Reddish Egret – First Inland NC Record, Charlotte, NC, June 25, 2020

When I moved to the NC mountains I set up an eBird NC Needs Alert so that I could track and prioritize sightings that I might want to chase after.  I quickly realized that most of the sightings that popped up on the alerts were from the NC coast.  And because I’m so far west in the state, and NC is such a “long” state east to west, most of those coastal sightings were 6 or more hours away.  Needless to say, most would require quite a considerable effort to chase after.  So although I’ve continued to monitor the NC Needs Alerts, I quickly write most of them off as being too far away to chase.

And that was exactly the case when the first Needs Alert popped up for a Reddish Egret on June 15th.  At first I didn’t look at it too closely, just assuming it must be yet another un-chaseable coastal bird.  It was in Mecklenburg County which wasn’t any of the local western NC counties I was familiar with, so I just continued to assume that it must be somewhere along the coast.  But then after a few more days of the Egret showing up on the Needs Alerts something clicked in my mind – I remembered that Mecklenburg County is in the Charlotte area, within a 2-hour drive of home.  That changed everything.  This one was definitely chaseable.  But the bird was at a small regional park called McAlpine Creek Park.  During these days of the pandemic I wondered if there would be too many people around to allow for safe viewing.  I decided better safe than sorry and I’d just pass on this bird.

But then the Needs Alerts kept coming – practically haunting me with each new post of this most reliable bird.  With a bit of research I found out that not only is Reddish Egret a rarity on the coast, but this was the first inland NC record.  I finally decided that I should give it a try, and if I go in the early morning I figured I could avoid most of the crowds.  I reached out to my Cleveland County birding friend Bill Hooker to see if he might want to meet me at the park (he would only be an hour away).  Bill had planned to go, but was targeting that Saturday the 27th.  I was however aiming for Wednesday the 25^th, hoping to avoid inevitable weekend crowds, though likely to run into rush hour traffic.  Not to mention that now that I decided to chase after the Egret, I didn’t want to wait too much longer to go after it – after all the 25th, would be the 11th day in a row for this rarity.  I didn’t want to push my luck.  Bill agreed to accommodate my schedule and offered to meet me that morning at the park.  And better yet, he had a local birding contact in Greg Hays who could likely help us find the bird.  We came up with a plan for Bill to meet Greg at the park early in the morning, and they would hopefully have the Egret all scoped out and pinned down for me by the time I got there a bit later. 

On the morning of the 25th I was able to get out of the house a bit earlier than expected.  And whether it was timing, or just less people on the road during the pandemic, it turned out that the rush hour traffic never materialized.  About halfway there I got a text from Bill that he and Greg were on the bird – so I was hopeful.  Just as I arrived at the parking lot Bill and Greg came back to greet me.  Within a couple minutes they took me to the best viewing spot to see our target bird in the beaver pond.  And there was the Reddish Egret, an immature dark phase bird, right in front of us.  I got this nice phone-scoped shot as the bird practically posed for us.

And here’s a distance shot of the bird without magnification.

Reddish Egret was #302 for my NC statelist – my 7th state for this species.  Per my statebird map below, I’ve seen this species in 5 southeast states in its regular range (shaded in solid blue), and now NC and CA where it is a rarity (tan-shaded states).   I’ve yet to see it in MS and GA in its regular range (the cross-hatched states).

8 Statebirds in South Carolina Low Country, September 2019

While researching birding opportunities near my new home in the North Carolina mountains I found the website for the Carolina Bird Club (CBC).  It seemed like a good organization to join to obtain information on the local birding community and birding sites.  And then I noticed that they have multi-day birding meetings in various sites in the Carolinas.  The next one was in the South Carolina Low Country, centered in Charleston.  The meeting would include multiple birding trips to hotspots in the vicinity, and was scheduled for the end of September to coincide with fall migration.  I had birded that region before, but it was during my college days nearly 40 years ago (yikes!).  Needless to say I could use some birding updates to the region, and could hopefully make some connections with the local birders as well. 

And then there was the possibility of adding some new SC statebirds.  With a bit of research on eBird I realized there would be many statebird possibilities, particularly given that migration should be in full swing at the time.  I had a number of marsh and shorebird targets as well as passerine migrants to hope for.  But I actually have better chances at the passerines in western SC not too far from home, and the marsh and shorebirds are realistically only possible near the coast.  So where I had the option I signed up for walks that especially targeted waterbird opportunities.  Though I’ll take the landbirds too if I can get them.  I hoped for perhaps 5 to 10 new additions to my SC list - which would be my first new birds in SC since 2003.

As the weekend neared, I started to watch the weather.  Unfortunately the region was experiencing a heat wave, with temperatures running up to 20 degrees above normal and very dry conditions.  And that weather would continue throughout the weekend.  Not only did that mean hot and humid weather while birding, but it also meant that passerine migration would be limited, at best.  Though I wasn’t too worried since I was especially hoping for the waterbirds.

The first organized walk was on Friday morning, 9/27, so I needed to get to my hotel by Thursday night.  So why not make a couple birding stops on Thursday along the way to my hotel?  My route would take me right by the Orangeburg Sod Farms.  So although I had signed up for a walk at this “grasspiper” hotspot on Saturday, I decided to stop here along the way on Thursday as well, thinking that there could be different birds moving through on those two days.  I need all the grasspipers for SC so I was hopeful.  When I arrived at the spot mid-afternoon the car thermometer said it was 100 degrees, though the dewpoint wasn’t too bad.  As I scanned the sod I quickly found a few Killdeer here and there, and then spotted a lone Snipe oddly in a dry grassy area.  Later I found a lone Least Sandpiper with some Killdeer, and a flock of about 15 local Horned Larks.  But nothing else of interest.  I didn’t think it would be possible to find 3 species of shorebirds at the sod farm without finding a statebird.  Notably it was so hot that many of the Killdeer were lined up in the shade of the center pivot irrigation devices.

Next I thought I’d head to the coast at Folly Island, hoping for birds along the beach, as well as some passerine migrants.  Even though I was going to be on the Folly Island walk on Saturday, the birds could be very different on Thursday.  And after my Thursday visit I especially hoped that would be true - the only birds on the beach at the east end of the island at the Lighthouse Inlet were a small group of Laughing Gulls, and the only migrants were a pair of Prairie Warblers.  I then went to the western end of the island at the County Park and only had a few Pelicans.  At least a quick look at a couple perched birds on a dock revealed a Willet of the western race.  One to bank for a potential future split.  And then on my drive inland to my hotel I passed by some nice wetlands along the James Island causeway and spotted a Roseate Spoonbill passing overhead (new SC statebird #1).  Good thing they are easy to identify overhead even when driving.  Spoonbills have expanded up the east coast since my last trips to SC, and are now regular year-round in the state.  SC was my 5th state for this species (see my statebird map below) – it’s time to try to add them to the other southeast coastal states.

Friday was the first day for the official walks, and my morning trip was to Kiawah Island.  A bird-banding station at the western end of the island had only had a few migrants.  But the beach on the eastern end had regular reports of 2 targets - Reddish Egret and Lesser Black-backed Gull.  We ran into huge traffic delays getting to the island, so we missed out on time for landbirding near the banding station.  So we headed right out to Kiawah East Beach for the waterbirds.  The vast majority of this island is private with no access, but we were allowed on the island since we were part of the CBC group.  Access was through the very fancy Ocean Golf Course, where I was told one round of golf would cost you $500!  After a short walk we were on the beach and had good sized flocks of terns and gulls.  And with a quick scan I spotted a larger dark-backed gull, though it was just an adult Great Black-backed Gull.  But not to worry, with a bit more scanning I found another dark-backed gull – this one was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (statebird #2).  SC was my 31st state for this expanding species.

A bit later we found several Piping Plovers on the beach, including one that had a leg tag as well as a transmitter and an antenna sticking out behind the bird.  Interesting to imagine this little bird carrying that transmitter all the way to its wintering grounds (and back?).  Unfortunately I missed the Peregrine as it buzzed the beach scattering the terns and gulls.

A short distance inland from the beach was a large freshwater pond where the Reddish Egret had been frequenting.  But our initial searches came up negative – just a Great Blue Heron, two Great Egrets, and a Snowy Egret, though 9 species of shorebirds were nice.  A bit farther along the beach one of the birders took a side trip to get a different view of the pond.  And seconds later he was waving us over – he had the Reddish Egret.  We all got great views of the bird as it fed in the pond (statebird #3). 

As with the Spoonbill, now that I’m in the southeast, I can search for the Egret in a number of my new “local” states.

As we headed back to the parking lot, I realized that the Egret was now in view from the driving range.  It was an odd juxtaposition of birding and a very different lifestyle.

The afternoon walk was inland at the Pine Island Unit of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge.  As we arrived at the parking lot to meet the leaders they said we had just missed a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.  And then as we started down the trail a birder in front of our group flushed what he identified as a Whip-poor-will – unfortunately I was farther back with our group.  Two statebird targets missed in just a couple minutes.  I spent a few minutes trying for the Whip without success, but did find a nice Woodcock – a species not often found in fall.

We continued down the trail and flushed 4 Sedge Wrens along wet trailside ditches.  And later we flushed a Sora from the edge of the trail.  As we neared the wetlands along the edge of Lake Marion a small flock of Dowitchers flew low overhead which turned out to be nice foreshadowing of what lied ahead.  When we got to the wetlands there was a small exposed mudflat and I picked out several less-than-cooperative Snipe.  And then I heard calling shorebirds overhead – Pectorals I thought.  A couple seconds later they dropped in and they were indeed Pectorals (statebird #4).  I was able to put both species in the scope for life views for several birders.  Nice to get the Pectorals here at the mudflat since I missed them at the sod farm.  That fills a big gap in my statebird map – just a couple more states to go for this widespread species.

The trail then took us back in the woods where we quickly found a small flock of passerines.  Most were difficult to view with backlit conditions and thick vegetation.  But I was finally able to get passable views of a Tennessee Warbler (statebird #5) – certainly not a rarity but a nice addition to my SC list, and one of my last states for this species. 

Perhaps I can eventually add it to my VA list too now that I’m in the southeast.

Later along the trail we came to another passerine flock though they were mostly local breeders.  But then someone spotted an Empidonax nearby.  I was finally able to get on the bird and it had no appreciable eye-ring, making it either a Willow or Alder.  I need both species for SC – both would be rare for the area though Willow would be more likely.  So without a firm ID I added it as a “Traill’s” Flycatcher (statebird #6). 

Later a group of birders that went ahead of us ran into a large migrant flock.  Unfortunately the flock had mostly dispersed by the time we got there.  Ugh…  Although it was a fun afternoon, it was a frustrating one where I missed a number of birds that others reported. 

The morning walk on Saturday, 9/28, was back to Folly Island once again in hopes of birds on the beach and passerine migrants.  Just after the trip started I spotted a Merlin passing down the beach (statebird #7), and was able to get most of the birders on the bird.  I still need this species in a couple of the nearby southeast states.

The walk started off well enough.  But the hot conditions were continuing, with persistent southern winds limiting migration.  As a result, little did we know the Merlin was the sole highlight of the walk.  There were next to no birds on the beach, and few migrants in the woods.  The “lowlight” was a group of hunters in a boat in the marsh nearby apparently hunting Clapper Rails.  Is that legal?

With so few birds on the walk, the leader suggested we next head to Fort Lamar Heritage Preserve to try for passerine migrants.  That turned out to be an excellent idea with quite a number of migrant flocks in the woods at this site.  I ended up with 9 warbler species, though nothing new.  And late in the walk I spotted a thrush which eventually revealed itself to be a Swainson’s (statebird #8).  I just need this species in AZ and NV to fill out my statebird map.

Later we came upon a commotion where a number of small passerines were mobbing a small area of leaves in a tree.  We counted no less than 8 Yellow Warblers involved in the melee.  And then on close inspection we also spotted a Tennessee.  Although we suspected they were mobbing a Screech Owl, we never saw it, or any other reason, for all their activity.

Saturday afternoon’s trip was back to the Orangeburg sod farm hoping for better results than on Thursday.  When we arrived we met the leader who had already scoped out the farm and alas found no grasspipers except for Killdeer.  A most cooperative Ground Dove was nice, as was a singing Painted Bunting and a large family of Blue Grosbeaks.  But once again it was intolerably hot and sticky, and with the lack of good birds, not a very pleasant trip.

There was only one trip scheduled for Sunday morning (9/29) – which was to chase rarities seen the previous 2 days.  But Saturday evening it was announced that the trip was cancelled because no chaseable rarities had been found.  So since I was free I joined a group of birders out of the Durham area to bird the Bluff Unit of Santee NWR which had been good Saturday afternoon for passerines.  Plus it was roughly on the way home making for a shorter drive when the day was over.  Unfortunately we only had a few migrants Sunday morning.  And I was looking in the wrong direction when the Cape May Warbler was seen by a couple other birders. 

It was nearly noon when I was getting ready to leave, and I decided to check the Carolinas listserve to see if there was anything to chase.  I found this message posted at 9 AM, just a couple hours earlier –

“One of the two Limpkins present most of the summer in Hanahan, South Carolina, was observed at 10 AM this morning at 44 N. Basilica Dr. by the homeowner. Birders are welcome.” [Note that likely meant the bird was seen on Saturday, the day before the post]

Limpkin would be a great bird for SC – any chance Hanahan was nearby?  With a quick search I realized Hanahan was a suburb of Charleston just over an hour to the south.  Definitely chaseable, but it was the opposite direction from home, and even a short visit there would delay my return home by at least 3 hours.  And I was already hot and feely icky.  In any case, I decided to call it quits and head home.  If the post had come out the day before I would have tried for it instead of heading to Santee. 

I ended the trip with about 120 species, 8 of which were new for my SC statelist, which now stands at 240.  Plus I can add the Western Willet if (when?) it is split in the future.  Pretty nice for my first meeting with the Carolina Bird Club.  Plus I made some connections with a few local birders and other local bird clubs.  The next CBC meeting is on the upper SC coast in January 2020 – chances are I’ll probably attend.

Reddish Egret and Hooded Warbler, Southern CA, June 2015

With an upcoming trip to the Los Angeles area in late June I set up a CA Needs Alert in e-Bird to see if there might be some possible target birds in the area.  My CA statelist was pretty good at 376, so most likely any bird I needed would have to be pretty unusual if not a real rarity.  The first bird I noticed on the Needs Alert was Reddish Egret, which seems to be regular but seen in small numbers at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County south of LA.  I’ve seen posts about this bird at Bolsa Chica for a number of years, but have never been to this spot to give it a try.  So with a couple hours available for late afternoon birding on the day I would arrive, this one seemed like a possibility.  Unfortunately there were no other targets being reported south of LA, so Reddish Egret looked to be my only possible CA statebird for this trip.  But then just a couple days before my trip both a Hooded Warbler and a Red-eyed Vireo were reported at Huntington Central Park which is just a 10-minute drive from Bolsa Chica.  So if I was successful quickly at Bolsa Chica, I could also get to the Park and maybe have a shot at 3 new CA statebirds.

My flight landed at LAX a few minutes early (yeah!), and I quickly checked e-Bird for updates.  Alas neither the Warbler nor the Vireo were found that morning despite lots of searching.  And the last post of the Egret was now 2 days before.  I was less worried about that one since I would imagine they are around most every day.  But I worried that the Warbler and Vireo had moved on.  Even so, 1 new CA statebird would be nice.  And if I had the time I would still head to the Park anyway.

Most of the Reddish Egret sightings were from waterways at the southern end of Bolsa Chica, so I headed right to that part of the Reserve as soon as I arrived in the area.  Since Reddish Egrets are typically easy to spot given their very active feeding style, I was cautiously optimistic that I could find one quickly, and then head right to Huntington Central Park.  But so much for my optimism.  My first stop was the “Walk Bridge”, with suitable habitat in all directions.  But there were no Reddish Egrets.  A silver lining though was hearing and seeing numerous “Belding’s” Savannah Sparrows in the marsh nearby – only my second time seeing this race.  (One day it will be a new species, right?)  Then I walked over to the “Full Tidal Area”, with more great habitat, but again no target bird.  Next stop was a walk over to the outer channel north of the Walk Bridge, but still no Egret.  Though here I heard and saw several Ridgway’s Rails – a very nice consolation.  But after lots of scanning, and a couple miles of walking, I found no Reddish Egrets in the area where they were most often recently reported on e-Bird.

The day before my trip I had called the Reserve to get their advice and the person on the line said he typically saw them in the northern end of Bolsa Chica.  But because there were few e-Bird posts of the bird from this area, I thought this this area would be a lower priority.  Though now that I had struck out in the area with most of the recent e-Bird sightings, it was time to head to the northern portion of the Reserve.  This part of the wetlands is visible from the Pacific Coast Highway, though there are no options for parking along the road.  So I would need to drive north past the wetlands, park at the headquarters, then walk back south to check out this area.  I had driven no more than a half mile when up ahead I noticed a wading bird “dancing” in the wetlands.  I slowed a bit when I got even with it and sure enough it was a Reddish Egret.  Wasn’t the best of views, but at least I didn’t need it for a lifebird. 

I’ve now seen Reddish Egret in 4 southeastern states (how come I’ve missed it in MS?), and now CA as a rare but regular species (see my statebird map below).

If I had only taken the advice of the Reserve employee I may well have gotten it right away.  Though if I did I might have missed the Belding’s Sparrows and Ridgway’s Rails.  I thought about stopping and walking back to get a better look, but I still wanted to head to Huntington Central Park to try for the other targets, even if they were long shots.  So I continued on to the Park, content with a good enough look at the Egret.

Both the Hooded Warbler and Red-Eyed Vireo had been mostly reported from the eastern side of the “Island” at Huntington Central Park.  Though the Warbler was also sometimes seen on the western side.  And in most cases the bird was in full song.   Of course I first thought the “Island” would be land in the middle of a lake or pond, so I wondered how I would get to it.  But based on the descriptions in some posts I wondered if it was an “island” of trees and brush.  With some Googlemaps research it looked like there was a wetlands in the middle of the park, which was indeed heavily forested.  So maybe both guesses were right.  But it was a pretty large park, and with no positive posts from that day, I wasn’t too optimistic.  Instead I figured I would just bird the park in general and enjoy seeing some western species I don’t see too often.  And if I do see one of the rarities then that would an unexpected bonus.

I arrived at the parking lot on the western side of the park and soon noticed a photographer with a long lens.  As I always say “bird the birders”, so I went up to him to see if he had any updates on the rarities.  Instead he was just a photographer, not familiar with the Warbler and Vireo, and he told me he was there “to photograph the Whydah”.  Just then a male Pin-tailed Whydah flew into the tree right above us.  Although my first thought was Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, I realized that it was my first ever Whydah.  Not a countable bird, but maybe someday…

I then started birding around the perimeter of what I guessed to be the “Island”, starting from the west side and working my way clockwise to the east.  I eventually got to the east side but didn’t have any sightings of the rarities.  Though I did run into a pair of Scaly-breasted Munias (formerly called Nutmeg Mannikins) – only the second time I’ve seen them.  I decided to call it quits, and had walked only a short way back toward the car when I heard some harsh chips coming from a wet area in the underbrush.  I quickly went to my iPhone and played the call notes of the Hooded Warbler and they were a perfect match.  I continued to play the calls and the bird seemed to respond.  Although I never saw the bird, it kept calling from a short distance into woods, again seemingly in response to my tape.  Although I felt good that this could be the Hooded Warbler, it had not been seen that morning, and it was never reported as giving call notes.  So I guessed it was just some regular western bird I wasn’t familiar with.  But two days later I noticed an e-Bird report that the Hooded Warbler was re-found, just giving its chip notes, and from the same area where I had my observation.  So I decided to go with my initial impressions and added Hooded Warbler to my CA statelist. 

I’ve now seen Hooded Warbler in 30 states – several on the periphery of its normal range like OK and MN, and several as a rarity like ME, NH, VT, and now CA.  Though I still need it in a few states in the southeast in the regular part of its range. 

 

I was just about back to my car when I noticed several sparrow-sized birds fly into some reeds at the edge of the wetlands – more Munias.  I stopped to watch the birds feeding on seeds at the top of the reeds and more and more birds continued to join them.  Eventually I counted 35 Munias in the flock.  And at one point I noticed a different bird at the edge of the flock that reminded me of a female Bobolink – it was a female Orange Bishop.  Another first for me.  So along with the Whydah, that gave me 3 established exotics for the Park – though only 1 is countable at this point.

All in all it was a most successful couple of stops.  Not only did I add 2 birds to my CA statelist (now at 378), but I also saw my first Pin-tailed Whydah and Orange Bishop, and got good looks at both the Belding’s Sparrow and Ridgway’s Rail.