With a planned family get together in Maryland in mid-May of course I hoped for some state bird possibilities. Especially since it was near the peak of spring migration. But I grew up in MD and have an excellent state list. An eBird MD Needs Alert included only a couple non-chaseable rarities, so the state bird potential in MD was pretty much non-existent.
But perhaps there might be some state bird opportunities in
Virginia. Typically, our route to MD
includes an overnight stop in the VA mountains near Roanoke. With a non-birding spouse and a small dog in
tow, birding with the family along is typically limited to short trips for
nearby targets. I ran another Needs
Alert, this time for VA, and came up with lots of reports of Whip-poor-wills
and Chuck-will’s-widows. Luckily, there
were several reports of Whips less than 10 minutes east of our hotel, and Chucks
20 minutes to the west. I could probably
get to both spots in one evening. And not
to be greedy, but if I was really lucky, I might see another of my state bird
targets – Common Nighthawk. They were
migrating through the area in small numbers at the time, and just maybe I might
see one pass by while waiting for it to be dark enough for the Whips and Chucks
to call.
I was all set except for one issue – the weather. On our trip north on May 15th the forecast
was for occasional showers. It was dry
that evening and I tried to stay optimistic.
But just as I was heading out it started to rain quite hard. What to do…
Maybe I could try for these same targets on the way back south on the 20th,
assuming we stayed in the same hotel. I
checked the weather forecast for the 20th and it looked to be ideal – light
breezes, partly cloudy, and nearly a full moon. I checked with my wife and we agreed to stay
in the same hotel on the way back. So my
birding time could wait till the return trip.
But since I was already planning to head out that evening, I
decided to check out the Chuck-will’s-widow spots so I’d be familiar with them
the next week. After a short drive I got
to the first spot where the Chucks had been reported amazingly just as the rain
stopped. I got out and listened but I
only heard frogs and water dripping from the trees. I drove onto the next spot and more of the
same. As I headed to the third Chuck
location I briefly noticed a good-sized dark bird flying along the road. I turned around and headed back and there it
was again. This time I got a better view
and could see that the bird was indeed a brown goatsucker. I didn’t get great views, but with only Chuck
reports from this site, chances are this one was a Chuck-will’s Widow as well.
My statebird map for Chuck-will’s-widow is inserted
below. I’ve seen this species in 13 blue-shaded
states in its regular range. I’ve also
seen it as a rarity in 4 states – the brown-shaded ones. However, I still need this species in
numerous states in its regular range – the cross-hatched states.
On the trip back home the weather was nearly perfect as expected. This time I headed east to the sites where Whip-poor-wills had been reported. I went to several of the locations but in each case they were along a narrow winding road with no shoulder to pull into. I went a short distance past the farthest site and came to a power line cut with a wide pull off. In my experience Whips and Chucks like to feed in these openings. I had perfect weather and hopefully a good location – now I just needed the birds to cooperate.
It was still a bit early for the Whips so I kept an eye on
the sky for Nighthawks. And just a few
minutes later, right at sunset at 8:26, I spotted a single silent Common
Nighthawk passing over the power line cut.
Although I hoped to see a Nighthawk, I admit I wasn’t too
optimistic. I now just need this species
in 3 more states.
And then at 31 minutes after sunset at 8:57, a Whip-poor-will started calling from the power line cut behind me. I listened to it for a while, and then decided to see if I could hear others nearby. I drove back to two of the other sites where they had been reported recently and heard one at each spot. That is until cars came up behind me and I had to move on. It’s interesting that once I got the right weather conditions they were actually pretty easy. But just like the Chuck-will’s-widow, I still need Whip-poor-will in a number of eastern states
Sure is nice to add these 3 nocturnal species to my VA list, which brings my VA state list up to 276. Though I guess I need to devote more time to nocturnal birding to check off Whips and Chucks in more of those eastern states too.
