2018 Birding Year in Review

2018 was once again filled with lots of exciting birding, featuring stops in 17 states and 2 provinces over the year.  My longest birding trip was a 11-day trek through Newfoundland, punctuated by finding quite a number of rarities.  Yes my focus in total ticks has evolved to include a lot more birding in Canada.  Back in the states, I continued to make progress toward reaching my “Reportable Plus 15” goal throughout the Lower 48, facilitated by a number of short trips to focus on individual state lists.  And speaking of rarities, I continued to chase after new birds for my New England lists, which are nearly all rarities these days.  That includes 2 days in August which were my best ever 2 consecutive days of birding.  On all my trips I received tremendous help from local birders.  Many thanks to all who gave me great advice!  

First the year by the numbers -

Total Ticks

With 143 ticks in Canada and another 69 ticks in the US in 2018, that increased my total ticks to 14,712.  I’m well on my way to my goal of 15,000 with a manageable 288 to go.  As of January 1st my list continues to be the highest reported on the ABA website – a lead of more than 1,100.

ABA Area Totals

• A total of 8 new ABA lifebirds.  
• Nazca Booby - San Diego Bay, WA
• Blue Bunting - finally on my 5th try over the years - Quinta Mazatlán, TX
• Gray-headed Swamphen - Green Cay Wetlands, FL
• Egyptian Goose - Snook Island Natural Area, FL
• Great Black Hawk - Biddeford, ME
• Bridled Tern - Great Gull Island, NY
• Northwestern Crow - seen in Seattle, WA in 1992 but for some reason I had left it off my Lower 48 list
• Common Shelduck - seen in 2017 and accepted by the NH Rare Bird Committee in 2018
• ABA Continental (not including Hawaii) - now at 757
• ABA (including Hawaii) - 760 (my Hawaii list is tiny)
• Lower 48 - 737 (the list I'm proudest of)
• US (including Hawaii) - 758
• Canada - 376

State and Province Birding Totals (see my statebird and province maps below with totals for each state and province) -

• ABA reportable in 46 states plus DC (no additional states in 2018)
• “Reportable Plus 15” in 42 states plus DC (adding NV, WY, and VA in 2018)
• 212 new state birds and province birds.  New ticks in 17 states and 2 provinces.
• 17 new statebirds in New England – 2,072 total ticks now in New England
• Total Ticks – now at 14,712, with 13,222 of those in the U.S.

Now on to some of the key highlights of 2018 -

Newfoundland Total Ticks Trip – June/July

This was the third year in a row where my big “Total Ticks Trip” was to Canada, making an 11-day trip through Newfoundland in June and July – my first ever trip to that province.  As I was putting my plans together to visit this beautiful province, I made two key observations that were somewhat surprising -

• Many of the birds that are regular here in New England don't typically make it as far north as Newfoundland.  And even birds I think of as northern species like Bay-breasted and Blackburnian Warblers are rare in Newfoundland.  But many of these “southern” species will overshoot their regular ranges and are rarities to hope for in Newfoundland - especially in spring and early summer.
• There are few species in general in the area.  While a "Big Day", or even just a full day of birding in New England, will often far exceed 100 species, breaking 100 in Newfoundland in a day is quite unlikely.

After several months of preparations, I planned an 8-day itinerary covering a large portion of Newfoundland (but not Labrador).  And despite all this birding, I expected perhaps just 96 species, though of course I hoped to run into several rarities.  A silver lining to encountering lower number of species was that it would be relatively easy to keep accurate totals of the exact numbers of each species I saw and heard at each location – all to be entered into eBird.

But wait a second – I planned an 8-day trip but ended up with 11 days in Newfoundland.  The difference was an aborted planned side trip to the French islands of St. Pierre et Miguelon.  The plan was to take a ferry to the islands from Newfoundland, giving me 2 days on St. Pierre, plus a short side trip to the island of Langlade.  But there is precious little information about birding in the French territory, few eBird posts (none just prior to my trip), and I was unable to connect with any birders there even to just suggest the best locations to bird while on the island.  So my hope was that I might get 50 species there by just wandering around St. Pierre on my own looking for nice habitat.  Not exactly the best situation.  As a result, I wasn’t too disappointed when my ferry to St. Pierre ended up being canceled.  Though on the negative side it meant passing up on what was likely my only ever opportunity to get any “ticks” in this tiny ABA jurisdiction.  On the positive side, it also meant a couple extra days in Newfoundland.

My initial itinerary included –

• Multiple stops throughout the Avalon Peninsula which is the easternmost portion of the province and the best part of Newfoundland for seabirds. 
• Several days in the southwestern corner of Newfoundland which is the key area for most of the southern species which barely get as far north as Newfoundland as breeders.  Not to mention the best area for hope for those southern rarities.
• Gros Morne National Park with excellent boreal habitat.

And then with additional time with the cancellation of the St. Pierre leg of my trip, I added stops in and around the Terra Nova National Park for additional time in boreal habitat, the seabird nesting colony at Cape St. Mary’s, and additional stops on the Avalon Peninsula.

Before getting to the results of the trip, I want to thank local birders Alvan Buckley and Jared Clarke who provided a lot of general advice, as well as tips to bird a number of my key sites.  Many thanks Alvan and Jared!

My results were absolutely spectacular, literally from my first day to the last few minutes of my time in Newfoundland.  For instance boreal species were key targets, and I was successful with Red Crossbills, Pine Grosbeaks, Boreal Chickadees, Canada Jays, Spruce Grouse, and Olive-sided Flycatchers.  Though I never found a Black-backed Woodpecker or White-winged Crossbill.

Another key highlight was the amazing seabird nesting colony at Cape St. Mary’s with large numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Thick-billed and Common Murres, and Razorbills.  This spot was not on my original itinerary since it is a bit far to get to, and each species would be feasible elsewhere, but with my extra time resulting from the canceled St. Pierre trip, I was able to spend much of an afternoon there.  I’m sure glad I decided to make a stop here.  Here are some of the many photos I took of the nesting colony.

Elsewhere I also made stops at nesting colonies of Fulmar and Atlantic Puffins to round out the list of nesting pelagic species.

Then there were the rare but regular species in the southwest part of the province.  I was able to catch up with all my targets there, like Great Blue Heron, Veery, Least Flycatcher, Willet, and Blackburnian Warbler.  And I can’t forget seeing multiple Black-headed Gulls at Stephenville Crossing which is likely the only known place in North America where they breed.

Even rarer were a number of unexpected but staked-out rarities including – Northern Parula, Eastern Kingbird, Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Sora, Great Cormorant, Killdeer, and Tufted Duck.  Though several of these hadn’t been reported for a week or two.  I guess there hadn’t been too many birders around since they were found earlier in the spring.

Here are pictures of the Kingbird, Great Cormorant, and Killdeer, the last one by holding my phone up to my binoculars.

And finally there was an amazing total of rarities I found on my own –

• Seabirds – Cory’s Shearwater (though locals wanted me to call it a “Shearwater, sp.”), King Eider, and a Sandwich Tern
• Marshbirds – Virginia Rail and Bobolinks (surprisingly in a cattail marsh instead of a field)
• Landbirds – Black-throated Blue Warbler (2 singing males), another Parula, and a Black-billed Cuckoo

Here are some very distant photos of the Sandwich Tern taken in a driving rain storm.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include some scenery shots from this beautiful province.  Like these pictures from Gros Morne NP.

And one from atop the Starlite Trail in the Codroy Valley in the southwestern corner of the province.  This is the spot in the province for Least Flycatcher and Veery, both of which I found there.  This is taken from the “Veery overlook” - that's my car in the parking lot far below.

And one of my favorite sightings was my first ever iceberg, visible (but just barely) on the horizon in this picture taken from the northern Newfoundland coast at Anchor Brook.  

Then there are weather-related pictures – first one from the south coast in the fog when visibility was just a few feet.  That day I had hoped to do some seawatches – needless to say, the fog changed my plans that day.

And one day when it snowed quite heavily, requiring plowing of the roads in late June!

The Trip by the Numbers

• 141 total species in Newfoundland, including finding a bunch of rarities, plus multiple stakeouts.  To think I only expected about 96 species.
• Found 95 of the 96 species that I thought were “likely” – amazing!
• 19 warbler species, with the most common being 58 Yellows, 56 Black-and-whites, 44 Northern Waterthrushes, 40 Magnolias, and 40 Black-throated Greens.
• 96 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers – likely more than I’ve ever seen in all my 51 years of birding combined!
• 0 species on St. Pierre as that part of my trip was canceled
• 7 new Canada species – total now at 376
• 4 days with precipitation – often heavy rain, strong winds, very dense fog, and even one day when it snowed heavily.  Often requiring me to change my itinerary to do landbirding when it wasn’t raining (or at least not raining very hard), and birding from the car (often as seawatches) when the conditions were the worst.
• 61.2 miles and 144,600 steps walked (assuming you believe my Fitbit)
• 4,000 kilometers driven (2,500 miles) – at least my rental car was a hybrid getting 5.7 L/100 km (or 41.5 mpg if I did the math right)

Smaller Statebirding Trips

In addition to my big total ticks trip I added birds in 11 states outside of New England and one province, most with short additions to work trips across the country.  That included adding 3 new states to my “Reportable Plus 15” list, while on other trips I was just trying to fill in gaps in my statelists, frequently using eBird Needs Alerts as an invaluable tool.  Highlights included –

19 NV Statebirds, Plus 1 in AZ, and a Lifer in CA, February – A rare alignment of work trips in southern CA on consecutive weeks provided me an opportunity for a free birding weekend in the “area”.  I use “area” in quotes since I spent most of the weekend birding in the greater Las Vegas area to fill gaps in my NV statelist.  Though my first stop was in San Diego to successfully tick off Nazca Booby as a lifebird, finding 2 of the long-staying birds in San Diego Bay.  What was most gratifying was finding the first bird at a distance of 1.25 miles in the pre-dawn light.

In NV, I planned a detailed itinerary chasing 24 possible targets, expecting to add perhaps 10 or 11 new birds to my statelist.  Prior to the trip I was 8 over the old ABA threshold, so I hoped this trip would safely get me to Reportable Plus 15.  I ended up with an amazing 19 new birds for my list, and 142 species on the trip.  And quite a number were rarities with 11 of the eBird NV “Rarity” sightings at the time being my birds.  

One of the highlights was seeing three rarities all sitting within a few feet of each other on a jetty in Lake Mead – I found a first-year Thayer’s (Iceland) Gull, and re-found a long-staying Neotropic Cormorant and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.  

Here are a few photos some of my other new NV statebirds - 

Eurasian Wigeon in flock of Americans

Ferruginous Hawk

Curve-billed Thrasher in the distance

And for good measure, I was able to add these Surf Scoters above the Davis Dam on Lake Mead just barely in AZ waters.  

My NV statelist now stands at 269 which is obviously way above the old ABA reportable threshold of 242.  So no need to come back to bird in NV, that is unless I’m searching for a Himalayan Snowcock…

Two Lifebirds and Three Other Statebirds in South Florida, April.  It’s been quite a number of years since the ABA added Gray-headed Swamphen and Egyptian Goose to the ABA list.  And although I had seen both species in south FL about 10 years ago, that was before they were deemed to be countable by the ABA with viable populations, so I had never added them to my list.  Needless to say when a vacation to visit FL relatives came up in April, I added a couple extra days in the southeast portion of the state to try for these two lifebird targets.  It turned out that both were relatively easy.  For the Swamphen I chose Green Cay Wetlands and Nature Center southwest of West Palm Beach as my best option.  I ended up with 5 Swamphens there, and although they were outnumbered by 30 Common and 3 Purple Gallinules, they really stood out.  Here’s a photo of a most cooperative bird.

As for Egyptian Goose, research on eBird suggested there was a pair in most every park or golf course in the area that included a freshwater pond.  But most locations had just a few sightings, and never more than a couple birds.  The key exception was Snook Island Natural Area and the adjacent golf course where there were several eBird reports including a family group with multiple goslings, so this seemed to be my best opportunity.  It took a little while, but I eventually found these 2 Egyptian Geese preening right in front of me. 

At other stops on the trip I added Yellow-headed Blackbird, Nelson’s Sparrow, and found a rare Cerulean Warbler as additions to my FL statelist, which now stands at 319.

Six Statebirds in Colorado and Two in Wyoming to Reach “Reportable Plus 15”, July.  A summer family vacation to the greater Denver area provided me a nice opportunity to fill some gaps in my CO statelist.  I came up with a realistic list of 7 possible targets, and interestingly all were birds primarily from the east, most barely reaching CO.  I was lucky enough to find 6 of these targets, including a stakeout but difficult-to-locate Common Gallinule.  I got this distant phonescoped shot barely showing the orangey red bill and a bit of its dark body as it was tucked into the reeds.  You can probably see why it was so tough to locate this rarity.

Interestingly, the day I saw this bird was the last day it was reported.  I ended the trip with a CO statelist of 280.

In WY I was 2 species shy of Reportable Plus 15, so I was happy to come up with 3 possible targets in the southeastern part of the state just across the line from CO.  Luckily I added exactly 2 birds – Dickcissel and Lesser Goldfinch – making WY my 43rd state reaching Reportable Plus 15.  

Six Statebird Additions in Texas, Multiple Short Trips – Work took me to Houston most every month of the year, providing multiple opportunities for short side-trips to try to add a target or two nearby.  I was able to squeeze in stops to add 6 new birds to my statelist, bringing my TX list to 445.

• Glaucous Gull, Gannet, and Yellow Rail on Galveston Island in March
• Blue Bunting (lifebird) and Allen’s Hummingbird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in February.  The Bunting was perhaps my greatest nemesis bird anywhere in the US, after 4 unsuccessful searches for this species, going back to literally my first trip to the Valley in 1985 (33 years ago – yikes!)
• Ferruginous Hawk at the Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR in February
• Plus a non-countable Red-vented Bulbul in Houston in September

Best Ever 2 Days of Birding, August – An amazing number of extreme rarities were found across New England in mid August.  Despite a large carbon footprint, I found all four first state records (2 in NH, 1 in ME, and 1 in RI) over a 2-day period.  And for good measure, I was able to get a boat out to Great Gull Island, NY in Long Island Sound to finally see the Bridled Tern as a lifebird, after 2 unsuccessful boat trips to look for this bird in CT waters in 2017.  A few details on these “Best Ever 2 Days of Birding” - 

Day 1 -

• Great Black Hawk, Biddeford ME.  2nd ABA record, 1st record for New England,1st record for ME
• Neotropic Cormorant, Gorham, NH.  1st record for New England, 1st record for NH
• Wood Stork, Rochester, NH.  1st accepted record for NH

Day 2 -

• Little Egret, Westerly, RI.  1st record for RI
• Bridled Tern (life bird), Great Gull Island, NY.

Here are photos of the Hawk, Cormorant, Stork, and Tern.  Unfortunately the Egret wasn't as cooperative.

  

New England Birding

Even though I reached my goal of 2,000 total ticks in New England 3 years ago, I continue to spend a lot of time chasing after rarities in the 6 New England states.  In 2018 I was successful in seeing 16 new birds, including the Great Black Hawk in Biddeford, ME as a lifebird.  I also added Common Shelduck to my NH and life lists, seen in NH in 2017 and accepted by the NH Rare Bird Committee in 2018. 

Key highlights in addition to those during my “Best Ever 2 Days of Birding” (summarized above) were –

• Blue Grosbeak found on my own in Brattleboro, VT – only the 8th state record
• Roseate Spoonbill at Milford Point, CT – first state record (I didn’t chase after this same individual in Maine when it was a 5-hour drive northeast of me)
• Evening Grosbeak in Exeter, RI – a bit of a milestone as the 250th species I’ve seen in each of the 6 New England states

That’s 2 years in a row when I saw just 16 new species in New England.  This continues my downward trend starting in 2017 - from 1999 to 2016 I averaged 31 new ticks per year.  I guess I’m a victim of my own success. 

2019 and Beyond

I’m continuing to work on my 2 big goals – 15,000 Total Ticks, and Reportable Plus 15 throughout the Lower 48 states.  Reaching the latter goal would include being reportable in my last 2 remaining Lower 48 states (MT and OR).  Here’s a possible path to reach all these goals-

• Lower 48 Reportable Plus 15 - I only have 6 states left in the Lower 48 where I haven’t reached Reportable Plus 15.  Reaching that goal in each of those states would add 109 ticks (I only need an average of 18 birds per state). 
• Hawaii – now that Hawaii is part of the ABA, even a short tourist-related trip could add 33 ticks to increase my state total to 40.
• New England – I think I can realistically get at least 12 new ticks per year.
• Canada – with a bit of work I could get to 125 each in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 

If I could reach all these milestones, likely over the next 3 or 4 years, that would give me 340 new ticks, or 15,052 total ticks.  Not to mention I’ll undoubtedly add a few additional ticks here and there.  All in all quite feasible with a little travel.

That would require only about 4 or 5 trips to reach most all of these goals –

• Eastern OR and southern ID,
• Western MT and the panhandle of ID,
• Canadian prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba along with North Dakota (or is that 2 trips?)
• Hawaii – even with just a bit of birding during a trip focused on tourism.

And for 2019?  As of now I have no specific plans for trips in the new year.  Having recently become unemployed (or is it retired?), I no longer have business trips around which to plan statebirding adventures.  But if this truly is retirement, that gives me more time to chase rarities, whether locally or in some distant state or province.  And maybe retiring to a different part of the country could be in the cards – perhaps to the mountains of western NC or maybe CO.  I would dearly miss my New England friends, not to mention New England birding.  But I would look forward to having an opportunity to beef up my statelists in another part of the country.  And then there’s my interest in starting my own bird guiding company which I’ve contemplated for years.

Lots of options.  An exciting time ahead…

19 Statebirds Near Las Vegas – Reportable Plus 15 (and then some) in Nevada, February 2018

With business trips to southern CA and the San Francisco Bay area on consecutive weeks, I decided to stay out in CA and take the weekend “off” instead of flying back and forth both weeks.  Not only would it save my company some money, but it would also give me some birding time in the region.  For a few years I’ve been thinking of adding some vacation time to a southern CA trip to head to the Las Vegas area to work on my NV list, and this would be the ideal opportunity.  My NV list was at 250 which is 8 over the ABA reportable limit.  But that put me 7 short of my somewhat arbitrary goal of 15 over that threshold – “Reportable Plus 15” as I call it.  So I set up an eBird Needs Alert for NV and there were indeed lots of possibilities for my NV list in and around Las Vegas.  The trip was on! 

And then to supplement my eBird research I reached out to NV birder Rob Lowry.  Rob and I have birded together in the Carson/Reno Valley area in the past where he is based.  But more importantly for this trip, Rob spends a lot of time birding throughout NV, and he gave me some great tips on several of my targets.  Plus he put me on to a couple possibilities that weren’t even on my radar screen.  So with Rob’s help I came up with a list of 24 recently reported target species that would be new for my NV statelist.  Of course some were long shots, so I hoped for maybe 10 or 11 new birds on this trip – Reportable Plus 15 was definitely in my sights. 

And then while fine-tuning my NV plans I remembered seeing reports of Nazca Booby’s in southern CA.  With a bit of research on the eBird Rarities Alerts I found daily sightings of up to 4 Booby’s in San Diego Bay.  And then I noticed multiple sightings of Streak-backed Oriole in Tucson.  Both would be life birds for me.  Could I make a giant loop south to San Diego, east to Tucson, north to Las Vegas, and then back toward Los Angeles before flying north to SFO?  I wouldn’t be proud of my carbon footprint, but it was all possible if I made it a 3-day weekend, though I wouldn’t have much time in NV.  But as the trip neared the Oriole was less cooperative, and not even reported in the week leading up to my trip, so I decided to pass on the Oriole and just focus on the Booby and NV.  As a result my plan was to get an early start out of LA and be in San Diego at dawn to try for the Booby, then make the trek northeast to NV for a long weekend of birding there. 

Day 1

The first leg of the trip couldn’t have gone any better – I had a pair of Nazca Booby’s in San Diego Bay before the sun had even risen on the first day.  (see my previous blog post for a summary of the Booby sighting)  I then quickly checked all the websites one last time in hopes that the Oriole had returned – but there were no updates on NARBA, eBird, or the AZ listserve.  So although I was disappointed to pass on another possible life bird, it was indeed on to NV.

I finally arrived in southern NV in mid-afternoon and my first stop was the tiny town of Searchlight to try for Curve-billed Thrasher (thanks to Rob for the tip on this one!).  According to eBird, this species had been seen in and around the town since 2014 but in very low numbers, and in multiple places around town.  There were only a few recent reports, but most mentioned singing birds, though with no one spot apparently being more reliable than others.  So I thought the best initial approach might be to slowly drive through town listening for singing Thrashers. 

I had driven no more than a few blocks through Searchlight when I thought I heard a Thrasher singing in the distance.  I stopped the car and listened intently (luckily there was no traffic) – it indeed sounded like the paired phrases of a Thrasher.  After a short walk I spotted a Curve-billed Thrasher fly up to perch on a TV antenna, soon to be joined by a second bird.  That was easier than I expected, and new NV statebird #1.  And since the bird was so cooperative, I got this record shot holding my phone up to my binocs.

 

Next I was off to the Davis Dam area on Lake Mead where numerous eBird posts included 4 possible statebirds – Barrow’s Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, Hooded Merganser, and Herring Gull – along with one post of a pair of Harlequin Ducks.  Though several mentioned possible complications regarding which state the birds were actually in - different portions of the Colorado River are in NV or AZ depending on exactly where you were along the river.  For instance, although more than half of the river in the stretch farther downstream of the dam was in NV, the area right below the spillway was mostly in AZ.  And many of the photos of the Goldeneyes and Scaup posted on eBird showed the birds in this spillway area were likely in AZ.

As soon as I arrived in the little park below the dam I could see many waterfowl and cormorants loafing below the dam.  But with a quick review of the location of the NV/AZ stateline, I realized that virtually all were in AZ.  I got out the scope and with some scanning I soon found all 3 of my waterfowl targets – 6 Barrow’s, 5 Hooded Mergs, and at least 8 Greater Scaup.  But all were in AZ waters, and none were new AZ statebirds.  Eventually I spotted at least 1 Greater Scaup far enough downstream to be in NV (statebird #2), but the Mergs were far into AZ.  Two pairs of the Barrow’s were tantalizingly close to the NV stateline – but each time the currents moved them farther from the dam (and closer to NV), they would swim back into AZ.  Ugh…  So close but so far away…  I then walked a bit downstream and found a small flock of gulls on a sandbar, but all were Ring-bills with no target Herring among them.  This was turning out to be a bit frustrating.

With a bit of time on my hands, I decided to head above the dam on the AZ side where Surf Scoters had been reported, which would be a new AZ statebird.  After a 15-minute drive I got to an overlook above the dam (less than a mile from my first location “as the scoter flies”), and quickly spotted 3 Surf Scoters in the distance.  I got this passable phonescoped photo of AZ statebird #296. 

 

 

I also had 2 Pacific Loons which are rare for AZ but I had already seen them in the state.  With my sole AZ target under my belt, I quickly started to make my way back to the NV waters below the dam.  But along the way I noticed I could access the part of the river farther below the dam from a campground on the AZ side.  I pulled in there hoping for a different angle on the river, and quickly found the first of several Hooded Mergansers feeding well within NV waters (statebird #3).  I now have seen this species in each state in the Lower 48 except WY (see my statebird map below).

 

Then I spotted a female Goldeneye, but it was just a Common - I still needed Barrow’s for my NV list.  So I headed back to the dam to see if they had crossed the stateline.  Both pairs were still in AZ waters, but now they were mostly sleeping.  They would let the current move them close to NV, but then they would wake up and swim back into AZ, then fall asleep again.  I watched them do this multiple times – “lather, rinse, repeat” - as if they were taunting me.  But then finally one time they let the current take them farther from the dam and I felt good about adding them to my NV list (statebird #4).  When updating my statebird map I was a bit surprised to see that NV was my 19th state for this less-than-common species.

 

It was now getting late and I headed to my Las Vegas hotel happy that I had seen most of targets on both sides of the river.  And with the Booby in CA, that gave me statebirds in 3 states on the same day – only the 4th time I’ve been able to do that.

Day 2

I started at dawn in cool crisp weather at the Clark County Wetlands on the east side of Las Vegas.  This is a very nice park with manmade wetlands apparently managing treated wastewaters generated in the city.  Recently reported targets here included Peregrine, Ferruginous Hawk, Golden-crowned and White-throated Sparrows, and Least Bittern, though none were reliable.  My early morning walk through the trails yielded several raptors (Harriers, Cooper’s Hawks, Red-tails, and a Kestrel), but no Peregrine or Ferruginous.  And the only sparrows I could scare up were a few White-crowns and Songs.  So I decided to spend some time playing tape for the Least Bittern in several locations with nice cattail habitat, but again with no luck.  I was striking out.

I then diverted my attention to the southeast where a large flock of gulls were milling about.  Lighting was awful, but they all seemed to be Ring-bills.  Then I started hearing some Canada Geese honking from that general area, and then spotted a flock of about 20 Canadas flying right toward me.  With nothing else to look at I decided to check the flock closely on the off chance that a Cackling could be mixed in.  And sure enough there was 1 smaller goose in the flock, and it flew by close enough to see the shorter bill and steeper forehead – a Cackling Goose!  That was lucky.  (statebird #5)

Then I was off to the adjacent Duck Creek area of the Wetlands where there had been a single recent report of 2 Dunlins – it was likely a long shot but I thought I’d give it a try.  This portion of the park consisted of several man-made ponds with varying water levels.  I slowly walked along hoping to find some good mudflats to find the target shorebirds.  The first pond was nearly dry with no mud, and the second one was full of water with no exposed banks at all.  But then I reached the third one and it had a large expanse of mudflats (“just right” as they’d say in the Goldilocks story).  I started panning across the flats and soon had 4 Dunlins feeding in the mud (statebird #6).  I also found 6 Least Sands, a Greater Yellowlegs, and 5 Killdeer.  I only need Dunlin in 5 more states and DC to complete my statebird map for this quite common shorebird. 

This pond also had a nice collection of waders including Great Blue, Snowy, Great, Black-crowned Night Heron and White-faced Ibises.  Plus an uncooperative sparrow that sounded like it might have been a Swamp, but it wouldn’t show itself.

I headed out right on schedule and soon arrived at the nearby Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve.  This is a great spot, once again consisting of managed wetlands treating the city’s wastewaters.  But unlike the previous park, most of the Henderson Preserve consists of multiple man-made impoundments, almost all of which are loaded with waterfowl.  Although I didn’t do a thorough survey of the ponds, I would end up with 12 waterfowl species that morning.  But at Henderson my key target was Least Bittern, which is sometimes seen or heard especially in Pond 9.  Unlike the other ponds, this pond is full of cattails.  I’ve looked for this species here 2 other times over the years without any luck.  But there had been 5 Least Bittern reports at Henderson since the beginning of the year, so I was hoping that my luck would be better this time. 

After checking in at the office I headed right to Pond 9 to start looking for the Bittern.  I’ve seen a lot more Least Bitterns than I’ve heard, most often seeing them flying low over the vegetation, and only a few times hearing them call spontaneously.  And only twice have I ever had them respond to taped calls.  So my plan was to find a place where I could look over the impoundment and hope to see one in flight.  The problem was the cattails were really tall, and my sightlines were very limited no matter where I stood.  So I decided to play some tape to try to enhance my luck.  My first stop was unsuccessful.  At my second stop I started playing tape and thought I heard something in the distance.  I turned off the call and listened.  A few seconds later there was the characteristic 3-note “hoo, hoo, hoo” call of the Least Bittern (statebird #7).  NV was my 30th state for this elusive species. 

And with 7 new statebirds that gave me 15 over the old ABA threshold – my 42nd state where I’ve reached my Reportable Plus 15 goal.  But there were many more NV targets still ahead of me.

Next I was on to Lake Mead and multiple stops principally for target species attracted to this large body of water in the middle of the desert.  The first stop was Boulder Beach where eBird reports included up to 2 White-winged Scoters often in a flock of Goldeneyes, and several Herring Gulls.  The water was smooth as glass which greatly aided in my waterfowl search.  I found a couple flocks of Goldeneyes, and 5 other species of common divers, but despite lots of effort, I could find no Scoters.  So I turned my attention to two flocks of gulls on the beach, but could only find a few California’s mixed in the Ring-bills.  I was even unsuccessful at turning a smaller Ring-bill into a Mew Gull.  That was disappointing.

Next I headed to the nearby Boulder Beach Campground where, thanks to a tip from Rob, my focus was on a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that had been reported occasionally along with its much more likely Red-naped cousins.  The campground was a classic island of mature cottonwoods in the desert where the Sapsuckers had spent the winter.  But it was a large campground with lots of trees – it looked like it could be a needle-in-a-haystack kind of search.  I decided to start in the northeast portion of the campground where the cottonwoods were densest, and then wander through the campground looking for recent Sapsucker holes.  Amazingly the first trees I checked had rows of Sapsucker holes, and several looked fresh.  And then I hadn’t walked more than 100 feet from the car when a Sapsucker flew by me and landed in a large neighboring tree.  But what species was it?  Unfortunately the bird perched on the far side of the tree from me, and the campsite had a family camping there, so I was never able to get a look at it.  A couple minutes later I saw something fly by, and it was the Sapsucker, this time landing in a much smaller tree.  Finally I got good looks at the bird which was a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with no red on the nape, and a red throat sharply demarcated by black (statebird #8).  NV is my 4th western state for this species as a rarity. 

A couple minutes later the Yellow-bellied was joined by a Red-naped Sapsucker, giving nice comparisons.  I’m sure glad I chose that part of the campground to start my search.

Next I was on to Hemenway Harbor where a Thayer’s Gull had been reported.  I took this rather sobering photo of the marina in the distance showing how low the lake level is.  All the dirt in the foreground would normally have been under water, and the normal high water mark is evident on the far side of the lake. 

I made my way around the harbor finding many roosting gulls, but no Thayer’s.  Although I finally found my first Herring Gull for NV (statebird #9), perched on a dock giving this nice comparison with a California and 3 Ring-billed’s. 

I also had a couple Greater Scaup here, eliminating any concern I had about adding this species to my NV list the previous day as it straddled the NV/AZ stateline.

Next I was off to Government Wash where up to 2 Yellow-billed Loons had been reported sporadically since late December.  I spent a fair amount of time searching the water here from multiple vantage points but with no luck.  I had an exact count of 192 Western/Clark’s Grebes but I couldn’t turn any of them into a Loon.

Then I was off to my last stop of the day at Calville Bay where there had been a long-staying Neotropic Cormorant always reported perched on a jetty.  There were also several reports of an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, and one of a second year Thayer’s Gull.  So lots of targets to pursue.  As I pulled into the area I could see the jetty in the distance, but it was really long, not very close, and portions were obscured by boats at the marina.  So I was a bit worried about finding the Cormorant.  But within seconds I spotted a small Cormorant standing next to a larger one, and a scope view quickly confirmed I had the Neotropic Cormorant (statebird #10).  Here’s what you might call a patriotic phonescoped view of both birds in the distance.  Hopefully it was a vagrant from somewhere in the US rather than Mexico. 

 

Also on the jetty were quite a number of gulls, but I was just too far away to do much with the IDs.  I looked down below in the marina and realized that I could probably make my way onto the docks and get a lot closer - hopefully I wouldn’t be trespassing.  So I headed down to the marina, and was able to walk down among the boats, setting up my scope less than half of my original distance from the jetty.  The 2 Cormorants were still there, and now I could see a group of about 30 gulls just to their left.  I started scanning these birds and I instantly spotted a bird that grabbed my attention – it was a uniform light/medium brown color, with a small all black beak, roughly the size of a California or Herring.  I quickly thought of Thayer’s, but since the bird was facing me I couldn’t tell much about the mantle nor wingtip color.  It then turned and it was still that uniform brown color with slightly darker (but not black) wingtips.  It then took off and it had pale underwings – I had found a first year Thayer’s (aka Iceland) Gull (statebird #11), though different from the 2nd year bird reported here once before.  Unfortunately it was all too quick for me to get a photo. 

I went back to look at the other gulls and now spotted one with a darker mantle.  It took me just a couple seconds to confirm it was an adult Lesser Black-Backed Gull (statebird #12).  This one stuck around a while, affording me the opportunity for this phonescoped photo.

NV was my 30th state for this increasing species.

Amazing to find the Neotropic Cormant, Thayer’s Gull, and Lesser Black-backed Gull, all within a few feet of each other on the jetty.  A nice way to end my day!

Day 3

My plan was to start Day 3 at dawn at Corn Creek in the Desert NWR about 45 minutes north of Las Vegas.  This riparian oasis in the middle of the desert can be a great hotspot for rarities, and a migrant trap in general.  In fact, in May 2012, David Donsker and I experienced an amazing fallout there that included several rarities as well as thousands of regular migrants.  So I was happy that the cancellation of the AZ leg of my trip gave me the extra time to be able to re-visit one of my favorite birding locations in the country.  On this trip the key Corn Creek targets were two wintering sparrows – a Golden-crowned and a White-throated.  Both were seen coming to a feeder maintained by one of the residents at Corn Creek and nearby lawns, and with great micro-directions from Rob, I knew exactly where to look for these targets. 

I arrived just before dawn to this spectacular sunrise – I had to stop for a picture.

I quickly headed toward the feeder area keeping my distance so as not to scare away the feeder birds.  There was a large flock of White-crowned Sparrows feeding on and below the feeder, with birds coming and going almost constantly.  So I kept watching the new arrivals, but could only find White-crowns.  Then I looked over to the nearby lawns and found even more White-crowns feeding in the short grass.  Lots of sparrows, but no target birds.  I turned my attention back to the feeder and within a couple minutes I spotted a slightly smaller sparrow fly in under the feeder – it was the White-throated Sparrow (statebird #13).  I’ve now seen this eastern species as a rarity in a number of western states.

Now I needed to find the Golden-crowned.  I kept watching the birds at the feeder, but each time I had a possible candidate it turned out to be just an immature White-crown.  After a while I decided I was trying too hard to make one of the White-crowns into a Golden-crown, so I started to focus on the birds foraging in the lawn.  There was a small group of sparrows feeding near the base of a large shrub, and with a quick view all were White-crowns.  Then I spotted a bird a few feet farther away and there was the winter-plumaged Golden-crowned Sparrow (statebird #14). 

With my 2 target birds out of the way rather quickly, I decided to spend some time wandering through the Corn Creek trails hoping to find some other rarities.  But birding was really slow, and the only woodland bird I found was a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

So it was off to try for my next target – Bell’s Sparrows that were reported sporadically in the desert along the entrance road to Corn Creek.  I’ve only seen this western split from the old Sage Sparrow once before – as a breeder in the hills of southern CA in 2013.  And I’ve seen the inland Sagebrush Sparrow before as a breeder in NV.  But apparently wintering birds near Las Vegas are typically Bell’s Sparrows, though eBird included a few Sagebrush Sparrow reports as well.  So I studied the differences between these newly defined species, and headed out to the desert to give it a try.

My plan was to just wander around in the desert and hope to find sparrows foraging in the area.  I first started north of the access road but didn’t find a single bird.  Then I decided to focus on somewhat lusher vegetation but still came up empty.  After nearly an hour and walking a couple miles, I crossed the road and started doing the same on the south side.  I came upon an area of thicker vegetation and spotted some movement of a sparrow up ahead.  I played a bit of tape of the call notes of a Bell’s Sparrow and the bird popped up and perched in front of me – it was a Bell’s Sparrow.  But then again it didn’t seem quite dark-headed enough to be a Bell’s.  I then found several others, each were dark-headed but not as dark as the drawings in Sibley, though each had limited (if any) streaking on the back and sides.  I spent the next 30 minutes studying a flock of about 5 birds, and none seemed perfect for Bell’s, though none were quite right for Sagebrush.  I got back to the car and did some research on my apps and realized I was actually looking at the interior canescens race of the Bell’s Sparrow, and not the darker-headed coastal belli race.  And the clincher was none had white in the tail which would have been visible the numerous times that I flushed birds as I neared them.  So I was finally convinced that I had added Bell’s Sparrow as statebird #15, after an hour and a half and 3 or 4 miles walking through the desert.

After having success with all 3 of my early morning targets, I was off to another of my favorite Las Vegas-area birding spots – the Mt. Charleston area.  An hour northwest of Las Vegas, this isolated mountain range rises well over 8,000 feet in elevation, with a road through Kyle Canyon ending at over 7,500 ft.  Here’s a view from one of the overlooks with the desert down below in the distance.   

There is a small community near the top called Old Town and another nearby at the Mt. Charleston Lodge, that have a number of feeding stations and excellent montane species.  On this trip my target was Lewis’s Woodpecker, with quite a number of recent eBird reports seen throughout the mountains, including Rob’s tip of birds right in Old Town and near the Lodge.  I spent a couple hours wandering the area looking for my target bird, and although I found quite a number of the expected montane species, had no luck with Lewis’s.  Given that the eBird reports were now a bit dated, I wondered if there had been an earlier incursion of Lewis’s into the area that was short-lived, and the birds had moved on elsewhere.  So I eventually gave up and started my drive down out of the mountains.  And soon after I started my drive down the mountain I noticed a large bird flying over the road – it was a Lewis’s.  Not the best of views, but good enough for statebird #16.  NV was my 9th state for this species – I still need it in MT and WY within its regular range.

I was actually ahead of schedule at this point, and had just one more possible target to try for – a Brown Thrasher seen recently at Spring Mountain Ranch.  But the most recent reports were now a couple weeks old, so I wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t find this target bird.  Though the birding in this park was fun anyway.

That evening after I entered my sightings into eBird I decided to check the ABA Rarity listing for the day, and amazingly the Tucson Streak-backed Oriole was re-spotted that day.  Ugh…  Made me wonder if I could have been successful with the bird a couple days earlier after all.  Oh well, at least the NV birding was going great!

Day 4

I needed to make my way back to the Ontario, CA airport late in the day for a flight to the Bay Area, so this day’s birding was focused on areas in Pahrump west of Las Vegas.  Then the plan was to make the long afternoon drive to the airport when my birding was done.  I had 3 key targets in the area – the first was an overwintering male Eurasian Wigeon.  This bird had been reported numerous times at the Mountain Falls Golf Course, though at multiple water features around the course.  And a further complication was that the golf course didn’t let birders on the course.  So my plan was to head to the course at first light to get there hopefully before the golfers arrived.  And one last challenge – the day before I arrived the bird was seen swimming all by itself rather than with a large flock of American Wigeons which had been its MO previously.  That could make it more difficult to find.

After the short drive from Las Vegas I arrived right on time and parked in the nearly empty parking lot – luckily it was indeed too early for the golfers.  Plus it may have been too cold – 30 degrees per my car thermometer.  I headed right to the lake next to the restaurant where the bird was most often reported.  My initial scans revealed many waterfowl but few Wigeons.  But then with from a slightly different viewpoint I could now see the far end of the lake and there was a nice Wigeon flock.  I got closer and scanned the flock numerous times but found no Eurasian mixed in.  I re-checked the entire lake a couple more times to be sure, but my target wasn’t there.  Next I headed to the nearby 9th hole where there were a couple more water features.  Here I picked up my only Snow Geese, White-fronted Goose, and Cinnamon Teal for the trip, though found only a few Wigeons and again no target.

The last area to check was a larger set of lakes on the far eastern portion of the golf course.  Luckily, since it was now getting a bit later (and warmer), these lakes were mostly visible from the edge of the golf course and I wouldn’t have to enter the course to get a view.  I drove around to the east and could see the lakes in the distance - they were full of waterfowl.  I found a place to park and with a quick binocular scan I found a nice-sized flock of Wigeons in the water and on the grass at the eastern end of the lakes.  I pulled out the scope and within seconds had my first glimpse of the red head of the Eurasian Wigeon (statebird #17).  I got these nice shots of the bird illuminated by the rising sun.

It’s nice when a search comes together like this!  NV was my 14th state for this rare but regular species.

Next I was on to nearby Discovery Park where a Vermillion Flycatcher had been sporadically spotted throughout the winter.  The previous day I had talked with a worker at Ash Meadows NWR who also happened to be a birder, and she had suggested that there were likely multiple Vermillions wintering in the park, and to especially look in the area west of the ponds.  I parked in the lot at the eastern end of the park, and started my walk west through this long, thin park.  One of the first birds I spotted was a calling Red-shouldered Hawk which was a bit of a surprise.  I got this photo holding my phone up to my binocs.

I continued walking west and soon arrived at the ponds.  In these cold early morning temperatures I especially focused on sunny areas close to the water that would likely be places where a flycatcher’s food would be most active.  I did find a Black Phoebe here, but not the target.  I then walked a bit further west and spotted some movement in the backyard of a house abutting the park.  A few seconds later there was the tell-tale bright red flash of a male Vermillion Flycatcher (statebird #18).  Exactly where the refuge worker had suggested.  I would have loved to get a picture of this beautiful bird, but that would have meant spending more time staring into this person’s backyard, so I headed back to my car.  That was my 10th state for this species which is prone to wandering from its regular range, especially in winter. 

My last target was Ferruginous Hawk, with several reported sporadically in and around Pahrump throughout the winter.  Initially it looked like this species was reported randomly throughout the area with no reliable locations.  But with some extra eBird research of sightings over the last couple years I was able to group the reports into 2 principal areas around town.  And then switching on the satellite view on GoogleMaps I could see that these spots generally coincided nicely with agricultural areas which would be likely habitat for Ferruginous.  So that would allow me to concentrate my search in these 2 key areas rather than randomly driving around the area hoping to run into one of my targets. 

I first birded the southern spot, finding a couple Red-tails, but no Ferruginous.  Then I headed to the northern area near the middle of town and again just found a Red-tail.  But then I could see a couple hawks perched in a tree far in the distance.  Too far to ID, I drove closer to the perched birds for a better look both they too were just Red-tails.  And then in the distance I could see another pair of perched raptors, and these appeared to be all white below.  I drove closer to these birds and sure enough they turned out to be an adult and immature Ferruginous Hawk perched together in a bare tree (statebird #19).  The adult soon flew off and later soared overhead with a Red-tail.  But the immature stayed perched nearby, and I was able to get this phonescoped photo in the distance.

What a nice way to end the trip – where extra detective work paid off in fine-tuning likely locations for one of my targets.

I ended up with 142 species on the trip, including finding 19 of my possible 24 targets – an excellent result given my hope for just 10 or 11.  And quite a number were rarities with 11 of the eBird NV “Rarity” sightings being my birds.  My NV statelist now stands at 269 which is obviously way above the old ABA reportable threshold of 242.  So no need to come back to bird in NV, that is unless I’m searching for a Himalayan Snowcock…