Manitoba – The Final Frontier, Part 2 of 3, June 2025

When it came time to start planning my big spring 2025 birding trip the destination was quite obvious – it had to be Manitoba.  That was my last state or province that I hadn’t birded extensively.  To paraphrase the Star Trek intro – Manitoba, the final frontier.  (Then again I haven’t yet birded Canada’s more distant and less accessible territories – Nunavut, Northwest, and Yukon.)

With an existing province list of just 61, there were lots of potential new province birds waiting for me in MB.  And if I flew into Grand Forks, ND, I could also fill a few gaps in my MN and ND lists before or after the MB portion of the trip. 

I reached out to my good birding friends Bill and Anita Hooker who went with me on my trip to FL back in January 2025, and they agreed to come along on this trip as well.  It was all coming together.

I spent several months planning the trip, including searching for the best birding hotspots in MB to maximize our species total, and looking for specific one-off targets near Grand Forks in MN and ND.  I came up with a 13-day itinerary where I could add at least 140 species in MB to break 200 for the province, add perhaps only 4 in ND, and hopefully 2 in MN.

This is the second of 3 blog posts summarizing the MB portion of the trip, covering June 2nd through the 5th. 

6/2 – Riding Mountain National Park

Earlier in our trip Brandon birder Gillian Richards connected us with local Riding Mountain birder Ken Kingdon to see if he could help us out in the park.  Better than that, Ken offered to show us around the morning of the 2nd, taking us to multiple stops north along Route 10.   

Our first stop was a short walk along Gray Owl dump road.  Here I added Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cape May Warbler and Purple Finch.  (MB #165-167)  My Canadian province and territory map for Purple Finch is inserted below.  Provinces where I’ve seen this species are shaded in light blue – I’ve now seen Purple Finch in all 10 provinces.  Cross-hatched jurisdictions are those in the Purple Finch's regular range where I’ve yet to see it.  I’ve never birded in Canada’s three northwestern territories (yet!) so none of these will be shaded in for any of my Canada maps.

However, I missed the Siskins that everyone else heard.  Maybe I was distracted by the buzz of the hordes of mosquitoes.  Hopefully that wouldn’t come back to haunt me.

Next, we continued north to Bead Lakes for a longer walk through excellent boreal habitat.  It proved to be a great spot, with finds like Evening Grosbeak right in the parking lot, Hermit Thrush, Canada Jay, Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, a heard-only Boreal Chickadee, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a calling Three-toed Woodpecker.  (MB #168-174)  Unfortunately we dipped on Winter Wren and Trumpeter Swan at an adjacent wetlands.  Ken also pointed out this tree to us – a bear had not only removed the bark near the top of the picture, but it had also rubbed on the bark below leaving some dirt behind.

Our next stop was at the far north end of the park at Crawford Creek.   I hadn’t picked out this site for a possible stop when I was planning the trip so I wasn’t sure what the targets might be here.  As we got out of the cars Ken said that this location was a reliable spot for Golden-winged Warblers, and before we left the parking lot we were hearing one singing nearby (MB #175).  We took a short walk and soon reached this classic Golden-winged habitat – an area of young deciduous trees with open grassy and shrubby patches. 

Soon we got visuals on one male with 2 others singing a short distance away.  I had planned to search for this species at a site on the eastern escarpment of the park – I didn’t realize they were at this site as well.   

We turned around and started heading south, soon reaching our next stop at Moon Lake.  Here we added 2 birds - a breeding plumage Bonaparte’s flew by just as we arrived, and we finally found Trumpeters Swans in the distance.  (MB #176-177)  We also took a short hike especially focused on Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler but with no luck.

Next we were on to the Boreal Trail, a site that has had quite a number of nice checklists in recent years.  Although the gate was closed, we assumed it was OK to walk in and take a short hike.   And we’re glad we did.  Here I finally heard multiple Pine Siskins, then an Olive-sided Flycatcher singing softly in the distance.  Then we focused on the willows and alders lining this fast-flowing stream and added both Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler. 

Then Bill got a brief look at a very dark woodpecker – sure sounded like it could be a Black-backed but we needed better looks.  Eventually we all got great looks at not one but 3 Black-backed Woodpeckers.  Seems early in the year to be a family group.  Could it be a small breeding colony?  (MB #178-182)

Our last stop of the morning was at a marsh just south of the park where Ken had had LeConte’s Sparrows recently.  The marsh and adjacent meadows seemed drier than normal – perhaps too dry for LeConte’s.  We listened intently for a while, and played some tape, but with no luck.  It was actually quite windy now, so we decided to come back in the evening to try again when the winds would hopefully be calmer. 

We thanked Ken for all his help in getting us on some great birds that morning, hoping that we might cross paths again some day.

After a quick lunch we decided to head to the west of the park, first to check out a report of 2 Connecticut Warblers.  Ken said that COWAs were not likely in the park anymore, so we were a bit skeptical.  The checklist area had some good habitat, but we couldn’t scare up a Connecticut. 

Then we were on to the dam at the south end of Lake Audy.  The area was quite birdy, and our first addition was a flock of 25 or so American White Pelicans on the north shore of the lake very far in the distance.  Good thing Pelicans are so large because they could have been as much as 2 miles away!  Much closer were several flyby Forster’s Terns followed by 2 Common Terns.  Six Trumpeter Swans were a nice sighting as they swam by.  (If only a 7th bird had joined them, we’d have had “7 swans a swimming”.)  And minutes later an Osprey and Bald Eagle flew by. (MB #183-186)  Finally, not new for my list, but still a nice find, was this Red-necked Grebe on its floating nest.

And as we drove from Lake Audy we encountered this Bear walking down the road shoulder right past us.  At this distance it’s nice to see the bear from the safety of a car.

That evening we went back to the marsh for another try for LeConte’s Sparrow.  Even though winds had greatly reduced, we still couldn’t turn up a LeConte’s.  Maybe water levels were just too low this year.  Next we planned to head to the area east of Lake Katherine for Woodcocks.  We were a bit early when we arrived in the area, so we headed to Lake Katherine and had a spectacular nighthawk show over the lake.  That was the highlight of the evening because we had no luck with the Woodcocks. 

I ended the day with 22 new species for my province list, bringing my MB total to 186.  Closing in on 200…

6/3 – Riding Mountain NP

This day was focused on sites along Route 19 on the eastern side of Riding Mountain.  My first key stop was at a stream-lined with willows, hoping for looks at Lincoln’s Sparrow or Wilson’s Warbler.  Unfortunately, those targets remained elusive, but I did have a Red-breasted Nuthatch calling in the distance (MB #187).  Ken had told us that the lack of a cone crop in the Park this year meant that Red-breasted Nuthatches (along with Crossbills) were very scarce, so I was happy to get this one.

A bit further down the road I had a Pileated Woodpecker calling in the distance – the first for the trip but not new for my list.  And as I neared Whirlpool Lake I spotted the first of 3 Wild Turkeys ambling along the road shoulder (MB #188).

Soon afterwards I reached Whirlpool Lake and the woodlands near the parking lot were quite birdy, including 13 species of warblers.  Plus this “scruffy” Canada Jay.

And the lake itself was very pretty.

I doubled back to Lake Katherine and did some quick birding along the trails there.  The highlight of this stop was an Olive-sided Flycatcher characteristically perched on top of the tallest dead snag.

Our last stop of the day was along Clear Lake where we heard another Boreal Chickadee though couldn’t get any visuals.  We called it quits early that day, taking the late afternoon off.    

 I finished the day with 2 additional species, bringing my MB list to 188.

6/4 – Riding Mountain, Portage-la-Prairie

The plan for the morning was to bird the East Escarpment of Riding Mountain along Route 361 out of McCreary.  But first we had to take a picture of the formal east entrance to the park.

Our key target along the East Escarpment had been Golden-winged Warbler, but of course we already found this one at the north end of the park.  Our other 2 remaining targets were Indigo Bunting and Eastern Towhee, both near the northern edge of their ranges.  Gillian had suggested a trail to take to find both targets, along with the Golden-winged.  So that trail was our first stop, and almost immediately after getting out of the car at the trailhead we heard a singing Eastern Towhee.  And then seconds later a singing Indigo in this habitat.  That was easy… 

We took a short walk along the trail adding a flyby Ruby-throated Hummingbird (MB #189-191) and an additional Indigo.  We didn’t have any Golden-wings though – good thing we got them earlier.  Though I’m sure we would have birded more of the trail if we still needed this target.

Next we headed to the former ski slope at end of the road.  One of our first observations here was of a mid-sized mammal walking up one of the slopes – perhaps a mink? 

Notable birds here were a cooperative Blackburnian Warbler, and another flyby Hummingbird.  It was interesting to imagine this spot during its skiing hay day.  Our last stop in the area was a short hike on the Oak Ridge Trail, with a half dozen Least Flycatchers being most notable,

After 3 ½ days at Riding Mountain NP, we were off to the Portage-la-Prairie area.  Gillian had helped to connect us with Cal Cuthbert who was a local birding expert in that area.   Not only does he know the area extremely well, he has an amazing property with widely diverse habitats and great birds.  But first, Cal took us to the Portage-la-Prairie landfill which is well-known for its gull flock and the potential for rarities mixed in.  When we arrived, we drove right up on the landfill, and had just an estimated 60 Herrings, 40 Ring-bills, and 10 Franklin’s.  That didn’t seem like enough critical mass to have any rarities, but we quickly picked up at least 4 immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 adult Californias, and this stunning immature Glaucous photographed by Anita. (MB #192-194)  

MB was my 5th province where I've seen Lesser Black-backed Gull - 4 of which as rarities (the dark blue shaded provinces in my map below).

Plus, we had one bird that I thought was a Thayer’s but eBird reviewers said it was a Herring.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get on the Thayer’s that Cal spotted when we first arrived.

After a most successful time at the landfill, Cal took us to a private location where he had Saw-whet Owls nesting in a nest box.  

We were lucky enough that this juvenile bird was peering out of the box when we arrived (MB #195).

Next Cal took us to the Delta Beach area at the southern end of Lake Manitoba.  Here we witnessed a spectacular shorebird show thanks to Cal taking us to numerous secluded vantage points along the beach.  At each stop along the lake there were hundreds of shorebirds foraging in front of us, and an almost constant movement of birds heading west in waves along the shoreline.  We estimated at least 5,000 birds were included, mostly Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpipers among the 14 species of shorebirds.  Here’s a typical shot with Semis, White-rumps, and a Sanderling in the foreground, and a pair of Caspian Terns in the background (one Tern is standing directly behind the other – can you see the 4 legs?).

By the end of the afternoon I had added 3 new MB species – 2 Red Knots (MB #196), 2 Caspian Terns (MB #197 – the old ABA reporting threshold for MB), and 32 Black-bellied Plovers (MB #198).  But nearly all were chased away by a Peregrine (MB #199) – at least now we don’t have to spend time trying for that one in downtown Winnipeg. 

We ended up with 101 species for the day, including 14 species added to my province list which now sits at 199.

6/5 – Portage-la-Prairie

We met up with Cal early that morning and he took us to a wet grassy field that had been good for LeConte’s Sparrow in the past. 

Unfortunately, the local drought meant the field was drier than normal, but with the help of some tape we eventually found LeConte’s - in fact we got great views. 

That brought my MB list to 200 – my original goal for the trip.  And we hadn’t even reached Churchill yet.

Then Cal took us to a large lot heavily wooded with mature oak trees at the Young Husband Lodge, in hopes of finding White-breasted Nuthatch.

We not only were successful in finally finding the Nuthatch, but also had views of, and heard, a Great Horned Owl.  And as we were leaving the lot 4 Sandhill Cranes flew overhead.  (MB #201-203)

We went back to Cal’s amazing yard where we walked several trails and ended the visit with some leisurely birding on the back deck.

We bid farewell to Cal, and couldn’t thank him enough for his help and allowing us to visit his amazing property.

The it was off to Winnipeg where I had 3 possible targets – Cooper’s Hawk, Cardinal, and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  All had been seen several times recently at multiple parks in the city, but local directions were limited for almost all of them.  I decided to try Bunn’s Creek Centennial Park as perhaps the best bet, and we headed there for a late afternoon visit.  Unfortunately, we dipped on all 3 targets, but we added an unexpected singing Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (MB #204).

I added 5 to my province list for the day, bringing my MB total to 204. 

Nine Winter Province Birds, Southern Quebec, March 2019

Over the years I’ve birded Quebec a number of times, always in the southern portion of the province crossing the border from northern NH, VT, or NY.  And most typically my trips have been in the warmer months of June through September.  I’ve avoided mid-winter birding there given how cold and snowy it can be in winter in this inland Canadian province.  But to have a good Quebec list you can’t completely avoid birding in those cold winter months.  As a compromise I birded southern Quebec in November 2015 picking up a number of winter species including Tree Sparrow, Common Redpoll, Rough-legged Hawk, and multiple species of waterfowl. 

But that still left numerous gaps in my province list consisting of species that are almost only seen in those cold mid-winter months.  Plus, since I’ve never birded anywhere in Canada in mid-winter, several of these would be new for my entire Canada list.  Not to mention my Quebec list was at 198 – sure would be nice to exceed 200.  So now with lots of spare time on my hands, I decided to plan a mid-March trip to Quebec.  That is assuming I could find a 3-day window of time with no precipitation and temps that aren’t too cold.  Luckily the long-term forecasts predicted some promising weather March 12 to 14, so the stars were starting to align. 

Now it was time to start my planning efforts.  I came up with a realistic list of nearly 20 targets, including some pretty exciting winter birds like Bohemian Waxwing, Pine Grosbeak, Snowy Owl, and Hoary Redpoll.  Plus a few other rarer species that are out of season (White-crowned Sparrow), or rare for the area (Gray Partridge and Black-backed Woodpecker).  I typically hope to find maybe half of my targets on these types of trips, and on this one I expected to be able to add perhaps 8 or 9 species to my Quebec list.  I then reached out to my good birding friend David Donsker and he agreed to join me on this cross-border adventure.  He had not birded in Quebec before, so everything would be a new species for him. 

March 12 – Day 1

David and I headed out just after lunch on the 12^th, and given the 4+ hour ride to the border, we would only have a couple hours of daylight to bird on Day 1.  To maximize our birding time the plan was to bird the agricultural fields just across the border from VT, with multiple targets seen throughout the area – Snow Bunting, Snowy Owl, Wild Turkey, and Lapland Longspur.  But perhaps our key target was the rare Gray Partridge recently seen in small numbers frequenting a small area of fields and homesteads. 

As we neared the border we twice spotted flocks of Turkeys feeding in fields in northern VT, so we hoped that would bode well for at least this one target once we got into Quebec.  Luckily our wait to get through customs was minimal, so we crossed the border just after 5.  And within just a couple minutes we spotted a large flock of Snow Buntings along the roadside – Province bird #1 and new for my Canada list as well – a great start. 

Next we reached Route 35 where a number of Snowy Owls had been reported recently.  Our plan was to drive along as slowly as possible on this busy road keeping our eyes open for a Snowy Owl along the way.  The fields were snow covered, so finding a white bird on a white background at 50 mph (or 80 km/hr) created a nearly impossible scenario for us, and we struck out at this first location.  But this was just the first of many locations where Snowy’s had been reported recently, so we weren’t too worried. 

We then headed toward the area where the Partridges had been reported, and as we drove along a small back road named Rang du Grand Bois, David yelled – “Turkeys!”.  It took a couple minutes to find a safe spot to turnaround, but soon we were back at the spot and there was a flock of 6 Turkeys feeding in the ag field nearby – province bird #2.  That meant we wouldn’t have to make stops at a couple other spots where Turkeys had been reported, freeing us up to spend more time looking for our other targets.

As we neared the Partridge location we came upon a small group of Horned Larks on the shoulder of Rang des Soixante.  Just as we started to scan them they all took off out over the snow covered field.  Luckily I had rolled down my window to try for a better view because I was able to hear the telltale rattle call of at least 1 Lapland Longspur mixed in with the higher pitched calls from the Larks (province bird #3).  Unfortunately we never saw the bird, and David was unable to hear it since he was on the other side of the car.  We waited a while, and a nice group of 20 Snow Buntings soon landed along the same exposed road shoulder, but the Longspur and Larks never returned. 

A couple more miles down the road we reached the area where the Gray Partridges had been seen –a small flock had been spotted numerous times along a diamond of roadsides, fields, and homesteads.  Though despite 3 slow tours around the diamond, we couldn’t come up with them.  The reports were now about a week old, so maybe they had moved on.  A consolation was finding a nice mixed flock of Buntings and Larks along a roadside with some extended (though distant) views of a Longspur mixed in. 

It was now getting dark and we called it quits, making our way to the highway to head to our hotel.  But then while driving along Route 10, up ahead we both spotted a bump on a light pole on the highway.  It was far enough away that we weren’t sure if it was even a bird.  As we got closer, we could tell it was a perched raptor, and as we passed almost directly below it, we could see that it was a Snowy Owl.  Here’s a picture of the roadway just after we confirmed the Snowy.

 

What a way to end the day – 4^th new province bird, and new for my Canada list. 

March 13 – Day 2

Our first stop of the day was at Centre Ecologique Fernand-Seguin where there had been multiple reports of Hoary Redpolls, and two overwintering adult White-crowned Sparrows.  Although one can be skeptical of the quality of Hoary ID’s, there were photos included in several of the eBird reports that looked good.  Both the Redpolls and Sparrows were coming to feeders at the park – but there were apparently multiple feeders with limited details on the locations of each.  Looks like we would have to do a bit of research when we get to the park.

Luckily when we arrived one of the first things we spotted was a park map.  But the trails were a bit confusing, and we weren’t quite sure which feeder to head to.  As we stood there scratching our heads, a worker from the park office (which wasn’t even open yet), walked over to us to offer help.  She told us which feeders both of our targets frequented, and how to get to these feeders.  We couldn’t have asked for better local directions!

Our first destination was the Swallow Feeder preferred by the Redpolls.  After a short walk through the woods we could see a clearing up ahead, with a pole-mounted feeder.  There were birds swirling about – a large flock of Redpolls.  And the first bird we both put in our binocs was one perched on the feeder – it was a Hoary Redpoll (province bird #5, and new for Canada).  We watched as the Redpolls flew all around us, sometimes flying mere feet from us.  They were feeding on the ground, in the shrubs, and on the feeder.  And there were multiple birds singing – I’ve never heard singing Redpolls outside of birds on their breeding grounds in Alaska.  Over the next 15-20 minutes we estimated that we had at least 3 Hoary’s in with the flock of at least 50 Commons.  Could have been even more.  

Redpoll feeder

Although we hated to leave the Redpoll show, it was on to search for the White-crowned Sparrows which were being seen at the Chickadee Feeder.  After a short walk we came to this next feeder, where a photographer was already waiting.  We watched Chickadees come and go, and a few Redpolls as well, but no sparrows.  After a few minutes David noticed a bird skulking nearby which was a nice adult White-crowned Sparrow (province bird #6).  Often wintering White-crowns in New England will be immatures so it was a bit surprising that this one was an adult.  An excellent start to the day!

Next we were off to Technoparc Montreal and the adjacent Dorval Golf Course where there had been many reports of roosting owls – Short-eared, Great Horned, Long-eared, and Saw-whet, plus occasional Northern Shrike reports.  The details were a bit sketchy, but I was finally able to figure out that most all of the owl sightings were at the golf course, even though most were entered into eBird at the Technoparc hotspot.  Unfortunately when we arrived at the golf course we found out that it had recently been closed to the public since walking through the now melting snow cover could result in damage to the turf.  And we never found any places to bird at the Technoparc.  Frustrating…

The next stop was the eBird hotspot called Campus Macdonald where numerous Bohemian Waxwings had been recently reported.  Unfortunately here too the spot(s) where the Waxwings were being seen couldn’t have been the location of the hotspot, which was in the middle of ag fields for a university.  Instead we poked around one set of university buildings adjacent to the fields thinking this could be the spot, but never found any fruiting trees.  Then we noticed signs for another part of the university campus a short distance away, so we though we’d give that a try.  That part of the campus was very congested with cars and pedestrian students, complicated by roads narrowed by large snow and ice piles.  After driving around for a while we finally found a small group of fruiting crabapple trees that looked to be likely candidates, but there were no frugivores in sight.  After a great start we had come up completely empty on our next two locations. 

Hoping for better luck, we headed to Barrage (dam in French) du Grand-Moulin, which was a small backwater on the Riviere des Mille Iles where several Glaucous and occasional Iceland Gulls had been reported.  Interestingly, in this part of Quebec the most common wintering gull is typically the Great Black-backed, followed by Glaucous, then Herring, Iceland, and lastly Ring-billed.  To get to the viewing spot we had to navigate around large snow and ice piles, and then take a short walk in waist-deep snow.  Finally we got to the overlook, only to find less than 10 gulls on the water – just GBBG and Herring.  Was this going to be yet another strikeout?  Then we noticed a small group of gulls fly in to bathe on the river.  Then another small flock.  As more small groups came in we soon had critical mass and the first adult Glaucous Gull flew in (province bird #7).  More birds kept pitching in, and eventually we found 3 adult and 1 1^st/2^nd year Glaucous.  And just before we were going to leave, David spotted an adult Iceland (province bird #8).

Although the birds were distant I took these phonescoped shots of one of the adult Glaucous Gulls, perched near the left edge of the ice partially obscured.  After I got home and looked more closely at the photos I noticed an adult gull in the water a short distance to the left of the Glaucous, which appears smaller than a Herring, and a bit darker backed.  If only we had noticed it when we were there we could have focused our attention on this bird to try to turn it into a California.

Now that we were back in the “win column” we hoped our success would continue at the intersection of Rue d’Ivry et Avenue JJ Joubert in a rather urban portion of Laval Island to try for Pine Grosbeaks.  There had been daily reports of a flock here at a church through 3/9, but there had been no reports (positive or negative) since then.  Unfortunately there were no birds of any type when we arrived at the church – at least it was a small site and it only took us a few minutes to realize we were too late for our target. 

So we quickly headed to our last stop of the day - Cimetieres Mt-Royal and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal where both Bohemian Waxwings and Pine Grosbeaks had been occasionally reported.  I birded this site a few years ago and remembered that the cemeteries are full of fruit trees, so we hoped to finally be successful finding these targets on our 3^rd try.  After getting some directions at the office, we started a slow ride through the cemetery.  Roughly a half hour into our search we spotted a small group of 11 Robins roosting in a deciduous tree.  And then with a more detailed look we spotted 3 Bohemian Waxwings in the flock (province bird #9, and also new for Canada).  There was also a Cedar Waxwing mixed in, which is rarer than Bohemians in this area in winter.  Elsewhere in the cemetery we found another flock of 7 Robins, but no more Waxwings, and no Grosbeaks.  Interestingly, an eBirder reported a Pine Grosbeak there that day, but no Robins or Waxwings.

Day 3 – March 14

The key stop of the day was at the Bois Bon Air woodlands in the northeast part of Laval Island to search for a Black-backed Woodpecker that had been in these woods for over a month.  Reports mentioned seeing the bird on the Deer Trail and near the marsh, but with no maps available on-line and no further instructions, David and I worried that we might not find the proper locations.  So the first thing we did when we arrived in the area was to ask for directions at a skimobile shop nearby.  They gave us a few suggestions to access the woods, though no further details on the Deer Trail or the marsh.  A few minutes later we were walking toward the suggested access point, and up ahead we saw that 2 birders had just arrived.  In somewhat broken English they said they knew where the bird was and would take us there.  Suddenly we were much more positive about our chances.  Despite this new-found optimism, and 3 hours walking through the deep snow, we never found our target bird.  We saw lots of trees that had been de-barked by the Black-back, but it wasn’t to be.  Here’s a shot typical of the woodlands we searched.

As we were leaving 2 other birders were just arriving; it turns out that they found the Woodpecker a couple hours later.  Go figure.

Little did we know that our luck would get no better the rest of the day.  Plus since we spent more time than planned at the Woodpecker spot, we had less time to bird other locations.  We made a stop at the Aeroport de St-Hubert to try for a recently reported Northern Shrike with no luck, though did find a nice Snowy Owl.  And one last stop at feeders that had daily reports of Pine Siskins mixed in with a Redpoll flock yielded just 2 Repolls.  Interestingly the best bird of the day was one of our last birds - an early Turkey Vulture that was a flyover as we neared the border.  It was also the only eBird rarity of the trip.

We ended the trip with 44 species - a respectable total for a late-winter trip to these inland locations.  And although we missed a number of our targets, I was very happy to add 9 to my Quebec list, which was roughly what I expected before the trip started.  My province list now stands at 207 which is 90% of the old ABA reportable threshold.  That makes Quebec my best Canadian province list based on percentage of total birds on the province list.  Plus 4 of these species were new for my overall Canada list, bringing my total to 379.  By comparison, my Lower 48 US list of 737 is nearly twice that total.  Needless to say there are a lot of species in south FL or TX that I’ll never see in Canada.

Three Statebirds on Galveston Island, TX – March 2018

On my regular March business trip to Houston I ended up with an early morning free, so of course I researched potential statebird possibilities nearby the eBird Needs Alerts.  There weren’t any targets in the greater Houston area, but there were several in and around Galveston Island.  That’s only an hour ride from Houston, so with a pre-dawn departure from my hotel, I could spend a few hours on the coast for some strategic chases.  Recent reports included sightings of a Glaucous Gull, Gannets, an Iceland Gull, and a Black Scoter, though I’d be happy with just 1 or 2. 

The first target was a first year Glaucous Gull with 2 reports of likely the same bird - once from 7 ½ Mile Beach and once from nearby 8 Mile Beach.  I arrived at the area just after dawn, and decided to try 7 ½ Mile Beach first.  As I drove off the pavement and onto the hard packed sand, I could see a group of just 4 gulls on the beach up ahead.  Certainly not enough critical mass for my target bird, right?  But before I had even put the car into park, I realized that one of the gulls was large and very pale.  And with a quick binoc view I realized it was my first year Glaucous Gull.  That was easy!  I got this passable phonescoped photo of the bird as it fed on a fish carcass.

TX is my 21st state for this species (see my statebird map below) – and this is by far the farthest south of all of my sightings.

I looked up and down 7 ½ Mile Beach and didn’t see much activity in the immediate area.  But off to the southwest in the general vicinity of 8 Mile Beach I could see a good sized flock of roosting gulls, so I decided to head in that direction to see if I could find another rare gull.  After a short drive I was there to check out the gulls – just the normal Laughers, Ring-bills, and a couple Herrings.  So with nothing of interest on the beach, I starting scanning out over ocean, hoping I might find a Gannet.  There was one recent report of a nice number of Gannets from “Galveston Island” (no specific location was given), so this location was as good as any to give it a try.  A quick initial scan just yielded the regular species.  But then I spotted a pair of birds flying far out to sea that could be Sulids – but at that distance I couldn’t be sure.  I kept watching them and they were now flying toward me.  Finally, after a minute or so they were close enough to ID as Gannets.  Within the next few minutes I spotted 3 others not too far out, plus 2 others much farther in the distance plunge diving.  That was much easier than I expected – after all I’ve looked for Gannet off the TX gulf coast many times in the past.  Now that I can shade in TX on my statebird map, LA and MS are the last 2 states on the Atlantic or Gulf in which I still need this species.

I was just about to leave 8 Mile Beach when I noticed a large pale gull fly by – it was the first year Glaucous Gull.  Amazing to see it at both locations!  (or at least I assume it was the same bird) 

Since I had such rapid success on my first two targets, I had a bit of extra time on my hands.  So I decided to head into nearby Galveston Island State Park for a bit of light birding, and I chose the Clapper Rail loop for a quick stroll around the marshes.  After a short walk I stopped at the observation tower to listen to what might be calling.  Within a couple minutes I started to hear some clicking noises coming from the marsh.  I listened intently as the bird continued to call – it was a Yellow Rail.  And then while I was celebrating my find, a Black Rail called from the same general area.  I had Black Rail in this same area in April 2017, but Yellow Rail was new for my statelist.  TX was only my 4th state for this elusive species - in MN as a breeder, LA and AR in fall migration, and now TX as a late winterer.

It was a bit interesting that I had Yellow and Black Rail but no Clapper Rail on my walk around Clapper Rail loop. 

Next I was off to the Bolivar Peninsula to chase after a couple statebird possibilities - an Iceland Gull near the Bolivar Flats, and a Black Scoter offshore with Scaup flocks.  I headed right to the beach and soon spotted several flocks of Scaup offshore.  But the rough seas, and distance to the flocks, made viewing difficult, and I once again couldn’t pick out a Scoter (I had tried looking for Scoters in these Scaup flocks last April).  As I continued driving down the beach I checked out the gulls along the way but there were no Icelands.  I was striking out on my targets…  I soon reached the Bolivar Flats and decided to head out on the mudflats to see what I might find.  The Flats were full of shorebirds, and I counted 16 species in total.  There were no rarities, though it was nice to find 6 species of Plovers – Black-bellied, Piping, Snowy, Wilson’s, Semipalmated, and Killdeer.  That included one Piping that was banded, and after some research I found out that the bird was banded on the Missouri River in North Dakota.  Nice!  And then there was this Reddish Egret that had some white feathers in the wingtips – could it be an intergrade between the dark and white forms?

That made for a nice ending to an early morning of birding, finding 2 of my 4 possible stakeout statebirds, plus finding a 3rd statebird on my own.  That gives me 445 on my TX statelist, which is by far my largest single state list.  Though as a percentage of the total birds ever recorded in the state, it is only my 8th best.  My TX list is 71% of the total recorded in the state, whereas my 364 in NH is 91% of the total state list.  If I had 91% of the total TX list my statelist would be a whopping 576.

3 California Statebirds in the Bay Area, March 2017

Another business trip to the San Francisco Bay Area in March meant another opportunity to add a couple birds to my CA statelist.  The eBird CA Needs Alert included several possibilities in the general area, including several gulls like Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed, not to mention one real rarity – an adult Slaty-Backed.  And then there was a Laughing Gull and several Black-legged Kittiwakes, though I didn’t need these species for my CA list.  I really enjoy “gulling”, so this was looking like it could be a fun trip.  Plus there was an Emperor Goose that had spent the entire winter at a golf course in the area.  But none of the birds were in the immediate vicinity where I would be working, so it would be tough to squeeze in time to chase after these targets before or after work.  So instead I decided to take most of a day off work, allowing me to bird a bit farther afield.

Now came the pick-and-shovel work of researching the sightings.  The Emperor Goose seemed like it would be easy – a quick stop at the Sharp Park Golf Course in San Mateo County would yield this rarity hanging out with a small group of Canadas.  (Though many of the eBird posts incorrectly gave its location as the ocean beach nearby.)  Most of the gull sightings were in several locations around Half Moon Bay, like the Denniston Creek mouth, Pillar Point Harbor, Pilarcitos Creek mouth, and Venice Beach, all also in San Mateo County.  And since gulls will move around a lot, stops at each of these locations were likely in order.  I’m not sure I ever found any specific directions or locations for any of these hotspots in the eBird posts, but with some GoogleMaps research I’m pretty sure I found each spot and was likely good to go. 

But just as my trip neared there were no more posts of sightings of the Slaty-backed.  And then the posts of the Emperor stopped, including one on the listserve where a birder specifically looked for the Goose unsuccessfully.  At least posts for multiple first-year Glaucous Gulls and Lesser Black-backs of all ages continued, including one post of an adult Lesser with a photo of an extremely dark bird seemingly darker than the graellsii I’m used to seeing in the East.  And then came posts of a Gannet being seen at Ano Nuevo State Park.  So I nixed my planned stop for the Goose, and decided to start at dawn at Denniston Creek Mouth at the northern end of Half Moon Bay, work my way south gulling along the way, and then eventually get to Ano Nuevo to try for the Gannet.  Although that might only be a half-day of birding, I had several conference calls I also needed to take for work that day, so that would fill up my day.

My first stop was the spot described in eBird as the Denniston Creek Mouth.  With my GoogleMaps research I could easily see the mouth of the creek just to the west of Pillar Point Harbor, but wasn’t sure how to access it.  I assumed the right approach was to scope it from the western end of the parking lot at the harbor, so I arrived there shortly before dawn to give it a try.  The tide was quite low, and there were about 300 gulls along the beach and at the mouth of the creek actively bathing.  Plus there were many coming and going, so I was likely at the proper spot.

Now the challenge was to sort through the dizzying array of species (and hybrids!) to try to find my targets.  Check out these phonescoped photos of a small portion of the flock in the distance in the early morning sun. 

The first target was Glaucous Gull – all of the sightings had been of first-year birds so I needed to find a larger gull which was mostly white with very white wing tips, and a dark-tipped pale bill.  In the East a bird like that really stands out.  But on the West coast, finding a very pale Glaucous among a sea of not-so-pale immature Glaucous-wings was a much taller task.  And then when you throw in the pale, though admittedly smaller, Thayer’s into the mix, it’s an even greater challenge.  This flock featured numerous immature Glaucous-wings and several Thayer’s, but I couldn’t locate a Glaucous.

While poring through the flock I noticed a second-year bird that caught my attention.  In this plumage the mantle is a reasonably uniform color like that of an adult, but the wing feathers are mottled more like a first-year bird.  The first thing I noticed on this bird was its mantle which was much darker than the adult California and Western Gulls in the flock.  Now that it had my attention I keyed in on size and shape – a bit bigger than California, and very long-winged.  I was starting to like this bird for a second-year Lesser Black-back.  But if so, it might well be a bird of the intermedius race.  I was only able to watch it for a couple minutes before it either disappeared in the flock or more likely flew off to the harbor.  Although I would have rather ID’d an adult Lesser, I was happy with calling this bird a second-year Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

CA was my 28^th state for this species (see my statebird map below) – not bad for a bird that not too long ago was considered to be a rarity from Europe that birders would search for principally in the northeast.

 
I spent more than an hour birding the creek area, and felt like I was seeing the same birds over and over again, so I decided to head south to the next locations.  Though I admit I was a bit concerned whether I had effectively birded the adjacent eBird hotspot labeled Pillar Point Harbor.  I assumed birds tied to the harbor hotspot were coming and going from the Denniston Creek mouth location, but with no details I couldn’t be sure.

A few minutes later I arrived at the Half Moon Bay State Park, where after paying the $10 daily use fee, I parked in the parking lot ready to make the walk north to the next two hotspots – Pilarcitos Creek Mouth and Venice Beach.  In my earlier research on GoogleMaps I could see that these two locations were just a couple hundred yards apart on either side of the mouth of Pilarcitos Creek.  That put them about a mile north of the State Park parking lot, but I hoped that a 2-mile roundtrip walk on the beach would be worthwhile.  As I made my way north I could see two flocks of gulls up ahead on the beach, so I was optimistic.

For some reason it took me quite a bit longer than expected to reach the gulls; maybe it was because I couldn’t find any hard-packed sand to walk in.  But when I finally arrived I found just 100 gulls in a tight flock on the south side of the creek mouth.  And north of the creek was an even smaller flock, and it was a bit too far for good IDs.  A quick scan through the nearer flock didn’t reveal anything of interest.  But like my stop at Denniston Creek there were always birds coming and going.  So I decided that since I had dedicated so much energy to birding this location, I may as well stay a while and hope that a rarity would drop in.  About 30 minutes later a fisherman came walking south down the beach and flushed all the gulls.  And worse yet, he decided to fish in the exact spot where the flock of gulls had been roosting.  I waited a few more minutes but the entire flock was gone.  Ugh…

On my way back to the car I met up with a local beachgoer who mentioned that all the rains that winter had actually resulted in the mouth of the creek shifting nearly a half-mile to the north.  Another reason why it took me longer to get there than expected.  I was feeling pretty sorry for myself during the long slow walk back when all of a sudden I flushed a small shorebird practically at my feet in the soft sand.  Then with another step a couple more flushed from underfoot – they were Snowy Plovers.  I stopped and carefully scanned the beach and counted 23 Plovers (plus 1 Sanderling), 1 bird each nicely resting in a depression in the sand made by a footstep of a recent beachgoer.  I took this photo of the birds on the beach using my iPhone with no magnification – can you pick out the Plovers?

Plus I was able to get some phonescoped shots of these cooperative birds, which turned out really nice if I do say so myself.

A nice consolation for what was otherwise a long and fruitless walk. 

Next I was on to Ano Nuevo State Park to try for the Gannet.  Well actually I wasn’t heading to the State Park itself, but instead to a pullout along Route 1 a short distance south of the park which would afford distant views of Ano Nuevo Island.  The Gannet was being seen perched on the island among a colony of Western Gulls, and sometimes plunge feeding in the cove near the island.  But I left out one key detail – the island was 2.2 miles away from pullout.  (I said the views were distant!)  Although viewing conditions were ideal, even with my Swarovski maxed out at 50 power the gulls were just barely identifiable specks.  And although I spent 45 minutes looking for a white speck twice the size of the gull specks, I couldn’t find the Gannet among the gulls.  Of course the bird could have been out of view on the far side of the island, or maybe off foraging somewhere else.  Or maybe I just wasn’t using enough imagination.  In any case, it was pretty disappointing.

It was now only mid-day, and I had a bit more time before my next work call.  Should I spend more time trying to find the Gannet, go back to search for more gulls, head somewhere else to bird, or just call it quits altogether?  Ending my birding day this early was my least favorite option, especially since I had only found one of my targets.  And more scanning for that distant Gannet wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.  Then I remembered Needs Alert reports of a reliable Red-naped Sapsucker inland in Santa Clara County south of San Jose.  I hadn’t originally planned on trying for this bird since I had thought I was going to spend the entire day on the coast.  But since I had some time on my hands, I decided to head inland to give it a try.

I was heading to Almaden Lake Park, and specifically the southern end of the park to the Los Alamitos Creek Trail.  The posts mentioned the bird was being seen in pepper trees adjacent to the Arroyo Picnic area.  In fact one even mentioned its “favorite pepper tree”, with a photo showing the bird perched on a large branch full of sapsucker holes.  I wasn’t sure what a pepper tree looked like, but I would think it would be pretty easy to find the tree with all the sapsucker holes.  After about an hour’s drive I arrived at the park and just as I pulled into the parking lot I could see the covered picnic area mentioned in the posts.  Soon I was standing at the picnic tables looking for trees with sapsucker holes.  But after a couple minutes of quick searching I came up empty. 

Then I did a quick Google search for images of “pepper tree” on my iPhone.  And now that I knew what pepper trees looked like, I realized there was a small grove of maybe a dozen pepper trees between the parking lot and the picnic area.  I had walked right past them!  So I headed back to those trees and began to find sapsucker holes in most of the trees.  And just a minute later I got a glimpse of a woodpecker flying between the trees with large white wing patches.  With a bit of patience the bird came into view on a trunk above me and it was indeed the Red-naped Sapsucker.  If I had completed my detective work properly and figured out what a pepper tree looked like in the first place I may well have found the bird even quicker. 

Although it’s nice to get the Red-naped as a winter rarity in central CA, I still need it in in its regular breeding range in eastern OR and western MT – two areas where I still haven’t birded.  CA is now only my 2^nd state (in addition to AZ) where I’ve seen all 4 Sapsucker species. 

Once again I had some free time, so I reached out to local birder Peter Metropulos who had given me some advice as I was preparing for my trip.  He offered to do some coastal gulling with me late in the day, so we met up at Venice Beach to try that area again.  But this time we met at the parking lot to Venice Beach, rather than taking the long hike from the State Park.  With a short walk we were on the low bluff overlooking the beach and could see a small flock of gulls a short distance to the north.  So we repositioned ourselves to be closer to the flock and soon were looking almost right down on the birds.  A first scan didn’t reveal anything unusual.  But then we both almost simultaneously picked out a first year Glaucous Gull – in virtually pure white plumage. 

And then just a minute later I spotted this second Glaucous, which was just a bit darker than the first gull.

Neither of these birds were in the flock when we first arrived – with all those birds coming and going we were very happy with our timing.  CA was my 20^th state for Glaucous Gull, several as a winter rarity.

Later we found this dark gull which we dubbed a “charcoal gull” – perhaps a Western Gull still in juvenile plumage?  But who knows…

With 3 new CA birds my statelist now stands at 387 – would be nice to get to 400 someday.  And I ended the day with 10 gull species which I believe is a personal daily record.  Sure was fun spending all that time with those challenging gulls out West.  I said I love gulling…