A Common Merganser Hunch Pays Off, Greenville County, South Carolina, January 14, 2023

It was 8:45 in the morning on January 14th when I got a call from my birding friend Gary Harbour.  He had just seen a pair of Common Mergansers on Tankersley Lake in Greenville County, SC.  Common Merganser is quite a rarity this far south, so it was definitely one I wanted to chase.  The problem was that I was just about to lead a bird walk for the Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter and couldn’t break free right away.  That is unless no one showed up.  You see it was bitterly cold that morning with light snow so not the best birding conditions.  But one birder did come for the walk, and we stayed out for an hour until we just got too cold.  As soon as I got back to the car I punched in the coordinates for Tankersley Lake and started the 30-minute drive south. 

I finally arrived at 10:30 and quickly found a good spot to park to view almost the entire lake.  But it didn’t take long to realize there were no Mergansers there.  The only waterfowl were a pair of Buffleheads.  I got out of the car and walked a short distance to view a small cove that was not visible from the car, but still no Mergansers.  What to do... Perhaps they had moved on.  Or just maybe they were out feeding in one of several fast-flowing rivers in the area.  Ever the optimist, I decided to drive the roads in the area hoping to see the Mergs on one of those rivers.  But it was like finding a needle in a haystack because I could only see small portions of the rivers, and most views were obstructed.  After a few minutes I gave up and headed home.

After I got home I did some eBird research and found out that these Mergansers were actually first spotted the evening of the 13th.  Then of course they were seen again early in the morning of the 14th, but gone by mid-morning.  Perhaps the Mergs were roosting on the lake at night and feeding in the rivers during the daytime.  That was the story with a several Common Mergansers at Beaver Lake in Buncombe County the previous winter.  There were several reports of birders observing them flying into the lake near sunset.  I was finally able to catch up with them at first light one early morning, watching them fly off the lake still 15 minutes before sunrise.  If the SC birds were using the same routine, perhaps I could see them as they return to the lake near sunset.  I decided to give it a try that evening.

I arrived back at Tankersley Lake at 5:20, 20 minutes before sunset.  I quickly scanned the lake in hopes that the Mergs had already returned, but only found the same pair of Buffleheads.  It was time to start my “Merganser watch”.  I parked the car so that I could sit inside out of the wind and still view the lake, also using the car as a blind to not scare them off.  I figured there would still be enough light to see them fly in as late as 30 minutes after sunset, or 6:10.  Although I was optimistic initially, that optimism waned as it got later and darker. 

But then at 5:37 I spotted a pair of large waterfowl flying low overhead, passing directly over my car.  They were close enough that with binocular views I could confirm it was the male and female pair of Common Mergansers.  My hunch had paid off – they had returned to the lake.  The Mergansers turned as if to circle and I expected they would come in for a landing.  But instead, they kept flying to the south out of view.  They were only in view for about 10 seconds so it sure was good that my attention was focused on the lake as they passed by. 

There are other lakes in the area so maybe they were going to roost elsewhere tonight.  Or maybe they would still come back to Tankersley Lake a bit later.  I thought about staying to see if they returned, but I was getting cold and dinner awaited, so I decided to head out content to have had brief but good views of a new statebird, #295 for my SC statelist.

My statebird map for Common Merganser is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 5 cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And now I’ve seen Common Merganser as a rarity in SC along with NC (the states shaded in brown).  Here in the southeast I call it the “Not so Common Merganser”.

Exciting Second Trip to Tennessee in a Week – Not to Mention a Short Side Trip into Virginia, February 20, 2021

On February 17th I made my first birding trip to eastern TN since moving to western NC, breaking the ice so to speak.  That was a most successful trip to an area northwest of home, netting three new birds for my TN list.  While doing research for that trip I found several other targets I needed near the northeast corner of TN in an area north of home, but that would have been too much ground to cover for one day.  So while driving back from my most successful initial TN trip I was already starting to plan my next TN trip, this one to northeast TN.

There were 3 key targets being seen north of me near I-26.  The first 2 were seen at South Holston Lake, specifically from the boat launch along Route 421.  First there was a White-winged Scoter reported along with a Long-tailed Duck (since I got a Long-tailed on my previous TN trip that one was no longer a target).  Then there was a Red-throated Loon seen along with several Common Loons.  The Scoter was reported multiple times, though the Loon was only reported once.  So I was hopeful for the Scoter but realistic that my chances were low on the Red-throated.  Though I’m always up for a long-distance Loon search – it’s almost like my beloved seawatches.  The third target was perhaps even a longer-shot – a pair of Common Mergansers reported just once on the Watauga River in Johnson City, and that was nearly a week earlier.  But that spot would only require a short side-trip on my route home, so certainly worth a try.

And then there’s another twist – the South Holston Lake boat ramp is less than 10 minutes from the TN/VA state line.  My VA statelist was a respectable 249, but I still had many gaps.  I set up an eBird Needs Alert for VA and found only one recently reported target near the state line – Wild Turkey, and they’re almost never reliable.  With a bit more research I found very few hotspots nearby, and few recent checklists submitted in the area.  With no reliable targets to chase after my thoughts turned to doing a bit of speculative birding in the area.  One of my possible VA statebirds was the Pine Siskin.  This has been a great winter for Siskins, with many moving through earlier in the season.  So ordinarily I would think that this would be the year for me to add that species to my VA list.  But lately the reports from southwestern VA had been pretty limited, with none being reliable.  (Actually, the closest recent Siskin report was from the Holston Lake boat ramp in TN – but I didn’t need Siskin for my TN list.)  Maybe I could get lucky and just run into a flock.  One of the closest hotspots was Washington County Park on South Holston Lake.  It had a nice wooded area which looked like it could be birdy.  So I decided to make a short side-trip to the park and hope to get lucky birding the woodlands and brushy edges.

The night before my trip I checked eBird one last time for updates.  Unfortunately, there was a report from the boat ramp with no Scoter or Oldsquaw, and still no Red-throated Loon.  And no new Common Merganser sightings.  Had they all moved on?  I was realistically thinking that I might not get any new statebirds on this trip.  But even if that were the case, it would give me a chance to visit a new area. 

The morning of the 20th was a cold one – 24 degrees when I left the house.  And when I crested the mountains near the TN/NC line the temp had dropped to 18 degrees.  The clouds near the top looked a bit ominous, and were spitting a few snow flurries, but I wasn’t too concerned about road conditions.  Shortly after I crossed into TN I spotted an immature Bald Eagle flying overhead – not new for my list but perhaps an omen of good things to come.

I arrived at the Holston Lake boat launch area around 8:45 and started to get my bearings.  First there were long views like this one out on the lake in several directions where searches for Loons might be fruitful.

But the photos of the Scoter and Long-tailed Duck looked to be in more protected waters and from a closer distance.  The area between the boat ramp and the marina toward the west was quite protected, so I started my search there.  Unfortunately, the only waterfowl there were 2 Canada Geese.  I started to wonder if it might be worthwhile to try to access the marina and look for the ducks among the boat slips.  There was also a somewhat protected area to the southeast, but that area came up empty for waterfowl.  The only birds were a small flock of Ring-billed Gulls with a couple Bonaparte’s mixed in. 

Then I turned my focus to a search for Loons farther out on the lake.  It was rather breezy, which put a bit of a chop on the reservoir.  My first scan came up empty.  Then on the next scan I found a Loon which was obviously a Common.  And then on a later scan I found 2 others together but again they were just Commons – though they were a considerable distance out making the IDs challenging. 

I was coming up empty on both of my targets, but I didn’t feel good that I had found the right spot for the Scoter.  I started to wonder if there was another cove with protected waters nearby that I hadn’t found yet.  I walked a short distance north toward the main road, and looking off to the northeast found a small protected cove.  Could this be the right spot? 

 As I set up my scope a Red-breasted Nuthatch called from the pines overhead.  One of the checklists with the Scoter also had a Red Nut – maybe I was finally in the right spot.  On the first scan I saw only a Bufflehead.  Then with binocs I spotted a dark duck on the water a short distance away.  I put it in my scope and I had the female White-winged Scoter.  And with another scan I spotted the Long-tailed Duck.  A bit later all 3 divers where swimming together providing this phonescoped moment.

It’s amazing how looking in the right spot can increase your chances of finding your target birds.  While I was there a local birder arrived also looking for the Scoter and Long-tailed and I was able to point her toward this protected cove.  Looks like I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know where to look.  I made sure when completing my eBird checklist for this spot to add some specific directions to this cove.

My statebird map for White-winged Scoter is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range – principally on the Pacific coast, northern Atlantic coast, and along the Great Lakes.  The cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I haven’t yet seen it.  And now TN was the 7th state where I’ve seen this species as an inland or southern rarity. 

So with one target under my belt I returned to my original spot to spend more time looking for Loons.  My first couple scans came up empty – no Loons at all, just a flyby Bufflehead.  But the water was pretty rough, and there was a bit of heat shimmer so distant viewing wasn’t exactly easy.  Then I picked up one Common Loon in the distance, and a short distance away spotted a second Loon, both diving frequently.  My initial take on this second bird was that it was noticeably smaller than the Common.  Did I have the Red-throated?  The overall appearance seemed to be that it was a browner bird, a bit lighter than the nearby Common.  Then I focused on the head - the bill was smaller than the Common and the head was more rounded.  I did not notice that its head and bill were more upturned typical of a Red-throated, but given the considerable distance (likely over a half mile) and its limited time above water, I felt like that wasn’t a deal breaker.  After 30 minutes of studying this bird I concluded I had found the Red-throated Loon.  Unfortunately, it was way too far away for photos. 

In my statebird map below I’ve seen Red-throated Loon in all its regular coastal states, but still need it in several states in the Great Lakes region.  And TN was my second state (after VT) where I’ve seen it as a rarity. 

Now it was off to VA and my speculative search for Pine Siskins.  Just a couple minutes after crossing the stateline I arrived at the gate to Washington County Park, only to find out that it was closed.  Mind you, it was not just a pole across the road to keep cars out but you could still walk in.  No, it was a gate in a chain-link fence blocking all access to the park.  That was disappointing.  At least there was also a boat ramp down to South Holston Lake that I could explore.  I set up my scope and only found a couple Ring-billed Gulls flying about.  There was a little passerine activity along the shoreline but not much else.  I was just about to call it quits on the VA part of my trip when I noticed a medium-sized red passerine fly past me along the shoreline.  I put my binoculars on it and was shocked to realize it was a male Red Crossbill!  I followed it to a grove of pine trees a short distance away and realized there was a whole flock of Crossbills up there.  I guessed perhaps 8 or 10 birds flitting about, complete with their “kip kip” call notes.  Just then the whole flock dropped down to the water’s edge to drink – I counted 14 Crossbills, more than half red adult males.  I snapped this phonescoped photo unfortunately a second after most of the flock took of – at least 2 birds remained for the shot.

Red Crossbill was #250 for my VA list – my 24th state with at least 250 species.  And VA was my third state where I’ve added this species to my state list since moving to the area (along with NC and SC).  I’m still hoping to see Crossbills in TN most likely in the highest mountains along the Blue Ridge, where they are typically much more common than in VA.

A bit later I had a calling Brown-headed Nuthatch in those same pines.  And a Palm Warbler foraging on the lawn below.  A very nice stop.  On my way back to TN I drove some of the back roads still hoping to find a Siskin flock but to no avail.  Though I’m certainly not disappointed - I’ll take Red Crossbill over Pine Siskin any time!  Maybe I can get back to the area in early spring and get Siskins as they are heading back north.  

My next planned stops on my way south were a couple areas along South Holston Lake hoping to find other waterfowl or gulls.  A couple stops along the river below the dam yielded an amazing 152 Bufflehead, along with 20 Wigeon.  It was a fast-flowing river that looked good for Common Mergansers, but not today.  And a stop at the dam overlook offered this nice scenic view, though I didn’t have a single bird on the water.

Next I was off to the Johnson City area to try for the Common Mergansers.  The birds had been seen on the Watauga River, which meanders through the area for quite a number of miles.  The eBird report mentioned “Seen multiple times flying up/downstream.  Landed in water in front of us”.  There was only limited access to the river, providing a view of only one small portion of river habitat likely suitable for Mergansers.  And along with the fact that the sighting was now 6 days old, this would be a long-shot to say the least. 

I arrived at the pinned eBird location to find a small park and fishing pier with a nice view of the river.  Certainly seemed suitable for Mergansers.  But the problem was I saw no waterfowl at all.  I scanned upstream and down, and waited at least 10 minutes, but still no waterfowl.  Then on one scan I noticed a Great Blue Heron standing on a grassy bank a short distance downstream.  On closer look I thought I could see the dark head of a duck, likely a Mallard, sitting in the grass nearby.  I put them in the scope – it wasn’t a Mallard, it was a male Common Merganser! 

I was able to drive down closer to the roosting Merganser now barely visible over a small rise, and realized a female was by his side.

Later when I looked back at my photo of the Heron in the distance I realized you could see the reddish head of the female Merganser right behind the legs of the Great Blue.  Not sure I would have spotted my targets if the Great Blue hadn’t been perched there.  And if the birds had been resting along the shoreline just a short distance farther downstream they would have been around the bend and out of view.  Certainly an element of luck involved with birding.

I’ve seen Common Merganser throughout most of its range, though I still need it in 3 northern states, as well as 5 southeastern states where this species might be better called the “Not So Common Merganser”.

That brings my TN list up to 243 – a nice addition of 6 birds over 2 trips in the same week.  An excellent way to start my birding in eastern TN.  I’ve come up with a list of another 34 possible targets along the eastern edge of TN to hope for in the future.  Plus, another 32 additional targets in southwestern VA.  Can’t wait for more trips to explore these new regions.

3 North Carolina Statebirds, November 2019

November was another good month of birding in North Carolina – not only chasing after a few rarities but also scouting out a number of new spots for the future.  And on one trip I unexpectedly got a new statebird while on a scouting trip.  Good birding spots, good birders, good birding. 

11/11 - Green River Game Lands - Big Hungry Road
The principal objective of this trip was to scout out some very nice territory that harbors numerous breeding warblers in several types of woodland habitats.  Dave Minnich and I met up with SC birders Michael Robertson and Gary Harbour early on the 11^th, and after a short drive were in mixed pine/hardwood forest, often with a thick rhododendron understory, with deep ravines, streams, and steep mountain sides.  Beautiful habitat.  Then we spent some time in more open woodlands that had been burned some years ago as part of local forest management practices.  These areas had young saplings and grassy undergrowth that looked ideal for either Blue-winged or Golden-winged Warblers.  I can’t wait to get back here in April and May next year to see what is around.

As we neared one roadside brushy area we came upon a nice flock of sparrows so we got out to look.  Just the normal White-throats and Songs at first.  Then we all almost simultaneously spotted a yellowish-green bird skulking in the brush.  At first I thought it was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet but then got a better view – an Orange-crowned Warbler.  We all got several views of the bird off and on as it foraged in the brush, before it took off back over the road out of view.  That’s a species that I spent a lot of time looking for in New England, with only occasional success.  I know it’s not nearly as rare here in western NC, but it was still a nice find and an addition to my NC list. 

My statebird map for Orange-crowned Warbler is inserted below – solid shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I haven’t yet seen it.  I still need it especially in a number of eastern states where it is a lot less common than out west.  And I’m particularly proud of having found it in 5 of 6 New England states as a rarity.

11/20 – Hooper Lane
The sod farm at Hooper Lane is becoming one of my favorite birding spots – and it’s just 25 minutes from home.  I’ve already had some great birds on my multiple trips there, and have heard stories of even better birds at the sod farm over the years.  One such story was of a long-staying Short-eared Owl this past winter, so that one was on my radar screen as we got into the colder months.  And then on the 19^th I got an eBird Needs Alert with a Short-eared Owl at Hooper Lane.  The post came across late afternoon, and I initially thought about heading to the site at dusk to watch for it to be flying around.  But I had other commitments and couldn’t make it. 

Plan B – head to Hooper Lane the next day in the late afternoon, look for it for a while in the daylight, and then if I don’t find it, stay till dusk to hopefully see it flying around feeding.  The problem was that the eBird report didn’t include any details on the location of the bird.  It was likely roosting in the daytime in a ditch at the site, but there are many miles of ditches there.  I exchanged texts with SC birder Michael Robertson about the bird, and he mentioned that he had contact info for the birder who found the owl – Wayne Forsythe.  It turns out that Wayne is an excellent local birder who knows the area very well – a good person to know.  So I contacted Wayne and he told me where he had the bird.  It turns out it was indeed roosting in a ditch, and specifically the first one north of the maintenance buildings east of Hooper Lane.  (I’ve been trying to promote naming the ditches so that birders can understand exactly where birds are being seen.  But that’s for the future.)

So now it was it was time to implement Plan B.  I arrived at Hooper Lane at about 3 PM and headed right to the ditch mentioned by Wayne.  But despite walking the entire length of the ditch, the best bird I found was a Snipe.  So I continued to walk other nearby ditches east of the road and again came up empty.  I ended up briskly walking along more than 2 miles of ditches without any luck.  It was now 4:30, and I decided to head to ditches west of the road.  But first I scanned the fields to see if the bird might have come out to an exposed roost a bit early as they often will do.  With my binoculars I started to scan across a recently plowed dirt field and spotted a slightly lighter brown “bump” in the distance in the field.  I got out the scope and sure enough I had the Short-eared Owl.  Here’s a phonescoped photo of the bird in the distance without cropping.

And here are two heavily cropped photos. 

I got the word out that I had re-found the Owl, and was able to show it to 2 other birders.  I stayed with it until after sunset hoping that I might get a chance to see it in flight.  But it stayed still in the field the entire time, only moving its head to check out vehicles moving by.

NC was my 24^th state for this species – still many to go for this widespread species.

11/25 – Ecusta Pond, Pisgah Forest
On the 22^nd I received a Needs Alert for a pair of Common Mergansers seen at a location called Ecusta Pond in Transylvania County.  The eBird Hotspot name included the word “Private” so at first I figured it was not a site I could access.  Then I noticed there was another checklist from later that day that also included the Mergansers – I guess it couldn’t be that private.  I looked at the site on GoogleMaps and it looked like the pond was surrounded by a berm so that the water would not be visible from roads around the perimeter.  I had the contact info for one of the observers, Michael Plauche, and asked him for suggestions to bird this site.  Michael got right back to me, mentioning that the church on the north side of the pond had given birders permission to stand on the second floor fire escape of the sanctuary, from which most of the pond was visible.  That’s certainly a unique viewing spot…  So armed with that great information, my plan was to head there the next morning to give it a try.

The morning of the 23^rd was a wet one, with rain which was heavy at times.  But I could still bird the lake with a rain suit and umbrella.  When I arrived there was a lull in the rain, and another birder was there looking through the waterfowl in the lake.  The birder was Frank Porter whom I had met on an earlier walk.  As I arrived he gave me the bad news – no Common Mergs that morning, though a couple Red-breasted Mergs was a nice consolation.  We were later joined by Michael, and despite lots of scanning we couldn’t scare up my target birds.  Michael commented that maybe the Mergs were still in the area, going back and forth from the pond to the nearby Davidson River.  And sure enough, later that day Michael texted me that the Common Mergs were back in the pond.  But it was too late for me to chase yet that afternoon.

Hmmm….  Would the Common Mergs stick around?  I was planning to be out birding on the 25^th, so I decided to swing by there to give them a try again that day.  This time the weather was much better, and Frank was once again at the fire escape when I arrived.  As I got up to the landing he said he just had the Common Mergansers right in front of us.  So I quickly set up the scope – but there we no Mergs.  Though there was an adult Bald Eagle sitting on one of the aerators right in front of us.  Did it scare off my targets?  I continued to scan but with no luck.  Then I looked to the east and found quite a number of waterfowl, though viewing was tough in the distance and with a difficult sun angle.  But finally I spotted a Merganser, and then a second.  And with just a couple seconds of study we ID’d them as Common Mergansers.  Finally!  Nice to get this species in my first southeastern state where the bird is much less common than farther north - it truly is "Common" in most other parts of the country.  Hopefully I can add it to more nearby states over the next several winters.

 
That gave me 3 new species for my NC list in November, bringing my total to 273.  And 2 were eBird rarities, though not particularly unexpected.  As for my yard list, I only had 2 additions in the month – Common Grackle and Purple Finch, bringing the total to 94.  And my feeder is loaded with all the regulars – sparrows, chickadees, titmice, etc.  Not to mention squirrels.  So far no visits by bears though I’m taking the feeders in every night just in case.