had good success over the years in getting them to respond to tape a bit earlier than when they might start on their own.  So I played some tape and almost instantly one called back in the distance (statebird #3).  Within a couple minutes 4 birds calling simultaneously.  My statebird map for Eastern Whip-poor-will is very spotty as I still need it for a number of states especially in the southern portion of its range.

Then I switched to tape of the Chuck but got no response.  It was a similar story at a second stop – 3 calling Whips but no Chuck.  Though a third stop had no Caprimulgids at all.  Although I had hoped to hear a Chuck-will’s-widow, since the most recent report was almost a month old, and with no specific location provided, I decided to call it quits.  Despite missing this long shot, getting 2 of my expected targets and a bonus bird was a great start to the trip.

Day 2 Morning –

The first of four stops the next morning was at Connetquot State Park where a pair of Yellow-throated Warblers had been singing most of the summer.  This is a rarity for NY, since breeding birds typically get no farther north than central NJ.  The birds had been reported close to the entrance, so I was able to hear and then see one male very quickly (statebird #4).  NY was my 6th state (in addition to 5 New England states) where I’ve seen Yellow-throated Warbler as a rarity.

 

My next stop was a short distance away at Captree State Park where a White-faced Ibis had been reported since spring with a flock of Glossy’s.  I got to the spot where most of the sightings had been posted on e-Bird only to find a very large expanse of suitable saltmarsh habitat.  I would likely need to get real lucky and have the Ibis flock close to me in order to pick out the target bird.  But there were no waders in sight at all.  Finally after some scanning with my scope I noticed a very distant flock of Egrets feeding in the marsh, and then began to pick out some Ibis.  The smaller Ibis were only occasionally visible as they fed, though sometimes a single bird would fly out of the marsh, circle around and then drop back into the flock.  At more than 200 yards, even with a scope, my chances of picking out the White-faced were really slim.  But this bird was a nice breeding plumaged adult with a broad white ring around the face.  I spent the next 10 minutes staring at the flock hoping to see that distinctive face pattern with no luck.  Was I just too far away to see the white pattern?  But finally as I watched one bird drop into the marsh I thought I saw a flash of white on the face.  Over the next couple of minutes this bird briefly raised its head above the grasses several times and again showed the white face pattern.  Success!  (statebird #5).  Never thought I’d be able to pick it out at that distance.  NY was my 22nd state for White-faced Ibis, including the 5th as a rarity.

The next stop was Robert Moses State Park where some recent seawatches had included small number of various pelagic species – multiple shearwaters and Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.  But that morning a nice cold front had just come through, turning the winds around from the south to the northwest.  Although it made for very pleasant weather, it certainly was not the best conditions for pelagic birds to come close to shore.  And not surprisingly, all my scoping across the ocean yielded nothing of interest except a few Common Terns.  So I called it quits after about an hour and headed to the next stop.

The last stop of the morning was at nearby Gardiner’s County Park.  There were a few recent e-Bird reports from the park that included White-eyed Vireos, and an occasional one with an Orchard Oriole.  So even though neither was regular, nor were specific locations mentioned, I thought it was worthwhile to spend at least a little time trying for these 2 targets.  I walked the length of the central trail that goes to the beach, going through a number of wetter areas with thick undergrowth that looked to be good Vireo habitat, but had no luck.  Then on my way back I thought I heard a bit of song that could have been the Vireo.  I walked back into the brush a bit and sure enough heard a White-eyed Vireo singing several times (statebird #6).  NY fills in a big gap in my statebird map for this species.

I was happy to have gotten the Vireo, but none of the habitat I had been in so far seemed good for Orchard Oriole.  When I got back toward the car I noticed more open habitat in the northeast part of the park that could be good for the Oriole.  I got to the area and started to play some songs.  Within just a couple minutes I heard an Oriole give its “chit-chit” call.  The problem though was I couldn’t say for sure it wasn’t a Baltimore Oriole.  And even though I searched the area for the next 15 minutes, I couldn’t find the bird.  One that got away I’m afraid.

Day 2 Afternoon -

The family outing for the afternoon was a trip to Greenport near the northeast fork of Long Island for some shopping.  As we headed east along SR 25A we soon got into rural habitat with farms and the occasional home surrounded by a few planted deciduous trees.  I had just remarked to myself that this could be good Orchard Oriole habitat when I thought I saw one fly from one tree to another surrounding one of the farmsteads.  Maybe I just wanted to see an Orchard Oriole.  But just in case I made a mental note of the location and wondered about maybe stopping at this spot on the way back at the end of the day.

We eventually made it to Greenport, and I dropped the family off for shopping as I headed to Orient Point for a bit of birding.  My key target there was Roseate Tern - there were a number of e-Bird posts of the Tern apparently nesting on Plumb Island off the point, and sometimes they were seen in small numbers with larger numbers of Commons from the point.  I made it to Orient Point County Park and took the half mile walk to the point.  As the water came into view I could see a number of Terns feeding off the point in the rips – I guessed maybe 60 birds.  It took a while, but eventually I picked out a paler tern in the distance.  As it came closer it was easy to identify this very pale tern as a Roseate with the longer tail and mostly dark bill (statebird #7).  With a little more time I found 3 other Roseates that eventually came quite close to the point.  I’ve now seen this species in all of its regular nesting states (both in the northeast and FL) and in DE as a migrant.

Other notable birds at the point were a pair of Oystercatchers and a Piping Plover, along with 2 out-of-season Great Cormorants.

After rejoining the family for a bit of shopping, we headed back west to the hotel.  Along the way I kept my eyes open for the location where I may have seen an Orchard Oriole earlier in the day.  Amazingly I found the same group of trees where I had seen the bird, and got out of the car to try to re-find it.  My first thought was to play some Oriole tape, but with excessive road noise I quickly gave up on that idea.  So instead I started to walk over to the tree where I had seen the bird.  Just then a bird flew out of the tree and right over my head – it was a juvenile oriole.  And a then a second bird followed it.  I had found a family of Orchard Orioles (statebird #8).  Seeing it in NY fills a big hole in my statebird map – WI is the last state in its regular range where I still need this species.

Day 3 Morning –

My plan for the last morning was to bird two adjacent locations on the coast - Cupsogue Beach County Park and Moriches Bay Inlet.  Good numbers of terns had recently been reported at both sites, with occasional sightings of Royals, Arctics, and Roseates mixed in with the Commons.  I arrived shortly after dawn, parked in the large parking lot for the County Park, and then started my hike west toward the inlet.  There was a strong northerly wind that morning which made it almost chilly, and which also meant that I would be looking into the wind to scope the flats to the north. 

When I got to the inlet the tide was very high but dropping, with few flats exposed for roosting birds.  There was a distant island with many nesting gulls and a few Oystercatchers, but there were few terns to be seen.  And a small flock of Dowitchers with a couple Willets were the only other shorebirds in sight.  Not the best of starts.  But as the tide dropped the exposed flats attracted more birds - the Dowitcher flock grew to over 100, 5 Piping Plovers were running about, and at least a few Common Terns were now roosting on the sand.  I continued to scan the expanding flats and suddenly I came upon a roosting Royal Tern in full breeding plumage (statebird #9).  I certainly hadn’t seen it on my many earlier scans so it must have just flown in.  And less than a minute later it took off and disappeared up the bay to the east.  I was able to get this phone-scoped photo as it took off.

 I’ve now seen Royal Tern in every Atlantic and Gulf coastal state as well as CA.

I spent a little more time at the inlet but didn’t see much of anything else of interest.  So I headed over to the beach for a bit of a seawatch, but again saw nothing notable.  Even a passing fishing trawler had only attracted gulls and a few terns.  So I headed back to the County Park and scoped the newly exposed mudflats from the parking lot.  There were quite a number of roosting Common Terns along with 1 Roseate.  And the mudflats had at least 100 Dowitchers, along with a few Semi and Least Sands and both Yellowlegs, but nothing spectacular.  But after having seen 3 Tern species including the Royal I was very pleased with my morning’s results, and I decided to call it a day.

All in all this was a most successful trip, adding 9 NY statebirds including just about every reasonably likely possibility.  Not only did I fill in some glaring gaps in my NY list (now at 276), and holes in my statebird maps, but also found a few rarities.  Plus I was able to squeeze in the birding time without taking too much time away from the family. 

Reddish Egret and Hooded Warbler, Southern CA, June 2015

With an upcoming trip to the Los Angeles area in late June I set up a CA Needs Alert in e-Bird to see if there might be some possible target birds in the area.  My CA statelist was pretty good at 376, so most likely any bird I needed would have to be pretty unusual if not a real rarity.  The first bird I noticed on the Needs Alert was Reddish Egret, which seems to be regular but seen in small numbers at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County south of LA.  I’ve seen posts about this bird at Bolsa Chica for a number of years, but have never been to this spot to give it a try.  So with a couple hours available for late afternoon birding on the day I would arrive, this one seemed like a possibility.  Unfortunately there were no other targets being reported south of LA, so Reddish Egret looked to be my only possible CA statebird for this trip.  But then just a couple days before my trip both a Hooded Warbler and a Red-eyed Vireo were reported at Huntington Central Park which is just a 10-minute drive from Bolsa Chica.  So if I was successful quickly at Bolsa Chica, I could also get to the Park and maybe have a shot at 3 new CA statebirds.

My flight landed at LAX a few minutes early (yeah!), and I quickly checked e-Bird for updates.  Alas neither the Warbler nor the Vireo were found that morning despite lots of searching.  And the last post of the Egret was now 2 days before.  I was less worried about that one since I would imagine they are around most every day.  But I worried that the Warbler and Vireo had moved on.  Even so, 1 new CA statebird would be nice.  And if I had the time I would still head to the Park anyway.

Most of the Reddish Egret sightings were from waterways at the southern end of Bolsa Chica, so I headed right to that part of the Reserve as soon as I arrived in the area.  Since Reddish Egrets are typically easy to spot given their very active feeding style, I was cautiously optimistic that I could find one quickly, and then head right to Huntington Central Park.  But so much for my optimism.  My first stop was the “Walk Bridge”, with suitable habitat in all directions.  But there were no Reddish Egrets.  A silver lining though was hearing and seeing numerous “Belding’s” Savannah Sparrows in the marsh nearby – only my second time seeing this race.  (One day it will be a new species, right?)  Then I walked over to the “Full Tidal Area”, with more great habitat, but again no target bird.  Next stop was a walk over to the outer channel north of the Walk Bridge, but still no Egret.  Though here I heard and saw several Ridgway’s Rails – a very nice consolation.  But after lots of scanning, and a couple miles of walking, I found no Reddish Egrets in the area where they were most often recently reported on e-Bird.

The day before my trip I had called the Reserve to get their advice and the person on the line said he typically saw them in the northern end of Bolsa Chica.  But because there were few e-Bird posts of the bird from this area, I thought this this area would be a lower priority.  Though now that I had struck out in the area with most of the recent e-Bird sightings, it was time to head to the northern portion of the Reserve.  This part of the wetlands is visible from the Pacific Coast Highway, though there are no options for parking along the road.  So I would need to drive north past the wetlands, park at the headquarters, then walk back south to check out this area.  I had driven no more than a half mile when up ahead I noticed a wading bird “dancing” in the wetlands.  I slowed a bit when I got even with it and sure enough it was a Reddish Egret.  Wasn’t the best of views, but at least I didn’t need it for a lifebird. 

I’ve now seen Reddish Egret in 4 southeastern states (how come I’ve missed it in MS?), and now CA as a rare but regular species (see my statebird map below).

If I had only taken the advice of the Reserve employee I may well have gotten it right away.  Though if I did I might have missed the Belding’s Sparrows and Ridgway’s Rails.  I thought about stopping and walking back to get a better look, but I still wanted to head to Huntington Central Park to try for the other targets, even if they were long shots.  So I continued on to the Park, content with a good enough look at the Egret.

Both the Hooded Warbler and Red-Eyed Vireo had been mostly reported from the eastern side of the “Island” at Huntington Central Park.  Though the Warbler was also sometimes seen on the western side.  And in most cases the bird was in full song.   Of course I first thought the “Island” would be land in the middle of a lake or pond, so I wondered how I would get to it.  But based on the descriptions in some posts I wondered if it was an “island” of trees and brush.  With some Googlemaps research it looked like there was a wetlands in the middle of the park, which was indeed heavily forested.  So maybe both guesses were right.  But it was a pretty large park, and with no positive posts from that day, I wasn’t too optimistic.  Instead I figured I would just bird the park in general and enjoy seeing some western species I don’t see too often.  And if I do see one of the rarities then that would an unexpected bonus.

I arrived at the parking lot on the western side of the park and soon noticed a photographer with a long lens.  As I always say “bird the birders”, so I went up to him to see if he had any updates on the rarities.  Instead he was just a photographer, not familiar with the Warbler and Vireo, and he told me he was there “to photograph the Whydah”.  Just then a male Pin-tailed Whydah flew into the tree right above us.  Although my first thought was Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, I realized that it was my first ever Whydah.  Not a countable bird, but maybe someday…

I then started birding around the perimeter of what I guessed to be the “Island”, starting from the west side and working my way clockwise to the east.  I eventually got to the east side but didn’t have any sightings of the rarities.  Though I did run into a pair of Scaly-breasted Munias (formerly called Nutmeg Mannikins) – only the second time I’ve seen them.  I decided to call it quits, and had walked only a short way back toward the car when I heard some harsh chips coming from a wet area in the underbrush.  I quickly went to my iPhone and played the call notes of the Hooded Warbler and they were a perfect match.  I continued to play the calls and the bird seemed to respond.  Although I never saw the bird, it kept calling from a short distance into woods, again seemingly in response to my tape.  Although I felt good that this could be the Hooded Warbler, it had not been seen that morning, and it was never reported as giving call notes.  So I guessed it was just some regular western bird I wasn’t familiar with.  But two days later I noticed an e-Bird report that the Hooded Warbler was re-found, just giving its chip notes, and from the same area where I had my observation.  So I decided to go with my initial impressions and added Hooded Warbler to my CA statelist. 

I’ve now seen Hooded Warbler in 30 states – several on the periphery of its normal range like OK and MN, and several as a rarity like ME, NH, VT, and now CA.  Though I still need it in a few states in the southeast in the regular part of its range. 

 

I was just about back to my car when I noticed several sparrow-sized birds fly into some reeds at the edge of the wetlands – more Munias.  I stopped to watch the birds feeding on seeds at the top of the reeds and more and more birds continued to join them.  Eventually I counted 35 Munias in the flock.  And at one point I noticed a different bird at the edge of the flock that reminded me of a female Bobolink – it was a female Orange Bishop.  Another first for me.  So along with the Whydah, that gave me 3 established exotics for the Park – though only 1 is countable at this point.

All in all it was a most successful couple of stops.  Not only did I add 2 birds to my CA statelist (now at 378), but I also saw my first Pin-tailed Whydah and Orange Bishop, and got good looks at both the Belding’s Sparrow and Ridgway’s Rail.