Mourning Warbler, Mills River, NC, October 12, 2020

My birding plan for October 12th was to spend the morning at Jackson Park in search of some late fall migrants.  I pulled in at dawn, and soon found a nice migrant flock right at the edge of the parking lot, including my third Golden-winged Warbler of the fall.  I made my way south through the BMX park and by the time I entered the dog park I had a nice tally of 9 warbler species.  It was a great start to the morning.

Just then a text from Kevin Burke came across the Blue Ridge Birders text group– “Mourning warbler at the clay-colored spot”.  The day before, Bob Butler had found a Clay-colored Sparrow along Hooper Lane in a brushy area along the northern edge of Mills River Park.  I was lucky enough to see the Sparrow on the 11th – a new bird for my Henderson County list, but not new for NC.  And now the next day, with a bit of a “Patagonia picnic table effect”, Kevin had found a rare Mourning Warbler in that same patch of brush.  I instantly turned around, sprinted back to my car, and was on my way to Hooper Lane. 

It took me just 15 minutes to get to Hooper Lane, but there were already multiple birders on-site when I arrived.  The bird was last seen just a couple minutes earlier so I was hopeful.  Then just a minute later someone said they had the bird.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get on it before this skulking bird had retreated to the depths of the brush.  A bit later it was spotted again, but I missed it yet again – though at least I saw some movement this time.  The next time it appeared I was able to see its tail, but nothing more.  This was getting frustrating.  Luckily it kept reappearing, and the next time I got great views – finally!  I stayed in the area for the next several hours and saw the bird multiple times.  Including a couple times when it surprisingly stayed in the open for an extended period of time. 

Not a bad trade-off - a little less birding time at Jackson Park for a new statebird.  It’s good to be flexible. 

Mourning Warbler was #306 for my NC statelist.  NC was the 18th state where I’ve seen this species - the blue-shaded states in my statebird map below.  The cross-hatched states are those where the species is regular but I’ve yet to catch up with it.  This skulking bird is not an easy one to find, especially as a migrant.

And now a postscript –

When I moved to NC in August 2019 I came up with a list of 36 possible new NC statebirds that I might see in western NC.  Mourning Warbler was the 35th of these targets that I’ve now checked off.  The last target on that list is Long-tailed Duck, which is actually quite a rarity locally.  Along the way I’ve also added 11 other NC statebirds in western NC that weren’t even on my target list.  Not too many realistic statebird possibilities remain.

Baird’s Sandpiper, Hooper Lane Sod Farm, Henderson County NC, August 20,2020

Just before moving to NC I started reviewing local eBird reports to look for good hot spots nearby.  One that kept popping up was the sod farm at Hooper Lane, just 30 minutes from my new house.  I put together a file titled “Hooper Lane Sightings” which included these 2 entries -

8/31 - Baird’s – 6 continuing birds

8/30 - Baird’s – 3 Continuing birds. Foraging with pectoral sandpipers and killdeer on fields on east side of Hooper Lane, about .25 mile in from Jeffress Rd. Warm buffy color, buffy breast, wingtips projected beyond tail tip

Although we arrived on 8/25/19, the vast amount of work required to settle into the new house kept me from doing any birding for several days.  My first trip to the sod farm was on September 1, unfortunately the first day after the Baird’s had moved on.  Though that trip helped me figure out how to bird the site, which was most helpful on my next trip there on September 10 when I found a rare Buff-breasted Sandpiper in one of the fields.  But despite several trips there in September I couldn’t come up with a Baird’s.  I wasn’t too concerned though given that they appeared to be regular in August, at least based on 2019 reports.

So as August 2020 arrived I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of 1 or more Baird’s at the Hooper Lane sod farm.  But it had been reasonably dry there this summer, even though it had been very wet at my house just 10 miles away “as the sandpiper flies”.  So with the dry conditions there was little, if any, mud to attract shorebirds.  Further complicating the story was that the owners of the sod farm had revised their policies and no longer let trespassers (including birders) into their fields.  That meant any bird we looked for needed to be relatively close to the public roads. 

Despite the less than great conditions at Hooper Lane I still visited the farm several times in August.  And on my trip there on the 20th I noticed something new – a patch of sod had just been harvested very close to the road.  This resulted in a patch of dirt with some low areas of mud and standing water – looked like a very inviting spot for shorebirds.  I pulled over and started to scan the area with my binocs, initially just seeing a large number of Killdeer.  Then on another scan I noticed a medium-sized peep at the edge of the dirt quite close to the road.  Within seconds I knew I had an immature Baird’s Sandpiper – buffy chest, scalloped mantle, long wings beyond the wingtips, dark legs and bill.  That is perhaps my favorite plumage of any shorebird.  Nice to finally see one after missing them by just a day the previous year.  Unfortunately, by the time I got set up to phonescope the bird it had moved farther from the road, so this crummy photo was the best I could do.

The Baird’s stuck around mostly in that same field for 3 more days, allowing quite a number of birders to see it.  

Baird’s Sandpiper was #305 for my NC list.  And my 23rd shorebird species at Hooper Lane since moving here almost exactly a year ago.  Pretty amazing that so many species of shorebirds migrate over the NC mountains, let alone stopping at this one location in the last 12 months.  Needless to say, Hooper Lane is one of my favorite local birding spots.

My statebird map for Baird’s is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 3 cross-hatched states are those where I still need it, though it’s still regular.  And the multiple east coast states in tan are those where I’ve seen Baird’s though the range maps suggest Baird’s is a rarity.  Not exactly sure I’d call it rare on the east coast myself…

Lapland Longspur, Hooper Lane, Henderson County, NC, January 4, 2020

I was surprised to find out that Lapland Longpsur is a rarity in western North Carolina.  After all, it was a regular bird in appropriate habitat during my trips to places like Memphis, TN, and neighboring portions of MS and AR, and even farther south in TX.  Since these areas are of more southern latitudes than the NC mountains, why wouldn’t they winter near my new home in western NC as well?  So every time I would find flocks of Pipits (and occasional Horned Larks in Upstate SC), I would listen intently for the rattle calls of a Longspur that might be mixed in.  Yet despite my efforts I had been unsuccessful in my quest to find a wintering Longspur near my new home.

That is until this January at Hooper Lane – one of my favorite new birding sites.  I had just left my car and started to walk east along the edge of one of the ditches through the sod fields when I heard a single soft “tu” call to the north.  I was unfamiliar with this call, and with all the birding by ear I do, chances are that an unfamiliar call could be something interesting.  I stopped to listen more intently and heard the “tu” call again from a different angle.  I was stumped - what was it?  Then I was excited to hear the typical rattle call of a Lapland Longspur that I was very familiar with.  The call was coming from the same direction as the “tu” call, and the bird was flying overhead.  In the next 30 seconds I heard the rattle call three more times, and the tu call a couple more times as well.  The calls were generally coming from the north, as if the bird was flying overhead either looking for a place to land, or just flying through the area.

I alerted the local birding community to the sighting, and soon was joined by another birder.  We spent the next 3 hours covering the area but never re-found the Longspur.  Though we did find a flock of about 125 Pipits in the same general area.  These birds were feeding in grass and would nearly disappear when feeding.  Perhaps the Longspur had joined that flock, or maybe the bird just kept on heading to the north and then left the fields altogether.

Now back to the calls – I’m very familiar with the rattle calls of Lapland Longspurs from my 25+ years of birding in New England (plus birding time elsewhere).  Lapland‘s will regularly mix in with winter flocks of Horned Larks, and I learned to listen for the Longspur calls mixed in with the Larks’ calls especially when the flocks were in flight.  But what about the mystery “tu” call that I was unfamiliar with?  Well it turns out that this call is a regular one for Longspurs as well.  On the website - xeno-canto.org – there is a recording of a similar set of calls.  The 7th recording down from the top, from Norway, which is 15 seconds long, includes typical rattle calls, and also the "tu" calls that I heard that day at Hooper Lane.  Wonder why I had never noticed that call before...

My statebird map for Lapland Longspur 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 seen it yet.  Although I’ve seen it in 28 states, I still need it in almost 20 more states where it is a regular wintering species. 

Lapland Longspur was number 276 for my NC state list.  And along with American Bittern and Short-eared Owl, this was my third addition for my NC list from Hooper Lane that was not among the expected species.  Like I said – Hooper Lane is one of my favorite birding sites.

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.

10 North Carolina Statebirds in October 2019

October was a great birding month for me in my new home in the mountains of western North Carolina.  I birded several days a week at nearby hotspots, and most every day just in my own yard.  I added 10 new species to my NC list in October, about half being rarities needing details in eBird.  Short summaries of each of my additions are provided below.

10/1 – Nashville Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo – Yard

My yard continues to be an excellent birding spot, with many migrants passing through the yard virtually every day.  The month started off with a bang with additions of both Nashville Warbler and a Philadelphia Vireo, the latter considered to be rare per eBird.  I had 1 or 2 Philadelphia’s in the yard each day for the next 3 days.  My statebird map for Nashville Warbler is inserted below – I’ve seen it in the shaded states, and still need it in the cross-hatched states where it is a regular species.

10/6 – Northern Waterthrush – Jackson Park

My first birding trip in the area was a birdwalk run by the local Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society (EMAS) at the Beaver Lake sanctuary.  A couple of the folks in my group spotted a Northern Waterthrush but I missed it.  Hence it was a bit of a nemesis bird for a couple months until I finally caught up with one on my first trip to Jackson Park.  It turned out to be the first of several I had in the month.

10/9 – Peregrine Falcon, Dickcissel – Warren Wilson College

A Dickcissel spotted in a sunflower field at Warren Wilson College provided my first opportunity to chase after a local rarity.  Luckily I had attended an EMAS field trip to this spot so I knew where the field was and how to bird the site.  I arrived early the next morning and met up with a couple other birders also searching for the target bird.  There were many Indigo Buntings, and a couple Blue Grosbeaks, but no Dickcissel.  Most of the birds would be seen either flying out of the field to the adjacent trees, or flying back into the sunflower field.  But in most cases the birds would frustratingly instantly disappear into the vegetation; only occasionally would a few individuals sit out into the open for even a quick view. 

After an hour of searching I thought about leaving the sunflower field and birding elsewhere, but decided to focus on my real target – the Dickcissel.  I continued to try to ID the birds coming and going from the field from various vantage points, and at one point spotted a Peregrine Falcon overhead – a nice consolation prize, but still not the target.  Then at the 2-hour point I again thought about calling it quits.  But then I realized that the Buntings that were flying into the field were changing their MO and were actually sitting in the open for a while – maybe the Dickcissel might do the same I thought.  And sure enough, just a couple minutes later the 2 other birders and I all spotted the Dickcissel perched atop a sunflower.  Then again it might not have been “the” Dickcissel – this bird seemed to be paler below than the one photographed the day before.  A second bird perhaps?  In any case, my strategy to focus on my target rarity, rather than to divert my attention to more general birding, proved to be the right one.  As shown in my statebird map below I’ve seen Dickcissel in most of its regular range generally in the central portions of the country, and have found it as a rarity in a number of eastern states.

10/10 – Connecticut Warbler – Jackson Park

Local birder Dave Minnich and I were planning a birding trip for the 10th, and decided to try Jackson Park based on a couple reports of a Connecticut Warbler there.  The bird had been reported near the southern end of the Warbler Trail, so that’s where we started our trip.  But it was pretty slow in that area, and we continued our walk along the trail all the way to its northern end.  Shortly after we turned around and started our walk south back down the trail we heard a set of odd chip notes.  And just then I spotted a Connecticut Warbler just off the trail.  This was perhaps a half mile from the earlier sighting so likely a different bird.  The bird was seen again later that day by several other birders, and in fact continued to be seen for over a week – though as is often the case with these skulkers, it was not seen by everyone.

10/12 – Warbling Vireo – Yard

During one of my nearly daily stints birding in my yard I spotted a Vireo that instantly caught my eye – brownish back, faint eyeline, white throat, and only a bit of yellowish wash on the flanks.  Earlier in the month I spent a lot of time watching Philadelphia Vireos to make sure they weren’t Warbling Vireos.  And today’s bird was definitely a Warbling and not a Philadelphia, or Red-eyed for that matter.  This species is not only rare for NC, but it was also quite late for one, so it was a nice find.  I just need to see this wide-ranging species in a couple more southeastern states. 

10/18 - Lincoln’s Sparrow – Warren Wilson College

My targets on this trip to Warren Wilson were fall sparrows.  Earlier in the month a Nelson’s had been reported from a wet ditch in the middle of the fields (why didn’t I chase it?), plus it was time for Lincoln’s to be arriving.  So a sparrow search was on!  I headed to the ditch as soon as I got to the site and soon had a number of Songs, Swamps and Savannahs.  Then in the distance a Lincoln’s popped out and gave nice views.  Later I had several other Lincoln’s there – I guessed at least 3.  I also had another at the nearby gardens, and 2 at the sunflower field.  Interesting that this species is considered to be a rarity in eBird.

10/24 – American Bittern, Vesper Sparrow – Hooper Lane

A Vesper Sparrow was reported at the sod farms at Hooper Lane, though without a specific location.  There are numerous weedy ditches throughout the site so I planned to work the ditches and hope I ran into the Vesper, or maybe I should say a Vesper.  But shortly after I arrived at the farm I heard a Greater Yellowlegs in the distance.  I located it in a wet area in the distance, and decided to get closer to it to grab a photo, and look for other shorebirds.  I snapped this passable photo holding my phone up to my binocs. 

A bit later I spotted a pair of shorebirds overhead which turned out to be a White-rumped Sandpiper and an American Golden-Plover – both eBird rarities.  But neither was new for my NC statelist.  Unfortunately, by the time I went back to looking for my target Vesper Sparrow I had run out of time.  Though the shorebirds were certainly a nice consolation.

So I was back a couple days later to give it another try.  This time I started at the southernmost ditch and started heading west, flushing sparrows along the way.  But it was just the regulars – lots of Savannahs, a few Songs, and a couple Swamps – so my interest started to wane.  I was just about to give up when I flushed an American Bittern from the ditch – this addition wasn’t even on my radar screen.  I still need this reasonably common species in quite a number of states across the country.

Later in that same ditch I spotted a sparrow in the distance with a white eye-ring.  I initially thought I had a Vesper, but realized it was too small.  Then it turned to face me and it had a buffy chest with no striping – a Grasshopper Sparrow.  Nice!  But still no Vesper.

Next it was on to another ditch, with more Savannahs and Songs.  Then I spotted another Grasshopper Sparrow – only my second and third I’ve ever found in fall migration.  And the hits kept coming – I turned to look at the pool where the Yellowlegs had been a couple days earlier and spotted 4 shorebirds.  I needed to get closer to identify them as Pectoral Sandpipers – my 6th shorebird species there that week.

I was out of time and started to head back to the car along the ditch I birded earlier.  I wasn’t watching the sparrows too closely since I had seen them all on my first pass.  But just then I spotted a larger sparrow fly into the ditch from the nearby field.  And after just a couple seconds it popped into the open and was a Vesper Sparrow.  Although it took me a while to finally get my target, I’m not complaining since I found so many other goodies along the way.



I ended the month with a NC statelist of 270 – I’ve added 19 new birds to my list since moving here just over 2 months ago.  I continue to be amazed at how many good birding spots there are within 45 minutes of my house.  And speaking of my house, my yard list as of 10/31 stands at an amazing 92 species.  This includes 22 species of warblers and 6 vireo species as the fall migration through my yard was outstanding.  What a tremendous start to my time here in the Carolinas!