Lower Rio Grande Valley Trip Nets 6 Mega-Rarity Life Birds and 7 More State Birds, Jan. 5-9, 2024, Part 2 of 2

Before retiring in 2018 I would travel to Houston for work about a week a month.  I’d often squeeze in a little local birding time during most of those trips, working on my TX state list and sometimes even my LA list.  But the real attraction was the opportunity to bird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which after all was only an hour plane flight from Houston.  On a number of my trips, I would add a vacation day to chase after some extreme rarity from Mexico (or even farther away).  As a result, I’ve made 14 trips to the LRGV and nearby areas in south TX over the years, with each of the most recent 9 trips targeting a single life bird. 

Fast forward to mid-December 2023 – I started hearing some buzz about rarities being seen in south TX this winter.  I did a quick eBird Needs Alert for TX and was blown away by the number of rarities on the list.  There were no less than 5 mega-rarities that were seemingly quite reliable –

• Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard (first record for TX) at Resaca de la Palma State Park
• Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch – property only accessible by hiring a guide
• Cattle Tyrant (a first for the US) in downtown Corpus Christi

Needless to say, all 5 would be life birds for me.  What an amazing group of rarities!  Plus there were sightings of 2 parrots that I had never seen before - White-fronted and Lilac-crowned.  Although these “exotic” species are countable per eBird rules, they are not countable per ABA and the TX Bird Records Committee. 

And there were more than just potential life birds to pursue.  Although my TX state list was already pretty respectable at 452, there were quite a number of possible TX state birds also being seen.  Key targets included – Long-tailed Duck, Western Grebe, Limpkin, Mountain Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Iceland Gull, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Hermit Warbler.  Another great list of targets!

With all those potential life and state birds it was a no-brainer that I had to give it a try and make my 15th trip to the LRGV.  After all, I’ve taken numerous trips to the Valley for just 1 potential life bird.  Albeit those trips started in Houston instead of western NC.  I found a window of free time in my schedule in early January, and made reservations to fly to TX on the 4th, returning on the afternoon of the 9th, giving me 4 and a half days of birding in south TX.   

All things considered I hoped to find 4 or 5 lifers, and an additional 5 state birds.  That’s quite a step up from my recent trips to the Valley hoping for just 1 target bird.

This post summarizes the second half of my trip.  The previous post summarized the first part of my trip.

January 7 – Corpus Christi and Vicinity and Parrot Search

The plan for the 7th was to travel to Corpus Christi where the key target was a long-staying Cattle Tyrant.  This flycatcher is typically a South American species (I’ve seen it several times in Brazil), which is normally not seen any closer to the US than Panama.  Though there was one being seen in Costa Rica now.  It’s unclear whether the Texas Bird Records Committee will decide to add this species to the state list.  But it’s best to try to see it in the meantime, and then await the Committee’s decision.  Interestingly, eBird already considers it to be countable. 

After (hopefully) finding the Tyrant, my plan was to chase after 3 rare potential TX state birds – Bar-tailed Godwit Iceland (Thayer’s) Gull, and Long-tailed Duck.  All 3 were being seen near Corpus Christi, or along the route back to the Valley.  Then I would get back to Brownsville by sunset to look for Parrots at an evening roost. 

I developed an itinerary that would in theory give me enough time to try for each of my targets and still get in all that driving time.  But that itinerary went out the window when I overslept – I guess I was really tired from my late night with the Owls.  I got out of the hotel an hour later than planned, and spent a lot of time on my drive to Corpus Christi going through the options to get back on schedule.  I ended up deciding to skip my search for the Bar-tailed Godwit.  Although that would be a great bird to see, it had not been reported for 10 days despite multiple checklists in the areas where it had been seen.  Plus I had planned on a lengthy 90-minute search for the bird, so skipping that one would give me more than enough time to find my other targets.

The very tame Cattle Tyrant was being seen in downtown Corpus Christi principally in an area covering one city block.  And one its favorite spots was a blue dumpster near the corner of Water and Lawrence Streets where it would eat flies and other unmentionable insects.  I finally rolled into downtown Corpus Christi at 9:45 and parked near that dumpster hoping for a quick look at the bird, but came up empty.  I took a slow walk around the city block but still no Tyrant.  At one point an employee of one of the local businesses came up to me and said he had seen the bird a bit earlier that morning, so at least it was still around.  By 10 some other birders started to show up and a few of us exchanged phone numbers to spread the news when it was sighted.    

During one slow period I checked my TX Needs Alert for updates and found a report that the Godwit was seen just an hour earlier, and a specific location was given.  That meant I should add the Godwit search back into my itinerary, but would I have time for all my stops? 

It was now 10:30 and still no sightings.  I was standing back at the dumpster when one of the birders I met earlier came by to say she had just found the Cattle Tyrant around the corner.  After a short brisk walk I turned the corner and saw these 2 birders standing in the road up ahead.  That’s the target bird in front of them walking in the road.

I walked a bit closer and got these nice digi-binned shots.

Cattle Tyrant was ABA Lifer #5 and State bird #8 – at least for now pending the TX Committee’s decision.

It turns out that one of the birders with whom I exchanged numbers was the person who re-found the Bar-tailed Godwit that morning.  Before I left I was sure to get very specific directions from him – he mentioned it was on the short rocky jetty at Indian Point Park.  That was 1 of 3 hotspots where it had been sporadically reported over the last month, and was just 10 minutes away.  So I was cautiously optimistic.  But since it took nearly an hour to find the Tyrant I might need to delay my try for the Long-tailed Ducks until tomorrow, unless I could find the Godwit quickly.

After a short drive I parked at Indian Point Park and walked right to the jetty.  I had a couple Willets and a Turnstone, but no Godwits.  It was indeed a very short jetty and there was nowhere for a large shorebird to hide, so I hadn’t overlooked it.  I then turned my attention to a small wetlands close to the jetty that had a Marbled Godwit and a few Black-bellied Plovers, but still no target.  So much for hoping to find the bird quickly.

Just northeast of the jetty was a large impoundment that looked like great habitat.  But that wetlands stretched some 2 miles to the north, and the Godwit had been reported throughout this impoundment.  But since the bird had just been seen on the jetty, maybe it hadn’t gone far.  I set up my scope and started to scan the southern end of the impoundment.  I was especially focused on the larger shorebirds, picking up another Marbled Godwit and a Long-billed Curlew.  Then I came to a large shorebird in the distance that was pale below.  I increased the magnification on my scope and confirmed I had my target Bar-tailed Godwit – creamy white below, lighter brown above, and upturned 2-toned bill (State bird #9).  Here is a crummy distant phone-scoped photo of the bird.  Nice that it picked a spot to be all by itself so it would stand out. 

Bar-tailed Godwits would normally be wintering in Australia or New Zealand, so this is quite a rarity for TX.  I’ve now seen this species in 4 states as a vagrant, along with AK as a breeder.

While I was looking at the Godwit two birders from CO arrived.  They were from CO and said they didn’t know their shorebirds well.  So I not only put them on the Bar-tailed, but also a Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew, and Piping Plover.  Not birds you see in CO very often. 

Since it only took a few minutes to find the Godwit I was now only a few minutes behind schedule – maybe I’d have time for all my targets after all.

And that next target was an Iceland Gull.  This was an adult of the Thayer’s subspecies that was being seen along the John F Kennedy Causeway.  It was always reported at either of 2 fishing piers across a narrow channel from each other.  It seems the bird was looking for handouts among the Laughing Gulls there, and all the posted photographs showed the bird perched on posts at one of the piers. 

I pulled into the parking lot of the first fishing pier, the Cos Way Bait and Tackle, and scanned all the posts.  I had a few Laughing Gulls and a couple Pelicans, but no Iceland Gull.  Then I looked across the channel to the other fishing pier, the Red Dot pier, but again just found Laughing Gulls.  There were also small gull flocks resting in the shallows nearby, but all were still just Laughers.

I guess I might just have to wait a while for the bird to return.  From the Cos Way pier I could see both piers, but I was looking into the sun in order to see the Red Dot pier.  So I decided to drive over there and look back to the north at the Cos Way pier with the sun at my back. 

I drove to Red Dot, and although lighting was much better, I still couldn’t find my target.  The tide was pretty low at the time, and I wondered if the Iceland might be resting on a sand bar somewhere nearby.  I noticed a sleeping flock of gulls a short distance to the northeast beyond this boat.

I pulled out the scope and instantly noticed the third bird from the right was larger than the Laughing Gulls.  It was an adult gull without a hood but had considerable streaking on the head, had a pale back, and a small unmarked bill.  I had the Iceland Gull (State bird #10).  There were 2 other birders there at the time and I was able to get them on the bird as well.  Here’s a distant digi-scoped picture of the bird, of pretty poor quality I’m afraid.

My state bird map of Iceland Gull includes my sightings of both the Thayer’s and Kumlien’s subspecies, as they have recently been lumped into one species.

I was only 30 minutes behind schedule when I headed off so I should have enough time for my entire itinerary.  Especially if my next target, Long-tailed Ducks, were cooperative.  These diving ducks were surprisingly feeding in a shallow saltwater pond in Port Mansfield.  The eBird reports were quite confusing as to the ducks’ exact location, so I reached out to two birders who had recently reported the birds to get directions.  Both gave me directions to a pond just west of the point, labeled as the Port Mansfield Marine Sanctuary hotspot, requiring a short walk to the pond.  But one birder also mentioned they were sometimes seen in a lake east of the point - the Laguna Point Recreation Area hotspot.  He gave me directions to both lakes, so I should hopefully be all set. 

I drove to the small town of Port Mansfield, parking at the corner of Fox and Allen to take the short walk to the pool at the Marine Sanctuary.  But there wasn’t a single duck on this very small pond – just a couple Black-necked Stilts on the bank.  At least it was a short walk back to the car.  I then drove around to the Laguna Point pond.  I did a quick binocular scan and spotted several ducks near the eastern end of the pond.  The first ones I got on were a group of 4 Lesser Scaup.  Then a couple seconds later I spotted the black-and-white plumages of the pair of Long-tailed Ducks (State bird #11).  Here is a picture of the pond – my target birds were in the back below the blue arrow.

Not only were these diving ducks in a shallow pond acting like dabblers.  But they were also very far from their typical wintering range in the northern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and Great Lakes.  TX is now the 6th southern and central state where I’ve seen Long-tailed Duck as a rarity. 

The last stop of the day was an evening Parrot roost at Oliveira Park in Brownsville.  Some recent reports included hundreds of Parrots of up to 4 species – Red-crowned was the most common but there were also a few White-fronted and Violet-crowned which I needed as potential new countable life birds per eBird.  (Though they are not countable per the ABA and the TX Committee.)  And then again, some checklists had few birds and only Red-crowned.  I pulled into the park about 4:45 and found 3 other birders there also waiting for the Parrots.  The birds often don’t come in until close to sunset, which was still an hour away, so we birded the park a bit waiting for the evening flocks to arrive.

Around 5:30 I spotted a large flock of perhaps 100-200 Parrots flying in the distance.  This was looking promising.  But that flock never came to the park.  Finally a flock of about 50 birds flew overhead, circled a couple times, but never landed.  These were mostly Red-crowned but I also picked out at least 2 Red-lored with yellow cheek patches (I’ve already seen this species countable only per eBird), and 2 Yellow-headed (not countable by anyone’s definitions).  Unfortunately that was the end of the Parrot show for that night.  That was quite disappointing, missing both of my targets.  Though at least neither of them are countable per the ABA and TX Committee.

January 8 -  Second Tries for Fan-tailed Warbler and Mountain Plover

This day and the next were designed to be clean-up days to go after anything I had missed from the earlier part of the trip.  And the key miss was the Fan-tailed Warbler.  Since I tried for it on the 5th the bird was seen or heard multiple times on the 6th, but just once on the 7th.  Most sightings were from the original spot on the north side of the resaca, but a couple in the afternoon were from the south side of the resaca.  And there were several heard-only observations, as the bird gave its “tseee” call.  So the bird was still around, and despite its elusiveness, I decided to try for it again on the 8th. 

I arrived at the college campus around 7:30 and was greeted by a stiff wind coming out of the south.  That put the wind right into my face as I stood watch for the bird at its original location.  Soon I was joined by a number of other birders, but once again I couldn’t come up with the bird.  We all wondered if the wind was making it even more elusive than normal.  Then again, at one point I was quite sure I heard the bird giving its “tseee” call several times coming from the brush right in front of me.  I turned to other nearby birders to see if they thought that was the Fan-tailed, but no one even heard the calls.  I wasn’t going to check it off just based on the call notes, especially if no one else heard them.  So after a 4-hour vigil, no sightings by anyone that morning, and seeing almost no other birds, I decided to throw in the towel on the Fan-tailed Warbler. 

The other target that I had missed earlier in the trip was Mountain Plover, which was spotted once again in those same plowed fields the last 2 days.  I had the whole afternoon to try again for these birds, though I had to get there first since it was a hefty drive from Brownsville.  I arrived at the Edinburgh fields at 1:30 and spent the next 3 hours looking for the elusive shorebirds.  I covered 3 times the area I birded on my first trip, and was joined by some other birders who covered some additional area.  We found big flocks of Horned Larks, Mourning Doves, and Western Meadowlarks in the fields, but no Plovers. 

Near the end of my search I spotted a Falcon perched on wires in the distance.  I pulled over to check it out and it turned out to be a Kestrel.  But then I noticed another larger Falcon fly in from the distance.  I first noted it was brown above, and then it passed nearly right overhead giving me a great view of its dark underwing coverts and axillaries – I had a Prairie Falcon (State bird #12).  There was one sighting of a Prairie Falcon in the area 3 weeks earlier, but that was the only other sighting of this rare wintering species in the area this season.  So this species was not on my radar.  And along with sightings of a Merlin and Peregrine that day, it was a nice sweep of the local falcons. 

I only need this Prairie Falcon in 2 more states within its regular range.

January 9 – Third and Final Try for Fan-tailed Warbler

My flight out of McAllen was at 2 PM, giving me the whole morning to bird in the area.  After spending 7 hours trying for the Fan-tailed Warbler and seeing very few birds in general, my first thought was to end my trip at some location that was likely to be a lot more birdy.  Frontera Audubon came to mind - I’ve had great birds there in the past, and a couple rarities were being seen there this winter.  But then I got an email from a birder I met at the Fan-tailed spot mentioning the bird was seen and heard again on the afternoon of the 8th.  I hated to give up on the chance of seeing a life bird, despite the very low odds.  So with some misgivings, I decided to head back to the university campus and give the Fan-tailed Warbler one more try.

The temperatures were in the low 50s when I arrived at the Warbler spot – that’s pretty chilly for a Mexican bird.  So I headed across to the south side of the resaca where the vegetation was in the sun thinking that might be the preferred location for this chilly bird.  Here’s some of that vegetation on the south side of the resaca.

But as I stood there I remembered that birders had the bird at the original north side location at about 5:30 the evening before.  Maybe they were there as the target bird was going to its evening roost, and it might start its day today there as well.  I walked across the bridge to the north side to test my revised theory and there were several birders peering intently into the vegetation.  There had just been a sighting but only by a couple birders.  Darn – I guessed wrong with the feeding-in-the-sunlight theory, but at least the bird was in the area.

I spotted a little movement in the brush, but it was just the resident Wilson’s and Orange-crowned Warblers – undoubtedly the same ones I had seen there several times before.  Over the next hour there were no more sightings.  Had I missed it yet again?

Then about 9 AM I heard the Fan-tailed Warbler’s distinct “tseee” call 3 times coming from the brush.  Surprisingly once again no one else heard it so I alerted everyone.  And just a couple minutes later I heard another call just to the east - the bird must be moving east through the brush.  But still no sightings. 

And then at 10 came word that someone had a sighting of the Warbler a bit farther east.  It turns out there was a trail through the brush that would allow you to stand right in the middle of the thickest vegetation, and the Warbler was passing right through that area.  I got to this spot and almost instantly had the briefest of views of the bird – large for a warbler, with a dark back and long tail.  But that was all I could see.  And then finally at 10:30 I spotted movement down the bank to the resaca and there was the Fan-tailed Warbler – steely gray above, long fanned tail held cocked up a bit with white tips, yellow crown patch, and yellow below with a bit of an orange tint.  After 10 hours of searching over 3 days, I finally had the Fan-tailed Warbler (Lifer #6, State bird #13). What an excellent way to end the trip!  Though I was at the university so long that they almost made me sign up for classes for the spring semester.

Trip Summary

I ended the trip with 162 species, including 6 life birds.  An excellent tally especially compared to my expectations of 4 or 5 lifers.  That allowed me to reach a milestone of 750 for the Lower 48.  I’m now at exactly 750 by ABA’s accountability rules, and 753 by eBird’s rules.  The differences are related to whether several introduced species that I’ve seen are countable.  And my ABA Continental total is 770 per ABA and 772 per eBird.

I was lucky enough to tally 13 state birds, great results compared to my expectations of 9 to 10.  My TX state bird totals are equally as fuzzy.  My TX state list is now at 465 per ABA and 468 per eBird. 

Here is a link to my eBird Trip Report - Lower Rio Grande Valley, Jan 2024 - eBird Trip Report 

As a postscript, I put together this little summary of my 14 prior trips to the LRGV and nearby south TX locations -

·       April 1985 - 21 lifers, including my only ever Tamaulipas Crows

·       April-May 2000 - 12 lifers, including Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, White-collared Seedeater, and Muscovy Duck

·       January 2005 - 4 lifers - Rose-breasted Becard, Green-breasted Mango, White-throated Thrush, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak

·       December 2009 - 1 lifer - Northern Jacana

·       January 2011 - 2 1/2 lifers - Black-vented Oriole, Rufous-Backed Robin, and "Mangrove" Yellow Warbler

·       February 2011 - 1 lifer - Yellow-faced Grassquit

·       January 2012 - 1 lifer - Golden-crowned Warbler

·       November 2013 - 1 lifer - Amazon Kingfisher

·       June 2014 - 1 lifer - Yellow-green Vireo

·       August 2014 - unsuccessful attempt for Collared Plover

·       April 2015 - 1 lifer - Aplomado Falcon

·       August 2015 - 1 lifer - Collared Plover

·       April 2016 - unsuccessful attempt for Blue Bunting

·       February 2018 - 1 lifer - Blue Bunting

And now on my 15th trip in January 2024 – I saw a whopping 6 lifers – Roadside Hawk, Mottled Owl, Prairie Falcon, Gray-collared Becard, Cattle Tyrant, and Fan-tailed Warbler

Two New Statebirds and a Third One Clarified, South Carolina Coast, October 17-21, 2022

My wife had been talking about going on a family vacation to the coast of SC for some time.  Ever since I moved from New England I’ve really missed birding the coast, so I was looking forward to spending some time with those coastal birds.  After a bit of research, she settled on a trip to Kiawah Island on the mid-coast in October 2022.  When I heard Kiawah Island I quickly remembered that was the location where a Bar-tailed Godwit overwintered last winter for the first SC state record.  A nice one to look forward to, but would it return this winter?  And even if it did, the bird wasn’t found last winter until October 25, so the bird would have to arrive a bit earlier than last winter.  A long shot but certainly one to hope for.

But my research of possible new statebirds didn’t stop there.  The second key target for the area was Clay-colored Sparrow, which is routinely found in the fall at Fort Moultrie just an hour’s drive from Kiawah.  This one too I remembered from last year.  On my way to a birding trip on the GA coast in September 2021 I had initially planned a stop at Fort Moultrie for the Clay-coloreds.  But they weren’t reported the week of my trip so I passed on them last year.  Once again, I needed my target species to return this year.

My last potential target was a bit complicated.  I’ve birded the southeast Atlantic coast for many years; in fact many decades.  Much of my coastal birding time predates the split of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow into Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows.  So when the split occurred I simply had Sharp-tailed Sparrow on my statelist for each of the coastal states.  Unfortunately, back then I did not look close enough at the sparrows to note the differences, so I have no idea if I saw either one or both species.  And both are present in SC at the same time of the year, so the timing of my past trips doesn’t help me to determine which species I may have seen.  So for now, I arbitrarily put Saltmarsh on my SC state list.  And when I got back to Spartina marshes on the SC coast, if I saw a Nelson’s that one would replace Saltmarsh on my list.  And I would still have to see both species in order to have a net addition to my SC statelist.  Make sense?

As the trip neared it was time to fine-tune my research.  First the good news about the Bar-tailed Godwit – it was re-found on September 18 more than a month before it appeared last year.  Once again it was near the east end of Kiawah Island near the Ocean Course (or “OC” as the locals call it) golf course property.  This was private property, as was the entire island.  But once you’re on the island successfully you can access the golf course.  Now the bad news – it was not being seen reliably, and in fact was not reported after September 22.  But not to worry – it was spotted again on October 13 “near the spit”.  Suddenly I was quite about more optimistic.  I reached out to one of my local birding friends, Nate Watkins, who was working at the banding stations on Kiawah.  Nate agreed to go with me to try for the Godwit so I was good to go.

There was similar good news for the Clay-colored Sparrows.  Right on schedule they showed up again at Fort Moultrie starting on September 13 with regular reports of up to 3 birds continuing through October 15.  I had contacted local birder Craig Watson last fall for advice on finding the birds, and did the same again this year.  Craig offered to meet me there and look for the sparrows together.  Another helpful connection!

Then onto the Nelson’s and Saltmarsh sparrows.  Although it was still early in the year for them, several of both had recently been reported in marshes nearby.  Nate also suggested looking for them at the bridge onto Kiawah Island at high tide. 

Everything was falling into place.  With some help from my local birding friends I was hopeful that I would be able to add 3 new birds to my SC statelist.

First up was my try for the Bar-tailed Godwit.  Nate suggested the bird might be easiest to find at high tide.  There was an afternoon high tide the entire week of our trip so that worked out well.  And our schedules meshed on Tuesday the 18th so I picked up Nate at 2 and made the short drive to the OC golf course.  We walked out to the lagoon at the edge of the driving range, but found few shorebirds.  The water level in the lagoon was quite high, likely the result of Hurricane Ian’s passage a couple weeks early.  I tried to remain hopeful.

We continued to walk east toward the spit, the site of the most recent report.  Soon we could see a small mudflat up ahead with a fair number of shorebirds.  We set up our scopes, quickly picking out good numbers of Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers.  Then I spotted a sleeping bird, standing on one leg, that was much bigger.  It was so much bigger than the Plovers and Dowitchers that it had to be a Godwit.  It was facing us, mostly white below, showing faint streaking on the chest, and a bit of streaking on the flanks.  We had our target bird!  Here’s a phonescoped picture of the sleeping bird dwarfing the nearby Dowitchers.

Then it briefly woke up showing its long, slightly upturned, two-toned bill.

SC is now the 4th state where I’ve seen this species.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve also seen it in WA and MA as a rarity (the brown-shaded states), as well as AK in its regular breeding range (a blue-shaded state).

Before we left we spotted this Whimbrel at the edge of the flock – a nice addition to the day list.

Later we did some landbirding nearby and picked up a number of migrant passerines in some nice habitat.  An excellent ending to the day.

My next statebird search was for the Clay-colored Sparrows at Fort Moultrie on October 20.  During my hour drive to the site I recounted notes from the recent reports that they were often seen perched in their “favorite tree” near the row of cannons, and along the fencing near the SPAWAR building.  But they were also reported in various other places in the grasses and fields at the fort.  So it almost sounded like they were foraging throughout the entire site.  I arrived at 7:45, quickly met up with Craig, and we started our walk towards that favorite tree.  It turned out to be a small tree partially broken down by the recent hurricane.  And there were a couple birds perched in it – but just Savannah Sparrows and a Palm Warbler.  We would have 20 or more Savannahs in the general area, but we couldn’t turn any of them into our target.  We continued our walk around that park of the park, adding Song and Field Sparrows, but no Clay-colored.

Next we turned our attention to the SPAWAR building – that’s the one up on the hill with all the antennas in this picture.  The Battery Jasper is straight ahead.  Sure is lots of great sparrow habitat to search!

We flushed a few Savannah and Song sparrows here and there, but still no target.  As we started to walk clockwise around the fence surrounding the SPAWAR building Craig pointed out a tree on the hill near the building known locally as the “giving” tree since many rarities have been found perched there.  Just a couple minutes later we noticed some birds perched near the top.  Three were Bluebirds but the fourth was much smaller.  The bird was a bit distant but we could tell it was a sparrow – and it had no streaking below.  We eventually got a quick but good look at the head and it had the characteristic supercilium and moustache streak of the Clay-colored Sparrow.  Success!

In my statebird map below I’ve seen this species in most of its regular range in the central portion of the US (the blue-shaded states), but still need it in several other states where it’s regular (the cross-hatched states).  And SC is my 11th state seeing Clay-colored as a rarity (the brown-shaded states).  The bird is certainly prone to vagrancy on both coasts.

As we headed back to the cars we flushed another small Spizella sparrow – but this one was just a Chipping, though it provided a nice comparison to the Clay-colored. 

My search for the marsh sparrows came later on the 20th.  The local high tide was just after 5 o’clock, which made it ideal to coordinate a trek through the marshes with a drive to a restaurant for dinner take-out.  Per Nate’s suggestion I headed to the Spartina marshes near the bridge onto the island arriving right at high tide – it looked ideal for all the marsh sparrows.

With my “wellies” on I started walking through the vegetation at the edge of water.  Just a minute in I flushed a dark brown sparrow that flew out farther into the marsh – likely a Seaside Sparrow.  Soon thereafter I flushed a smaller and lighter brown sparrow that flew a short distance then perched nicely in view.  I could see indistinct, blurry striping on the flanks and chest, with buffy color on the chest.  I had a Nelson’s of the Atlantic race.  Now I needed to find a Saltmarsh to be able to add a statebird.  I continued to walk slowly through the marsh and flushed another Seaside that perched nearby most cooperatively.  If only I could get a Saltmarsh to do the same.  Over the next 30 minutes I flushed no less than 5 other smaller, lighter colored sparrows, but all flew deep into the marsh and dropped in without perching.  Undoubtedly all were Saltmarsh or Nelson’s, but none cooperated enough for a definitive ID.  Although I couldn’t add a statebird, at least that clarifies the marsh sparrows for me in SC – I added Nelson’s and took off Saltmarsh.

My Nelson’s Sparrow statebird map is inserted below.  All my sightings have been in coastal states and in WV and VT as a rarity.  I still need this species throughout its breeding and migration range in the central part of the country.  And I still need to clarify this species on the GA coast as well.

With 2 new statebirds that brings my SC state list to 294.  I ended up with 104 species for the 5-day trip.  All in all, a most pleasant trip giving me my coastal birding “fix”, at least for now.

18 Statebirds in Washington, “Reportable Plus 15”, November 2016 – Part 2 of 2

I was really excited when a business trip to Seattle was scheduled in November 2016 giving me another opportunity to bird in the Pacific Northwest.  My WA statelist was 251 which was 3 over the old ABA reportable threshold, defined as half of the state total.  But with a little on-line research, I found that the WA statelist now stands at 511 – a whopping 15 higher than the total when the ABA threshold was calculated back in 2011.  Dividing 511 by 2, the present threshold would be 255.5.  WA is a great example of why I’ve revised my goal to be at least 15 over the old ABA threshold in each state, or “Reportable Plus 15” as I call it.  In fact, maybe Reportable Plus 15 may not be enough to keep me over threshold for long in WA.  In any case, I wanted to add at least 12 to my WA statelist to get to 15 over the ABA threshold.

Now comes the planning.  Although I had a pretty good WA list already, I expected I would have realistic possibilities for new statebirds throughout the state.  I was thinking of adding at least a couple vacation days to my trip which would allow me to get to most any portion of WA except for the far eastern end.  But now I needed to decide if I should I go east into central WA for inland targets, stay in the Cascades for mountain targets, or head to the coast especially for waterbirds and the like?  I compiled a list of targets for all these areas, and came up with pretty significant lists of possibilities in each region.  Then I set up a Needs Alert in eBird and found that not only were most of my targets being seen, but several pretty extreme rarities were being seen in Neah Bay, which is at the northwest tip of the Olympic peninsula.  The reliable Neah Bay rarities included Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Ruff, numerous Palm Warblers, and as many as 6 Tropical Kingbirds.  With some more research I found that Neah Bay is quite notorious for vagrants in October and early November.  So even if these rarities weren’t still around in 3 weeks when I got to WA, others might take their place.  Plus there were several more regular targets being seen in the area as well, especially on seawatches. 

The last key factor was that I had planned to take a summer trip one year to eastern OR to work on my statelist there.  On that trip I had also planned to add a day or two in eastern WA to fill gaps in my WA list.  My targets on that eastern WA trip included several of my central WA targets of this November trip, as well as many of my targets in the Cascades.  And of course few if any of my coastal targets would be possible in eastern WA.  This was enough to help me make my decision – I would take the coastal route on this trip, especially hoping for some nice WA rarities. 

With a couple tweaks just a day before my trip started, my planned itinerary was to start on the afternoon of Day 1 pursuing two stakeout shorebirds in the Seattle area, then bird the last couple hours of the afternoon at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.  On Day 2 I would spend the entire day in Neah Bay trying to chase after all those landbird rarities and to do an extended seawatch.  Birding Day 3 would start in southwest WA in Westport for a stakeout Bar-tailed Godwit and nearby Snowy Plover, and then near Ridgefield NWR for Red-shouldered Hawk and Sandhill Crane.  Finally, I had a late morning flight out of Seattle on Day 4, which would give me a couple early morning hours near Seattle to fill any last remaining gaps in my list. 

With that itinerary I estimated that I might be able to add 8 birds to my WA list.  Though it would be great to add 12 to reach my Reportable Plus 15 goal.

This post summarizes Days 3 and 4 of my WA statebirding trip.  The previous post summarized Days 1 and 2, when I ended with 11 new WA statebirds.

Day 3 – Southwestern WA

My plan for Day 3 was to start at the Westport Marina to try for a Bar-tailed Godwit that had been in the area since August.  The Bar-tailed Godwit had been reported mixed in with a large flock of Marbled Godwits in the marina.  Although there were few details on the eBird reports, luckily I was able to connect with a most helpful local birder who gave me great details.  He mentioned that the Godwit was most frequently seen perched on the jetty or a floating dock in the Westport Marina.  However, that was only at high tide.  At lower tides the birds would disperse to feed, and the most recent sightings were of the Godwit feeding at Bottle Beach, more than 3 miles from the marina.  Not only is that a huge area to look for a foraging bird, but the most recent report was 2 weeks earlier.  And the most recent report of the Bar-tailed at the marina was almost a full month ago.  But the local birder suggested it was likely no one had looked for the bird recently, so not to worry about the recent lack of reports.

Needless to say it seemed like my chances of finding the Bar-tailed were higher if I could find it perched with the flock of Marbleds in the marina.  Unfortunately the tides weren’t on my side – high tide was at 5:16 AM, and sunrise wasn’t until 7:07 AM.  So by the time there was enough light to look for the bird there would be sufficient mudflats for the flock to be out feeding.  My best hope was to get there at first light in hopes that the flock was still sleeping in the marina.  Since my hotel in Neah Bay was a 3 ½ hour drive away, that meant yet another white-knuckle pre-dawn drive on rainy, dark, and twisting roads.  I left my hotel at 3:45, and luckily it only rained part of the way on the drive.  Good thing I’m a morning person.

I arrived at the marina just after 7, and began my walk out to the end of Float 21.  My birding contacs said to hope that there were no boats blocking my view across the water.  But the floating dock was full of boats, including 2 very large fishing boats at the end.  To reach the end of the dock I had to very carefully maneuver around ropes that were tying the boats to the dock.  I was able to see around the bow of one of the fishing boats to the rocks to the northeast, but saw no Godwits at all.  Then I got to the stern of that boat and looked to the southeast and spotted the flock of Godwits all sleeping on a distant floating dock.  The good news was that I had an unobstructed view of the flock.  Now I needed to pick out that one Bar-tailed in a tightly packed group of 300 or more Marbleds.

I set up the scope, again avoiding the ropes, and almost instantly spotted a bird that looked like it was paler below that the others – the key field mark at this distance.  I zoomed in to try to get a closer look, but then the dock started rocking back and forth.  Did I say it was a floating dock?  It wasn’t as bad as setting up a scope on the deck of a boat, but almost.  Finally I got a good view and I was able to see the Bar-tailed Godwit standing at the edge of the flock of Marbled Godwits - paler below, and a bit smaller than the others (WA statebird #12).  I got this phone-scoped photo – not bad given the distance and the rocking of the dock.

WA was my 3^rd state for this species – I’ve seen it in MA also as a rarity, as well as in AK as a breeder.

Not a minute after I took that photo a gull that was also perched on the dock walked through the Godwits, waking all the birds, and causing the Bar-tailed to walk to the middle of the flock.  At that point the smaller Bar-tailed completely disappeared from view.  I thought I would just wait for it to walk to the edge again, but then seconds later the entire flock took off, not to return.  Boy was I lucky – if I had arrived just a few minutes later the bird would have either been obscured, or the entire flock would have been gone.  Not to mention if the target bird had roosted anywhere in the flock except the edge closest to me it would likely have been invisible the entire time.

With 12 new WA statebirds that meant I had reached my Reportable Plus 15 goal.  And I still had a lot of birding ahead of me.

I had given myself a couple hours to bird the area looking for the Godwit, so I was nicely well ahead of schedule.  So I turned my attention to what other birds might be in the marina, and quickly spotted a sleeping flock of Aechmophorus grebes.  Clark’s was a remote possibility, so I thought I’d give it a try since these birds were quite close.  With a quick binocular scan I noticed one bird was paler than the others.  Could my luck continue?  I continued to watch this bird until it woke up raising its head.  The face was paler than the couple others nearby, but not pure white.  Then I focused on the bill – it was bright yellow; much paler and brighter than the others.  I worried a bit about the face not being completely white, but when I looked at the field guide I realized the pure white face was for a bird in breeding plumage; the paler but not white face was good for a non-breeding bird.  And the bill fieldmarks were perfect.  It was an unexpected Clark’s Grebe (#13).  That’s was one that would have been a bit more likely if I had taken the inland option on this trip, though even then not very likely.  I’ve now seen Clark’s Grebe in almost all of the states in its regular range.

Next I was on to Grayland Beach State Park to try for Snowy Plovers.  Although that might sound like a promising opportunity, in reality I was quite skeptical about finding this target.  In the several weeks leading up to my trip there had been no reports of this species at all.  It was only when I started doing research into older reports that I found the State Park could be a possible spot for Snowy’s.  The most recent report was more than a month old, and specific locations weren’t provided in most of the eBird reports.  But fresh off a successful search for this species in coastal OR a couple months earlier, I decided to give it a try.  Plus I was ahead of schedule, and now had quite a bit more time than the 2 hours I had originally allotted to search for this species.

I parked at the north end of the State Park, and started my walk south down the beach.  Although signs said it was OK to drive on the beach, I didn’t want to take any chances about getting my rental car stuck in the sand.  Plus I thought I’d find more birds by walking instead of driving.  I targeted the higher portion of the beach complete with bits of shells and driftwood, which is the typical habitat for Snowy’s.  Along the way I encountered a nice mixed flock of Canada, Cackling, and Snow Geese, along with a few Dunlin, foraging in a freshwater pond at the upper edge of the sand.  And there were a few mixed flocks of Sanderlings and Dunlins down at the surf.  But no Plovers. 

As I kept walking south down the beach I had to cross a pretty deep stream that was cutting its way through the beach to the ocean.  I only got a little wet.  But then I came to a larger one that seemed a bit too deep to cross.  I couldn’t realistically go any farther south (unless I changed footwear), so I set up my scope to look farther down the drier part of the beach.  Once again I didn’t see any Plovers.  Then I scanned toward the surf and I could see a small group of Sanderlings feeding in the distance near the mouth of this stream.  Then I noticed two birds a bit farther from the flock, though still close to the surf.  I zoomed in and they looked like they could be Plovers.  I walked down to the beach and got closer views of 2 Snowy Plovers foraging in the wet sand (#14).  I was surprised to see them so close to the surf.  I got this phone-scoped picture of one of the birds which was banded.

I checked by GPS and I was 1.3 miles south of the parking lot.  Still ahead of schedule I turned my scope toward the ocean to do a bit of a seawatch.  But after a few minutes of seeing almost nothing passing by, I called it quits and headed back.  Luckily the weather had improved dramatically so it was a nice walk down and back.

My next planned stops were about a 2 ½ hour drive south and east to try for Sandhill Cranes and Red-shouldered Hawks.  (I’m never proud of my carbon footprint on these trips.)  Both birds had been reported regularly at Ridgefield NWR, though the Cranes were reported in only small numbers.  However much larger numbers of Cranes were being reported a short distance to the north at Woodland Bottoms.  Plus there was one report of a Red-shoulder there as well.  So since I was ahead of schedule, and Woodland Bottoms was on the way to Ridgefield NWR, I figured I would stop there first.

While on the road of course I always keep my eyes open for birds that might be along the way.  At one point I stopped for a large flock of Cackling Geese in a wet pasture.  And at that same location I spotted a raptor perched up ahead on a telephone wire.  It turned out to be just a Red-tail not its smaller cousin.  But the prize along the way was in the small town of Raymond.  As I slowed for a red light a small Accipter flew right in front of the car – it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk (#15).  Although this is quite a common species nationwide, it has been an elusive one for me in several states.

 
I eventually rolled into Woodland Bottoms in the early afternoon hoping to find Sandhill Cranes.  This is a flood plain of the Columbia River, with many acres of farm fields.  The suggested strategy to find the Cranes is to drive the roads in the area in search of which field the birds happen to be feeding in at that time.  As I drove into the northern part of the area I quickly spotted numerous raptors feeding low over the hayfields.  And then I noticed an occasional Great Blue Heron out in the fields which initially grabbed my attention, but I couldn’t turn them into Cranes.  I then climbed the road up to the top of the dike and headed north in the general area where the one recent Red-shouldered Hawk had been spotted.  I pulled over to scan the fields from this higher vantage point and as I rolled down my window I heard a bugling Sandhill Crane (#16).  I found a flock of 95 in the field a short distance away feeding with a flock of about 200 Ring-billed Gulls.  WA was my 36^th state for this species, including several states in the east where it is expanding its range.

 

I continued to search for Red-Shoulders in the trees lining the river but with no success.  Though I did end up with a nice raptor tally otherwise – 6 Red-tails, 5 Harriers, 4 Ketrels, and 1 Rough-leg.  Plus I spotted a flock of 9 Great Egrets out in one of the pastures.  There must have been shallow drainage ditches out there that attracted all these waders.

Next I headed a short distance to the south to try for Red-shouldered Hawk at what I hoped to be their more reliable location.  Initially this species wasn’t even on my target list, as the maps in the field guides indicated that the western race of this species didn’t get any farther north than OR.  But they showed up in a number of my eBird Needs Alerts, almost always at Ridgefield NWR.  And although they were reported at multiple eBird locations, the “epicenter” of these sightings appeared to be the River S area and the auto tour route there.  Though since most sightings were of just 1 bird (occasionally 2 or 3), this certainly wouldn’t be a slam dunk.  But with lots of time on my hands I figured I would just keep driving the auto tour route until I found one.

The tour route was full of cars, mostly either folks out for a drive in the nice weather or photographers with their long lenses trying to catch a photo of tame waterfowl close to the road.  I on the other hand was scanning the trees in the riparian woodlands nearby for a small perched raptor.  In the first half of the drive I spotted several Red-tails and some hunting Harriers, but no Shoulders.  Then I reached the southwest part of the loop that drove right through a stand of trees which I suspected might increase my chances.  And sure enough I soon spotted a small perched raptor in the distance that turned out to be an immature Red-shouldered Hawk (#17).  A bit farther along I spotted likely the same bird perched in the woods right along the road.  I got this backlit photo holding my phone up to my binocs.

I’ve now seen Red-shouldered Hawk in all of the states in its regular range – both the eastern races and now the western elegans race. 

With some time on my hands I first turned my focus to trying for Swamp Sparrow in the wetlands along the road.  But like my efforts the day before at Neah Bay, again I had no luck.  Though I did have a couple small groups of Sandhill Cranes here along the way.  Then I spent some time studying the numerous Cackling Geese – I love hearing their higher pitched calls.  I got this phone-binoc shot of this most cooperative flock (of the minima race I believe) right along the road.

I still had a couple hours before sunset and decided to take a short walk in the Carty Unit of Ridgefield NWR which the guides mentioned was one of the few locations in WA where you could find White-breasted Nuthatch of the Pacific aculeata race.  Although I already had White-breasted Nuthatch on my WA state list, those are inland birds of the tenuissima race.  There is talk about splitting this one into multiple species someday, so perhaps aculeata might be a separate species worth banking for now. 

I took the short walk from the parking lot over the train tracks to the riparian and oak habitat on the other side to start to look and listen for Nuthatches.  One of the first birds I had there was a calling Red-shouldered Hawk in the distance.  Good thing I didn’t have to worry about Blue Jays imitating their call out here (or do Scrub Jays imitate them as well?).  A slow walk through the oaks yielded numerous Scrub Jays, and a number of Woodpeckers.  And each time I heard tapping I tried to track down the source to see if it might be a Nuthatch – but the best bird I could find was a Red-breasted Sapsucker.  At one point heard a pair of Scrub Jays calling, and a White-breasted Nuthatch joined in.  Not the most satisfying observation but good enough to bank an aculeata White-breasted Nuthatch.  As I drove out of the area toward my hotel another Sharpie flew by – a nice way to finish the day.

I ended up with 6 new WA statebirds on the day – I had thought only the Crane and Red-shoulder would be likely additions so this was much better than I expected.  Another great day of birding!

Day 4 – Greater Seattle in Route to the Airport

With a late morning flight I had a couple hours of early morning birding time available on Day 4.  But since my hotel the night before was a 2 hours to the south of the SEATAC airport (with no traffic!), I would likely need to limit any stops I would make to somewhere in the greater Seattle area.  My original plan was to look for Surfbirds in downtown Seattle.  But I saw this species as a bit of a surprise at Neah Bay, so it was no longer a target.  I had a feeling I was fresh out of species to chase after within my narrow time and geographic window – a victim of my own success perhaps.  But I decided to check the eBird Needs Alert one last time, and found recent reports of a Snowy Egret south of Seattle.  The bird was first found feeding in a flooded field near the town of Orting 3 days ago, and re-found 2 days ago, though there were no reports the previous day.  I had a feeling that might mean the bird had moved on, but since I had no other targets to chase, and the spot was roughly on my route to the airport, it was worth a shot.

The eBird reports gave excellent micro-directions to the location – a flooded field between Orville Rd. and a set of soccer fields just south of Orting.  I arrived at the location about 30 minutes before sunrise hoping the see the bird quickly and then continue to the airport.  After all, despite the low light conditions an all-white wader should be pretty obvious.  But there were no waders in sight.  And worse than that, the flooded field where the Egret had apparently been feeding had pretty well dried out.  I waited a bit longer but still had no target bird.  One report mentioned the bird had flown off to the northeast, so I drove around a bit in that direction, found some drainage ditches and a runoff retention pond that could be suitable habitat, but still no waders of any type.  I then drove a short distance to the south to continue to search the road-side drainage ditches, but came up empty again. 

It was just about time to head off to the airport, and I decided to make one more search at the soccer fields.  As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a white spot in the field in the distance.  Could it be?  I put it in my binoculars and it was the Snowy Egret (#18).  It must have just flown in.  Not only was this another eBird rarity, but also a review species for the WA rare bird committee.  The bird was most cooperative, and I got these two phone-binoc shots of the bird.

What a way to end the trip!  I even made it to the airport in time despite miserable rush hour traffic.

The Trip by the Numbers

I had a total of 122 species for the trip, including 18 new birds for my WA statebird list.  Needless to say that was way over the 8 additions I hoped for when planning the trip.  That gives me 269 in WA, which is 21 over the old ABA threshold.  WA is now my 39th state where I’ve reached my Reportable Plus 15 goal – I have 6 others that are over the threshold though not 15 over.  Of the 18 birds I added only 4 are possible on that future eastern WA summer trip, meaning there is still a lot of statebird potential in eastern WA.  Then again, maybe I don’t need to take an eastern WA trip now that I’m now safely Reportable Plus 15 in WA.

Although ordinarily the highlights of my statebirding trips are related to reaching new levels in my statelists, for this trip the key highlights were all the rarities I was able to see, some of which I found on my own.  These included 12 birds for which details were required in eBird –

• Pink-footed Shearwater – found on my own
• Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel – found on my own
• Snowy Egret – stakeout, WA review species
• Bar-tailed Godwit – stakeout
• Red Knot - stakeout
• Prairie Falcon – found on my own
• Tropical Kingbird - stakeout
• Palm Warbler - stakeout
• Prothonotary Warbler – WA review species found on my own, 4^th WA state record
• Common Yellowthroat – found on my own
• Harris’s Sparrow – stakeout (but not new for my WA list)
• Orchard Oriole – WA review species, 1 found on my own and 1 stakeout

 A truly remarkable trip!