A Challenging Day of Statebirding in Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia, January 13, 2022

Most birders use eBird to catalog and document their sightings these days.  And it has proven to be an excellent resource for me as I continue to pursue my statebirding efforts across the country.  By far the Needs Alerts are the most valuable tool in the eBird arsenal – I review nearly a dozen county and state Needs Alerts each day.

Starting in late December my TN Needs Alert included reports of an Eared Grebe at a hotspot named “South Holston Lake – Musick’s Campground” in northeastern TN.  The bird was first spotted on the local Christmas Count on December 26, and was seen on each subsequent report from that spot through January 11.  That location is barely south of the TN/VA stateline, and as a result the Grebe was sometimes also seen in VA waters.  That gave me 2 potential statebird ticks to target.  Plus on the 9th a Lark Sparrow was reported there “with a mixed Chipping Sparrow and Field Sparrow flock in the pokeweed stalks behind the sign-in mailbox”.  Seemed pretty specific.  And since wintering Eared Grebes and Lark Sparrows are often long-staying, I liked my chances.

That was more than enough to justify my 2 hour 15 minute drive to the area.  But then I started to research potential targets I might need in VA.  And just a 20-minute drive from the campground was a spot called Nicewonder Pond with a couple recent reports of multiple Turkeys.  Wild Turkeys had become something of a nemesis bird for me in VA, so I was excited to find a location where they might actually be somewhat reliable.  The pond had quite a number of waterfowl as well, so I wondered if the waterfowl were being fed, which in turn attracted the Turkeys. 

Then the icing on the cake was a report of an Orange-crowned Warbler on the 10th at a hotspot in Kingsport, TN.  I’m not usually too optimistic about being able to find a lingering warbler, but it was re-found on the 12th, along with a comment that Orange-crowns “are seen regularly here during winter”.  Sure enough there were quite a number of eBird records in this area in the last several years.

That gave me 5 potential statebird ticks.  If things went well, it could be quite a nice trip. 

The morning of the 13th I was out of the house pre-dawn and approached the area of Musick’s Campground around 9 AM.  The GPS coordinates of the hotspot were perfect, taking me right to the gate, which unfortunately was locked.  Complete with multiple “No Trespassing” signs.  The campground was obviously closed for the winter with no one in sight to ask for access.  I checked the area nearby thinking that I would find another spot to access the lake below the campground.  But each access point was gated with more “No Trespassing” signs, some more ominous than others.  I went to my iPhone and found a phone number for the campground, but not surprisingly there was no answer.

None of this was mentioned in the eBird checklists, nor in the hotspot itself.  Then again, the Lark Sparrow report mentioned a “sign-in mailbox” – did that mean you could somehow enter the campground and once inside there was a location where you would sign in?  But the No Trespassing signs were very obvious.  Had I made the 2+ hour drive for nothing?  Just then a car came by and the friendly driver stopped to ask if I was ok.  He lived nearby and had watched me wandering around and thought I had car problems.  I told him instead about my access issues.  He said he had a neighbor whose yard had frontage on the lake.  That neighbor was out of town and I could just hike through the yard to get to the lake.  Boy was I lucky the friendly resident was there to help out.

Within a couple minutes I was taking a short hike through the neighbor’s yard and made my way down to the lake.  I entered the lake bed just a short distance north of Musick’s, and had a good view of the water.  Now I just needed to find the Eared Grebe.  Most of the posts had mentioned the bird was on the far side, so that was my initial focus.  But with several scans I just found a few Bonaparte’s and Ring-billed Gulls, 4 Common Loons, and 1 Red-breasted Merganser.  I changed my angle and looked some more, finding a flock of Pied-billed Grebes, but nothing else new.  Then again, I did have a distant flyby of 2 small waterfowl that might have been grebes.  I spent more than an hour scanning the lake both in TN and VA waters but couldn’t come up with my target bird.  As it turns out the last time the Eared Grebe was seen was on the 11th.  So not only had I struck out on the Grebe, I also couldn’t get into the Campground to try for the Lark Sparrow, wherever it was.  A difficult start…

Next I was off to VA to try for Turkeys.  The key stop was Nicewonder Pond on Virginia Trail in Washington County.  And since almost all my route was in VA, I also kept an eye out for Turkeys feeding in the fields the whole way there, but to no avail.  Just as I turned onto Virginia Trail I came upon a guard house at the entrance to a private community.  The pond was on private property which was not mentioned in the eBird reports.  Not again!  I told the security guard that I was trying to go birding at the pond, but he said he couldn’t let me in.  But after a 10-minute discussion he relented and called his boss.  Another 10 minutes passed before he gave me permission to go in.  After all that effort I hoped it was all worth it.  But alas, after a short drive I got to the pond and found a few ducks but no Turkeys. 

What started as a promising trip was now down to just 1 possible target – the Orange-crowned Warbler.  And if it hadn’t been for some lucky breaks, I might not have even been able to access either of my first 2 planned stops.  On the drive back into TN I once again watched for Turkeys during the VA part of the route, but another strikeout.  Though I wasn’t more than a couple miles into TN when I spotted a Turkey flock on the roadside, which I don’t need in TN – very frustrating… 

A few minutes later I pulled into the waterfront of the South Fork Holston River in Kingsport, TN.  The hotspot was titled Riverfront Seafood which was a restaurant along the river.  And although there was some brush between the restaurant and the river, other recent Orange-crown sightings were scattered along the waterfront nearby.  So I figured all the brushy area along the river could be possible sites to search.  Though in reality the habitat was quite limited.  In fact, I wondered why most any bird might be attracted to it.  Here is a representative shot of one of the “better” areas.

I had heard that Orange-crowns will respond to recordings, though I had never had any success attracting them this way.  But this time I decided to give it a try since this was my last opportunity to avoid striking out for the entire trip.

I started at the restaurant and scoured it quite well, just finding a couple Song Sparrows.  And nothing responded to recordings of the Orange-crown call.  I then walked over toward the west and found this cooperative Great Blue Heron feeding along the water’s edge.

The next spot with some habitat was under the large I-26 overpass with some large trees but little brush for a warbler to forage in.  Though a skulking Carolina Wren initially caught my attention.  Then I played some more tape and almost instantly got a response – but was it an echo of my tape bouncing off the bridge?  I played some more tape and heard more chip notes in response.  And a few seconds later found a most cooperative Orange-crowned Warbler foraging half way up the trees.  The trees were covered in what looked like old webs from fall webworms, and the warbler was picking through them looking for tasty winter-time morsels.  Interestingly this bird had no streaking below whereas the one photographed here 2 days earlier had pretty obvious streaking.  There were at least 2 Orange-crowns here continuing a trend from the last several winters.

At least I got 1 statebird for the trip.  Although I dipped on the other 4, I had 1 more than I had the day before.  And it was #250 for my TN statelist – my 26th state with at least 250.

TN was my 41st state for Orange-crowned Warbler.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it in its regular range; those that are cross-hatched are the ones where I still need it in its regular range.  And the 5 tan New England states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity.

And now humor me while I get on my soap box about eBird and my access problems -

As I said earlier, eBird has been a great resource for me.  But the downside is that eBird has pretty much made the state listserves obsolete.  Just a few years ago I would go to the listserves not only to understand what has been sighted, but also to obtain details on those sightings.  Birders would often provide details on where to find rarities, how to access the site, and just how to bird the area in general.  Don’t get me wrong, those same details can be provided in eBird.  But the only details required by eBird are those required to confirm the IDs.  And few birders go above and beyond to provide those most valuable additional details.

Now let’s focus on site access.  Some eBird hotspots have limited or no access and appropriately include that detail right in the hotspot name.  Then again, many of these same hotspots will have multiple eBird sightings - I guess access can’t be too limited.  Then there are the ones like Musick’s Campground and Nicewonder Pond on my TN/VA trip that are obviously on private property.  But no access, or limited access, is not mentioned anywhere in the birders’ checklists, nor in the hotspot information.  Local birders apparently know how to access these “private” sites – why not share those details in their reports? 

Consider those sightings of rarities at residential feeders.  Some of these are truly private and no access is allowed.  But then there are others where the homeowner does allow birders to visit their feeders.  But the procedures to access the feeders are often not included, neither in the hotspot name nor in birders’ checklists.  A great example of access challenges was when I took a trip to Athens, GA earlier this winter to chase after 3 rare hummingbirds coming to 3 different residential feeders there.  Although all 3 homeowners welcomed birders to see their birds, info on only 1 was readily available in birders’ checklists.  It took me many hours of research to finally get the info on the other 2.

My message to eBirders – if birding at a given location is not straightforward, include at least a few details about how to bird that spot in your checklist, as well as details on how to locate rarities you’ve found.  Alternatively, if the spot is truly inaccessible, say so.  Just a few seconds to provide extra input would greatly improve the birding experiences of those that follow you.

3 North Carolina Statebirds, November 2019

November was another good month of birding in North Carolina – not only chasing after a few rarities but also scouting out a number of new spots for the future.  And on one trip I unexpectedly got a new statebird while on a scouting trip.  Good birding spots, good birders, good birding. 

11/11 - Green River Game Lands - Big Hungry Road
The principal objective of this trip was to scout out some very nice territory that harbors numerous breeding warblers in several types of woodland habitats.  Dave Minnich and I met up with SC birders Michael Robertson and Gary Harbour early on the 11^th, and after a short drive were in mixed pine/hardwood forest, often with a thick rhododendron understory, with deep ravines, streams, and steep mountain sides.  Beautiful habitat.  Then we spent some time in more open woodlands that had been burned some years ago as part of local forest management practices.  These areas had young saplings and grassy undergrowth that looked ideal for either Blue-winged or Golden-winged Warblers.  I can’t wait to get back here in April and May next year to see what is around.

As we neared one roadside brushy area we came upon a nice flock of sparrows so we got out to look.  Just the normal White-throats and Songs at first.  Then we all almost simultaneously spotted a yellowish-green bird skulking in the brush.  At first I thought it was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet but then got a better view – an Orange-crowned Warbler.  We all got several views of the bird off and on as it foraged in the brush, before it took off back over the road out of view.  That’s a species that I spent a lot of time looking for in New England, with only occasional success.  I know it’s not nearly as rare here in western NC, but it was still a nice find and an addition to my NC list. 

My statebird map for Orange-crowned Warbler is inserted below – solid shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I haven’t yet seen it.  I still need it especially in a number of eastern states where it is a lot less common than out west.  And I’m particularly proud of having found it in 5 of 6 New England states as a rarity.

11/20 – Hooper Lane
The sod farm at Hooper Lane is becoming one of my favorite birding spots – and it’s just 25 minutes from home.  I’ve already had some great birds on my multiple trips there, and have heard stories of even better birds at the sod farm over the years.  One such story was of a long-staying Short-eared Owl this past winter, so that one was on my radar screen as we got into the colder months.  And then on the 19^th I got an eBird Needs Alert with a Short-eared Owl at Hooper Lane.  The post came across late afternoon, and I initially thought about heading to the site at dusk to watch for it to be flying around.  But I had other commitments and couldn’t make it. 

Plan B – head to Hooper Lane the next day in the late afternoon, look for it for a while in the daylight, and then if I don’t find it, stay till dusk to hopefully see it flying around feeding.  The problem was that the eBird report didn’t include any details on the location of the bird.  It was likely roosting in the daytime in a ditch at the site, but there are many miles of ditches there.  I exchanged texts with SC birder Michael Robertson about the bird, and he mentioned that he had contact info for the birder who found the owl – Wayne Forsythe.  It turns out that Wayne is an excellent local birder who knows the area very well – a good person to know.  So I contacted Wayne and he told me where he had the bird.  It turns out it was indeed roosting in a ditch, and specifically the first one north of the maintenance buildings east of Hooper Lane.  (I’ve been trying to promote naming the ditches so that birders can understand exactly where birds are being seen.  But that’s for the future.)

So now it was it was time to implement Plan B.  I arrived at Hooper Lane at about 3 PM and headed right to the ditch mentioned by Wayne.  But despite walking the entire length of the ditch, the best bird I found was a Snipe.  So I continued to walk other nearby ditches east of the road and again came up empty.  I ended up briskly walking along more than 2 miles of ditches without any luck.  It was now 4:30, and I decided to head to ditches west of the road.  But first I scanned the fields to see if the bird might have come out to an exposed roost a bit early as they often will do.  With my binoculars I started to scan across a recently plowed dirt field and spotted a slightly lighter brown “bump” in the distance in the field.  I got out the scope and sure enough I had the Short-eared Owl.  Here’s a phonescoped photo of the bird in the distance without cropping.

And here are two heavily cropped photos. 

I got the word out that I had re-found the Owl, and was able to show it to 2 other birders.  I stayed with it until after sunset hoping that I might get a chance to see it in flight.  But it stayed still in the field the entire time, only moving its head to check out vehicles moving by.

NC was my 24^th state for this species – still many to go for this widespread species.

11/25 – Ecusta Pond, Pisgah Forest
On the 22^nd I received a Needs Alert for a pair of Common Mergansers seen at a location called Ecusta Pond in Transylvania County.  The eBird Hotspot name included the word “Private” so at first I figured it was not a site I could access.  Then I noticed there was another checklist from later that day that also included the Mergansers – I guess it couldn’t be that private.  I looked at the site on GoogleMaps and it looked like the pond was surrounded by a berm so that the water would not be visible from roads around the perimeter.  I had the contact info for one of the observers, Michael Plauche, and asked him for suggestions to bird this site.  Michael got right back to me, mentioning that the church on the north side of the pond had given birders permission to stand on the second floor fire escape of the sanctuary, from which most of the pond was visible.  That’s certainly a unique viewing spot…  So armed with that great information, my plan was to head there the next morning to give it a try.

The morning of the 23^rd was a wet one, with rain which was heavy at times.  But I could still bird the lake with a rain suit and umbrella.  When I arrived there was a lull in the rain, and another birder was there looking through the waterfowl in the lake.  The birder was Frank Porter whom I had met on an earlier walk.  As I arrived he gave me the bad news – no Common Mergs that morning, though a couple Red-breasted Mergs was a nice consolation.  We were later joined by Michael, and despite lots of scanning we couldn’t scare up my target birds.  Michael commented that maybe the Mergs were still in the area, going back and forth from the pond to the nearby Davidson River.  And sure enough, later that day Michael texted me that the Common Mergs were back in the pond.  But it was too late for me to chase yet that afternoon.

Hmmm….  Would the Common Mergs stick around?  I was planning to be out birding on the 25^th, so I decided to swing by there to give them a try again that day.  This time the weather was much better, and Frank was once again at the fire escape when I arrived.  As I got up to the landing he said he just had the Common Mergansers right in front of us.  So I quickly set up the scope – but there we no Mergs.  Though there was an adult Bald Eagle sitting on one of the aerators right in front of us.  Did it scare off my targets?  I continued to scan but with no luck.  Then I looked to the east and found quite a number of waterfowl, though viewing was tough in the distance and with a difficult sun angle.  But finally I spotted a Merganser, and then a second.  And with just a couple seconds of study we ID’d them as Common Mergansers.  Finally!  Nice to get this species in my first southeastern state where the bird is much less common than farther north - it truly is "Common" in most other parts of the country.  Hopefully I can add it to more nearby states over the next several winters.

 
That gave me 3 new species for my NC list in November, bringing my total to 273.  And 2 were eBird rarities, though not particularly unexpected.  As for my yard list, I only had 2 additions in the month – Common Grackle and Purple Finch, bringing the total to 94.  And my feeder is loaded with all the regulars – sparrows, chickadees, titmice, etc.  Not to mention squirrels.  So far no visits by bears though I’m taking the feeders in every night just in case.

Townsend’s Warbler, Trustom Pond, RI, November 2017

Townsend’s Warbler is a very rare vagrant in New England, with birds typically being spotted in late fall or winter.  My first ever New England Townsend’s was a bird I found at Odiorne Point State Park in NH over Thanksgiving weekend in 1993 – the first year I moved to New England.  Unfortunately that bird was a 1-day wonder which no one else saw.  At the other end of the spectrum sometimes Townsend’s will appear at feeding stations, spending much of the winter returning to the same location, which was the case for the one I saw in Cambridge, MA in 2007. 

So when a Townsend’s Warbler was reported at Trustom Pond NWR in RI, only the third record for the state, I really wanted to chase after it.  But as with most of these chases I had to be able to clear my calendar and hope that this non-feeder bird would stick around until I was free.  Luckily this one was reported for the next couple days, hanging out in the same location at Trustom Pond, and seen by a bunch of birders (though some needed several hours to find the bird).  Despite numerous posts, directions were at best confusing, especially since I wasn’t too familiar with the nooks and crannies of the refuge.  Several reports mentioned the bird was seen along the Red Maple Trail near the old windmill and near a bench that was dedicated to local birder Phil Budlong.  Other reports just said near the windmill.  I thought that meant there was a stretch of trail between the windmill and bench to look for the bird.  So my plan was to start walking the Red Maple Trail and look for the bench and windmill, and hopefully look for other birders too.

When I arrived at the refuge early in the morning I was happy to see a dozen cars in the parking lot - undoubtedly these were birders already searching for the same target bird.  My plan was coming together - I could get close to the bird’s location along Red Maple Trail and then look for the birders to tell me the correct spot.  “Bird the birders” as I say.  Perfect…  I started down the Red Maple Trail and quickly found the bench dedicated to Phil Budlong.  But there were no birders to be seen.  My first thought was that I wasn’t in the correct spot and all those birders were somewhere else looking at the target bird.  So I decided to check my e-mail for updates and sure enough there was a new post that the bird was seen in the original spot about 20 minutes earlier “near the windmill”.  But I couldn’t find any windmill.  Again that made me think that I was in the wrong location.

I was about to head farther down the trail to look for windmill and the birders, but quickly realized there was a major flock of passerines there.  What should I do – hope I was in the right spot and search through the birds (perhaps including the Townsends’), or should I keep searching for the birders (and the windmill) instead?  Although I also heard some distant chip notes that made me think I might have been hearing the Townsend’s, I decided to keep looking for the birders.  Just when I started farther down the trail I spotted a greenish-yellow bird fly by and got excellent looks at an Orange-crowned Warbler!  A great bird for RI and only my second for the state, but it wasn’t my target bird.  So I kept walking a bit farther and didn’t see anyone.  At this point I decided to head back to the original spot to search through the flock I briefly saw earlier.

I got back to initial location just a couple minutes later but by now most of the birds were gone - ugh.  So I concentrated on the area where I heard the potential Townsend’s chip notes and heard the calls again.  And then I heard them again, this time closer nearby.  A few seconds later I spotted a bird high in a deciduous tree – it was the Townsend’s!  I bet the bird was in the area as soon as I got to the spot.  Luckily it stayed put while I tried to figure everything out.  And while looking at the Townsend’s I noticed the windmill – no more than 30 ft from the bench tucked back into the woods hidden from the trail.  Like I always say – chasing down my target birds often requires a lot of detective work.

So there I was looking at Townsend’s at its key location (within a few feet of both the bench and the windmill), and there were at least a dozen birders in the park searching for it, but I was the only one there.  So much for “bird the birders”!  A minute later 3 other birders arrived and I got them on the bird.  But by the time others arrived the bird had flown off.

I stayed in the park another hour and had the bird one other time, though unfortunately again not all the birders had looks at it.

Townsend’s Warbler was #327 for me in RI.  I’ve now seen this species throughout most of its regular range in the western US and Canada, as well as in 3 New England states as rarities (see my state and province maps below).

Since I was able to find my target bird so quickly I decided to make a quick stop at nearby hotspot Mud Pond, which often has a nice group of ducks and shorebirds, and then do a brief sea watch as well.  But first I had to take a work call, and I had just enough time to drive to Mud Pond to take the call from there inside my car.  As I started on the call another birder drove up and set up his scope about 50 ft away to check out the ducks on the pond.  A minute later I noticed a bright yellow bird fly over the road in front of me and land in a bush on the other side about 10 ft behind the birder.  I put my binocs on it and it was a Yellow Warbler.  Unfortunately the other birder never even knew it was there.  I was told that that may have been the latest record for Yellow Warbler in the state.

Then just a few minutes later, while still on my call, I spotted a small bird drop in from a bush next to the road to drink from a small pool right in front of my car.  It was a Cape May Warbler, not 25 ft away from me.  An amazing pair of birds seen through my windshield while on a conference call.  Not bad…

After the call was over I headed over to Mud Pond and found a nice flock of Pintails, and a group of Dunlin foraging on the edge.  And a short stop at the beach yielded a nice Gannet show not too far offshore.  But I was actually more interested in looking for other late passerines, so I turned around and started walking north up Moonstone Beach Road to see what else I might find. 

I began a slow walk up the road, not finding too much.  But just then I noticed a large flycatcher fly over the road.  It was only a quick view and I never got the bird in my binocs.  But the “jizz” of the bird was that of a Myiarchus flycatcher.  The view was too short to eliminate a Phoebe, but I would bet it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher.  If I had still been in my car on my call I probably would have had a better view of it through the windshield as it flew by.  Go figure.  Who needs to beat the bush to go birding…  I spent the next 15 minutes in the area hoping to refind the bird, but with no luck.  At least I don’t need that one for my RI list. 

Along with numerous Yellow-rumps, I ended the morning with 5 species of warblers.  Not to mention the mystery flycatcher.  The Trustom Pond area can be good for fall migrants, though I’m not sure if I’ve ever had as many as 5 warbler species there in a single day before, even during the peak of migration.

Six Quebec Province Birds, but a Frustrating Experience with a Possible Lifebird, September, 2016

Two of the last three years there have been organized “pelagic” boat trips on Lake Champlain with key targets including Jaegers, Kittiwake, Sabine’s Gull, and the like.  I need all those birds for my VT (and NY) state lists so I’ve signed up for each trip when it has been scheduled.  This year a trip was scheduled for mid-September, the typical peak time for many of these species on Lake Champlain.  Within an hour I had registered and sent in my check. 

Since I don’t get to northwest VT very often, I planned to use the boat trip as an excuse to do some additional birding in the area.  As the trip neared I watched eBird and the listserve for potential targets, and salivated over a report of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper about a week before the trip.  The bird was found at the mouth of Dead Creek in Highgate in the far northwestern tip of VT, but was only reported one day.  Then again there were no subsequent negative reports, so I tried to be optimistic that a stop there a week later could be fruitful.  Plus an Orange-crowned Warbler was reported at Whitney Creek – one of the best spots in all of VT for that species and also for Connecticut Warbler.  So although the Orange-crown would certainly be long gone by the time I got there, maybe it could be replaced by another one.

With no other targets reported in VT, and the Buffie spot being in far northern VT just 3 miles from the Canadian border, I decided to check Quebec reports to see if there might be some targets there as well.  I was pretty happy with my existing Quebec list of 190.  So much so that when leaving Quebec after my last birding trip there I thought that my Quebec birding days were behind me.  But I’m glad I set up an eBird Quebec Needs Alert prior to this trip, because there were numerous shorebirds I needed that were reported from Baie Missisquoi just a short distance north of the US border, and less than 6 miles from Highgate as the sandpiper flies.  Apparently the region-wide drought had caused the lake level to drop enough to cause mudflats to form at the north end of the bay, attracting a diverse group shorebirds.  In the last couple days before my trip birders had spotted 10 species I needed for my list - 8 species of shorebirds, Caspian Tern, and Peregrine Falcon.  Plus there were a couple other targets like Solitary Sandpiper and Golden Plover reported recently a short distance to the north.  More than enough targets to justify yet another trip across the border into Quebec.

But just as I was getting excited about some Quebec province birding and a couple possible long shots in VT, I got an e-mail saying the boat trip was cancelled.  Although I was tempted to cancel my trip as well, I decided to keep the rest of my plans, and replace the boat trip with a lake watch from shore.  So my itinerary would begin with a stop at Highgate around midday of Day 1, followed by an afternoon in Quebec.  I would start Day 2 at dawn doing a lake watch from Charlotte Town Beach, and then make a stop at Whitney Creek to try for Orange-crowns and Connecticuts on the way home.

Day 1

Although I left the house a bit before 8 I didn’t make it to Highgate until close to noon.  Scoping the mudflats from Shipyard Road is quite a challenge as the flats are a ¼ to ½ mile away, complicated that day by quite a bit of heat shimmer.  I scanned the habitat for nearly an hour hoping against hope to find the Buff-breasted, but to no avail.  Though I did have some other pretty good shorebirds there– 4 Black-bellied Plovers, a Sanderling, and 2 Short-billed Dowitchers. 

I left at 1, and within 15 minutes I had passed through the border crossing and had made my way to Baie Missisquoi.  I wasn’t quite sure where to go to bird there, but soon realized I needed to make my way into a “campground” consisting of a number of mobile homes.  I checked in with the host of the park who spoke just barely enough English to explain where to park.  After a short walk I was at the edge of the extensive mudflats, only to see several people kiteboarding (flying kites connected to surfboards) right at the edge of the flats.  I did a quick look around and didn’t see any shorebirds at all.  Had the kiteboarders scared off all the shorebirds?  I then noticed a couple birders a short distance away and asked them for updates.  They said the numbers of birds had been way down from yesterday, though earlier there were at least a few around, including both Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, and Red-necked Phalaropes.  But a Peregrine had come through and flushed all the birds away.  My heart sank – although the shorebirds had been great there for more than a week, they must have known I was coming and had moved on just in time for my trip.

I then looked over to the east and saw 3 other birders with scopes walking toward us.  And with a quick binoc scan in that direction I noticed a distant group of Yellowlegs feeding in the shallow water.  So I started walking in that direction with the first 2 birders I talked with.  As we were heading in that direction a flock of about 30 shorebirds flew by looking for a place to land.  Even without binocs I picked out several Sanderlings in the flock (Quebec bird #1) as they wheeled past.  They landed right in front of us, and the small flock included 11 Sanderlings, and 6 White-rumped Sandpipers (#2) – both numbers were higher than reported in previous days.  Then I noticed a lone Red-necked Phalarope spinning in the shallows right next to them (#3).  Small numbers, but great to pick up 3 new birds nonetheless.

We then continued to walk toward the Yellowlegs flock to the east, and ran into another small flock of shorebirds which included 2 more Sanderlings, 8 more White-rumps, and another Red-necked Phalarope, along with our first Pectoral.  Then up ahead we spotted a flock of peeps on the rocky shoreline farther to the east.  Just as we were starting to look through that flock a Peregrine flew by low over the water (#4), flushing shorebirds from all around us.  A number of small peeps flew right past us, including one larger one that turned out to be a Baird’s Sandpiper (#5).  Baird’s was also new for my Canada list - #357.  Although I was initially unhappy to have the Peregrine flush the shorebirds, it was new for my list, plus it flushed another new species that we hadn’t spotted yet.  So not a bad thing afterall.

We looked back to the rocky shoreline where the peep flock had been and all those birds had hunkered down instead of flying when the Peregrine passed by.  Slowly they started to perk up and walk around again, and we counted 40 Leasts and Semi Sands, along with a Pectoral.  At that point, with all those small peeps around, I wondered why no one had reported a Western Sandpiper yet from this location.  And just then I spotted a small peep in the rocks with a drooping bill.  Only the head was visible (the rest of the bird was hidden by a rock) so I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions yet.  With a few more steps I got a different angle on the bird, seeing dark legs, and rusty scapulars on an otherwise brownish mantle – a Western Sandpiper (#6).  After I got the other birders on this bird, we all continued to walk toward the east and amazingly all these peeps, including the Western, walked within 10 feet of us.

Finally we were nearing the Yellowlegs flock and I set up my scope to scan through the birds.  One of the first birds I looked at had a much longer bill with a bit of a droop at the end.  With a bit of study the bird turned out to be the Long-billed Dowitcher reported earlier.  And the flock included 3 Stilt Sandpipers as well.  Though the Dowitcher and Stilts were rarities for Quebec, I had seen both of them a couple years earlier at Sainte-Martine, Quebec.  (I would have been happier if the Dowitcher had been the much more common Short-billed which I still need for my Quebec list.) 

As we returned to the cars I kept my eyes open for a Caspian Tern that might pass by.  And I kept watching for more little groups of shorebirds.  But I struck out on both.  Although both the total number of shorebirds, and number of species, were way down from reports earlier in the week, and even just the previous day, I was still happy to have seen 13 shorebird species at this location, including several rarities.  And of course it was great to add 6 new birds to my Quebec list – which is now at 196.

I spent the next couple hours making stops at other parts of the bay, and a couple places to the north, and only added Killdeer as my 14th shorebird species that day in Quebec.  And including the Black-bellied Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers I had earlier in VT (wish I could have seen them in Quebec - I need both of them for my Quebec list!) that gave me 16 shorebirds for the day.  Very nice totals for these inland locations.

Day 2

I started the day at first light at Charlotte Town Beach, the recommended location from which to do a lake watch in VT.  Winds had been light out of the northwest the night before, but were dead calm now.  Not the best conditions to see pelagic birds in VT, since your best chances of seeing them are when there is a stiff breeze from the north or northwest.  But at least there weren’t winds from the south.  As the sun rose I got these spectacular views of the morning clouds and the NY mountains in the background.

If only the birds were as spectacular.  I spent about 2 hours at the lake, and only spotted a few migrant flocks of Cormorants, a flock of Mallards, and 2 single Caspian Terns passing by.  (Where were those Caspians when I needed them in Quebec?)  Chances are even if the boat had gone out that morning we probably wouldn’t have seen much more.  Will I ever be able to time one of my fall trips to Lake Champlain to coincide with a good day of migration?  So with the lakewatch being so slow, I called it quits early at about 8 AM to head to Whitney Creek.  It was still early enough in the morning that maybe I could run into a few migrants there, not to mention my key targets - Orange-crowned and Connecticut Warblers. 

When I arrived at Whitney Creek another birder was just coming out of the trail.  I asked him how he did – he said it was a bit slow, but 15 minutes earlier he had had a brief glimpse of an Orange-crowned Warbler.  I spent the next 2 hours scouring the area with no luck.  If only I had left Charlotte a few minutes earlier.  Ugh…

But there was an even bigger disappointment to come…  That evening after getting back home I opened my most recent Quebec Needs Alert and saw that there were numerous reports of a Common Ringed Plover that day.  I figured they must have come from far northern Quebec, until I opened one of the reports and found that the bird was at Baie Missisquoi.  Not only had I birded this same spot the previous day, but the Plover had spent the entire day there no more than an hour’s drive north of where I birded most unsuccessfully that day in VT.  It would have been a life bird!  Then I started to wonder if the Ringed Plover was present the day I was there, but just overlooked.  But since most all of the birds I saw were not found there the next day when the Plover was spotted, I imagine the bird was just a 1-day wonder. 

So although I’m happy to have added 6 birds to my Quebec province list, with a slightly different “alignment of the stars” I not only could have added a bird to my VT list but a life bird as well. 

5 “State" Birds in Washington, D.C. and 2 More in VA, December 2015

On most of my recent trips to Baltimore to visit relatives I’ve done at least a little birding in Washington, DC, VA, and/or WV to try to fill gaps in those “state” lists.  Although I had exceeded the old ABA reportable threshold in all 3 some years back, my key goal was to be at least 15 over the threshold in each location.  I reached the “reportable plus 15” goal in WV in 2014, but I was still short by 2 in DC and 3 in VA.  So that meant I needed to focus my Baltimore-area birding on DC and VA on future trips.

With an upcoming trip to Baltimore in December 2015, I set up eBird Needs Alerts for both DC and VA to see what might be around.  I was surprised to see that recent reports included no less than 7 possible “state” birds in DC and another 5 possible state birds in northern VA.  And many had been seen multiple days so they might well be chaseable.  I also sent a note to local DC birder Paul Pisano and he was most helpful giving me some micro-directions on each of the DC targets.  But as the trip neared, the reports on all but 3 species stopped coming in, and even a few negative reports were posted.  I was now less optimistic, but still hoped for 2 new birds each in DC and VA.  Armed with the latest information I set up an itinerary starting with birding in 5 locations in DC, followed by birding at 3 locations in northern VA, which would give me a chance at all 12 recently, or at least somewhat recently, reported target birds.

I started my trip at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in the northeast corner of DC, arriving there about 20 minutes before dawn.  The prime targets here were an American Bittern, Purple Finches, and Ravens.  Although all had been reported regularly a week earlier, there were negative reports for all 3 species in the last 5 days.  In fact, given the negative reports I even wondered if I should make a stop here at all.  But ever the optimist, I began to walk slowly along the main trail in the pre-dawn light making my way toward some ponds that had been the favorite spot for the Bittern.  I was only part way down the trail toward the ponds when I stopped to check out some gulls flying overhead.  Just then a bird flushed from a small area of cattails not a few feet away – it was the Bittern.  I probably would have walked right by it had I not stopped for the gulls.  A nice rarity for DC (a “write-in” in eBird) and my first new DC bird.  This has been an elusive species for me across the country, even though it is regular throughout most regions (see my statebird map below).

I continued out to the boardwalk listening intently for calling Ravens or Finches but to no avail.  I then headed back toward a spot where an unconfirmed Orange-crowned Warbler had been reported the previous day.  There was a nice flock of White-throats and Juncos there, but no warbler, though a singing (!) Hermit Thrush was nice.  And then I heard the faint “tick” calls of Purple Finch overhead, and looking up I saw 2 birds passing by (#2).  Not a rarity but still a tough bird in DC, filling in the last gap in the northeast portion of my statebird map.

I headed out of Kenilworth very happy to have seen 2 of my 3 targets, which frankly were 2 more than I expected.

Next stop was the Rock Creek Golf Course where a Red-headed Woodpecker had been reported for 2 consecutive days a week ago, though there were no updates in the last 7 days.  Luckily a specific location was mentioned, and I was able to quickly find the dead tree where the bird had been seen.  But the best I could do was to find a Pileated in the distance.  I walked a bit farther down the fairway and heard a Red-belly and a Flicker  Then in the distance I heard several familiar Red-headed call notes that the BirdTunes app calls “rattle calls” (#3).  DC was the last gap in the eastern part of my statebird map for this species.

The next target bird was a Mute Swan that had been reliably seen around Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River.  It had most recently been seen on the east side of the island, viewable from Rock Creek Parkway, and Paul Pisano’s suggestion was to drive slowly down the Parkway and look toward the island as I drove past the Kennedy Center.  Sounded simple enough, as long as I could look for the bird safely in DC traffic (when was the last time anyone drove slowly down any parkway in DC?).  As I neared the island I hoped for a place to pull over, or that there would be a red light to stop traffic - but it wasn’t to be.  Luckily as I got to the Kennedy Center I was able to slow down a bit, looked to the right, and there was the Swan swimming close to the island (#4).  DC was the last northeast “state” where I needed this species.

Then I was on to Hain’s Point where a recent report included 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls mixed in Ring-billed Gull flocks.  I drove around the perimeter of the park and saw very few gulls at all.  The best I could do was to find a late Laughing Gull in a small mixed gull flock.  So lacking the critical mass of gulls, I headed out of the park rather than searching any further.

My last DC stop was the LBJ Memorial Grove, which is on an island on the western edge of the Potomac River, just barely in DC.  For about 10 days an Orange-crowned Warbler had been seen here with a mixed Chickadee/Kinglet flock.  Amazingly an American Redstart had also been seen in this or a nearby flock.  The Orange-crowned was reported to be rather easy to find in brush immediately north of the parking lot, while the Redstart was only seen infrequently in the same general area.  Within a minute of getting out of my car I heard some Chickadee calls and quickly found a mixed flock of Chickadees and Kinglets in the brush just north of the parking lot.  Fully expecting to find the Orange-crowned with them, I looked through the flock multiple times, presumably seeing each bird in the flock several times, but the target bird was nowhere in sight.  The flock moved on to the east, but was soon replaced in the brush by another mixed flock.  This group included the typically harder to find Redstart which gave excellent views.  Although the Redstart is a rarer bird in winter than the Orange-crowned, I have seen Redstart in DC in the warmer seasons, and needed the Orange-crowned for my DC list.  So I decided to try to re-find the first Chickadee/Kinglet flock to see if the target bird had joined them.  I eventually re-found the flock in some pines to the east, and after a little searching found the Orange-crowned Warbler mixed in (#5).  How did I miss it when I first looked through that flock?  My statebird map for this species is very spotty in the east where it is uncommon or rare, though not surprisingly I’ve seen it in most of its regular western states.

I left DC with 5 new birds – much better than the 2 that I expected.  And 4 of these (Bittern, Red-headed Woodpecker, Swan, and Orange-crowned), along with the Redstart, were “write-ins” on eBird.  It was a nice start for the day, and now it was on to VA.

The first VA stop was at the Belle Haven area along the Potomac River in Fairfax County, where there had been 2 recent reports of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and one of a cooperative Merlin.  When I arrived at midday the tide was high but falling and I could only find about 50 gulls, and nothing unusual.  Over the next 45 minutes more gulls flew in, but they were just the regular suspects.  And there was no Merlin in sight.  I considered staying longer in hopes that more gulls might arrive as the tide continued to drop, and maybe even the Merlin might appear.  But with 2 other stops to go, I decided to head out.  Interestingly, I made a stop here at Belle Haven on my last trip to northern VA in January 2015, and searched for but missed these same 2 species on that trip as well.

Next on my itinerary was Huntley Meadows Park where multiple Rusty Blackbirds had been reported most every day over the last couple weeks.  I had birded this park a couple times before, and knew that there were lots of wet swampy woodlands that would be ideal for Rusty Blackbirds.  But since no specific locations for the Rusty’s were mentioned in the eBird posts, I was concerned about how long it might take me to find them – if I found them at all.  As I arrived I went to the nature center thinking that I might find a park worker who might be able to give me some suggestions on the Rusty’s.  But before I could ask the worker behind the desk I noticed another birder and asked him about the birds.  It turned out that he had just completed leading a birdwalk at the park, and had had several Rusty’s that morning.  He took me to the spot where he had seen Rusty’s mixed in with Red-wings perched in some low trees, but we only found 1 Red-wing.  I decided to wait at this spot hoping the birds might return.  Over the next 15 minutes small groups of Red-wings flew in, and finally a lone female Rusty Blackbird joined them (VA statebird #1).  That fills a big gap in my statebird map, though I still need this species in 3 other states where they are regular.

My planned final stop was to be at turf farms in Fauquier County, about a 90-minute ride to the southwest.  There had been a recent post from Grassdale Road in the middle of the turf farms with 26 American Pipits and 5 Vesper Sparrows – 2 of my target birds.  But I had had reservations about heading to this spot from the beginning – the sightings were listed in just one post, there were no details on the birds, and it was a long ride away.  And now with my misses as Belle Haven, I wondered if I should head back there to see if my luck might improve instead of heading to the turf farms.  But the turf farm post was only 3 days old.  Plus I had birded a nearby spot at the turf farms last winter and had had good luck there with Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs.  So I decided to stick with my original plans and headed to the turf farms.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to slowly drive the mile-long road to get the lay of the land, with car windows open to listen for Pipits, and also watching for sparrows that might flush from grasses along the roadside.  But I heard just 1 Horned Lark and found no sparrows at all.  On my way back I stopped several times to listen even more intently, but only heard one sparrow which turned out to be a Song.  I was now close to the beginning of the road sitting in my car wondering what to do next.  Then I heard a couple call notes that sounded Pipit-like coming from quite close to the car.  I got out and scanned the grass and found an otherwise silent flock of 14 Pipits foraging in the grass near the road (#2).  If that bird hadn’t called I likely would have missed them altogether.  I now only need American Pipit in 6 more mainland states.

With a few more minutes before I had to head back, I took the short drive to the spot I birded last winter with long-shot hopes I might run into Vesper Sparrows there.  And although I found a flock of at least 20 Savannah Sparrows, none had white outer tail feathers.  So Vesper Sparrow would have to wait for future VA trip.

I ended up with about 65 species for the day, including 5 additions for my DC list and 2 for my VA list.  My DC total is now 183, 18 over the old 2011 ABA threshold of 165 – of course exceeding my somewhat arbitrary “reportable plus 15” goal.  But a more up-to-date threshold could be calculated if one could find the total DC list.  With some research on the web I found out that the total DC list as of 4/19/15 was 334.  Dividing that number by 2 as the ABA used to do to calculate the thresholds, that would equate to a new threshold of 167.  In other words, 4 more species have been added to the DC list since 2011.  I would imagine my 183 will be safely over newly calculated DC thresholds for many years to come. 

My VA list is now 246, which is 14 over the 2011 ABA threshold of 232.  As of December 2015, the total VA list had increased to 471 resulting in a new threshold of 235.5.  So the VA list would have to increase by 22 before I would no longer reach the “reportable” threshold.  And although that sounds like a big number, the VA list increased by 7 from 2011 to 2015.  At that rate the threshold would pass my total in about 15 years.  Seems like even 15 over the old threshold might not be enough in VA.