Trips to visit relatives in the Mid-Atlantic states can
provide me opportunities to add statebirds in multiple states. But since I grew up in the area, my lists are
already pretty good, so possibilities are likely to be limited to less common
species. With a January trip to visit
relatives in southern PA and northern DE, I set up eBird Needs Alerts for PA,
DE, and MD. Multiple opportunities
popped up, but most were too far away to chase after given what would end up
being pretty limited available time.
After culling through the reports I was left with just three
possibilities – American Pipit in PA, and Ring-necked Duck and Painted Bunting
in DE. Now I just had to try to figure
out how to squeeze in enough time to go after them.
The first stop on the trip was to south-central PA. My PA list was 241, the smallest total of all
the Mid-Atlantic states, so not surprisingly I had the greatest number of
opportunities in this state. But only
the American Pipit was “nearby”. That is
if a 90-minute drive could be considered to be “nearby”. Multiple Pipits had been reported for some
time at a farmfield location near Shippensburg along with Horned Larks and
Killdeer, with an occasional Lapland Longspur spotted for good measure. The site was simply listed as “Mud Level Road”. And with no specific site mentioned, I
assumed there would be one field that might be of particular interest to these
prairie birds, perhaps one that was recently manured. So my plan was to get to Mud Level Road and
look for the location that was most appealing to these species. I only had about 20 minutes available at the
site so I crossed my fingers that I would be able to find the right spot
quickly.
Although the ground was clear when I left my in-laws’ house
in Shrewsbury, I began to notice more patches of snow as I headed north. Then as I got to Harrisburg the ground was
covered in snow or ice from a recent storm.
I began to worry that the field where the Pipits and others had been
feeding would now be covered, and the birds would now be dispersed. In fact, I thought about just turning around
and heading back, but figured since I had come this far I may as well give it a
try.
As I neared Mud Level Road I saw a large expanse of
farmfields, mostly planted in corn in 2018.
That was a lot of great habitat for these prairie birds. BUT – everything was covered in several
inches of snow and/or ice. I started to
think that now my best opportunity to find a Pipit was to search along the edges
of roads where a snow plow had exposed a small area of dirt. And just after I thought about this “Plan B”
I came upon 4 birds feeding at the road edge.
But all 4 were Horned Larks. How
many miles would I need to drive to find a Pipit? With just 20 minutes to look, maybe I could
cover 10 miles. Certainly a
needle-in-a-haystack kind of proposition.
I arrived at the GPS coordinates given for the Mud Level
Road hotspot and continued to see fields covered in snow and ice. I drove a bit to the west and just found more
of the same and nothing along the road edges.
I pulled over in a small parking lot to try to figure out what to do
next. Luckily I had my window down
because I heard several “whit” calls of Horned Larks somewhere nearby. But with a quick scan I still only saw snow
and ice. Where were those Larks?
I turned around and headed back to the east and soon noticed
a small area in a flooded field to the north that was not frozen (maybe it was
spring fed?). I quickly pulled over and
before I could even pick up my binocs I heard the two-note calls of an American
Pipit nearby. With a glance toward the
direction of the calls I spotted 4 Pipits feeding nearby among the
stubble. But that was amidst all the ice
and snow. So I next looked over to the wet
area and found even more Pipits. I
estimated a total of 25 Pipits, along with 2 Horned Larks. Not to mention 15 Killdeer that were walking
around the area. And with a closer scope
view I spotted 4 Wilson’s Snipe hunkered down in this tiny wetlands. Apparently all these birds had concentrated
in this single area of exposed habitat.
I felt very satisfied that my search had been successful especially
given that virtually the entire area was covered in snow and ice.
American Pipit was #242 for my PA list. Although certainly not a rarity, it is
typically seen in the Mid-Atlantic states as a migrant over a narrow window of
time, so it can be difficult to add to your state lists unless you happen to be
visiting at the right time. Or if you get
lucky enough to find them concentrated in a tiny patch of habitat in
mid-winter. In my statebird map below,
the dark-shaded states are those where I’ve seen American Pipit; the 5
cross-hatched states are the last ones where I I still need this species though
it is a regular migrant. I guess I need
to spend some more time birding the Midwest and Plains during Pipit migration
seasons.
Next it was on to my visit in DE, and the Painted Bunting
and Ring-necked Duck targets. Obviously
the frequency of these 2 species in the area is very different - Painted
Bunting is quite a rarity while the Ring-necked Duck is rather common in
migration and winter. (I have to ask
myself how come I hadn’t seen such a common species in a state in which I had
birded extensively.) The Bunting was
coming to several feeding stations along a suburban road near Newark, within 20
minutes of where I was staying. But the
bird was only semi-reliable, with some birders having to wait several hours to
see the bird. Plus who knows how many
others were not successful in their searches as negative results are rarely
posted. My birding time would be very
limited, and I would be taking my non-birding spouse along with me. So given the potential challenges in seeing
the bird, not to mention likely comments from my wife while I stared at the
feeders waiting for it to appear, I had to pass on trying for the Bunting.
That left the Ring-necked Ducks which were also seen nearby,
this time quite reliably at Dragon Run Marsh.
I had tried for this species at this same location back in April 2017,
but was a bit too late in spring migration for it that time. But on this visit I was right in the middle
of its normal time to be seen in DE. And
one recent post mentioned seeing Ring-necks right from the road. So I was quite optimistic I could quickly
find this species this time around.
But there was one other challenge the morning we headed out
- it was pouring down rain with flood watches and warnings throughout the
area. As we drove down Route 9 and
neared the bridge over Dragon Run Marsh we were in a deluge. This would be fun! While still sitting in the car I tried a quick
binoc scan of the marsh to the west, but with the terrible visibility and rain
pelting the windows I couldn’t see a thing.
So I hopped out and stood under the open tailgate to try again. This time I could see a small number of ducks
in the distance but they were just Mallards or Blacks. Next I got out the scope and l quickly
spotted two Aythya ducks which luckily I could just barely ID through the
pouring rain as Ring-necked Ducks. A
2-minute stop for one statebird – can’t get much more efficient than that even
if the target is a pretty common species.
And speaking of common species - I had 2 key reasons to try
to add Ring-necked Duck to my DE list – not only was it another “tick” for my
DE statelist (#276), but DE was the last state in the continental US that I
still needed this species. Ring-necked
Duck is now the 25th species I’ve seen in all the Lower 48 states, plus DC,
plus Alaska. In other words, my
statebird map below is all shaded in.
I have also seen 15 other species in all the Lower 48 states
and DC but not in Alaska. Though most of
those species are not typically seen in AK.
Two examples of species in this group are Turkey Vulture and Mourning
Dove.
All of these species have one key thing in common - they are quite common across the US.
Though it still might take multiple stops to find them, as was the case
for my Ring-necked Duck in DE.
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