Trumpeter Swan (I Guess), February 11, 2026, Spartanburg County, South Carolina

On February 8 there was a post on the Greenville County Bird Club listserve that a Tundra Swan was spotted on a small lake along Berry Road in Boiling Springs, Spartanburg County in South Carolina.  I quickly went to my SC state list and confirmed that I didn’t need Tundra Swan for my list, so there was no need to chase after it. 

I didn’t think much more about the Swan, even though it continued to be reported.  But then I noticed one birder raised the question about whether it could be a Trumpeter Swan instead, especially based on the lack of yellow lores.  I checked out several of the photos posted on-line showing the birds’ cheek, and it looked like a Tundra to me based on a curved edge to the black bill on the cheek, and the black eye being isolated from the black bill.  In fact, those features make it a stereotypical Tundra Swan. 

These features are evident in this photo I took of a Tundra (on the left) and a Trumpeter (on the right) in southwestern Michigan in November 2025.  The Tundra has the curved edge to the side of the bill against the white cheek, with the isolated eye.  Whereas the Trumpeter has the straight edge of the bill which includes the eye.  It also helps that the larger size of the Trumpeter is obvious in this photo.

Not to mention, not all Tundras have yellow lores.  Still no need to chase.

That is until another photo was posted that showed the white feathering forming a sharp V at the top of the black bill, which is very much Trumpeter-like.  Plus, it was a young bird retaining some darker plumage, which is also like a Trumpeter which molts later than Tundras.  Given these somewhat contradictory field marks, some birders even suggested it might be a hybrid.  But rather than waiting for the ID to be confirmed, taking the risk that the bird might leave first, I decided it was now time to chase it, and let the ID be confirmed later.

I headed out early in the morning on the 11th hoping I hadn’t waited too long.  I arrived at sunrise at the small pond, driving slowly down Berry Road but didn’t see the Swan on the pond.  I was getting worried.  I turned around for another pass and thankfully there it was near the far east end of the lake.  The white dot in the distance in the middle of this picture is the Swan beyond Berry Road. 

My friend Keith Viglietta submitted photos of the Swan to the Report a Swan Citizen Science Project at the Trumpeter Swan Society for ID confirmation.  The response from the Trumpeter Swan Society’s expert, Dr. Ken Abraham, was as follows:

“I think it’s a Trumpeter.  Straight, heavy bill.  The narrowness of the culmen process leading to the eye is more Tundra-like, but not out of scope for Trumpeter.  Agree that it’s not an adult.  Coloring of the bill is black on most photos, but one or two look like there might be some residual paleness of the juvenile bill.”

So Trumpeter Swan it is (I guess).  An apparent third SC state record.  And statebird number 313 for my SC list. 

My statebird map for Trumpeter Swan is copied in below.  The light blue states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range, which now includes a major re-introduction program.  The cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it within its range.  And the 10 dark blue states are those where I’ve seen Trumpeter Swan as a rarity, now including SC.

Mid-Atlantic Christmas Vacation Yields 2 Statebirds, December 22, 29, 2025

A trip to the Mid-Atlantic states for the Christmas holidays presented the opportunity to chase after a few new statebirds nearby.  Since I grew up in the area, I have good state lists in all the states in the region.  But there are almost always at least a few possible new statebirds not too far away. 

Now it was time for some research.  We were based in Baltimore, so that meant no less than 5 states plus the District of Columbia would be no more than an hour away.  I pulled up my Needs Alerts for MD, PA, DE, VA, WV, and DC and came up with several reasonable possibilities –

PA – A Rufous Hummingbird was reliably visiting a feeder in Landenberg just across the state line

DC- Several waterfowl including Ross’s and Snow Geese, Goldeneye, and Long-tailed Duck had been seen recently, along with Harrier and Iceland Gull.  Though none were necessarily very reliable.  Plus, there was a Snowy Owl report.  

VA – Trumpeter Swans are reliable in Fauquier County right along our route back to NC.  That one could wait till our trip home.

My first opportunity to break away was the afternoon of the 22nd which was just enough time for what would hopefully be a short visit to Landenberg, PA in Chester County to look for the Rufous Hummingbird.  Luckily multiple eBird reports included all the necessary details – the feeder was in the back yard at the end of the driveway, the bird visited the feeder frequently (every 10-15 minutes), and it was not necessary to get prior permission from the homeowner. 

I arrived just after 2 PM, and walked to the end of the driveway.  The hummingbird feeder was right in front of me, along with a couple seed feeders.  The yard was quite birdy with a number of sparrows and chickadees on and below the seed feeders.  But of course, I concentrated on the hummer feeder as I waited for my target bird.  After an increasingly tense 15-minute wait the Rufous finally flew into the top of a small tree near the feeder.  And a few seconds later it landed on the feeder for a long drink providing great views.  It was #244 for my PA list. 

My statebird map for Rufous Hummingbird is inserted below.  The light blue shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The cross-hatched states are the states where I’ve yet to see it in its regular range.  And the 8 dark blue shaded states are those where I’ve seen Rufous Hummingbird as a rarity, now including PA. 

The summary of my DC trip on the 23rd is a short one since I didn’t find any of my targets.  That was despite sorting through at least 1,500 Canada Geese on the Langston Golf Course unsuccessfully looking for white geese.  And checking all the waters around Hain’s Point for unusual waterfowl, Harriers, and gulls.  That might be the first time I've had an extended birding trip and not found any of my multiple targets. 

I also kept my eyes open for Snowy Owls as I birded in the area.  Numerous birders reported a Snowy Owl the next day on the grounds of Washington National Airport.  Interestingly, the location listed on many of the reports was Hain’s Point in DC where the birders were standing, even though all the airport property is in VA.  My rule is that the location needs to be where the bird is, not where the birder is.  (I didn’t need Snowy Owl on my VA list since I’ve seen one in VA – in fact at Washington National - a few years ago.)

I may have missed my target birds in DC, but still had some nice scenery.

My last targets were Trumpeter Swans in Fauquier County in northern VA.  This species is always on my VA needs alerts, especially in this county.  So this area must be a regular hotspot for them.  I chose Sky Meadows State Park as our spot to try for them since they seemed to be quite reliable there recently, and it was only a few minutes off our route home on the 29th.  (Afterall, it’s always important to find my target birds quickly when I was with my NBS - non-birding spouse.)  As we pulled into the State Park entrance we looked to the right at small Turner Pond and instantly spotted a pair of Trumpeter Swans feeding in the middle.  That was easy!  Here’s a picture of Turner Pond with the Swans toward the back left. 

Trumpeter Swan was #277 for my VA list.  And VA was the 22nd state where I’ve seen this species, which is being re-introduced into much of its former breeding range.

Oregon Portion of the Northwest Sagebrush Country Trip, Part 1 of 2, May-June 2023

In January 2016 an armed group of protesters seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.  By the time the occupation was over in February 2016, there was a considerable amount of destruction of the refuge facilities, resulting in closure of the headquarters facilities for months.  Unfortunately, I had planned a summer 2016 birding trip to the sagebrush country of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern Idaho to include a lengthy stop at Malheur NWR.  But given the issues at Malheur I shelved those plans and headed to Alberta and British Columbia that summer instead. 

But my interests in birding eastern OR, eastern WA, and southern ID continued as this was the last large section of the Lower 48 that I had not yet birded.  And a new part of the country for me would equate to considerable statebirding potential.  So after further delays first due to moving, and then due to Covid, I finally got around to scheduling the OR/WA/ID sagebrush country trip for the summer of 2023.  Plus I added a short side- trip to the South Hills of ID for Cassia Crossbill.  I reached out to birding friend David Donsker who often joins me on these trips, and he agreed to come along. 

But simply adding a lot of statebirds wasn’t my only objective for the trip.  Years ago, the ABA allowed you to report your totals for a given state only if your total exceeded half of the total number of species ever recorded in that state.  Early in my birding career I had set a goal to be able to report my totals to the ABA in each of the continental 49 states.  Eventually I exceeded those thresholds in each state except one – OR.  Although those ABA reporting thresholds no longer exist, they still represent a logical set of standards to strive for in each state.  And since the state totals inch up over the years as new birds are added to the official state list, I set a somewhat arbitrary goal of being 15 over those old ABA thresholds (I call it “ABA plus 15”).  I started the 2023 trip with 249 species in OR, just 10 shy of that old ABA reportable threshold.  So this was certainly a realistic secondary objective for this trip.

After considerable research on-line especially on eBird, and with invaluable advice from a number of local birders, I set up an 11-day itinerary from May 24th to June 3rd, starting in Boise and southern ID, then into eastern OR, next into southeastern WA, then back to ID for flights back home.  And with 5 days birding in OR I hoped to add perhaps 28 new birds.

This blog post presents the first of two parts of the OR portion of the trip on Days 2 through 4.  The next post summarizes the second part of the OR portion starting with Day 5.  The subsequent post summarizes the WA portion.  My previous posts briefly summarized the entire trip and the ID portion. 

Day 2 – May 25 – Drive to Burns

After birding the morning in the South Hills in southeastern ID we spent the rest of the day driving west to Burns, OR to be in position to start the next day pre-dawn at Malheur NWR.  And of course we birded along the way.  Although we were driving through some pretty desolate habitat we did pick up my first OR statebird along the way – the first of many Swainson’s Hawks.  My statebird map for this species is inserted below.  Blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this western species; the cross-hatched states are those in its regular range where I’ve yet to see it.

Also, when we got close to Burns we started to run into some flooded fields, and spotted a pair of Ring-billed Gulls feeding in one of them.  They turned out to be the only ones for us in OR.

Day 3 – May 26 – Malheur NWR

Our plan was to spend the entire day birding the northern portions of Malheur NWR, starting with nocturnal searches for Poorwill and Short-eared Owl.  Interestingly, there were very few sightings of either species there yet this year.  So for Poorwill I went back to 2022 sightings, and found several reports just north of the Field Station, including a couple with birds sitting in the road.  We made that our first stop, turning onto the road to the Field Station at 4:15 AM.  We drove along slowly but didn’t see any birds on the road.  Then we arrived at the butte just north of the Field Station and got out to listen.  Almost instantly we heard a Poorwill calling from the butte (OR statebird #2).  Nice when a search for a nocturnal bird comes out so well.  I just need this species in 3 more states across its western range.

Our next target was Short-eared Owl.  There were only a few scattered 2022 records for this species in the area, and only 1 so far this year.  The 2023 report seemed like it was in a good habitat, and was nearby, so we drove over to that location and started our vigil for the Owl just as the skies were starting to get light. 

We unfortunately struck out on the Owl, but the grassy fields nearby held a singing Vesper Sparrow (OR statebird #3), which turned out to be our only one of the trip.  That was a pretty good start of the day – 1 of 2 nocturnal targets plus one bonus bird.

It was now closing in on sunrise, so it was time to head to the Headquarters where we planned to bird the oasis hoping for a nice fallout.  Just after getting out of the car we ran into a small flock of Western Kingbirds (OR statebird #4) pestering a Great Horned Owl.  And the cottonwoods held small groups of Western Tanagers and Bullock’s Orioles.  We walked over to the hummingbird feeders and saw several female Black-chinneds making extended visits (OR statebird #5). 

In the distance beyond the hummingbird feeders were these extensive wetlands that would eventually deserve a detailed scoping. 

But with a quick scan I spotted a small flock of Black Terns dancing over the marsh (OR statebird #6), several Blue-winged Teal (OR statebird #7) mixed in with Cinnamon Teal, and a couple fly-by White-faced Ibis (OR statebird #8).  And then I looked up just in time to spot a high-flying Franklin’s Gull (OR statebird #9) – surprisingly the only one we would see at Malheur where it is supposed to be common.  In my statebird map below the brown-shaded eastern states are those where I’ve seen this species as a rarity.

But the marsh would have to wait, because we needed to focus on landbird migrants at the oasis.  And right on cue I turned just in time to watch a flock of a dozen Western Tanagers fly by.  Followed by at least 10 Orioles.  And all of this was within the first 15 minutes. 

David and I then started a slow walk around the Headquarters finding nearly constant activity and picking up quite a number of Yellow-rumps, Wilson’s Warblers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Warbling Vireos and additional flocks of Orioles and Tanagers.  Numbers were difficult to estimate because so many birds were moving back and forth.  It was turning out to be a nice fallout, and we both thought that we had the “critical mass” to get a rarity (or 2). 

Then we had the moment we predicted – a drab gray warbler appeared in a small tree just 20 ft away.  It was gray above with an eyering and no wingbars, had bright yellow undertail coverts and a dark rump.  We had a rare female Viriginia’s Warbler, with only 17 prior accepted records in the state (OR statebird #10).  Unfortunately, we had it in view for only about 20 seconds before it flew off.  We alerted other nearby birders but it was not re-found that day.  Though there was another report of Virginia’s Warbler there the next day, also a female.  Perhaps the same bird?  I still need this species in several states around the periphery of its regular range.

That was my 10th new OR statebird, bringing my state list to 259 – the old ABA threshold.  Nice to reach the goal, but we had lots of OR birding ahead of us yet.

We spent another couple hours birding the trees in the oasis, picking up good numbers of the same species.  But we also added a few new species like Townsend’s Warbler, Cassin’s Vireo, Western Pewee, Lazuli Bunting, and finally a cooperative Ash-throated Flycatcher (OR statebird #11).  Then there were these Yellow-headed Blackbirds providing nice eye candy at one of the feeders.

Unfortunately news didn’t get out in time to chase after the male Indigo Bunting seen at one point just a few feet away from us. 

After the landbird activity slowed down we went back to get the scope and birded the wetlands.  We had 9 waterfowl species, 4 shorebirds, and more Black Terns along with my first Forster’s Tern (OR statebird #12).  Plus close looks at the swallows feeding overhead gave us 5 species including my first Banks (OR statebird #13).  I just need Bank Swallow in one more state plus D.C. to complete my statebird map for this species.

As we walked back to the car we were alerted by others to this baby Great Horned Owl.

What a morning!  In 4 hours at the Headquarters we tallied 59 species including 10 new ones for my OR statelist.  Not to mention a significant rarity.  We also made a good birding connection while we were there – a young birder named Ezra Cohen who would end up alerting us to a couple other rarities later in the trip.  But the day was young – we had lots of stops ahead of us yet.

Our next target bird was Black-throated Sparrow seen last year, along with another target Sagebrush Sparrow, on the south side of the south butte at the Field Station.  We drove back to the Field Station but couldn’t find any trails leading from the buildings to the butte.  We then drove around to the south side of the butte hoping to find a trail but found the access road to the area was closed.  We decided to pass on this spot, with 3 other possible locations for these targets.  Though I did get my first Sage Thrasher for the state (OR statebird #14).  Hopefully I’m just as successful with this species in WA later in the trip.

The next stop was Saddle Butte which was another potential spot for both Black-throated and Sagebrush Sparrows.  But as we drove south along the west edge of the butte on Route 205 we couldn’t find a place to pull off this busy road.  Maybe we could try it again later heading north and find a safe spot to park.  That is unless we found these species at our next stop at Diamond Craters.  Along the way we came upon an overlook for the Buena Vista Ponds.  Quite a nice view of the wetlands below!

And while we scanned below we heard a Say’s Phoebe singing from the rocks nearby.  That’s not a song I hear very often.  And then we heard a song that we were very familiar with – at least one Yellow-breasted Chat was singing in the brush down below us (OR statebird #15).

After we snaked our way around the Buena Vista Ponds we made our way to Diamond Craters where both Sagebrush and Black-throated Sparrows were reported last year.  This area had some very unique volcanic rock formations, but few birds.

We couldn’t find any noticeable trails through the sagebrush, and in fact the vegetation was pretty meager.

But we had at least one more spot for the sparrows – along Foster Flat Road.  After a short drive we made it to this gravel road running through some very nice sagebrush habitat.  We made several stops playing tape for both sparrow species but with no luck.  Then we finally got a response from a Sagebrush Sparrow and eventually found it perched on a sagebrush (OR statebird #16). 

As we continued down the road playing Black-throated Sparrow tape we came to an area with exposed rocks.  David suggested that we play some Chukar tape as well – he had good instincts.  At our next stop we heard some “chuck” calls behind us and spotted this calling Chukar perched on the rocks (statebird #17). 

That was a great find, but we still needed Black-throated Sparrow.  We doubled back to 205, and headed north toward Saddle Butte.  This time we found a spot that seemed to be wide enough to pull over, and started to walk through the sagebrush looking for our target. 

We were able to find a couple more Sagebrush Sparrows, a Sage Thrasher, and several Lark Sparrows, but no Black-throated.  And there were some nice wildflowers too.

I guess in retrospect we should have tried harder to access the Field Station butte location.

It was now getting pretty late in the day but we had one more stop on the way back to our hotel in Burns.  There were quite a number of Burrowing Owl sightings just north of Malheur so far this year, though specific locations weren’t provided for most sightings.  One key exception was a sighting along Ruh-Red S Rd. with the location listed as - “North side of road.  Just east of telephone pole F129”.  That sounded pretty specific.  And it was – after a short drive along the dirt road we found the correct telephone pole and started our search.  And just a few seconds later David spotted the diminutive owl low in front of a pile of dirt that had been excavated from the hole (OR statebird #18).  A bit later the Owl walked a bit higher up on the pile to let me get this phonescoped photo.

Despite our most successful day at Malheur NWR I still had 2 remaining water-related targets – Trumpeter Swan and Wilson’s Phalarope.  Both species had been seen in the last week at a number of locations around Burns.  Most spots were apparently flooded fields from the spring rains.  So after a quick dinner, we headed out to check 4 nearby spots where 1 or both targets had been seen recently.  But the fields at the first 2 spots were now dry – we were just a couple days too late.  Our third stop was at Foley Rd. and we initially thought that grassy field was dry too, but we realized some water remained when we spotted the heads of 3 tall shorebirds sticking above the grass – Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, and Long-billed Curlew.  Then while scanning the grasses I spotted a Wilson’s Phalarope flutter up out of the vegetation and fly off (OR statebird #19).  How lucky can you get?  If I can also find this species in WA later in the trip I would need it in just a few states in central US in its regular range, though I’ve seen it in a number of eastern states as a rarity.   

Our 4th stop also still had water, but no target birds.  Though we picked up Wigeon, Redhead, and Lesser Yellowlegs for the day. 

And what a day it was – we had 90 species, 19 of which were new for my OR list including a rare Virginia’s Warbler!

Day 4 – May 27 – Malheur NWR

Our plan for this day was to concentrate on the southern portion of Malheur NWR and a few areas just south of the refuge.  Since we still needed Short-eared Owl we would slowly drive the southern end of the Center Patrol Road (CPR) at first light hoping to find a hunting Short-ear.  Then at sunrise we would make our way to the oasis at P Ranch hoping for another nice fallout. 

We started our Owl search at 4:45 AM slowly driving several miles of the CPR but with no luck.  When we neared sunrise we turned around and headed back to P Ranch, having only netted a couple Black-crowned Night-herons.  I had just got done mentioning that the grassland in this area can be good for Bobolinks when we spotted one sitting in the road right in front of us (OR statebird #20).  That was easy.  I still need Bobolink in a couple states at the western edge of its breeding range, along with a few southern states where it is a migrant.

We arrived at P Ranch right on time and crossed our fingers for another fallout.  This was still a functioning ranch with a house and some out-buildings off limits.  But it was OK to bird the tall cottonwoods ringing the complex.  Plus a small river flowed by the ranch which was lined with riparian shrubs and small trees.  It all looked like it would be inviting to a migrant.  Unfortunately, it was slow with mostly nesting passerines and few migrants.  We had small numbers of Bullock’s Orioles and Western Tanagers in the trees, and good numbers of Willow Flycatchers, Yellow Warblers, and Chats in the riparian brush.  Plus a Say’s Phoebe around the buildings was a nice find.  So with birding being pretty slow, after about 90 minutes we decided to head to nearby Page Springs Campground to see if birding was any better there.

Page Springs Campground was touted as another good spot for migrant fallouts.  Plus we hoped for breeding Gray and Dusky Flycatchers along two trails there.  As we pulled into the campground we were greeted not by birds but by mosquitoes – hordes of mosquitoes.  We felt sorry for those camping there.  Birding in the campground was next to impossible, as was one trail that would take us into riparian habitat.  So we tried to head up into the hills above to lessen our blood loss.  But that trail was gated off, so I ended up just bushwacking my way upslope. 

The habitat quickly changed to a juniper forest with scattered undergrowth of sagebrush - nice for my breeding targets.  The first birds I found were several Black-throated Gray Warblers singing from the junipers.  Then as I continued my climb I started to hear a singing Empidonax that I wasn’t familiar with.  I played a bit of tape and soon realized I had a Gray Flycatcher as confirmed by Merlin (OR statebird #21).  I got some pretty nice views of the bird as it sang from the tops of the junipers.

I continued wandering through the forest but couldn’t find any Dusky Flycatchers.  That target would have to wait until the next day when we would be in some more good habitat for this species.

Here’s a picture of the Gray Flycatcher habitat and valley below.

We bid farewell to the campground (and its mosquitoes!) and then headed toward the Steens Mountains in search of Green-tailed Towhee.  But the road to the mountains was still closed apparently due to heavy snow cover.  So I went onto eBird to look for alternative locations and found several recent reports nearby at the Barnes Spring and Trail hotspot near Frenchglen.  And in fact, two recent reports seemed to put the Towhee right at the trailhead for the spring.  We parked the car at the trailhead and focused on a hillside above the lot with sparse sagebrush vegetation that looked like good Towhee habitat.  And sure enough after just a couple minutes we could hear a bird singing up the hill that I wasn’t familiar with.  Merlin suggested it was our target, which I confirmed by playing a bit of tape off the Sibley app (OR statebird #22).  I just need this species in a few states on the periphery of its range, including WA where we hoped to find it in a couple days.

Our next target was White-throated Swift which can be seen nesting on cliffs near Roaring Spring some 14 miles south of Frenchglen.  These cliffs can also be good for Chukars, but we no longer needed that one since we had the cooperative bird the day before.  Just after we arrived at the northern end of the cliffs we spotted a soaring adult Golden Eagle – a nice start.  And a bit later we found this remarkable nest which must be 10 feet tall.  The baby raptor on the nest is likely another Golden Eagle.

Unfortunately, those turned out to be the highlights of this spot since we never found the Swifts despite nearly an hour searching that stretch of the cliffs.  Try as we might, we could never turn any of the many Cliff and Violet-green Swallows flying around the cliffs into a Swift.

We now had an option to drive another 45 minutes south to an Oasis in the town of Fields for possible migrants, or head back north onto the refuge to search for waterbirds.  Given the limited migration we experienced at P Ranch, we decided to head back to the wetlands.  Our last realistic target waterbird was Trumpeter Swan, of which there were several recent reports in the wetlands in the southern half of the refuge, so we were optimistic. 

We soon were back to the CPR and started our drive north.  The southern mile or two passed through grasslands where we found Bobolinks in 3 different fields – we counted 11 singing birds.  We then drove from wetland to wetland looking for large white swimming birds but each time came up empty.  Though we picked up a few nice birds along the way including an American Bittern in flight, Caspian, Forster’s and Black Terns, and Marsh Wrens at several spots. 

Then we came to Benson Pond and found a lot of cars and birders milling about.  “Bird the birders” as I always say, so we got out to find out what was up.  We happened to run into our friend Ezra Cohen from the fallout at the Headquarters the day before and he said there was a singing Least Flycatcher up ahead in the small oasis at the pond’s edge.  It was first found the day before and had stuck around all this time.  We quickly took the short walk to the grove of trees finding an Ash-throated Flycatcher along the way.  Then after a short wait we heard the characteristic monotonous “chebek” calls of the Least Flycatcher.  We even got good views of the bird (OR statebird #23).  OR is now the third state where I’ve seen this species as a rarity.

As we headed back to the car we again noticed some activity among the birders.  They had found a very distant Trumpeter Swan.  The views weren’t the best even through the scope, but good enough (OR statebird #24).  OR was my 21st state for this species which is being re-introduced in much of its former range.

I texted Ezra to thank him for the tip on the Least Flycatcher and he responded by asking if we had seen the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks yet.  That was the first we had heard of them.  They had apparently been seen that morning in Frenchglen and Ezra gave me the coordinates of the tree where he had them.  That was more than 8 hours ago, so it wasn’t likely that the birds would still be there.  But it was only a short ride back to Frenchglen so we decided to give it a try.  I punched in the coordinates and we were off.

The coordinates took us to a small parking lot for a school in the town of Frenchglen.  I got out of the car and looked at the map to get my bearings.  The GPS put us just a few feet south of the Ezra’s tree.  I looked up and pointed to the apparent tree where the Grosbeaks had been seen in the morning and pointed right at a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (OR statebird #25).  A few seconds later we spotted a second male in the same tree.  Remarkably the birds were still feeding on seeds in that tree (an elm) 8 hours after being first spotted.  And in fact, Ezra had the same bird, or a different bird, in that tree 2 days earlier. 

Later we found 3 Black-headed Grosbeaks feeding in that same tree.  Must be some tasty seeds.

OR was the 3rd state where I’ve seen Rose-breasted Grosbeak as a rarity.  This eastern species is definitely prone to vagrancy especially to western migrant traps.

And as my 25th new statebird for OR, that puts me at my “ABA plus 15” threshold.  Nice when the threshold is a rarity.  An excellent way to celebrate our day.  I may have only added 6 new statebirds that day, but it’s not often you can get 2 rarities (Least Flycatcher and Rose-breasted Grosbeak) in the same day.

 

See my next blog post for the continuation of the OR portion of the trip.

A Not-Too-Cooperative Trumpeter Swan, Newville, Pennsylvania, May 25, 2021

A late May and early June 2021 trip to the Mid-Atlantic and New England states gave me an opportunity to add a few species to my statelists in the region.  Although the primary focus was to visit relatives, there’s always time to squeeze in at least a little birding.  Since I used to live in the area my statelists there are pretty good, but there are usually at least a few targets to hope for – often there is a rarity or 2 that might be around when I’m in town, and occasionally a few remaining regular species that I haven’t yet run into. 

The first stop was in south-central PA, so I set up an eBird Needs Alert for that state prior to our visit.  Lots of “needs” popped up, though of course PA is a large state.  So with limited time I had to narrow the list down to the nearby counties.  A few of the less common but regular migrants were on the list, but they would surely move on by the time I arrived.  Instead, my attention went to nearly daily reports of Trumpeter Swans in Newville in Cumberland County.  It was a nesting pair in a small marsh along a public road in Newville, back for at least their second consecutive year.  It would be a bit of a drive so it would be my only birding stop for the visit.  But since they sounded like a pretty reliable pair of birds, it seemed like the right target to pursue. 

I was out of the house early on May 25 but was slowed by an accident along my route.  The delay meant I’d only have a few minutes to look for the birds but I wasn’t too concerned.  When I finally arrived at the marsh I pulled up slowly to this nice wetlands, fully expecting to almost instantly see 1 or 2 large white birds with a quick scan. 

But there were no white birds to be seen.  I drove the length of the marsh not once, but twice, and still didn’t see the Swans.  I pulled over on the shoulder and got out for a closer inspection.  Despite several binocular scans I still couldn’t find the Swans.

I was thinking of giving up when I noticed a car driving up toward me slowly.  My first thought was he was going to confront me for trespassing (even though I was on the shoulder of a public road).  But then the optimist in me thought wouldn’t it be nice if he was actually coming to help me find the Swans.  He got out of the car and greeted me with “Are you looking for the Swans?”  He was the owner of the farm across the road and had watched the Swans fly out of the marsh just a few minutes earlier.  But he said not to worry, they were just out feeding – they usually head to the large pond just to the west - and typically come back in about 20 minutes. 

That was all very heartening, but I had run out of time.  I waited a couple more minutes at the marsh, and then decided to try to see them at the pond.  I had driven by the pond on my way to the marsh and noticed that there were only limited views of the water through the vegetation.  But it was still worth the try.  I started driving slowly by the pond and just as I got to the first opening there was a Swan flying by (with a black bill eliminating a Mute Swan) heading toward the marsh.  I quickly turned around and got back to the marsh just in time to see the Swan heading off to the north over the farm fields.  Not the most satisfying of views but good enough.  And good thing that the farmer came by to talk to me – without his information I probably would have left before it returned.

When I lived in the Mid-Atlantic through the early 1990s the only Swan species in the area were Tundras (formerly Whistling) and Mutes.  Trumpeters had been extirpated from most of its former range, including the entire eastern portion of its range, by the late 1800’s.  But several reintroduction programs across the US and in Canada have successfully brought Trumpeter Swans back to the area.  And even in some cases to areas where they weren’t likely present originally.  More details can be found at this website – www.trumpeterswansociety.org

Trumpeter Swan was #243 for my PA list.  In my statebird map below, the blue states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range, and the tan states are those where I’ve seen it outside its normal range.  At least that’s based on range maps in recent field guides - Trumpeters are now more likely through many states outside of the ranges shown in the guides.  Lastly the cross-hatched states are those in its range where I’ve yet to see this species.

Trumpeter Swan (But is it Countable?), April 2019, Candia NH

I was working outside in the garden early on Sunday morning 4/14 when I received a text from NH birder Steve Mirick that the Trumpeter Swan was continuing in Candia.  Trumpeter Swan?  What Trumpeter Swan?  I hadn’t seen any posts about what might be the first modern-day record of Trumpeter Swan in NH.  I came inside to check e-mails, and with some research noticed that the bird was first spotted the day before but initially reported as a Tundra Swan.  I don’t need Tundra for my NH list so it didn’t pop up in an eBird Needs Alert.  And with less people using the listserves, it wasn’t until the text the next day that the news got out in a big way.

Now I needed to free up some time to chase after the Swan.  Often Trumpeters will stick around for a while, so I wasn’t too worried that I couldn’t leave right away to chase after it.  Instead I planned to give it a try right after church.  I did a bit more research and found that the bird was being seen in the wetlands of the Abe Emerson Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, and then downloaded a map of the trails at the site.  That was just a 45-minute drive away – less than half the distance of most of my normal New England chases.  I coordinated with NH birder David Donsker and it sounded like we would both arrive at about the same time.  More eyes the better.

By the time I left church there were a couple more posts, including photos of the bird swimming close by the photographer.  And while in route I called another NH birder David Deifik to make sure he knew about the bird.  He had just seen the Swan but it wasn’t in view at the time.  So I was optimistic though it might take a bit of searching.

I arrived at about 1 PM just as yet another NH birder Davis Finch got to the site (after all it could be a first recent NH record – everyone was descending on the site!).  Davis said he saw the bird as he passed by the marsh on Route 101; it was same story from David Donsker who had just arrived.  But stopping on the highway is likely to be frowned upon by local police, so we all started our searches from the trails in the sanctuary.  After about 20 minutes of increasingly anxious searching Davis and I finally spotted the Swan at the far southern end of the wetlands.  We were on the northeastern water’s edge about 1,000 ft away, and the bird was at least partially obscured, so the sighting wasn’t the best.  But we were able to get occasional views of the head/bill shape to ensure the ID and eliminate Tundra Swan.

Now the question was whether this bird could be countable in NH.  There is apparently one historical NH record of Trumpeter Swan, based on an account in "History of New Hampshire" by Jeremy Belknap written in 1792.  As a result, this species is on the NH state list based solely on the summary contained in that 200-year-old book.  But since then, Trumpeters had been extirpated from virtually all of their former range, and in fact hunted to near extinction.  That was until very successful re-introduction programs were begun in the 1980s in several Midwest states and Ontario.  This species is now successfully breeding in many locations throughout this region, including birds breeding as close as the Finger Lakes region of NY. 

Not surprisingly Trumpeters are showing up in increasing frequency in New England, and recent sightings have been deemed to be countable from viable re-introduced populations by the rare bird committees of VT, CT, RI, and MA.  At least one set of photos of the Candia bird showed that it was not banded, and had no wingtags, so the NH bird is not likely to be an escapee, and most likely from these re-introduced populations.  It will be up to the NH Rare Bird Committee to decide if this bird is indeed countable, but it would sure seem that based on the recent countable records elsewhere in New England, that the Committee members will decide to count this record as well.

If accepted by the NHRBC it would be number 370 for my NH list.  In my statebird map below, the 18 dark shaded states are those where I’ve seen Trumpeter Swan, including several midwestern states associated with the re-introduction program.  The cross-hatched states are those where this species is regular though I haven’t caught up with it yet.  I’ve also seen it in 2 Canadian provinces – BC and ON.  And with the increasing eastern populations Trumpeters will undoubtedly become regular in additional eastern states and provinces in the near future.

“Sanitized for Your Protection” - Second MA Sighting of Trumpeter Swan, Milford, MA, February 2019

Have you ever checked into a motel and noticed a little ring of paper around the toilet seat printed with these words – “Sanitized for Your Protection”?  My good birding friend David Deifik has used this phrase though in a very different context.  Consider the situation most all of us have been in where, although we have a certain bird on our life lists, in the back of our mind we might question the ID, or maybe we just want to get a better view of that species in general.  Once we do get that more definitive view of the species in question we feel much better about having that bird on our list.  Hence our lists have been - “Sanitized for Your Protection”.  

I had an opportunity to “sanitize” my MA statelist a bit in February 2019 when a Trumpeter Swan was spotted with Mute Swans at the Milford Pond in Milford.  I already had this species on my MA list based on a sighting on 3/21/04 in Northampton, MA.  Undoubtedly both the 2004 and the 2019 birds were directly or indirectly associated with the re-introduction efforts occurring in the Great Lakes.  But it was only when I started reading about the reports of the 2019 bird that I realized that the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC) did not accept the 2004 bird because it was felt that the Great Lakes population was not yet self-sustaining.  So although there was no question about the ID of the 2004 bird, it was still not countable on your MA statelist if you wanted to “play by the rules” so to speak.  Instead, the first MA record of Trumpeter Swan to be accepted by MARC was a bird from Charlton in May 2018.  So if I wanted sanitize the Trumpeter Swan record on my MA list I needed to go see the Milford bird.  Assuming this bird ends up being accepted by MARC that is. 

The Trumpeter had been spotted daily since January 28, often associating with several Mute Swans.  And even though the pond froze over during that time, the Trumpeter Swan remained at the pond and was quite reliable.  Most importantly it was indicated in one post that sightings before 2018 weren’t countable, otherwise I would have continued to have a non-countable bird on my MA list.  So on February 5th I made the short trek to Milford Pond, followed the directions to park behind the NRG building on the western side of the pond, and then walked down toward Clark Island.  A couple hours earlier there was a post that the Trumpeter was sitting on the ice north of the island with a pair of Mute Swans, so I was quite optimistic. 

As I neared the island I got a glimpse of Swans out on the ice.  A quick binoc view yielded 3 birds – I likely had the Trumpeter and 2 Mutes but all were sleeping.  I needed a better view.  I walked along the trail on Clark Island and got to a spot where I was closest to the Swans.  From there scope views confirmed 2 Mute Swans now walking around on the ice a bit in the distance, and one closer Swan which was still asleep on the ice.  Undoubtedly this was the Trumpeter but I had to be sure – after all I was there to “sanitize” my list.  Here is a phone-scoped photo of the bird as it slept.

After about 10 minutes I still had no view of the third bird’s head and bill to make a definitive ID.  I started to try to compare sizes since Trumpeters are often a bit bigger than Mutes, but the birds weren’t very close together so comparisons weren’t easy.  Then I realized that the necks of the two Mutes were a bit yellower than that of the sleeping bird – but was that definitive?  Then finally the sleeping bird awoke and raised its head just barely enough to give me a view of the base of the bill – it was all black eliminating Mute Swan.  It also eliminated Tundra, though no Tundras had been reported at the site.  I had my bird – after 15 years Trumpeter Swan was “sanitized for your protection” on my MA list. 

Back in 2004, I counted Trumpeter Swan as #365 on my MA list.  Instead I should have added it in 2019 as #414.  That is assuming MARC ends up accepting this bird in Milford. 

My statebird map for Trumpeter Swan is inserted below.  The shaded states are those where I've seen this species; cross-hatched states are those in which this species is regular but I don't yet have it for that state list.  Most of my sightings in the Midwest and East have been after the Great Lakes re-introduction efforts.  I know my VT sighting in 2017 was countable and accepted by the VT Bird Records Committee.  Hopefully all the others are countable as well, or I’ll have to “sanitize” a bunch of those lists too.

Trumpeter Swan and Short-eared Owl (Finally!), Vermont, March 2017

Short-eared Owl has been a nemesis bird for me in VT for years.  Not only because I’ve tried for it twice unsuccessfully over the years – after all there are lots of birds I’ve tried for but missed throughout New England.  But more importantly, it is the most common bird that I still need not only for my VT list, but for any of my 6 New England statelists.  Worst yet, since the bird is regular in northwestern VT in the colder months, it appears in my eBird VT Needs Alerts most every winter day.  Every time one of those Needs Alert e-mails show up in my in-box I cringe – It’s as if the Owls are taunting me. 

So if it’s that common, why haven’t I tried for it more than I already have?  The problem lies in its location – the Short-eared Owl’s regular spot over the last several years has been at Gage Road in Addison, VT.  That’s a 3 ½ hour one-way drive from home – well beyond my normal 2 ½ hour limit to chase after new ticks for New England.  The two times I have tried for the Owl I’ve combined it with searches for other targets in the general area, though that hasn’t exactly gotten me anywhere so far.

And that is what led to my next search for my nemesis Short-eared Owl in March 2017.  It all started when I began to see posts about a Trumpeter Swan being seen in Brandon, VT.  My first thought was to not pay any attention to it.  Not because I doubted the ID, but instead because it was about 3 hours away.  Plus the bird was undoubtedly from the introduced Ontario population that many states haven’t yet recognized as countable birds.  But then additional posts mentioned the bird was not banded, and it was the second VT state record.  That meant that VT had already accepted a previous record again likely from the introduced population.  With that issue behind me, I quickly thought about combining an attempt for the Swan with another try for the Short-ear.  A search on eBird showed no reports of the Short-ears in about 2 weeks, but I wasn’t too worried about whether they were still around.  So although it would be a lot of driving, I guess I could justify a trek to northwestern VT given there were 2 targets for the trip. 

Then again just a month earlier I made a similar trip to the central coast of Maine – 2 targets each were farther away than my typical chase distance.  But together I justified an overnight trip to give them a try.  But I missed them both!  Hopefully the results of my VT trip would be better.

My plan was to leave home late morning, try for the Swan early to mid-afternoon, then make my way north to Addison later in the day for an attempt at the Owls at dusk.  The only potential complication was the weather.  A strong arctic cold front was to arrive overnight, but that would be well after I would leave Addison.  So the temperature wasn’t the problem.  Instead the issue was that there could be snow squalls in the area in advance of the front, though the forecasts that morning reduced the chance of any snow to just 40%.  But I figured as long as I kept an eye on the weather maps I’d be OK.  Besides, if I delayed my trip to the next day it would brutally cold and windy after the front passed through, making a search for the Owls really difficult.  So my plans were set.

I left my house on time, and arrived in Brandon about 2 PM.  The Swan was being seen in a flooded field south of a railroad overpass along Route 73 just west of “downtown” Brandon.  With those pretty specific directions I was confident I would quickly find the right location.  But as I crested the railroad tracks all I could see to the south was trees.  Where was the flooded field?  I continued to slowly drive to the west down the overpass and only then looking back could I see a wetlands with open water.  I parked on the west side of the overpass, and planned to walk back to the east to get a closer view.  As I was getting the scope out of the car I looked back toward the wetlands and could see a large white “lump” in the water.  I put it in my binocs and it was indeed a sleeping Swan.  Undoubtedly it was my target bird, but I wanted to get a better view. 

I walked back to the east up the overpass and set up my scope.  But the Swan was still sleeping – giving these not-so-photogenic views. 

Luckily I had quite a bit of time to wait for the bird to wake up.  After a few minutes the bird briefly picked up its head, and I was lucky to snap this phonescoped picture confirming the ID as the second VT state record of Trumpeter Swan.

VT is my 17^th state for this species, many of which are associated with reintroduction efforts across the country (see my statebird map below).

It was only 2:30, and sunset wasn’t until 5:53.  I was only about an hour’s drive from the Owl location, and it was sunny and nearly 40 degrees.  So everything was looking good.  But as I started my drive north I could see dark clouds up ahead, and the wind started picking up.  A few minutes later it started to snow, and then I hit a snow squall complete with limited visibility in heavy snow, which was blowing horizontally and was now sticking to the roads.  (What happened to that 40% chance of snow forecast?)  But squalls are typically short-lived, and soon I was north of the narrow but strong snow band, and again I wasn’t too worried about the weather.

It was snowing lightly when I reached the western end of Gage Road, and I began to reacquaint myself with the area.  Gage Road dead-ends in a set of farmers’ fields, some planted in pasture grass and some in corn, with just an occasional hedgerow, and an old barn complex a short distance to the north.  With the exception of a few shallow ditches, the area is very flat, allowing for a nearly unobstructed 360 degree view of 200 acres of potential Short-eared Owl feeding area.  And past reports have mentioned the Owls throughout the area.  So as sunlight waned you would need to scan the entire area for foraging Owls.

But sunset was still nearly 2 hours away.  Rather than going to bird somewhere else nearby, I instead decided to stay at the Gage Road fields to see if I could find an Owl before dusk.  Short-ears will spend the daylight hours roosting on the ground, especially in protected areas such as ditches.  So I decided to walk along some of the shallow ditches in the area in hopes of finding one at its roosting location.  It seemed like the best location might be a dry stream bed just southeast of the barn toward the north.  But that area was posted, and I didn’t want to push my luck.  In fact most all the fields in the area were posted.  That meant I was limited to just walking right along Gage Road.  About 30minutes later I had walked the shallow ditches adjacent to the entire length of the road, but with no luck.  Though on my walk I did have 3 Rough-legged Hawks (including 1 dark phase), 2 Red-tails, and a Harrier. 

The Harrier is important because they fill almost the exact same ecological niche as Short-ears, only of course at a different time of day.  Plus both species will roost in the same locations.  So a field over which a Harrier is flying at dusk could well be the same one from which a Short-ear will emerge a few minutes later.

Another tidbit on finding Short-eared Owls is that with overcast skies Short-ears will come out earlier than normal.  So with the cloudy skies I decided to sit in my car and start scanning the fields, even though it was still 90 minutes before sunset.  It continued to snow at various rates the entire time, only occasionally heavy enough to reduce visibility, so the weather wasn’t likely to create any issues for me.  Despite dozens of 360 degree scans I couldn’t find an Owl.  As it was getting close to sunset I noticed a Harrier in the distance just north of the barn.  I quickly drove up there to get a closer look but the Harrier was gone.  Had it sat down for the night?  And if it did, was there going to be a Short-ear appearing in the same area?  I was thinking of relocating to the barn area for my sunset search, but the barn buildings would block about a third of the fields I had hoped to scan, so I went back to my original spot.

It was now 15 minutes before sunset so time to scan in earnest.  No more of that wimpy scanning from the warmth of my car.  The wind had died down a bit (10-15 mph from the northwest), the temp was in the upper 20s, and it was only flurrying.  So all things considered, not too bad for early March.  But scan after scan yielded no birds at all, except for a pair of Ravens passing by.  When I reached sunset I started to worry a bit.  Then it was 10 minutes after sunset and I worried some more.  Was this going to be yet another negative search for my nemesis bird in VT?

Then at 15 minutes past sunset on a scan to the north I noticed some movement low over the ground immediately east of the barn.  A few seconds later I got a second look at the floppy moth-like flight of a Short-eared Owl!  I continued to watch it fly around the dry stream bed near the barn that had caught my attention earlier.  And this was next to the field where the Harrier had likely roosted for the night.  My initial thoughts to find this bird were confirmed.  I watched the bird forage low over the field east of the barn, and then followed it as it moved north and east farther away.  After about 5 minutes I lost the bird in the distance – now a third of a mile to the north in the waning light.  I had finally gotten my VT (and New England) nemesis bird!

The Trumpeter Swan and Short-eared Owl were #276 and #277 for my VT statelist.  Plus the Owl was the 243^rd species I’ve seen in each of the 6 New England states.  My statebird map for the Owl is quite spotty – I still need this species in many states within its range.  Though in FL I have seen the Caribbean race of Short-eared Owl – maybe it will be split into a separate species someday.

As a postscript –  Although the snow didn’t cause any problems for me in finding the Owl, I changed my route home to a somewhat longer one on I-89 rather than taking the back roads likely to be snowy or icy.  But it turns out even the interstate was quite treacherous, with 2 large accidents that closed the highway along my route back.  What could have been a 3 ½ hour drive home turned out to be 5 hours instead.  It would have been even worse sitting in those backups if I hadn’t seen both of my targets.

Unfortunately I have a lot of experience on long drives home after not seeing my target(s).  Earlier I mentioned a recent trip to ME where I justified a trip beyond my normal 2 ½ hour chasing distance because, just like this VT trip, there were 2 targets to chase.  However, unlike this trip, I came up empty in my search for both of my ME targets (Bullock’s Oriole and Mew Gull).  For whatever reason, my success rate for the longer distance chases in ME is miserable – only 43%.  By comparison, chases in VT over those similar distances have a success rate of 72%.  Another point of comparison is that my hit rate for all of New England over the last 2 years has been 68%.  What’s with those distant ME birds?