Little Egret, 400th Statebird for Massachusetts, December 2012

Like many birders, working on the statelist in my home state has been one of my key birding objectives for a number of years.  Ever since I moved to MA in the summer of 1993, I’ve been chasing most every MA rarity that I could.  And there have been many rarities to chase.  For such a small state, the Massachusetts statelist of 488 (or more) is remarkable, complete with many megararities, first North American records, firsts for the US Atlantic coast, etc.  And the small size makes it relatively easy to get to most parts of the state.  That is except for some locations that unfortunately happen to be some of the best birding spots in the state, including –

·    Distant islands like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket requiring a ferry or plane ride to reach and then a bike/taxi/rental car once you get there;

·    Monomoy Island requiring a boat ride and wading to get to the island, and then considerable walking on the island; and

·    Of course those necessary but evil pelagic trips where the best birds are at the edge of the Continental Shelf due east of New Jersey (but in still in MA waters!). 

The difficulty in getting to some of these spots has certainly hampered my quest to grow my MA statelist.

But finally after 19 ½ years of MA birding, I was within reach of the magic 400 threshold in MA.  Number 399 was a great bird – Northern Lapwing.  What would 400 turn out to be?  Just a few days after I got to see the Lapwing came reports about two different sightings of a very late Snowy Egret in Hyannis, though both observers wondered whether it could be a Little Egret.  After several experts reviewed excellent point-blank photos, it was concluded that the bird was indeed an immature Little Egret.  I had chased Little Egret once before in MA without luck, so I definitely wanted to see this one.  And what a great bird for #400 if I could be successful.

It took me two days to free up enough time to make the 2-hour trip to Hyannis, but since the bird had been around for at least a couple weeks I wasn’t too worried.  When I arrived at the location where the bird had been most reliable there were two birders already there and the bird was right in front of us feeding in a tidal channel.  The bird gave us some great views while it actively fed in the shallows.  The photos below show the heavy, sword-like bill which was much heavier than a Snowy, and the bluish-gray lores.  A couple photo show 2 short plumes coming out of the back of the head.  The greenish-yellow coloration of the feet and legs was also atypical for a Snowy.

 

The third picture shows one of its feeding techniques of shuffling its foot in the muddy bottoms to stir up food.

MA is my third state for Little Egret – a species which is becoming a bit more regular in the northeast.  I wonder if this bird was blown into North America by Superstorm Sandy the way the Lapwings were

MA is now my second state with at least 400 species - my TX list is at 412.  But as a percentage of the ABA reporting threshold, my MA list is much better at 164% - my second best list behind NH.

Calliope and Broad-Billed Hummingbirds, Houston, Texas, November 2012

In preparing for a business trip I typically check the local listserves to see if any rarities are being seen nearby.  In advance of my November trip to Houston I noticed that both a Calliope and a Broad-Billed Hummingbird were being seen in Russ Pitman Park right in Houston – both would be new for my TX list.  After a little internet searching I found that the park was only 10 minutes from my hotel, and was quite tiny.  And with good local information from the listserve it seemed like a no-brainer to give it a try before work one morning.

I arrived at the park at 6:40 AM – about 20 minutes before dawn but definitely bright enough to see if any hummingbirds were around.  A cold front had come through the day before and it was in the mid 40’s which was quite cold for Houston.  I only had until about 8:00 before heading off to work, so I was a bit worried that the hummers wouldn’t start their visits in the cold morning temperatures before I had to leave.  Nonetheless, I situated myself close to a bed of shrimp plants near the entrance of the park where the Calliope was apparently most reliable, and waited.  As the time passed I picked up a few good birds like a flyover Pine Siskin, a calling Bobwhite, a Wilson’s Warbler, and a calling Monk Parakeet, but no hummingbirds.  Finally at 7:40 I heard sharp chip notes of a hummingbird coming from a short distance away.  [Many of the wintering hummers I’ve seen have been quite vocal.]  It took me a couple minutes to finally find the Calliope perched in a small tree just a few feet from the flowers - a stunning adult male!  Over the next several minutes it visited the flowers a couple times, always returning to the same perch.  Since it was being so cooperative, I spent a couple minutes trying to take some photos of the bird holding my iPhone up against my binocs.  The best of my miserable pictures is pasted in below – probably would have turned out better if it had perched in the sun. 

A short time later another birder arrived and I was able to get him on the Calliope.  He mentioned that the Broad-billed was most reliable at other patches of shrimp plants in the tiny park, and he gave me directions to those spots.  I decided to head to one patch that was likely in the warm early morning sun, and as soon as I arrived I heard an unfamiliar double-note chattering sound – it was the Broad-Billed!  The bird looked gigantic compared to the tiny Calliope.  It was a young male bird – grayish below with a little blue color in the throat, broad white eye stripe, and only restricted red at the base of the bill.  A long way from adult plumage, but still an attractive bird.  I watched it feed there for a couple minutes, at which point it flew low directly over my head in the general direction of a second patch of shrimp plants.  So I walked over to that garden and I instantly found the bird chipping away there too.  I looked at my watch – it was exactly 8:00.  Perfect timing to add 2 statebirds to my TX list and still be at my first work meeting on time.

My statebird maps for these hummingbirds are starting to show the pattern of vagrancy that these and most of the other hummers exhibit.  I’ve seen Calliope in 10 states – 7 are in its normal range in the west and now 3 are in Gulf Coast or Eastern states.   

And I now have Broad-billed in 6 states –only 1 is in its normal range (AZ).

That gives me 12 species of hummingbirds in Texas – 1 more than for my Arizona list.  And my total Texas statelist is 412 which is my largest single state total.  However, a better way to rank the statelists is to compare them by their relative percentages of the ABA reporting thresholds.  In that regard, I have 8 statelists that are a higher percentage of the ABA reportable limits, led by NH at 175% of reportable compared to TX at 131% of reportable.

Great Cormorant and Hoary Redpoll, Vermont, November 2012

Much of the best birding in Vermont is in the northwestern part of the state at or close to Lake Champlain, which is a long drive from home.  Only occasionally does a possible new statebird show up much closer in southern or eastern VT.  So of course I had to chase after a Great Cormorant when it was found in eastern VT in Windsor in a small freshwater lake named Lake Runnymede.  The Cormorant was quite reliable, preferring to perch on a branch near a gazebo in the adjacent park.  Making things even more interesting was that several birders mentioned seeing a large flock of redpolls in a pumpkin field right next to the lake.  I need Hoary Redpoll for my VT list so certainly worthwhile to scan through the flock if I have time after searching for the Cormorant.

Armed with excellent micro-directions to the Cormorant I took the 2-hour drive to Windsor.  As soon as I arrived at the lake I could see the gazebo in the distance, and right next to it was a bird perched on a low snag.  With the scope I could tell it was a cormorant, and of course most likely the Great Cormorant, but since I was looking into the sun I couldn’t eliminate Double-Crested.  So I took the short walk to the gazebo to get a closer look.  En route I passed along the edge of the pumpkin field and kept my eyes and ears open for redpolls, but with no luck.  When I arrived at the gazebo I took one step inside and instantly saw the Great Cormorant sitting no more than 20 feet away.  Great views of an exceptionally rare bird in Vermont!

Great Cormorant was the 216^th species that I’ve seen in all 6 New England states.  I’ve also seen this species in each Atlantic Coast state except Georgia. 

I had very limited time but thought that since I got the Cormorant so quickly I had at least a few minutes to look for redpolls.  So I went back to the pumpkin patch and quickly noticed a small flock of redpolls as they flew into some weeds in the middle of the field.  I walked out toward the birds but saw they were all Commons.  But a few seconds later a few more flew into those weeds, and then some more.  Soon there were at least 70 birds in a small patch of weeds just about 30 feet away.  A few were quite pale, so I set up the scope and had great closeup views.  The first 3 pale birds I checked all had varying amounts of dark feathers in the undertail coverts so I didn’t jump to any conclusions on them.  But then I looked up and noticed a fourth bird that was even paler.  I put that one in the scope, and with at least 3 minutes of viewing time I saw that it was paler both below and on the scapulars and wings, had pure white undertail coverts, was a bit bigger than the others, and a bit fluffier too.  The only thing that kept me from calling it a Hoary was that I couldn’t tell that it had a shorter bill.  I took a couple phone-scoped photos of the bird which unfortunately were so miserable that they were of no use for the ID.  The next day I spent some time looking at Hoary photos on line and on many their bills were not visibly shorter than the Commons.  So with that last hesitation removed, I concluded that my bird was indeed a Hoary Redpoll.  The next day I contacted Denny Abbott, my NH birding buddy, and he was able to find 2 Hoaries in the flock.

Vermont is my 8^th state for Hoary Redpoll – 4 of which are in New England.  This is shaping up to be a big year for redpolls in New England, so maybe I’ll be able see them in ME and CT and sweep the region. 

Say’s Phoebe, Penacook, NH – November 2012 – First State Record

The theme of this post is – flexibility. 

As the weekend neared my birding plans first focused on getting to Nantucket to look for the Lapwings present for several weeks.  Those plans changed when I was able to see one much more easily that was refound on the mainland in Bridgewater, MA.  So then my plans changed to travel into southern Maine to try for a Western Kingbird that had been present for some time, though the most recent post was now several days old.  I contacted Denny Abbott and made plans to meet him at his house and travel together to Biddeford, ME. 

En route to Denny’s house my phone rang and it was Denny – a Say’s Phoebe had just been found in central NH in the small town of Penacook.  A first NH state record!  No one was sure of precise directions, but I figured that I should change my route to get to Penacook and by the time I arrived directions would be available.  I got off 495, charted a route with my GPS, and soon was heading north instead of northeast to central NH.  A few minutes later I got directions to the bird’s location and was good to go.

I arrived at the Penacook sewage treatment plant within an hour of the news, and found about a half dozen birders there but no one had seen the bird for a few minutes.  It was great habitat for a flycatcher – open fields, lots of low posts to perch on, and a cattle farm and sewage treatment plant with presumably lots of insects even for mid-November.  So the bird was likely still in the area.  A few minutes later came word that the bird was respotted and I joined a group of now nearly 20 birders watching the bird cooperatively perched in the open. 

Other birds in the area included a cooperative flock of at least 30 Common Redpolls and a flyover Lapland Longspur in a flock of Horned Larks.

That was my second Say’s Phoebe for New England – my first was a MA bird in May 2003.  That gives me 348 in NH, out of a total statelist of 402.  At 87% of the total, NH is by far my best statelist.

Northern Lapwing, Bridgewater, MA, November 2012

Shortly after Superstorm Sandy came through, a small number of Northern Lapwings were found in the northeast, especially in MA.  These included 1 on Cape Cod and 2 on Nantucket discovered the day after the storm, and 1 seen briefly in southern Maine a couple days later.  Although the Cape Cod and Maine birds were just one-day wonders, the 2 on Nantucket are still being seen weeks later.  I sure wished I could go after the Nantucket birds, though getting to Nantucket is not a trivial endeavor consisting of a 2-hour drive to Hyannis and then an hour boat ride.  And then you still have to get transportation while on the island.  So I decided that I wouldn’t chase the Nantucket birds, despite the nearly daily posts of how reliable they are.

Then came posts on the MA listserve that 2 different Lapwings were discovered on the same day very close to each other in southeastern MA (on the mainland!) in farm fields in Bridgewater and Middleboro.  However, these posts came across the day I left for a 5-day business trip – the same business trip described in my previous post on the RI Mountain Bluebird.  So there were two mega-rarities being seen in New England that I couldn’t chase because of work.  Would the mainland Lapwings stick around till I got back like the Nantucket birds, or would they move on like the Cape Cod and Maine birds?  Both birds continued to be seen through the first 3 days of the trip.  But on day 4, there were no posts at all – negative or positive.  It’s not often that birders post negative news, so it seemed like no news was bad news.  Prompted by a request I put out on the listserve, there were two responses that no one saw the birds on day 4.  And there was negative news on day 5 as well, so the birds had likely moved on, or at least moved to other undiscovered locations.  And there had been no news on the Nantucket birds for several days.  But in this latter case, no news was just no news.  I called birders on the island and the birds were still being seen, and offers were made to pick me up on the island to get me to the lapwing spot if I came out.  That was all I needed – I made arrangements to head to Nantucket in 2 days.

The day before heading to Nantucket was my day to chase after the RI Mountain Bluebird.  After finding it in the morning, I headed over to Allen’s Pond in Dartmouth, MA to try for MA Cave Swallows.  I arrived there about noon and planned to spend a couple hours on the beach hoping for a flyby, before having to leave to get home for family commitments.  Shortly after I arrived a swallow approached me from the west – as it flew over my head I got clear views of a Tree Swallow.  Not a Cave, but any swallow in mid November is a good bird.  A couple minutes later I happened to check e-mails on my phone and someone had just posted that the Bridgewater Lapwing had just been refound!!  Instantly I started to run back to the car – or as best as you can run with a scope, binocs and camera, and wearing wellies.  But did I have enough time to get to Bridgewater, look for the bird, and still make it home on time?  On my way back to the car I plotted directions to the spot, and directions back home – I had about 90 minutes to look for the bird.  So the chase was on!

I arrived at the Bridgewater spot at 1:10 – about 50 minutes after leaving Allen’s Pond and 75 minutes after the bird was re-spotted.  There were 2 cars on the side of the road and 3 people a short distance out in the field with scopes.  A minute later I was with the birders who said they thought it was still out there behind a small rise, but hadn’t seen the bird for a couple minutes.  With a bit of repositioning there was the bird – feeding in a wet field with Ring-billed Gulls.  I snapped off a couple phone-scoped pictures of the distant bird, including one next to a Ring-bill for size comparisons.  It was great to watch it feed somewhat plover-like, including seeing the orange undertail coverts.

About 20 minutes later there was some kind of comotion off to the left and the Lapwing and most of the Ring-bills took off to the north.  I had great views of the bird in flight, seeing the black wing linings on the broad wings, and deep wingbeats that reminded me somewhat of a Green Heron or Short-eared Owl in flight.  Amazing views!  The bird dropped into the next field to the north over a tree line out of view.

That saved me the trip out to Nantucket!  Since seeng the Bridgewater bird it has once again become reliable, and the Nantucket birds continue as well.  Plus another Lapwing has been discovered in Virginia.

That was my second ever Northern Lapwing in the ABA - the first was in CT in November 2010. 

Mountain Bluebird, Fort Getty, Jamestown, RI, November 2012

Just before leaving on a business trip a flurry of posts came across the RI listserve about a Mountain Bluebird seen at Fort Getty in Jamestown – just a couple miles from where the Wood Sandpiper had been seen earlier in the fall.  It had apparently been first discovered a couple weeks earlier, so I hoped that it would stick around till when I got back in town.  Each day while I was gone there were posts that the bird was being seen reliably at the small Fort Getty park (there were no negative posts as all), so I was cautiously optimistic that it would still be around when I returned.

I headed to southern RI my first day back, arriving at Fort Getty early in the morning.  A quick look around the park did not yield the bluebird, though I did find a late Blackpoll Warbler.  I ran into another birder who had been there a while who also had not seen the bird, though she found the Blackpoll too.  My optimism was waning – would I be the first birder to miss the bluebird?.  I spent the next 45 minutes walking around the little park but with no luck.  A flyover flock of siskins with at least one redpoll was a minor consolation.  I started to wonder if the bluebird had relocated to one of the pastures near the entrance of Fort Getty Road.  I mentioned my theory to the other birder, and she said she would check it out on her way out of the park.  Sure enough, two minutes later, the other birder called me to report she found the bird in the eastern-most pasture on Fort Getty Road.  Two minutes later I was at the field getting good scope views of the Mountain Bluebird.

A couple minutes later we saw the bird fly off to the west.  So I went back to the campground (after a quick stop along Fort Getty Rd to see the Cattle Egret that had been feeding in the pasture) and instantly found the bluebird fly-catching from low posts at its more traditional location. 

RI was my third New England state for this casual vagrant to the east.  And of course I've seen it in most of the states in its normal range out west.

Allen’s Hummingbird, Great Barrington, MA, November 2012

For a few weeks a Selasphorus hummingbird had been coming to a feeder in Great Barrington in western MA.  Although it was originally thought to be a Rufous, a bander was called in to band it and be sure of the ID.  After reviewing the measurements it turned out to be a hatch-year male Allen’s Hummingbird.  There sure aren’t many records of Allen’s in MA.  The last one was one on the Cape a couple years ago which I missed by a day due to some poor planning on my part.  So I was happy to have a second chance to try for this very rare bird in MA.

While en route I got a call from the homeowner who said the bird was seen that morning, coming in every 20 minutes or so.  So I was cautiously optimistic when I arrived at 9:20.  At about 9:50 I saw it fly in to perch on a nearby shrub, then it fed briefly at the feeder, before flying off as it was chased away by a chickadee.  About 10 minutes later it flew back in, drank for quite a while, then perched in view in a nearby shrub for several minutes.  This was a strikingly colorful Selasphorus, including a few colorful feathers in the gorget.  Wish I could have gotten a picture.

That was my 421^st species in New England.  The only other place I’ve seen Allen’s Hummingbird is southern CA.  Though I have also seen it on Santa Cruz Island which might well be a different species.