Lower Rio Grande Valley Trip Nets 6 Mega-Rarity Life Birds and 7 More State Birds, Jan. 5-9, 2024, Part 2 of 2

Before retiring in 2018 I would travel to Houston for work about a week a month.  I’d often squeeze in a little local birding time during most of those trips, working on my TX state list and sometimes even my LA list.  But the real attraction was the opportunity to bird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which after all was only an hour plane flight from Houston.  On a number of my trips, I would add a vacation day to chase after some extreme rarity from Mexico (or even farther away).  As a result, I’ve made 14 trips to the LRGV and nearby areas in south TX over the years, with each of the most recent 9 trips targeting a single life bird. 

Fast forward to mid-December 2023 – I started hearing some buzz about rarities being seen in south TX this winter.  I did a quick eBird Needs Alert for TX and was blown away by the number of rarities on the list.  There were no less than 5 mega-rarities that were seemingly quite reliable –

• Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard (first record for TX) at Resaca de la Palma State Park
• Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch – property only accessible by hiring a guide
• Cattle Tyrant (a first for the US) in downtown Corpus Christi

Needless to say, all 5 would be life birds for me.  What an amazing group of rarities!  Plus there were sightings of 2 parrots that I had never seen before - White-fronted and Lilac-crowned.  Although these “exotic” species are countable per eBird rules, they are not countable per ABA and the TX Bird Records Committee. 

And there were more than just potential life birds to pursue.  Although my TX state list was already pretty respectable at 452, there were quite a number of possible TX state birds also being seen.  Key targets included – Long-tailed Duck, Western Grebe, Limpkin, Mountain Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Iceland Gull, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Hermit Warbler.  Another great list of targets!

With all those potential life and state birds it was a no-brainer that I had to give it a try and make my 15th trip to the LRGV.  After all, I’ve taken numerous trips to the Valley for just 1 potential life bird.  Albeit those trips started in Houston instead of western NC.  I found a window of free time in my schedule in early January, and made reservations to fly to TX on the 4th, returning on the afternoon of the 9th, giving me 4 and a half days of birding in south TX.   

All things considered I hoped to find 4 or 5 lifers, and an additional 5 state birds.  That’s quite a step up from my recent trips to the Valley hoping for just 1 target bird.

This post summarizes the second half of my trip.  The previous post summarized the first part of my trip.

January 7 – Corpus Christi and Vicinity and Parrot Search

The plan for the 7th was to travel to Corpus Christi where the key target was a long-staying Cattle Tyrant.  This flycatcher is typically a South American species (I’ve seen it several times in Brazil), which is normally not seen any closer to the US than Panama.  Though there was one being seen in Costa Rica now.  It’s unclear whether the Texas Bird Records Committee will decide to add this species to the state list.  But it’s best to try to see it in the meantime, and then await the Committee’s decision.  Interestingly, eBird already considers it to be countable. 

After (hopefully) finding the Tyrant, my plan was to chase after 3 rare potential TX state birds – Bar-tailed Godwit Iceland (Thayer’s) Gull, and Long-tailed Duck.  All 3 were being seen near Corpus Christi, or along the route back to the Valley.  Then I would get back to Brownsville by sunset to look for Parrots at an evening roost. 

I developed an itinerary that would in theory give me enough time to try for each of my targets and still get in all that driving time.  But that itinerary went out the window when I overslept – I guess I was really tired from my late night with the Owls.  I got out of the hotel an hour later than planned, and spent a lot of time on my drive to Corpus Christi going through the options to get back on schedule.  I ended up deciding to skip my search for the Bar-tailed Godwit.  Although that would be a great bird to see, it had not been reported for 10 days despite multiple checklists in the areas where it had been seen.  Plus I had planned on a lengthy 90-minute search for the bird, so skipping that one would give me more than enough time to find my other targets.

The very tame Cattle Tyrant was being seen in downtown Corpus Christi principally in an area covering one city block.  And one its favorite spots was a blue dumpster near the corner of Water and Lawrence Streets where it would eat flies and other unmentionable insects.  I finally rolled into downtown Corpus Christi at 9:45 and parked near that dumpster hoping for a quick look at the bird, but came up empty.  I took a slow walk around the city block but still no Tyrant.  At one point an employee of one of the local businesses came up to me and said he had seen the bird a bit earlier that morning, so at least it was still around.  By 10 some other birders started to show up and a few of us exchanged phone numbers to spread the news when it was sighted.    

During one slow period I checked my TX Needs Alert for updates and found a report that the Godwit was seen just an hour earlier, and a specific location was given.  That meant I should add the Godwit search back into my itinerary, but would I have time for all my stops? 

It was now 10:30 and still no sightings.  I was standing back at the dumpster when one of the birders I met earlier came by to say she had just found the Cattle Tyrant around the corner.  After a short brisk walk I turned the corner and saw these 2 birders standing in the road up ahead.  That’s the target bird in front of them walking in the road.

I walked a bit closer and got these nice digi-binned shots.

Cattle Tyrant was ABA Lifer #5 and State bird #8 – at least for now pending the TX Committee’s decision.

It turns out that one of the birders with whom I exchanged numbers was the person who re-found the Bar-tailed Godwit that morning.  Before I left I was sure to get very specific directions from him – he mentioned it was on the short rocky jetty at Indian Point Park.  That was 1 of 3 hotspots where it had been sporadically reported over the last month, and was just 10 minutes away.  So I was cautiously optimistic.  But since it took nearly an hour to find the Tyrant I might need to delay my try for the Long-tailed Ducks until tomorrow, unless I could find the Godwit quickly.

After a short drive I parked at Indian Point Park and walked right to the jetty.  I had a couple Willets and a Turnstone, but no Godwits.  It was indeed a very short jetty and there was nowhere for a large shorebird to hide, so I hadn’t overlooked it.  I then turned my attention to a small wetlands close to the jetty that had a Marbled Godwit and a few Black-bellied Plovers, but still no target.  So much for hoping to find the bird quickly.

Just northeast of the jetty was a large impoundment that looked like great habitat.  But that wetlands stretched some 2 miles to the north, and the Godwit had been reported throughout this impoundment.  But since the bird had just been seen on the jetty, maybe it hadn’t gone far.  I set up my scope and started to scan the southern end of the impoundment.  I was especially focused on the larger shorebirds, picking up another Marbled Godwit and a Long-billed Curlew.  Then I came to a large shorebird in the distance that was pale below.  I increased the magnification on my scope and confirmed I had my target Bar-tailed Godwit – creamy white below, lighter brown above, and upturned 2-toned bill (State bird #9).  Here is a crummy distant phone-scoped photo of the bird.  Nice that it picked a spot to be all by itself so it would stand out. 

Bar-tailed Godwits would normally be wintering in Australia or New Zealand, so this is quite a rarity for TX.  I’ve now seen this species in 4 states as a vagrant, along with AK as a breeder.

While I was looking at the Godwit two birders from CO arrived.  They were from CO and said they didn’t know their shorebirds well.  So I not only put them on the Bar-tailed, but also a Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew, and Piping Plover.  Not birds you see in CO very often. 

Since it only took a few minutes to find the Godwit I was now only a few minutes behind schedule – maybe I’d have time for all my targets after all.

And that next target was an Iceland Gull.  This was an adult of the Thayer’s subspecies that was being seen along the John F Kennedy Causeway.  It was always reported at either of 2 fishing piers across a narrow channel from each other.  It seems the bird was looking for handouts among the Laughing Gulls there, and all the posted photographs showed the bird perched on posts at one of the piers. 

I pulled into the parking lot of the first fishing pier, the Cos Way Bait and Tackle, and scanned all the posts.  I had a few Laughing Gulls and a couple Pelicans, but no Iceland Gull.  Then I looked across the channel to the other fishing pier, the Red Dot pier, but again just found Laughing Gulls.  There were also small gull flocks resting in the shallows nearby, but all were still just Laughers.

I guess I might just have to wait a while for the bird to return.  From the Cos Way pier I could see both piers, but I was looking into the sun in order to see the Red Dot pier.  So I decided to drive over there and look back to the north at the Cos Way pier with the sun at my back. 

I drove to Red Dot, and although lighting was much better, I still couldn’t find my target.  The tide was pretty low at the time, and I wondered if the Iceland might be resting on a sand bar somewhere nearby.  I noticed a sleeping flock of gulls a short distance to the northeast beyond this boat.

I pulled out the scope and instantly noticed the third bird from the right was larger than the Laughing Gulls.  It was an adult gull without a hood but had considerable streaking on the head, had a pale back, and a small unmarked bill.  I had the Iceland Gull (State bird #10).  There were 2 other birders there at the time and I was able to get them on the bird as well.  Here’s a distant digi-scoped picture of the bird, of pretty poor quality I’m afraid.

My state bird map of Iceland Gull includes my sightings of both the Thayer’s and Kumlien’s subspecies, as they have recently been lumped into one species.

I was only 30 minutes behind schedule when I headed off so I should have enough time for my entire itinerary.  Especially if my next target, Long-tailed Ducks, were cooperative.  These diving ducks were surprisingly feeding in a shallow saltwater pond in Port Mansfield.  The eBird reports were quite confusing as to the ducks’ exact location, so I reached out to two birders who had recently reported the birds to get directions.  Both gave me directions to a pond just west of the point, labeled as the Port Mansfield Marine Sanctuary hotspot, requiring a short walk to the pond.  But one birder also mentioned they were sometimes seen in a lake east of the point - the Laguna Point Recreation Area hotspot.  He gave me directions to both lakes, so I should hopefully be all set. 

I drove to the small town of Port Mansfield, parking at the corner of Fox and Allen to take the short walk to the pool at the Marine Sanctuary.  But there wasn’t a single duck on this very small pond – just a couple Black-necked Stilts on the bank.  At least it was a short walk back to the car.  I then drove around to the Laguna Point pond.  I did a quick binocular scan and spotted several ducks near the eastern end of the pond.  The first ones I got on were a group of 4 Lesser Scaup.  Then a couple seconds later I spotted the black-and-white plumages of the pair of Long-tailed Ducks (State bird #11).  Here is a picture of the pond – my target birds were in the back below the blue arrow.

Not only were these diving ducks in a shallow pond acting like dabblers.  But they were also very far from their typical wintering range in the northern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and Great Lakes.  TX is now the 6th southern and central state where I’ve seen Long-tailed Duck as a rarity. 

The last stop of the day was an evening Parrot roost at Oliveira Park in Brownsville.  Some recent reports included hundreds of Parrots of up to 4 species – Red-crowned was the most common but there were also a few White-fronted and Violet-crowned which I needed as potential new countable life birds per eBird.  (Though they are not countable per the ABA and the TX Committee.)  And then again, some checklists had few birds and only Red-crowned.  I pulled into the park about 4:45 and found 3 other birders there also waiting for the Parrots.  The birds often don’t come in until close to sunset, which was still an hour away, so we birded the park a bit waiting for the evening flocks to arrive.

Around 5:30 I spotted a large flock of perhaps 100-200 Parrots flying in the distance.  This was looking promising.  But that flock never came to the park.  Finally a flock of about 50 birds flew overhead, circled a couple times, but never landed.  These were mostly Red-crowned but I also picked out at least 2 Red-lored with yellow cheek patches (I’ve already seen this species countable only per eBird), and 2 Yellow-headed (not countable by anyone’s definitions).  Unfortunately that was the end of the Parrot show for that night.  That was quite disappointing, missing both of my targets.  Though at least neither of them are countable per the ABA and TX Committee.

January 8 -  Second Tries for Fan-tailed Warbler and Mountain Plover

This day and the next were designed to be clean-up days to go after anything I had missed from the earlier part of the trip.  And the key miss was the Fan-tailed Warbler.  Since I tried for it on the 5th the bird was seen or heard multiple times on the 6th, but just once on the 7th.  Most sightings were from the original spot on the north side of the resaca, but a couple in the afternoon were from the south side of the resaca.  And there were several heard-only observations, as the bird gave its “tseee” call.  So the bird was still around, and despite its elusiveness, I decided to try for it again on the 8th. 

I arrived at the college campus around 7:30 and was greeted by a stiff wind coming out of the south.  That put the wind right into my face as I stood watch for the bird at its original location.  Soon I was joined by a number of other birders, but once again I couldn’t come up with the bird.  We all wondered if the wind was making it even more elusive than normal.  Then again, at one point I was quite sure I heard the bird giving its “tseee” call several times coming from the brush right in front of me.  I turned to other nearby birders to see if they thought that was the Fan-tailed, but no one even heard the calls.  I wasn’t going to check it off just based on the call notes, especially if no one else heard them.  So after a 4-hour vigil, no sightings by anyone that morning, and seeing almost no other birds, I decided to throw in the towel on the Fan-tailed Warbler. 

The other target that I had missed earlier in the trip was Mountain Plover, which was spotted once again in those same plowed fields the last 2 days.  I had the whole afternoon to try again for these birds, though I had to get there first since it was a hefty drive from Brownsville.  I arrived at the Edinburgh fields at 1:30 and spent the next 3 hours looking for the elusive shorebirds.  I covered 3 times the area I birded on my first trip, and was joined by some other birders who covered some additional area.  We found big flocks of Horned Larks, Mourning Doves, and Western Meadowlarks in the fields, but no Plovers. 

Near the end of my search I spotted a Falcon perched on wires in the distance.  I pulled over to check it out and it turned out to be a Kestrel.  But then I noticed another larger Falcon fly in from the distance.  I first noted it was brown above, and then it passed nearly right overhead giving me a great view of its dark underwing coverts and axillaries – I had a Prairie Falcon (State bird #12).  There was one sighting of a Prairie Falcon in the area 3 weeks earlier, but that was the only other sighting of this rare wintering species in the area this season.  So this species was not on my radar.  And along with sightings of a Merlin and Peregrine that day, it was a nice sweep of the local falcons. 

I only need this Prairie Falcon in 2 more states within its regular range.

January 9 – Third and Final Try for Fan-tailed Warbler

My flight out of McAllen was at 2 PM, giving me the whole morning to bird in the area.  After spending 7 hours trying for the Fan-tailed Warbler and seeing very few birds in general, my first thought was to end my trip at some location that was likely to be a lot more birdy.  Frontera Audubon came to mind - I’ve had great birds there in the past, and a couple rarities were being seen there this winter.  But then I got an email from a birder I met at the Fan-tailed spot mentioning the bird was seen and heard again on the afternoon of the 8th.  I hated to give up on the chance of seeing a life bird, despite the very low odds.  So with some misgivings, I decided to head back to the university campus and give the Fan-tailed Warbler one more try.

The temperatures were in the low 50s when I arrived at the Warbler spot – that’s pretty chilly for a Mexican bird.  So I headed across to the south side of the resaca where the vegetation was in the sun thinking that might be the preferred location for this chilly bird.  Here’s some of that vegetation on the south side of the resaca.

But as I stood there I remembered that birders had the bird at the original north side location at about 5:30 the evening before.  Maybe they were there as the target bird was going to its evening roost, and it might start its day today there as well.  I walked across the bridge to the north side to test my revised theory and there were several birders peering intently into the vegetation.  There had just been a sighting but only by a couple birders.  Darn – I guessed wrong with the feeding-in-the-sunlight theory, but at least the bird was in the area.

I spotted a little movement in the brush, but it was just the resident Wilson’s and Orange-crowned Warblers – undoubtedly the same ones I had seen there several times before.  Over the next hour there were no more sightings.  Had I missed it yet again?

Then about 9 AM I heard the Fan-tailed Warbler’s distinct “tseee” call 3 times coming from the brush.  Surprisingly once again no one else heard it so I alerted everyone.  And just a couple minutes later I heard another call just to the east - the bird must be moving east through the brush.  But still no sightings. 

And then at 10 came word that someone had a sighting of the Warbler a bit farther east.  It turns out there was a trail through the brush that would allow you to stand right in the middle of the thickest vegetation, and the Warbler was passing right through that area.  I got to this spot and almost instantly had the briefest of views of the bird – large for a warbler, with a dark back and long tail.  But that was all I could see.  And then finally at 10:30 I spotted movement down the bank to the resaca and there was the Fan-tailed Warbler – steely gray above, long fanned tail held cocked up a bit with white tips, yellow crown patch, and yellow below with a bit of an orange tint.  After 10 hours of searching over 3 days, I finally had the Fan-tailed Warbler (Lifer #6, State bird #13). What an excellent way to end the trip!  Though I was at the university so long that they almost made me sign up for classes for the spring semester.

Trip Summary

I ended the trip with 162 species, including 6 life birds.  An excellent tally especially compared to my expectations of 4 or 5 lifers.  That allowed me to reach a milestone of 750 for the Lower 48.  I’m now at exactly 750 by ABA’s accountability rules, and 753 by eBird’s rules.  The differences are related to whether several introduced species that I’ve seen are countable.  And my ABA Continental total is 770 per ABA and 772 per eBird.

I was lucky enough to tally 13 state birds, great results compared to my expectations of 9 to 10.  My TX state bird totals are equally as fuzzy.  My TX state list is now at 465 per ABA and 468 per eBird. 

Here is a link to my eBird Trip Report - Lower Rio Grande Valley, Jan 2024 - eBird Trip Report 

As a postscript, I put together this little summary of my 14 prior trips to the LRGV and nearby south TX locations -

·       April 1985 - 21 lifers, including my only ever Tamaulipas Crows

·       April-May 2000 - 12 lifers, including Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, White-collared Seedeater, and Muscovy Duck

·       January 2005 - 4 lifers - Rose-breasted Becard, Green-breasted Mango, White-throated Thrush, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak

·       December 2009 - 1 lifer - Northern Jacana

·       January 2011 - 2 1/2 lifers - Black-vented Oriole, Rufous-Backed Robin, and "Mangrove" Yellow Warbler

·       February 2011 - 1 lifer - Yellow-faced Grassquit

·       January 2012 - 1 lifer - Golden-crowned Warbler

·       November 2013 - 1 lifer - Amazon Kingfisher

·       June 2014 - 1 lifer - Yellow-green Vireo

·       August 2014 - unsuccessful attempt for Collared Plover

·       April 2015 - 1 lifer - Aplomado Falcon

·       August 2015 - 1 lifer - Collared Plover

·       April 2016 - unsuccessful attempt for Blue Bunting

·       February 2018 - 1 lifer - Blue Bunting

And now on my 15th trip in January 2024 – I saw a whopping 6 lifers – Roadside Hawk, Mottled Owl, Prairie Falcon, Gray-collared Becard, Cattle Tyrant, and Fan-tailed Warbler

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 1 – February 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 2 –  February 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.