Life Bird and 10 State Birds, Florida Panhandle, January 5-7, 2023,

Late in December 2022 I noticed a post from a local birder where he mentioned he had just seen a White Wagtail in FL.  That would be a lifebird, one I missed back in 2016 practically in my backyard in NH because I was out of town.  Although I’ve had the eBird ABA Rarities alert turned on for years, I haven’t been checking it lately since I’m not doing much traveling during Covid.  So a Wagtail in FL wasn’t exactly on my radar.  But with some quick eBird searches I found out that the White Wagtail was being seen nearly daily in Tallahassee.  That seemed pretty far away, but with a drive time of “only” 7 1/2 hours, it was actually about the same amount of time it takes to drive to the NC Outer Banks.  The hunt was on!

It turns out the White Wagtail first arrived on November 24, and was being seen quite reliably at a couple runoff retention ponds in downtown Tallahassee.  It was feeding along muddy shorelines, and judging by the excellent photos posted on eBird, birders were able to get quite close to it.  In theory I could drive down to Tallahassee in one day, hopefully see the bird, and drive back the next day.  But why not add a couple days to the trip and look for some statebirds in the FL panhandle and in southern and central GA on the drive back.  So I started planning for a 4-day trip to try for the Wagtail as a lifebird and a number of statebirds in both states.

I first focused on potential statebirds in FL within a couple hours of Tallahassee.  I used to live in Gainesville, FL, and remember that the Tallahassee area was home to a number of wintering birds that are very difficult to find elsewhere in FL, including – White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, and Dark-eyed Junco.  And an agricultural area a short distance west of there was the only spot for Horned Larks in the state.  I only made it to the panhandle in winter once before but focused on water and marshbirds during that trip, so all of these local specialties were still targets.  And speaking of waterbirds, my eBird research revealed a number of other possible statebirds at nearby St. Marks NWR.  All told I had a possible 14 targets in FL (including the Wagtail), which was a surprisingly high number given that my FL list was already at 320.  I realistically hoped to find perhaps 8 of them.

Then it was time to research targets in GA.  My statelist was only 258, so there would be lots of possible statebirds.  My route to and from Tallahassee would go through much of GA, way too much to bird effectively on this short trip.  Plus all my GA stops would have to be just be on the way back home since I wanted to make a beeline for Tallahassee on the first day of the trip in search of my key target, the Wagtail.  So I needed to focus on potential targets that might be closer to my direct route home, thus minimizing drive times for side-trips.  That meant I wouldn’t be able to get to the coast, which was unfortunate since there were a number of my targets there.  And north of Atlanta would be out of bounds as well.  Despite all those constraints, I was still able to map out a route back taking me through the center of the state then heading northeast to Augusta that would give me 12 possible statebird targets.  I figured if I could find 6 of them that would make for a successful GA portion of the trip.

As I was making my final preparations for the trip I heard from my birding friend Bill Hooker that he and his wife Anita were planning to head to Tallahassee for the Wagtail the same day I was.  That would be great – whoever got there first could report their results to the other.  The trip was really coming together!

This post covers the FL portion of my trip.  The next blog post will cover the GA half of the trip.

Day 1 - January 5

I was out the door earlier than expected on the 5th and luckily made the trip around Atlanta through the morning rush with no backups.  My ETA in Tallahassee was around 2 PM.  That gave me lots of time to think about seeing my target Wagtail.  The bird was being reported from 2 runoff retention ponds – nearly daily at Lake Elberta, and occasionally at the nearby Mills Street Pond.  Unfortunately, there had been only 1 report of the bird on the 4th, at the Mills Street Pond.  And there were a couple posts where the Wagtail had not been seen that day.  And even worse, a Merlin was included on one checklist.  The Merlin might keep the Wagtail away from its regular feeding spots.  Or even worse, the Wagtail could become Merlin food.

So with the less than stellar reports from the 4th, I was very anxious to check reports from the morning of the 5th to see if the Wagtail was re-found.  The first report from Lake Elberta was posted about 8 AM - no Wagtail was seen.  Two others from Lake Elberta were posted soon thereafter and again no Wagtail was included.  Then there was a report from Mills Street Pond – no Wagtail there either.  Was I going to be a day too late for the Wagtail?  Then at 11 AM another Mills Street checklist was posted - I was almost too afraid to open it.  But I scrolled down to the end and there was the Wagtail complete with a picture.  The Wagtail was back!  I could breathe again!  I shared the news with Bill and Anita, and it turned out they would be arriving just a few minutes after me.  I pushed the accelerator down a bit harder as a I realized that I still had 3 hours to go before I got there.

After taking what seemed like forever to navigate through the traffic lights of downtown Tallahassee, I finally pulled up to the Mills Street Pond.  Pretty unremarkable actually.

Just up ahead there was a car parked on the side of the road with a camera sticking out of the driver’s window.  This was looking positive - “bird the birders” as I always say.  I pulled in front of the birder’s car and quickly scanned the small grassy mudflat while still sitting in my car.  In just a few seconds I picked out the White Wagtail walking along the mudflat, wagging its long tail as it went.  I called Bill and gave him the news, suggesting they stay in the car when they arrive.  A few minutes later they pulled in, and Anita got this great photo of our key target bird.

Unfortunately, my digi-binned photos were not nearly as good.  I tried to get out to get a phonescoped photo but the bird flushed to the southern end of the pond.  At least we got to hear the 2-note “pipit” call when it flew.

White Wagtail was #763 for my Continental ABA list, and #743 in the Lower 48.  It was the first new lifebird I had seen since 2018, though I’ve added at least one new lifebird each year since then due to ABA splits or decisions that certain introduced species were now countable. 

With our key target out of the way, we could focus on our other birding priorities for the trip – mine were new statebirds and Bill’s were county birds.  But Bill mentioned that since so many of my statebird targets were pretty rare in FL, he would come along with me and try for them as well.  Afterall, they would likely be new county birds for him as well.

And since we saw the Wagtail so quickly we had quite a bit of birding time left that day.  Our next stop was just a short 30-minute drive to the east at the Fred Myers Williams Fish Pond where a large flock of Brewer’s Blackbirds were reliably being seen.  A little surprising to have Brewer’s at a fish pond – normally they’re associated with cattle feed lots – but we’d give it a go.  As we pulled up to the hotspot location we saw a small herd of cows in the field immediately to the right, and sure enough there was a large flock of blackbirds with them.  

With a quick scan we realized that nearly all of them were Brewer’s – we estimated 300 (FL statebird #2) – with just a few cowbirds mixed in.  We never did see a pond.  My statebird map for Brewer’s Blackbird is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 3 cross-hatched states are the last ones in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the 5 brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Brewer’s as a rarity.  Since I moved to NC I’ve added Brewer’s Blackbird to 5 southeastern statelists – VA, NC, SC, GA, and now FL.

We had time for one more stop that afternoon, and decided to head to Faulk Drive Landing on Lake Jackson where a Clay-colored Sparrow had been reported earlier in the week.  Unfortunately, the only sparrows we had there were a couple Swamps in the marsh.  A consolation prize was a most cooperative Orange-crowned Warbler.  A nice way to end a most successful day.

Day 2 – January 6

Our first stop of the day was at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park on the north side of Tallahassee.  There had been a number of recent reports of Dark-eyed Junco in the park with specific directions to one spot near Gate A.  It was also known as one of the better spots for White-breasted Nuthatch in FL (though with no recent reports), and occasional winter sightings of Brown Creeper including one in the past week.  A target-rich location.  We didn’t have specific locations for the Nuthatch and Creeper, so we’d just have to get lucky to run into them.

We arrived at Gate A a bit before sunrise and quickly heard a couple Great Horned Owls as our first birds of the day.  As we headed over to the trail where the Juncos had been reported we were surrounded by excellent hardwood and softwood woodlands.  We kept our ears open for our Nuthatch and Creeper targets and crossed our fingers.  While we waited for the morning sun to hit the Junco trail we played some Screech Owl calls nearby and were inundated by passerines with big numbers of Pine Warblers, Chickadees, and Titmice, a few Brown-headed Nuthatches, and goodies like Yellow-throated Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo.  But none of our targets stopped by. 

Then we walked over to the spot where the Juncos had been reported most often and I noticed some movement in the grass.  There was a group of 3 Juncos foraging on the ground at the edge of the trail (FL statebird #3).  FL was my 48th state for Dark-eyed Junco – I have to get back to ND to finish filling in my statebird map for this species.

We headed back to the car and kept our ears open for Nuthatches and Creepers but to no avail.  At least we added one of our targets.

Next we were on to Gardner Road Landing just to our north where Winter Wrens had been rather reliable, and quite vocal.  When we arrived we found quite a bit of very nice wet wooded habitat perfect for a Winter Wren.  We listened for their chattering calls but only heard Carolinas.  We then walked a short distance to the end of the road and noticed some movement low in the brush.  Then the small brown bird started to chatter and gave us brief views – it was our target Winter Wren (FL statebird #4). 

After a quick view of the wetlands at the end of the landing road, we headed off to Roden Cove Landing where there had been a report of 2 White-faced Ibis.  Unfortunately that was 10 days ago, so this one could well be a long shot.  We took a short walk to the edge of the wetlands and began to scan.  There were quite a number of birds there, dominated by at last 1,000 Coots.  And the marshy edges had good numbers of waders, including a small group of White Ibis, but no dark ones.  Then I spotted a flock of 6 dark Ibis in flight in the distance, unfortunately way too far to ID.  And they kept flying farther away and eventually disappeared.  That was frustrating. 

We went back to scanning the closer marsh and picked up another dark Ibis foraging alone.  This one was close enough for a potential ID, but we had left the scopes in the cars.  So Bill and I rushed back to get the scopes and Anita stayed with the bird.  When we returned the bird had moved a bit but was still close enough to try to see eye color.  The Ibis was actively feeding so it took a while to get good views of the face, but we could definitely see red eyes.  Plus the wings and mantle were greener than you’d normally see on a Glossy – we had our target White-faced Ibis (FL statebird #5).  FL was my 9th state seeing this species as a rarity.  White-faced sure is prone to vagrancy in the east.

A bit later we found another group of 7 dark Ibis nearby, though the difficult sun angle made it tough to see eye color.  Luckily one bird was close enough that we could see it had dark eyes and confirmed it as a Glossy.  We started to take a hike along the marsh edge to change the sun angle on the others but decided it would be best to spend that time looking for our other targets instead.

We headed back to the parking lot which was nearly surrounded by mature live oaks.  There had been a recent report of White-breasted Nuthatch at this hotspot, and these trees looked like an ideal spot for one.  We played some Screech Owl tape, getting a number of birds to respond, but not our target Nuthatch.  I hated to leave that one behind, but with no specific locations for the Nuthatch, and several targets waiting for us at the coast, we decided to pack up and headed south.

Our next stop was St. Marks NWR, a spot I had not visited since I lived in FL in the late 80’s.  I had 3 possible statebird targets there, the first being a long-staying American Golden-Plover that was reported to be most cooperative at the East River Pool.  Little did we know that our biggest problem finding this bird would be gaining access to the pool.  The 2-lane road was being repaved, and nearby parking lots were full of construction vehicles.

But Bill was able to talk one of the workers into allowing us to park briefly in one of the lots, giving us enough time to walk to the pool.  With the clock ticking we quickly made it to the metal pier and almost instantly picked out the American Golden-Plover (FL statebird #6).  Most cooperative indeed.

Although I lived in FL for a time, I was never able to see any of the “grasspipers” including Baird’s and Buff-breasted.  Interesting that I finally saw the Golden-Plover in FL in winter when they are normally supposed to be in southern South America.

The next target was a Long-tailed Duck that had been reported for awhile at the end of the Cedar Point Trail near the Lighthouse Pool.  But the sightings had been intermittent.  In fact, as we walked down the trail we met a couple groups of birders coming back from unsuccessful searches for the bird.  So I wasn’t very optimistic.  We got to the end of the trail and started scanning the offshore waters.  There were quite a number of Scaup and Bufflehead in the distance, but no sight of my target bird.  Then in one of my distant scans I noticed some ducks in the foreground.  I focused on the closer waters and there was the Long-tailed Duck (FL statebird #7).  It was diving frequently, along with a small group of Buffleheads.  Maybe it was overlooked by the other birders because they were focused on the more distant ducks, like I did initially.  I was able to get Bill and Anita on the bird, along with a number of other birders that passed by.  FL was my 4th state with Long-tailed Duck as a rarity.

Our next target was a long-staying American Flamingo that is often seen in the Lighthouse Pool.  I had seen Flamingo before in FL – a flock of 16 off of Snake Bight Trail at Everglades NP in 2008.  But I could never turn down an opportunity to see such a striking bird.  Unfortunately, the Flamingo was not on the flats at the pool, nor on the small offshore island it sometimes frequents.  Though the pool was full of waterfowl and shorebirds.

Our last stop at St. Marks was to bird the offshore waters near the lighthouse to look for a Surf Scoter that was first found there in late December.  Although it had been spotted numerous times since then, it was last reported 3 days ago.  There had also been occasional reports of Black Scoter from this spot.  I did several scans from the parking lot but came up empty.  We then walked west along the south shore, and I scanned at several more vantage points but to no avail.  With no other possible spots for Surf Scoter I hated to give up, but it was time to throw in the towel.  Even though we missed a couple targets, it was still fun to bird St. Marks again after so many years.

Our next target was Black Scoter which was quite often seen nearby at Alligator Point and Bald Point SP.  In fact, I had a 20-year-old FL birdfinding guide that said that Alligator Point was the best spot in the area for Black Scoter.  The local birder I ran into at the Wagtail spot mentioned that they are best seen near the “area of new pavement”.  As we arrived near the point this spot became obvious– there was a section of the coastal road that had apparently washed out in a recent storm and had just been replaced.  And sure enough large rafts of ducks were there just offshore - we estimated 500 birds.  With a quick binocular scan all I could find were Greater Scaup.  But with so many divers surely there were Scoters mixed in somewhere.  I scanned through the flocks more closely and picked out a few Redheads and even a Ring-necked Duck, but no Scoters. 

I could see another raft in the distance a bit farther west so I decided to change my vantage point and give them a look.  But a couple scans revealed just more Scaup.  Then I spotted a group of 4 larger, all dark ducks just offshore which only provided a quick but tantalizing view before they dove.  Did I have my target bird?  A few seconds later they all resurfaced - they were indeed Scoters but surprisingly they were female Surf Scoters instead of the expected Black Scoter (FL statebird #8).  I’ve now seen Surf Scoter in each of its expected coastal and Great Lake states except for PA, plus have seen it in 4 inland states as a rarity.

I then spotted another Scaup raft a bit farther to the west and again picked out 2 more Surf Scoters diving at the nearshore edge of the flock.  Anita was able to get this nice picture of this pair of birds.

It sure was great to find these 6 Surf Scoters, especially since they had not been reported here recently.  But we were still missing our target Black Scoter which was supposed to be the Scoter species for this spot.  There had been a Black Scoter report from nearby Bald Point SP the day before, so maybe we’d get lucky there.  It took us a while to find the park and an access point to scan the offshore waters, and it was now closing in on sunset.  But at least we were looking nearly due east with the setting sun to our backs, and the water was almost flat, giving us excellent visibility.  An initial scan revealed just a couple Scaup and little else.  So I started scanning farther out and picked out perhaps 200 Scaup and 10 Redheads far in the distance but they were way too far out to try to see if a Scoter might be mixed in.

Then I spotted a flock of perhaps 50 ducks far to the east roughly flying towards us.  As they got closer I could finally start to pick up some field marks – they were generally uniform brown indicating they were Redheads.  Then the flock turned so that they were flying perpendicular to our line of sight and I noticed one darker bird mixed in.  I was getting excited…  I kept staring at the flock and eventually could see the darker bird was all black, and on their closest approach I could see the yellow knob on the bill.  Finally, we had our Black Scoter, and an adult male at that (FL statebird #9).  My Black Scoter statebird map has a few less states shaded in than in my Surf Scoter map - Black Scoter is often the least common of the wintering scoters.

What an excellent way to end the day, finding 2 Scoter species and Long-tailed Duck on the Gulf Coast.  When the eBird checklists were all compiled (thanks to Bill for maintaining the checklists!) we came up with 109 species for the day – an outstanding total for a January day.

Day 3 - January 7

We had just one more planned stop together in the FL portion of our trip – a set of fields in Jackson County in the panhandle close to where AL, GA, and FL come together.  This area is well-known as the sole spot where Horned Larks are somewhat reliable in FL.  In fact, I remember this location when I lived in FL in the 80s but never made the trek there to give the Larks a try.  There were also a couple recent records of Lapland Longspur mixed in with the Larks and Pipits.  Another one to watch and listen for. 

We left the hotel pre-dawn so that we could arrive at the Concord Road Ag Fields hotspot by sunrise.  When we arrived I was bit surprised to see that the soil in the agricultural fields was nothing but sand.  Must be tough to grow a crop there.  But it sure was great habitat for those “prairie birds”.  And the roads were mostly just compacted sand, though hard enough to be passable.  Here’s a picture of one of the fields with the road in the foreground.

Our first birds of the morning were a pair of Great Horned Owls calling in the distance.  Then we picked out a Harrier sitting in the fields.  A nice start to the day…  But it was time to focus on our targets.  Eventually we started to hear Pipits calling overhead or out in the fields.  And with scope views I could see some Pipits flying far out in the fields.  Then we heard the characteristic calls of Horned Larks as a pair flew overhead.  And a couple minutes later a flock of 4 Larks flew over low enough that we could see their unique face pattern (FL statebird #10).  Horned Lark is 1 of only 26 species that I’ve seen in all 49 continental US states and Washington D.C. 

I then spent a little time scanning the fields hoping to find a Longspur.  But with the exception of that initial group of distant Pipits, I could find no other birds foraging in the fields.  I was tempted to spend more time scanning additional fields but had a full day of stops planned through GA as I headed back toward home.  So I decided to pass on further attempts for the Longspur to ensure I had enough time for my GA targets.  And with Bill and Anita now focused on birding other nearby counties in the FL panhandle, we wished each other good birding and went our separate ways for the rest of the trip.

I ended the FL portion of the trip with 10 new statebirds, including of course the White Wagtail as a life bird.  That’s much better than the 8 I had hoped for.  That brings my FL list up to a respectable 330. 

The GA portion of my trip is summarized in my next blog post. 

Iowa – Reportable Plus 15, May, 2017

On rather short notice it started to look like I needed to be in Minneapolis in mid-May for a business trip.  That’s not a part of the country I get to very often, so there was likely to be a fair amount of statebird potential out there.  Although my MN list was pretty good at 17 over the old ABA reportable threshold, I was still 3 shy of reportable in IA.  On a similar Minneapolis trip in July 2016 I added a couple birding days in IA, so doing the same on this trip was certainly a possibility.  Looking at my IA list I needed many reasonably regular migrants, so an extension to IA in mid-May, near the peak of migration, was likely to be quite productive.  In 2016 I birded with some excellent IA birders in the northwestern part of the state, so I figured I would head back to the same general area and try to re-connect with them.

And just as I was starting to put my plans together I looked at the map and realized that northwestern IA was pretty close to the SD stateline.  I was 13 below the ABA threshold in SD so a trip there could be fruitful as well.  It turned out that my SD statelist was also missing many regular eastern migrants.  It was now starting to look like making this into a big MN/IA/SD/MN loop could be most productive.  Based on my potential targets it felt like I should plan on 2 solid birding days each in IA and SD, so I planned my flights accordingly.

As I do on most of my trips I like to set statebirding goals for each state.  Formerly I wanted to at least reach the ABA reporting threshold in each state, defined as half of the overall state total.  But the ABA last published thresholds in 2011, and since state lists typically creep up over time, newly calculated thresholds would as well.  With a little on-line research, I found that the IA statelist now stands at 428 – 6 higher than 2011 total.  And dividing 428 by 2, the present threshold would be 214.  Similarly, the latest SD statelist is 439, 7 more than in 2011, giving a new threshold of 219.5.  Because of these inevitable increases in the statelists over time, I revised my goal to be at least 15 over the old ABA threshold in each state, or “Reportable Plus 15” as I call it.  As a result my goal for IA was 226, and my SD goal was 231.  That meant I needed 18 new birds in IA – certainly feasible on this trip.  And I needed a larger tally of 28 in SD – although possible it would be a long shot.

This blog post summarizes the IA portion of my trip.  The next post summarizes the SD portion.

One of my first steps in planning the IA leg of the trip was to contact local birders Lee Schoenewe and Joe Jungers who had been so instrumental in helping me find my targets in northwestern IA during my July 2016 trip.  Lee could join me the evening of my first day once I had finally arrived in town, and both were available to bird with me for a full day the next day.  Then on Day 3 I planned to head west and bird some spots close to the SD border to pick up a couple local targets.  With Lee’s and Joe’s help, plus some good fortune, I was hopeful I could meet my Reportable Plus 15 goal in IA.

Day 1 – Late PM

After a nearly full day of work in Minneapolis I made the long 3+ hour drive south to IA, keeping my eyes on the threatening skies the whole way.  Luckily 2 confirmed tornadoes were at least a county away when I passed by them.  I finally arrived in Spencer in the early evening just after the rain had stopped there, and met Lee who took me to the Thunderbridge area nearby.  Lee had had a number of migrants there earlier in the day including several of my targets.  The woods were full of migrants, most notably numerous Tennessee Warblers.  That species turned out to be our most common migrant at virtually every one of our IA stops.  And although the light was fading, the trees were full of migrants, and we were able to get 6 of my targets there - Blackpoll Warbler, Northern Parula, Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Wilson’s Warbler.  The Blackburnian was #211 for me in IA – the old ABA threshold – that was easy. 

Shading in IA in my statebird map below for Northern Parula fills the last gap in the regular range of this species – though I have also seen it as a rarity in NM and AZ.

Day 2

Joe and Lee met me at dawn at my hotel and we went right back to the Thunderbridge area to see what we might have missed the evening before.  But the woods were much quieter that day, and we didn’t spend too much time there not finding anything new.

A couple stops later and we were in the town of Spencer where we noticed a Catharus thrush fly up from the ground.  After a brief search we relocated it and it was a Gray-cheeked Thrush (statebird #7).  That’s one we had expected in the woods at Thunderbridge but we’ll take it in town too.

Soon we were driving out through nice prairie habitat and farm fields and several times we saw small flocks of Black Terns moving north over the fields.  Then we noticed a flock of about 50 shorebirds flying by.  They were plovers with dark breasts, and after comparing notes we decided they must have been American Golden Plovers (#8).  My statebird map is pretty spotty for this species that is a widespread though uncommon migrant.

A couple stops later brought us to the small Kindlespire County Park principally to look for shorebirds around the lake.  Though we came up empty on new shorebirds I did spot an Empidonax in a small nearby bush.  Luckily it gave us some good looks and we confirmed it as an Alder Flycatcher (#9).

A later stop brought us to the edge of Pickerel Lake in Laurens where a Northern Waterthrush was singing from the swampy edge (#10).  On the other side of the road in the adjacent wetlands we found a secretive Solitary Sandpiper (#11).  I’m still missing this species in a couple states in the eastern 2/3 of the country where it is a regular migrant.

But the most notable birds at this spot were a flock of 15 Cattle Egrets in with cattle (appropriately) in an adjacent field.  Pretty rare, though not a new statebird for me.  Not to mention an amazing flock of over 800 Black Terns foraging low over the lake. 

Next while passing through Ruthven we made a quick stop at the sewage treatment plant and located a distant perched Common Tern (#12) among several more expected Forster’s. 

We were slowly accumulating a nice list of my target birds, but we had not yet found many passerine migrants.  We hoped that would change at our next stop at the Lost Island Lake County Park.  This park consists of an excellent patch of woodlands on the east side of the lake.  Being in the middle of the prairie and farm fields, this spot can be an excellent migrant magnet.  And in our first stop at the entrance to the park that certainly was the case as there was an impressive flock of 50 (or more) Eastern Kingbirds.  Joe picked out an Olive-sided Flycatcher in the flock, and luckily it eventually cooperated enough for Lee and me to see it as well (#13).  My statebird map has lots of gaps in the eastern part of the country where Olive-sided is less common, but is pretty well complete throughout much of the west where it is more regular.

Then we headed farther into the park and began to walk some of the trails through the woodland habitat.  In addition to the many singing Tennessee Warblers, we slowly started to pick off quite a number of my targets – a singing Bay-breasted Warbler (#14) was followed by a singing Black-throated Green Warbler in the distance (#15).  And a calling Cooper’s Hawk nearby eventually came into view (#16).  Nice to be able to check that one off but needless to say it was having a negative impact on us finding passerines.  IA was my next to last state for Cooper’s – now I just need to find it in MT.

We then chose a trail that left the deeper woods and soon led us into a more open habitat with thick underbrush and more scattered trees.  At that point I heard a faint song that I recognized as a Mourning Warbler (#17) coming from the brush nearby.  It took us a while to get looks at this skulker, but eventually we all got passable views through the underbrush.  In fact there were likely 2 birds together.  Although this species is a regular migrant throughout most of the east, and a breeder in the north, I’ve only seen it in 17 states – a testament to how difficult it can be to find especially in migration.

The trail then led to the main north-south road through the park, giving some excellent edge views of the woodlands along our way back to the car.  And soon after we started birding along the road we heard a faint song of a Magnolia Warbler – this beautiful warbler soon popped into the open to give us nice views.  That was my 18th new statebird for IA – my target Reportable Plus 15!   And we still had lots of birding time ahead of us.  

We didn’t dare take too much time to celebrate because there were a fair number of other migrants in the area.  Lee then picked out a Black-and-white Warbler which frustratingly took a long time to reveal itself to me (#19).  Unlike my statebird map for the uncommon Mourning Warbler, IA was my last state in the regular range for the much more common Black-and-white (plus I’ve seen it as a rarity in spring fallouts in CA, NV, and NM).

Unlike the shy Black-and-white, Lee’s Philadelphia Vireo was much more cooperative (#20).  And then perhaps as an exclamation point to this stop a Broad-winged Hawk flew by us along the road (#21).  That gave me 9 new birds for this little park.  Although we didn’t have too many passerine migrants, the diversity was quite good.  Plus of course our list was supplemented by a couple raptor species.

Now we were on to Dewey's Pasture WMA and Trumbull Lake.  Among our targets here were Avocets and White-faced Ibis that had been mentioned in recent eBird posts.  Our first stop was at a small wetlands along one of the access roads into the area.  And while scanning through the swimming waterfowl we picked out one Avocet feeding in surprisingly deep water (#22).  I’ve seen this species throughout the west as well as quite a number of southeast states where it is regular, as well as a number of northeastern states as a rare but increasing vagrant. 

Lee then took us to a marshy area around the lake where he predicted we would find the Ibis.  And right on cue, there were 4 White-faced Ibis feeding among the numerous waterfowl and occasional shorebird (#23).  Would have been nice to turn one of them into a Glossy but it wasn’t to be.  Also at this marsh was one of the many flocks of migrant Franklin's Gulls that we encountered during the day - many with rosy breasts.

Throughout our many stops we struggled to find many shorebirds, that is besides the regular Killdeer, Wilson’s Phalaropes, Spotted Sands, and Yellowlegs.  But then at one of our last stops of the day at Goose Pond near Spirit Lake there was a small group of nice breeding plumaged Stilt Sands.  And mixed in was a single breeding plumaged Dunlin (#24).  A nice way to end the day – our 138^th species. 

As Lee and Joe dropped me off at my car I couldn’t thank them enough for all their excellent help and guidance that day.  And speaking of guidance, just before we parted ways Joe gave me some advice for Spotted Towhee in IA and Blue-winged Warblers in SD.

As I was driving west I started to rethink my plans for the rest of the trip since I was way over my goal by the end of the day, and a full day ahead of schedule.  I still had at least 3 reasonably reliable IA targets ahead of me in the western part of the state – Whip-poor-will, Ovenbird, and Spotted Towhee.  Plus of course I could always run into other migrants I still needed at any of my stops.  But I knew I had a tall task in front of me to try to reach my Reportable Plus 15 goal in SD.  Plus the forecast was for rain and wind pretty much the entire rest of my trip, making finding those SD targets even more challenging. 

I weighed my options and decided to call it quits for IA and spend Day 3 in SD instead of IA.  I hated to pass up on a few more possible IA statebirds, but it seemed that spending more time in SD would be necessary if I were to meet my goal there.

IA by the Numbers

I ended the IA portion of my trip with 24 new IA statebirds, compared to a goal of 18, and a total of 143 species.  My new IA statelist is now at 232 – 21 over the old reportable threshold and 18 over a newly calculated threshold.  That makes IA my 46th state over the old ABA threshold and my 40th state over my Reportable Plus 15 goal.

White-faced Ibis, North Hampton, NH, July 2015

Although White-faced Ibis is now seen annually in MA and ME, it is still quite a rarity in NH with only 3 state records before this year - all one-day wonders and all in April.  I was very close to seeing the bird back in 2010 the last time it was found in NH, but work commitments kept me from squeezing in a trip to the coast to see it.  Elsewhere in New England, I’ve recently seen White-faced Ibis in CT and RI, to go along with earlier sightings in MA and ME.  And since it isn’t yet on the VT statelist, that meant that NH was the last state I needed to complete the New England portion of my statebird map.  So given my near-miss 5 years ago, needless to say I really wanted to see White-faced Ibis in NH.   

I would finally have the chance to try for this bird in July 2015, though not without some significant challenges.  A White-faced Ibis was found early on a Sunday morning with a flock of Glossy’s and numerous Egrets in the marshes off Huckleberry Lane in Hampton, NH.  The good news was that the bird was present for several hours.  Unfortunately I didn’t get the news for a while, and I arrived at the site about 30 minutes after the last sighting.  Despite searches of several nearby marshes I saw no Ibis at all.  Another frustrating miss.

But there was hope - on Thursday that week the White-faced Ibis was again reported, this time at the large Little River marshes just to the north.  The bird was still around – this time it wasn’t a one-day wonder!  And then on Saturday a flock of dark Ibis was seen at the same marsh.  But since they were seen at a distance, only half could be identified as Glossy’s.  Could the target bird have been in that flock?  In any case, it seemed like it was worth a shot to try for the bird again, so I made plans to give it a go the next morning. 

I arrived at the coast at 6:45 Sunday morning and first headed to Huckleberry Lane, but found no waders at all.  Then I went to the Little River marshes and found just one Snowy Egret in the distance in the northwestern portion of the marsh.  Within a few minutes it was joined by 5 other Snowy’s.  Could this become the critical mass of waders needed to attract the Ibis flock?  Unfortunately, after another 15 minutes of waiting, no other waders came in.  So since the Ibis flock was not in the marsh now, I decided to take a quick drive north up the coast to check other places where waders could be feeding.  Then if I didn’t find them to the north, I’d return to Little River in hopes that the Ibis flock would return there.  But despite making multiple stops all the way to Odiorne, I found just a few Egrets and a Great Blue, and no Ibis.  The waders certainly weren’t north of Little River. 

As I turned around and headed back to the Little River marshes I wondered if I had made the right choice to take the hour round-trip drive north – not only did I not find any Ibis, maybe I had missed the target bird at Little River.  I returned to the Little River overlook on Route 111 and quickly refound the Egret flock – there were now at least a dozen birds feeding in a distant channel.  Notably they were only occasionally in view, even though they were tall white birds in a sea of green.  I kept scanning the area and after just 5 minutes I noticed a dark Ibis fly out of that same channel.  I quickly got on the bird with my binoculars and watched it fly in profile low over the marsh for maybe 10 seconds before it disappeared behind an island of trees in the marsh.  Even though it was pretty distant I definitely noticed that its face was much paler than the rest of the head and body.  The pictures I had seen of the target bird (when it was much closer!) showed that although it did not have a bright white ring around the face it did have a broader, less well-defined pale area.  It sort of reminded me of the graying face of an old dog.  And that was exactly what I saw, even though the bird was quite far away.  Another concern was that this morning’s bird was feeding with Egrets and not Ibis, even though earlier sightings of the White-faced put it with other Ibis.

I was pretty sure I had just re-found the White-faced Ibis, though I was troubled about the distant view and the fact that the bird was with Egrets.  The bird may well have dropped into the southeast part of the Little River marsh, so I headed to Appledore Ave. to try to get a closer look at that part of the marsh.  Although all the property here is private, I was able to talk one of the homeowners into letting me walk through their trees to the marsh edge.  From here I stood and watched the marsh, finding up to 20 Egrets, but no Ibis.  After nearly an hour wait I noticed 4 dark Ibis fly into the northern part of the marsh, roughly the same distance from me as my first Ibis sighting.  Even though I only got fair looks at 3 of the 4 birds, I could tell they did not have the required white area on the head to make any into a White-faced.  I now felt much better about my ID of the first bird as a White-faced Ibis. 

Just as I was about to leave my post on Appledore Ave. a dark Ibis flew out of the marsh near me, and flew off to the far northwestern part of the marsh.  Although I watched it for 10 seconds or more, I never saw the head of the bird due to its flight direction.  I wouldn’t be surprised that this was the White-faced Ibis I saw earlier – luckily I saw the first bird in profile and was able to see its head.

Interestingly, later in the day, another birder reported the White-faced in the Little River marshes, again associating with Egrets and not with Glossy’s just like my sighting that morning.  Although this time it sounded like the bird was a lot closer - I was jealous!

White-faced Ibis was #357 for me in NH.  And despite the fact that NH is by far my best statelist as a percentage of the total ever recorded in that state, this was my third NH statebird in just over a month.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve now seen White-faced Ibis as a vagrant in 5 New England states and New York.  And with their numbers increasing in the east, maybe it will show up in VT some time soon too.