Red Crossbill - a Most Unexpected Consolation Prize, Ceasars Head State Park, SC, June 30, 2020

One of the biggest gaps that still exists in my SC statelist is the Peregrine Falcon.  Although it’s certainly not a rarity, often you have to be lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to run into one.  That is unless there is a known nesting site, or a preferred roost, where you can just hang out and wait for a Peregrine to pass by.  For instance I can remember getting my first Peregrine in CT by camping out at a preferred roosting site in downtown Hartford, seeing my first one in RI at a stakeout roost on a bridge, and seeing a nesting pair in downtown Atlanta as my first for my GA list. 

"The” place for Peregrine in upstate SC is Ceasars Head State Park where there are year-round (likely nesting) birds.  I’ve been told that you just go to the overlook at the park, and scan both above and below you and you might be lucky enough to have a bird fly by.  Although certainly not a guarantee, it’s the most likely spot to find one nearby.  My NC birding friend Dave Minnich took me there in Fall 2019 only to find out that the mountain was socked in fog when we got there – we couldn’t see more than 50 ft.  Needless to say we didn’t see one that day, though it was good to scout out the site.

Then in late June 2020 a couple eBird Needs Alerts popped up with Peregrine sightings at the Park.  With summer nesting season winding down, and the summer doldrums of birding around the corner, it seemed like this could be a good time to give it another try.  After a bit of planning, SC birding friends Gary Harbour and Michael Robertson were on board for the trip, and we now had 3 great pairs of eyes to watch for Peregrines.  We set June 30th as the date when I would hopefully be able to add Peregrine to my SC statelist.

Our first stop on the 30th was a nice wooded neighborhood near where Gary lives to look for an interesting silent flycatcher seen recently.  Unfortunately, we struck out on the flycatcher, but hoped for better success with the Peregrine.  A short while later our caravan arrived at Ceasars Head State Park and we were soon at the overlook anxiously awaiting a fly-by of a Peregrine. 

But after an hour’s wait we were still looking for our target bird.  Not only was there no Peregrine, there were few raptors of any kind, with only a couple Vultures passing by.  But the scenery was nice, as shown in this panoramic view.

As my interest started to wane I reminded myself to stay on the alert even if birding was slow.  And just then I heard sharp “kip kip kip” calls coming from down below us and to the left.  I quickly picked up the birds flying left to right – it was a group of 3 mid-sized chunky finches, perhaps Waxwing-sized.  I could see dull yellowish plumage on 2 of the birds; I didn’t notice the color of the third bird.  Michael was able to get on the birds as well, and we were both able to see and hear them for maybe 10 seconds before they disappeared in the woods to the right.  (Unfortunately, Gary didn’t get on them.)  Just after they passed out of view I turned to Michael and said – “I think we just had a flock of Red Crossbills!”  We quickly compared notes and our observations were the same – we did indeed have 3 Red Crossbills, with at least 2 of them being females or immatures.

What an amazing surprise!  Although Red Crossbills are certainly possible in the upstate of SC, they are exceedingly rare.  With a bit of research on eBird I found only about 11 prior records in SC, including what may have been 2 minor local irruptions –

    8/20/89 – 1 at Burrells Ford Road

    6/99 to 1/00 – 4 sightings in a reasonably small area in Oconee County -

        6/15/99 – 1 at Oconee SP

        9/15-10/11/99 – up to 3 at Burrells Ford

        10/11/99 – 9 at Walhalla Fish Hatchery

    1/8/00 – 35 at Burrells Ford

    7/24-8/24/07 – 1 at Reedy Fork Rd S of Greenville (south of the mountains)

    12/31/12 to 2/3/13 - a flock of up to 18 birds at Devils Fork SP (multiple posts             during the period)

    9/21/14 – 4 at Walhalla Fish Hatchery

    5/12/16 – 2 at Ceasars Head SP

    7/4/18 – 3 at Sassafras Mountain

    7/4/18 – 4 at F Van Clayton Memorial Hwy

Despite staying at the overlook for another hour, we ended up missing our actual target bird - the Peregrine Falcon.  But the Red Crossbill was a much rarer and most unexpected consolation prize - #268 for my SC statelist.  In my statebird map below, I’ve seen this species in the 17 blue-shaded states where it is regular, though there are 12 other states in its regular range where I still need this species (the cross-hatched states).  And now I’ve seen Red Crossbill as a rarity in MD and SC (the tan-shaded states).

Just think, if I had seen the Peregrine on my first trip to Ceasars Head I likely wouldn’t have gone back to the park, and of course wouldn’t have found the much rarer Red Crossbills.  Sometimes it’s OK to miss your target bird.