Moving to the Mountains of North Carolina – Thanks for the New England Memories, August 2019

After 26 years in New England I’ve retired to the mountains of western North Carolina.  I’ve had a great time birding throughout New England, and greatly appreciate all the help provided by birders throughout the region!  I was able to amass a total of 2,077 “total ticks” and 441 species in the 6 New England states over the years – second only to the late Denny Abbott.  Years ago I adopted Denny’s goal of reaching 2,000 New England ticks, which drove me to chase after new potential statebirds almost anywhere throughout the region.  But I became a victim of my own successes.  The number of new possible statebirds in New England had dwindled dramatically recently and were almost strictly limited to rarities, which of course were completely unpredictable, and often required long drives.  

But now I can look forward to working on my statelists in NC and beyond.  Like New England, there are a number of states nearby.  I’ve moved to Hendersonville, NC, which is only about 20 minutes from the SC state line, an hour from TN, and about 90 minutes from GA.  I’ve got pretty good lists in each of these states, but there is still lots of potential!  One species I’m especially looking forward to learning about is the Swainson’s Warbler that breeds in the mountainous rhododendron thickets – I’ve never seen them in that habitat.  I need that species in each state in the region, except for NC.  But that’s for my next blog post.

For now, a bit of reminiscing after 26 years of birding in New England -

NH – 370 statelist

Although I birded extensively throughout New England, I’m especially proud of my NH list, starting with finding a Townsend’s Warbler at Odiorne Point SP on 11/21/93, just a couple months after I moved to New England.  Other fond memories - 

• Almost any trip to the coast, whether it was to chase after a rarity (like Sabine’s Gull – 7/8/09, Brown Pelican – 6/24/17, and of course the Shelduck - 8/19/17), or just general birding for migrant passerines and shorebirds. Though on my first trip to the coast in August 1993 I realized that you need town stickers on the car to park in many locations (an expensive ticket at Eel Pond opened my eyes to that requirement).  
• Pelagic and whale watch trips, including trying to figure out which state each bird was in.  And my favorites were those birds that NH birders thought were in NH while MA birders thought were in MA. 
• Many trips to pumpkin patches for fall sparrows in Hollis quite close to home.

MA – 415 state list

I birded nearly the entire state from east to west – from Race Point and the Yellow-billed Loon on 3/7/16 (with 4 loon species in the same binocular field), to Great Barrington and the Allen’s Hummingbird on 11/7/12.  Other memories along the way - 

• White-tailed Tropicbird and Sooty Tern at Quabbin Reservoir on 8/28/11 after the passage of Hurricane Irene
• Adult Ivory Gull at Gloucester on 1/18/09 right after a snowstorm – the Gull was whiter than the new-fallen snow
• Red-footed Falcon on 8/14/04 on Martha’s Vineyard with hundreds of other birders
• And a Pepperell yard list of 143 species featuring rarities like Summer Tanager, Cerulean Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher and Wheatear.

VT – 282 statelist

Although some of the best VT birding was a long drive from home, limiting my chases and keeping my list under 300, I still enjoyed lots of fond birding memories like –

• “Pelagic trips” on Lake Champlain with Little Gull (10/19/13) and Sabine’s Gull (9/9/17)
• Annual Fall passerine migrant trips to the southeast part of the state finding a Connecticut Warbler (9/27/16) and Blue Grosbeak (10/12/18) – though I never caught up with an Orange-crowned Warbler
• Seeing a Yellow-crowned Night Heron by flashlight at Bomoseen SP on 8/31/15 (on my 3rd try)
• Slowly ticking off all those shorebird species difficult to find in this inland state, at places like the Colchester Causeway, Goose Bay, Dead Creek, etc.  And then birding Goose Bay in route to fall shorebirding at Baie Missisquoi just across the Quebec line.
• Poring through goose flocks in Vernon to find Cackling and Barnacle Geese (3/28/07) -though I couldn’t pick out the Barnacle after it and the rest of the flock flew out over NH airspace
• Those large Snow Goose flocks, with an occasional Ross’s, in Addison
• Finding Grebe and Scoter flocks on inland lakes during migration.  Not to mention rarer “coastal” waterfowl like Harlequin Duck (3/23/06) and King Eider (11/30/17)

CT – 333 statelist

CT highlights were many, including -

• Hammonasset Beach SP was by far my favorite location, where I added 23 new birds to my state list over the years with rarities like Lazuli Bunting (1/24/07) and California Gull (3/23/16) and a spectacular pelagic display with Cory’s and Great Shearwaters and Parastic Jaegers on 8/15/18
• Multiple “pelagic trips” on the ferries out of New London with shearwaters, jaegers, and alcids in CT and NY waters – including a rare Pomarine Jaeger in both states crossing the stateline along with the ferry
• Many trips to Milford Point including rarities like White-tailed Kite (8/21/10) and Roseate Spoonbill (9/22/18)
• And then finally seeing Yellow-headed Blackbird at UConn (1/3/19), after missing this species 3 other times in CT

ME – 343 statelist

Some of my fondest memories in Maine include –

• Numerous trips to Biddeford – with migrant passerines and Kentucky Warbler (9/9/13) in the woods, Caspian Tern (7/26/17) and Royal Terns (7/11/14) on Hills Beach, Oystercatchers (7/17/04) in the Pool, Surfbird (3/22/15) on the rocks, and Pacific Loon (11/22/14) offshore.
• Scarborough Marsh with rarities like European Golden-Plover (10/11/08), Little Egret (6/29/11), and Black-necked Stilt (6/22/13), not to mention great studies of the marsh sparrows – Seaside, Saltmarsh, and Nelson’s
• Goose flocks in Yarmouth including Cackling, White-fronted and Barnacle (all on 10/7/08), and Pink-footed (10/20/09).
• Seeing the Red-billed Tropicbird (7/28/12) on my 4^th try, but not without a 7-hour round-trip drive, a ride on a passenger ferry, a ride on a modified crabbing boat, and an overnight stay on an off-shore island.
• Western Grebe in Brunswick more than a mile away (4/23/16) – as the locals put it – “wicked faahh”

RI – 334 statelist

Especially in the most recent years I birded in RI more than any other state, often looking for rarities on my own rather than chasing after those reported earlier.  My best memories over the years -

• My first ever trip to RI in 1993 when I planned to bird at “Quixen Pond”, but I couldn’t find it on the map (well before smart phones and map apps).  Then with the help of some local shop owners I found out it was actually “Quicksand Pond” I was looking for – my first experience with those New England accents
• Black-tailed Gull in Middletown on 7/11/95- the lifebird was worth the expensive parking ticket for not being a town resident
• A 7-goose day on 1/13/07 including Barnacle, Pink-footed, Cackling, and White-fronted
• Many trips to Trustom Pond – including the Townsend’s Warbler on 11/27/17
• Numerous sea watches at Camp Cronin, Point Judith and Moonstone Beach featuring a Brown Pelican, Parasitic Jaeger, and Sooty Tern after the passage of Hurricane Irene (9/1/11), and a flyby South Polar Skua (9/9/17) after Hurricane Jose 
• Talking my way into gaining access to private property in Little Compton to see a Northern Lapwing on 2/7/13
• Taking the ferry back and forth to Block Island many times on what I called a “poor man’s pelagic”, not to mention winter sea watches from the southern tip of the island and lots of Guillemots 
• Tennessee Warbler in the Lonsdale Marshes on 5/11/15 – my 2,000th “Total Tick” for New England
• And then finally catching up with Mississippi Kite in East Greenwich on 5/26/19

Then there are some interstate memories featuring –

• Adding 3 species to my lists in 3 different states in the same day – Sandwich Tern in MA, White Ibis in NH, and Royal Tern in ME – all on 7/11/14

And then finally the ultimate, which I dubbed “my best 2 days of birding ever” –

• 8/9/18 - Great Black Hawk in ME (2nd ABA record and 1st in New England), Neotropic Cormorant in NH (1st New England Record), and Wood Stork in NH (1st accepted NH record)
• 8/10/18 – Little Egret in RI (2nd state record), and Bridled Tern as a life bird on Great Gull Island in NY – after missing it twice in CT the previous year.

New England – thanks for the memories!

Now it’s on to the Carolinas…