My First Real Rarity for the Yard – White-winged Dove, June 8, 2020

Now that Spring was over and birding in my yard had slowed down quite dramatically, I spent some time thinking about what the next additions to my yard list might be.  When I got to the doves and pigeons, I realized that I still needed Rock Pigeon for the yard list.  Sometimes you’ll see small groups of Rock Pigeons randomly passing overhead in areas where you wouldn’t normally expect them, so perhaps I might get lucky enough to be looking up when 1 or more passed by.  (One of the rare times when you might look forward to being “lucky” to find a Pigeon.)  And then there’s the Eurasian Collared-Dove as a remote possibility.  The only place where they are regular in the area is a small colony at a grain facility in Mills River about 30 minutes away.  Though there are occasional mostly single birds spotted here and there in the vicinity, perhaps wanderers from the Mills River group, or just birds passing through the area.  My best, albeit remote, chance might be to have one visit my feeders along with the wintering flock of Mourning Doves.  Then again, little did I know that the next Columbid for my yard list would be even less likely than these options.

I started my “Big Sit” on my back deck on June 8th just after 6 AM and settled in checking off the regular local nesters.  From the woodlands I heard species like Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Pewee, Hooded Warbler and Scarlet Tanager.  And from the orchard next door I listened to the nearly non-stop song of the Indigo Bunting, the occasional Field Sparrow, and a distant Canada Goose or 2.  I was particularly interested in watching and listening for the Baltimore Oriole family as the babies seemed to have fledged from the nest in my yard 2 days earlier.  Unfortunately, I didn’t hear or see any Orioles that morning.  All in all it was starting off as just a regular kind of summer morning.

Then at about 7:45 it got really interesting – I heard a call of a White-winged Dove!  It was the 4-note call very similar to the cadence of a Barred Owl.  And the bird was close enough that I could hear the cooing tones of each note.  I’m very familiar with this call, and instantly identified it as a WWDO.  And although I might have expected it to be coming from the orchard below me, it sounded like it could be close enough to be right in my backyard.  Surely it would call again – but the only Dove I could hear was a distant Mourning Dove.  After about 30 minutes I took a walk to the orchard and played some tape, but got no responses.  I spent the next 2 hours on the deck with no further calls.

Two days later I was back on the deck hoping against hope that the Dove would still be around.  And sure enough it called again – twice giving the 4-note call and once a bit later giving the low cooing call.  This time the bird was more distant and calling in the general direction of the orchard.  I spent 45 minutes in the orchard, and another 2 hours on my deck, but didn’t hear, or see, the bird again. 

I had a similar experience on the 13th – two of the 4-note calls at 6:45, and again a couple times at 7:15.  The bird was once again singing in the distance to the northeast, in the general direction of the orchard.  Or could it be in the neighborhood just on the other side of the orchard?  I took a little drive through the area and discovered a pair of feeders in the lots adjacent to the orchard and in roughly the right direction.  Could it be visiting those feeders at least sporadically?  I got permission from the owner at one of the houses and spent 30 minutes watching his feeders with no luck.  This was getting frustrating.

Then on the 14th I thought I’d change my approach.  I started the morning at the feeders in the neighborhood below me rather than on my deck.  I waited for 45 minutes, seeing a fair number of Mourning Doves in the area, but no White-winged Dove. 

It turns out that the 13th would be the last day I heard the bird, despite continued “Big Sits” on my deck on subsequent days.

That was one of my most frustrating birding experiences ever.  I only heard the bird on 3 days over a 6-day period, and each time it called for just a few seconds.  I bet I didn’t hear the bird for more than 30 seconds total on those 3 days combined, despite a total of more than 14 hours of watching/listening on 5 of those days.  Not to mention that I didn’t see the bird at all.  If only it had been as cooperative as the Mourning Doves which were calling frequently during that time.

There are only 2 other eBird records of WWDO in the mountains of NC – interestingly one of these was less than a month earlier on 5/16 in Jackson County.  And a bit farther afield, there was a calling WWDO in northern GA (Forsyth County) on 5/11 this year.  That’s just 125 miles away as the Dove flies.  A mini invasion?

The White-winged Dove was #300 for my NC statelist – the 49^th addition since I moved here.  NC is now my 10th state with at least 300 species.  And it was yard bird #128 – my first real rarity for the yard. 

My statebird map for WWDO is inserted below.  The 9 solid blue states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range; the 2 cross-hatched states are those remaining states where it’s regular though I’ve yet to see it.  And the 9 tan states are those where I’ve seen this species as a vagrant, a comment on this species’ penchant for vagrancy across much of the country. 

Surely if I was lucky enough to find a White-winged Dove for my yard, Collared-Dove and Rock Pigeon couldn’t be too far behind.  I’m not exactly holding my breath.

Black-billed Cuckoo (Finally); And as a Yardbird No Less, May 25, 2020

Over my last 25 years of birding in New England I found that Black-billed Cuckoo was an uncommon migrant and breeder in the region, though often one that was difficult to see even while calling.  I expected a similar distribution in my new home base of western NC.  After all, the range maps show this species as a migrant and nester in this area just like in New England.  However, the following description of its relative abundance in the NC mountains region, from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance”, would suggest otherwise:

“Summer resident, and transient. In summer, rare to occasionally or locally uncommon, but sporadic, more "numerous" in some years than others, but seldom even uncommon. Nests mainly between 3,000 and 5,500 feet, somewhat more frequent above 4,000 feet. A good majority of summer records are from the Blue Ridge Parkway, perhaps because of ease of access to higher elevations of deciduous forests. Rare as a transient across the province.”

And this statement in the General Comments of that publication seems to sum it all up – “the average birder will not see a Black-billed Cuckoo in the state in a given year unless he or she is afield several times a week.” 

Another factor in the challenges of finding either the Black-billed or the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is that they will often perch very still in dense vegetation.  So even though they are large birds, they can be very difficult to spot - even if they are singing.  For instance, the vast majority of my Cuckoo sightings over the years have either been heard-only birds, or individuals first seen in flight.

In any case, it would sure seem like Black-billed Cuckoo is actually a rarity in western NC.  Well perhaps except for Spring 2020.

Last Fall in my first migration season in the area I only remember a few sightings being reported.  A review of eBird data shows only 6 reports in the region.  However, the story was quite a bit different this Spring with a number of posts being mentioned on the Blue Ridge Birders text group.  Enough so that some suggested that there were more records than normal this Spring.  eBird records certainly indicated something was up – the NC mountains had just 5 Spring records in 2018 and 9 in 2019, while there were at least 32 records in Spring 2020.  Plus there were comments about the potential for nesting at a couple sites.

Some postulated that the higher numbers were correlated with the hatching of the local brood of 17-Year Cicadas.  But per the map below, the brood in Buncombe County (Brood XIV) wasn’t due to emerge until 2025.  And the Henderson County brood (Brood VI) wouldn’t emerge for another 14 years.  The closest area for Brood IX which was emerging this year was in the far northwestern corner of NC.  So an increased food source in the form of newly hatched cicadas didn’t seem to be a likely cause.

Source - https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/docs/CicadaBroodStaticMap.pdf

Whatever the reason for their increased abundance, with each BBCU sighting mentioned on the text group or in eBird Needs Alerts my need to see one to add it to my NC statelist became greater and greater.  However, given the ephemeral nature of these birds in migration, I didn’t chase after any posted sightings, that is with the exception of one feeble attempt I made to find one seen the previous day at the Biltmore Estate.  Instead I figured I’d have to find one on my own.  Perhaps right in my yard.  But despite being out in the field a lot this spring, the only Cuckoos I was able to find were Yellow-billed– 2 in my yard, and 2 others elsewhere in the area. 

eBird shows BBCUs peaking in abundance in Henderson County in the first 2 weeks of May, so by late May I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I had missed my opportunity to see one in this banner migration season.  I guess I’d just have to wait for a future season to find one.  Migration had mostly ended in my yard by this point and I was generally spending less time on my deck doing “Big Sits”.  In fact, bird activity had reduced so much that on May 25th I almost decided to not bring my binocs out with me.  But I’m sure glad I did. 

Soon after coming out on the deck that morning I got a quick glimpse of a large bird flying into the understory in the backyard nearby.  I expected it was a Cuckoo, but what species?  I quickly headed over to the spot, and luckily was able to re-find the bird.  It was indeed a Cuckoo, but its back was toward me, and the head was completely obscured.  That meant I couldn’t see bill color, but that’s just one of many field marks for Cuckoo ID.  The folded wings didn’t seem to have any rusty coloration in the primaries, which was good for Black-billed.  But the reddish primaries are only easy to see on a Yellow-billed when it’s in flight, so I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be able to see the rusty primaries on this sitting Cuckoo.  Then I focused on the tail – I couldn’t see any white at all, but again with the bird facing away that’s of little help when looking for the amount of white under the tail to ID the bird.  And then with a step to one side I was able to see the face of the bird.  Although the bill was still blocked from view I could see the red orbital ring of the Black-billed Cuckoo – a field mark I had just learned earlier this Spring.  Who needs to see the bill color to ID a Cuckoo?  Eventually I did end up seeing the bill and of course it was all black.  I watched the BBCU for another minute or two before it headed back into the woods out of view.  Though perhaps the bird was hiding in plain sight just a few feet away.

Success!  New NC statebird #299.  (Wonder what #300 will be.)  And yet another great bird for my yard - #127 for the list.  I guess I didn’t have to worry about finding one this Spring after all.

My statebird map for Black-billed Cuckoo is inserted below.  Shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; the many cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I’ve yet to catch up with it.  I said these birds can be difficult to find…

Last of Three High Elevation Target Birds, Blue Ridge Parkway, May 23, 2020

When I moved to western NC I had 3 possible state bird targets that were most likely to be found in the higher elevations of the mountains – Ruffed Grouse, Saw-whet Owl, and Red Crossbill.  I was lucky enough to find a pair of Ruffed Grouse back in March 2020 at the Pisgah Campground along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  And in April 2020 I was able to hear a stakeout Saw-whet Owl amazingly at lower elevations in eastern Henderson County.  That left Red Crossbill as my last high elevation target bird. 

Inserted below is a screen shot of the eBird distribution map for Red Crossbill in the NC mountains over just the last 3 years.

At first blush it would look like Red Crossbill is a common bird that can be seen throughout the mountains.  In reality, they are generally only found in spruce/fir forests, though admittedly that habitat is located in many places in the higher mountains.  And they are quite rare even in the proper habitat.  The following description of their range in the NC mountains comes from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance” -

Summer resident at higher elevations, and winter visitor to all of the region. In summer, rare to locally uncommon at higher elevations, mainly at spruce-fir forests, generally above 4,500 feet; very rare to rare and erratic in summer down to about 3,000 feet. Breeding populations seem to be stable. At other seasons, rare and erratic at lower and middle elevations, with numbers declining in recent years.

And even when you are lucky enough to find them, they are often heard-only birds, or at best birds seen in flight as they are passing by.  Perhaps the day you see them perched might be a good day to play the lottery. 

My first try for Red Crossbills in NC was the day that I had the Grouse at the Pisgah Campground.  There are several conifer patches in and around the campground, and there were some Crossbill records from the area in previous years, so I was definitely on the alert.  But I had none the day I was there, nor on a subsequent trip to the campground, despite what looked to be an excellent cone crop.

The bottom line is you need to be very observant whenever you’re in appropriate spruce/fir forest.  And of course knowing their call notes is a big help.  Not to mention being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time is always beneficial.

On May 23rd, local birding friend Dave Minnich, Sidney Snyder – a new birder to the area, and I were participating in the annual Black Mountains bird count.  Our assigned territory was along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the Mountains to Sea trail from NC 128 (the road to Mount Mitchell) to the Walker Knob Overlook.  This was about 5-6 miles long and included the ridgeline going up to Potato Knob.  Normally we would leave a car at one end of the trail, carpool to the other end, and hike the entire trail in one direction.  But it’s tough to carpool while social distancing, so we decided to park all our cars at the Overlook, bird a portion of the trail, then double back to the cars.  Certainly not the best approach to census the area, but the right strategy to use all things considered.

Our entire territory would be in the higher elevation forests.  The lowest point was at the parking area at Walker Knob Overlook at 5,300 feet.  The highest point would be along the ridgeline at Blackstock Knob at 6,200 feet.  This should be great for those high elevation breeders.  Including of course, the Red Crossbill.

I was the first to arrive at the parking area and decided to bird around the car while I waited for Dave and Sidney.  The habitat right at the parking area was very nice with mature conifers in nearly every direction.  The trees were full of singing Golden-crowned Kinglets and Black-throated Green Warblers.  A pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks flew overhead, toying with each other as if in courtship.  And a single Pine Siskin passed almost directly overhead, giving its classic call.  It was like I was back in the boreal forests of northern New England that I visited many times while living there the last couple decades.

And then just a short distance I away I heard the sharp “kip-kip-kip” calls of the Red Crossbill.  I followed the call notes as multiple birds flew from one side of the road to the other, though unfortunately I never saw them.  I hoped that they might have landed in one of the trees nearby, but despite lots of scanning I could not relocate them.  They must have been nearby flyovers that just kept going.  Good enough to add to my NC list as #298, but I sure wish I could have seen them, even if just as flyovers.

A few minutes later Dave and Sidney arrived, and we started our walk up the Mountain to Sea trail.  Although we only had 24 species during the 3-hour walk, there were some really nice ones, likely all breeding.  Key birds on the trip – Blue-headed Vireos, many Golden-crowned Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Creepers, Winter Wrens, Veery, Hermit Thrushes, Juncos, and Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers.  One of the highlights was a bonded pair of Canada Warblers that were so tame that at times they came within 5 feet of us.  And up near the ridge we had another flyover calling Red Crossbill.  Alas, again heard only.

My statebird map for Red Crossbill is inserted below.  Solid shaded states are those where I’ve seen or heard this species; cross-hatched states are those where this species is regular though I’ve yet to catch up with them.  I still need this species in a lot of states.  Though a note on Idaho is in order – although I still need Red Crossbill in that state I’ve seen the endemic Cassia Crossbill there.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Ecusta Pond, Brevard County, May 19, 2020

“Black bellied whistling duck @ Ecusta”  That text from Michael Plauche came across the local text group early on May 19th.  Michael regularly birds Ecusta Pond and has found some great birds there.  For instance last Fall and Winter he had locally rare Common Mergansers on the lake.  And then this Spring he had a Cave Swallow there in a mixed swallow flock.  I chased after the Mergansers and needed two trips before I found them.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful with the Swallow despite two tries.  But I didn’t let my less-than-spectacular track record on recent Ecusta Pond searches deter me from dropping everything and heading out for yet another rare bird search at Ecusta Pond.  At least it was just 45 minutes from home.

Birding Ecusta Pond is not exactly very intuitive.  The only location from which to view the pond is from a church on the north side.  The church has given birders permission to stand on the second floor fire escape of the sanctuary, just large enough for 3 birders to squeeze in.  Or with social distancing, barely enough room for 2. 

Michael sent me text updates as I headed to Ecusta.  Although one text said the bird was spooked by a Cormorant, his next one said “Back on aerator.  Your chances are good.”  I was optimistic.  I finally made it to the church and there was Michael still up on the fire escape keeping tabs on the Duck.  After a brisk walk up the steps I quickly set up the scope and as Michael suggested focused on the aerator just left of the white sign on the far side.  There was the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck just hanging out on the aerator.  But before I counted it as a new NC statebird, I looked to be sure there were no bands on the bird’s legs.  And with some effort I could see that it had both hind toes – often aviculturalists will remove the hind toes of their captive birds.  So it was very likely a wild bird and countable - #297 on my NC statelist.

Here’s a photo of the aerator in the distance where the BBWD preferred to perch.

And then a phonescoped photo of the bird with the scope set at 50 power.

Although Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is certainly a rarity for the NC mountains, we’re not too far from the northeastern edge of its range.  The closest regular locations for this expanding species are at a park in Augusta, GA (130 miles away), and along the SC coast, especially from Charleston and south (about 200 miles away).  Ironically, I still need this species in both of those states.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen BBWD as a regular species.  The cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I have yet to catch up with it.  Though I’ve now seen it in the 6 tan states as a rarity.  It’s not only expanding its range, it’s also a vagrant where a single bird or a small flock can pop up almost anywhere.

Eastern Road Trip Nets Three Rare Nesters for the Carolinas, May 17, 2020

In February I noticed an eBird report of a Barn Owl to my east in Lattimore, NC.  That’s one I need for my NC list, so at first I was disappointed that the specific location for the bird was not provided.  But then again it’s best not to include locations of roosting or nesting owls to protect them from too much harassment.  Then in early Spring I met birder Bill Hooker from Cleveland County who had mentioned he had stakeout locations for Barn Owls.  Lo and behold he was the eBirder that reported one back in February.  He invited me to come visit one day to give it a try, though he stressed that perhaps I had just a 50/50 chance to see the Owls on any trip. 

I decided I’d wait until the Spring migration season was over to make the road trip to look for the Barn Owls.  So as migration was winding down I started to make my plans to visit Bill.  And while monitoring eBird I noticed reports of two rare breeders just a short distance southeast of me in the Upstate of SC – Dickcissel, and no less than 2 pairs of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Perhaps I could make it into one longer trip, first into SC then a bit farther east into Cleveland County, NC.  But wait there’s more…  Two days before my trip a Wilson’s Warbler was spotted by my SC birding friend Michael Robertson in Greenville, SC, close to the Dickcissel and Flycatcher locations.  The Wilson’s was re-spotted the day before my trip, so now I had 4 targets.  The plan was to start with the Wilson’s, then off to try for the Dickcissels, then on to 1 or both Flycatcher spots, and then finally try for the Owls in the afternoon.

The Wilson’s Warbler was seen at a small hotspot in the Greenville suburbs called the Parkway Retention Pond.  Not only did it of course include a retention pond but also a trail at the edge of brushy woods along the back edge which is where the Wilson’s had been spotted.  Actually based on eBird photos it looked like there were at least 2 birds – both a female and a male had been photographed there.  I arrived by 7:30 and started slowly walking along the short trail.  The spot was rather birdy, but I could find no warblers at all.  It was now 9 AM which was my planned departure time, but it was tough to leave my first target of the day after an unsuccessful search.  I wanted to have enough time for my other targets, but what if I ended up getting the others quickly?  I would end up kicking myself for not having spent enough time trying for the Wilson’s.  However, given that the retention pond was pretty small, I felt like I had covered it quite well even in just 90 minutes.  So I stuck with my original plans and left at 9 AM.  It turns out that the Wilson’s were not re-found; I guess I made the right decision to not extend my search for the Warblers.

The next targets were the Dickcissels.  Per the National Geographic Field Guide, Dickcissels are “irregular east of the Appalachians; occasional breeding is reported outside mapped range.”  That was certainly the case in the Upstate of SC where Dickcissels were recent breeders in several locations.  There were several reports of likely breeding birds down in Anderson County, but the closest reliable location (just 15 minutes from the retention pond) appeared to be on Snow Mill Drive in Woodruff, with eBird reports dating back to 2018.  After the short drive I was now really close to Snow Mill, and as I pulled up to a stop sign I heard the characteristic song of the Dickcissel.  (Of course I was driving with my windows open listening for birdsong!)  But wait – I wasn’t at Snow Mill Drive yet.  I parked safely and looked at the map – I was still a quarter mile from Snow Mill.  I got out and walked toward the singing bird, nicely perched in a small roadside tree adjacent to a hayfield.  I got this barely passable photo holding my phone up to my binocs.  

As I tried for a better photo another bird flew into that same tree – it was a female Dickcissel.  And then I heard a second Dickcissel singing a short distance away.  Nice to find a new location for Dickcissel, though there was one reported from this location back in 2018 by another of my SC birding friends Gary Harbour.

Then again perhaps the Snow Mill birds had relocated to this spot.  After a quick “high-five” I drove a short distance to Snow Mill and almost instantly heard a Dickcissel there as well.  I only spent a few minutes here, but heard at least 2 singing males.  I also heard Bobwhites here – a bird I haven’t heard in years as they have become extirpated in New England (where I’ve done much of my birding recently) and their numbers have dropped dramatically even in more southern locations.  I also had a Bobolink here which is not supposed to be breeding this far south.  Perhaps it was a last holdout from a large likely migrating flock that was reported here recently.  And along with typical grassland birds like 8 Grasshopper Sparrows, 2 Meadowlarks, and 2 Blue Grosbeaks, it was a great stop!

Dickcissel was #266 for my SC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Dickcissel in its regular range; the cross-hatched states are those where I still need this species.  The tan-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species as a rarity, at least based on Sibley’s range maps.  Those maps indicate that Dickcissel is a regular winterer on the Mid-Atlantic coast, but a rarity in a number of others in the east and northeast.  Though some might argue that Dickcissel is regular in many of these locations, including SC.

With Dickcissel nicely checked-off, it was time to try for Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Amazingly there were not 1 but 2 pairs of Scissor-tails in northwestern SC this year.  Plus 4 birds likely nesting near Rock Hill.  One pair in Cherokee County to the east had already started nesting in the same location where nesting occurred last year.  A second closer pair was more recently discovered in Spartanburg County along Thompson Creek Drive near the town of Boiling Springs, though many eBirders commented on having just brief views of the bird(s).  Although this was a new location, last year they nested just a short distance away, so perhaps this was the same pair returning to the general area.  The Cherokee County birds were likely more reliable since a nest had been located.  But then again, that was on private property and viewing was apparently from a considerable distance.  Since I was now ahead of schedule I figured I could first try for the closer albeit perhaps less reliable birds, and then if I struck out there, I could try for the more eastern birds.  And both stops would require just short side-trips in route to Lattimore, NC to try for the Barn Owls.

After a short drive I pulled onto Thompson Creek Drive and quickly located the single house on the road - a couple posts mentioned the Flycatchers were perching on wires opposite that house.  I stopped a short distance away so as not to disturb any birds that might be near the house.  And with a quick binocular view there was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher perched on the wires opposite the house, just as described in recent posts.  And perhaps just a minute later the bird flew to tall trees surrounding the house and disappeared.  I was hoping for better views, so I drove to the other side of the house and started to search from there.  I noticed some movement in the field to the west and spotted both Flycatchers flying to and from the treelines.  And then watched the birds fly to the cell tower and the chain-link fence surrounding the tower.  They would often go to the same area part-way up the tower – wonder if that might become a future nesting site.  I got these phonescoped photos of one of the birds on two of its favorite perches.

And while watching the Flycatchers this Grasshopper Sparrow perched up most cooperatively.

I texted Michael Robertson about my success with my last 2 targets, and he responded with a quote from Meat Loaf – “two out of three ain’t bad”.  So true, especially since the Wilson’s Warbler was a long shot at best.

In my statebird map below I’ve seen Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in all its regular south-central breeding states, and less common wintering state of FL, plus now 5 eastern states as a rarity. 

Now with Scissor-tailed Flycatcher added to my SC stateliest as #267, I didn’t need to look for the pair in Cherokee County.  So it was off to meet up with Bill Hooker and his wife Anita to try for their Barn Owls.  After crossing the stateline into NC and driving through similar agricultural areas I couldn’t help but wonder why there were no breeding Dickcissels and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers nearby in my home state.  The nearest Dickcissels were east of Charlotte nearly 2 hours away.  And there were no Scissor-tails, at all.  Though after my trip, on May 23rd, there was a tantalizing report of a flyby bird in Cleveland County.  Hmmm…

Just after lunchtime I met up with Bill and Anita in “downtown” Lattimore.  They described how they had found Barn Owls for a number of years in various former agricultural buildings scattered throughout the area.  Though they once again stressed that the birds might only be found on half their trips.  We hopped in our cars and I followed them to our first stop west of Lattimore.  We pulled up to an old building where a couple months ago a birder was able to find many fresh owl pellets though no birds.  We walked slowly around the perimeter, trying to peer into any opening we could find, but didn’t happen on any Owls.  Nor did we find any fresh pellets.  Perhaps the Owls were no longer using this building to roost.

Next we headed off to the north near Polkville to another former agricultural building.  A birder had recently found 2 Barn Owls at this location so we were hopeful.  First we sized up the building – seeing a couple likely openings where Owls might come and go.  Then we poked our heads into one open window without any luck.  We continued around the side of the building and noticed a pair of doors that could be opened.  So I headed over to start to slide one of the doors open.  Just then Bill yelled that he had an Owl flying away from the building.  We all quickly looked over and there was a Barn Owl flying from the building to the nearby trees.  And just after it landed a second Owl flew from one nearby tree to another tree – that one must has flown from the building a bit earlier and we hadn’t noticed it.  I wouldn’t have seen the birds at all if I had been there on my own.  Thanks Bill and Anita for all your help!

Barn Owl was #296 for my NC list.  And NC is my 25th state for this quite common species, though often a challenging one to locate.

If Meat Loaf thought that “two out of three ain’t bad”, then three out of four must be pretty darn good!

Olive-sided Flycatcher – Yardbird!, May 14, 2020

Last Fall during the excellent migration season in my yard I had a larger flycatcher that perched for a while at the top of a dead snag.  It was dark above and vested below.  Olive-sided, right?  The only problem was it didn’t seem large enough to be able to eliminate the resident Pewees or maybe a migrant Phoebe.  Though arguably, if it was a Pewee it would have been a Western Pewee with that vested look.  In retrospect, I’m not really sure why I didn’t conclude it was an Olive-sided.

Then on May 13th I pursued an Olive-sided Flycatcher reported at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.  I missed it by less than a minute, but then stayed for another 3 hours unsuccessfully waiting for it to return.  Then again maybe it did return.  Halfway through my vigil I spotted a large dark flycatcher flying across the river, leaving the Biltmore side roughly even with the island where the Olive-sided had been seen previously.  I followed it in my binocs as it continued across the river and land in a tree on the far side.  Even though I could see it perched, given that it was roughly 500 feet away I couldn’t be sure of the ID.  It could well have been the Olive-sided, but I couldn’t eliminate Phoebe, even though no one had reported one in the immediate area.

So the next morning when I started my daily “Big Sit” in my back yard I couldn’t help but think I could have already seen Olive-sided Flycatcher in NC - not once, but twice.  I settled in and quickly ticked off the local breeders that were here daily, like Baltimore Oriole, Hooded Warbler, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Eastern Pewee.  And there was still a smattering of late migrant warblers like Redstart, Blackpoll, and Chestnut-sided, plus a Swainson’s Thrush.  A typical morning on the back deck…

And then I heard a call coming from the top of the canopy that I didn’t instantly recognize – two clear plaintive notes, the first higher in pitch than the second.  Then it hit me –it was the last 2 notes of the Olive-sided’s “quick three beers” song.  I listened intently for it to sing again – but to no avail.  I searched the bare snag where last Fall’s bird had perched, and all the other possible tall perches I could see, but again no luck. 

Now I started second-guessing myself.  I’m very familiar with the song of the Olive-sided, which is quite diagnostic.  But just maybe it was the second half of a Pewee’s song – the one that drops in pitch.  But I could hear my resident (likely breeding) Pewee singing at the time far east of the house a hundred yards away.  Plus when would you hear a Pewee just give one snippet of one song?  Not to mention that call is quite different from the “three beers” notes.  And what about the fact that I didn’t hear the Olive-sided’s first “quick” note?  I’ve heard other Olive-sided’s singing where the first note was very difficult or impossible to hear because the bird was farther away, or there was too much other bird song in the area.  Then again, maybe I just didn’t notice it that day in my back yard. 

My gut/initial ID is almost always correct, and I couldn’t come up with other likely options.  So at the end of the day I decided to go with my initial ID and conclude it was a less-than-cooperative Olive-sided Flycatcher.  I just wish it had called again.  Or better yet – sat in the open for me to see my first Olive-sided for the state.  Then again, perhaps I had already seen Olive-sided twice before in western NC…

Olive-sided Flycatcher was #295 for my NC statelist.  In my statebird map below the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are the ones where it is regular but I haven’t caught up with it yet.  This species is generally rare in the east, and especially in the southeast where its migration routes just barely cut across the northern part of the region.  As a result, I still need it in quite a number of eastern states.

The Olive-sided was an amazing 125th species for the yard list.  This has been a spectacular Spring in the yard with many additions to my yard list including-
4/5 - Black Vulture - since then seen most sunny days; Rough-winged Swallow

4/6 - Great Blue Heron - flyover

4/8 - Common Loon – flyover in breeding plumage; Prairie Warbler
4/14 - Worm-eating Warbler, Palm Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk  
4/16 - Orange-crowned Warbler
4/20 - Fish Crow
4/21 – Mallard, Purple Martin
4/24 - Orchard Oriole, Red-headed Woodpecker
4/27 - Summer Tanager
5/1 - Cerulean Warbler
5/2 - Veery
5/3 - Barn Swallow
5/4 - Kentucky Warbler
5/6 - Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs
5/13- Yellow Warbler

A few of these really stand out -

Red-headed Woodpecker – I’ve had one in my yard 3 times now, often enough to make me think they could be nesting nearby.  On one of my walks up the mountain I played some tape and got one to instantly respond.  Since then I’ve heard a bird calling from above the yard numerous times.  And a couple of those times there were 2 calling birds.  I need to head up there one day this summer to try to locate a nesting tree.

Summer Tanager – Back in my New England days Summer Tanager was a rarity I searched for often in early spring as an overshooting migrant.  So when I heard its 2-note “chick it” call in the yard, it brought back fond memories of a successful northeast Tanager search.  And the bird was a young 2-toned red/yellow bird which was often the case for the New England birds as well. 

Shorebird Flock – I have a tree in my yard that budded out this spring, but then those buds never opened.  Early that morning I was searching through the canopy of that tree with my binoculars in hopes that I could find at least some of the buds opening up just when a flock of large shorebirds flew into my binocular field.  I was able to get an extended view of the flock as I followed them across the sky in the distance and concluded I had about 10 Lesser Yellowlegs and 1 Dowitcher, which was most likely a Short-billed.  I doubt I would have ever seen these birds if I hadn’t been inspecting the tree buds.  Boy was I lucky.  Unfortunately the tree wasn’t as lucky – I’m pretty sure it has died. 

Yellow Warbler – that was my 29th warbler species for the yard list in less than a year, with 26 species this Spring and 22 species last Fall.  There aren’t too many more possibilities, with perhaps Wilson’s, Connecticut, Mourning, and Swainson’s being the most likely.  My yard is pretty dry, so it’s not likely I’ll ever get other more remote possibilities from wetter habitats like Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush, or Prothonotary.  But then again, who knows.

Like I said, it’s been a spectacular Spring in the yard.

Missed My Two Target Birds But Still Got a Statebird, Biltmore Estate, NC, May 13, 2020

The local Blue Ridge Birders text group had been abuzz reporting on good numbers of migrants at the Biltmore Estate, highlighted by a report from Aaron Steed of 85 species in just 4 hours.  Interestingly, this came at a time when migration had slowed in my yard.  Then early on the May 13th came a report of an Olive-sided Flycatcher there, with very specific information on the location.  Since things were slow in my yard, and most importantly since I had an annual pass for the Biltmore, I decided to give it a try.  Though first I had to make a reservation to access the grounds, and luckily there were openings for the very next hour.  And just before I hit the road I got directions to the Black-billed Cuckoo spotted there the previous day.  Both birds had been spotted close to the Lagoon, so with a bit of luck I could possibly come up with 2 possible statebird targets in the same general area.

I arrived at the Lagoon within an hour of the sighting of the Olive-sided, and joined several other birders already on site.  And we soon found the exposed perches where the bird had been spotted on an island in the river.  But unfortunately there was no Flycatcher, as least not right now.  There were plenty of potential perches and habitat in the area, so after a couple minutes we decided to split up and cover more area up and down the river.  I decided to head down river toward yesterday’s Cuckoo location – maybe I could run into both birds.  How lucky would that be?

Just a few minutes later I got a text that the Olive-sided had returned to its original perches on the island.  Although I instantly started to run back to the Olive-sided, it took a lot longer than I had expected – I had covered at lot of territory.  I finally made it back to the island, but unfortunately the bird had just left a few seconds earlier.  Alas, the Cuckoo search took me too far away from the Olive-sided spot and cost me the Flycatcher.  As Maxwell Smart used to say – “Missed it by that much.”  (And by the way, I never even made it to the location where the Cuckoo was seen the previous day.)  Ugh…

The good news was the bird was still around, and it certainly had preferred perches.  So I decided to just stay at the island to wait for the bird to return.  About an hour later I received a text that a Wilson’s Warbler had just been spotted near the other end of the Lagoon, within just a couple hundred yards from where I waited for the Flycatcher to return.  I needed the Warbler for my statelist as well, and started to wonder if I should give up on the Flycatcher to try for the Warbler.  There had been no sightings of the Flycatcher in an hour, and the Warbler had just been spotted.  But I decided to stick with the Flycatcher search as it was the rarer of the two.

My vigil was now going on 2 hours still with no sightings.  And just then I spotted a large dark flycatcher flying across the river, leaving the Biltmore side roughly even with the island.  I followed it in my binocs as it continued across the river and land in a tree on the far side.  It was pretty far away – roughly 500 feet – and I couldn’t be sure of the ID.  It was large and darker above, and it could well have been the Olive-sided.  Though I couldn’t eliminate Phoebe.  Then again no one had spotted a Phoebe in the area.  And I would think that if a Phoebe had been nearby I would have heard it calling before its flight across the river.  A maybe – but not definitive.

At 2 PM I finally threw in the towel on the Olive-sided after a 3-hour wait.  I had not only missed the 2 previously reported targets (1 by less than a minute), but also hadn’t chased after the Wilson’s Warbler.  On a whim I decided to head back to the area where the Warbler was reported, even though it had been 2 hours since I had received the text.  On the way I ran into Bob Butler who said he just had a female Wilson’s at the original location.  With renewed optimism I went to the spot where Bob had his bird but could only find Redstarts.  Once again dejected, but undeterred, I walked a bit further along the river’s edge in nice brushy wet habitat and spotted a glimpse of yellow.  A second later I had a male Wilson’s Warbler in my binocs! 

Wilson’s Warbler was #294 for my NC statelist.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular though I’ve yet to see it.  I still need this species in a number of eastern states, as it is much more common in the west.

I briefly thought about returning to the favored perches of the Olive-sided, but decided I had given that one enough of a try.  I may have missed my initial key targets, but at least I was still able to find one new unexpected statebird.  It was a bittersweet trip, though I can only imagine how I would have felt if I hadn’t been able to re-find the Wilson’s Warbler.