Southern Idaho Portion of the Northwest Sagebrush Country Trip, May-June 2023

In January 2016 an armed group of protesters seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.  By the time the occupation was over in February 2016, there was a considerable amount of destruction of the refuge facilities, resulting in closure of the headquarters facilities for months.  Unfortunately, I had planned a summer 2016 birding trip to the sagebrush country of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern Idaho to include a lengthy stop at Malheur NWR.  But given the issues at Malheur I shelved those plans and headed to Alberta and British Columbia that summer instead. 

But my interests in birding eastern OR, eastern WA, and southern ID continued as this was the last large section of the Lower 48 that I had not yet birded.  And a new part of the country for me would equate to considerable statebirding potential.  So after further delays first due to moving, and then due to Covid, I finally got around to scheduling the OR/WA/ID sagebrush country trip for the summer of 2023.  Plus I added a short side- trip to the South Hills of ID for Cassia Crossbill.  I reached out to birding friend David Donsker who often joins me on these trips, and he agreed to come along. 

After considerable research on-line especially on eBird, and with invaluable advice from a number of local birders, I set up an 11-day itinerary from May 24th to June 3rd, starting in Boise and southern ID, then into eastern OR, next into southeastern WA, then back to ID for flights back home.  With a pretty good statelist in ID (224) my potential for new statebirds there wasn’t too great, but I still hoped to add perhaps 8 new birds in ID.

This blog post presents a summary of the ID portion of the trip.  My previous post briefly summarized the entire trip.  The next 2 posts summarize the OR and WA portions of the trip.

Day 1 – May 24 – Boise and East

With on-time flights into Boise, David and I left the airport at about 2 PM.  We needed to eventually make our way to our hotel in Twin Falls to the east for the next day’s visit to the South Hills.  So I considered several targets that could be found east of Boise, finally selecting 2 key targets that were not only roughly on our way but also not too likely near the South Hills – Black-throated and Sagebrush Sparrows.  Black-throated Sparrow was only reliable at one hotspot – the Oolite Trail in Owyhee County.  And since Sagebrush Sparrows were seen on most lists submitted from this spot as well, I had the potential for 2 statebirds at one stop.  Now we just needed the birds to cooperate.

After about an hour’s drive we arrived at the small parking area for the Oolite Trail.  Actually there were two trails leading from the parking lot, and we chose the southern one to start.  The habitat was dry scattered sagebrush seemingly no different from the habitat seen throughout the area.

We walked a short distance finding a couple Lark Sparrows in the sagebrush, but little else.  A couple recent checklists mentioned the Black-throated would respond to taped calls, so with so much habitat to search we thought we’d give it a try.  And sure enough after playing just a couple songs a sparrow flew in.  Eventually it perched and with excellent views we had a striking Black-throated Sparrow (ID statebird #1).  What a handsome bird!  My statebird map for this species is inserted below.  Blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this southwestern species; the cross-hatched states are those in its regular range where I’ve yet to see it.

Next our attention turned to Sagebrush Sparrow.  We played a little tape of this species principally just to get acquainted with its song.  We listened for a while and thought we could hear one singing in the distance to the north.  So we retraced our tracks and headed back to the parking area to pick up the northern trail.  We were now closer to our singing bird and were pretty sure of the ID, but we kept walking on the trail to get closer and confirm it.  Eventually with of bit of scanning we spotted the singer – it was indeed a Sagebrush Sparrow perched on a sagebrush (ID statebird #2). 

Couldn’t have asked for a better start to our trip!

As a postscript – this location is named after a rather unique sedimentary rock called oolite, also known as egg stone.  It consists of small spheres that look like eggs formed when grains of sand are coated with calcium carbonate in marine environments.  Here’s a close-up picture of the egg-like structures that make up the oolite.

Day 2 – May 25 – South Hills Area

Our plan for the 25th was to meet up with local birder Pat Weber to bird in and around the South Hills.  Most birders go to the South Hills to look for the Cassia Crossbill.  David and I first traveled there in May 2010 looking for the endemic Crossbill but to no avail.  Subsequently I made a trip there in September 2012 and successfully found several small Cassia Crossbill flocks.  Pat knew them by call, and could separate them from the Type 2 and 5 forms of Red Crossbill that could be migrating through the area at the time.  So her help would be invaluable.

But first we had a couple pre-dawn targets in the South Hills – Common Poorwill and Flammulated Owl.  In past years both were routinely reported in and around the Magic Mountain ski area which was also among the best spots for the Crossbills.  So we hoped to pick up a couple pre-dawn species and then be in the right location for the Crossbills as they started their day.  At least that was the plan…

We played tape for the Flammulated Owl at several locations but had no responses.  It was a chilly 36 degrees at the time which would make it pretty difficult for insect-eating nocturnal birds.  So we theorized that they hadn’t yet migrated into the area, or perhaps were at lower and warmer locations while it was so cold.  But at least we were successful with the Poorwill, hearing 2 birds calling from the upper parts of the ski area (ID statebird #3).  ID was my 13th state to find Common Poorwill, and would be one of my targets in OR later in the trip.

Now it was time to switch our focus to the Cassia Crossbill.  Pat mentioned that the Cassia’s were nesting at the time, which could make it more difficult to find them.  And certainly they were not likely to be forming small noisy flocks foraging through the conifers as Crossbills often do.  Undeterred, we birded several likely spots including the Magic Mountain ski area, Diamondfield Jack campground, and Petit campground, but came up empty.  Then we headed to Porcupine Springs campground and walked in past the remaining snow banks.  There we finally heard 2 individual calling Cassia Crossbills but never get a look at them.  We gave it the old college try, but might need to come back after nesting season to increase our chances of finding them.  Notably, our other unsuccessful try for them was also on May 25 in 2010 – exactly 13 years earlier.  At least we had a number of other nice species during this year’s visit, like Cassin’s Finch, Green-tailed Towhee, MacGillivray’s and Wilson’s Warblers, and Lincoln’s Sparrow.

Our next target was Grasshopper Sparrow in the foothills below the mountains.  One had recently been reported on Cherry Spring Rd., the same spot where one was reported last summer.  Pat strategically parked the car in good habitat and played tape.  We all listened for a response but came up empty.  Then Pat noticed a small bird perched on top of a bush in the distance.  With quick binocular views we could see that it was a Grasshopper Sparrow (ID statebird #4).  That was a bird that David and I looked for unsuccessfully in the ID panhandle in 2022, so it was nice to finally find one.  Grasshopper Sparrow would also be a target for us in OR and WA later in the trip.

Our last stop of the morning was the riparian area along North Cottonwood Rd where rare Blue Grosbeaks had been seen each of the last 2 years.  Although there were no reports yet this year, I hoped that it was just because no one had looked, or perhaps it was just too early.  We spent nearly an hour there looking and listening, finding birds like Chats, Bullock’s Orioles, and a Willow Flycatcher in the riparian area, and Lark Sparrows and a calling Long-billed Curlew in the surrounding sagebrush, but no Blue Grosbeaks.  As of mid-June there were still no Grosbeak reports there, so perhaps they won’t be back this year.

It was now a bit past Noon, and it was time for us to begin our 5-hour drive west to Burns, OR.  We thanked Pat for all her help and hoped to see her again, perhaps birding in the east.

But we had one more stop yet in ID.  One of my other ID contacts, Cheryl Huizinga, had given me great tips on my Boise area targets, including telling me about a Peregrine Falcon nest box in Nampa, just a short distance west of Boise.  The nest box was on top of a silo at a sugar factory less than a mile off the highway, making it a perfect side-trip in route to OR.  As we neared the Northside Boulevard interchange on I-84 we could see the 6 silos a short distance to the north and quickly picked out the net box.  With a bit of effort we were able to pull off the road even with the silos with the correct angle to look into the box.  Unfortunately, it was empty.  I started checking the tops of the other silos and buildings nearby hoping to find a perched falcon.  Again with no luck.  Then I noticed a pair of raptors flying above the silos – it was a pair of Peregrines toying with each other in the sky (ID statebird #5).  That was lucky.  ID was my 41st state for Peregrines, though I still need this species in 8 states scattered across the country.

Day 10 – June 2 – Boise Area

Our plan was to return to the Boise area late on June 2nd after 7 days birding in OR and WA.  But we finished up earlier than expected in WA, so we left Walla Walla at dawn and got back into Boise by late morning on the 2nd.  With more time in ID than expected, that gave us the opportunity to pursue several additional targets.  Thanks to a tip from Cheryl we first headed to Deer Flat NWR where a Western Screech-Owl was being spotted in a Wood Duck box on the East Dike Trail.  We checked out about a dozen boxes mounted on large mostly cottonwood trees along the trail but couldn’t come up with an owl.  With all the natural cavities in the cottonwoods I guess it was spending its day resting in the trees somewhere instead.

Next we were on to the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, another spot not on our original itinerary.  But since this area is well known for our target Prairie Falcons, we were happy to now have the time to bird this spot.  We met up with local birder Kent Kleman who agreed to show us around the area, mentioning that that area was also good for another of our targets – Say’s Phoebe.  As we headed south toward the Snake River cliffs we spotted several Swainson’s and Red-tailed Hawks, but no target birds.  At Dedication Point we walked over to the cliff to hopefully find some falcons below us on the cliffs.  Along our walk through the sagebrush Kent spotted a Say’s Phoebe, which eventually gave us good views (ID statebird #6).  That’s another species we looked for extensively the previous year in the ID panhandle, so it was nice to finally see it in ID.  I’ve now seen this species in all states in its regular range, along with 3 eastern states where it is a rarity (the brown-shaded states).

By the time we reached the top of the cliff the wind was howling, making it difficult to peer down into the canyon.  We had Canyon and Cliff Wrens singing below, but still no falcons.

Next we drove to Swan Falls Park and decided to drive down into the canyon to try to get out of the wind a bit.  We made a stop about halfway down the canyon and looked and listened for the falcons.  Within just a few seconds we could hear Prairie Falcons above us and eventually got good looks of as many as 4 birds flying by and perched on the rocks above us (ID statebird #7).  Here’s a shot of the cliff above us.

Many thanks to Kent for his help in finding our 2 targets in this habitat!

Our next planned spot was a bluebird trail just west of the town Prairie.  It was a long 2-hour drive to the east, but I hoped it would be fruitful for our Western Bluebird target.  We started heading that way but soon realized that the last 24 miles would be on a very rural dirt road.  As we slowly drove east we could see a large thunderstorm forming also to the east.  And as we continued our dusty drive the thunderstorm just kept getting larger and was now directly east of us.  We had made it perhaps two-thirds the way along the dirt road when we decided not to take a risk on encountering the storm and having to drive on what may turn out to be a slippery and muddy road.  So we turned around and wished we had dedicated all that time to pursuing other targets instead.

Our last stop also wasn’t on our original itinerary.  The previous evening when making final arrangements for the day I pulled up an eBird Needs Alert for ID and was surprised that Bewick’s Wren and Anna’s Hummingbird were on the alert.  Distribution maps in the field guides indicate that both species are only found in ID as a rarity.  But numerous recent reports on the Needs Alert would suggest otherwise.  Unfortunately, with so much wasted time trying unsuccessfully to get to the Bluebird trail we only had time to bird one last spot that day, and decided on Hulls Gulch Reserve.  This suburban park had recent reports of both species, plus we got suggestions from Kent as to which trails to take, so we liked our chances. 

When we arrived at Hulls Gulch we were greeted by numerous mountain bikers on the trails.  Tough to bird when you’re avoiding bikes on the narrow trails.  We completed almost the entire loop without seeing a single hummingbird or wren, though we did have quite a number of Lesser Goldfinches.  At the very end of the walk I heard what may have been a hummingbird fly overhead.  As we stopped to look for a possible hummer I started to hear a short call that I wasn’t familiar with.  I recorded it on Merlin which called it a Bewick’s Wren.  Now I know that Merlin isn’t always correct, and should only be used as a tool and not be treated as “gospel”.  But here was my quandry - I was hearing a call I didn’t recognize, didn’t know Bewick’s Wrens calls well at all, their calls are “extremely varied” per the Sibley guide, and Merlin repeatedly ID’d this call as a Bewick’s.  Unfortunately, it was a heard-only bird, so I wasn’t sure what to do.  After returning home I checked numerous Bewick’s Wren calls on xeno-canto.org and found a nearly perfect match for a call recorded not too far away in WA.  So I finally decided to count it as a Bewick’s Wren (ID statebird #8).  In my statebird map below I decided to consider this species as a rarity in ID in keeping with my convention of using the Sibley range maps as the guide for my statebirding maps, even though Bewick’s are certainly not a rarity at least in the Boise area.

Day 11 – June 3 – Boise Area

My flight out of Boise was at about 2:30 that afternoon so I had all morning to bird in the greater Boise area.  That gave me plenty of time to pursue at least 4 of my targets.  The first was another attempt for Western Bluebirds in an area in the Boise National Forest along Grimes Creek Rd.  They had been reported there a couple times recently, and were also reported in 2022 “near the burn site”.  The Sibley guide says Western Bluebirds prefer “any open wooded habitat with areas of open or grassy ground”, so a recent burn would be ideal.  In fact, we saw a pair of Western Bluebirds a week earlier in a recent burn in OR (though I didn’t need it for my OR list). 

As I turned onto Grimes Creek Rd. and started my climb up the canyon I could see that the recent burn on the right side of the road.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that it stretched at least a half mile.  I drove along slowly and stopped frequently but to no avail.  Then a bit farther along I came upon an area of pines where the undergrowth was managed to promote growth of a grassy meadow.  An even better spot perhaps?  I drove through this area even slower, stopping and walking along several spots, but still no Bluebirds.  The area was otherwise quite birdy, featuring Hammond’s Flycatcher, Cassin’s Vireo, Townsend’s Solitaire, Catbird, Veery (the spot to find them in the area), and Cassin’s Finch.  After 2 hours I finally threw in the towel.

Next I was off to Idaho City and the Alban’s feeding station which was the most reliable spot for White-headed Woodpecker in the area.  I had previously connected with the homeowner, Jennifer Alban, and got her permission to visit her yard to try for the Woodpeckers.  The first thing I noticed when I arrived were the large numbers of hummingbirds visiting multiple feeders.  I asked the homeowner whether she had any Anna’s but she said only rarely.  Otherwise, her hummers were Calliopes and Black-chins.  Can’t hurt to try I guess.  She pointed out the 3 trees with suet feeders, and I positioned myself on the porch where I could see all 3 trees at once.  While I waited for the woodpeckers to visit, the hummingbirds gave me great close looks, as did the numerous Cassin’s Finches on the seed feeders.  Not to mention I had this great view while I waited.

After about a 30-minute wait I heard the White-headed’s Hairy-like call that I had learned a week earlier in OR.  And seconds later a White-headed Woodpecker dropped into one of the suet feeders just 20 ft away (ID statebird #9).  What a gorgeous bird!   

My next stop was a longshot for White-breasted Nuthatch at the nearby Pioneer Cemetery.  The Nuthatch had only been reported a few times there so I wasn’t too optimistic.  But since the Woodpecker arrived so quickly, I decided to make a quick stop at the cemetery anyway.  The cemetery was certainly unique with graves and monuments tucked in amongst large pine trees and grassy undergrowth, with many of the graves dating back to the 1800’s.

I only had a few minutes so I walked into the cemetery and began to play some tape.  It was no more than 2 minutes later that a bird flew in over my head and landed on a tree trunk a short distance away – it was a White Breasted Nuthatch (ID statebird #10).  That makes up for some of my other ID searches that were either unsuccessful or took longer than expected.  I’ve now seen White-breasted Nuthatch in each state in its regular range.

The final birding stop of the day was along Bogus Basin Rd. north of Boise to try for Chukar.  This road rises out of the suburbs and goes uphill first through grasslands and then into areas with exposed volcanic rock – ideal for Chukars.  I made multiple stops in the right habitat playing tape along the way, but to no avail.  At least I was able to add Chukars to my OR and WA lists earlier in the week.  As Meat Loaf said, “two out of three ain’t bad”.

Conclusion

I ended the trip with 112 species in ID, which was a pretty good tally given that most of our time was spent chasing specific species rather than birding hotspots in general.  And of course that included 10 new statebirds, certainly a better result than the 8 I expected.  That brings my statelist to 234.  Here is a link to my eBird Trip Report for the ID portion of our trip –

ID Portion of ID-WA-OR 2023 Trip - eBird Trip Report

Many thanks to local birders Cheryl Huizinga, Pat Weber, and Kent Kleman for all their help on our searches!  And thanks to Jennifer Alban for allowing me to visit her tremendous feeding station!

Summary of OR/WA/ID Sagebrush Country Trip, May-June 2023

In January 2016 an armed group of protestors seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.  By the time the occupation was over in February 2016, there was a considerable amount of destruction of the refuge facilities, resulting in closure of the headquarters facilities for months.  Unfortunately, I had planned a summer 2016 birding trip to the sagebrush country in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern Idaho, to include a lengthy stop at Malheur NWR.  But given the issues at Malheur, I shelved those plans and headed to Alberta and British Columbia that summer instead. 

But my interests in birding eastern OR, eastern WA, and southern ID continued as this was the last large section of the Lower 48 that I had not yet birded.  And a new part of the country for me would equate to considerable statebirding potential.  So after further delays first due to moving, and then due to Covid, I finally got around to scheduling the OR/WA/ID sagebrush country trip for the summer of 2023.  Plus I added a short side-trip to the South Hills of ID for the Cassia Crossbill.  I reached out to birding friend David Donsker who often joins me on these trips, and he agreed to come along. 

But simply adding a lot of statebirds wasn’t my only objective for the trip.  Years ago, the ABA allowed you to report your totals for a given state only if your total exceeded half of the total number of species ever recorded in that state.  Many years ago I had set a goal to be able to report my totals to the ABA in each of the continental 49 states.  Eventually I exceeded those thresholds in each state except one – OR.  Although those ABA reporting thresholds no longer exist, they still represent a logical set of standards to strive for in each state.  And since the state totals inch up over the years as new birds are added to the state list, I set a somewhat arbitrary goal of being 15 over those old ABA thresholds (I call it “ABA plus 15”).  I started the 2023 trip with 249 species in OR, just 10 shy of that old ABA reportable threshold.  So this was certainly a realistic secondary objective for this trip.

After considerable research on-line especially on eBird, and with invaluable advice from a number of local birders, I set up an 11-day itinerary from May 24th to June 3rd, starting in southern ID, then into eastern OR, next into southeastern WA, then back to ID for flights back home from Boise.  With pretty good statelists in ID (224), OR (249), and WA (267), my potential for new statebirds wasn’t too great.  I hoped to add perhaps 8 new birds in ID, 28 in OR, and 12 in WA.  Adding just 48 new statebirds was kind of a low tally for such a long trip, even though this was a new part of the country for me.  But for better or worse, I’m at the point of diminishing returns in my statebirding endeavors.

This blog post presents a brief summary of the entire trip.  My next 3 posts summarize the ID, OR, and WA portions of the trip.

Entire Trip Results, May 24-June 3

David and I were able to find 188 species on the trip as we chased after our targets over numerous, diverse habitats across the region.  A total of 67 of these were new statebirds, well over my target for the trip in each state.  That brings my “Total Ticks” (sum of all my state and province lists) to 15,114.  Here’s a summary of the trip by the numbers –

• 21 waterfowl species (not bad for a semi-arid region)
• 7 gallinaceous species
• 10 raptors
• 5 owls
• 7 woodpeckers
• 10 flycatchers
• 6 wrens
• 15 sparrows, and
• 10 warblers (it was out west after all)

Here is a link to my eBird trip report for the overall trip - ID-OR-WA 2023 Trip - eBird Trip Report

ID Trip Results - May 24-25, June 2-3

We found 112 species in ID, 10 of which were new for my statelist.  That brings my total to 234. Notable was a striking Black-throated Sparrow at Oolite Trail in Owyhee County.  Unfortunately, the sparrow’s dry sagebrush habitat isn’t nearly as attractive as the sparrow.

We also saw at least 4 Prairie Falcons at these canyons at Swan Falls Park in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Ada County.

A final personal highlight was finally seeing a Say’s Phoebe in ID, this one was at Dedication Point in Ada County.  This sighting was notable because David and I had completed many unsuccessful searches for this species the previous year in the ID panhandle.

Oregon Trip Results, May 26-30, June 2

We tallied 166 species in OR including 41 new statebirds.  That brings my new total to 290, well over the old ABA threshold.  We found 3 rarities – Virginia’s Warbler at Malheur NWR, Boreal Owl at Idlewild Campground in Harney County, and Wood Thrush (only the 6th state record) at Philberg Road in Union County.  We were also able to track down 3 other rarities found by others at Malheur NWR – Least Flycatcher and 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  The Grosbeaks were most cooperative, as they fed in the same tree where they were first discovered 10 hours earlier!

Interesting that both species that allowed me to reach the ABA reportable goal (Virginia’s Warbler) and my ABA reportable plus 15 goal (Rose-breasted Grosbeak) were rarities.  It’s nice when it happens that way.

Finally, finding a Black-backed Woodpecker nest in a recent burn next to the Idlewild Campground was very exciting.  Here’s the female just before it replaced the male on the nest likely incubating eggs.

Washington Trip Results, May 30-June 2

We found 112 species in WA, 16 of which were new for my statelist, increasing my total to 283.  Notable were a Gray Partridge in Walla Walla and an out-of-place Chukar in sagebrush in Benton County, nicely illuminated at dawn in this picture.

A final highlight was several Green-tailed Towhees singing from isolated patches of thick brush on slopes below Biscuit Ridge in Walla Walla County – just about the only spot to find them in all of WA.  One was singing from the brush in the middle of this picture.  And the scenery was nice as well!

Pacific Loon - Statebird #300 in South Carolina, Lake Jocassee, March 9, 2023

On March 4th an e-mail from the Greenville County Bird Club list popped up with this subject line – “Pacific Loon at Devils Fork SP”.  That certainly caught my attention, though I wasn’t sure where Devils Fork SP was.  The body of the e-mail read:

“Jay Mager, an ornithologist who specializes in studies of loons, reported a Pacific Loon on Lake Jocassee at Devils Fork SP around noon today.”

I remember hearing about Lake Jocassee, although I had never been there.  That is the spot that features large numbers of wintering Loons, and where a Pacific Loon was found at that same time of year in 2020.  I didn’t chase after that one as that was at the beginning of the Covid outbreak and I was pretty much sticking around home back then.  So with 3 years of kicking myself for not going after the 2020 bird, I sure wanted to give this one a try. 

The key question was whether it was just passing through or whether it would stick around long enough to chase after.  It was seen again on the 5th so at least it wasn’t just a one-day-wonder.  The next complication was that we had a short family trip scheduled for the 6th through the 8th, so March 9th would be my first opportunity to try for it.  I watched the eBird reports every day, and luckily the Loon was reported daily through the 8th, including with some excellent photos of the bird at quite close range.  The hunt was on!

I was out the door pre-dawn on the 9th feeling quite optimistic that not only would I find the Pacific Loon, but that I would find it quite quickly.  Most of the reports included sightings along the east shore of the lake near the Villa properties.  And the best viewing spot appeared to be from the Eclectic Sun rental shop.  Within minutes of paying the Devils Fork SP entrance fee I had set up my scope on the lawn in front of the rental shop to start my scan of the lake.  I first looked toward the northeast in the vicinity of the Villas but didn’t see any birds at all.  Then I turned my attention to the open lake waters toward the north and northwest, finding a couple Common Loons, but not my target bird.  With additional scans I found a few more Common Loons, a pair of Horned Grebes, and some distant Bonaparte’s Gull but still no Pacific Loon.

Could the Loon be feeding in some other portion of the reservoir that wasn’t visible from the Eclectic Sun?  Or worse yet, had it move on?  Just then a group of birders walked up to me and asked if I had found the Loon yet.  It turned out that they were the ones who first discovered the bird, and told me about a couple small coves near the Villas, not visible from my viewing spot, where they had seen the bird earlier in the week.  So I headed into the Villas and checked out those hidden coves, but to no avail.  I then drove around to the west side of the lake for another viewing angle but just came up with the same birds as before.

It was now longer than I had planned to stay, but I decided to make one more stop at the rental place.  As I started my scans I noticed a pontoon boat far out on the water owned by a group that gives tours of the lake.  I could see several people on the boat with binoculars, and watched the boat slow down each time it passed by a Common Loon.  I assumed it was giving a tour to some birders who were also looking for the Pacific, so I decided to keep a close eye on them in case they got lucky. 

A few minutes later the boat slowed once again.  A short distance ahead of them I could see a Loon on the water – the first thing that jumped out at me was that it was quite a bit smaller than the nearby Commons.  Did I have my target?  Unfortunately, the boat soon passed between me and the bird so I lost it for about 15 seconds.  Finally the bird reappeared giving me long albeit distant views.  In addition to being smaller, it was paler than the Commons, with a smaller bill.  I did indeed have my target Pacific Loon!  Not the best of views, but still definitive looks at quite a rarity for the Upstate of SC.

My statebird map for Pacific Loon is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular west coast range.  And the 12 brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity.

This caps off a most successful winter for rare waterfowl in the Upstate of SC – I added Red-necked Grebe, Common Merganser, Ross’s Goose and now Pacific Loon to my statelist this winter.  And Pacific Loon was a milestone for me in SC – it was #300 for my SC list.  SC is now the 11th state where I’ve tallied 300 or more species.

Three Opportunistic Chases Nets Two Statebirds in Knoxville, TN, March 7-8, 2023

My wife and I scheduled a trip to Knoxville, TN in early March 2023 to take our dog to the University of Tennessee Veterinary School for some testing.  If we had spare time, that could present some statebird opportunities in a part of the state I don’t often get to.  Though at best my time would be limited, so the targets would likely need to be nearby.  I started to watch the eBird Needs Alerts during the week leading up to the trip but initially came up with no nearby targets.  But then the day before we left a report came in of a Tundra Swan in a small impoundment at a treatment plant a short distance east of Knoxville.  It was about 10 minutes off our route to and from Knoxville, so it was one to try for likely on the way home.  At least that gave me one to look forward to.  Assuming the Swan stuck around, that is.

We made the drive to Knoxville on the 6th, and that evening I re-checked my Needs Alert.  The Tundra Swan was still around, so that was good news.  And even better, two more of my “Needs” were reported that day no more than 15 minutes away – a Red-necked Grebe and a Black Scoter, both on Fort Loudoun Lake.  It sounded like I would have some free time in the middle of the day on the 7th, so it would be feasible to chase after both birds.  Suddenly I was up to 3 statebird possibilities. 

It turned out that I had about 2 hours of free time in the early afternoon of the 7th, which was perfect to bird nearby Loudoun Lake.  I first went to the boat ramp at Concord Park where the Red-necked Grebe had been spotted the previous day.  Comments from that sighting noted that the bird was with Pied-billed Grebes generally on the far southern part of the lake.  Unfortunately looking to the south meant looking into the sun that time of day, and my initial scans came up with just a couple Cormorants in the difficult lighting conditions.

Then I panned more to the southeast in somewhat better lighting and picked out a few Pied-billed Grebes in the distance.  Had I found the correct spot?  Sure enough a few seconds later I spotted the much larger Red-necked Grebe loosely associating with the Pied-bills.  The large yellow bill and longer neck were clinching field marks.  I tried some distant digiscoped photos but each time I got everything lined up the bird dove.  Here’s a picture of the reservoir with the Grebes about 2,000 ft out.

My statebird map for Red-necked Grebe is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 4 cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity – several southeastern states as a wintering bird, and 2 central states as a rare breeder.

Luckily it only took a few minutes to get the Grebe, so I quickly headed to nearby Carl Cowen Park where the female Black Scoter had been reported the previous day.  The bird was swimming in a distant tight flock of 35 diving ducks, so I figured my best shot at finding the Scoter was to look for that flock of divers.  Unfortunately, once again I was looking to the south into the sun – ugh.  Amazingly I almost instantly found a flock of divers – did I have the flock?  But like the Grebes, they were nearly a half mile away.  I counted 47 birds, and watched the flock for at least 45 minutes.  Unfortunately, not only could I not pick out the Scoter, I couldn’t even be sure of the IDs of the other ducks (though I assumed they were Ring-necks, Scaup and/or Redheads).  I bet I had the Scoter in view, but the flock was just too far away and lighting was so bad that I couldn’t be sure.  That was frustrating.

After getting negative results on our dog’s tests (yay!), we headed home on the 8th.  Luckily my non-birding wife agreed to let me take the 10-minute side trip to try for the Tundra Swan.  The bird was being seen now 3 days in a row in an impoundment at a sewage treatment plant along Route 160 in Hamblen County.  The small impoundment was right next to the road, so I hoped we would need less than 5 minutes to find my target bird.  We pulled over on the road shoulder even with the pond and I did a quick binocular scan.  Even though that large white bird should have jumped out at me, I couldn’t find it.  Had it moved on since yesterday’s sighting?  There were some cattails and other vegetation on the pond, so maybe it was a bit obscured.  And sure enough, with a closer look I found the Tundra Swan on the near shore partially hidden by cattails.  Here’s a shot with no magnification of the impoundment, and with an arrow pointing toward the Swan.

TN is now my 8th state where I’ve seen Tundra Swan as a rarity.  Though I still need it in a number of states where it is a regular migrant.

That gave me two new TN statebirds in less than an hour of birding time.  That’s pretty efficient birding, and very opportunistic given my time and geographic constraints.  And with the addition of 2 birds my TN statelist is now at 255.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five Statebirds on the Georgia Coast While Returning from a Florida Chase, February 5-6, 2023

In January 2023 I had a most successful birding trip to the FL panhandle.  Not only did I see my first new life bird (White Wagtail) in several years, it was also my first trip to FL from my home base in western NC, greatly expanding my horizons for potential trips.  I was now watching the ABA Rarities eBird alerts more frequently, especially focused on potential lifers.  And the most likely “nearby” location for those additional lifers would be in south FL. 

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

And of course, there was also statebird potential along my route back home through GA and SC.  My route would take me along the coast, and with a little research, I found no less than 7 statebird targets in GA.  From south to north I hoped for –

• Bullock’s Oriole coming to a feeder on Jekyll Island,
• Saltmarsh Sparrow near Jekyll Island (and most anywhere along the coast),
• Black Duck with Mottled Ducks in Brunswick,
• Dickcissel coming to feeders in Savannah,
• A White-winged Dove and a Western Tanager at a feeding station on Tybee Island, and
• Black Scoters off the north end of Tybee Island. 

That’s lots of potential for just 2 partial days of birding.  As it turns out I only found 2 of 6 targets in FL, though the 2 I found were lifers.  (See my previous blog post detailing the FL portion of the trip.)  To improve my hit rate in GA I reached out to birding friend Diana Churchill who lives in Savannah for local advice.  She gave me excellent tips to help me find my targets, especially in gaining access to all those private feeders.  

This blog post focuses on my GA searches on this trip.  The SC portion of the trip is summarized in my next post.

Day 2 – February 5

After an early morning stop in FL, where I missed both of my targets, my first GA stop was on Jekyll Island for a Bullock’s Oriole.  This bird had been regular at a feeding station through January 18, before disappearing for 2 weeks.  So it never made it to my radar screen as I prepped for my trip.  But then on February 3 the homeowner reported that it had returned.  So now one to chase, though given its recent history, I wasn’t too overly optimistic.  On a positive note, Diana shared with me that all the homeowner’s feeders were in the front yard and visible from the road.  So no specific access was needed.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the Oriole despite waiting there for 90 minutes.  In fact, there were no Orioles at all, which is a bit odd for coastal GA feeding stations.  A consolation prize was finding a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird that had not been previously reported there.

Next I had planned to look for Saltmarsh Sparrows in the marshes as I left Jekyll Island.  But it’s easiest to see these Sparrows (and their Seaside and Nelson’s cousins) during the highest tides.  And it was now a falling mid-tide, so not the best conditions.  Since I had a full day in front of me, I decided to pass on this pretty common target, and try for it later on a higher tide.

My day wasn’t exactly starting off very well…

My next stop was a small pond in a suburban neighborhood in Brunswick where a Black Duck had been seen with Mottled Ducks and Mallards.  In preparation for IDing these 3 very similar species, the night before I spent some time brushing up on the key field marks that separate them.  Now I had to figure out how to bird the site since it looked like the pond was surrounded by houses and pretty inaccessible.  But finally I found a couple eBird checklists with pretty explicit descriptions, including the access point at the end of a cul de sac.  I was all set. 

Within seconds of arriving I did a quick binocular scan of the pond and picked out 2 pairs of dabbling ducks.  With closer scope views I could tell all 4 were Mottled Ducks.  I made several more scans, this time with the scope, but found no more waterfowl on the water.  Then I looked over to a grassy bank on the right and noticed a pair of Canada Geese along with another pair of dabblers.  One was much darker than all the others, and with scope views I could confirm the ID as a Black Duck (GA statebird #1).  Not only was it significantly darker, but these pictures show its speculum had no white edges. 

My statebird map for Black Duck is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  Iowa is the last state where I’ve yet to see it where it is a regular species (cross-hatched).  The 3 brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Black Duck as a rarity.  Although this species is a rarity on the GA coast, it is a regular wintering species in the northern half of the state.

My original planned next stop was a Savannah feeding station where a Dickcissel was an infrequent visitor (it typically didn’t appear until 4 PM or later).  I was a bit ahead of schedule so I had just enough time to squeeze in one additional brief stop before heading to the feeders.  Since it was an afternoon high tide I thought about trying for Saltmarsh Sparrows, but the tide wasn’t particularly high that day.  I guess they’ll have to wait for another trip.  Instead, I decided to move one of tomorrow’s stops up to today -a trip to the north jetty of Tybee Island for long-staying Black Scoters.  Several eBird pictures showed the Scoters right next to the jetty, which was only a 5-minute walk from the parking lot.  So if all went well a quick visit would give me plenty of time to see the Scoters and still get to the Savannah feeders in time.

I pulled into the parking lot for the Tybee Island Marine Science Center at 2:35, and took the short walk to the north jetty.  Not only were there no Scoters there, the jetty was almost completely underwater due to the high tide and waves.  In hopes that the Scoters were still around and just dispersed on the nearby waters, I did a number of quick scans, but the only waterfowl I could come up with were a small group of Buffleheads and 2 Red-throated Loons.  I would just have to come back the next morning which was my original plan.  I just hoped my 20-minute stay at the jetty didn’t make me too late for the Dickcissel.

The Savannah feeding station was in the back yard of Steve and Sandra Calver.  Once again with Diana Churchill’s help I connected with the Calver’s and they were happy to let me come into their yard to look for the Dickcissel.  They mentioned that the target bird appeared at 4:39 PM the previous day, so I was optimistic that my 3:44 arrival time was early enough.  I settled into one of the chairs they had in the yard, and began to take in the show – they had dozens of feeders that were just full of birds.  I had been there no more than 3 minutes when I spotted a large sparrow feeding on a tube feeder filled with millet – I had my target Dickcissel (GA statebird #2).  In my haste I took these two barely passable out-of-focus digi-binned photos of the bird.

Before I could get the bird in better focus it flew off, with a total viewing time of less than a minute.  Good thing I didn’t spend even just 5 more minutes looking for the Black Scoters on Tybee Island.

I’ve now seen Dickcissel in 13 states along the east coast.  It wasn’t too long ago that they were principally a species of the central US.

Since I had my target bird so quickly I thought about heading off to another spot, but decided to stay longer to enjoy the “show” at the feeders.  The Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most numerous bird there, with at least 5 to 10 there all the time.  Another highlight was an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird that stopped in twice.  But undoubtedly my favorites were the Baltimore Orioles.  There were at least 7 of them – 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 2 immature males, and 2 immature females – though there could well have been more.

At one point the immature female Orioles came in together.  Initially I got excited that I had a Bullock’s, but with good looks at both of these 2 birds I could see solid white wingbars and dull heads making them just Baltimores.  But then I noticed another immature female that had a noticeably brighter orange head.  Luckily it came to a jelly feeder giving excellent close looks at the wingbar.  I could see that the leading edge was notched with black feathers giving it a toothed look – I had found a Bullock’s Oriole (GA statebird #3).  Although I missed the stakeout Bullock’s earlier in the day, I had found one of my own.  I alerted the Calvers and they were able to confirm the bird with photographs the next day.

Since moving to NC I’ve seen Bullock’s Oriole as a rarity at feeders in VA, NC, SC, and now GA.

I spent 90 minutes at the Calvers’ feeding station especially focused on the Orioles, and was able to see the Bullock’s come in one more time.  Though the Dickcissel never returned.  What an excellent way to end the day!

Day 3 – February 6

The plan for GA portion of the day was to make 2 stops, both on Tybee Island.  And since I had 2 targets in SC to pursue, and still needed to make my way home that day, I hoped for quick successes in GA.  I started at sunrise at the home of Deb Barreiro (thanks once again to Diana Churchill’s connections) where she hosted a White-winged Dove seen on a nearly daily basis.  The Dove was often found perched overhead in trees at her house, and sometimes coming to her feeder, often with Mourning Doves.  She also formerly had a Western Tanager in her yard.  But since she had not seen that rarity for a week I was much less optimistic about that one.  Soon after I arrived, Deb met me in her yard and we both spent quite a bit of time searching through her trees for perched Doves.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any Doves of any variety over my 1 hour and 40 minute stay.

At one point she showed me the area where she used to see the Western Tanager - a hedge along the eastern edge of her lot.  While we were standing there we heard a 3-note call that sounded like the chatter of a Western Tanager.  Did we have the bird?  I stayed along the hedge for the next 10 minutes and heard the same call one more time.  Then I got a brief flash of yellow on a larger bird in trees above the hedge.  Then the bird flew up to a palm tree providing excellent views – it was indeed the winter-plumaged adult male Western Tanager (GA statebird #4).  The bird appeared to be eating fruit of the palm trees, as were a flock of roughly 50 Cedar Waxwings.

My statebird map for Western Tanager is actually quite similar to the map for Bullock's Oriole.  I've seen both species throughout their regular western ranges and in a number of states in the east as a rarity.  GA is now the 8th eastern state where I’ve seen Western Tanager as a rarity.

On one of my later searches for the Dove I once again saw the Tanager, this time perched high up in the live oak over the property.  I never would have thought I would end up missing the Dove but seeing the Tanager.  But if I could only see 1 of them, I’m glad it was the rarer of the 2.

Although I wanted to stay longer and wait for the White-winged Dove to appear, I had a full itinerary ahead of me.  Unfortunately, that included another try for the Black Scoters at the north jetty since I missed them the day before.  This time the tide was lower, and the wind was much lighter, so I was more optimistic than the previous day.  I pulled into the parking lot and started the short walk across the dunes toward the jetty.  In the distance I could see exposed jetty rocks and much calmer seas – things were looking up.  And even before I got to the beach I could see a small group of sea ducks swimming right along the jetty.  Even without optics I knew I had my target Black Scoters (GA statebird #5) – 9 of them.  They were often obscured by swells, but I managed these phone-scoped photos of both male and female birds.   

GA was my last Atlantic Coast state for Black Scoter.

What a great way to end the GA portion of my trip!  And with such a quick stop at the jetty I was back on schedule to pursue my SC targets on the way home.

I ended up seeing 5 of the 6 GA target birds I pursued, which was a huge improvement over my success rate of just 2 of 6 targets in FL.  Couldn’t have done it without the help of Diana Churchill, especially in helping me gain access to those private feeding stations.  And now with the addition of 37 GA statebirds since moving to the region in 2019, that brings my GA state total to 270.