South Florida and Southeastern US Trip, January 6-16, 2025, Part 3 of 3

In November 2024 I started planning a mid-winter trip to south FL trip focused on specialties, exotics, and rarities.  And speaking of rarities, there were 3 mega rarities being seen – Bananaquit, Yellow-headed Caracara and Large-billed Tern.  I mentioned the upcoming trip to my good birding friend Bill Hooker, and he expressed interest in coming along.  Soon we were thinking about a trip for 4 of us –including Bill and his wife Anita, plus Bill’s friend Bob Cowan.  Not only were all of us looking for lifebirds and statebirds, but Bill was also working on his county lists, and Bob was embarking on a 2025 big year.  Plus, Anita was great at photographing our target birds.  So there were lots of potential targets for all of us.  And speaking of state and county birds, we decided to drive to south FL instead of flying so we could work on our lists along the way.

After perhaps 200 hours of research, I mapped out a route that would take us down the coast of SC and GA, through inland northern and central FL, then onto south FL.  Then we would return along the Atlantic coast of FL and back through GA and SC.  We tentatively planned it as an 11-day trip including 5 days in south FL.  Though we included more than enough flexibility to pursue any newly reported target birds.  With this itinerary I hoped for 4 new statebirds in SC, 2 in GA, and 10 new statebirds in FL.  And perhaps 2 of those new FL birds would be lifebirds as well.  Though unfortunately one of the initial triggers for our trip, the Bananaquit, was no longer being seen.

See my previous 2 blog posts for summaries of the first two thirds of the trip.

1/13 – Central Florida

With our south FL birding complete, we started our long drive home.  Though of course we would have some birding stops along the way.  Our next set of stops would be at the Merritt Island NWR, first to look for a long-staying Eurasian Wigeon.  This bird was first discovered back in November, and had been seen nearly daily ever since.  Although it was enticing to look for it on our way south through the state, I decided to skip the search for this bird as we headed south so we could use a more inland route through FL for other targets.  Instead, we would look for the Wigeon several days later as we took a more coastal route on the way back north.  That strategy was a bit risky, but I was betting that the bird would stick around at least until we made our return.  And the bird was indeed still being seen daily when we got to the refuge so my gamble paid off.  Many of the eBird reports provided good details on the location of our bird (between stops #2 and #3 of the Black Point Wildlife Drive).  Now we just needed to find that one bird in a large American Wigeon flock.

We finally arrived at the refuge mid afternoon and headed straight for the Wildlife Drive.  There were quite a number of waders near the beginning of the Drive, but there were next to no waterfowl.  Just after we passed stop #2 we got to a lake on the left with good numbers of dabbling ducks in the eastern end, including quite a few Wigeon.  Now the pressure was on.  I started a slow scan of the closer ducks, then the ones a bit farther out, and finally the dabblers in the distance.  There were 50 or more American Wigeon but I couldn’t find the Eurasian.  There were a couple small mangrove islands in the middle of the lake that blocked my view of part of the lake, so I changed my vantage point a couple times but still couldn’t find our target.  I was getting worried.  I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t overlooking the bird; instead it was just in a different location.

We drove a short distance farther along to check the western end of the lake and came upon some more Wigeon.  Did we have the right location now?  Sure enough, within just a minute I had picked out the Eurasian Wigeon.  It was backlit a bit, but the orangey-red head and gray sides really stood out.

That was my 16th state where I’ve seen Eurasian Wigeon, mostly along both ocean coasts.

Our last targets of the day were a pair of American Flamingos wintering in the northern part of the Merritt Island refuge.  Initial eBird reports seemed to suggest that the birds were being seen in multiple locations, but that mostly turned out to be erroneous locations for the checklists.  Instead, a bit of research indicated that they were principally being seen at the south end of the Haulover Canal, most often on a small island called Bird Island.  All the photos showed the birds were quite far away, roosting with Cormorants and Pelicans.  So some distant searching might be necessary.

When we pulled up to the canoe launch area at the south end of the canal we quickly spotted Bird Island about a half mile away, along with the roosting flock of Cormorants and Pelicans.  And even with just binoculars you could see pink dots among the flock.  Scope views confirmed we had the 2 Flamingos.  Good thing they are such large and colorful birds.

Flamingo wasn’t a life bird or even a state bird for any of us, but it was great to see these beautiful birds again for our year lists.  And it sure was easier than my last FL Flamingos in the Everglades at the end of Snake Bight Trail.

1/14 – Central and Northern Florida

As we continued to head north, our first stop of the day was at Blue Spring SP for Florida Scrub-Jays.  The park is in the heart of Scrub-Jay habitat, and that part of central Florida has lots of Scrub-Jay reports in eBird.  But these birds are often in isolated spots, or move through the habitat in small family groups. So you often have to be lucky to run into one of those small wandering flocks.  In any case, it’s not a sure thing to find them on any given trip, even in good habitat. 

In doing my research I found multiple recent reports from Blue Spring, some concentrated near the campground and others from the Scrub-Jay Loop trail.  We asked for advice from the ranger at the entrance booth and he said the best spot was the Scrub-Jay Loop trail.  With a name like that how could you go wrong?  We started a slow walk down the trail in nice habitat but didn’t encounter any Jays.  We turned a curve in the trail and Bob spotted a bird foraging in the trail in the distance – we had our first Florida Scrub-Jay.  When we got closer we found 3 birds at this spot.  And a bit farther down the road we ran into another group of 4.  This one perched in the open affording nice, albeit backlit, views.

Later we took a short side trip to the spring and got great views of numerous manatees lounging in the relatively warm waters of the spring. 

Next we headed back to the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park for another try for the Swifts and Ash-throated Fly.  The Swifts had been reported several times since our last trip there, but they continued to be seen only sporadically.  The Ash-throated had been reported a couple times too, so we tried to stay optimistic.  But despite nearly an hour of waiting near the southern impoundments the Swifts were once again a no show.  Then we walked to the northwest part of the park where the Flycatcher is typically seen but had only Phoebes.  Rather than doubling back as we did on our first visit, we continued on the loop around the northern impoundment and came back on the eastern side.  We had only walked perhaps 50 yards when we spotted some movement at the edge of the low brush – it was the Ash-throated Flycatcher, nicely captured by Anita in this picture.  (FL statebird #11) 

We were lucky we saw it when we did because it soon slipped down further into the vegetation mostly out of view.  FL was my 8th east coast state (along with KS) where I’ve seen this species as a vagrant.

Our next stop was a home in Gainesville where a female Western Tanager was coming to a feeder.  It took a bit of effort but I was finally able to obtain contact information for the homeowner.  With a quick call it turned out that he was very willing to have us come by his home and watch for his Tanager which had returned for its 3rd consecutive winter.  We watched his feeders through his kitchen window, and after a 30-minute wait, the Tanager dropped in to feed (FL statebird #12), along with several of his Baltimore Orioles.  Once again, here is one of Anita’s pictures of the Tanager.

My statebird map for Western Tanager is actually quite similar to the Ash-throated map.

Many thanks to the homeowner for his hospitality!  He also told us about a pair of rare Common Goldeneyes in a nearby pond, which made for a most successful last birding stop in FL. 

1/14 – Coastal Georgia

We had just enough time before sunset for 2 quick stops in southern GA for unusual waterfowl.  The first was a male Common Goldeneye in a small lake along Queens Court just outside of Brunswick.  Unfortunately, we weren’t successful in finding it, though we had at least 150 Ruddy Ducks on the lake.  The bird was last seen a couple days earlier, with a photo showing it sitting on the shore, and the birder commented that it had a bad eye.  It sure didn’t look healthy in that picture; perhaps it passed before our visit on the 14^th.

Our last GA stop was at Blythe Island Park where a White-fronted Goose was hanging out with a small Canada Goose flock.  As we arrived at the park gate it was 5:45 and we all noticed the sign that the gate would close at 6.  But it was a small park so we hoped we would have just enough time to find our target and get out by 6.  We pulled up to the park lake and heard some geese calling in the distance.  It was starting to get pretty dark, but I was able to pick out the White-front in the distance.  We quickly drove over to the campground where we last saw the bird, re-spotted it in with the Canadas (Anita was able to snap this one picture) and got back out just 2 minutes before 6. 

 Can’t get any more efficient than that!

1/15 – Coastal Georgia

Our last full birding day of the trip was focused on several of our targets along the GA coast.  First we headed just a couple miles inland from Brunswick to Paulks Pasture WMA where Henslow’s Sparrows had been seen recently.  I had reached out to a local birder and got precise locations for the birds lurking in wet grasses along a powerline cut.  I donned my boots and rainpants and trudged through the tall grass but came up empty, finding just a Sedge Wren, despite what looked like ideal habitat.  It was nice to find this large patch of pitcher plants that measured at least 3 feet across.

Our next stop was in the Spartina marshes along the causeway to St. Simons for the 3 “marsh sparrows”.  We timed our visit to be close to high tide to aid in flushing them out, but we only had one Seaside Sparrow respond to tape.  A Clapper Rail in flight was a nice bonus bird.

Once onto St. Simons we headed to Sandcastle Drive near the airport.  A ditch and small riparian area continued where the road stopped, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow had been seen there recently near a railroad tie retention wall.  This area was quite birdy, and we found birds like Painted Buntings and an Orange-crowned Warbler.  Eventually we found the retaining wall and spotted the Lincoln’s Sparrow skulking in the low brush just below the wall.  (GA statebird #1)  I now just need this species in 4 more states (the cross-hatched states in my statebird map below).

Our next targets were a pair of Western Kingbirds near the south end of the St. Simons airport, just a 5-minute walk from the Lincoln’s Sparrow spot.  They were typically seen perched in a large brush pile, and along the airport fences.  But even though they had been seen in the area for some time, they were only seen infrequently.  In fact, my local contact told me that he had recently spent 3 days looking for them with no luck.  And then the day before we arrived there was a report that they were seen perched on a relatively hidden back side of the brush pile.  Luckily I got directions to reach that portion of the pile, and we headed straight to that spot.  And within a couple minutes I was able to get distant scope views of one of the birds.  (GA statebird #2)  Western Kingbird is another of those typically “western” species that is a regular vagrant to the east coast.

Our last stop on the island was a shorebird hotspot named Gould’s Inlet.  A Snowy Plover had been spotted there recently, but not reported in the most recent couple checklists.  So I wasn’t too hopeful, though looking forward to seeing some big numbers and variety of shorebirds.  As we arrived there were already good numbers of shorebirds on the flats, and more continued to fly in as the tide dropped.  We were able to find 9 species of shorebirds including the only Piping and Wilson’s Plovers of the trip.  And wild estimates of numbers were dominated by 500 Dunlin, 100 Semi Plovers, and 75 Least Sandpipers.  An estimated 300 Black Skimmers were notable as well.  But as expected, we could not find the Snowy Plover.  A flyby flock of Black Scoters were nice as well.

We continued up the GA coast and headed for yet another try for Purple Sandpipers at the Tybee Island North Jetty.  Two had been reported and photographed there on the 13th, so we were actually more hopeful this time than on our first try.  But once again we only found Turnstones and Sanderlings.

1/16 – South Carolina

We made 2 final stops in SC on our last day on the road.  The first was at the Savannah NWR Visitor Center where Bill hoped to find Purple Finch as a new SC statebird.  I wasn’t too hopeful since the last time a Purple Finch was reported there was 12 days earlier at the feeding station.  But I liked Bill’s optimism.  We arrived at dawn and only found squirrels at the feeder.  We started talking about how wintering Purple Finches like to eat tree seeds, especially tulip, sweet gum, and sycamore seeds.  I started looking around and spotted a large gum tree nearby loaded with seed balls.  Sure enough there were 4 birds near the top of the tree that turned out to be Purple Finches.  Like I said, I like Bill’s optimism.

Our last stop was at the Orangeburg Sod Farm where we hoped for Ground Doves, especially around the maintenance buildings.  We found numerous MODOs, but alas no Ground Doves.

Summary of Trip Results

We amassed 213 species on the trip.  When the trip was over we were all briefly in eBird’s top 20 for the ABA Region for the year, and top 5 in FL.  And speaking of FL, we saw 43 of 53 south FL targets. 

Other highlights among our 213 species were:

- South FL Specialties - Short-tailed Hawk, Snail Kite, White-crowned Pigeon, "Great White" Heron, Burrowing Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Florida Scrub Jay, Vermilion Flycatcher, Whooping Crane, "Golden/Carribean" Yellow Warbler, 15 species of wintering warblers

- Exotics - Spot-breasted Oriole, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Common Myna, Indian Peafowl, Egyptian Goose, 6 species of parakeets/amazons/macaws

- Rarities - 4 Tropical Kingbirds, Ruff, Brown-crested Flycatcher, 10 Shiny Cowbirds, 2 American Flamingos, Eurasian Wigeon, 2nd record of Gray-headed Swamphen for SC, 5 Cave Swallows, 2 Ash-throated Flycatchers, 2 Western Tanagers, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and a remarkable 18 Western Kingbirds

I ended up with 2 new Lifebirds – Blue-and-yellow Macaw and Orange-winged Amazon - bringing my ABA Continental list to 776 per eBird’s countability rules.  Plus I added 20 new statebirds, much better than the 16 I hoped for:

- SC – added 6 bringing my total to 312

- GA – added 2 with a new state total of 272

- FL – added 12 raising my total to 343

The eBird Trip Report can be found at – ebird.org/tripreport/318837

It sure was a nice break from winter birding in western NC!

Two Coastal South Carolina Statebirds While Returning from a Florida Chase, February 6, 2023

Late in January 2023 I started to notice reports of a Bahama Mockingbird in Cape Canaveral, FL.  I’ve birded south FL a number of times, picking up several rarities there over the years.  But there has never been a Bahama Mockingbird there during any of my trips.  As a result, this species has been a key target of mine.  And since this individual was relatively “close”, at only halfway down the peninsula, it was definitely one to chase after.

And of course, there was also statebird potential along my route back home through GA and SC.  My route would take me along the coast, and with a little research, I found 7 statebird targets in GA and 3 in SC.  My two previous blog posts summarized the FL and GA portions of my trip.  This post details my searches on February 6 for 3 possible statebirds in SC:

• Black-chinned Hummingbird coming to a feeder in Mount Pleasant,
• Western Kingbirds at Fort Moultrie near Charleston, and
• Saltmarsh Sparrow most anywhere in appropriate habitat along the coast.

I first birded Fort Moultrie in October 2022 with the help of local birder Craig Watson.  Craig was not only a great help in finding our target bird of that day, a Clay-colored Sparrow, but he also described how the Fort was a magnet for rarities in general.  And sure enough for much of this winter there had been a pair of Western Kingbirds reliably foraging around the Fort property. 

The feeder that the Black-chinned Hummingbird was frequenting was only a short distance from Fort Moultrie, so it would be easy enough to try for both birds in the same day.  I reached out to Craig to see if he knew how to get permission to look for the Hummingbird, only to find out that the bird was actually visiting Craig’s feeders.  Although Craig was going to be away when I was passing through, he gave me permission to view his backyard feeding station to look for the Black-chinned. 

Now for the bad news – it didn’t look like timing would be right to try for Saltmarsh Sparrows.  They and their Nelson’s and Seaside cousins are easiest to find on high tides.  Unfortunately, I would miss the higher tides during my rather short visit along the coast.  I guess this relatively common wintering bird would have to wait for another trip to the coast. 

So with my research completed, I was ready to pursue my 2 SC target birds.

I started the day at sunrise on the northern GA coast at Tybee Island, adding Western Tanager and Black Scoter to that state list.  I then hit the road and arrived at Craig’s house in Mount Pleasant just after noon.  Within a couple minutes I had positioned myself in his backyard under a beautiful spreading live oak tree, waiting for the Hummingbird to arrive.  There was quite a bit of activity at the feeders, but the hummingbird feeders were quiet.  Then about 30 minutes later I heard the Hummingbird calling behind me, likely perched in a nearby tree.  Try as I might, I couldn’t track the bird down.  I know Black-chinned calls are similar to Ruby-throated, but with no Ruby-throateds at these feeders in nearly a month, and with the Black-chinned reported on every recent visit, a calling bird would be much more likely to be the Black-chinned rather than a Ruby-throated.  Not definitive, but certainly strongly circumstantial.

I waited another 30 minutes or so but with no other observations of my target Hummingbird.  Although I was sure of the call, it would be nice to get a visual of the bird.  But I didn’t want to spend too much time here and miss out on the nearby Western Kingbirds.  So I decided to make a quick run over to Fort Moultrie, hope that the Kingbirds would be cooperative, then come back to the feeders to spend more time with the Hummingbird.

After a short 15-minute drive I pulled into the parking lot of Fort Moultrie.  Sightings of the Kingbirds this winter had been all over the Fort, though the most recent reports put them behind Battery Jasper.  So I walked right to the field behind the brick building of Battery Jasper and did a quick binocular scan.  I almost immediately picked out a bird perched on a chain-link fence in the distance.  And a quick scope view confirmed I had my target Western Kingbird.  Then a moment later I spotted the second Kingbird nicely perched in a small tree in the nearby field.

My statebird map for Western Kingbird is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The four cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it where it is a regular species.  And now SC is the 6th state where I’ve seen Western Kingbird as a rarity (the brown-shaded states).  This species is certainly prone to vagrancy in fall and winter along the east coast.

I spent all of just 6 minutes at Fort Moultrie – can’t ask for a more efficient chase!  So just 40 minutes after I left Craig’s yard I was back to the feeders in hopes of better views of the Hummingbird.  After another 30-minute wait I once again heard the Hummingbird calling, this time from the live oak.  I anxiously waited for it to come to the feeders, but no such luck.  Then maybe 15 minutes later I heard more calls from the live oak – perhaps it never left and was perching there the entire time.  But unfortunately, still no visits to the feeders.  All told I ended up spending nearly 2 and a half hours at the feeders, heard the bird call multiple times on 3 different occasions, but it never came to the feeder.  That was a frustrating chase – at least it wasn’t a life bird, as I’ve seen this species in many western states and now 3 in the east as a rarity.

The Hummingbird and Kingbird bring my SC total to 299.  It’s too bad I couldn’t chase after the Saltmarsh Sparrow on this trip – it would have been a nice one to have as #300.  Next time…

And for the entire trip I added 9 statebirds – 2 in FL (which were also life birds), 5 in GA, and 2 in SC.  Although I missed several along the way, it was still a most successful trip.

Coastal VA and NC Trip Nets 11 New Statebirds, December 9-13, 2021, Part 2 of 2

I attended a Carolina Bird Club trip to the Outer Banks of NC in mid-December 2021.  And along with extensions into coastal VA, plus 2 travel days, I made it into a 5-day weekend.  It had been more than 20 years since I birded southeastern VA, and I had quite a number of possible new statebirds.  First, several target species like Lesser Black-backed Gull and White Ibis are more numerous there now.  Plus my VA statelist was only at 250 so there were a number of gaps in general I could fill.  On the downside, my last trip was before 9/11 when I was still able to bird on the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) – locations which are no longer accessible due to possible terrorist concerns.  As for NC, even though it had been nearly 3 decades (ouch) since I birded the Outer Banks, my potential targets in NC were pretty limited.  Most importantly I was banking on a couple long-staying rarities, Eurasian Wigeon and Hudsonian Godwit, which were rather reliable.  All told I hoped for 5 or 6 new statebirds in VA and 3 in NC.  And I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with some of the top hotspots on the NC and VA coasts.

This is my summary of the second half of the trip; see my prior post for the first half of the trip.

December 12 – 6 for 6 in Eastern VA

The CBC trip continued on the Outer Banks through the morning of the 12th, but it sounded like the plan was to cover some of the same area we birded on the 11th, plus some other spots that would likely not yield any new statebirds for me.  Plus I had 6 feasible targets in eastern VA, especially given that I missed the Heermann’s Gull and didn’t pursue the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and Western Kingbird earlier in my trip.  Though the targets would have to be cooperative if I was to have enough time to try for all 6.  So I decided to change my plans and bird eastern VA instead of NC.  I hoped I wouldn’t regret my decision.

The first stop was to try for the continuing Western Kingbird in Virginia Beach at a hotspot called the Harris Teeter Retention Pond.  The bird was most often seen perching in trees surrounding a large field to the south of the shopping center.  Though the last report had the bird at an adjacent school.  Once I parked at the shopping center it only took me a few minutes to get to the back of the buildings and the small pond which looked nice for a migrant shorebird or two in season.  But shorebirds weren’t my target here.  I decided to target the trees around the field as I walked right by the school.  Though I did stop long enough to see a few White-crowns feeding along the trail.

I was now walking along the western edge of the field looking for any movement of larger birds in flight or perched in the trees.  I had a few Blue Jays and woodpeckers here and there but no insectivores.  It was a cold, gray, breezy morning so I started to worry that the insects weren’t moving yet -not the best conditions for a flycatcher.  As I neared the southwest corner of the field I spotted a larger bird fly into the bare deciduous trees.  And with a quick binocular view I had my target Western Kingbird (statebird #5).  I got these distant digibin shots of the bird.

 VA was my 5th eastern state to see Western Kingbird as a rarity. 

I had given myself 90 minutes at this first stop of the day, but only needed 30.  It’s great especially to have the first target to be so cooperative.  Now a whole hour ahead of schedule, I was well-positioned to be able to pursue all my targets for the day. 

Next I was off to the Princess Anne WMA, where White Ibis were being seen in two adjacent tracts – Beasley and Whitehurst.  They were reported a bit more frequently at Beasley, so that’s where I would start.  The WMA was only open for birding on Sundays since hunting was allowed every other day of the week.  Hence I targeted this spot on Sunday the 12th instead of the 10th on my first trip through the area. 

The Beasley Tract features numerous small impoundments flooded to attract waterfowl.  So my plan was to scan each one to look for my target White Ibis feeding in the shallow water.  After a short walk through pine woodlands I arrived at the impoundments that were on both sides of my trail.  Although some were obscured by vegetation, I hoped that I would quickly find my target.  But after searching the first half dozen impoundments I had no waders at all.  And the only waterfowl was a Pied-billed Grebe – had the hunters scared away all the birds?  But then I noticed a tight flock of larger birds overhead – I had 8 White Ibis flying to the north (statebird #6).  I searched the rest of the impoundments but still never found any foraging waders.  Though I had 2 more small flocks of White Ibis flying low to the north.  Wonder where they were coming from and going to?

It was nice to fill in VA in my statebird map as the northernmost Atlantic state where it is regular.  I’ve also seen White Ibis as a rarity in 7 northeast states and DC.

I had one more longer shot target at this spot – Blue-headed Vireo.  This is one of several quite common passerine migrants and nesters that I still need for my VA list.  There were occasional recent records of Blue-headed at the Beasley tract which is near the northernmost extent of its wintering range.  The parking lot was surrounded by nice pine habitat which should be quite good for roaming bands of wintering passerines.  So when I got back to the car I played some Screech-owl tape and quickly attracted a number of Yellow-rumps.  At one point I thought I heard a couple Blue-headed call notes but they were faint and didn’t continue so I couldn’t be sure.  A few minutes later I felt like I had found everything that was in the area so stopped the tape and was about to get in the car.  Just then I heard the characteristic scolding calls of a Blue-headed Vireo (statebird #7) – I guess I could have counted it based on those first call notes afterall.  I now just need this species in MS and DC in its regular range.

The next stop was at the Piney Grove Preserve in Sussex County for the resident Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.  I was actually lucky to have noticed one recent report for this species – otherwise I would have passed right by this area without knowing that this was a regular spot for these woodpeckers.  When I arrived in the area along Chinquapin Road it was obvious where to look for these endangered woodpeckers – there were extensive patches of tall longleaf pines actively managed to reduce the undergrowth. 

I drove slowly through the area stopping at several locations, listening intently for their characteristic calls, but with no luck.  I also looked for the nesting trees that have white rings painted on their trunks, but never found any.  I was starting to get a little worried.  Then finally on my next stop I heard a few woodpecker taps, then got a quick view of a medium-sized woodpecker.  A bit later I heard the calls and got good views of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (statebird #8).  And as is typical of this species, it was one of 4 birds foraging together in the pines.  Here’s a digibin shot of one of the shier birds.

I also got nice views of a second Blue-headed Vireo here – rarer at this inland location than the one I had earlier closer to the coast.

With the woodpecker under my belt I was off for a second try at the Heermann’s Gull.  My luck with this very reliable bird had to be better than on my first stop – right?  As I pulled into the Hopewell Marina I saw a group of birders around the boat ramp which is the gull’s preferred roosting and feeding spot.  I quickly drove over to them hoping (indeed expecting) that they had my target bird.  But they had been unable to find the Heermann’s despite quite a bit of searching.  Had I struck out again?  Just then another birder walked over saying she just heard that it was perched under the bridge.  That was one of the spots I searched on my earlier try so I knew exactly where to look.

We all drove over to the bridge and sure enough there was a significant flock of gulls perched on the nearby wooden piers under the bridge.  But with a quick binocular scan none of us picked out the gull.  It should be obvious given its unique charcoal gray plumage, so now we wondered about the accuracy of that third-hand report.  I set up my scope to do a more detailed scan, even though I was pretty sure binocular views were good enough.  And then I spotted the Heermann’s – it was sleeping in the shadows of the bridge and it was nearly the same color of the wood (statebird #9). 

VA is now the 4th state where I’ve seen this species as a rarity on the Atlantic or Gulf Coasts.  Wonder what’s causing the vagrancy of this Pacific Ocean gull.

I was thinking of staying to wait for the bird to wake up and give better views, but I had one more target to chase after – Ross’s Goose.  A pair of these diminutive geese were reported in a large flock of Snow Geese two days earlier at Turkey Island Road in nearby Henrico County.  Photos showed the geese foraging in harvested corn fields so it seemed like it could be relatively easy to find them.  That is if the flock was still around.  Afterall there had been no reports in the last 2 days. 

After a quick 20-minute drive I arrived at Turkey Island Road, driving through very nice ag lands with cornfields on both sides of the road.  Excellent wintering goose habitat.  The only problem was I couldn’t find any geese of any species.  I got to the end of the road and turned around for another try.  Then I noticed a car parked on the side of the road ahead of me.  Not too surprisingly, they were birders also looking for the Ross’s.  [On a side note they had recently moved from NH and new of me from my New England days – small world.]  They had just come from a nearby small lake, likely finding the right flock of Snow Geese but not finding the Ross’s.  I was glad I ran into these birders because I didn’t know about the lake.  And always up for a challenge, I was willing to try to find the Ross’s in with the Snows. 

After a short drive and a walk through the fields I came upon the lake with all the geese.  It was located behind a hill and out of view from Turkey Island Road – I would have never found the lake on my own.  The lake was full of geese – I estimated 750 Canadas and 500 Snows – but all quite far away.

Surprisingly most of the Snows were blue-phase birds.  And most of the few white-phase Snows were noticeably small than the “Blues”.  So the good news was that there weren’t many white geese to look through.  The bad news was that the Ross’s wouldn’t be too much smaller than the white Snows.  I started to scan the flock slowly but couldn’t come up with the Ross’s.  But then I noticed a group of 4 white geese together with what appeared to be small bills.  It took a while to get clear views but I finally could see the short stubby bills, steep forehead, and rounded head of Ross’s Geese (statebird #10).  Here’s a very distant phonescoped pic of the birds in the background.

I texted both the NH birders and the ones with me at the Hopewell Marina to tell them that I had found the Ross’s.  A few minutes later they all got to see the birds.  Interestingly the best way to find them in the flock was to look for 4 white geese swimming together.

VA is now my 32nd state for this expanding species.  It wasn't too long ago that Ross's Goose was quite a rarity anywhere across the country.

What a day – I found all 6 of my target birds.  A nice improvement from the beginning of my trip.  Though as an aside, it turns out that the CBC group re-found the Hudsonian Godwit on the Outer Banks that day.  I guess I can’t be everywhere.

December 13 – Another Slow Travel Day

The 13th was my day for the long ride back home from the coast.  And along the way I would make another try for the Say’s Phoebe in Guilford County, NC.  But first on the VA part of my drive I kept an eye open for Turkeys – a bird I still needed for my statelist.  But the best I could do was to spot a dead bird on the side of the highway.  Alas, not countable unless it was still breathing.

I rolled into the Guilford County Farm mid-morning and started my slow walk through the area.  As before I slowly walked around the complex checking out every conceivable Phoebe perch.  After 90 minutes I was not very optimistic.  And then I got a text from the Blue Ridge Audubon group saying that there was a Varied Thrush coming to a feeder in Hickory.  A quick look at GoogleMaps showed that Hickory was right on my home.  The text included the fact that the homeowner was willing to have visitors, his address, and where to stand to look for the Thrush.  Hmm…  Would the Thrush be more likely than the Phoebe?  After searching for the Say’s Phoebe now for 4 hours over 2 trips, I decided to throw in the towel and give the Varied Thrush a try. 

Just after getting back on the road I called my birding friend Bill Hooker and alerted him to the Thrush report.  Bill was very interested, though I mentioned the only thing missing from the report was whether there were certain times of the day when the Thrush was being seen.  Bill decided to try for it as well, and his ETA was actually a few minutes earlier than mine.  An hour later I was just a few minutes away from the feeding station when Bill called.  He was on-site and talked to the homeowner – the Thrush was only being seen once a day pretty early in the morning.  Ugh…  We gave it about an hour, seeing a good number of birds at the feeding station.  But given its history, not surprisingly we had no Varied Thrush. 

That was a tough way to end the trip – missing both of my last targets.  But it was still a most successful weekend, with 10 additions to my VA list, bringing my statelist up to 260.  And my NC list is now at 312 with the addition of 1 new bird.  Certainly better than the 8 or 9 new statebirds I hoped for for the entire weekend.  Plus I reacquainted myself with many of the key hotspots in the upper portion of the Outer Banks and coastal VA. 

Can’t wait to go back!

Post-Sandy Birding #2 – Western Kingbird, Yellow-throated Warbler, Cave Swallows – Rhode Island, November 2012

This is the second year in a row when a close brush by a hurricane has brought some good birds to New England.  Most of the best birds were seen along the CT and RI coastlines and the MA islands, including a Magnificent Frigatebird seen on the coast at the RI/MA stateline for 2 consecutive days.  That would be a key target for most New England birders – including my NH friends Denny Abbott and Davis Finch.  A Brown Pelican had also been seen there.  So we planned to meet at a park-and-ride pre-dawn and get to the RI coast by first light.

We arrived a bit before 7 AM to a spectacular sunrise, and started our vigil to await the Frigatebird.  Note all the rocks in the foreground which were pushed ashore by the hurricane. 

After a couple hours with no Frigatebird we took a walk to the east to Quicksand Pond, a large freshwater lake just barely west of the MA/RI stateline.  Soon after we arrived I picked out 1 and then 3 more distant swallows which I was able to identify as Caves.  Good birds in any New England state, though I already had them in RI.  But I need them in MA – and these birds were just a few hundred yards west of the state line and heading east.  I continued to follow them to the eastern edge of the lake when they gained a bit of altitude and I unfortunately lost sight of them.  I continued to scan the lake but they were gone so they must have gone into MA airspace.  But I never saw them in MA so can’t add them to my list.  One that got away…

There was nothing else of interest on the coast, but there seemed to be a lot of birds moving well out to sea.  So we thought we might head to a south facing peninsula like Point Judith to check out the seabird migration.  Just after we left I got a call from local RI birder Jan St. Jean that she had just found a Western Kingbird just a short distance away in Tiverton.  A couple minutes later we caught up to Jan and she had the kingbird perched on a post along the road.  It was a most cooperative bird providing great phone-scoping opportunities.  A statebird for me and for Davis, but not for Denny.

RI is my third New England state with Western Kingbird (though I’ve also chased after it unsuccessfully in CT and ME).  I now have it in most every western state in its regular range (though OR is an obvious gap), and now 5 eastern states as a vagrant.  And Western Kingbird was #300 for me in RI!

We were just about to get back on the road when Jan got a call of a Cave Swallow at the south end of Scarborough Beach State Park in Narragansett.  A short ride later we were at the park but had no swallow.  We decided to leave the park and head to Point Judith.  But just as we did, Jan called again and said she had found a Cave Swallow at the north end of the park.  So we turned around and within a couple minutes we got great looks at a Cave Swallow right overhead, along with a Tree and 3 Barn Swallows.  A statebird for Davis, but not for Denny or me.

It was now early afternoon and we were starting to run short on time.  We discussed the options, but Denny didn’t care which choice we made because, as he put it, “There are no statebirds for me to go for.”  To which Davis reminded Denny that he shouldn’t be so negative.  Instead of heading south to Point Judith we headed north to Barrington to try for a Ruff that had been reliable for a number of days, but had not been reported since the hurricane. 

About 20 minutes after we left Scarborough Jan called yet again – there was a Yellow-throated Warbler at Scarborough within a few feet of where we had the swallows!  That would be a RI statebird for all of us!  So we turned around made our way back to Scarborough yet again.  As we arrived we could see Jan in the distance so I called her to get the micro-directions.  As she was directing us to a small group of pines here comes a small bird flying out of those trees to another couple pines – it was the Yellow-throated Warbler!  We got great views but only for a minute or so before it flew off toward another set of pines in the distance.  If we had been more than a few seconds later the bird might have flown off to that other part of the park and we might have missed it.  I’m sure Denny was happy to eat his words about not being able to get a new statebird.

That was my fifth New England state for Yellow-throated Warbler – but only my second away from a winter feeder.  I’ve now seen this species through most of its range though it would be nice to fill the gaps in NY and IN.