Third Time’s the Charm for American White Pelican, New Castle, NH, December 2018

American White Pelican is a rare vagrant in New England, as it is throughout virtually all of the eastern US.  And in New England, only rarely do birds stick around long.  Often they are seen as one or more high flying birds passing by on the coast.  Needless to say those birds aren’t chaseable unless you’re already on the coast and are lucky enough to be able to catch up with them as they head out of town.  As a result, in New England I’ve only seen White Pelican in MA and RI, and both birds were ones that had luckily stuck around for a couple days allowing for successful searches.

Then there was this interesting set of events in December 2018 -

It was Sunday afternoon, December 9, and at about 2 PM I received a text from Steve Mirick’s NH rare bird alert that an American White Pelican was reported heading south from Wells, ME.  Very appropriately Steve suggested it was worth keeping an eye out for the bird in NH.  Later in the day an eBird Maine Needs Alert came across with a White Pelican in York County.  The checklist was apparently from a full day of birding with the listed location being “York County”, and with no details on the location or time of the Pelican sighting.  Though there was a photo of the bird sitting in dry Spartina grasses in a coastal marsh somewhere.  Undoubtedly that was the bird reported in Wells which was last seen heading south.  Certainly not chaseable, right?

Then late in the afternoon Monday came yet another eBird Maine Needs Alert with a Pelican sighting.  At first I just assumed it was a second sighting from Sunday, but when I opened the e-mail I realized it was actually a Monday sighting once again from Wells.  The bird was seen swimming in the Webhannet River – apparently the bird was still around.  The post came across too late to give it a try that day, but it was certainly worth a try on Tuesday.  Especially since I didn’t go after chaseable White Pelicans (3 of them!) seen in Wells in May earlier this year. 

Tuesday morning I teamed up with Davis Finch and Mike Beck to search for the Pelican in Wells, ME.  But despite 3 hours scouring the waters and marshes of the Webhannet River we were unsuccessful.  Though it certainly was great to catch up with Davis and Mike!  Oh well – “a day late and a dollar short” as they say.  Tuesday evening while posting our sightings on eBird I noticed a post on the NH listserve that a White Pelican was photographed from Odiorne Point State Park that day.  The post was on a Facebook site and was not posted until dinner time that day.  Apparently our target bird was in NH while we were looking for it in ME - ugh.  And like Monday’s post of the bird in ME, it came across too late to chase that day in NH.  So once again it was time to plan for a chase the next morning.

Wednesday morning at 7 I met David Donsker at Odiorne in Rye, NH to look for our target bird.  But once again, I came up empty.  We searched the area around the Odiorne boat ramp where it was seen on Tuesday, as well as the Odiorne coast all the way to Frost Point, the New Castle coastline across the river from Odiorne, and as much of the remaining Newcastle coastline as we could access.  Once again I missed it by a day. 

Tallies from my 2 unsuccessful chases on consecutive days in 2 states – 7 hours of driving, 5 hours of birding, 0 White Pelicans. 

Two days later, Friday, I was in RI starting my day successfully adding Evening Grosbeak to my RI list as part of some inland birding in the morning.  That afternoon while doing a rather unremarkable seawatch from Point Judith, RI I got a text from Steve Mirick that the White Pelican had been re-found in New Castle, NH.  Even if I left that second I wouldn’t be able to make it to New Castle before dark.  My original plan was to spend the night in RI and participate in a Christmas Count the next morning.  But earlier in the day I had decided to pass on the CBC since I had come down with a pretty miserable cold.  Though my cold wasn’t bad enough to prevent me from chasing after a potential state bird!  Once again I planned an early morning trip to try for the Pelican – once again time back on the NH coast.

The bird had been seen on Friday from the “green bridge” – a narrow 2-lane metal bridge on Route 1B that takes you onto the island that makes up the majority of the town of New Castle.  It was also seen in the marina just east and south of that bridge.  But there was no place to pull over while on the bridge.  And the marina was private property requiring permission to access.  And did I mention that there are almost no public parking spots in the area?  Needless to say this could be a challenge.

At 7:10 Saturday morning, 12/15, while I was still in route to New Castle, I got a text from Steve that the Pelican was still there, seen from just west of the metal bridge.  Twenty minutes later I turned onto Route 1B, and luckily at that time of the day there was almost no traffic.  As I neared the green bridge there were no cars in sight behind me, so I was able to come to a full stop on the bridge.  I quickly looked to the right (south) where all of Friday’s sightings had been, but there was no bird.  Then I took a bit longer scan of the water and shorelines below but still no bird.  Then I made a quick look at the bit of the marina that is visible from the bridge, but again came up empty.  I was starting to worry.  Then I looked to the left, and peering between the bridge railings, I could see a large white bird swimming in the estuary to the north.  A quick binoc view confirmed I had the White Pelican!

I pulled ahead and parked in an “almost-legal” parking space, and there was the Pelican right in front of me.  Here’s a shot of the bird with no magnification.

And here’s a phonescoped photo of this most cooperative bird. 

Third time was the charm!

In subsequent days the bird was routinely being seen near the green bridge, and on the southern New Castle coast line opposite Odiorne.  Both of these areas were places David and I checked on Wednesday.  We also checked the edges of the marina as well, though couldn’t see into the center of the marina where even a large white bird could easily hide behind a boat and out of sight.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pelican was there all along, though I doubt that David and I overlooked it.  Instead I bet it was hanging out at the marina out of view when we were searching for it earlier in the week.  In any case, good thing that it stuck around for many to see it.

American White Pelican was #369 for me in NH, and my 36th state for this species which is prone to vagrancy across the US (see my statebird map below).

And now for a post-script –

At 3:30 in the afternoon of the 24th a (the?) White Pelican was spotted in Falmouth, ME – 50 miles (as the Pelican flies) northeast of New Castle.  The last eBird post of this bird in New Castle was at 11 AM on the 24th.  Was this the same bird, flying 50 miles to the northeast that day to return to the ME coast?  Or have there been 2 birds all along – one preferring the NH coast and a second bird that never left the southern ME coast?  The Pelican was not found in NH on the 25th, but one was seen in Portland, ME that morning, though just for a couple hours before flying out of sight.  So it’s looking more likely that it is indeed just one bird and not two.  Is it too late to ask for a chaseable Pelican in ME for Christmas?  Stay tuned…

Evening Grosbeak - Welcoming Back a Long-Lost Friend, Exeter, RI, December 2018

I grew up in Maryland, developing my birding skills there in the 70’s and 80’s.  During that time Evening Grosbeaks were a regular occurrence many winters, especially at feeding stations.  I remember large flocks descending on my feeders, devouring the striped sunflower seeds and requiring re-stocking multiple times each day.

But now 30 or 40 years later, Evening Grosbeak population dynamics are a whole different story in the East.  Here in New England, lately they have become a rare occurrence in the northern part of the region, and virtually non-existent in the southern parts.  For instance throughout most of the southern portion of New England, Evening Grosbeak is now considered to be a rarity in eBird requiring details.  I used to see them as a breeder most every summer at Pawtuckaway State Park in southern NH.  But their numbers have dwindled there over the years, with the last eBird record coming in 2015.  As a wintering bird, since moving to New England in 1993, I’ve not seen this species in CT or RI.  Though admittedly since I had seen them in CT before 1993 I haven’t needed to chase them there.   

But I still needed Evening Grosbeak for my RI statelist, and as a result each winter I’m always on alert for stakeout birds that might be chaseable there.  So it was with considerable excitement that I read the following prediction for Evening Grosbeaks in Ron Pittaway’s “Winter Finch Forecast 2018-2019” – 

Expect a moderate flight south into southern Ontario and the northern states because both conifer and deciduous seed crops are generally low in the Northeast. The best spot to see this striking grosbeak is the feeders at the Visitor Centre in Algonquin Park. At feeders it prefers black oil sunflower seeds. 

Ominously, his forecast ended with this comment –  

In April 2016 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) listed the Evening Grosbeak a species of Special Concern due to strong population declines occurring mainly in central and eastern Canada. 

[See the postscript at the end of this post with more news about Evening Grosbeak population declines.]

Could this be the year to finally add Evening Grosbeak to my RI list?  And given the population declines, I better focus on this target this winter, because who knows when we all will have another chance to see this species in southern New England (and elsewhere for that matter).  Just as predicted, there were a number of Grosbeak reports throughout New England as Fall progressed.  My first birds were a flyover pair on 10/23 in my neighborhood, followed by a single flyover nearby on 12/6.  But I’m in north-central MA – still more than 40 miles from the RI border as the Grosbeak flies.  A few Grosbeak sightings were being reported to the south, initially especially at hawk watch sites on the CT coast.  Then finally a few reports popped up in RI – most were flybys and a few were birds that stopped albeit only briefly.  On speculation, I made a trip to Buck Hill WMA but came up empty.  Then there were a couple reports from Nicholas Farm Management Area which I chased after without success (though I did have an amazing time with Red Crossbills there!). 

The first somewhat chaseable RI reports came from Burlingame State Park near the coast.  But they were only there for a couple days and I couldn’t break free to go after them.  Then came reports of a flock at feeders on Block Island – but they were gone by the time most of the details came to light.  Ugh… 

Then finally came the break I needed – Evening Grosbeaks were reported for several days at RI Audubon’s Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge in Exeter.  And then came a report of up to 20 birds at a feeder a short distance nearby (though the homeowner didn’t allow visitors on her property – not very neighborly of her…).  I reached out to the caretaker at the Fisherville refuge and got permission to visit the property and the feeders the Grosbeaks frequented.  Next I contacted Don Heitzmann who lives nearby, and we planned to meet at the refuge the next morning to search for the Grosbeaks. 

We arrived at 9:30 on 12/14 quite optimistic, and walked down the driveway toward the house listening for our target birds.  But it was pretty quiet so we headed to the feeders in the back.  There we found typical common feeder birds but still no Grosbeaks.  But just a couple minutes later I heard a distant call note of a flyover Evening Grosbeak.  Within a few seconds we watched a female Grosbeak land above us in the top of a bare tree.  Then we heard multiple Grosbeak call notes coming from down the driveway.  We doubled back and soon spotted multiple birds feeding in a pine tree.  The birds were eating poison ivy berries on vines that were climbing up through the pine.  I got these phonescoped photos of birds feeding in the tree (unfortunately the male was a bit obscured).  

A bit later several birds flew to a nearby Juniper and began to eat berries there as well.  Then multiple birds flew behind the house, and a few seconds later we found them feeding on the ground beneath the sunflower feeder.  I got this phonescoped photo by looking through the picket fence into the back yard.

We counted at least 11 birds in the flock.  I had finally gotten Evening Grosbeak in RI!  That was #332 for my RI list, and the 250th species I’ve seen in each of the 6 New England states.   

My statebird map for Evening Grosbeak is provided below – the dark shaded states are those in which I’ve seen this species; the cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I haven’t yet seen it.  Or at least those are states where Evening Grosbeak used to be regular.  Alas… 

Now a postscript on additional news on Evening Grosbeak populations-  On May 12, 2018, James Westrip posted an article on the BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Forum titled "Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina): revise global status?"  Although at the time the species was considered of Least Concern by BirdLife International, he proposed that Evening Grosbeaks should be listed as Endangered.  The criterion cited to place a species in this category is a population reduction of 50% over 3 generations, and one referenced study showed a decline of 65.2% over 3 generations.  He states that the "cause of these decline[s] has not been identified yet, although habitat alteration, disease and control of its insect prey (e.g. Spruce Budworm) have been put forward as potential contributors."  The Evening Grosbeak Species Factsheet on the Birdlife.org website now shows that the species' status has been changed to Vulnerable, defined as "considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild".  Unfortunately very sobering news for this beautiful species.