Impromptu Trip to Atlanta Yields 7 Georgia Statebirds, October 2-4, 2025

One of the organizations I volunteer for was planning a meeting on the southern South Carolina coast in October 2025.  Of course, I would take advantage of the trip to include some birding in route and while on the coast.  I scanned my Needs Alerts for SC but came up empty.  But since I’d be close to Georgia maybe there might be some coastal birds or fall migrants to pursue just over the state line.  There were a couple records of migrant passerines I needed, but they looked iffy at best.  Instead, there were far more possibilities in northern GA.  I started to wonder if I could swing by the greater Atlanta area on the way home from the SC coast.  But that would make for a very long time on the road.

As I had more or less given up on the possibility of seeing any new statebirds on this trip, my SC meeting got canceled.  Hmm…  I had already blocked out several days to be away from home in early October.  And the statebird potential was pretty good in northern GA. Why not just head directly to the greater Atlanta area and forget about SC altogether?  Atlanta was closer than the SC coast anyway.  My impromptu trip to Atlanta was a go!

With a bit of research, I came up with 3 key targets, or groups of targets, for my trip.  The first was a group of long-staying Limpkins in Clayton County a bit south of Atlanta - I felt pretty good at my chances for this one.  My next targets were migrant passerines.  Numerous species popped up on my Needs Alerts, though none were seen regularly at any specific location, nor in good numbers.  Lastly, I targeted several shorebird species that were reported at a sod farm north of Atlanta.  Though the last report of these birds was a full week before my trip.  Overall, I felt like it would be a successful trip if I saw the Limpkin, 1 new migrant passerine, and 1 new shorebird species.  That would be a rather long trip for just 3 new state birds, but since I had the time available, why not. 

October 2 – Limpkin Search

Ever since the big Limpkin irruption year in 2023 I’ve noticed large numbers of Limpkins reported at the Clayton County Water Authority Lake Blalock hotspot.  These birds have apparently colonized this spot and are likely breeding.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that the birds have been around so long that few of the recent checklists included details for finding the birds.  Plus, the hotspot title included the phrase “limited access”, so I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to access the spot.  Luckily, I found a couple birders who had recently seen the Limpkins that had eBird profiles with e-mail addresses.  I was able to get the scoop from them on how to buy a daily pass to the site, and that the birds were most often seen at the western end of the lake. 

Armed with those details, finding my target birds was actually quite easy.  I got my daily pass, drove a short distance to the parking lot at the western end of the lake, took a short walk to the water’s edge, and started scanning the shoreline of a nearby island.  Within a few seconds I found a Limpkin foraging along the shore (GA statebird #1).  And with a bit of scanning found 3 more feeding nearby.

My statebird map for Limpkin is inserted below.  I’ve only seen this species in its regular range in light-blue-shaded FL.  The 5 dark blue states (SC, NC, TN, TX, and now GA) are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity.  To think that before the 2023 irruption I had only seen Limpkin in FL. 

October 3 – Passerine and Shorebird Searches

My Needs Alerts for migrant passerines included multiple species, and multiple locations for most.  But no specific sites seemed to stand out as the most likely ones for my targets.  So I reached out to several GA birders to see where they would suggest.  One birder commented that migrants were better in both riparian and wet/weedy open habitats.  And all included one site in their suggestions – the Cochran Shoals Unit of the Chattahoochee River NRA.  My GA birding friend Bob Johnson gave me great details regarding how to bird that site, including birding an area along the river where nearby boardwalks go through wet scrubby areas.  That satisfied both the riparian and open habitat recommended conditions.  It seemed like Cochran Shoals might well be a prime spot so I chose that location as my starting point for the morning of the 3rd.  Now I just needed the birds to cooperate. 

I arrived in the Cochran Shoals parking lot just before sunrise and was surprised how many joggers and cyclists there were.  But the trail along the river was wide enough that hopefully we all could keep out of everyone’s way.  Here’s a shot of the river just as the sun was beginning to rise.

I got to the boardwalk area that Bob had recommended and was just about to walk into the wetlands when I noticed some movement in the trees right along the river.  It turned out that there were quite a number birds flitting around in the treetops.

I stayed there for an hour or more and had 9 warbler species in the trees, dominated by Redstarts, Black-and-whites, Magnolias, and Parulas.  Then I spotted a bird fly in with fine streaking below.  And with a closer look it turned out to be a Cape May, which was soon joined by a second one (GA statebird #2).

I then made my way to the boardwalk and found several Hooded Warblers, and a surprise Sedge Wren right along the boardwalk.  A bit later I heard sharp chip notes coming from the wet understory and eventually got great looks at a Northern Waterthrush (GA statebird #3).  GA is now my 34th state where I’ve seen this species.  The cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see Northern Waterthrush in its regular range – 11 more to go.

I came back out to the main trail along the river and noticed a couple birders walking toward me.  They were local birders Rick Sellers and Pierre Howard who bird that site frequently.  They told me about a couple other areas to bird along the river, and we birded together for the rest of the morning.  We came up with a couple other good birds including a second Sedge Wren, and a few more warblers here and there.  They also took me to an area called the Vireo Trail that had some nice brushy understory.  Living up to its name we got Yellow-throated and Red-eyed Vireos here.  And most importantly I spotted an Empidonax flycatcher that was bright yellow below with a yellow throat - an adult Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (GA statebird #4).  Interestingly, the local eBird reviewers don’t accept silent Yellow-bellies without photos, though they are accepted here in western NC. 

We finished the morning with 55 species featuring 12 warblers, 3 vireos, and 4 Catharus thrushes and Wood Thrush.  It was great birding with Rick and Pierre.  In fact, birding was so good that morning that we decided to meet up there again the next morning. 

Next, I was onto the Etowah Indian Mounds Sod Farm north of Atlanta to try from some shorebirds.  Exactly a week earlier there was a checklist from this hotspot that included 4 of my targets - Golden-Plover, Buff-breasted, Baird’s and Pectoral.  But there had been no reports, positive or negative, from that site since.  I connected with a local birder familiar with the site who said that a week ago there had been heavy rains that flooded parts of the fields attracting those shorebirds.  But the sod had since dried up and local birders knew that meant the shorebirds were long gone.  I was tempted to pass on the site as a result, but I had the time and directions so I decided to give it a try.

There are 2 main viewing points onto the sod farm – one for the southern half and another for the northern half.  I first pulled into the southern pulloff and my eyes went right toward a small wet area in the distance – maybe I was going to be in luck after all.  But despite several scans I could only find Killdeer walking around the muddy area and neighboring sod.  I then started scanning the dry areas and found good numbers of Killdeer, but nothing else.  But then while scanning a more distant part of the farm to the southeast I spotted a more upright plover walking across the sod.  I increased the magnification on my scope to get a better look – tall upright plover with broad white eyeline and dark cap.  I had an American Golden-Plover (GA statebird #5).  Here are 2 distant phonescoped shots of the bird. 

Then with some additional scanning of adjacent areas I picked up 6 more Golden-Plovers.  Not bad for a bird that hadn’t been spotted for a week.

As they say on the TV commercials: “But wait there’s more…”  While scanning the Plovers another time to make sure I had an accurate count I noticed a pair of browner shorebirds a bit smaller than the Plovers.  They were Pectoral Sandpipers (GA statebird #6) – undoubtedly one of the most common species that I still needed in GA.  I’ve now seen Pectorals in all but 3 states in the continental US.

I was pretty confident that I had seen all the shorebirds present in the southern half of the farm, so I drove down the road a bit to the pulloff overlooking the northern areas.  This time I found a larger flooded area, and it was full of peeps.  I counted 62 Leasts and 5 Semis, along with 3 more Pectorals, a Solitary, 4 Snipe, and a Greater Yellowlegs.  I looked hard for Baird’s or something better, but to no avail.  Then in a more distant pond I spotted a pale bird that was very active – running along the banks, and swimming in the pond.  I thought it could be a Wilson’s Phalarope but couldn’t quite eliminate a more likely Lesser Yellowlegs.  Here are 2 miserable distant shots of the bird.

I ended the day with 5 new statebirds, and now 6 for the trip.  And I still had one more morning of birding ahead of me.

October 4 – Another Passerine Search

Given our success at Cochran Shoals on the 3rd, Rick, Pierre and I decided to head back there for a morning of birding on the 4th.  I once again arrived at dawn and headed to the boardwalk area where we had so many birds the day before.  But soon it was obvious that we wouldn’t have the same kind of morning, with fewer birds passing through the area.  I decided to return to the main trail to get a different view of the area.  And just after I arrived, I spotted a Cuckoo flying by – it had limited rufous in the primaries so I was hopeful that I had a Black-billed.  Luckily it landed in the open in the understory.  Lower perches are more typical for Black-billed so the evidence was mounting.  It started to preen, and as it preened its tail I got a good look at the underside which was mostly dark with limited white.  And then finally I got to see the all-black bill.  I had a Black-billed Cuckoo (GA statebird #7).  I still need this elusive species in a lot of states especially in the central part of the country.

Later we found at least 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, both perching higher in the trees which is typical for this species.  We finished the morning with 11 warbler species, 4 vireos, and 50 species total.  Not bad for a slow morning.  As lunchtime neared, I decided to call it quits and start the drive home.  I wished Rick and Pierre well, and hoped that we could bird again together either in north GA, or back home in western NC. 

I ended the trip with 83 species including 7 additional statebirds, obviously much better than the 3 I had hoped for.  That brings my GA state list to 279.  It would be nice to try to get to 300 someday, but there aren't too many easy birds left.

Black-billed Cuckoo (Finally); And as a Yardbird No Less, May 25, 2020

Over my last 25 years of birding in New England I found that Black-billed Cuckoo was an uncommon migrant and breeder in the region, though often one that was difficult to see even while calling.  I expected a similar distribution in my new home base of western NC.  After all, the range maps show this species as a migrant and nester in this area just like in New England.  However, the following description of its relative abundance in the NC mountains region, from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance”, would suggest otherwise:

“Summer resident, and transient. In summer, rare to occasionally or locally uncommon, but sporadic, more "numerous" in some years than others, but seldom even uncommon. Nests mainly between 3,000 and 5,500 feet, somewhat more frequent above 4,000 feet. A good majority of summer records are from the Blue Ridge Parkway, perhaps because of ease of access to higher elevations of deciduous forests. Rare as a transient across the province.”

And this statement in the General Comments of that publication seems to sum it all up – “the average birder will not see a Black-billed Cuckoo in the state in a given year unless he or she is afield several times a week.” 

Another factor in the challenges of finding either the Black-billed or the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is that they will often perch very still in dense vegetation.  So even though they are large birds, they can be very difficult to spot - even if they are singing.  For instance, the vast majority of my Cuckoo sightings over the years have either been heard-only birds, or individuals first seen in flight.

In any case, it would sure seem like Black-billed Cuckoo is actually a rarity in western NC.  Well perhaps except for Spring 2020.

Last Fall in my first migration season in the area I only remember a few sightings being reported.  A review of eBird data shows only 6 reports in the region.  However, the story was quite a bit different this Spring with a number of posts being mentioned on the Blue Ridge Birders text group.  Enough so that some suggested that there were more records than normal this Spring.  eBird records certainly indicated something was up – the NC mountains had just 5 Spring records in 2018 and 9 in 2019, while there were at least 32 records in Spring 2020.  Plus there were comments about the potential for nesting at a couple sites.

Some postulated that the higher numbers were correlated with the hatching of the local brood of 17-Year Cicadas.  But per the map below, the brood in Buncombe County (Brood XIV) wasn’t due to emerge until 2025.  And the Henderson County brood (Brood VI) wouldn’t emerge for another 14 years.  The closest area for Brood IX which was emerging this year was in the far northwestern corner of NC.  So an increased food source in the form of newly hatched cicadas didn’t seem to be a likely cause.

Source - https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/docs/CicadaBroodStaticMap.pdf

Whatever the reason for their increased abundance, with each BBCU sighting mentioned on the text group or in eBird Needs Alerts my need to see one to add it to my NC statelist became greater and greater.  However, given the ephemeral nature of these birds in migration, I didn’t chase after any posted sightings, that is with the exception of one feeble attempt I made to find one seen the previous day at the Biltmore Estate.  Instead I figured I’d have to find one on my own.  Perhaps right in my yard.  But despite being out in the field a lot this spring, the only Cuckoos I was able to find were Yellow-billed– 2 in my yard, and 2 others elsewhere in the area. 

eBird shows BBCUs peaking in abundance in Henderson County in the first 2 weeks of May, so by late May I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I had missed my opportunity to see one in this banner migration season.  I guess I’d just have to wait for a future season to find one.  Migration had mostly ended in my yard by this point and I was generally spending less time on my deck doing “Big Sits”.  In fact, bird activity had reduced so much that on May 25th I almost decided to not bring my binocs out with me.  But I’m sure glad I did. 

Soon after coming out on the deck that morning I got a quick glimpse of a large bird flying into the understory in the backyard nearby.  I expected it was a Cuckoo, but what species?  I quickly headed over to the spot, and luckily was able to re-find the bird.  It was indeed a Cuckoo, but its back was toward me, and the head was completely obscured.  That meant I couldn’t see bill color, but that’s just one of many field marks for Cuckoo ID.  The folded wings didn’t seem to have any rusty coloration in the primaries, which was good for Black-billed.  But the reddish primaries are only easy to see on a Yellow-billed when it’s in flight, so I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be able to see the rusty primaries on this sitting Cuckoo.  Then I focused on the tail – I couldn’t see any white at all, but again with the bird facing away that’s of little help when looking for the amount of white under the tail to ID the bird.  And then with a step to one side I was able to see the face of the bird.  Although the bill was still blocked from view I could see the red orbital ring of the Black-billed Cuckoo – a field mark I had just learned earlier this Spring.  Who needs to see the bill color to ID a Cuckoo?  Eventually I did end up seeing the bill and of course it was all black.  I watched the BBCU for another minute or two before it headed back into the woods out of view.  Though perhaps the bird was hiding in plain sight just a few feet away.

Success!  New NC statebird #299.  (Wonder what #300 will be.)  And yet another great bird for my yard - #127 for the list.  I guess I didn’t have to worry about finding one this Spring after all.

My statebird map for Black-billed Cuckoo is inserted below.  Shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; the many cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I’ve yet to catch up with it.  I said these birds can be difficult to find…

Missed My Two Target Birds But Still Got a Statebird, Biltmore Estate, NC, May 13, 2020

The local Blue Ridge Birders text group had been abuzz reporting on good numbers of migrants at the Biltmore Estate, highlighted by a report from Aaron Steed of 85 species in just 4 hours.  Interestingly, this came at a time when migration had slowed in my yard.  Then early on the May 13th came a report of an Olive-sided Flycatcher there, with very specific information on the location.  Since things were slow in my yard, and most importantly since I had an annual pass for the Biltmore, I decided to give it a try.  Though first I had to make a reservation to access the grounds, and luckily there were openings for the very next hour.  And just before I hit the road I got directions to the Black-billed Cuckoo spotted there the previous day.  Both birds had been spotted close to the Lagoon, so with a bit of luck I could possibly come up with 2 possible statebird targets in the same general area.

I arrived at the Lagoon within an hour of the sighting of the Olive-sided, and joined several other birders already on site.  And we soon found the exposed perches where the bird had been spotted on an island in the river.  But unfortunately there was no Flycatcher, as least not right now.  There were plenty of potential perches and habitat in the area, so after a couple minutes we decided to split up and cover more area up and down the river.  I decided to head down river toward yesterday’s Cuckoo location – maybe I could run into both birds.  How lucky would that be?

Just a few minutes later I got a text that the Olive-sided had returned to its original perches on the island.  Although I instantly started to run back to the Olive-sided, it took a lot longer than I had expected – I had covered at lot of territory.  I finally made it back to the island, but unfortunately the bird had just left a few seconds earlier.  Alas, the Cuckoo search took me too far away from the Olive-sided spot and cost me the Flycatcher.  As Maxwell Smart used to say – “Missed it by that much.”  (And by the way, I never even made it to the location where the Cuckoo was seen the previous day.)  Ugh…

The good news was the bird was still around, and it certainly had preferred perches.  So I decided to just stay at the island to wait for the bird to return.  About an hour later I received a text that a Wilson’s Warbler had just been spotted near the other end of the Lagoon, within just a couple hundred yards from where I waited for the Flycatcher to return.  I needed the Warbler for my statelist as well, and started to wonder if I should give up on the Flycatcher to try for the Warbler.  There had been no sightings of the Flycatcher in an hour, and the Warbler had just been spotted.  But I decided to stick with the Flycatcher search as it was the rarer of the two.

My vigil was now going on 2 hours still with no sightings.  And just then I spotted a large dark flycatcher flying across the river, leaving the Biltmore side roughly even with the island.  I followed it in my binocs as it continued across the river and land in a tree on the far side.  It was pretty far away – roughly 500 feet – and I couldn’t be sure of the ID.  It was large and darker above, and it could well have been the Olive-sided.  Though I couldn’t eliminate Phoebe.  Then again no one had spotted a Phoebe in the area.  And I would think that if a Phoebe had been nearby I would have heard it calling before its flight across the river.  A maybe – but not definitive.

At 2 PM I finally threw in the towel on the Olive-sided after a 3-hour wait.  I had not only missed the 2 previously reported targets (1 by less than a minute), but also hadn’t chased after the Wilson’s Warbler.  On a whim I decided to head back to the area where the Warbler was reported, even though it had been 2 hours since I had received the text.  On the way I ran into Bob Butler who said he just had a female Wilson’s at the original location.  With renewed optimism I went to the spot where Bob had his bird but could only find Redstarts.  Once again dejected, but undeterred, I walked a bit further along the river’s edge in nice brushy wet habitat and spotted a glimpse of yellow.  A second later I had a male Wilson’s Warbler in my binocs! 

Wilson’s Warbler was #294 for my NC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular though I’ve yet to see it.  I still need this species in a number of eastern states, as it is much more common in the west.

I briefly thought about returning to the favored perches of the Olive-sided, but decided I had given that one enough of a try.  I may have missed my initial key targets, but at least I was still able to find one new unexpected statebird.  It was a bittersweet trip, though I can only imagine how I would have felt if I hadn’t been able to re-find the Wilson’s Warbler.

First Trip to Newfoundland – June/July 2018 - 141 Species – Part 1 of 3

Each year I take an extended birding trip in Spring or Summer to work on my state or province lists.  This year I planned my first ever trip to Newfoundland, with a short side-trip to the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon.  As with all my trips, I spent many hours to plan for the best itinerary to maximize my species total.  Unfortunately there aren’t any recent birding guides to Newfoundland, though a somewhat dated “A Bird-Finding Guide to Canada” by J.C. Finlay had a chapter on birding in the province which was helpful at least in a general way.  And then of course there were lots of eBird data to pore over, plus a Newfoundland listserve to watch.  But by far the best information came when I reached out to local birders Alvan Buckley and Jared Clarke.  They provided a lot of general information, as well as tips to bird a number of my key sites.  Many thanks Alvan and Jared!

As I was putting my plans together I made two key observations that were somewhat surprising -

• Many of the birds that are regular here in New England, and even some that breed north of New England, don't typically make it as far north as Newfoundland.  For instance my common yard birds like Chipping Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Pewee, and Red-eyed Vireo, are not seen at all, or just as rarities, in the province.  And even birds I think of as northern species like Bay-breasted and Blackburnian Warblers are rarities in Newfoundland. 
• There are few species in general in the area.  A "Big Day", or even just a full day of birding in New England, will often far exceed 100 species.  By comparison, breaking 100 in Newfoundland in a day is quite unlikely.   

The next key observation was that I could need to cover a large area to maximize my Newfoundland list.  If I was going to see those “southern” rarities I would need to head to the southwestern corner of Newfoundland.  And the best part of Newfoundland for seabirds was the Avalon Peninsula which is the easternmost portion of the province.  That meant two of the most important areas to bird were a good 10-hour drive apart.  When I realized the amount of driving I would have to do, I added an extra day to my itinerary.

Armed with all this information, and after several months of preparations, I planned an 8-day itinerary in Newfoundland.  And despite all this birding, I expected perhaps just 96 species in Newfoundland.

Then there is St. Pierre et Miquelon.  The good news is that the schedule for the ferry from Fortune would allow me 2 ½ days on the islands, including a short side trip to the island of Langlade.  The bad news is that there is precious little information about birding there, few eBird posts (none recently), and I was unable to connect with any birders there even to just suggest the best locations to bird while on the island.  Undaunted, I guessed I might get 50 species there, just wandering around St. Pierre on my own looking for nice habitat.  I have to admit I wasn’t exactly expecting the best birding there, but it would likely be my only ever opportunity to get any “ticks” in this tiny ABA jurisdiction.

So I was finally ready for my 11-day trip to Newfoundland and St. Pierre!

This is the first of 3 parts summarizing my trip.  See my next 2 blog posts for the rest of my trip.

Day 1 - June 21 – Fly to St. John’s – Drive to Central Newfoundland

I didn’t arrive into the St. John’s airport until 4 PM local time, so that didn’t give me any real time for birding.  Instead the plan was to head west as far as Bishop’s Falls as I made my way to bird Gros Morne National Park the next day.

Before my trip I started to guess what my first bird might be for Newfoundland.  (In New Brunswick it was most fittingly a Canada Goose!).  Here given the coastal and suburban setting of the airport I guessed it might be a Ring-billed Gull.  Actually it turned out to be a Herring Gull – pretty close.  I had 8 species in route – including a flyover Bald Eagle – a species I didn’t see again until a week later.  It was dusk as I arrived at my hotel room, and I poked my head outside just long enough to hear Junco, Wilson’s Warbler, and Snipe just to wet my appetite.  A rainbow over my hotel was a nice site as well.

Day 2 - June 22 –  Partly Cloudy, low in the mid 40’s, high in the upper 60’s

My original plan was to make an early morning stop at Corduroy Brook Nature Trails in Grand Falls-Windsor, with Summer 2017 eBird posts including Ovenbirds and Red-eyed Vireos which could difficult to find elsewhere during my trip.  But there had been no recent eBird reports from this site so I wondered if this spot could be the best for an early morning walk.  And then just before my trip an eBird post came along from nearby at Jumper’s Brook Resource Road in Bishop’s Fall with Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, so I decided to change my plans to hit this location instead.  And it turned out to be a good choice.  I slowly traveled up this road, making numerous stops along with way in nice varied woodland habitat.   Key highlights among the 30 species I had here in 2 hours and 15 minutes were 2 Philly Vireos, a Red-eyed Vireo, and an Ovenbird – all the key targets I was hoping for at Corduroy and then some.  Plus I heard a Ruffed Grouse – I do a lot of birding by ear and can hear the higher pitched calls really well.  However, the low tones of a Ruffed Grouse are really difficult for me to hear, so I was glad to get this one out of the way.  Also of note were 4 Tennessee Warblers which turned out to be my only ones for the trip.

I also realized that with the smaller number of species in the area, it would be easy to keep an exact count of all species seen/heard – I did that for all my stops in Newfoundland, entering eBird lists of exact counts of the birds I saw or heard.  At Jumper’s Brook this included 15 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers!  And among the 11 warblers I had here, I had 12 Yellows, 10 Black-and-whites, 10 Northern Waterthrushes, 8 Redstarts, 8 Mournings, and 8 BT Greens – most of which were flagged as high totals in eBird.

Next I was off to Gros Morne National Park, but in route to Gros Morne I made a short stop at the Deer Lake sewage impoundments.  Multiple eBird reports from this spot included Shovelers as a rarity, plus quite a diversity of other ducks.  Even though I was standing outside the perimeter fence to the impoundments, I quickly found 3 Shovelers, and regular Ring-necks, Blacks, and Wigeon, plus one Pintail, but missed several others recently reported like Mallard and Green-winged Teal.  Since it only took a few minutes to bird the impoundments, I decided to walk the trail down below the impoundments to see what might be in the marsh below.  Along the way I passed 2 small swampy areas, one of which contained 3 Wood Ducks as a rarity.  Down at the marsh I spotted an American Bittern, and my first Swamp Sparrow singing from the vegetation.  All in all a very nice (and efficient!) stop.

Since it was now midday, my plan was to make multiple stops along the coast in Gros Morne to look for seabirds, and then end the day with a walk through landbird habitat.  Along the way, I took these nice scenery shots at an overlook.

My first stop was Green Point, which had a nice collection of terns - 4 Caspians, and 40 Commons.  I thought Caspians would be tough on the trip, but I ended up seeing them in multiple locations over the next several days.

The next stop was the small community of Sally’s Cove where a flock of gulls included my only Iceland Gull of the trip, and in fact my only rare gull of the trip.  The next quick stop was at Broom Point where I had my first Common Eiders, including a crèche of 11 young with 3 hens.  Surprisingly I only had Eiders at a few locations throughout my trip; they are a common summer nester along much of the New England rocky coast.  I also had my first Arctic Tern of the trip here.  Then I was off to the town of St. Paul’s, but first a quick stop at the marsh just outside town yielded my first of only a few Canada Geese that I would have on the trip– again a bit of a surprise.  My next stop was in town to scan the inlet, and was surprised to find a breeding plumage Razorbill.  In St. Paul’s Bay I spotted a group of 8 Goldeneyes in the distance – only ones of the trip.  And in town there was a flock of 7 Common Grackles, which eBird called a rarity.

It was now late afternoon and time to turn back to landbirding, specifically on the Western Brook Trail.  The first part of this trail went through nice boggy wetlands with numerous Yellowthroats, Swamp and Savannah Sparrows, and Yellow Warblers.  Then I reached patches of woodlands, featuring my only Cape May Warbler of the trip.  And later I found an Olive-sided Flycatcher which was an eBird rarity – surprising that this species was a write-in since I had 7 of them at 5 locations on the trip.  Same goes with Winter Wren – nice singing bird, but a write-in in most places though I had 7 of them during my trek.  Plus I had my first Boreal Chickadee – I love this species.  White-throated Sparrow was most common species with 12, followed by 11 Yellow Warblers.  And a final note of interest - in the woodlands I tried to attract woodpeckers by tapping sticks together as I walked.  Although I never attracted any woodpeckers, I did attract Black-and-white Warblers several times.  I guess a tapping woodpecker could signal a potential source of food for a Black-and-white which similarly gleans insects from tree bark.

Here a couple nice scenery shots from the end of the Western Brook trail.

My last stop of the day was in Rocky Harbour where bird feeders in town were well-known for attracting some nice birds, including difficult-to-find Mourning Doves.  As I pulled up to the area there was a MoDo perched right above me on the wires.  I decided to get out to give it a closer look and quickly heard a bird giving a 3-part buzzy trill – each trill was the same length and same pitch.  A Clay-colored Sparrow, right?  I never saw the bird, but went with my gut of CCSP.  But later in the trip I heard a Junco giving a very similar song with 3 evenly spaces buzzy trills very similar to a CCSP.  Plus I heard 2 other Juncos giving a single long trill that was quite buzzy.  In all my years of birding I don’t think I’ve ever heard Juncos with buzzy trills, not to mention the 3-trill song.  In any case, I ended up calling the Rocky Harbour bird a much more likely Junco instead of a CCSP.

I ended the day with 77 species, and a province list of 78, walking 9.1 miles and 21,700 steps (per my FitBit).  A productive yet tiring day.

Day 3 - June 23 –  AM overcast lows in the low 40’s, PM partly cloudy highs in the mid 70’s

My dawn hike this day was on the James Callaghan Trail leading up to Gros Morne Mountain.  Before I could even start the walk I heard a Philly Vireo calling from the trees surrounding the parking lot.  And as I watched this bird, I spotted 5 Common Mergansers down in the river below.  That was a good start.  The trail had great habitat for Spruce Grouse, and I was the first person on the trail that day, so I was hopeful that I would happen on one.  I spent a lot of time peering into the spruces both on the ground and in the trees for my target grouse, all the while tallying the singing passerines along the way.  Eventually I would end up with one Spruce Grouse well up the trail on my return trip down the mountain.  Another highlight was 3 Pine Grosbeaks – 1 seen and 2 heard singing; this is another of my favorite boreal birds that I don’t see very often.  The species with the most individuals in my 3 hour hike was the ever-present Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at 13; Northern Waterthrush at 7 was the most common warbler.  Here is a picture of the trail, including the very nice spruce habitat, and the valley below way in the distance. 

My next hike was on the Baker’s Brook Falls trail, which thankfully was on more-level ground.  This trail had highly varied habitats including spruce bogs and drier spruce woodlands.  The key addition on this 2 ½ hour hike was a rare singing Nashville Warbler – the only one for the trip.  Other highlights were a family of 6 Gray Jays which were most inquisitive.  And I had 2 more Olive-sided Fly’s and 2 more Winter Wrens (still eBird write-ins).  The “winner” for the most common birds here were 20 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 14 White-throated Sparrows, and 11 Black-and-white Warblers.

My original plan was to stay in Gros Morne longer doing more landbirding, but the forecast for the next day was for heavy rain.  So I decided to head out of Gros Morne in the early afternoon to squeeze in a stop at a key landbird spot planned for the next day, the Starlite Trail.  On the way I made another stop at the Deer Lake sewage impoundments.  Interestingly most of yesterday’s ducks were gone – for instance only 2 Ring-necks were there when there were 24 the day before.  But I did add Rock Pigeon to my province list – one of the few times you can get excited about seeing a Rock Pigeon!

Along the way to Starlite I passed a small swampy wetlands and a pair of Rusty Blackbirds flew out – my only ones of the trip.  A lucky observation!

The southwest portion of the island is well-known for “southern” species not often seen in other parts of the province.  Many of these are overshoot migrants, often seen in early June but as I found out, not too likely to stick around.  Others are regular nesters, but only reliably found in this portion of the province.  For instance as I tracked sightings in the weeks leading up to my trip there were reports of quite a number of southern landbird species like Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Pewee, Catbird, Veery, Parula, Nashville, Bay-breasted and Blackburnian Warblers, Chipping Sparrow, and Bobolink.  And wetlands birds included Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Soras.

Many of these species are seen in an area called the Codroy Valley, with many potential hotspots to visit.  One of the most important is the Starlite Trail where key targets are Least Flycatcher and Veery – this could be their only reliable breeding location in Newfoundland.  Plus this is one of the best spots for Ovenbird.  I arrived at 4:45 PM and was hoping that birdsong would pick up in late afternoon.  But it was still the warmest part of the day – and the black flies were horrendous.  As I made my way up the side of the mountain there were lots of Swainson’s Thrushes singing, so I was hopeful Veery’s would be cooperative as well.  I also heard 2 singing Ovenbirds.  But there was only 1 Yellow-bellied Fly – would that mean the Leasts would be quiet as well?

I was in a very nice mature birch forest habitat which was reported to be the right habitat for the Veery’s, so I made a stop at an overlook to listen.  Within in a few seconds I heard a portion of a song in the distance that could have been a Veery but I didn’t focus on it soon enough.  So I listened intently in the direction of the first song and then heard a full song of a Veery.  Success!  Here’s a picture of the valley below from the “Veery overlook” - that's my car in the parking lot far below.

Now I needed to find the Least Flycatchers.  The recent sightings seemed to suggest they could be farther up the mountain but still in birches, so I continued to climb the trail listening for my target bird.  A short distance farther up the mountain I began to hear chipping that sounded like a Least, though still no song.  I climbed a bit further and heard some more chipping coming from multiple birds.  I played a bit of tape and one responded in song.  Though despite hearing 4 calling birds I could get no visuals.  Although I wanted to stay to see the birds, the black flies were eating me alive, so I decided to head down to the car, happy to have gotten both of my targets.

My hotel was in Port aux Basques a short distance away, and I began the drive west down the Trans Canada Highway.  I had only driven a few miles when I was shocked to see a Cuckoo fly low across the road, flying into the brush next at the edge of the road right in front of me.  Though I saw the bird while I was driving and of course without using binoculars, I could clearly see the Cuckoo’s long-tailed shape and size, and only the slightest hint of any reddish hue in the wings making it a really rare Black-billed Cuckoo.  I wasn’t aware that there had actually been a couple other BB Cuckoo sightings in the general area in the prior couple days, all likely overshooting birds of this late migrant species.

I ended the day with 88 species in Newfoundland.  And although I had just 49 species for the day, many were rarities as far as eBird was concerned - of the 40 Newfoundland rarities listed in eBird that day I had 19 of them.  And with 26,200 Steps, and 10.9 miles walked including 2 treks up and down mountain trails, I was happy to reach my hotel and call it a day.

Day 4 - June 24 – Periods of moderate to heavy rain, strong winds, highs in the low 50s

The forecast was for heavy rain starting mid-morning, which just gave me enough time to bird a couple landbirding spots in the early morning.  My first stop at dawn was Red Rocks Rd. where many southern species were reported earlier in the month as overshooting migrants.  But as it turns out, most of those “southern” vagrants were long gone by the time I got to the area.  I walked the length of the road and back in a little over 2 hours finding lots of birds but adding only 2 to my province list.  The best was an Eastern Pewee which I first heard in song, then got a brief visual along the road, then heard it sing again back in the woods.  I actually might have had a second bird at the far end of the road – I only heard it sing once.  I also added 2 Red Crossbills mixed in with a flock of Siskins.  Other highlights were 4 singing Winter Wrens and a Red-eyed Vireo.  The most abundant bird was Siskin with 42 birds (including a flyover flock of 30).  The most common warblers were Yellow at 12 and Waterthrush at 8.

It wasn’t raining yet when I got back to my car so I still had time to do some more landbirding.  I rearranged my schedule to head to Cheeseman Provincial Park where several “overshoot” landbirds had been reported earlier in the month.  Plus a Wood Thrush had been reported singing there the previous 2 days.  Not to mention there were nesting Piping Plovers on the beach so lots to look forward to.

I arrived at the entrance to pay my park fee, and just as I opened my car window I heard a Northern Parula singing – nice!  I ended up with 2 in the park.  I then headed right to the spot where the Wood Thrush had been singing for the last 2 days, but despite several stops there I was not able to re-find it.  I had single Red-breasted Nuthatches in 2 spots – surprisingly my only Red Nuts for the trip.  61 Siskins again were the most abundant bird (due to a flyover flock of 50), with 5 Blackpolls and 5 Yellow-rumps as the most common warblers.

Then I was off to the coast to try for the Piping Plovers – 9 had been reported a couple days earlier so I was feeling pretty good about my chances.  I arrived at the coast at the middle of the beach – do I walk east or west to try for the plovers?  I decided to walk east but didn’t see any Plovers.  So I turned around and walked west and finally spotted 2 adult Piping Plovers ahead of me as I neared the far end of the beach.  Not wanting to bother these endangered species, I didn’t go any further to try to get a count.  It wasn’t raining yet, though it was very windy, so I decided to do a seawatch to see what wind-blown birds might be passing by.  I got to a spot in the dunes protected from the wind a bit, and added a flyby Red-breasted Merganser, and 3 distant Sooty Shearwaters.  A distant flock of 30 Common Eiders was nice too. 

But now it started to rain, so I headed back to my car and then off to Cape Ray to do another seawatch.  Along the way I made a few quick stops in the town of Cape Ray seeing birds that I mostly only found around the towns like Rock Pigeon, Blue Jay, Starling, and Grackle.  Plus in a small wetlands at the edge of town I found 3 rare Red-winged Blackbirds.

Then it was on to Cape Ray for a seawatch.  It was very windy and rainy, so I needed to bird from the car trying to look downwind as best as possible.  There was not much flying by, but I had my first of many Guillemots, and then spotted an adult Jaeger flying by quite closely.  I quickly got the bird in the scope and watched it for at least 30 seconds – it seemed thin-bodied enough to be a Parasitic, and tail shape seemed right as well.

I had planned to spend additional time landbirding in the area but it was raining heavily, so I decided to call it quits early and head north a short distance to the Codroy Valley.  I thought I might take a quick look at a number of my possible stops I had planned for the next day to get a feel for how I might bird there tomorrow.  But along the way the rain slowed to a drizzle, and since tomorrow’s forecast was for more heavy rain, I thought it would be worthwhile to try to hit at least a couple of tomorrow’s spots yet today if it wasn’t raining too hard.

First I headed to Loch Lomond where I could bird from the road and hopefully not get too wet.  I parked at the east end of the lake and quickly spotted another 3 Wood Ducks – I thought these were supposed to be rarities.  A family of Wigeons and another two families of Black Ducks were also swimming through the vegetation.  With no more waterfowl to look at, I turned my attention to the swallows flying low over the lake.  Interestingly almost all were Bank Swallows, and then I spotted a single Barn Swallow – 2 nice additions to my list.  A singing Red-winged Blackbird was an expected bird in this location.

Then I drove to nearby Shoal Pond where so many rarities had been spotted recently including Pied-billed Grebe, Coot, and Sora, plus a number of waterfowl.  This location would likely require a pretty long walk around the perimeter, so I wasn’t planning to bird there in the rain.  But as I got closer the rain got lighter, and was just a light drizzle when I arrived.  So I got my rain suit on, and decided to head to the lake yet this afternoon.

But then as I started walking east along the southern edge of the pond the fog rolled in and I couldn’t see 50 feet.  Plus the wind was a good 15-20 mph, and now with heavy drizzle it meant I was getting pelted with tiny rain droplets.  Not very conducive for looking for birds on the lake.  The best I could do was listen to a distant calling Bittern.  I kept heading east and finally the fog started to lift.  The first bird I saw on the lake was a rare Shoveler, followed by a family of Wigeon.  Now the fog had pretty much lifted, and I could scan most of the lake.  I looked back to the southwest corner and briefly saw a bird on the water, which then disappeared beneath the surface.  My initial thought was it could be a Grebe, and a few seconds later it reappeared – it was indeed a Pied-billed Grebe, last reported at the lake more than 2 weeks earlier.  A bit later I heard it call, and it was answered by a second bird calling toward the east side of the lake.  Nice!  Not a minute later I spotted another bird out on the water and with the scope verified I had the Coot, also last reported a couple weeks ago. 

I was now at the southeast corner of the lake with a nice cattail marsh in front of me.  I started to hear a staccato “kek kek kek” that initially I was unfamiliar with.  Then I realized it was like a slow version of the “grunt” of a Virginia Rail, and without the call tailing off at the end.  I went to my iBird Pro app and softly played through the various calls – what I was hearing was a perfect match for call #7 “Calls Between a Pair”.  The bird continued to call off and on while I was in ear-shot of it over the next 10-15 minutes.

I was now walking north up the eastern side of the pond, and still hadn’t heard Sora, which was getting to be concerning since this was the Shoal Pond rarity that was the most often reported so far this year.  Up ahead I could see a nice marsh in the northeast corner of the lake which seemed like great habitat for a Sora.  And sure enough as I neared this spot a Sora called, followed soon thereafter by another one nearby, and then a third bird called a bit farther south.  I guess I shouldn’t have been worried.  As I was giving myself a high five, I heard a “bink” of a Bobolink.  A few seconds later I spotted a male Bobolink, followed by at least 2 other males and a female.  All were in the somewhat drier portion of the marsh– don’t think I’ve ever seen Bobolinks in a marsh outside of fall migration.  And I can’t forget the Red-winged Blackbirds out in the marsh – expected at this site though still a rarity for the province.

I had seen or heard just about everything I could reasonably expect at Shoal Pond (and then some), so I headed back to my car.  Along the way the Virginia Rail kept calling, and my first Harrier passed by.  A nice ending of the day – my 80th species that day, and my 107th species in the province.  My FitBit said I had logged 26,100 Steps and 10.9 miles – another long but successful day.

7 Statebirds in WV and 1 More in PA, May 2014

Since early in 2014 my work has required me take several trips to Pittsburgh which is a location I haven’t traveled to in quite some time.  Pittsburgh is only about a 90 minute drive from some good birding areas in northern WV, and since I’ve needed to work on my WV state list, of course I’ve squeezed in a bit of WV birding time on these trips.  I started 2014 right at the old ABA reportable threshold for WV.  And then with a trip in March, I added 8 new waterfowl even though I had just 1 hour of birding time.  Then with a late afternoon in April I added 3 more – putting me 11 over the old threshold.  My somewhat arbitrary goal is to be 15 over threshold in each state (to stay above that limit hopefully forever), so only 4 more to go.  My next trip was in early May quite well timed during passerine migration.  So I connected with my Morgantown, WV birding friend Terry Bronson and he developed a plan to help me find some of my possible statebirds.  I had a couple hours in the evening and much of the next morning for birding time, so I was hopeful that I could get maybe 2-3 new statebirds.

I met Terry near dinner time of the first day and he greeted me with his list from that morning – it had been a major fallout in Morgantown with 8 birds that would have been new for my statelist.  Unfortunately I was 12 hours too late.  But maybe some would stick around.  We went right to Core Arboretum where Terry had all his birds that morning, and began to retrace his tracks.  The first area was where he had had a Cape May, several Swainson’s Thrushes, and a Least Flycatcher, but we dipped on all three.  We did have the first of several Nashville Warblers there though - new statebird #1.  We continued to bird the park, finding a reasonable number of migrant warblers, but still missing all those great birds Terry had that morning.  We eventually made our way down to the river where Terry had his best bird of the morning – a Forster’s Tern – a nice bird for WV.  We hiked to the buoy in the river where it had perched that morning, and amazingly it was still there (#2).  I’ve now seen Forster’s throughout most of the country (see my statebird map below).

A little later we finally found one of the several Spotted Sandpipers Terry had had along the streambank (#3).  We ended the day with another unsuccessful try for Great Horned Owl (my nemesis bird in WV).  So although the 3 new statebirds were already what I had hoped for during the trip, we still missed 5 birds Terry had earlier in the day.

We started early the next morning to ominous skies, and decided to try Core Arboretum again to see if it had been another good migration night.  There were less birds there than the day before, but there were some migrants so we didn’t give up hope.  Then I noticed a large bird fly in – it was a Black-billed Cuckoo (#4).  WV was the last “hole” in the northeast part of my statebird map for Black-billed.

And a few minutes later we found a Swainson’s Thrush (#5) in the same area where Terry had them the day before.  We were still birding the park when it started to rain, and when a bolt of lightning hit the ground close nearby we headed back to the safety of the car.

We decided to make our way south to get away from the rain, and we headed to Pritchett Fort State Park.  There were almost no migrants there at all, but there was a nice collection of breeding species including great looks at Yellow-throated Warbler.

With just a couple more hours available before heading back to work, we decided to go to Little Indian Creek WMA, which is a reclaimed coal mine revegetated in grasses and some small emergent trees.  One of the targets Terry was hoping for here was Palm Warbler, and soon after reaching the park we found our target.  I had a brief glimpse of a warbler in the distance in some grasses flicking its tail, and after a little searching, we found not 1 but 2 western Palm Warblers (#6).  WV was my last eastern state for this species.

 

As we continued walking through this very birdy park, we noticed many tent caterpillar nests.  And soon we began to see and hear Black-billed Cuckoos.  Several times we watched them chowing down on big hairy caterpillars.  We conservatively estimated that we saw 3 birds, and along with the 4^th one at the arboretum, that was very likely more Black-billed Cuckoos than I’ve ever seen in one day.  Two different times we also saw female Prairie Warblers fly into a caterpillar nest, and gather the silk from the web for nesting material.  Very cool.

Our time was almost up so we headed back toward the car.  Although we were chatting along the way I faintly heard a brief call that sounded like Least Flycatcher.  But this area certainly is not a typical heavily wooded located for Least Fly.  Nonetheless, we stopped to listen, and both of us heard it call several more times (#7).  That was quite a surprise.  My statebird map for Least Flycatcher shows some big gaps in the southeast, though otherwise pretty good coverage across the country.

 

We ended our WV birding with 87 species, including 19 warblers, and most importantly, 8 new birds for my WV state list.  Way over my hoped for 2 or 3.  And with 196, my WV state list is 18 over the old ABA threshold an in theory secure for a long time to come.

As I was heading back to Pittsburgh I started to wonder if there might be any migrants I might need for my PA list.  I’ve got a pretty good list for PA since I lived there for 4 years, but after checking my lists I remembered that I still needed Nashville Warbler for PA.  And since we heard and saw several in WV, maybe that one might be feasible to try for in PA.  However, the first problem was that at most I could only squeeze in an hour or two of birding starting at dawn the next day.  Plus, since I had never birded in Pittsburgh, I’d have to find a good spot for migrants.  I looked on the map and found a small suburban park called Robin Hill Park that seemed nice and was nearby.  So I had a plan.

I arrived at Robin Hill Park just after dawn and was greeted with a singing Hooded Warbler – a nice start.  I then noticed some warblers feeding at the top of an oak tree, and after wading through some Yellow-rumps and Black-throated Greens I picked out a Nashville Warbler – success!  I ended up with 2 other Nashville’s over the next hour.  Now that I’ve seen Nashville in WV and PA, my statebird map pretty well matches the typical range map for this species, which is common in much of the country except the heart of the Rockies and the southeast.

I also got several warblers we didn’t have in WV, including a Bay-breasted that I didn’t need in PA but did need in WV.  Ugh!  I also got an Orange-crowned, which is a good spring bird in PA though not a new one for me.  That gives me 239 for my PA list.