Short Trip to Galveston County, Texas Yields 2 Statebirds, January 2017

Prior to my regular January business trip to Houston I set up an eBird Needs Alert to see if there might be any target birds in the area.  I’ve birded the greater Houston area enough times that few if any new statebirds are likely in the immediate area on most all of my trips.  And that was certainly the case this time – in fact there were no possible new statebirds at all in and around Houston. 

As a result of the limited opportunities in Houston I’ve recently started to expand my horizons a bit in search of new statebirds.  For instance Galveston is less than an hour away, and last year I was able to squeeze in a couple short birding trips down that way while in the area.  So I checked the Needs Alert for possibilities in Galveston County, and sure enough there were a number of targets -

• Texas City Dike had 2 reports of Thayer’s Gull, and 1 report each of Glaucous Gull and Pacific Loon, but with no details provided as to specific locations. 
• Offat’s Bayou in Galveston had several reports of a Red-throated Loon.
• Several locations along the coast had reports of Nelson’s Sparrow – one of the most common birds I still needed in TX.
• Bolivar Flats had single reports of both White-winged and Black Scoters in large Scaup flocks offshore, along with an occasional Gannet.

My birding time was limited to just a late afternoon after work, so that wouldn’t give me enough time to try for all of these birds.  (All of a sudden I went from no target birds to more birds than I had time to search for.)  The Texas City Dike is nearly 5 miles long, with lots of good habitat along almost the entire length.  And given the lack of details for the locations of each species, and only 1 or 2 reports of each, the targets reported there seemed like long shots.  So instead I focused on stops at the coast with 5 possible targets.  I would start at Offat’s Bayou in Galveston, then I would take the ferry over to Bolivar with a stop at Frenchtown Road for Nelson’s Sparrow, and then end the day doing a seawatch at Bolivar Flats.  I wouldn’t be able to spend much time at any of these stops, but it all seemed feasible despite the limited time.  And in the last couple days before my trip there were also reports of Pacific Loons at Offat’s Bayou – yet another target bird to try for. 

I was able to get out of the office on time, and headed south toward Galveston beating at least a little of the rush hour traffic.  Within an hour I had reached Offat’s Bayou and started to scan the bay from the little park on 61^st Street.  I instantly started to pick out several Common Loons scattered across the water.  Although most birds were distant, I soon noticed a small feeding frenzy which was much closer to me.  I counted 7 Common Loons and 21 small Grebes which I identified as Horned.  But the “eBird police” thought they should be Eared Grebes, so I changed the ID to “grebe, sp.” in eBird.  Unfortunately the frenzy included no rare Loons.  So I went back to scanning in the distance and got a quick look at a bird that I thought was a Red-throated.  But the bird dove, and I couldn’t re-find it, so I assumed my ID was incorrect.  Or maybe the bird just resurfaced too far away.  In any case I didn’t count it.

With more scanning I found even more Common Loons in the distance, and finally found a candidate for a Pacific.  I eventually got some pretty good looks at the bird (though it too was diving a lot), and I could see the smaller size and darker back than the Commons, and abrupt edge of the dark coloration on the side of the neck.  Pacific Loon indeed!  I then went back to looking for my possible Red-throated, but with no success.  Along the way I made an exact count of 126 Common Loons scattered across the bay.  By now most were quite distant to the northwest, and I started to think about driving to a different spot to get closer to them.  But I had already spent more time here than expected, so I decided to move on to my next location instead.  My statebird map for Pacific Loon is pretty interesting – I’ve seen this species in more states as a rarity (10) than in states in its regular Pacific coast range (4).

I drove to the east end of Galveston Island and was almost the last car to board the ferry before it departed – tough to beat that timing.  Soon after leaving the ferry on the Bolivar Peninsula I turned left onto Frenchtown Road to try for the Nelson’s Sparrows.  Although there had only been one recent Nelson’s report from this spot, there were several reports here in recent winters.  And the satellite view on GoogleMaps showed what appeared to be a nice patch of saltmarsh along the road.  So I was optimistic that this might be a regular wintering spot for this species.  A couple minutes later I reached the saltmarsh and it was indeed very nice habitat.  But it was so large I was a bit worried whether this could be a needle in a haystack kind of search.  And I didn’t have the proper footwear to wade out into the marsh to try to flush them.  Then I remembered that Nelson’s are quite responsive to playback (based on successful searches in VT and Nova Scotia), so I decided to give it a try right from the road.  Within a few seconds I got a fleeting glimpse of a sparrow fly toward me.  And just before it dropped into the grasses it perched long enough for me to ID it as a Nelson’s Sparrow.  I did a bit more playback hoping that the bird would come out into the open.  But instead of views of that bird, 3 other Nelson’s flew in to investigate.  Who knows how many birds might have been in this marsh.  Not bad when a 2-minute stop can yield a new statebird. 

And now a little side-story about my experience with Nelson’s Sparrow across the country-  Most of my winter birding in the southeast coastal areas came before what used to be known as the “Sharp-tailed Sparrow” was split into 2 species – today’s Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sparrows.  So although years ago I saw birds of this complex in all the Gulf Coast and southern Atlantic Coast coastal states, I did not record what was at the time considered to be the races of these birds.  As a result I’ve conservatively decided to count all my sightings on the Atlantic Coast to be what is now called Saltmarsh Sparrow, and my Gulf Coast sightings as Nelson’s Sparrow.  Chances are I saw both species in most all the Atlantic states, but have decided to take this conservative approach to counting this species in that region.  Not to mention I've tried for it unsuccessfully in MN, ND, and MT on the breeding grounds of the inland nelsoni race.  Hence I have big gaps in my statebird map for Nelson’s Sparrow, though I'm happy to have it as a rare migrant in WV and VT.

 

That gave me quite a bit of remaining sunlight to try for the Scoters and Gannets off-shore.  After a short drive I had reached the end of Rettilon Road, where the pavement ends at the hard-packed sandy beach (luckily safe to drive on even in a 2-wheel-drive sedan).  With a quick binocular scan I spotted a very large flock of diving ducks offshore.  I got out the scope and estimated a whopping 4,000 Lesser Scaup.  But the raft was far off-shore, and even at 50 power under nearly ideal viewing conditions, there was no way I would be able to ID a Scoter mixed in.  I looked to the west and saw another large flock of divers, and these birds were closer to shore.  So I drove down to the western-most part of the beach, identified as the eBird hotspot “Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary”, and started to scan this flock.  The birds were indeed a bit closer, and I was able to spot an occasional Redhead mixed in with the estimated 1,000 Scaup, but still no Scoters.  I also scanned the coast for Gannets with no luck – though distant plunge-diving Pelicans got my interest at times. 

It was now getting late, so I decided to call it quits content to add 2 more birds to my TX statelist – now at 434.  As I was driving away in the fading light I had a flashback to another sunset visit to this same spot more than 10 years ago in November 2006 when I successfully added Short-eared Owl to my TX list.  Some fond birding memories…

6 Louisiana Statebirds – Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes in Southwestern Louisiana, January 2017

As of the beginning of the year I set a new goal to reach 15,000 total ticks – “just” 825 to go as of January 1.  That meant I couldn’t turn down any reasonable opportunity to add new statebirds even in states where I already had good totals.  So as my regular January trip to Houston neared, I started to think about whether there might be some statebirds I could add in Louisiana, even though my state total there was a respectable 256 – 20 over the old ABA threshold.  The southwestern corner of the state is only about a 2-hour drive from Houston, and it’s one of my favorite places to bird anywhere in the country.  Then again –I should say it’s one of my favorite places to bird in winter – believe me, it’s blasted hot, humid, and buggy there in summer. 

Now I needed to see if there might be a sufficient number of new LA statebirds in the area to justify adding a vacation day to my trip.  I set up an eBird Needs Alert, and the first thing I noticed was numerous records of Black Scoter.  And there were a couple White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed Duck sightings too, all from Holly Beach along the Cameron Parish coast.  I had seen Surf Scoter in this same part of the coastline in the past, but needed all the others.  But then I started to have cold feet - would heading all the way to LA be a bit too much for just a 1-day trip?  But I routinely take a 2-hour drive to chase after a single rarity in New England, so a 2-hour drive into LA from Houston, with multiple potential targets, would surely be worthwhile.  I talked myself into it - the trip was on! 

Now came all the pick and shovel work to do research on eBird and the LA listserve.  One of the challenges to researching sightings in the southwestern corner of LA is that there are very few birders in the area, so there are few routine reports.  Most of the recent posts came from this year’s Christmas Counts, and luckily there are quite a number of counts in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes.  So that led to quite a few reports, but most were now several weeks old.  Hopefully the great birds seen on the Christmas Counts would stick around.  With this initial research I found 10 possible targets to pursue. 

Next I connected with my LA birding friend Marty Guidry.  Marty is not only very active birding in LA in general, but also has a long history with the Christmas Counts in southwestern LA.  Sure enough Marty had some good details on many of the birds I had researched on eBird, and was available to bird with me on my vacation day.  As on my previous LA trips, his micro-directions and local advice would prove to be invaluable.

I met Marty at the edge of the tiny town of Holly Beach, a town still rebuilding after being total demolished by Hurricane Rita back in 2005.  Marty knew that the diving ducks had been hanging out just west of town, a critical detail since no specific locations had been mentioned in eBird.  After a short drive to the west we had our scopes out and began to scan the surf.  We found many Lesser Scaup bobbing in the water, but no scoters.  Then we began to pick out an occasional Black Scoter in the flock (LA statebird #1).  LA was my third state for this species away from its more common wintering ranges on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (see my statebird map below).

 
Although it was great to finally find a couple scoters, the reports and photos on eBird showed whole flocks of Black Scoters.  I mentioned to Marty that maybe we weren’t at the right spot, so we took a short walk to the west to scan a new part of the coast.  And here we finally found several groups of 5 to 8 Black Scoters – finally critical mass to find the others.  I picked out a couple Surf Scoters here and there, and then finally found one immature male White-winged Scoter (LA statebird #2).  With more shaded inland states than for my Black Scoter map, my statebird map for White-winged Scoter is reflective of the fact that this species is typically the most common inland wintering scoter.

We spent some more time scanning through the numerous birds in the surf, but couldn’t pick out the Long-tailed Duck that had been occasionally reported here.  Although I didn’t want to give up on this bird too quickly, there were many other stops ahead of us.  So we decided to move on, very happy to have tallied 50 Black Scoters, 8 Surf Scoters, and 1 White-winged Scoter, in with at least 100 Lesser Scaup.

The next couple stops were more speculative, with low-probability targets.  First we birded the Cameron Oxidation Ponds where a Redhead had been reported a couple weeks earlier.  We found lots of Ruddy Ducks and some Lesser Scaup, but no Redhead.  Then we made a brief stop where a Black Rail had been found a few months earlier, but it was long gone.  Or at least it didn’t reply to any of our playbacks that day.

Next we were on to a residence on the west side of Creole where a Buff-bellied Hummingbird had been reported since November.  The most recent eBird report was more than a month old, but Marty had it on the Christmas Count.  And most importantly Marty had the homeowner’s phone number – with a quick phone call he found out that the bird was still being seen and we were allowed to come look for her bird.  When we arrived Marty mentioned that his first try for the bird, while he was standing in the back yard, was unsuccessful.  But the bird quickly came to the feeder when he looked from inside the house on his second atttempt.  Unfortunately the homeowner wasn’t home the day we were there, so we would just have to cross our fingers that the bird would cooperate while we watched from out back. 

To try to improve our chances we stood far to the side of the yard and began our wait.  This actually put us quite far from the house, and we had to use binoculars to see if anything was at the feeder.  I was a bit worried whether we would notice the hummingbird fly in.  Then I remembered that Buff-bellied Hummingbirds can be quite vocal – years ago I looked for one coming to a feeder in FL and heard it calling long before it arrived at the feeder.  So I not only kept my eyes open, but also my ears open, for our target bird.  And almost as predicted, after about 20 minutes I heard the Buff-bellied calling in the distance.  Then I spotted it perched in a tree in the backyard.  And a few seconds later it flew in to drink at the feeder (LA statebird #3).  LA is only my third state for this species – in addition to the calling bird at the FL feeder, and of course birds in their regular range in TX.

Our next stop was just a short distance to the east at the Oak Grove Sanctuary.  This is an isolated natural patch of woods and underbrush that is well known as a hot spot for landbirds, especially during migration.  Marty had taken me here on an earlier trip when we were successful finding a wintering Barn Owl.  Today our targets were two stakeouts - a Woodcock and a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches that Marty and others had seen a few weeks earlier on the Christmas Count.  First we slowly walked the stretch of trails where the Woodcock had been seen several times, but it was not to be.  The entire patch of woods seemed to be good habitat for Woodcock, so we kept our eyes open during our entire visit.  But we would end up missing this one.  Another 100 yards down the path we got to the area where the Nuthatches had been seen.  As we watched and listened for the birds we both remarked that this wasn’t typical Red-breasted habitat – the trees were all deciduous with no conifers in site.  After a short wait with no luck Marty started some playback, and a minute later I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch reply.  Eventually we got good looks at the bird foraging nearby (LA statebird #4).  Surprisingly I still have 5 more states to go to fill in my statebird map for this wide-ranging species.

The sanctuary was very birdy, and we made several more stops along the trails, checking off numerous Gnatcatchers, Kinglets, and Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We were making our way back to the Woodcock spot for one last try when I spotted a Thrush on the ground – it had an orangey back, and as it turned I saw large brown spots below on a white background.  It was a Wood Thrush, very rare for mid-winter.  Certainly not a new statebird for me, but by far the rarest of our sightings for the day.

We then turned north to head to Cameron Prairie NWR, and specifically Pintail Drive.  This is a classic auto route through excellent wetland habitat loaded with waterfowl.  Our targets here were a Tundra Swan, a male Cinnamon Teal, and Redheads.  Although all had been reported during Christmas Count season, only the Teal had been reported recently.  As we started around the drive we encountered the first of many large flocks of dabblers.  Soon we had every expected dabbler species, but no Cinnamon Teal.  Then we started to see small mixed flocks of White-fronted and Snow Geese, which was important since the Swan was typically seen with the Snows.  But Marty mentioned the number of geese was way down from the count day, and with no Swan in site, perhaps it had moved on with the wintering flocks of Snows. 

As we continued around the drive we stopped to check for the Teal anywhere we spotted dabblers, but still no luck.  None of the eBird reports mentioned where the Teal had been seen, and with many hundreds of dabblers scattered throughout the impoundment, I was thinking this would turn out to be a “needle in a haystack” kind of search.  We now had reached the eastern part of the drive, and looked to the east into deeper water where Marty had had the Redheads mixed in with other divers.  But we saw no divers at all.  Like the geese, had the divers also already moved out to start their spring migration?

We turned our attention back to the shallow impoundment and yet another flock of dabblers in the distance.  I started to scan the flock with my binocs and picked up a brief glimpse of bright red.  Did I have the Cinnamon Teal?  But then it was gone.  I continued to search the area and spotted the red plumage again – it was indeed the Teal in the distance (LA statebird #5).  We got the scopes on the spot and eventually the bird reappeared as it played hide-and-seek among the other dabblers.  But even when only a portion of the bird was visible, that red plumage sure stood out among the various shades of brown of the other dabblers.  LA is a nice addition to my statebird map for this species; I still need it in a couple states in its regular range.

Our last target for the day was Say’s Phoebe.  We had 2 birds to try for, both seen by the same observer a few miles apart on one Christmas Count in Calcasieu County.  Although those posts were now quite old, the one on Old Camp Road mentioned that the bird “was in the same area as in past years”, so I hoped it would be reliable.  Plus the report mentioned it was at the bend in the road, so we had pretty specific directions.  The other sighting was “on east end of Levee Rd. loop” which I couldn’t find on the map despite lots of searching.  So the first bird would have to be our target.  Along the way we made a couple quick speculative stops to try for Yellow-headed Blackbirds in blackbird flocks, but could “only” find an adult male Vermillion Flycatcher.  As I always say – “I can never see enough male Vermillion Flycatchers.”

There were actually 2 different bends in the road along Old Camp Road, but the eastern one was in a wooded area which was not typically good habitat for Say’s.  When we arrived at the western bend we found much more open habitat ideal for a Say’s, with piles of brush that would be great perches.  But despite a lot of searching we couldn’t find our target.  The consolation prize was 4 Caracaras – I remember years ago spending quite a bit of time to eventually find this species in what was at the time its lone reliable spot in LA. 

Now what do we do?  I told Marty about the other reported location, but that I couldn’t find the road mentioned in the eBird report.  Marty looked at his book map and noticed a road in the general area that made a small loop.  I pulled up my map app, quickly found this road, and saw that it was named “Levee Loop Rd.” – not the “Levee Rd.” I had been unsuccessfully searching for till now.  Now that we had the right location, we were off to the second Say’s Phoebe spot.

The first part of Levee Loop Rd. was a small subdivision with large yards and planted trees.  Despite the manicured appearance, it was quite birdy, with a number of Yellow-rumps flitting about.  We got to the eastern end of the loop where the Say’s had been reported on the count, but to not avail.  The southeast corner of the loop included a horse pasture with lots of fenceposts to perch on.  This looked like an ideal spot, but with a quick look we couldn’t find a Phoebe.  Then I noticed more movement a bit to the west and spotted a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flitting from treetop to treetop.  Although not a new statebird, it was a nice rarity to find for the day.  I got this phonescoped photo of this cooperative bird. 

We drove over to the west, and while watching the Scissor-tail I spotted another flycatcher in the treetops – it was a female or immature Vermillion.  And a minute later I spotted a male Vermillion as well.  Then a couple Eastern Phoebes flew into the area.  All the flycatchers were actively feeding, so we were convinced we would find the Say’s among this group, but we struck out again. 

We talked about heading back to the east for a more extended search of the horse pasture, but I thought we should first bird the last stretch of the road to the west.  I drove up ahead and soon had a fleeting glimpse of what I thought was a Phoebe in a yard to the south.  I pulled over and scanned the spot but came up empty.  Then I saw more movement and quickly got out the scope – it was the Say’s Phoebe (LA statebird #6), our fourth flycatcher species for this spot.  Sure glad we didn’t head back to the east instead.  Nice to add LA to my statebird map as a rarity, though not as rare as the ones I’ve seen in MA and NH.

What a great way to end the day!  We ended up with 98 species for the day – an excellent January total.  And of course I was extremely happy to have added 6 new birds to my LA list.  Now you can see why I love birding in southwestern LA.  My statelist is now at 262 - 26 over the reportable threshold.  And it was only a couple years ago that I remember struggling to reach my “Reportable Plus 15” goal in LA.

Before parting ways, I couldn’t thank Marty Guidry enough for his great birdfinding advice.  Once again his micro-directions were key to finding many of my targets.  And now that I’m back in the “total ticking” game, I’ll hopefully be back in LA birding with Marty again in the near future.

4 Maryland and 4 Delaware Statebirds (Aren’t eBird Needs Alerts Great?), January 2017

I grew up in Maryland and during that time really focused on my MD statelist.  As a result I developed a pretty good list while living there, standing at 321 when I moved out of the state almost 30 years ago.  At the time it was my single largest statelist, and MD was my first ABA reportable state.  Since then my focus has turned to exceeding ABA thresholds in all states, so since then I haven’t gone out of my way to try to add birds to my MD list.  Not surprisingly, I have only added 5 new birds to my MD list since I left, mostly with some opportunistic birding while visiting relatives in the area. 

But now I set a new goal to get to 15,000 total ticks.  To reach that threshold I can’t turn down any new reasonably feasible statebird, even in states with my largest lists.  So with an upcoming trip to MD in January I set up an eBird Needs Alert to see if any new birds might be around.  To my surprise many species popped up, including several species that were now regular in MD but weren’t even on my radar screen back in the 80’s – like Cackling Goose, Ross’s Goose, and Trumpeter Swan.  But more importantly the alert included a reliable rarity – Black-throated Gray Warbler.  This bird had been seen since late November in the small Tydings Memorial Park in Havre de Grace.  I only had a few hours available on one early morning to give it a try, but if I got there at dawn I could give it a couple hours before I had to head out.  Plus there was a reliable Trumpeter Swan a short distance away at Perryville Community Park.  So ever the optimist, if I could get the Warbler quickly, I could even try for the Swan as well.

I arrived at Tydings Memorial Park a bit before dawn to pea soup fog, and temps in the 30s.  Given the cool conditions I had expected this insect-eating bird to get active when its food started to get active, most likely in the first trees to be illuminated by the rising sun.  Apparently its favorite trees were a row of 4 cedars planted atop a hill in the park (recent directions put them at the east end of the park but it only took me a few seconds to find them at the west end of the park).  These would be the first ones to be in sunlight at dawn so my logic was coming together.  But that morning the rising sun was obscured by fog, and dawn arrived without any sunlit trees anywhere in the park. 

After a few minutes of searching with no luck I noticed another birder had arrived.  Hoping that he might have better directions I went over to him to compare notes.  To my surprise it was Jim Stasz, a birder I spent many hours birding with in the 70s and 80s.  In fact he was my key birding mentor from my younger formative days.  Amazing coincidence!  He too thought that the cedars would be the best spot to check at dawn.  But the fog was spoiling our plans.  Jim also mentioned that the bird was sometimes seen in the suburban neighborhood just to the north of the park, so that might be an alternate location to try.

In the next hour at least 8 other birders arrived, and we all fanned out throughout the park.  But to no avail.  Eventually the sun did come out, and a few birds made their way to the cedars, but no one spotted our target bird.

It was now time for me to head out having missed the Warbler, not to mention not even having a chance to try for the Swan.  I said goodbye to Jim and drove out of the park.  As I passed by on the road skirting the northern edge of Tydings Park, I noticed the birders all scurrying over to the neighborhood, crossing the road in front of me.  I pulled over and got the news – a birder had just found the Warbler one block to the north.  Seconds later I was with that birder standing at the base of the large spruce tree where he had heard the bird a couple minutes earlier.  Within a minute I heard the bird’s characteristic chip note, sounding much like a Yellow-rumped.  We all tracked the bird as it passed through the neighborhood, getting several brief looks at the bird as it continued to call from the treetops.  Eventually it flew over to the park, seemingly heading to its favorite row of cedars.  If I had left just a minute earlier I would have missed it!

MD was my fourth state where I’ve seen Black-throated Gray Warbler as a rarity – along with MA, GA, and ND, plus I’ve seen it throughout its normal range out west (see my statebird map below).  And it was number 327 for my MD list.

But that was just 1 new MD statebird, and the title of this blog said I added 4 in MD.  The other 3 came on my next trip “back home”.  Energized by the success of using a Needs Alert on my first trip, I set up another alert for my second trip.  Once again Cackling Geese, Ross’s Geese, and Trumpeter Swans dominated the report.  And all 3 were being seen close to my home base in Baltimore.  Most recently a Ross’s Goose and 2 Cackling Geese were being seen in a flock of Canadas 45 minutes northwest at Study Road Pond in Carroll County.  This flock also had an immature Snow Goose and a couple White-fronts – good birds for the area but not new for my MD list.  As with my first trip I had just a few hours free for birding, but these birds looked to be pretty reliable so it seemed to be worth a try.  Plus if I got these birds quickly I could try for a Trumpeter Swan just discovered in a small pond on the southwest outskirts of Baltimore. 

After a short ride into northern Carroll County I turned onto Study Road, and quickly spotted the pond ahead of me, along with a flock of geese on the grassy field above it.  And a second later I picked out a small white goose.  Within seconds I had the Ross’s Goose in my scope, and got this distant phonescoped photo of this most cooperative bird.  Needless to say a white goose in a flock of Canadas feeding in a grassy field really stands out.

MD was my 30^th state for this expanding species.  And although I had seen Ross’s Goose in DE while I lived in the Mid-Atlantic, I don’t believe it was even on the MD statelist at the time.

Now I needed to search for the much less obvious Cackling Geese.  I quickly panned through the flock with my binocs and almost instantly picked out a group of 3 smaller geese feeding on the hill.  With the scope I could tell all 3 were much smaller than the Canadas, but they were facing away so I couldn’t see their bill and head shapes.  Eventually they turned and I could see all 3 had the stubbier bill, and more vertical forehead shape of a Cackling Goose.  But one was slightly larger – the rightmost bird of the trio in this photo.

And now in the middle in this photo.

Could the smaller birds be “Richardson’s” Cackling Geese and the larger one be a “Taverner’s” Cackling Goose?  Or maybe the larger bird is just the male of this potential family group, since males tend to be a little larger than females.  A bit later I found this other Goose that seemed small enough to be a Cackling, but its head/bill shape was more Canada like.  Not sure what to make of this one – maybe a small “Parvipes” Canada, or dare I say a hybrid?

Later I found the immature “Blue Phase” Snow Goose, but with a quick scan I couldn’t locate a White-front.  Although I thought about spending more time looking for that fifth goose species, since I got my target geese so quickly, I decided I should head out to make a very quick try for the Trumpeter Swan.  Luckily the Swan had been seen on a small pond, so it wouldn’t take long to either find it or realize the bird had moved on.  Maybe even easier than the Ross’s Goose.

Potentially a bigger issue with the Swan could be gaining access to the pond.  The bird was seen on the property of a gated retirement community, but one eBirder mentioned he just asked for permission at the gate and was given access.  So I wasn’t too worried when I drove up to the gate to ask as well.  However, the guard said she couldn’t let me on the property.  The pond was not visible from the road, so now what should I do?  I quickly pulled up the area on my map app in the satellite view, and could see the pond on the eastern edge of the retirement community property.  Maybe I could get a view of the pond from the back side of one of the businesses to the east.  I drove around to a couple spots and eventually found one that gave me a view to at least a portion of the pond.  And sure enough on my second stop there was the immature Trumpeter swimming down below.  Makes up for not being able to try for the Trumpeter on my first trip to MD.  I got this miserable shot of the bird by holding my phone up to my binocs.

MD is my second east coast state where I’ve counted the reintroduced Trumpeter Swans – luckily they have been accepted on the MD statelist. 

That gave me 4 new birds on my MD list in just 1 month, raising my total to 330.  After I entered all my sightings in eBird my MD Needs Alerts now only had a couple entries.  Though unfortunately none of the remaining birds were close enough to chase after, but I was very happy with adding 4 new birds in such limited birding time.

With so much success using a MD Needs Alert, I started to think about setting up Needs Alerts for nearby states.  Although my statelists in adjacent states were also pretty good, they weren’t as good as my MD list, so there would likely be several targets to pursue.  The problem was I didn’t have any more spare time while I was in Baltimore.  But I still had to drive back to MA at the end of the trip, so maybe there would be some statebirds I could pursue close to my planned route home with just some short side-trips.  I started with a Needs Alert in DE where my statelist stood at a very respectable 270.  My planned route would take me on I-95 through New Castle County in DE, and sure enough there were several potential targets in that northernmost DE county.  And with a bit of research I was able to find 4 reasonably likely targets to pursue close to my I-95 route – Ring-necked Duck and Common Merganser at the Newark Reservoir, Black-capped Chickadee at feeders at the Tri-State Bird Rescue, and Cackling Goose at Bellevue State Park.  Despite having to make stops at 3 different sites, my total additional drive time was just 45 minutes.  If I made short “tactical” birding stops at each location it would all be feasible - my plan was set.

After just an hour drive from Baltimore I neared the DE stateline and took the exit to head to the Newark Reservoir.  Several recent eBird reports had included small flocks of both Common Mergansers and Ring-necked Ducks there, including just 2 days before my visit.  (Not exactly sure why I still needed these quite common species in a state where I’ve done so much birding over the years…)  There were also a couple reports of Cackling Geese there a few weeks earlier, so another one to watch out for.  I needed a short walk uphill to gain access to the reservoir, but I hoped to be able to quickly check off both the Ring-neck and Merg once I got the reservoir in view.  As I headed up the path to the reservoir I saw a duck flying overhead – it was a male Common Merganser.  That was easy!  Now I just needed the Ring-necks to be as cooperative.  Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.  Although I had 9 Common Mergs on the water, I could not find any Ring-necked Ducks.  And there was only 1 Canada Goose – none of its smaller cousins were around. 

My statebird map for Common Merganser pretty closely matches it regular range, though I still need it in OH.  And as a postscript – if I had found a Ring-necked Duck I could have filled in DE in my statebird map as my last continental US state for that species.  (I’ve seen 26 species in every continental US state.)

Next I was off to nearby Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, where a few eBird posts had reported a Black-capped Chickadee coming to their feeders.  The northern tip of DE is traditionally near the southern edge of the range of Black-caps, especially in winter when a few birds tend to move a bit south of their normal breeding ranges.  And many of these birds are reported from feeders, not surprisingly with several Carolinas, as was the case with the Tri-State feeders.  That brings up the challenge of identification of these 2 very similar species.  Luckily I’ve grown up near the edge of the Carolina/Black-capped ranges, so I’ve spent a lot of time with these 2 species.  To me, the biggest ID clue is the size difference, though interestingly that feature isn’t stressed in the field guides.  When I travel to MD and see a Carolina Chickadee, after spending years with Black-caps in New England, my first thought is how much smaller Carolinas are. 

With prior approval to bird at the Tri-State feeders, I arrived mid-morning and headed to a deck overlooking their feeding station.  I quickly found 4 Carolina Chickadees actively coming to the feeder to grab a sunflower seed.  They would then fly to a bush just a short distance away to open the seed.  They would chatter a bit, and then head back to the feeder to repeat their cycle.  Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t turn any of them into a Black-cap.  After 20 minutes I was starting to second-guess my efforts.  After all it had been more than a month since the last eBird report.  Then I spotted a different Chickadee fly in from the south.  I instantly thought that this bird was bigger.  And when it landed near the feeder I could see its whiter wings, rustier sides, and more ragged edge to the bib – a Black-capped Chickadee.  However my look was brief, as it stayed near the feeder for just 10 seconds, never actually stopped at the feeder, and then flew off to the north.  In other words it wasn’t even associating with the Carolinas that had taken up residence at the feeding station.  I’ve now seen Black-capped Chickadee in just about all its regular states, including down the spine of the Appalachians in VA, NC, and TN.

I was now quickly back on the road driving through some suburban streets headed off to my next stop.  As I neared a red light I could see a large flock of crows circling overhead.  I half-heartedly told myself to keep an eye open for Common Raven which had been occasionally reported from the general area.  As I sat at the light I noticed one more distant Corvid that seemed to be doing more soaring than flapping.  On a lark I picked up my binocs from the passenger seat, lowered my window, and focused my binocs on the bird in question – it had a wedge-shaped tail.  Amazingly, it was indeed a Raven!  I continued to watch it glide along the edge of the flock of Crows; that is until the light turned green.  Thank goodness for long red lights.  With the exception of NJ, I’ve seen this species in all its regular states and a few others as it continues to expand its range.

Next I was off to Bellevue State Park to try for Cackling Geese.  A flock of 5 had been reported there in early January, but that was now more than 2 weeks ago.  But I tried to remain optimistic.  Once I got to the park it was pretty easy to find the lake and adjoining fields where the mixed Canada and Cackling Goose flock had been reported.  And sure enough up ahead there was a small flock of about 200 geese grazing in the field.  A quick scan did not reveal any smaller geese.  So I got closer and with just a bit of searching found a flock of 5 smaller Cackling Geese feeding together.  Perhaps a family group?  Amazing that they have stayed in this park for so long.  I got this photo of the 5 Cackling Geese with 2 larger Canadas off to the side.

 

My Cackling Goose statebird map is less a reflection of the wintering range of this species than it is  indicative of the states in which I’ve birded in the proper season since Cackling Goose was split out as a separate species.

That gave me 4 new DE statebirds, bringing my list up to 274.  And along with my MD success, amazing to add 8 new birds to my already substantial Mid-Atlantic statelists despite making just 3 short birding trips.  As I continued my drive north up the NJ Turnpike I was half-tempted to pull over and set up a quick Needs Alert in NJ.  But that will have to wait for a future trip. 

I love Needs Alerts…