Manitoba – The Final Frontier, Part 1 of 3, May-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.

One last big picture decision to make was whether to include a trip to Churchill in our MB itinerary.  I’ve heard so much about Churchill over the decades, starting back in the late 1900’s when Ross’s Gulls nested there.  I know Ross’s haven’t been seen there in a while, but birding continues to be great there.  So we talked ourselves into making the extra round-trip flights from Winnipeg to Churchill, though it made for a pricey add-on to the trip.

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.

These next 3 blog posts summarize the MB portion of the trip, with this post summarizing our birding efforts from May 29th through June 1st.  The previous post summarized the MN and ND legs of the trip.

5/29 – Southwest MB – Grasslands

The MB grasslands are located in the far southwestern corner of the province.  After a morning of birding in eastern ND, and a 4-hour drive to reach MB, we knew we wouldn’t be reaching the area until mid-afternoon on the 29th, which wouldn’t be the best time to listen for singing prairie birds.  Instead, we would go to the best prairie spots early the next morning, and look for a couple specific non-singing targets on the afternoon of the 29th – Burrowing Owl and Ferruginous Hawk.  Burrowing Owls are exceptionally rare in MB, and their locations are a well-kept secret.  But most sightings in previous years appeared to be in the Broomhill area so that would be our target search area.  On the other hand, our other target, Ferruginous Hawk, has nested for several years at a well-known location in the grasslands.

We arrived at the border at 2:30 PM, and as we were being interviewed by a Canadian customs officer we were serenaded by a Least Flycatcher and a Western Kingbird.  That’s a nice initiation to MB!  My Canadian province and territory map for Least Flycatcher is inserted below.  Provinces where I’ve seen this species are shaded in light blue – I’ve now seen Least Flycatcher in all 10 provinces.  Cross-hatched jurisdictions are those in the Least Flycatcher’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.

We then started our drive to Broomhill through farming country with patches of prairie and wetlands.  With just 61 species on my province list, most everything we saw was new.  We picked up a few dabbling ducks, Coot, Pied-billed Grebe and Black Tern in pothole ponds.  And added Swainson’s Hawk, Western Meadowlark, and Bobolink foraging in the fields.  Plus some typical “road” birds like Mourning Dove and Brewer’s Blackbirds.  By the time we reached the Broomhill WMA I had added 17 new province birds, bringing the total to 78.

We drove around the roads in the WMA looking for overgrazed fields with animal burrows where Burrowing Owls might be taking up residence.  We first found one overgrazed cattle pasture in the distance but saw no holes or dirt mounds.  Then after a bit more driving, we came upon what looked like the perfect field – overgrazed with little vegetation, and a colony of ground squirrels with quite a number of burrows.  But despite extensive scanning we couldn’t locate any little Owls.  As of mid-June there are still no sightings of Burrowing Owl in the province with the exception of one in April far east of the grasslands. 

But not all was lost as we searched for the Owls, as we added 17 new species to my MB list while driving through the area.  Key additions were birds of the prairie like Upland Sandpiper, Willet, Horned Lark, and Vesper, Clay-colored, and Grasshopper Sparrows.  That brought my list to 95. 

Next we were on to the site of the Ferruginous Hawk nest, mentioned in several eBird reports as located in a nearby cottonwood.  There were only a couple cottonwoods at the site, so it didn’t take long to locate the large stick nest.  Here’s a distant shot of one of the adults on the nest.  The haze in the picture is from thick smoke that was in the air due to the many forest fires ongoing throughout MB.

As we situated ourselves to get a better look we flushed a Sharp-tailed Grouse that surprisingly landed high in the same cottonwood where the Ferruginous nest was located.  And finally, a perched pair of dark-phased Red-tailed Hawks in the distance was a nice find. (MB #96-98)

With our birding done for the day, we headed into the little town of Melita to check into our hotel.  Our two key targets in Melita were Eurasian Collared-Dove and Chimney Swift, both near the edge of their ranges.  As we drove through town I noticed a bird perched on top of a telephone pole, which a quick binocular view revealed to be the Dove.  Collared-Doves are considered to be a rarity in MB per Sibley's range maps.  Hence the reason why it's shaded using a darker blue color as compared to lighter blue in the western provinces where this species is regular.

A bit later we spotted Swifts flying around the town museum, which not surprisingly has a large chimney.  While riding around town we added several others like Purple Martin, Starling, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and Ring-necked Pheasant.  (MB #99-107)

While riding out of town we spotted this statue.  We were told that summers in Melita are warmer than anywhere else in MB.  So warm in fact, that you could grow bananas there.  At least that’s what we were told.

In our late afternoon of birding in MB we had 63 species, adding 46 species to my province list.  And including our initial stops in ND, we had 112 species for the day.

5/30 – Second Day of Grasslands with Nearby Riparian Areas

For our big day of grassland birding we headed to a roughly 4-mile by 2-mile area west of the small town of Lyleton.  In the last few years this area has had the greatest concentration of our target species, though there had just been 1 or 2 checklists so far this year.  On the way to the area, we spotted a couple Gray Partridges along the roadside – a very nice start.

Soon we arrived at Road 4N, with excellent prairie habitat on both sides.  And after a short ride we spotted the first of several Chestnut-collared Longspurs.  Finally, 1 sat cooperatively on the fence just a short distance away for photos.  As I admired this gorgeous bird I noticed something white moving in the grass in the background.  I changed my focus and realized that the moving white objects were the tails of dancing Sharp-tailed Grouse.  We had just found a large lek!  Here’s a shot of the prairie where the Grouse were displaying in the distance.

As we watched the Grouse dancing I picked up 2 singing Baird’s Sparrows on the other side of the road.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any visuals of them.  A bit further on we heard a Sprague’s Pipit calling high overhead.  And with a bit of work I was able to spot a second silent bird hovering well above us.  As we were leaving the area we lucked onto a Loggerhead Shrike perched on the fence, giving us a clean sweep of our prairie targets.  Rounding out our additions for the morning were Brown Thrasher and Cedar Waxwing in small wooded islands, and a Wood Duck in a nearby pond.  I've now seen Wood Duck in each province in its regular range except Alberta, plus I've seen it as a rarity in Newfoundland.

That gave me 8 new species, bringing the MB total to 115.   

Next, we visited a number of riparian areas along the Souris River that can form nice oases of trees surrounded by the prairie.  By far the best stop was at Coulter Park.  The site has quite some history, as reported by the Manitoba Historical Society Archives – “In November 1928, pioneer Francis Coulter donated to the Arthur Pioneers Association this site south of Melita where he had settled, in April 1882. It became known as Coulter Park, or Sourisford Park, after the nearby crossing on the Souris River.”

The heavily wooded site was quite birdy, starting with the Say’s Phoebe we saw right in the road as we arrived, along with calling Willow Flycatchers.  This is one of the few places to find these species in the province.  We also added Yellow-throated Vireo, Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron and Rough-winged Swallow to my MB list. (MB #116-122)

On an evening walk in the heavily wooded Gerald W. Malaher PWMA I didn’t add anything new for my list.  But I did have a calling Merlin, confirmed by Merlin.  (I’ve always secretly wanted to have Merlin identify a calling Merlin.)

Although we quit birding in the heat at lunchtime (remember that Melita Banana Belt story?), we still had 75 species for the day, and I added 15 to my province list, bringing the total to 122. 

5/31 – Whitewater Lake, Oak Lake

This was our first of 2 key days on our trip for waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wetland species.  While doing eBird research on Whitewater and Oak Lakes I reached out to local birder Sandy Hominick for birding advice.  And she in turn connected me with Gillian Richards.  Gillian is a regional reviewer and knows the area like the back of her hand.  But better than just giving us advice, Gillian offered to bird with us around the area – an offer that would prove to be invaluable to us.  Gillian would bring Sandy and their friend Jackie Dixon along as well, giving us lots of eyes to look for our targets.

Our birding started in the parking lot of our Melita hotel with a calling Kingfisher (MB #123).  Then after a short drive, we arrived at our meeting place along the west side of Whitewater Lake, with extensive mudflats that were loaded with shorebirds.  This was just the first of many stops that Gillian led us to around Whitewater Lake.  Here’s one of the best shorebird spots on the north side of Whitewater Lake.

And a shot of the flats at Sexton’s Point that were also full of shorebirds.

By the time we were done birding in and around the wetlands on both the north and south sides of Whitewater Lake I had added 25 new species.  Of our 18 species of waterfowl key additions included Eared and Horned Grebes, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Ross’s and Snow Geese.  And our 17 species of shorebirds featured these additions - Avocet, Sanderling, Dunlin, Red-necked Phalarope, Stilt Sand, Baird’s and Pectoral.  Gulls and Terns were represented by Ring-billed, California, and Forster’s.  And passerines included Nelson’s Sparrow and Lark Sparrow. (MB #124-149)

Next, we were onto the Bethel Road woodlands where as predicted we added breeding Red-headed Woodpecker.  Here’s one of Anita’s pictures of the Woodpecker.

Plus we heard, or should I say “felt”, a drumming Ruffed Grouse (MB #150-151)

Our last few stops of the day were around Oak Lake where I added Western Grebe and White-faced Ibis to my province list (MB #152-153).  And I couldn’t pass on pictures of this distant but cooperative Red-necked Grebe, even if it wasn’t a new species. 

We ended the day with 106 species, including 31 new birds for my MB list, now standing at 153.  I can’t thank Gillian, Sandy, and Jackie enough for all their help!  We would never have been able to find all those great birding spots, and great birds, on our own.

6/1 – Brandon, Riding Mountain NP

We were lucky enough to have Gillian and Sandy offer to show us around the Brandon area the morning of the 1st.  But before we could make it out of the hotel parking lot I added a new bird - a singing House Finch (MB #154).

Our first stop was the Wesman Salvage hotspot where we picked up a rare Red-breasted Merganser which had been spotted there recently (MB #155).

Next, we headed to Douglas Marsh, home of the Yellow Rail.  I couldn’t resist taking this picture of the Douglas Marsh sign with the morning sun eerily shining through the heavy smoke from nearby forest fires.  We probably should have worn masks.

It was a long shot, but we played some tape anyway hoping for a Yellow Rail to respond.  We also tried Le Conte’s Sparrow but with no luck.  Sure looks like a nice marsh though.

Our next stop was the Douglas quarry with its many manmade ponds and lakes.  At one of our first stops we were lucky enough to have an American Bittern fly overhead (MB #156).  Later we found a second one along a small stream.  Plus we got nice looks at this Bank Swallow colony. 

Our last stops of the morning were along the Glenboro bluebird box trail where we hoped for both Eastern and Mountain Bluebirds.  But our first addition was a singing Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Later we finally ran into our first Eastern Bluebirds, and eventually a nesting pair of Mountain Bluebirds. (MB #157-159) Here’s a distant shot of one of the Mountain Bluebirds in the smoky haze.

And a picture of a most cooperative Lark Sparrow – not a new one but still an attractive bird.

It was now time for us to leave the southern tier of MB and start heading north to Riding Mountain NP.  We couldn’t thank Gillian and Sandy enough for all their help putting us on so many birds over the last day and a half!  Here's a shot of the 3 of us - very happy birders!

We arrived at Riding Mountain in the mid-afternoon heat (though at least the smoke had abated).  After a short break at the hotel rooms, we took a stroll around the property picking up Dark-eyed Junco and Common Nighthawk.  (MB #160-161)  Then a quick ride around town and the Wasagaming Campground yielded some nice warblers like Magnolia (MB #162) and multiple Tennessees and Blackburnians. 

Next we were off to the trails around Ominnik Marsh, where we picked up Virginia Rail (MB #163) but couldn’t find the recently reported nesting Trumpeter Swans.  Would we need a return trip to find them? 

And our last new species of the day was a pair of Common Mergansers swimming in the waves of Clear Lake in the distance (MB #164).

We finished the day with 90 species, adding 11 to my province list, now standing at 164.

7 NC Statebirds in First Half of NC/VA Coastal Trip Including Heermann's Gull and Other Nice Rarities, February 14-15, 2022

The Carolina Bird Club (CBC) had originally scheduled its January 2022 meeting for the NC Outer Banks.  But the Omicron Covid variant had other ideas.  Unfortunately, Covid numbers started to peak just before the meeting, and the CBC not surprisingly cancelled the meeting.  I was really looking forward to the guided field trips, not only to bird the coast, but to also learn about how to bird the area in general.  But if the Covid numbers dropped quickly, maybe I could squeeze in a trip to the coast on my own, perhaps in late February. 

And just as I had hoped, the numbers did indeed improve into February.  So I started to plan a 4-day trip to both the upper NC coast as well as southeastern VA.  Given the long travel times to get to the coast that would give me 2 full days of birding at the coast but just a couple hours on the travel days.  It turned out that I was free February 14 to 17, which lined up nicely with some dry but chilly weather.  This was starting to come together.

Then came the research into possible statebirds.  There were a few rarities being seen in both states, along with a number of regular species I still needed for my state lists.  After quite a bit of research I came up with the following tentative itinerary –

·       2/14 – travel to the NC coast, with afternoon birding at the Alligator NWR for an elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher, along with Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk that were occasionally reported

·       2/15 – birding on the OBX starting with a seawatch at Cape Point, then time searching for a recently reported Snowy Owl near the Oregon Inlet campground, then another seawatch at Jennette’s Pier

·       2/16 – an action-packed day in southeastern VA with stops for a number of stakeouts (Bullock’s Oriole, Brewer’s Blackbird, Iceland Gull, and Common Eider) along with a seawatch at Ruddee Inlet, searches for Vesper Sparrows in Northampton County, and ending the day for Woodcocks at Eastern Shore of VA NWR

·       2/17 – a seawatch at dawn at Little Island Park before starting the drive home

But then as I was just about to finalize my plans came a report of a Mountain Bluebird in Wrightsville Beach– a 2nd state record.  The bird was first spotted on Friday (2/11) and continued reliably into the weekend.  And then on the 12th came a report of the 1st state record of Heermann’s Gull foraging in Mason Inlet at the northern end of Wrightsville Beach, just 10 minutes from the Bluebird.  And this was also the area where Long-tailed Ducks, another of my targets, had been recently reported. 

Wrightsville Beach was much farther south than I was planning to travel, but how could I skip those super-rarities?  I briefly considered changing the whole trip to visit the southern NC coast (including Wrightsville Beach) and the northern SC coast instead of heading north.  But then I wondered if I could start my trip with stops at Wrightsville Beach, then head north to still follow the rest of my original plan.  It would mean less time at each planned stop, but if the birds cooperated, I could squeeze it all in. 

Then there was one last complication – although the Bluebird continued to the 13th, the Heermann’s was not re-found that day despite many people searching.  But I figured the Bluebird and Long-tailed Ducks were still worth the extra travel time, so I kept with my revised plan.  And with that itinerary I hoped for perhaps 4 or 5 new statebirds in each state.

This blog post summarizes the NC portion of my trip. The VA portion is summarized in the next post.

February 14 – Wrightsville Beach

The first stop was the tiny island of habitat on an island just off Wrightsville Beach being visited by the Mountain Bluebird.  The entire area measured less than an acre and a half, consisting of a couple parking lots, a few trees, two small buildings, and a boat launch, with numerous telephone wires overhead.  And the bird had been seen perched on all of these features except the buildings.  The Bluebird had been reported that morning, so I was cautiously optimistic. 

I pulled into the parking lot around noon and was surprised to be the only birder there – I guess I’d have to find the bird on my own.  While the car was rolling to a stop I noticed a small bird perched on one of the cedars, but it was just a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  So I got out of the car to look around and not 10 seconds later noticed a bird perched on the wires – I had the Mountain Bluebird!  That was easy (statebird #1).  I took this phonescoped picture of this most cooperative bird. 

What a beautiful bird!  As I write this blog post the bird is still being seen in this same little area.

My statebird map for Mountain Bluebird is inserted below.  The states where I’ve seen this species in its regular range are shaded in blue.  Cross-hatched OK is the last state where I’ve yet to find it as a regular species.  And now NC is the 5th state where I’ve seen Mountain Bluebird as a rarity (shaded in tan). 

Since the Heermann’s Gull hadn’t been seen for two days I decided to not give it a try, and instead began to focus on my next target - Long-tailed Duck.  One had been seen recently at the Johnny Mercer Pier at Wrightsville Beach, and up to 7 had been seen at Masonboro Inlet at the south end of the island.  I figured my chances would be better looking for a small flock of birds, so I headed off to the inlet.  In any case I needed to find them quickly so I still had time to get to Alligator NWR that day to try for my targets there.

After a 10-minute drive, and a short walk through the dunes, I arrived at the inlet.  The Long-tails had been seen near the north jetty as recently as yesterday, though there were no reports today.  Several other birders were set up with scopes peering out into the inlet when I arrived.  No one had yet found the Long-tailed Ducks, though they had found 3 Great Cormorants and a large flock of 34 Purple Sandpipers.  Nice birds for NC, but not my target.  I searched the north jetty extensively, then searched the inlet and the more distant south jetty, but to no avail. 

Should I call it quits at the inlet and head back to the pier to try there?  Then I realized we were all only looking at the south side of the north jetty.  If we walked up the beach just a short distance we could see the north side of the jetty.  Seemed to be worth the try.  And sure enough, I set up the scope on the north side of the jetty and quickly picked up a flock of 5 Long-tailed Ducks swimming close to the jetty (statebird #2).  Just 3 more states to go to see it in its regular range.

That took a little longer than I hoped, but I still had enough time to make the drive to Alligator NWR and bird there for an hour or so before sunset.  However, when I got to the refuge at about 5 PM, the temperatures had dropped into the upper 30’s and it was quite breezy.  Not the best conditions to try to find a Flycatcher.  I scoured the area for maybe a half hour, but not surprisingly didn’t find the Ash-throated.  Plus I didn’t have a chance to get to the agricultural fields where my target raptors might be.  I would have to revise my schedule the next day to get back to the refuge with more time.  At least I had a pretty good handle on how to bird the area where the Ash-throated Flycatcher was being seen.

February 15 – Outer Banks, Alligator NWR

My first stop of the day was at Cape Point to do an extended seawatch.  In the last week one birder had been doing nearly daily seawatches at the Point finding tremendous numbers of nearly every species one might expect, and some spectacular species including 5 that would be new for my statelist like Razorbill, Parasitic Jaeger, Manx Shearwater, Little Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake.  Plus loafing flocks of gulls near the point sometimes included an Iceland and a Glaucous Gull.  Needless to say, it was a target-rich environment, though I thought I’d be lucky to get just 2 or 3.

I drove to the end of Lighthouse Road near the Point, and at sunrise parked my car at the end of the pavement.  Then I “layered-up” and started my mile-long walk in the soft sand to the Point.  Here’s a look at sunrise along the way.

As I headed south there was lots of activity over the ocean with birds flying by both northbound and southbound.  But rather than stop along the way I headed right toward a large gull flock on the beach near the Point.  Unfortunately, neither white-winged gull was there, though it was nice to see dozens of Lesser Black-backs. 

Then I looked toward the Point and noticed a birder standing on a small sand dune scoping the ocean.  I made my way over to him to join him in the seawatch.  It turns out he was the birder who had done all those recent seawatches, Daniel Irons.  He had driven to the Point getting there a bit before me, though I hadn’t missed anything special.  Here’s the view from the top of our dune looking south.

Although this unmagnified picture may not look too spectacular, the ocean was actually alive with birds, featuring large flocks of Gannets, Forster’s Terns, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Red-throated Loons, and Double-crested Cormorants passing by and feeding not too far offshore.  There was also a flock of gulls just a short distance away at the outflow from Salt Pond but once again my target white-winged gulls were not mixed in.  Soon after I arrived Daniel spotted a Little Gull going by – unfortunately I never got on it.  I watched flocks of Bonaparte’s passing by for the next 30 minutes hoping the Little Gull might return but never spotted it.  That was frustrating. 

During one of the slower times I looked back over to the gull flock and instantly spotted an all gray gull with a white head and red bill flying in – I had re-found the Heermann’s Gull!  (statebird #3)  It was last seen 3 days earlier at Wrightsville Beach, some 145 miles away as the Gull flies.  I got this phonescoped photo of the bird standing behind a Ring-billed Gull.

Unfortunately, it only stayed about 10 minutes before it took off heading east disappearing over the ocean.  In the last year I’ve now seen this Pacific Ocean species in GA, VA, and now NC.  Wonder what’s causing it to show up on the Atlantic coast.

With that excitement behind us we turned our interest back to the seawatch.  Activity had slowed quite a bit after the first 90 minutes or so, but some good birds were still passing by.  Daniel spotted a couple Razorbills and this time I was able to pick them up (statebird #4).  And a bit later I was also able to find a Manx Shearwater that Daniel had picked up (statebird #5).  NC was my 6th state for this species which is regular through most of the Atlantic coast, though not often seen from shore.

Manx map

After about 3 hours on the point I decided to end my seawatch, very happy to have seen 3 new statebirds, including re-finding the Heermann’s Gull.  On the way back I ran into 3 very tame “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows feeding in the sand - a nice ending for this spot and a welcome break during the long walk in soft sand.

My planned next stop was near the Oregon Inlet Campground to try for a recently reported Snowy Owl.  Unfortunately it had not been reported for 3 days, and since I needed to get back to Alligator NWR, I decided to pass on this low probability target and headed right to the refuge.  Though I certainly kept my eyes open as I passed through the area.  (It turns out that the bird was not seen again after the 12th so I made the right decision.)

I rolled into Alligator NWR at about 12:30 and went right to the western end of Sawyer Lake Rd to search for the Ash-throated Flycatcher.  It had been reported that morning so I was hopeful, but there were also many negative reports over the last several days.  There were only a few reports that mentioned the location of the bird, and all described it as being on the north side of the road along a canal that paralleled the road.  One report mentioned it was with a Phoebe, and another included pictures of the bird eating sumac berries.  I spent nearly 2 hours at this location without seeing the bird.  Though I found a couple Phoebes, sumac berries, and even a Phoebe eating the sumac berries. 

Then I remembered one report saying it responded to taped calls.  I started playing some tape and after a while got a bird to call back several times in response.  It gave a “breep” or perhaps “peek” call which certainly sounded flycatcher-like but was unlike the calls I was playing.  I told myself I’d have to listen to other recordings to see what I was hearing.  That night I went onto the Xeno-canto website and there were many recordings of this call note from Ash-throated Flycatcher.  In fact, there were more of these calls than those similar to the taped calls I was playing in the field.  Here’s a link to the calls on the website-

https://xeno-canto.org/species/Myiarchus-cinerascens

Although I sure wish I had seen the bird, I was confident that I had heard the Ash-throated Flycatcher (statebird #6).  This bird which is principally found in the southwest is prone to vagrancy, and I’ve now added it to my lists in 6 eastern states plus KS.

Then I was off to the ag fields in Alligator NWR where there had been occasional reports of a Rough-legged Hawk, and a few older reports of Golden Eagle.  I was running out of time but spent perhaps a half hour driving along the fields looking for raptors.  I had good numbers of Harriers, Red-tails, and Vultures, but none of my targets.  Though a hovering buteo that turned out to be a Red-tail sure got my attention for a while.  (Ironically later in the day I had a Rough-legged Hawk just across the state line in VA – but I don’t need it in VA.)  And a long-staying Sandhill Crane was nice.  I wanted to stay longer but still planned to do a seawatch from Jennette’s Pier, so I needed to move on.  Unfortunately, I was still paying the price for adding that diversion to Wrightsville Beach.

I rolled into Jennette’s Pier at about 3 PM – lighting and visibility were excellent so now I just needed the birds to cooperate. 

The pier sticks some 900 feet out into the ocean so seabirds can sometimes be pretty close.  At first it was quite slow with just a few Forster’s Terns passing by and both Red-throated and Common Loons on the water.  Then I noticed a Razorbill flying north, then another, and then a small flock.  Over the next 45 minutes I counted 14 flying by, and 2 very distant alcid flocks numbering 42 birds that were probably Razorbills but I entered them as “large alcid sp.”  Then I picked up a group of 3 Razorbills on the water not too far offshore.  While watching them another much smaller alcid flew through my scope field.  I watched it for a couple seconds until it dropped to the water and disappeared in the swells.  It was like a football with rapidly beating wings, with a short neck and small head and bill.  I had found a Dovekie! (statebird #7). 

What a great way to end the NC portion of my trip!  Although I was more than a bit rushed at times, I’m glad I added the side-trip to Wrightsville Beach.  And with 7 new birds that brings my NC list to 320.  The link to the eBird Trip report for this NC portion of my coastal trip is inserted below-

https://ebird.org/tripreport/39063

I could only hope to have similar successes in Virginia!

(My next post summarizes the VA portion of my trip.)

Mountain Bluebird, Portsmouth, NH, April, 2016

It was early Saturday morning and I had just settled in to get caught up on some paperwork.  Then my cell phone rang and it was David Donsker – he was in route to a Mountain Bluebird just found at the Pease Golf Course in Portsmouth, NH.  I hadn’t heard about this sighting yet, so I was very happy that David had called me.  Needless to say that changed my plans in a big way.  Within 10 minutes I was out the door heading to Portsmouth.  Along the way I got an update call from David reporting that he was on the bird as it was perched with some Eastern Bluebirds on top of the fence separating the golf course parking lot and the airport area.  I was most optimistic with these very explicit micro-directions.  But then he gave me a second call a few minutes later suggesting I get there quickly because the bird was working its way down the fence and could eventually move out of sight.  Unfortunately I was still 20 minutes away but crossed my fingers that I could still get there in time.

When I arrived I quickly found a small group of birders at the far edge of the golf course parking lot, but no one was looking at the bird.  Then I got the scoop from Jason Lambert who first spotted the bird - just a couple minutes before I arrived the Bluebird had worked its way down the fence line and out of sight, just as David had predicted.  Jason then wondered if we could walk farther down the fence line to try to refind the bird, though that would mean leaving the parking lot and walking into the golf course proper.  Without any “No Trespassing” signs in view, and the possibility staring at me that I had missed the bird by mere minutes, I quickly said that we should take our chances and walk farther down the fence line to give it a try.

With just a 50 yard walk from the parking lot we were able to see a section of fence that was not visible from the parking lot.  I quickly spotted a Bluebird perched on the fence but it was just an Eastern.  Then I spotted a second Bluebird and it was indeed the female Mountain Bluebird.  We got some acceptable views of the bird, but at considerable distance.  Just then the Mountain Bluebird flew up the fence line and landed practically right in front of us next to the parking lot.  This cooperative bird offered up these “Kodak moments” -

It is reported in “The Birds of New Hampshire” by Keith and Fox that there was only one previous record of Mountain Bluebird in NH “which was never verified and for which adequate details have not survived”.  So perhaps this is the first accepted NH record.  And along with sightings of Tufted Duck and Redwing (also both NH state firsts) in March, this continues a remarkable string of excellent rarities in the Granite State. 

Mountain Bluebird was #361 for me in NH, and my 4th New England State for this species.  Plus of course I’ve seen this common species throughout almost all of its regular range in the west.

Mountain Bluebird, Fort Getty, Jamestown, RI, November 2012

Just before leaving on a business trip a flurry of posts came across the RI listserve about a Mountain Bluebird seen at Fort Getty in Jamestown – just a couple miles from where the Wood Sandpiper had been seen earlier in the fall.  It had apparently been first discovered a couple weeks earlier, so I hoped that it would stick around till when I got back in town.  Each day while I was gone there were posts that the bird was being seen reliably at the small Fort Getty park (there were no negative posts as all), so I was cautiously optimistic that it would still be around when I returned.

I headed to southern RI my first day back, arriving at Fort Getty early in the morning.  A quick look around the park did not yield the bluebird, though I did find a late Blackpoll Warbler.  I ran into another birder who had been there a while who also had not seen the bird, though she found the Blackpoll too.  My optimism was waning – would I be the first birder to miss the bluebird?.  I spent the next 45 minutes walking around the little park but with no luck.  A flyover flock of siskins with at least one redpoll was a minor consolation.  I started to wonder if the bluebird had relocated to one of the pastures near the entrance of Fort Getty Road.  I mentioned my theory to the other birder, and she said she would check it out on her way out of the park.  Sure enough, two minutes later, the other birder called me to report she found the bird in the eastern-most pasture on Fort Getty Road.  Two minutes later I was at the field getting good scope views of the Mountain Bluebird.

A couple minutes later we saw the bird fly off to the west.  So I went back to the campground (after a quick stop along Fort Getty Rd to see the Cattle Egret that had been feeding in the pasture) and instantly found the bluebird fly-catching from low posts at its more traditional location. 

RI was my third New England state for this casual vagrant to the east.  And of course I've seen it in most of the states in its normal range out west.