One Life Bird - Or Was it Two, Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 4-5, 2023

In January 2023 I had a most successful birding trip to the FL panhandle.  Not only did I see my first new life bird (White Wagtail) in several years, it was also my first trip to FL from my home base in western NC, greatly expanding my horizons for potential trips.  I was now watching the ABA Rarities eBird alerts more frequently, especially focused on potential lifers.  And the most likely location for those additional lifers would be in south FL. 

Sure enough late in January I started to notice reports of a Bahama Mockingbird in FL.  These rare vagrants typically appear somewhere in far southern FL which is actually a pretty short flight from their home in the Bahamas – less than 70 miles as the Mockingbird flies.  But this bird was being seen in Cape Canaveral, making it about a 3-hour shorter drive than trying for one that might appear at the southern end of the peninsula.  I’ve birded south FL a number of times, picking up several rarities there over the years.  But there has never been a Bahama Mockingbird there during any of my trips.  As a result, this species has been a key target for me.  And with this individual being relatively “close”, at only halfway down the peninsula, it was definitely one to chase after.

Now for the research.  The Bahama Mockingbird was being reported daily just outside the eastern end of the Jetty Park campground in Cape Canaveral.  It was first reported on January 10, and it or another one was at the same site from May through August 2022.  The bird was most often seen in a sea grape hedge, or along the edge of a paved parking lot just to the east.  It seemed that most birders just had to put in some time to wait for the bird to appear, often in the company of Northern Mockingbirds.  That seemed pretty straightforward.

What about other possible statebirds nearby?  In the few days before my trip an immature Iceland Gull was being seen daily in the waters just north of Jetty Park, though many birders were missing the bird.  Certainly one to look for.

And then there is the Indian Peafowl.  In 2020, the ABA Recording Standards and Ethics Committee concluded that Indian Peafowl has been established and “countable” in FL since 2007 per their policy “ABA Area Introduced Species”.  (www.aba.org/aba-area-introduced-species)  When the new policy was published I scoured my records but couldn’t find any notes about seeing “peacocks” in FL, though I might remember seeing them in Key West decades ago.  But that would have been before 2007 anyway.  So this possible new life bird has been on my radar screen since the ABA policy came out in 2020.  And sure enough it turns out there were quite a number of Peafowl records just south of Jetty Park.  One to definitely focus on when I got to the area.

Or was it?  In 2022 eBird published an article “Important Changes to Exotic Species in eBird”.  (ebird.org/new/news/important-changes-to-exotic-species-in-ebird)  In this article eBird concluded that Indian Peafowl was a non-countable “Escapee”.  They went on to say that a population of an exotic species is considered to be a non-countable “Escapee” because it is not yet a “population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years”. 

An obvious difference of opinion on the countability of Indian Peafowl.  But as I always say, see the bird first, then figure out if it’s countable.  So I would still look for it on my trip.

And of course there was also statebird potential along my route back from Cape Canaveral.  Though since the Mockingbird and Peafowl were my key targets I would take as long as realistically needed to find them.  If I had time, in FL there were relatively recent reports of Harlequin Duck and Ash-throated Flycatcher at Huguenot Park just east of Jacksonville.  Plus there were several targets in GA and SC along my route home. 

This blog post focuses on my FL searches on this trip.  Searches in GA and SC are summarized in later posts on my blog.

Day 1 – February 4

I stated on the 9-hour drive to Cape Canaveral on the afternoon of February 3rd, making it as far as Brunswick, GA.  That evening while updating my notes on my target birds I noticed several reports from that day of a male Cinnamon Teal at Merritt Island NWR.  That’s just a short distance from Cape Canaveral so definitely one to add to the itinerary if the Mockingbird and Peafowl cooperated.

With the excitement of potential life and state birds in front of me I was out of the hotel before sunrise on the 4th.  And with light traffic nearly the whole way I rolled into Jetty Park a few minutes before 10 AM.  I drove right to the east side of the park, and parked in the paved parking lot mentioned in so many checklists.  There were a couple birders in the area who shared that the Mockingbird was seen earlier in the morning, though not recently.  So I started my vigil especially focused on the seagrape hedge just east of the campground, hoping that the Mockingbird would appear. 

But over the next 2 hours the area was very quiet.  Not only was there no Bahama Mockingbird, but there were no Northern Mockingbirds either.  That was quite disappointing since both species were often seen together.  The closest I got was a Catbird I spotted in the hedge.  Then at about 11 AM a Northern Mockingbird appeared in the hedge and flew over my head to the east.  Then a second one popped out.  Although I hoped the Bahama Mocker would be with them it was not the case.

Then a few minutes later I noticed 3 birders all pointing low in the trees a few feet to the south.  I had met them earlier and they were especially looking for warblers, so I imagined that’s what they had found.  But as I say “bird the birders”, so I went over and asked them what they had.  They had just discovered the Bahama Mockingbird!  Although it just took me a few seconds, it felt like hours before I finally picked it out among the leaves just a few feet off the ground.  I wondered if I had missed it as it flew in from the seagrapes, or perhaps it flew in from the east.  Regardless I had my bird.

A few seconds later it flew to the west and disappeared into the seagrape hedge.  We all got good views of all the key fieldmarks – brown-backed instead of the gray of a Northern Mocker, streaking on the chest and flanks, lack of white patches in the wings, white only in the corners of the tail, and longer tail making it look more like a Thrasher than a Mockingbird. 

Just when we thought we had seen the last of the Bahama Mockingbird it reappeared in the seagrapes, and flew back toward us landing on the ground a few feet away.  The bird hopped right by us – I took this photo with my cellphone as it went by within 3 feet of me.

Later it foraged on the ground just a few feet away and I got this “digi-binned” photo.

What an amazing set of observations!  Certainly worth the wait for a species that I’ve wanted to see for decades. 

With the Mockingbird behind me rather quickly I had plenty of time to pursue my other targets.  Next i drove over to the northeast corner of the park to try for the Iceland Gull, and joined a couple birders already there scoping the offshore waters.  Apparently the Gull was seen early that morning but not since then.  I did quite a bit of scoping and found a number of gulls perched on distant markers and fencing, including both Lesser Black-backs and a Great Black-backed, but no Iceland Gull.  The latest theory was that the target gull was roosting there overnight, and foraging during the daytime somewhere out at sea.  If that were the case, I’d have to wait till later in the afternoon for the Iceland to return. 

Given the apparent timing of the gull I decided to pass on it and pursue my other targets.  While I was closing up my scope I asked the other birders if they had suggestions for my next target – Indian Peafowl.  They very manner-of-factly said to just drive up and down nearby Atlantic Avenue and I would run into them just walking along the road.  A great tip! 

After just a 5-minute ride I reached the northern end of Atlantic Avenue and started the slow drive south.  It was a very busy main thoroughfare through a suburban shopping district, not typically a place where you would be looking for a target bird.  But this was an exotic species very accustomed to human interaction.  I hadn’t driven more than a half mile when I noticed a male Peafowl walking in a small park to the right.  I quickly pulled over and doubled back to get these photos of 2 male Peafowl hanging out in the park.  That was surprisingly easy.

My next target was the male Cinnamon Teal discovered the previous day at Merritt Island NWR.  Although there were no reports of the bird that day, several birders reported it the previous day, and one report included coordinates of the precise location of the bird as it fed with Blue-winged Teal.  So I was hopeful.  However, despite lots of scoping through flocks of an estimated 450 Blue-winged Teal and 250 other dabblers I was unsuccessful in finding the Cinnamon Teal.  And the specific impoundment where it was seen the previous day had no ducks at all.  Notably, I did find a tight flock of 500 Long-billed Dowitchers, chattering away as they often do while feeding.  Here is a picture of one portion of the flock.

It was a bit disappointing to end the day with a miss, but I was still happy to get the Mockingbird and Peafowl.

Day 2 –  February 5

My one FL stop on Day 2 of my trip was at Huguenot Memorial City Park on the coast east of Jacksonville.  My first target here was a Harlequin Duck seen mixed in with Scoters and other seaducks on the north side of a rock jetty at the mouth of the St. Johns River.  And my second target was an Ash-throated Flycatcher seen near the parking area at the east end of the park.  Unfortunately, neither had been seen in about a week so I wasn’t overly optimistic.

When I arrived at the park the wind was howling out of the north.  And it was even worse as I got to the exposed jetty area.  This picture shows the waves overtopping the jetty.

Miserable conditions to find a seaduck.  I tried scanning the mouth of the river thinking that maybe it had relocated to these calmer waters but with no luck.  One consolation was this large flock of 200 Black Skimmers that were pinned down by the wind and tide.

The parking lot where the Ash-throated Flycatcher had been seen was only slightly less windy.  Once again difficult conditions to find a flycatcher.  I walked around the area for close to 90 minutes but found few birds out in the strong winds.  The closest I got was to find a Phoebe foraging within a foot of the ground.

I couldn’t have asked for worse conditions to find my targets.  Both birds were re-spotted a few days later, undoubtedly under much calmer conditions. 

As I headed out of the park on my way to stops in GA, I reflected on the mixed results of the FL portion of my trip.  I’m not used to missing such a high percentage of my targets (4 of 6), but if I was only able to see two, the Bahama Mockingbird and Indian Peafowl were the most important.  And I’ve decided to follow the ABA’s rules for counting the Peafowl.  Afterall, I’ve been following the ABA’s rules for countability of exotics and other species for many decades.  Per the ABA, that brings my ABA Continental list to 765, and 745 in the Lower 48.  And my FL statelist is now up to 332 per the ABA (only 327 per eBird). 

See my next blog post for the GA portion of my February 2023 trip.

6 Louisiana Statebirds – Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes in Southwestern Louisiana, January 2017

As of the beginning of the year I set a new goal to reach 15,000 total ticks – “just” 825 to go as of January 1.  That meant I couldn’t turn down any reasonable opportunity to add new statebirds even in states where I already had good totals.  So as my regular January trip to Houston neared, I started to think about whether there might be some statebirds I could add in Louisiana, even though my state total there was a respectable 256 – 20 over the old ABA threshold.  The southwestern corner of the state is only about a 2-hour drive from Houston, and it’s one of my favorite places to bird anywhere in the country.  Then again –I should say it’s one of my favorite places to bird in winter – believe me, it’s blasted hot, humid, and buggy there in summer. 

Now I needed to see if there might be a sufficient number of new LA statebirds in the area to justify adding a vacation day to my trip.  I set up an eBird Needs Alert, and the first thing I noticed was numerous records of Black Scoter.  And there were a couple White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed Duck sightings too, all from Holly Beach along the Cameron Parish coast.  I had seen Surf Scoter in this same part of the coastline in the past, but needed all the others.  But then I started to have cold feet - would heading all the way to LA be a bit too much for just a 1-day trip?  But I routinely take a 2-hour drive to chase after a single rarity in New England, so a 2-hour drive into LA from Houston, with multiple potential targets, would surely be worthwhile.  I talked myself into it - the trip was on! 

Now came all the pick and shovel work to do research on eBird and the LA listserve.  One of the challenges to researching sightings in the southwestern corner of LA is that there are very few birders in the area, so there are few routine reports.  Most of the recent posts came from this year’s Christmas Counts, and luckily there are quite a number of counts in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes.  So that led to quite a few reports, but most were now several weeks old.  Hopefully the great birds seen on the Christmas Counts would stick around.  With this initial research I found 10 possible targets to pursue. 

Next I connected with my LA birding friend Marty Guidry.  Marty is not only very active birding in LA in general, but also has a long history with the Christmas Counts in southwestern LA.  Sure enough Marty had some good details on many of the birds I had researched on eBird, and was available to bird with me on my vacation day.  As on my previous LA trips, his micro-directions and local advice would prove to be invaluable.

I met Marty at the edge of the tiny town of Holly Beach, a town still rebuilding after being total demolished by Hurricane Rita back in 2005.  Marty knew that the diving ducks had been hanging out just west of town, a critical detail since no specific locations had been mentioned in eBird.  After a short drive to the west we had our scopes out and began to scan the surf.  We found many Lesser Scaup bobbing in the water, but no scoters.  Then we began to pick out an occasional Black Scoter in the flock (LA statebird #1).  LA was my third state for this species away from its more common wintering ranges on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (see my statebird map below).

 
Although it was great to finally find a couple scoters, the reports and photos on eBird showed whole flocks of Black Scoters.  I mentioned to Marty that maybe we weren’t at the right spot, so we took a short walk to the west to scan a new part of the coast.  And here we finally found several groups of 5 to 8 Black Scoters – finally critical mass to find the others.  I picked out a couple Surf Scoters here and there, and then finally found one immature male White-winged Scoter (LA statebird #2).  With more shaded inland states than for my Black Scoter map, my statebird map for White-winged Scoter is reflective of the fact that this species is typically the most common inland wintering scoter.

We spent some more time scanning through the numerous birds in the surf, but couldn’t pick out the Long-tailed Duck that had been occasionally reported here.  Although I didn’t want to give up on this bird too quickly, there were many other stops ahead of us.  So we decided to move on, very happy to have tallied 50 Black Scoters, 8 Surf Scoters, and 1 White-winged Scoter, in with at least 100 Lesser Scaup.

The next couple stops were more speculative, with low-probability targets.  First we birded the Cameron Oxidation Ponds where a Redhead had been reported a couple weeks earlier.  We found lots of Ruddy Ducks and some Lesser Scaup, but no Redhead.  Then we made a brief stop where a Black Rail had been found a few months earlier, but it was long gone.  Or at least it didn’t reply to any of our playbacks that day.

Next we were on to a residence on the west side of Creole where a Buff-bellied Hummingbird had been reported since November.  The most recent eBird report was more than a month old, but Marty had it on the Christmas Count.  And most importantly Marty had the homeowner’s phone number – with a quick phone call he found out that the bird was still being seen and we were allowed to come look for her bird.  When we arrived Marty mentioned that his first try for the bird, while he was standing in the back yard, was unsuccessful.  But the bird quickly came to the feeder when he looked from inside the house on his second atttempt.  Unfortunately the homeowner wasn’t home the day we were there, so we would just have to cross our fingers that the bird would cooperate while we watched from out back. 

To try to improve our chances we stood far to the side of the yard and began our wait.  This actually put us quite far from the house, and we had to use binoculars to see if anything was at the feeder.  I was a bit worried whether we would notice the hummingbird fly in.  Then I remembered that Buff-bellied Hummingbirds can be quite vocal – years ago I looked for one coming to a feeder in FL and heard it calling long before it arrived at the feeder.  So I not only kept my eyes open, but also my ears open, for our target bird.  And almost as predicted, after about 20 minutes I heard the Buff-bellied calling in the distance.  Then I spotted it perched in a tree in the backyard.  And a few seconds later it flew in to drink at the feeder (LA statebird #3).  LA is only my third state for this species – in addition to the calling bird at the FL feeder, and of course birds in their regular range in TX.

Our next stop was just a short distance to the east at the Oak Grove Sanctuary.  This is an isolated natural patch of woods and underbrush that is well known as a hot spot for landbirds, especially during migration.  Marty had taken me here on an earlier trip when we were successful finding a wintering Barn Owl.  Today our targets were two stakeouts - a Woodcock and a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches that Marty and others had seen a few weeks earlier on the Christmas Count.  First we slowly walked the stretch of trails where the Woodcock had been seen several times, but it was not to be.  The entire patch of woods seemed to be good habitat for Woodcock, so we kept our eyes open during our entire visit.  But we would end up missing this one.  Another 100 yards down the path we got to the area where the Nuthatches had been seen.  As we watched and listened for the birds we both remarked that this wasn’t typical Red-breasted habitat – the trees were all deciduous with no conifers in site.  After a short wait with no luck Marty started some playback, and a minute later I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch reply.  Eventually we got good looks at the bird foraging nearby (LA statebird #4).  Surprisingly I still have 5 more states to go to fill in my statebird map for this wide-ranging species.

The sanctuary was very birdy, and we made several more stops along the trails, checking off numerous Gnatcatchers, Kinglets, and Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We were making our way back to the Woodcock spot for one last try when I spotted a Thrush on the ground – it had an orangey back, and as it turned I saw large brown spots below on a white background.  It was a Wood Thrush, very rare for mid-winter.  Certainly not a new statebird for me, but by far the rarest of our sightings for the day.

We then turned north to head to Cameron Prairie NWR, and specifically Pintail Drive.  This is a classic auto route through excellent wetland habitat loaded with waterfowl.  Our targets here were a Tundra Swan, a male Cinnamon Teal, and Redheads.  Although all had been reported during Christmas Count season, only the Teal had been reported recently.  As we started around the drive we encountered the first of many large flocks of dabblers.  Soon we had every expected dabbler species, but no Cinnamon Teal.  Then we started to see small mixed flocks of White-fronted and Snow Geese, which was important since the Swan was typically seen with the Snows.  But Marty mentioned the number of geese was way down from the count day, and with no Swan in site, perhaps it had moved on with the wintering flocks of Snows. 

As we continued around the drive we stopped to check for the Teal anywhere we spotted dabblers, but still no luck.  None of the eBird reports mentioned where the Teal had been seen, and with many hundreds of dabblers scattered throughout the impoundment, I was thinking this would turn out to be a “needle in a haystack” kind of search.  We now had reached the eastern part of the drive, and looked to the east into deeper water where Marty had had the Redheads mixed in with other divers.  But we saw no divers at all.  Like the geese, had the divers also already moved out to start their spring migration?

We turned our attention back to the shallow impoundment and yet another flock of dabblers in the distance.  I started to scan the flock with my binocs and picked up a brief glimpse of bright red.  Did I have the Cinnamon Teal?  But then it was gone.  I continued to search the area and spotted the red plumage again – it was indeed the Teal in the distance (LA statebird #5).  We got the scopes on the spot and eventually the bird reappeared as it played hide-and-seek among the other dabblers.  But even when only a portion of the bird was visible, that red plumage sure stood out among the various shades of brown of the other dabblers.  LA is a nice addition to my statebird map for this species; I still need it in a couple states in its regular range.

Our last target for the day was Say’s Phoebe.  We had 2 birds to try for, both seen by the same observer a few miles apart on one Christmas Count in Calcasieu County.  Although those posts were now quite old, the one on Old Camp Road mentioned that the bird “was in the same area as in past years”, so I hoped it would be reliable.  Plus the report mentioned it was at the bend in the road, so we had pretty specific directions.  The other sighting was “on east end of Levee Rd. loop” which I couldn’t find on the map despite lots of searching.  So the first bird would have to be our target.  Along the way we made a couple quick speculative stops to try for Yellow-headed Blackbirds in blackbird flocks, but could “only” find an adult male Vermillion Flycatcher.  As I always say – “I can never see enough male Vermillion Flycatchers.”

There were actually 2 different bends in the road along Old Camp Road, but the eastern one was in a wooded area which was not typically good habitat for Say’s.  When we arrived at the western bend we found much more open habitat ideal for a Say’s, with piles of brush that would be great perches.  But despite a lot of searching we couldn’t find our target.  The consolation prize was 4 Caracaras – I remember years ago spending quite a bit of time to eventually find this species in what was at the time its lone reliable spot in LA. 

Now what do we do?  I told Marty about the other reported location, but that I couldn’t find the road mentioned in the eBird report.  Marty looked at his book map and noticed a road in the general area that made a small loop.  I pulled up my map app, quickly found this road, and saw that it was named “Levee Loop Rd.” – not the “Levee Rd.” I had been unsuccessfully searching for till now.  Now that we had the right location, we were off to the second Say’s Phoebe spot.

The first part of Levee Loop Rd. was a small subdivision with large yards and planted trees.  Despite the manicured appearance, it was quite birdy, with a number of Yellow-rumps flitting about.  We got to the eastern end of the loop where the Say’s had been reported on the count, but to not avail.  The southeast corner of the loop included a horse pasture with lots of fenceposts to perch on.  This looked like an ideal spot, but with a quick look we couldn’t find a Phoebe.  Then I noticed more movement a bit to the west and spotted a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flitting from treetop to treetop.  Although not a new statebird, it was a nice rarity to find for the day.  I got this phonescoped photo of this cooperative bird. 

We drove over to the west, and while watching the Scissor-tail I spotted another flycatcher in the treetops – it was a female or immature Vermillion.  And a minute later I spotted a male Vermillion as well.  Then a couple Eastern Phoebes flew into the area.  All the flycatchers were actively feeding, so we were convinced we would find the Say’s among this group, but we struck out again. 

We talked about heading back to the east for a more extended search of the horse pasture, but I thought we should first bird the last stretch of the road to the west.  I drove up ahead and soon had a fleeting glimpse of what I thought was a Phoebe in a yard to the south.  I pulled over and scanned the spot but came up empty.  Then I saw more movement and quickly got out the scope – it was the Say’s Phoebe (LA statebird #6), our fourth flycatcher species for this spot.  Sure glad we didn’t head back to the east instead.  Nice to add LA to my statebird map as a rarity, though not as rare as the ones I’ve seen in MA and NH.

What a great way to end the day!  We ended up with 98 species for the day – an excellent January total.  And of course I was extremely happy to have added 6 new birds to my LA list.  Now you can see why I love birding in southwestern LA.  My statelist is now at 262 - 26 over the reportable threshold.  And it was only a couple years ago that I remember struggling to reach my “Reportable Plus 15” goal in LA.

Before parting ways, I couldn’t thank Marty Guidry enough for his great birdfinding advice.  Once again his micro-directions were key to finding many of my targets.  And now that I’m back in the “total ticking” game, I’ll hopefully be back in LA birding with Marty again in the near future.