I was sitting at home on a cold day in November 2024 thinking ahead to the prospects of the upcoming winter of birding in western NC. Winter birding in the area can be pretty slow in good times. But complicating the picture this year was that several of my favorite birding spots were still inaccessible, or completely destroyed, by Hurricane Helene.
That’s when I started thinking about setting up a mid-winter
trip to a southern (and warmer) US location.
I’ve taken several mid-winter trips recently - lower Rio Grande valley In
January 2024, Tallahassee in January 2023, and the Atlantic coast of FL in
February 2023. In each case the trips
were focused on pursuing 1or more life birds, and were most successful. So I checked out the eBird ABA Rarities Alert
to see if there might be potential life bird targets to pursue this winter. There was a long-staying Bananaquit near
Miami that caught my eye. Plus, there are
quite a number of newly countable exotic Parakeets, Macaws, and Amazons in
south FL that would be lifers for me. The
trip was on!
I started planning a south FL trip focused on specialties,
exotics, and rarities. And speaking of
rarities, I also found reports of 2 exciting South American species being seen
in south FL - Yellow-headed Caracara and Large-billed Tern. I mentioned the upcoming trip to my good
birding friend Bill Hooker, and he expressed interest in coming along. Soon we were thinking about a trip for 4 of
us –including Bill and his wife Anita, plus Bill’s friend Bob Cowan. Not only were all of us looking for lifebirds
and statebirds, but Bill was also working on his county lists, and Bob was
embarking on a 2025 big year. Plus,
Anita was great at photographing our target birds. So there were lots of potential targets for
all of us. And speaking of state and
county birds, we decided to drive to south FL instead of flying so we could
work on our lists along the way.
After perhaps 200 hours of research, I mapped out a route
that would take us down the coast of SC and GA, through inland northern and
central FL, then onto south FL. Then we
would return along the Atlantic coast of FL and back through GA and SC. We tentatively planned it as an 11-day trip
including 5 days in south FL. Though we
included more than enough flexibility to pursue any newly reported target
birds. With this itinerary I hoped for 4
new statebirds in SC, 2 in GA, and 10 new statebirds in FL. And perhaps 2 of those new FL birds would be
lifebirds as well. Though unfortunately the
initial trigger for our trip, the Bananaquit, was no longer being seen.
This blogpost summarizes the first portion of the trip. The next two posts summarize the rest of the trip.
1/6 - South Carolina
There were an amazing number of rarities being seen in SC as
our trip neared. And even though two initial
targets (Eared Grebe and White-winged Dove) were no longer being reported, we still
had so many targets that we dedicated most of the first two days of the trip to
chasing those SC rarities.
Our first stop was to try for a Black-throated Gray Warbler at
Harbison Pond near Columbia. This bird
had been reliable and seen by many from December 26th through 28th, but then
not reported again until January 5th, just in time to put it back on our radar
screen. This western rarity was mostly
seen on the eastern side of the small lake, and close to the shoreline. In fact, most photos showed the bird right at
the water’s edge. So we were cautiously
optimistic that the Warbler might actually be pretty easy to spot.
As we drove to Columbia we passed through bands of heavy
rain as a strong cold front neared the area.
But luckily the rain had not yet arrived when we got to Harbison Pond,
so we had a little dry window to find our target. We started a slow walk down the eastern side
of the lake but the only bird we found was a lone Phoebe. Making matters worse, then the rain started,
along with strong westerly winds. Even
though the bird was typically only seen on the east side of the lake, that area
was exposed to the rain and wind. So we
decided to try the protected western side – that was a nice theory but we still
couldn’t find our target.
We went back to the east side and decided to give it one
more try. But this time we had no birds
at all. Just then Anita asked me to
check out a bird she spotted high up in a tree in the distance. Although it was pretty far away I could see
the classic head pattern of our target bird – we had the Black-throated Gray
Warbler! (SC statebird #1) No one had reported the bird foraging that
high; wonder if the weather had something to do with it.
My statebird map for Black-throated Gray Warbler is inserted
below. The light blue shaded states are
those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range. The 5 darker blue shaded states are those
where I’ve seen it as a rarity.
Next we were on to Fort Moultrie on the coast near Charleston. This spot is well known for its rarities and this January was no exception – Western Kingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and LeConte’s Sparrows were all being reported there. When we arrived we spotted a birder in the distance so we made our way over to her. She had just seen both flycatchers loosely associating together. And soon we spotted the Western Kingbird on a low perch in the field – a nice rarity but I had seen one at Fort Moultrie in the past. We spent a few minutes searching for the Ash-throated but with no luck. Then I played a couple Ash-throated call notes for this tape-responsive species and it flew right into us (SC statebird #2). I got these passable digi-bin shots of the two birds perched just a few feet apart.
We spent the next 30 minutes searching for the LeConte’s Sparrow, and found a nice flock of foraging Savannahs in about the right location, but we had no luck with our target.
Our next chaseable rarities were a male and female Western
Tanager just 20 minutes away at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant. They were seen separately generally foraging
in woods near a submarine memorial and nearby across the street. We had good directions, now we needed the
birds to cooperate.
We parked at the memorial and quickly checked the trees
there, but had no birds at all. Then we
headed across the road and at least started to find a few birds here and
there. Soon we got to a small wooden
bridge that I remembered as being one of the hotspots for the Tanagers. This spot turned out to be quite birdy, with
a number of birds coming out of the brush under the bridge. Then I noticed a larger bird perched in a
bare tree just above the bridge – it was the female Western Tanager. (SC statebird #3). It was likely an immature bird with very
limited yellow below. Certainly not the
most colorful bird, but still a new statebird.
Here’s a shot of Bob and Bill looking at the Tanager.
Since we found the Tanager so quickly we still had time for one last stop. There was a male Bullock’s Oriole coming to a nearby private feeder, and even though the general suggestion was to try for this bird in the early morning, we decided to give it a go since we still had time late that afternoon. We arrived at the residence and headed to the chairs in the backyard to start our vigil. The homeowners came out to greet us, and put additional jelly in the feeder to entice the Oriole. And within just a couple minutes the adult male Bullock’s flew in to the feeding station. I had seen a female in SC a couple years earlier, but it sure was nice to see this beautiful male.
1/7 – Coastal South Carolina
Our first stop of the day was on Edisto Island where up to 2
Long-tailed Ducks had been reported. Unfortunately,
they had not been reported for 4 days, and the locations of the eBird
checklists were at multiple spots all along the beach. So I was a bit worried if we were going to be
successful on this search, or at least successful quickly. But I got a tip that they might be more
reliable off the Coots Bar restaurant, so that’s where we started.
When we parked at Coots Bar I looked down the coast to the southwest
and was shocked to see numerous jetties jutting out from the beach. Long-tailed Ducks like to feed along jetties
so there could be a dozen or more places to check. I scanned the first jetty but didn’t find any
ducks. Then Bill said he thought he had
them at the next jetty. Binocular views revealed
two small mostly white ducks, and in the scope we confirmed we had the male and
female pair of Long-tailed Ducks. (SC
statebird #4) SC was the last Atlantic
coast state where I still needed this species.
The two cross-hatched states in my statebird map (OR, OH), are the last
2 states where I still need this species in its regular range.
We then spent a little time focusing on the shorebirds feeding on the jetties and picked out 2 Knots among the flocks of Sanderlings, Turnstones, and Willets.
As we continued our trek down the coast our next stop was at
Bear Island WMA. And here we quickly
picked up Tundra Swans as our key target.
We also kept our eyes open for a White-winged Dove reported there
recently, but just found Mourning Doves.
Our last stop in SC was at the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive in
Savannah NWR. The key target here was a
Gray-headed Swamphen which was only the second SC state record. The bird was first reported some 2 weeks
earlier, and was seen daily within 100 yards past port-a-potties located along
the drive. An occasional Cave Swallow or
2 was also reported by some birders in the area, though that target was a
pretty long shot.
We quickly found the port-a-potties less than a mile from
the beginning of the drive, parked our cars, and began searching the marshes
nearby. Our initial searches yielded numerous
Common Gallinules and Coots and a few dabbling ducks, but no big purple marsh
birds. We continued down the road a bit
combing through more cattail marshes but still couldn’t come up with our
target. I took a break at one point to look
for swallows and found quite a number of Tree Swallows passing quickly by,
seemingly in migration. None looked like
possible Cave candidates though all were passing by so quickly that a Cave ID
would have been difficult.
We had now come more than 100 yards from the port-a-potties,
so I started heading back to recheck the marsh we had just searched. Just then I spotted a flash of purple color
at the edge of the cattails. I saw a bit
more movement and watched as the Gray-headed Swamphen stepped out of the reeds
into view. (SC statebird #5)
Just as I was getting everyone on the bird, Bill spotted an American Bittern slowly moving through the cattails just a few feet from the Swamphen. Even when we knew where the Bittern was it was next to impossible to see.
With the Swamphen search complete, I turned back to the
swallow search. As before there were many
Trees flying quickly by, but this time I noticed a swallow flying back and
forth foraging low over the impoundment.
This one had an orange rump and buffy throat – we had a Cave Swallow (SC
statebird #6). We had at least 3 Caves
together at the Swamphen spot, and at least 2 others a short distance down the
road. Each of the Caves were coursing
low over the vegetation apparently feeding, while the numerous Trees were
flying as if migrating by. SC was my 5th
state seeing Cave Swallow as a rarity.
I’ve also seen the Caribbean group breeding in south FL, and the Mexican
group breeding in TX, NM, and LA.
We birded the rest of the Wildlife Drive, finding lots of
waterfowl (including a somewhat unexpected pair of Mottled Ducks) and many waders. And although we wanted to bird there longer,
it was time to move on to our next stops.
1/7 – Coastal Georgia
It was now getting late in the afternoon but we had time for
2 quick stops just over the stateline in GA.
The first was at Fort Pulaski to try for the 3 “marsh sparrows”. Although the tide wasn’t high, which is the
easiest time to find these elusive birds, we still hoped to find them in the
excellent salt marsh habitat at the fort.
But despite playing a lot of tape we were unsuccessful. Lastly, we headed to the North Jetty at Tybee
Island where there were old reports of Purple Sandpipers, Black Scoters, and a
Long-tailed Duck. But we could only find
Turnstones and Sanderlings. Maybe we
could try for them on the way back north later in the trip.
1/8 – North Florida
Our first stop in FL was at the Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville
for a long-staying Cinnamon Teal.
Although the bird was seen regularly in a large flock of Blue-winged
Teal, there had been no reports of our target since January 2nd. So I was a bit concerned that it had moved
on. As we walked into the park we saw a
group of birders coming out. They told
us that the large flock of Blue-wings had moved on and the Cinnamon Teal likely
had gone with them. When we got to the
impoundment where the Teal flock had been we found just 6 Blue-wings. At least the whole area was very birdy,
including this Snail Kite that flew in and perched cooperatively nearby.
Next we were on to the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park 45 minutes to the south. This site had 2 key targets for us: a small number of Vaux’s Swifts that were being seen sporadically, and an Ash-throated Flycatcher. The Swifts were mostly spotted flying over impoundments at the south end of the park, and the Flycatcher was principally near the northwestern part of the park. We pulled in and quickly headed to the southern impoundments, but our searches of the skies came up empty. We noticed a birder in the distance and walked over to him for some local advice. He mentioned that we just missed the Swifts, as they flew by just 20 minutes earlier. Surely they would come back, right? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case over the next 30 minutes.
We decided to try to change our luck and look for the
Flycatcher. After a short walk toward
the northern end of the park we watched and listened to no avail. We played some tape hoping for a response
like we had with the SC bird a couple days earlier, but again with no
luck. Though a couple Eastern Phoebes
briefly got us excited.
After about 90 minutes at the park we decided to cut our
losses and head out for one more stop yet that afternoon. The last stop of the day was about 2 hours to
the south in Osceola County where a Whooping Crane had taken up residence with
a pair of Sandhills in a subdivision under construction. This bird was apparently quite reliable, so
we hoped we might soon change our luck after missing several consecutive targets.
When we arrived we first had to drive through a neighborhood
of new houses to get to the construction area.
There we found the roads were completed and the subdivision was all laid
out, but the houses were not yet under construction. The Crane was most often reported right in
the cul de sac at the end of the road, but there was no obvious tall white bird
in site. Then I looked to the east a bit
to a neighboring farm and noticed a white bird in the distance. With a quick binocular view we confirmed we
had our Whooping Crane feeding in the short grass with 2 Sandhills. (FL statebird #1)
After watching it feed at the farm for a few minutes it took off and flew right by us, landing in a pond in the cul de sac, giving us great views. What a great way to end the day!
There was a second Whooping Crane being seen less than 10
miles away. It turns out that both birds
were released in the area in 1999 and had formed a mated pair, but somehow the
2 birds had recently become separated. You
would sure hope that the authorities would try to reacquaint the birds,
especially given that the habitat for the one we saw would soon be compromised
once construction of the neighborhood was underway.
1/9 – Central Florida
One of the key initial targets for the trip was a
Large-billed Tern discovered at the Goodwin WMA. This South American species was first spotted
in the area in the summer of 2023, but then disappeared until being re-found in
November 2024. Interestingly, it or
another one spent the summer of 2024 near Naples in the southwestern portion of
FL. Goodwin WMA is only accessible by
car on Thursdays, or with a very long walk on Sundays, resulting in a limited
number of reports from the area. The
last positive report for the Tern was December 15th, so we weren’t too
hopeful. But with so many birders
looking for the Tern, it’s not too surprising that another rarity was found there-
a Ruff feeding with other shorebirds in one of the impoundments. A nice example of the “Patagonia Picnic Table
Effect”.
Now we needed to gain access to the site and find the
impoundments where the Tern and Ruff were most likely to be seen. Not to mention find our target birds! For this support we turned to David Simpson,
one of the local expert birders, and the person who discovered the Tern. It turns out that he has his own guiding
company, and was free on Thursday the 9th, so we hired him for a half day
tour. And since Goodwin is only
accessible on Thursdays, we literally planned our entire trip around birding
that site the morning of the 9th.
We met David in the parking lot at 8, and birded the
immediate vicinity for a while waiting for the gate to open at 9. A male Vermilion Flycatcher and a Tropical
Kingbird were being seen in the area, and we quickly found both birds perched
in the same bush. Later a female Painted
Bunting was spotted there as well. By
the time the gate opened at least 20 birders had gathered anxious to get into
the site. We were hopeful that with all
those eyes we would find at least one of our target birds.
Once we got inside we started to get a feel for how immense
the site was. We first drove through several miles of dry
savanna until we reached wet impoundments.
Marsh birds and waterfowl were everywhere, including numerous Swamphens and
both Gallinules, all the expected waders, and flocks of dabbling and diving
ducks. We spent some time at the
impoundment where the Tern would often perch, but we were all realistic that the
Tern had most likely moved on.
We eventually made our way to the impoundment where the Ruff
and most of the shorebirds were being seen.
There were already at least a dozen birders there by the time we set up
the scopes. Here’s a picture of the
impoundment.
After a bit of scanning we eventually spotted the flock the Ruff was likely associating with, but the birds were really far away and most were sleeping. Mixed in the roosting flock were large numbers of Skimmers, Ring-billed Gulls, and Forster’s and Caspian Terns – though no Large-billed Tern was in the group. We tried numerous vantage points but mostly just found more sleeping shorebirds. But after a while we started to find some birds up and about foraging on the flats, including a nice Stilt Sandpiper feeding with both Yellowlegs. And then as we were about to run out of time, we came upon a large group of mostly Dowitchers feeding a bit closer to us. And one birder mentioned he might have an interesting bird in the flock. David looked in that birder’s scope and confirmed they had the Ruff. It took me a couple anxious minutes but I was finally able to pick it out in the distance. (FL statebird #2) FL is the 10th state where I’ve seen Ruff – of course all as rarities.
On our way back out of Goodwin we spotted a couple Snail Kites – a nice way to end the trip to this amazing spot. Without David’s help we doubt that we would have been able to find the Ruff, let alone find the impoundment where the Ruff was hanging out.
As we continued our drive toward southern FL our next stop
was Paul Rardin Park along the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. This small roadside park had an amazing set
of wintering flycatchers, with recent reports including a Vermilion Flycatcher,
2 Western Kingbirds, a Tropical Kingbird, and occasional sightings of the only
overwintering Gray Kingbird in the state that year. Soon after we arrived I spotted a pair of
flycatchers on power lines at the edge of the park which turned out to be a
Western and a beautiful male Vermilion. Then
another Western joined them. Soon we
were surrounded by Kingbirds, and we counted 4 Westerns and a Tropical, eventually
all flying in to perches in the same tree!
Here is one of Anita’s pictures of the Tropical with the rising moon in
the background.
We spent some additional time trying to re-locate the Gray Kingbird without success. That one will have to wait for the breeding season when they’re common in the right habitats.
It was now late afternoon and we had just enough time for a stop
at the Sem-Chi Rice Mill. This spot is
well-known for its blackbirds, with large mixed flocks coming to feed on spilled
rice. Our key target here was Shiny
Cowbird which was sometimes seen in those flocks. I had birded here a few years ago, and the
protocol was to park at the edge of the parking lot and bird from the edges,
staying away from mill operations. This
strategy was confirmed by my more recent contacts as we prepared for this trip.
We pulled into the parking lot and quickly noted a small
flock of blackbirds coming into a nearby dumpster. Just as we started to focus on the birds
several employees came out of the buildings and made it quite clear that we
weren’t allowed there. We made a hasty
retreat to our cars, and found a safe spot to park just outside the mill property. Luckily there was a spot where we could still
see the dumpster and all its blackbirds.
The birds would fly into neighboring hedges and trees, stage there
briefly, then either fly right into the dumpster, or rest briefly on its edge,
before dropping into it out of view. At
times the whole flock would be spooked and all would fly away, only to come
back to start the process all over again a couple minutes later. At best that gave us only brief views of any
one bird so we had to be quick with the binoculars.
We spent the better part of an hour there watching the almost constant movement of blackbirds dominated by about 100 Red-wings. We eventually all got good views of at least 3 Shiny Cowbirds (at least 1 male and 2 females), and at least 3 Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I also got one view of a Bronzed Cowbird but couldn’t get others on it before it flew off. Wonder what was in that dumpster that the blackbirds liked so much.
The next 2 blog posts summarize the rest of the trip.
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