tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54306465090817944762024-03-05T02:09:19.032-05:00Slow BirdingIn 2010 I completed a big year in the lower 48 states, setting a record for that geographical area of 704 species seen for the year. During 2010 I did a blog called Slow Birding: the big year meets the big night. All of those blog entries are still available below, but now that the big year is finished, I will be continuing the blog calling it just Slow Birding. I will from time to time post entries about my and other's birding.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.comBlogger388125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-42186478515482216762018-01-12T15:24:00.000-05:002018-06-26T20:15:36.498-04:00Nazca Booby Chase and 2017 ReviewIt has been a year since I added a new post to this blog. It is not that I have not been birding, but as I get further away from my lower 48 states big year in 2010, I have been weaning myself off putting out new posts whenever I do a lengthy bird trip, or do a rarity chase. This post is prompted by my having just returned from San Diego to see Nazca boobies, as well as wanting to summarize the efforts of the big year birders in 2017.<br />
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The Nazca booby is a South American seabird that breeds mainly on the Galapagos, Malpelo and La Plata Islands. It was split off from the masked booby as a result of DNA analysis back in 2000. It was added to the California checklist in 2014, and is now on the ABA checklist.<br />
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Four Nazca boobies were found before Christmas in the San Diego area. Two have continued to be seen in San Diego Bay, so a group of us from around the U.S. decided to fly out to San Diego this past Tuesday in hopes of seeing one. We were up before dawn on Wednesday, and headed to Attu Avenue, the closest land position from where the birds have been observed.<br />
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When we first began looking we found a brown booby flying from north to south. We carefully scanned the buoys on which the Nazca boobies have regularly been found resting, but initially did not find any. After about 30 minutes Bert Filemyr picked up in a scope a pair flying from south to north on the other side of the bay (photo taken by Laura Keene--click on any photo to enlarge). We watched them as they continued north, and then lost sight of them.<br />
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When they did not return, we walked out to our cars, and headed down to a small wetland south of Attu Ave. to fill some time prior to taking a boat out in hopes of getting better views and photos.<br />
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We were on our boat and out into the bay by about 9:15. We worked our way along the buoys, and then up along the floating security fence that separates the open bay area from the naval yard. We made a circuit twice over 90 minutes, but unfortunately did not relocate the pair of boobies.<br />
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After returning to the dock, we split up to go birding in different areas. Bert, Jay and I stopped to check out a red pipit site that was nearby, but found only American pipits feeding in the grass of a small park. <br />
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Next we drove 2 hours north up to Prado Regional Park to look for a white wagtail that had been found there recently. Fortunately we located it along the spillway that it had been frequenting. Jay and I had seen white wagtails in Alaska, but this was the first sighting for Bert in the ABA area. Not wanting to get caught in San Diego rush hour traffic, we headed back south. Enroute we talked with Neil to discover that he had returned to Attu Ave. mid afternoon, and had found 1 booby on a buoy. He decided to rent a boat on his own, and was able to get several photos including the 2 below.<br />
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We all gathered together about 5:30 at Pizza Nova near the San Diego airport to have a celebratory meal (from the left, Neil Hayward, Paul Lehman, me, Jay Lehman, Leslie Sours, Laura Keene, John and Bill Vanderpoel). Paul lives in San Diego, but did not bird with us today. Most of us saw Paul in April of last year when we did a repositioning cruise from San Diego to Vancouver where we were able to see Murphy's, Cook's and Hawaiian petrels along with other less rare pelagic species.<br />
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After dinner, Neil, Bert and I went to the airport to catch our red eye flights home. Bill, John, Jay, Laura and Leslie stayed overnight before heading home on Thursday.<br />
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Turning to a recap of the efforts by big year birders in 2017, I need to preface the 2017 summary by first updating the final results of 2016. In October of 2016, the ABA announced that the membership had voted to add Hawaii to the ABA area, but since the official list of birds from Hawaii had not been completed, birds seen in Hawaii in 2016 would not be counted in the big year totals for the ABA area. Three of the 2016 big year birders who passed 700 birds seen in what is now being called the continental ABA area (John Weigel, Olaf Danielson and Laura Keene) also birded in Hawaii.<br />
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John Weigel requested early in 2017 that the ABA reconsider the decision not to count Hawaii birds on 2016 big year lists. Over several months of back and forth, and after the ABA released its official list for Hawaii birds, the ABA finally concluded that the 2016 big year birders could add to their continental totals any birds seen in Hawaii that were now on the new, expanded ABA area list. As a result, the following are the new totals for 2016: John (new ABA--835; continental ABA 783); Olaf (new ABA--829; continental 778); and Laura (new ABA--814; continental 762).<br />
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In 2017, 5 birders passed the 700 level for birds seen in the continental ABA area, and 3 of them also birded in Hawaii. All of them still have provisional birds on their lists (a species not yet added to the official ABA checklist because the species was first recorded in the ABA area in 2017), so their big year totals will not be final until the provisional birds are voted on by the ABA review committee. That said, the following are the numbers for 2017: Yve Morrell (ABA--813 + 4; continental--757 + 4); Ruben and Victor Stoll (ABA--813 + 3; continental--759 + 3); Gaylee Dean (continental--745 + 2) and Dick Dean (continental--743 + 2).<br />
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If all the provisional birds are accepted, the final results would have Yve Morrell coming in first in the ABA area by 1 bird, and the Stoll brothers would end up in first place in the continental area by 1 bird. Obviously the records set in 2016 by John Weigel are far above the totals in 2017. It will likely be many years before either the ABA, or the continental ABA records will be eclipsed.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-72386008322328270872017-01-08T15:00:00.000-05:002017-01-14T07:36:12.337-05:002016: Holiday Chase and Year End ReviewThis may be the longest gap between posts on this blog. Other than watching the ABA big year birding saga unfold during the fall, I did not get out myself and bird much until right after Christmas. I spent Christmas in Brooklyn with my wife and our 2 grown kids. As we were driving up just before Christmas from Chapel Hill, NC, I read that a graylag goose (ABA code 5) was being seen in East Providence, RI, and 3 first year common shelducks (not yet on the ABA list) were at a wetland outside of St. John, NB.<br />
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While we were having a fine holiday over Christmas weekend I continued to read that these birds were still being reported. Since I was already in NYC, it made sense to consider going on up to the Boston area to meet up with other birding friends to look for these birds. My wife graciously agreed to drive home without me, so I arranged for my friend Bert Filemyr who lives just outside of Philadelphia to pick me up at 10:30 on Tuesday morning the 27th. We drove straight to Watchemoket Cove in East Providence to look for the graylag goose. We and many other birders looked for it from about 2 PM until dusk, but it never made an appearance. While staking out the location, a reporter and photographer for the Providence Journal showed up and interviewed several of us about the goose and why we were there trying to see it. They ran a nice story the next day.<br />
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Having missed the goose, the second part of our plan entailed meeting that evening our friend Laura Keene who had seen the goose at length on Monday. I wrote in my last post about Bert and me meeting Laura, Marty Riback, Doreene Linzell and John Weigel in August to look for himalayan snowcocks in the Ruby Mountains of NV as part of Laura's big year adventure. We had a nice meal at an Irish pub in Woburn, MA, and then went to bed at 9 PM because we were getting up at 2 AM Wednesday to make a 7 hour drive up to St. John, NB.<br />
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Neil Hayward, who lives in Cambridge, and set the big year record in 2013 (more on big years later in this post), met us to join the chase. The weather was good, and we arrived at the common shelduck site about 10:30 AM, timing our arrival with the high tide. At first we were unsuccessful in finding the shelducks along a boardwalk where they were most often seen. We then checked back down the road we drove in on, but also did not locate them. A couple driving out stopped to say they were back in the area we originally checked. We rushed back and went down a side trail at the beginning of the boardwalk. After about 200 yards we came upon a group of 10+ birders who had just been looking at the 3 birds. Two of the birders, Liz and Morris, were a couple we know from Newburyport, MA.<br />
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We all were trying to relocate the shelducks when they flew back in the direction from which we had just come. So we walked back to the boardwalk, and scoping the marsh we found them back up along the road. When we got back up to that spot, the ducks had moved further back into the marsh. Laura was able to get photos of them flying and feeding (at back of 2nd photo--click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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Neil unbeknownst to the rest of us had come prepared with a sign indicating that these ducks (if added to the ABA list--thus the ? on the sign) would raise his ABA life list to 800 total species seen. You will note the sign reads 797 + 3 because he is also awaiting the addition of Cuban vireo and pine flycatcher to the ABA list. Bert is on the far left and Laura should be obvious, as is Neil holding the sign.<br />
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We had a nice lunch with Liz and Morris in St. John before making the 7 hour drive back to Woburn.<br />
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Bert and I were on the road Thursday by 5:45 AM to get back down to Watchemoket Cove at first light to try for the graylag again. It was quite cold, but clear and windless. Even though there were no geese when we arrived, we positioned ourselves to scan the golf course that runs along the cove since this is where the goose was often seen with lots of Canada geese feeding in the grass. About 8:15 we noticed that 2 other birders had arrived, and had parked about 100 yards past our spot. We got out to talk with them when Bert looked out on the cove to see the graylag goose swimming along by itself.<br />
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We proceeded to approach the other 2 birders to make sure they had seen the goose to discover that it was David Nelson and Matthew Matthiessen from California. I had met them in May of 2009 in Cave Creek Canyon, AZ when looking for a tufted flycatcher. It turned out that they were flying up later that day to Halifax, NS, to be in position to drive over to see the shelducks. Then they planned to fly to St. Johns, NF, to bird there as well. A local stopped to chat and suggested that we drive around to the other side of the cove to get closer looks at the graylag. He proved to be right as we were able to walk close enough to get the photos of the goose taken by Bert. We parted ways about 9 AM, and Bert dropped me at LaGuardia airport on Long Island so I could fly home.<br />
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It was really great to finish up 2016 birding with several of my friends, particularly with Laura. She had decided at the end of last year to do a full ABA area big year with the primary goal of taking more photos of birds in a calendar year within the ABA area than anyone else. The record established in 2015 was 605 species photographed. As we were driving up to St. John, Laura was showing me on her camera many of the birds she had been able to take pictures of. Laura is an outstanding photographer, and so it came as no surprise that picture after picture were not just "record" shots for ID purposes, but photos that you would want to hang on your wall, or that would be selected by National Geographic for one of its articles. <br />
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Laura's goal was to try to take pictures of 97% of the bird species that she saw, and she finished the year at 741 species photographed--a truly amazing total. It seemed fitting that I ran into David Nelson at the graylag goose site because he originally set the photo record in 1996 when he took pictures of 412 different species of birds. His current life ABA list for photographed birds is now over 800.<br />
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This leads me into sharing the final results from the 2016 ABA big year birders, and my views on how the year turned out. First, for the first time ever 4 birders not only saw more than 700 different species in the ABA area in a calendar year, but all 4 of them broke the record of 749 set by Neil Hayward in 2013. For details of that big year and comparisons to the record of 748 set by Sandy Komito in 1998, please refer to my blog post from January 2014.<br />
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The final ABA area totals including provisionals (species that are not yet on the ABA official list) are as follows: John Weigel (780 + 3 provisionals); Olaf Danielson (776 + 2); Laura Keene (759 + 3); and Christian Hagenlocher (750 + 2). These results are nothing short of mind boggling if you know the history of ABA area big years. Dating back to 1983 when it first happened, there were only a total of 15 people who had ever seen more than 700 different bird species in a calendar year. In 1987 Sandy Komito set the record at 722, and then broke his own record in 1998 at 748. So Sandy held the ABA area big year record for 26 years until Neil moved into first place in 2013. <br />
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How did 4 birders in the same year break the old record? It is simplistic, but it all ties back to late 2015, and the first 1/2 of 2016 being an el nino weather pattern year. When Sandy set the record of 748 in 1998, it was the last significant el nino year. Sandy also spent 4 weeks on Attu, the most westerly island in the Aleutian Island chain. As a result, Sandy counted 96 code #3-5 birds on his list (the rarities). In 2013 Neil only saw 81 code #3-5 species, but he made up the difference by seeing more code #1 and #2 birds (the lion's share of birds species in the ABA area, and most common) plus the species splits and exotics added by the ABA to its list between 1998 and 2013.<br />
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John and Olaf each saw all the code #1 and #2 species. John saw 110 code #3-5 birds, and Olaf saw 105 code #3-5's. Laura and Christian each saw all but one of the code #1 and #2 birds. Laura saw 90 code #3-5's, and Christian saw 80 code #3-5's. It would not have been possible for all 4 of these birders to pass the record of 749 without having this kind of success in seeing code #3-5 species. And the fact that John and Olaf crushed the old record is because of their very high totals of code #3-5 birds. This is the same pattern seen when Sandy's 1987 record of 722 was smashed by him in 1998 with a new record of 748. Given the history of ABA big years, it will be some time before the 2016 record will be broken.<br />
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One of the fascinating facts about the final totals for the ABA area is that as in 1998, Attu proved to be a difference maker. A small group of birders was able to visit Attu by boat for a week, and John saw 3 birds there (common sandpiper, pintailed snipe and long-toed stint) that Olaf was not able to see since he did not visit Attu. They each saw 6 rarities that the other did not see: John (whooper swan, gray-headed chickadee, Hawaiian petrel, smew, white-tailed tropicbird, and cuban vireo); Olaf (siberian rubythroat, great knot, Trinidade petrel, hawfinch, marsh sandpiper, and yellow grosbeak). John also saw a kelp gull in Ohio, and a graylag goose in Rhode Island that Olaf chose not to try for.<br />
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That said, there is a new wrinkle to big year ABA efforts because in October of 2016 the membership voted to add Hawaii to the ABA birding map. Beginning sometime this year, the ABA will include Hawaii in its year and life list totals, and will retain the old ABA area list data under the heading of continental ABA. Knowing this change would be happening, Olaf, John and Laura all decided to do some birding in Hawaii at the end of 2016. While their totals will not be official, they provide a reference point for the new ABA area record potential. Specifically, their respective 2016 new ABA area totals will probably be: John (835 + 3); Olaf (832 +2); and Laura (814 + 3).<br />
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Other totals for categories in which records were set, or potential targets for setting future records include:<br />
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U.S.: John (832 + 2) and Olaf (827 + 1)<br />
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Lower 48: Olaf (722 + 1)<br />
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Doing a full ABA area big year is a monumental undertaking, so the tremendous effort and dedication demonstrated by all 4 of these birders should be acknowledged and commended. This is true of all that came before them as well, but 2016 had an added dimension that has never been part of the big year storyline from years past. I am referring to the unfortunate rancor and enmity that developed in the middle of 2016 when Olaf realized that John was also putting in an all out big year effort. <br />
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I can't personally speak to 1998, but the book the Big Year painted a largely friendly competition among Sandy, Al and Greg. Also, back then there were no blogs for a birder to report their big year story. I think the first of its kind was done by Lynn Barber in 2008. In my own big year in 2010, I met Bob Ake and John Spahr in the spring. Bob and I shared that each of us were doing blogs. We would follow each other's efforts after that online, and by the fall when it was mostly about chasing rarities, we would often bird together, and even share hotel rooms and rental cars.<br />
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Birding and the focus on making lists has always been compared to playing golf. There is a similar honor system in both pastimes. As far as I know, no fellow birder has ever publicly questioned the veracity of another birder's big year sightings. The expectation is that a birder is applying the equivalent of seeing a lifer for each bird put on his or her list. This means there should be no reasonable doubt that you saw a given bird. Sandy Komito is often referenced when he did not add great gray owl to his list in 1998 because he could not be certain that what appeared at a distance in poor light to be a great gray owl was in fact one. <br />
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In the modern era with digital cameras now available, most big year birders try to document at least the rarities they find, if not all the birds seen by them. But you can not always get a "record" shot for ID purposes. This is all the more reason why a birder needs to apply a very high standard of identification, and preferably if there is no photo there are other experienced observers who also saw the bird "well".<br />
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While the ABA has very clear big day guidelines, it has chosen not to establish similar guidelines for recording birds during big years. The ABA has continued to follow the honor system approach. I know I was amazed that in 2010 the ABA did not want to see my list. They just wanted me to submit a total number for their records. My understanding based on the ABA blog post about the year end totals for 2016 is that all 4 of the leading birders were asked to submit their lists prior to the blog post being published. This may be an indicator of things to come vis a vis big year efforts and the ABA.<br />
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I know that I still fondly remember my big year adventure using birding in the lower 48 states to focalize a year of travel that included visiting favorite places around the U.S., seeing friends, and eating great food. I saw the joy and elation on Laura's face last week as she was wrapping up her big year. In contrast, after Olaf worked so hard, traveled 300,000 miles by car and airplane, and spent $95,000 plus used 800,000+ frequent flyer miles, I find it very sad that he wrote in his big year summary on his blog that "I had basically wasted a year of my life chasing and counting birds. I really had."<br />
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In conclusion, I also noticed on the ebird lists that there were several couples who apparently were doing big years together in 2016, in a few cases seeing over 600 species. I also saw the names of friends or birders names that I recognize who were clearly regularly birding last year. With all the rarities still hanging around the lower 48 states at the beginning of this year, there are certainly plenty of reasons to be out birding.<br />
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Happy new year!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-78730317941812775202016-08-14T12:51:00.001-04:002016-08-18T00:18:06.349-04:00Himalayan Snowcock AdventureI have just returned from a quick visit to Utah and Nevada where I joined up with Laura Keene, Bert Filemyr, Doreene Linzell and Marty Riback mainly to visit the Ruby Mountains in NE Nevada in search of Himalayan snowcocks. Laura is doing a full ABA area big year, and the rest of us offered in the spring to assist her in looking for the often hard to find snowcock, which is an introduced game bird that is only found in the Ruby Mountains. It lives above the tree line which requires a 2 mile hike up from the parking lot in Lamoille Canyon to reach Island Lake (9700 ft elevation) that sits at the bottom of a large cirque (all photos except for the group shot (John) and the Island Lake photo (Laura) were taken by Bert. Click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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We flew into Salt Lake City on Tuesday the 9th, and made the 220 mile drive west to Elko, NV. After an early dinner we drove another 20 miles up to the small town of Lamoille to check into Hotel Lamoille--a nice 3 room place that would shorten our drive at 4 AM the next morning up to the end of the road in Lamoille Canyon. Since there was some daylight left, we went up to Pump House picnic area to look for Lewis's woodpeckers which we found. Even more intriguing for me was the hummingbird moths that were actively feeding on flower nectar.<br />
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You have 2 choices when it comes to looking for the snowcock. Either you can hike up late in the afternoon, and spend the night at Island Lake so you are ready to start searching at first light; or begin hiking up in the dark to arrive soon after first light. In 2010 when I did my big year I hiked up and spent the night in early July, but failed to either see or hear a snowcock. I tried again in August camping out overnight that time with my friend Rob Lowry. We heard snowcocks calling, but we were unable to locate them in the vast area of the cirque. So besides helping Laura, I also wanted to finally see a snowcock, thus removing the only "heard only bird" on my ABA life list.<br />
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Our group decided that hiking up in the dark was preferred. The trail is very well maintained and includes many switchbacks, so hiking with a headlamp is not difficult. Since it was 47 degrees when we set out at 4:45 AM, it also was very comfortable hiking compared to my late afternoon hikes in 2010 when the sun was pounding down on me and the temp was in the 80's. As we were about to start up the trail, John Weigel, who is also doing a full ABA area big year, drove up and said he would catch up with us. <br />
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Each of us walked at our own pace in climbing about 1000 feet of elevation which meant we reached the lake at different times. Soon after Marty, Bert and I arrived at the lake John caught up with us. The 4 of us then hiked up another 200-300 yards to a level spot, and just after 6 AM began searching for the snowcocks.<br />
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We knew that a few had been seen regularly in the cirque over the past few weeks, so we figured we would be able to find them. While the scopes were being assembled, I was scanning in the most likely area of the cirque when I noticed some movement at an estimated distance of 200-300 yards. Looking through 2 scopes we located at least 4 snowcocks, which are the size of a small turkey, slowly feeding on seed heads. They can be very difficult to find if they are not moving because their color is so similar to the rocks.<br />
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Laura and Doreene had not arrived yet, so John walked back down the hill a bit to find them working their way up the steep incline. First Laura got to the scopes, and a few minutes later Doreene joined us. John had already seen a flying snowcock in late July, but had returned to get photos. As a result, he headed back down the mountain sooner than we did. Before he left, he took a "record" shot of the 5 of us, and we also got one of him and Laura.<br />
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The rest of us were able to spend an hour overall watching the snowcocks feed. We also saw other birds in the cirque and on our way back down including mountain bluebird, Townsend's solitaire, white-crowned sparrow, pine siskin, junco, rock wren, Cassin's finch, MacGillivray's and Wilson's warblers, western wood pewee, northern flicker, kestrel and red-tailed hawk.<br />
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Since we were so successful in finding the snowcocks, it meant we could now drive back to Salt Lake City instead of needing to try again the next day. Enroute we stopped in some good habitat for juniper titmouse--a bird that Laura still needed for her big year list. We came up short, but early the next morning south of Salt Lake City we finally tracked down a couple.<br />
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Then we drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge which is about an hour north of Salt Lake City. We stopped on the way in Ogden for an early lunch at In-N-Out Burger which provided the "fuel" we needed to spend almost 4 hours birding the refuge.<br />
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On the drive in we saw a couple of eastern kingbirds, and then at the beginning of the auto tour we found lots of northern rough-winged, violet-green, barn and tree swallows, and both Clark's and western grebes. The drive provided lots of birds including white-faced ibis, mallard, redhead and ruddy ducks, cinnamon and green-winged teals, pied-billed grebe, avocet, black-necked stilt, American bittern, snowy egret, spotted sandpiper, willet, savannah sparrow, red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, northern harrier, California and Franklin's gulls, and Forster's and Caspian terns.<br />
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There were 1000's of coots and many juveniles with which most of us were not familiar. We finally found some large pools of water that had a few waders like western and Baird's sandpiper, killdeer, and lesser yellowlegs.<br />
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Near the end of the drive we happened upon a huge group of long-billed dowitchers. It is hard to accurately estimate such a large number, but it was easily the most at one spot that I had encountered. We concluded that the total was between 4,000 and 5,000 birds. The photo below only captures some of the flock.<br />
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We still had time to make one more stop at Antelope Island SP where many birders go to see their first chukar. The great Salt Lake is very low this year, so the water did not come close to the long causeway drive out to the island except where the road crossed a small connecting point. We found 1000's of Wilson phalaropes there, and a few bank swallows sitting on a wire. In 2010 when I came to the island to see a chukar, the water was up to the causeway, and 1000's of eared grebes were feeding. On Thursday there were only a few of them.<br />
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We stopped at the visitor center to enquire about recent chukar sightings. We were told to just look behind the center, and sure enough we found a few of them moving in and out of the vegetation. Sometimes you have to work very hard to see a chukar, so we figured it was a perfect bookend to our earlier success with the snowcocks.<br />
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Early on Friday Marty caught a flight home, and Laura took a flight to Dallas to search for buff-breasted sandpipers. Bert, Doreene and I went up into Big Cottonwood Canyon to see what we could find. It was only 45 degrees when we started birding before 7 AM, so the birds were not very active. Over the next 3+ hours we did see some new trip birds like red-breasted nuthatch, mountain chickadee, sharp-shinned hawk, orange-crowned warbler, Lincoln's sparrow, and stellar's jay. We stopped on our way down the mountain to have breakfast, and were treated to 4 different kinds of hummers feeding at the lodge's feeders--broad-tailed, black-chinned, rufous and calliope. It was a very nice end to our birding trip which included over 100 bird species in just 2+ days of birding.<br />
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I want to close this post with a short update on how the big year birders are progressing. As I said in early July, this is proving to be a record breaking year for full ABA area big year birders. As of today, both John Weigel and Olaf Danielson have broken the record of 749 set in 2013 by Neil Hayward. John is at 756 species plus 2 provisionals (first ABA area record birds that will need to be reviewed, and hopefully added to the official ABA list). Olaf is at 752 plus 1 provisional. Also, Laura Keene has now reached a total of 714 + 2, and Christian Hagenlocher is at 711 + 2. No other big year has had 4 people break 700 different species. Both Laura and Christian might also pass the old record by the end of December, and John and Olaf will add even more birds to their respective totals before year end. Good fortune and birding to all of them.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-3455266918820419062016-07-09T15:04:00.002-04:002016-08-14T23:06:03.216-04:00Pine Flycatcher and 2016 Big Year UpdateI just had an opportunity to get down to southeastern Arizona to do 3 days of birding in one of my very favorite places to visit. It was over 100 degrees each day, topping out one day at 105, but it was still enjoyable. On the 4th of July I spent my time over in the Sierra Vista area birding in Miller and Carr Canyons. The hummers at the Beatty Guest Ranch were fun to watch even though the white-eared hummer they often get each year did not come in to feed. The hummer group included broad-billed, broad-tailed, magnificent, rufous, black-chinned, violet crowned and anna's. My highlight for the day was seeing a northern pygmy owl up close that I found sitting on a tree branch as I was driving down the windy Carr Canyon road late in the afternoon. I was about to take a picture when another car drove up and scared the owl off.<br />
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On Tuesday the 5th I was up at 4 AM so I could get down to Madera and Florida Canyons before first light in order to try for poor wills along the road. Sure enough I found 3, and then spent about an hour walking part way up Florida Canyon listening to the morning chorus.<br />
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I stopped next on my way up to Madera Canyon to check out the desert species, and saw most of the usual suspects for this time of the year such as varied bunting, lucy's warbler, phainopepla, verdin, Bell's vireo, brown-crested flycatcher, canyon towhee, and rufous-winged, black-throated and Botteri's sparrows.<br />
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I then went up to the Santa Rita Lodge to look for the plain-capped starthroat that had been reported the day before. I ended up being there most of the day, arriving before 8 AM, and finally leaving a bit scorched from all the sun at 7:30 PM. There were several other birders who came and went, but none of us saw the starthroat fly in. We were entertained all day by many other hummers including a single brilliant male rufous, and many broad-billed hummers. Other birds coming to the feeding area included magnificent, anna's and black-chinned hummers, hepatic tanager, Scott's oriole, lesser goldfinch, brown-headed and bronzed cowbirds, Arizona and acorn woodpeckers, dusky-capped flycatcher, wild turkey, varied bunting, white-breasted nuthatch, bridled titmouse, Mexican jay and house finch.<br />
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Wednesday I was up again at 4 AM to make the 1 hour drive down to the intersection of Hwy 83 and Gardner Canyon road where I met Melody Kehl, a local bird guide. I have known Melody for years beginning when I road into California Gulch with her to see 5 striped sparrow and buff-collared nightjars. She was driven by her husband because of the absolutely worst road I have ever been on since the first trip many years ago into California Gulch. Edge Wade was also with her, a birder that I also met several years ago who lives in Columbia, MO where I grew up. I had last seen her during my big year in 2010 when we bumped into each other in South Dakota looking at an orange-billed nightingale-thrush. <br />
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Our goal for the morning was to try to see the first documented pine flycatcher found in the ABA area. Even though it was only 5-6 driving miles into the campsite where the bird had been found on May 30th, it took almost an hour to traverse this just horrible road that is actually pretty good for the first 3 miles. On our way in we heard black-chinned sparrows calling.<br />
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The pine flycatcher is found in Mexico and Guatemala, and is very similar to a cordilleran or pacific-slope flycatcher which are common in the west of the U.S. The sun was beginning to shine on the treetops in the campsite when we arrived at 6 AM, and fortunately the bird was sitting on the nest it had built 3 weeks earlier. Over the next hour we were able to get good looks at the flycatcher as it would periodically leave the nest to feed (the photos above and below were taken by Neil Hayward who had seen the bird a couple of weeks earlier--click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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We also saw a pair of sulfur-bellied flycatchers that were nesting in a sycamore tree, and had a first year male elegant trogon fly in. Towhees and juniper titmice were calling. As we were leaving 2 more high clearance vehicles arrived with 7 more birders. On our way out we found 2 montezuma quail crossing the road.<br />
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I was back at my car at 8 AM, and Melody and Edge headed off to try for another Mexican rarity--a slate-throated redstart that had bred in the Chiricahuas over the past few weeks. I checked my email and saw that I had a message from John Weigel who is doing a big year. He was at his hotel in Green Valley, the town below Madera Canyon, so I drove over to visit with him, stopping at Paton's and the Patagonia rest stop on the way. John and I had a nice visit, and then I drove back up to Tucson to have dinner with a long time friend who I had been staying with on this trip.<br />
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Seeing John prodded me to add to this post a mid year update on those birders doing a full ABA area big year in 2016. The headline has to be that as in 1998 when North America last experienced a full blown el nino, this year has seen a huge number of vagrants show up. But what is decidedly different in 2016 is the number in the first half of the year that have come to the lower 48 states. Also, because of the far superior communication via the internet, the big year birders are able to find out about rarities quicker, and in turn reach the birds in a more timely fashion which raises the odds of seeing a rarity.<br />
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How many people are doing a full ABA area big year is hard to determine, but I know of 4 who definitely are engaged in what is a huge undertaking. Because most of these 4 are listing their sightings on ebird, or have a blog site, it is possible to track their progress.<br />
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As of today, Olaf Danielson (olafsbigyear.blogspot.com) has seen 746 species plus has the pine flycatcher as a provisional (a bird documented for the first time in the ABA area that if accepted after a review process by the state in which it was found, and then by the ABA will be added to the ABA area list). Right behind him is John Weigel (birdingfordevils.com) who has seen 741 species plus 2 provisionals (cuban vireo and pine flycatcher). In third is Christian Hagenlocher (thebirdingproject.com) at 689 species with 2 provisionals (cuban vireo and pine flycatcher). In fourth position is Laura Keene who my readers may remember is a birding friend that provides me with so many good photos for this blog. She is at 665 plus 2 provisionals (cuban vireo and pine flycatcher). <br />
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For those not familiar with ABA area big years, these species totals for early July are historic in the case of Olaf and John. In 1998 when Sandy Komito set the record during the last el nino, he reached 696 birds by this date, and went on to set the then new record of 748 species seen by the end of 1998. In 2013 Neil Hayward broke Sandy's record when he saw 749 species, but his total on the first of july was only 653 species.<br />
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The ABA applies a code to each species seen in the ABA area. Code 1 and 2 cover at this point 672 birds out of the almost 1000 bird species ever recorded in the ABA area which is all of North America above the Mexican border. Practically all of the code 1 and 2 birds will be seen by a birder doing a full ABA area big year. So the key to putting up a big number and possibly setting a new big year record is tied to how many code 3-5 species are seen. In 1998 Sandy saw an amazing total of 96 code 3-5 birds. Neil saw only 81 code 3-5's in 2013, but made up the difference with code 1-2 birds that had been added to the ABA list between 1998 and 2013. These added birds are a result of splits of existing species, and introduced or exotic species that have been added to the ABA list.<br />
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What is truly amazing for all 4 of these birders this year is the huge number of code 3-5 birds they have already seen, and there are still almost 6 months left in the year. I do not have the exact numbers of rarities for Laura (65+) or Christian (50+), but including provisionals John has seen 89 and Olaf has seen 79 rarities. Even though John has more rarities seen so far, Olaf is currently a bit ahead of John in total species because he has already seen almost all of the code 1-2's whereas John has several more to pick up. That should change over the next few weeks as John fills in his missing code 1-2's.<br />
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Finally, what is also different about this big year is that it is the first time at least 4 birders will see more than 700 species in a year. Even more significant is that in every other record setting big year for the full ABA area, the "race" has not really been close between the leader and the runner-up(s). And given Olaf and John's current totals, at least 2 of these 4 will break the record set in 2013. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-21140697739254893182016-04-07T10:56:00.000-04:002016-04-12T22:12:09.467-04:00San Blas, Mexico 2/27-29/16Saturday was another early start. We were headed back up to the coffee plantation area, but stopped briefly on the way to check out a place in the small town below the plantation. It was pretty birdy and we found a bright-rumped attila.<br />
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We also had good looks at a scrub euphonia, and masked tityra.<br />
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Up at the coffee plantation we were less successful than on our previous visit. There were not nearly as many birds around, and when we finally heard a rosy thrush-tanager, we were totally unable to get it to come out for a viewing. After about 90 minutes we decided to try some new spots including a group of abandoned shrimp ponds. I had to take a picture of Dan Sanders in his house slippers scoping the ponds. He was having trouble with a sore toe, and decided to wear his slippers--this had to be a birding first for me.<br />
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The ponds were pretty productive for waders including our only reddish egret of the trip, and a couple of American avocets.<br />
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Later in the day we visited a place that had been good for gray-crowned yellowthroats. It did not disappoint, and we also had good looks again at white-collared seedeaters. We kept looking for ruddy-breasted seedeaters as well, but never found any that definitely could be identified.<br />
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We saw another laughing falcon, and finished our day hearing and finally getting a brief look at a lesser ground-cuckoo.<br />
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Most of day 9 was spent at a place called Tecuitata--a ridge road that we walked along for quite some distance. It was often shady, so the day was very delightful from a temperature point of view.<br />
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Our main target here was the San Blas jay which we did see initially at some distance, but then we were able to get much closer looks at this fine bird.<br />
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We saw many of the same birds we had seen during the trip like gray hawk, which was a daily bird for us, but also squirrel cuckoo, and rufous-backed robin.<br />
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Late morning a pick-up truck came by, and Dave had a short conversation with the people in it. He told us they were on the way over the hill to the beach. It turned out they had been hired by him to make us lunch which we discovered when we rounded a corner an hour later to find them cooking chili rellenos (photo taken by Laura Keene). This is a favorite Mexican dish for me, and these were the best I have ever eaten!<br />
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There were 2 huge fig trees on each side of our lunch table that kept dropping tiny figs on us. They also attracted lots of birds including a magnificent lineated woodpecker.<br />
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Our lunch spot looked out the the Pacific ocean, and at one point we watched a group of white pelicans soar by us.<br />
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After lunch we worked our way back down the road, and then went back to San Blas to take a very short boat ride over to Peso Island. It is called Peso Island because it originally cost 1 peso to ride over on the boat. Inflation of course has now raised the price to 20 pesos/person.<br />
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It was a very pretty weekend afternoon so you would have thought there would be lots of people on the beach. To our surprise we had the place to ourselves. Dave told us that other than Easter week, Mexicans do not spend time on the beach. A group of 15-20 Wilson's plovers popped up.<br />
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There was of course a gull flock that had terns mixed in, and also we found the ubiquitous ruddy ground dove. We walked out to the breakwater, and figured we could just walk back along the beach to the boat, but discovered that was not possible half way along. This caused us to cut through a pasture while fighting off the mosquitos that were coming out as the sun set.<br />
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It was hard to believe that Monday was already day 10, and our last day of birding. Before making the drive back up to Mazatlan, we had another boat trip which went up the Rio San Cristobal. We were on the river early on a blue sky day with a nice breeze.<br />
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Green kingfishers and black-crowned night-herons were seen often.<br />
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We had been hoping to find mangrove cuckoos, so we were pleased to get very good looks at one.<br />
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We saw more snail kites, and had a close up fly over from a roseate spoonbill.<br />
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We also got to view a wood stork rookery.<br />
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We still had 2 other target birds to find--spotted rail and hook-billed kite. We took our boat into a side channel that opened up into a large shallow wetland. When we heard a spotted rail calling, we worked for quite some time to draw it to us. As it moved closer and closer making intermittent calls, we did see common gallinule and a Ridgeway's rail. We also had 2 hooked-billed kites fly across the open area at some distance giving very unsatisfying looks for those of us who were facing in the right direction as they quickly passed us.<br />
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After maybe 20 minutes of patiently waiting, the spotted rail stuck its head out of the vegetation very near our boat, but when it looked up and saw us, it immediately turned around, stopped calling and disappeared. Unfortunately not all of our group was able to see it.<br />
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We needed to make our way back to the boat dock, and then return to the hotel for a final meal before starting for Mazatlan. We were on the road by about 1 PM for the 3+ hour drive. We decided to make one last stop at a place we had visited on day 1. Our target birds were rosy thrush-tanager and flammulated flycatcher. 2 or 3 of our group briefly saw the thrush-tanager, and all of us had good looks at the flycatcher.<br />
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We returned to Hotel Siesta in Mazatlan for our last night. We enjoyed one more meal together drinking margaritas and cold Mexican beer. We all were very happy to have had such a good trip together, and particularly to have seen so many birds that are only seen rarely and often not very well in the ABA birding area. We had such good views of some of these birds that we started talking about not life birds for our lists, but life looks meaning the best view we had ever had of a species. The total species count of seen and/or heard birds came to 299. I know that I saw over 50 new life birds.<br />
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As the meal wound down, we said our good-byes because Dave was taking Neil, Dan and Doreene to the airport at 4:30 AM, and then driving home to Alamos. Bert, Laura, Marty and I were not flying out until 11:45 AM. I would highly recommend this trip guided by Dave to anyone wanting to dip their feet into what birding in Mexico has to offer.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-26058446138438542022016-04-01T15:26:00.001-04:002016-04-12T22:14:23.637-04:00San Blas, Mexico 2/24-26/16On Wednesday morning we were up at 5 for breakfast and on the road by 5:30 to make the drive up into a coffee plantation that was no longer fully managed. The elevation took us up out of the sea level habitat. The bird viewing for the first hour was very active, but they were quite high up in the trees. Golden-cheeked woodpeckers were abundant. Other highlights included bat falcon, elegant euphonia, elegant and citreoline trogons, rufous-backed robin, happy wren, and western tanager.<br />
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The road through the plantation was a fairly rough cobblestone type that seemed very old, and very necessary if it has been raining. We worked our way down the road, stopping and scanning as best we could through the heavy foliage. We picked up lilac crowned parrot, and saw gray-crowned woodpecker; greenish elaenia; boat-billed flycatcher; ivory-billed woodcreeper; western long-tailed hermit; and red-crowned ant-tanager. Like most days of our trip we heard collared forest-falcon, but never once did we see one. Other heard only birds that morning included russet-crowned motmot, and colima and ferruginous pygmy owls. <br />
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After our siesta we visited crocodilo road which gave us a wide variety of bird life beginning with our first bare-throated tiger-heron of the trip.<br />
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We also had a northern jacana.<br />
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Groove-billed anis were around.<br />
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The first laughing falcon of our trip made an appearance, as did a black hawk.<br />
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Driving into San Blas yesterday Dave had seen a crane hawk fly over that the rest of us missed, so we were very glad when one come by.<br />
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Other birds seen along the road included white-throated, willow and vermilion flycatchers; white-collared seedeater; lincoln sparrow; thick-billed and tropical kingbirds; orange-crowned, nashville, Macgillivray's, Wilson's and yellow warblers; and mangrove and northern rough-winged swallows. After a long and pretty toasty afternoon, we were more than ready to get back to the hotel for beers and dinner.<br />
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We were up even earlier on Thursday because we had to drive over an hour to a mid elevation site for our morning birding. The area is called Cerro de San Juan. Our main targets were various hummingbirds. There were of course several white-eared, but we also picked up berylline.<br />
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The others included calliope, cinnamon and finally a bumblebee. The best though was the Mexican woodnymph.<br />
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Two birds that had been eluding us were the rufous-crowned ground-sparrow, and the rusty sparrow.<br />
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We stopped at a high altitude ranch that had a large group of spotted wrens, and along the road we found our first stripe-headed sparrow of the trip.<br />
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After a picnic lunch in the cool highlands where we saw our first green jays of the tour as well as several warbler species like black-throated gray, yellow-rumped and rufous-capped, we drove down to sea level to find a marshy area that Dave had heard about. We wandered around on back roads a bit before we finally located it, but it was well worth it.<br />
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There were a large number of black-bellied whistling ducks, but most amazing was the huge number of female and immature snail kites.<br />
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There were also many limpkins.<br />
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As the sun fell low in the sky, we made our way back to the hotel for more beer and good food which this time of year meant lots of variations on wild caught shrimp from the Pacific ocean (photo taken by Laura Keene).<br />
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Friday morning was not quite such an early start, but we were still on the road before 6 AM. Our morning was spent walking along Singayta Road. Since we were now on our 7th full day of birding, and 3rd in the San Blas area, the number of new species for us was beginning to decline. The morning was very delightful nevertheless. Some previously seen birds included golden-cheeked and gila woodpeckers; great kiskadee; red-billed pigeon; white-winged, white-tipped, and inca doves; groove-billed ani; cinnamon hummer; orange-fronted parakeet; and dusky, pacific-slope, and social flycatchers.<br />
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New seen birds for the trip included a great black-hawk, fan-tailed warbler, Mexican parrotlet, and russet-crowned motmot.<br />
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After our siesta we all piled into a small boat for a late afternoon until dark trip on Rio Tovara. The first part had us follow the river out to its mouth. Along the way we stopped and called out a rufous-necked wood-rail. I also briefly saw a jaguarundi walking along the far side of the river, but it moved into the vegetation before I could get anyone else on it.<br />
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The main reason for the boat trip was to go up river through the mangroves to the large spring that feeds the river. It was a beautiful evening, and with all the bird life it turned into a very magical time.<br />
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The number one goal was to find one of the strangest of birds--the boat-billed heron. We located 2 roost areas. A truly stunning bird, but such an odd bill.<br />
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Near dusk we found a white-tailed kite. Just before that we had an unusual encounter with a merlin that circled over our boat time and again before finally disappearing. We almost felt like the bird was dive bombing us. <br />
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The other most interesting bird of the evening was the northern potoo. Over an hour's time we encountered 8 of them. It seems like the perch goes right into its stomach since you can not see its feet. We also flushed a few paraques.<br />
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We ate later than normal, but no one was complaining after such a perfect tour of the river.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-74113416779178201922016-03-31T13:42:00.001-04:002016-04-07T10:59:10.544-04:00Durango Highway, Mexico 2/20-23/16When I visited Gambell and Nome in Alaska back in 2006, our guide in Nome was Dave MacKay. I really liked his guiding style and skills, so we continued to stay in touch. Dave lives in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico with his wife Jen. I visited them in 2008, and again in 2009 when we joined him on what turned out to be 2 consecutive "big days" in Sonora. My friend Marty was part of those 2 days, and his nephew, David Wilson--a documentary film maker--and his crew recorded the trip. From the film footage, David made a 13 minute short called the Big Birding Day which was shown at several film festivals, and also ran on PBS.<br />
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I had wanted to do a birding trip guided by Dave in Mexico, so this past February I organized a group of some of my favorite birding friends (Bert Filemyr, Neil Hayward, Laura Keene, Doreene Linzell and Dan Sanders, and Marty Riback) to spend 10 days birding part of the Durango Highway, and the area around San Blas. Today's post covers the Durango part of the trip. All the photos were taken by Bert Filemyr unless otherwise indicated.<br />
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We all flew into Mazatlan on Friday the 19th so that we would be ready to start at sunrise on the 20th. After scoping the ocean in front of our waterfront hotel, we ate a light breakfast, and then jumped into our van to start working our way up into the mountains by way of the Durango Highway. Our first couple of stops were <span style="text-align: center;">still at lower elevation where we saw 30-40 rufous-bellied chachalacas.</span><br />
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We also had our first sightings of citreoline trogons, and purple-backed jays. Other birds included white-collared seedeater, grayish saltator, sinaloa crow, curve-billed thrasher, and blue-gray gnatcatcher.<br />
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We had chosen the end of February for the trip because the weather was normally dry and the air temp even at sea level would be comfortable. As it turned out we got it half right in that we saw no rain, but temps in general ran about 10 degrees warmer than normal, so by the afternoons even in the mountains it was fairly toasty, and at sea level it meant we took a siesta.<br />
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On our first day at lower elevation it was very warm. When we stopped in La Noria for a rustic lunch, I made the mistake of passing on the molcajete which may have been the most unique dish of the entire trip. It is a hot broth poured into a heated volcanic rock bowl. Raw shrimp and some cheese are then added which cook in the steaming liquid.<br />
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As we made our way up to Copala where we would spend the next 3 nights, we stopped to check out various spots where Dave had had good success in the past. In most cases we found the target birds, like the white-tailed hawk, and the ivory-billed woodcreeper, but not always. <br />
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Our hotel for the night was Daniel's which did quite well until they completed a new toll road that bypasses the town of Copala. Also, the cruise ships would send day buses up to Copala, but with the increased news coverage of the drug cartel wars in Mexico, tourists were not so keen on making day trips away from the port cities. As you can see, the room rates were extremely reasonable (when we were there a dollar was worth 18 pesos).<br />
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After walking up thru the village and having a simple dinner at Alejandro's, we returned to Daniel's to try to hear a mottled owl. Our efforts proved fruitless, so we turned in for the night. About 4:30 AM I heard the mottled owl calling outside my window, but when I got up an hour later to look for it, it had left. We did have a non-stop calling ferruginous pygmy owl, but it remained well hidden in the thick foliage of the tree it was in.<br />
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We were on the road before sunrise to make the drive up to the tufted jay preserve which is at about 8,000 ft elevation. We stopped soon after the sun was up near a lumber mill to check out some mixed habitat with particular focus on finding a bumblebee hummer, but none were there. Instead we had a rufous hummer.<br />
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We did see many other birds like brown-backed solitaire, golden vireo, greater pewee, tufted flycatcher, white-throated thrush, and rufous-capped warbler.<br />
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We next stopped a short way into the preserve to check on a stygian owl roost, but the pair that had been seen there just a few days before were not around. We did see several warbler species including our first crescent-chested, hermit, Townsend's, black and white, and grace's warblers of the trip; ruby-crowned kinglet; common raven; and Scott's oriole; and hepatic, flame-colored and red-headed tanagers.<br />
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As we approached the preserve entrance we found both green-striped and rufous-capped brush-finches. Inside the preserve we did located both black-throated magpie jays and tufted jays. The preserve was created because this is the only place the tufted jay exists.<br />
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While enjoying the tufted jays we heard and then found a mountain trogon. We also found our first white-striped woodcreeper.<br />
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Dave heard a less roadrunner calling which we were able to track down. In the same area we got brief looks at a russet nightingale-thrush.</div>
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Just before having lunch we also had unusually good views of the generally very skulky blue mockingbird, and nearby was a white-eared hummer on its nest. There were several gray silky-flycatchers at the preserve as well.<br />
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Instead of returning on the very windy old road, we came down the mountain on the much faster toll road where we found out first bat falcon for the trip.<br />
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Back in Copala we pretty much had a repeat of the night before with a simple meal at Alejandro's and once again could not turn up the mottled owl at dusk which might have been because of the party just down the hill from Daniel's which as it turned out went on all night.<br />
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The next morning we once again had the ferruginous pygmy owl calling repeatedly, and this time we were able to find its perch. After another quick breakfast we once again went back up to the tufted jay preserve in hopes of finding the stygian owl, but to no avail. We saw many of the same passerines from the day before at the owl location adding white-breasted and pygmy nuthatches.<br />
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We drove up to the preserve entrance again, and finally saw our first red warbler, later we had a zone-tailed hawk sighting.<br />
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We went part way back down the preserve gravel road to a turn off that took us down into a drainage where we had lunch. At our lunch spot we had Scott's and Bullock's orioles. We then walked down the drainage where we found a second golden-browed warbler for the trip, as well as several slate-throated redstarts and another red warbler. This drainage had generally been a good spot for gray-collared becard, but not for us.<br />
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We stopped at Petaca on the way home to try for rusty sparrow and rusty-crowned ground-sparrow, but found neither one. After returning to Copala, we walked one of the roads before dinner and finally got good looks at yellow grosbeaks. One more dinner at Alejandro's was followed by another evening without a mottled owl showing up.<br />
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On Tuesday morning it was time for us to finish up our Durango Highway visit, so we spent the morning after our early breakfast at Panuco road. One of the highlights was locating a colima pygmy owl which we had been hearing for a couple of days already.<br />
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We also found a Nutting's flycatcher that even opened its mouth which allowed us to confirm that it was orange. Other birds of note during the morning included military macaws; pale-billed woodpeckers; orange-fronted parakeets; black-throated magpie jays; thick-billed kingbirds; elegant trogons, and a heard only vermiculated owl.<br />
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Our drive to San Blas was about 4 hours, so by mid day it was time to move on. As we returned to sea level, the bird life changed so we picked up enroute our first Harris's hawk. Where the highway ran next to the Pacific ocean we began to see more waterfowl such as various egrets, herons. and waders. Just as we approached San Blas we stopped at a wetland that had lots of water birds and of course crocodiles. <br />
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We were more than happy to reach Hotel Garza Canela which would be our home for the next 6 nights while we did our birding around San Blas. And we were even happier to begin to enjoy the fine food that was offered daily on the hotel menu.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-83712370182541235802016-03-15T11:08:00.001-04:002016-03-22T20:04:31.038-04:00Zenaida Dove!!On the 21st of February just after I had left for a 10 day birding trip in Mexico (blog post soon to follow), a zenaida dove (ABA code 5) was found at Long Key SP in the Florida Keys. This is the same park that 2 Key West quail-dove were being seen for several months at the end of 2014 and into 2015. I attended a documentary film festival in Missouri on my way back from Mexico, so I was not able to go to look for the zenaida dove until yesterday.<br />
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I flew down to Miami Sunday evening, and was at Long Key State Park when they opened at 8 AM yesterday. Neil Hayward had sent me detailed info on where to stake out the bird. And stake out is the correct term since it does return to the same part of the Golden Orb trail to feed, but only for a couple of minutes, and often just once or twice a day.<br />
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When I first arrived, I saw a dove down the trail, but it walked into the woods before I could get my binocs on it. I walked up to the spot I had seen it last, but it was not visible. Then I heard a dove calling, and found what turned out to be a common ground dove perched some distance away in a tree. <br />
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It was a pretty morning with some breeze coming off the water, so I settled in to watch for the zenaida. I only had 2 catbirds and a pair of cardinals at first. Then an ovenbird and a prairie warbler brightened my day. Fortunately since it was a Monday, there were not a lot of hikers on the trail to scare off birds from coming in to seek seed and grit. An occasional kayaker would come paddling by, and overhead 3 osprey would make periodic forays. Of course now and again brown pelicans or magnificent frigatebirds would sail by.<br />
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About 10 AM I had my first mourning doves arrive to feed. The zenaida dove looks very similar, but it is a bit bigger, a bit browner/darker, has a small white patch on the trailing edge of its wing, and a tail that is a bit shorter and more square compared to the mourning dove (photo below taken by Neil Hayward).<br />
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About 1 PM 3 birders joined me. They were from MN, CO and CA. Just before 2 PM we suddenly <span style="text-align: left;">noticed a dove feeding on the edge of the trail. At first we could only </span><span style="text-align: left;">see its head and the front half of its body which looked very similar to a mourning dove except it was browner. We kept waiting for it to move into full view, and when it did we knew that it was the zenaida dove. It flushed into the </span><span style="text-align: left;">woods, but soon returned for even better looks before flying off again.</span></div>
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When it did not return a third time, I decided it was time to make my way back up to Miami to catch my evening flight home. I stopped at Everglades NP for a short walk at the Anhinga Trail. It was pretty slow birdwise, but there were a few alligators. Getting back to the airport proved uneventful, but I can not say the same for my flight home which departed 2 hours late. I was finally in bed just after 3 AM.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-77357378329413721612016-01-13T10:47:00.001-05:002016-01-13T10:54:02.196-05:00Redwing AND Siberian Accentor!A redwing (ABA code 4) was discovered on Vancouver Island, BC in late December. Neil Hayward called me to see if I wanted to join him and Gerri on the 1st of January to try to see the bird. I could not get away, but they were successful in finding it after 7 hours of diligent searching on January 2nd. My friend Laura Keene, who is doing a photographic full ABA area big year, was there on January 1st to look for the redwing to begin her big year. The photo below of the redwing was taken by Laura (click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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I kept checking Narba on the redwing's status. While difficult to see in the dense holly hedgerow, it was being found each day. Then Narba reported that a siberian accentor (ABA code 4) had been found on the Christmas Bird Count in the town of Surrey which is a large suburb of Vancouver. With 2 potential life birds so close together, I decided I needed to make the trip out to try to see both of them. I caught a flight Friday afternoon the 8th to Seattle, and by 11 PM was settled into a motel in Bellingham, WA for the night.<br />
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I was up at 4:30 to make the drive on into Canada to catch the 7 AM ferry from Tsawwassen over to Swartz Bay which is about 30 kilometers north of Victoria where the redwing had been found. I watched a beautiful sunrise on the ferry, and arrived at the redwing location about 9:15. There were 5 other birders there including Olaf Danielson who is doing a full ABA area big year. I was shown a photo that Olaf had been able to get, and was told that the bird had not been seen for at least 15 minutes. We all kept looking for it to show itself again, but only one fleeting glimpse of it occurred which was not good enough for a definitive ID.<br />
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Sightings of the redwing in the holly had mostly been between 8 and 9 AM, and again between 3 and 4 PM, with some random visits during the day to the holly. Otherwise it might be encountered anywhere in the general area, but the odds were much lower.<br />
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The other birders departed about 10, and I was left on my own under mostly sunny skies and a temperature of 40 degrees. Sometime after 11 AM I was joined by Daniele, a birder from Vancouver, who had come over on the 9 AM ferry. He told me he had seen the siberian accentor the day before, and that it was still being seen that morning. My hope was to see the redwing today, and then be able to look for the accentor the next day.<br />
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We patiently kept up our vigil, watching many different birds moving thru the holly as well as flying overhead, but no sign of the redwing. About 2 PM a few other local birders began to come by in hopes of seeing the redwing when it returned to the holly for the night. About 3 PM 2 birders I know from Texas, Nick Cooney and Lucie Bruce, stopped to say hi. They had seen the redwing in the morning, but had left the site before I arrived. We had last seen each other in Florida in October looking for the variegated flycatcher.<br />
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After 4 PM most of the other birders slowly departed. I stayed until 5 PM, as did Daniele, but we never were able to find the redwing. We did see a total of 37 bird species though during our stake out. By then I was so cold from standing around all day on wet, cold ground that I was more than ready to check into a motel, and get into a hot shower.<br />
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I was up early, and back on watch by 8 AM. Daniele arrived soon after, and then a couple of other birders as well. About 8:30 Daniele briefly saw the redwing along with a woman from the area, but it moved back into the holly before I could find it. 20 minutes later Daniele saw it again, but again I was not quick enough to spot it before it disappeared. <br />
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I left about 10 to go have breakfast and warm up. I ended up watching the Seattle Seahawks lucky win over the Minnesota Vikings when the Vikings place kicker missed a last second short field goal attempt.<br />
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I was back at the redwing site by 2 PM. Unlike in the morning when it was overcast, this afternoon was beautifully sunny. I found several local birders including Ann Nightingale who had set the big year record in 2015 for Vancouver Island. She told me she had seen Neil and Gerri the previous weekend. About 3:45 the redwing was spotted by 1 birder, but then it hid before anyone else could get on it. A little after 4, the same thing happened again. I finally threw in the towel at 4:45, and checked back into my motel for a 2nd night. After 14 hours of looking for the redwing, and the near miss sightings, I was beginning to feel like when I was searching for the Key West quail-dove in Florida back in December of 2014.<br />
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I arrived Monday at 8 AM under overcast skies, and was joined by Wayne Weber and Ann Nightingale from the day before. Soon after a car drove up. Dottie Robbins from Florida, and Liz Southworth from Massachusetts--both of whom I know--joined us. About 9 AM Liz saw the redwing, and this time it stayed out in the open long enough for all of us to get on it. Over the next 30 minutes we were able to see it well a couple of more times. <br />
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The day before Liz had been able to see the siberian accentor, but Dottie had not arrived in time to visit the accentor location, so we all decided to get back on the ferry to return to Surrey to look for the other bird. After a nice ferry ride where we were able to watch various seabirds, we drove 30 minutes to the accentor site. We arrived to find 10-15 birders standing in the rain. We were told that the bird had just been seen for the first time that day. We got out our umbrellas, and joined the group. When the bird was not immediately relocated, several birders departed, but there were still a half dozen of us to scan the area. Fortunately, the accentor was soon found only about 100 yards away sitting up in a tree. My views were not great, but I could definitely see the key field marks to identify the bird.<br />
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With the rain falling steadily, I bid farewell to Dottie and Liz, and began the drive back down to Seattle to catch my redeye flight home. I was feeling very fortunate to have in the end been able to see 2 more ABA life birds. And as so often happens on rare bird chases, I was also glad to run into Lucie, Nick, Dottie and Liz.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-29174417465643035892016-01-01T14:22:00.001-05:002016-01-18T10:21:37.944-05:002015 Year End ReviewAnother year has begun today, so it is time to look back on my birding year in 2015 as well as a wrap up on last year's big year efforts. I would not say I birded extensively in 2015, but I did make my usual trip to Magee Marsh in early May, and spent 2 weeks in Alaska, mostly on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs. I also did some chasing that was highly successful. Those chases are all recorded in last year's blog posts. I was able to add 7 life birds (in chronological order: Eurasian kestrel, rustic bunting, bananaquit, black-faced grassquit, rufous-necked wood-rail (accepted in 2015 as a new ABA area species), jack snipe and variegated flycatcher. This raised my ABA area life list total to 795.<br />
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I also saw a common scoter and a Pallas's rosefinch, which if accepted by the ABA, would both be first ABA area records (click on any photo to enlarge).</div>
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Turning to big year efforts in 2015, the only declared world big year was by Noah Strycker, who completed his world big year with the absolutely stunning total of 6042 species, which blew away the record of 4341 set in 2008 by Alan Davies and Ruth Miller. And Noah wrote in his last blog post that Arjan Dwarshuis from Holland is aiming to break Noah's new record in 2016.</div>
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As far as ABA area big years, only Dan Gesualdo from Ohio established a blog to track his lower 48 states big year. He was not able to bird full time, but he still ended the year with 678 species. Other apparent big years included Brandon Reo's who did the full ABA area, and finished with over 700 species seen. Based on his communications with Neil Hayward, his exact total is not clear because he had over 20 birds on his ebird list that are not countable as ABA birds. Wendy and Mike Schackwitz finished their full ABA area birding year at 692 species based on their ebird list.<br />
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As for 2016, my friend Laura Keene is on Vancouver Island today beginning her full ABA area photographic big year. She was able to see the ABA code 4 redwing yesterday, and hopefully will see it again today. 1 other birder has declared that in 2016 he is doing a full ABA area big year--Olaf Danielson. <br />
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My next birding adventure will be a 10 day trip in February to San Blas and the Durango Highway in Mexico. I will be joined by 6 other birders who have birded with me often. Here's to a great year for birding in 2016.</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-15393765142689125982015-10-28T07:56:00.002-04:002015-10-28T18:34:06.433-04:00Variegated Flycatcher!!!The sixth ever recorded variegated flycatcher in the ABA area was discovered at Evergreen Cemetery in Ft. Lauderdale, FL this past Saturday. This is a species that breeds in northern and central South America, so its appearance in the ABA area suggests a post wintering reverse migration pattern. Neil Hayward emailed me asking if I was interested in chasing it. I said I would think about going if it was reported the next day.<br />
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On Sunday morning it was reported again on the Tropical Audubon Society site, and then on Narba. I called my friend Bob Wallace who lives in Gainesville, FL to find that he was already on his way there with his brothers and his friend Dex. He and I had spent over a month together in East Africa birding in the summer of 2012, and stay in touch. I had met Dex and Bob originally in 2006 at Gambell, AK, and then reconnected in 2010 during my big year. By mid afternoon his group had seen the bird, and were already driving back north (photo below taken by Bob. Unless attributed to someone else, all photos were taken by me. Click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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Neil and I decided to come down on Monday morning. He flew into Miami from Boston, arriving 2 minutes after my flight from Raleigh/Durham. We got our rental car, and headed up to the cemetery, passing thru a brief shower. As we drove in about 10 AM we passed a nice group of white ibis. We immediately headed over to where all the birders were staring up into a large tree. <br />
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With some friendly assistance we were able to locate the variegated flycatcher, but it took a few minutes because there were so many birds feeding in the tree including many warblers (photo taken by Neil).<br />
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As is common when a rarity is found, other birders from around the country had come to see it. Susan Clark came up to us to say hi. We had birded with her in September at the Pribs in Alaska. Then Neil saw that Brandon Reo was also there with a friend. They chatted briefly about Brandon's very successful year of birding (692 birds so far recorded on his 2015 ABA area ebird list).<br />
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After about 20 minutes the flycatcher flew back over to a strangler fig that has been its preferred feeding location, so we walked over to watch it some more. Neil proceeded to take a huge number of photos, and shared the one above with me. While watching the bird, Lucie Bruce and Nick Cooney walked up having flown in from Texas. I had last seen them also in Pribs back in the fall of 2013. While visiting, some other birders told us that there was a spot-breasted oriole feeding over by the canal that runs along the edge of the cemetery.<br />
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We walked over to try to find it, and ran into Monte Taylor who was in from California. He is at the top of the ABA area list for photographed birds. The variegated flycatcher raises his total to 851. We did not locate the oriole, but a huge lizard was hanging out in the tree where it had been seen.<br />
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We kept moving back and forth between the oriole site and the flycatcher site, and finally we were able to see the oriole (photo taken by Neil). The spot-breasted oriole is a Miami area specialty, so it was nice to be able to find one.<br />
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As it got closer to our time to head back to the airport, local bird guides Angel and Mariel Abreu arrived. I had met them back in 2013 at Bill Baggs SP which is located on Key Biscayne. I had come down that time to try to see a bananaquit and a western spindalis. Unlike this trip, I missed both of those birds. Jeff Bouton also showed up at about the same time. Another birder took a group shot of us (Neil, Mariel, Jeff, me and Angel). It was a nice way to end our short but very birdy visit. In the 3+ hours that we were in the cemetery, we were constantly seeing birds, and totaled over 10 warbler species alone plus we ran into so many other birders we know from around the country.<br />
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One last note for this post. On 10/26, Noah Strycker saw a flame-crowned flowerpecker in the Philippines for his 5000th new bird for 2015. He still has 2 months of birding, so who knows how high his new world big year record will be.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-37563987920390645422015-10-01T12:26:00.001-04:002015-10-01T16:14:16.506-04:00Big Year 3/4 Pole UpdateIt is October 1st so I am doing a short post on this year's big year efforts as the birders turn onto the home stretch of their birding adventure. As I have said in earlier posts, I do not know anyone that is definitely doing a full ABA area big year in 2015. However, in checking the ebird top 100, it seems that Mike and Wendy Schackwitz (663 different species year to date), and Brandon Reo (653) are doing big years based on their high totals and constant birding activity. In the lower 48 category, Dan Gesualdo (636), a birder from Ohio that I know who I have mentioned in an earlier post, is also still doing a big year.<br />
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I do know of one world big year that is being done by Noah Strycker. I have mentioned him earlier this year saying that you can follow his efforts on his blog which can be found on the Audubon site. On September 16th Noah passed the old record (4341) set back in 2008 by Alan Davies and Ruth Miller. With his goal of seeing at least 5000 bird species in 2015, he is continuing to bird in Asia, and then will finish up in Australia and New Zealand. As of 9/30 his world total for 2015 is at 4565 species with the most recent ebird post being Pallas's fish-eagle. I have never seen a fish-eagle, but the photo above is of a Verreaux's eagle-owl that I took when I birded in East Africa in 2012 (the entire trip was recorded in earlier posts back in 2012). He should have no trouble passing 5000 birds for the year.<br />
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I was also sent a photo taken by Cory Gregory (click on any photo to enlarge), one of our guides on the Pribs, of all of us except Neil Hayward taken in the upper cut of the quarry on the day that the Pallas's rosefinch was first found. As I wrote in my last post, it is a great day for any birder when they get to participate in recording the first ever sighting of a bird in the ABA area. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-15237880940872776032015-09-26T14:56:00.000-04:002015-09-27T11:05:54.166-04:00Pribilof Islands--9/11-23/2015In the spring I decided that I wanted to return this fall to bird at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs which is located in the Bering Sea. It is north of the Aleutian Island chain, and south of Russia. The plane flight from Anchorage takes about 3 hours. I had visited here for 20 days back in September and October of 2013. You can read my blog posts from that trip by checking the entries for those months of that year.<br />
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I talked with some other birding friends about joining me. Three committed early on to also come--John Vanderpoel, Dan Sanders and Doreene Linzell. Dan and Doreene had been with me for part of my visit in 2013, and John had most recently come to the island in 2011 during his big year. Once we arrived on Friday afternoon the 11th, we were joined by 2 more birders (Barbara Carlson and Sue Drown), and then mid trip Neil Hayward surprised us when he arrived on Friday the 18th. The photo below was taken by one of our guides at Hutchinson Cut near the end of our stay (from left to right: Neil, Dan, Doreene, John, me, Barbara, and Sue. Click on any photo to enlarge. All photos were taken by me unless attributed to someone else).<br />
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Given how remote and small St. Paul Island is, this is a place only visited by very committed birders. The fall weather is generally mixed rain, clouds and some sun with temps in September during the day in the mid 40's to low 50's, and upper 30's at night. It is usually windy (10-20 mph) to very windy with gusts well over 40 mph during big storms. At the beginning of our stay the sun rose around 8:45 AM and set around 9:45 PM, and with each passing day we lost about 5 minutes of daylight. It is definitely challenging birding involving walking between 5 and 10 miles a day, including thru dense patches of wild celery, and riding in a van or bus to reach the different best birding spots. <br />
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The daily routine involved 3 birding segments. The morning period was from 9 to 11:30, and generally began by driving slowly along one of the 3 main roads in hopes of finding an Asian passerine. The after lunch segment began by 12:30 and finished between 5 and 5:30. The evening session would begin between 6 and 6:30, and finish up anywhere from 8-9:30. A few days after the first 6 of us arrived, other birders also came onto the island, and they formed a second group to provide even more thorough coverage each day of the island's birding hotspots.<br />
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The bird guiding/transportation is provided by St. Paul Island Tours which is led by Scott Schuette. He was assisted by Cory Gregory and Alison Vilag. Each day one of the 3 would be our guide for the day. <br />
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Birders visit St. Paul Island from mid May through early October, with most of them coming either from late May to mid June, and again from mid August into early October. The attraction is the breeding seabird colonies on the island which include puffins, auklets, murres and cormorants plus the slim possibility to see lost/rare Asian shorebirds, ducks and passerines.<br />
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On our first day we visited a cliff that during the summer is covered with breeding seabirds like the horned puffin (photos above and below taken by Neil Hayward), and even in September has a few still roosting there. We also saw a pacific wren which we did not see back in 2013 because the previous severe winter had been very hard on the wrens. <br />
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Friday the 11th and Saturday the 12th proved fairly uneventful with our best bird being a brambling (ABA code 3) that we saw briefly in the upper cut of the quarry. There were also a very rare for the island Barrow's goldeneye with some injury that kept it from flying, and a solitary sandpiper . We looked for the wood sandpipers that had been around, but they had left. Instead we did see many sharp-tailed and pectoral sandpipers. We did see most days when we drove the road out to Southwest Point a group of young foxes that were living in a culvert that ran under the road. <br />
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Sunday brought our first significant storm with winds out of the west that drove the rain sideways. It was so bad that we did not bird the afternoon segment that day. It did give us hope that some Asian vagrants would be brought in with the storm.<br />
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The island is also home to 1/2 million northern fur seals. As you drive the roads you encounter signs telling you which of the rookeries you are near. There are viewing blinds at a couple where you can get nice photos of the seals. The seals return to the island each May, and generally return to their life at sea by October. The baby seals are taken care of by their mothers on land until they get old enough to move into the water and learn to swim (photo by Neil Hayward). Once they leave in October they will not return to land until the following May. Because of the huge number of seals, there are also orcas that are seen regularly.<br />
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The six of us birded together each day, working hard with our guide for the day to try to locate new birds that were at least new for our trip, even better if new for the island for any of us, and best if a new ABA life bird.<br />
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On Monday the 14th, we were checking out Webster Lake. Everyone but me was scanning the lake for birds. I happened to see a swift shaped bird with a dark body and wings cross my vision. It was flying very fast because of the high winds. As it flew by me at eye height at a distance of about 150 feet, I realized it was a pacific swift (code 4) when I saw its bright white rump. By the time I shouted out to the group, it had disappeared from sight. We all walked over to the small gazebo it had flown by to try to relocate it, but it was gone with the wind. I was very frustrated about not getting anyone else on it because in 2013 we also had a pacific swift fly by at Webster Lake that only some of our group saw well.<br />
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One of the spots checked daily is the large line of stacked metal crab pots (more like big cages) that are used during the winter months to catch dungeness crab. Since there are no trees on the island, they serve as a surrogate forest for birds. In 2013 I walked these pots every day, but never turned up any rarities. Finally on Wednesday afternoon the 16th we had a really high number of birds in the pots including a brambling. We took this as an omen that the next day might be really good.<br />
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Thursday did not let us down. We started out driving the road to Southwest Point where we found a first year horned puffin walking on the road. Scott had said he had never seen one doing that before, so we thought it might be in trouble. We caught it, and I held it during the 5 minute ride to the Antone seawall. It was covered with a towel and seemed to be pretty calm. That was not the case when Scott took it to release it back to the sea.<br />
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After dropping off the puffin, we visited Southwest Point and did some seawatching. We also found our first emperor goose for the trip. It was sitting on cormorant rock with lots of cormorants and gulls.<br />
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Next up after lunch we flushed our first common snipe (code 3) for the trip at Dump Pond. This was also a life bird for Sue who had never been to the Pribs, and was already up to about 10 new ABA area life birds. We saw a rare for the island yellow-shafted northern flicker between Big Lake and Webster Lake. Later in the afternoon we flushed a sky lark (code 3), which was not seen by all, and we could not relocate it.<br />
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We then got word that Alison, and Doug Gochfeld (a former guide for St. Paul Island Tours who had come out on Wednesday the 16th along with Tom Johnson) had flushed an ovenbird--a first ever sighting for the island. Scott wanted to try to see it to add to his island life list (240+). We stomped thru some pretty dense celery, but could not relocate it either. Then as we were heading back for dinner, Scott gets a message that Alison and Doug had found a siberian rubythroat, but it was over an hour of very difficult walking each way to get to the spot. Also, only Doug got to see and photograph the bird before it disappeared. This would have been a life bird for me, but there was not enough daylight after dinner to chase it, so we did not.<br />
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Instead, after dinner Doug calls to say a sky lark was near the town cliffs above old town. We all trooped up and got pretty good views of it (photo taken by Cory Gregory). This was the second sky lark I had seen with the first being at Gambell on St. Lawrence Island back in 2006. <br />
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By now we were all feeling quite good having had such a bountiful day when the call came in that a jack snipe had just been flushed at Pumphouse Lake. All the birders converged about 8 PM to attempt to flush the snipe again. When we were all lined up, the guides flushed the bird. With the sun shining on it as it circled around our group, cheers went up all around (photo taken by Cory Gregory). The jack snipe is an ABA code 4 bird that is rarely encountered even on St. Paul Island. It was the number one bird on my wish list for this trip.<br />
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On Friday our group was checking the lower cut at Polovina Hill when Scott Schuette drove up to drop Neil off. I had talked many times with Neil about coming on this trip, but he is getting married in October and did not think he could get away. It was a very nice surprise when he arrived. He was not able to see the jack snipe later that afternoon, but it was found on Saturday evening the 19th, so he got to see it as did the rest of us one more time.<br />
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Saturday afternoon we all had a chance to see again one of at least 2 sky larks that had come to the island. This one was the one we assume we saw 2 days earlier in the same spot near the town cliffs. The sky lark site provided good views of the Russian orthodox church, and the new town across the harbor.<br />
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Saturday the 19th was pretty uneventful other than all of us getting to see the jack snipe again. Sunday however would prove to be the most significant day of our trip. It began with Doug picking us up to be our "guest" guide for the day.<br />
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We drove out to Southwest point after a quick drive to Reef Point. Seawatch gave us our first relatively close looks of least auklets. Unlike the puffins and murres, all the different breeding auklets leave the breeding cliffs before September. We also had a couple of fly over bramblings.<br />
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After checking the crab pots without anything exciting there, we got a call that Cory had found want might have been a common rosefinch in the upper cut of the quarry. Back in 2013 we had seen a female common rosefinch on Black Diamond Hill. We drove over to join Cory's birding group to make an attempt to relocate the mystery finch. We all climbed up to the ridge line as soon as Alison said she was looking at the bird. Unfortunately, before we could all reach her, the bird moved.<br />
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We were able to spread out to search for it again. Doug and I were looking down the boulder strewn slope when it suddenly flew across below us and landed back over where most of the others were standing. Then it flew up over their heads and back down into the upper cut. As it flew by me, I could see the very red rump, streaking in the back with red tones there as well. Neil was able to get a decent photo.<br />
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When Cory first saw the bird, he heard its call which did not match that of a common rosefinch. As it flew by Doug and myself, the bird called again, and Doug said the same thing. We all climbed back down into the cut, but the bird could not be relocated.<br />
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We next visited for the second time on this trip the Zapadni Ravine where we found an arctic warbler--a bird I had seen in 2013 at the Pribs, and earlier near Nome in 2006. <br />
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After dinner we drove the road that goes to the northeast of the island. On our way up to Hutchinson Cut, we almost ran over a red phalarope. On the way back we decided to pick it up because it seemed so tired. It rode in a boot for 5 minutes until we could release it at Webster Lake. Opposite Webster Lake, we spent some time sea watching and found a king eider on the shore. We stopped at Barabaras and flushed either a wilson or common snipe. <br />
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That evening we were able to study the photos taken of the finch, and it appeared to be a Pallas's rosefinch which the call heard by the guides corroborated. If that was the case, it would be a first record of the Pallas's rosefinch in the ABA area. So on Monday the 21st, one of our goals was to try to relocate the mystery finch in an effort to get even better photos. In the morning we birded elsewhere, and also right after lunch. We then got word that Alison's group had located in the upper cut of the quarry what they believed was a taiga flycatcher--another possible life bird for most of us.<br />
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We drove down to the quarry, and once again climbed up on the ridge to look for the tiaga as well as the finch that had also been seen and photographed well. Those new photos were even better and supported the belief that the mystery bird was in fact a Pallas's rosefinch. We did not succeed in finding either bird.<br />
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The rest of our day of birding was uneventful, but knowing that the Pallas's rosefinch had a very good chance of being accepted now because of even better photos made all of us very jubilant. Neil now had seen one confirmed ABA first in 2013 during his big year when he saw a common redstart on the island, and now a possible 2nd first with the Pallas's rosefinch.<br />
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We awoke on Tuesday the 22nd to read on Narba that a red-flanked bluetail had also been seen on the island. At breakfast we found out that the evening before the guides had studied Alison's photos of the taiga flycatcher, and had changed the ID to a bluetail. This review was only possible because of the age of digital cameras. And the good documentation for the review by the Alaska, and ABA bird review committees for the Pallas's rosefinch is also because of the magic of digital photography.<br />
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The rest of Tuesday the 22nd and our partial day of birding before flying out on Wednesday gave us no new life birds, but we did add some new trip birds like pine siskin, hermit thrush and a mallard. We visited most of the places we had been to so many times already on this trip. We saw our last of many rainbows generated by a rain squall during our 13 days of birding. My trip list for the full group ended up at 81 species of birds, and I added 14 new birds to my St. Paul Island life list bringing the total seen there to 106 species. I was very pleased to add the jack snipe and potentially the Pallas's rosefinch to my ABA area life list, and of course was disappointed in missing out on the siberian rubythroat (code 3) and the red-flanked bluetail (code 4)--but you just can't get them all!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-79750958662076880452015-07-01T13:18:00.000-04:002015-10-01T16:14:39.607-04:00Mid Year 2015 UpdateUsually around July 1st each year I do a short update on what is going on with respect to big year efforts of which I am aware. But first I want to congratulate Neil Hayward on his becoming the sole ABA area big year record holder now that the ABA has added the rufous-necked wood-rail to its official list of bird species. In July of 2013 the first ever ABA area documented rufous-necked wood-rail was discovered at Bosque del Apache NWR. I blogged about my trip to see it on July 10th of 2013. Neil went to see it as part of his big year in 2013, and its addition pushed his big year total to 749, breaking a tie with Sandy Komito. This was the only bird left on his list that he was waiting to be confirmed.<br />
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The rufous-necked wood-rail is a bird whose range begins in southern Mexico and extends into Central and South America. No one had this bird on their list of possible new visitors to the ABA area. It spent about 10 days at Bosque del Apache before it disappeared which allowed many birders to go to see it (click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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Turning to the topic of big years in 2015, I still do not have any definitive information on anyone doing an ABA area big year. Looking at the ebird data, it appears that there may be several birders that could be doing a big year, but none of them has a blog, so I have no way to know for sure. The top ABA area listers for the year are Mike and Wendy Schackwitz who as of 6/28 had seen a total of 594 species. From the birds that ebird recorded, it is apparent that they have recently spent time in Alaska, and are now back birding in the lower 48 states. If they are doing an ABA area big year, some mid year reference totals for the top 3 ABA area big year efforts would be Neil Hayward at 653 (year end total 749), John Vanderpoel at 654 (2011--year end total 744), and Sandy Komito at an amazing 692 (1998--year end total 748)).<br />
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The one proclaimed big year that I know about is being undertaken by Noah Strycker who is doing a world big year. You can read about his year by visiting the Audubon website. As of June 30th, Noah has seen 3,331 species. His goal is to see at least 5,000 bird species by year end which is roughly 1/2 of all the known bird species. As a reference, the current record for a world big year is 4,341 which was set in 2008 by Alan Davies and Ruth Miller. They broke the previous record of 3,662 set back in 1989 by Jim Clements.<br />
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Finally, Neil told me that he knows a birder, Olaf Danielson, who has already said on his blog (olafsbigyear.blogspot.com) that he will be undertaking an ABA area big year in 2016. Here's to all the birders out there currently doing or planning various kinds of big years. As for me, my next big birding adventure will be a return trip to the Pribilof islands in September with some birding friends.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-6522722896280267422015-05-21T14:38:00.000-04:002015-05-24T20:00:00.961-04:00Magee Marsh: Spring Migration 2015I left Chapel Hill on Wednesday May 6th to begin my drive up to Magee Marsh for my annual spring migration visit there. I spent the night in Beckley, West Virginia, so that on Thursday morning I could check out a birding spot just outside of Charleston, which was another hour drive north. The place, Coonskin Park, proved to be not very birdy the next morning, so I was on my way to Magee Marsh fairly quickly. I received an email from Bert Filemyr that he and Mike Rosengarten had left as planned that morning. I emailed back that I was going to stop at Pipe Creek wildlife area near Sandusky and would arrive about 2 PM.<br />
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I pulled into the parking area at Pipe Creek to find Bert and Mike climbing out of their SUV. We spent the next hour or so checking out the area in hopes of finding a Connecticut warbler. We did notice a cooper's hawk perched which then flew up, circled a couple of times and took off. We also located a blue-headed vireo (both photos taken by Bert--click on any photo to enlarge), as well as a few random warblers.<br />
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Next stop was Magee Marsh to see how things were on the boardwalk. It was fairly slow for Magee, but there were some warblers like the black-throated green below still feeding before starting their flight across Lake Erie. <br />
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After leaving the boardwalk, we stopped in at Metzger Marsh as well. On the entrance road we spied 2 doves that at first glance looked like European collared doves. When we looked closer, they did not match our experience in seeing this species. Bert said he thought they must be escaped cage doves, but I said where would they have come from. By the next day we all agreed that they were either escaped birds, or released at a wedding ceremony. The cage bird theory seemed more likely since you could almost walk up and touch them without their flinching. They were in the same bush almost everyday for the rest of our stay. <br />
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We went on into the marsh and were able to see a very distant marbled godwit that had been reported. There was also a large flock of American golden plovers. It was getting pretty late, so we headed to our hotel to check in for our multi-day stay in the area. <br />
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The next morning we were out early and retraced our steps. The boardwalk was much more active with both people and birds. One of our few sightings of an ovenbird for the week contributed to a plus 20 day for warbler species. I also found a new "birders" plate for my photo collection. <br />
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My friends Dan and Doreene arrived late morning having driven up from Columbus, OH that morning. We birded together the rest of the day which became unseasonably warm for the area. There were plenty of birds to see including early arriving black-billed cuckoos (photo taken by Bert). Friday proved to be the high warbler count day of the trip for me at 26 species. We wrapped up our day with dinner at the Cinco de Mayo restaurant in Oregon where we all were staying.<br />
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Saturday was pretty much a replay of Friday with many of the same species and numbers, and still too warm (80's) for early May. <br />
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Laura Keene, my friend who over the years has so graciously shared her excellent photos with me to use on this blog, was supposed to be with our group on the Sunday morning bus tour into Cedar point--a closed part of the Ottawa NWR complex. Instead, a friend of Dan and Doreene's, Leslie Sours, came along with us. Our group of 6 were on the bus at 7 AM joined by 8 other birders, a driver and the Ottawa NWR manager. On this tour last year we were fortunate to find a female Kirtland's warbler that was also seen the next day by another bus tour.<br />
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We were not very far into the refuge when we came upon a pair of sandhill cranes which provided plenty of photo ops. Further in we birded some of the tree lined sections of the dike where we turned up some warblers like the bay-breasted below (photo taken by Bert).<br />
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After finishing the bus tour, we checked out how things were on the boardwalk at Magee to find it was again pretty much like on Saturday--good numbers of birds, lots of people and still way too warm for my liking. A female yellow-headed blackbird was reported on the Ottawa NWR self-driving tour, so mid-afternoon we all went to see if we could find it. Sure enough she was feeding along the road (photo taken by Leslie). Dan and Doreene, who are once again doing a big year for Ohio, were very glad to find this hard to locate species in Ohio.<br />
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Monday was the 4th day in a row of 80+ degree weather, with southerly winds which meant a few new species arriving, and many birds continuing their trip into Canada. Laura Keene joined us as well.<br />
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The best bird for the day was a female cerulean warbler which when I studied the
warbler handbook later in the day looked like a possible first year male to
me. We kept getting reports of yellow-bellied flycatchers, but we never could relocate the bird at the position that it was first reported. The same was true for olive-sided flycatchers. We did see some rose-breasted grosbeaks.<br />
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There were still good numbers of warblers like the Wilson's just below.<br />
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I also saw a wood thrush which proved to be a rare bird this year as did Swainson's thrushes. The one thrush species that we saw quite a few of was the gray-cheeked which is normally the rarest of the thrushes at Magee. We finished our day eating dinner together to celebrate Dan's birthday.<br />
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Tuesday dawned with a high chance for rain and much cooler temps. We heard about a common nighthawk on a roost on the Ottawa NWR self-driving tour, so we went to check it out.<br />
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We also got a report of a hudsonian godwit at Metzger Marsh. Arriving at the marsh we found it was no longer there, but another was reported close by at the Meinke Marina. We had just enough time to rush over to the marina before the start of our afternoon bus tour of the Darby unit of the Ottawa NWR. The godwit was too far out to get a good photo, but there were also a good number of American golden plovers (photos just above and below taken by Bert). In hindsight, I think the hudsonian godwit was the bird of the trip given how rare they are in the spring in Ohio. Dan said in all his years of birding in Ohio, this was the first year he had seen both marbled and hudsonian godwits in the spring.<br />
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The bus tour of the Darby unit proved to be probably the slowest birding time of the entire week. It was very windy, so there just were not many birds around other than swallows and kingbirds that were migrating along the lake edge. Heavy rains greeted us later in the afternoon.<br />
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Wednesday brought similar weather conditions as Tuesday. I stopped at a spot we had visited several times to try once again for hooded mergansers, and was finally successful. We all birded the boardwalk early to find pretty much the same species we had been seeing for a few days. About 10 AM Bert and Mike decided to start their drive back to Philadelphia. Right after they left we got a report of upland sandpipers in a field nearby, so we headed over to check them out.<br />
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While looking at the uppies, a report came in that a female Kirtland's warbler had been found at Oak Openings which is on the west side of Toledo. Since I also needed to leave by noon to begin my drive to Boston, I chose not to drive an hour west before starting my long drive east. Dan and Doreene did go, and I heard later that they were able to see the Kirtland's--another hard to see species for their big year.<br />
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I returned to the boardwalk for one last walk there before leaving for Boston. Surprisingly, there was a bobwhite quail in the parking area near the West entrance of the boardwalk. This is a released bird for northern Ohio, but it was the first I had seen at Magee. I was on the road as planned at noon.<br />
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This is the 7th year in a row that I have visited Magee Marsh for spring migration. I continue to enjoy the birding, and seeing old friends while there. Once again I saw most of the species that you expect to find, with a final tally of 159 this year. For the first time in years I did miss seeing golden-winged and Kirtland's warblers. I do not know what the summer will bring birding wise--maybe another chase for a rarity. I do know that I am returning to the Pribiloff Islands in the Bering sea this coming September. Dan and Doreene will be joining me as will John Vanderpoel, and possibly Neil Hayward.<br />
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As for any news of ABA or lower 48 big years in 2015, Dan Gesualdo from Ohio who I know, seems to have slowed down dramatically after a very fast start during the 1st 3+ months of the year. He has been passed on the ebird top 100 by several other birders. Mike and Wendy Schackwitz, who I do not know but presume are a couple, are leading the top 100 at 551 species seen so far. I can not find any definite info as to whether they are undertaking a big year, but their travels and number of species seem to suggest that they are. If I begin seeing bird species from Alaska later this month on their ebird list, then it would appear very likely that they are doing an ABA area big year.<br />
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Addendum 5/24: Laura Keene sent me a photo of the upland sandpiper so here it is.<br />
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She also sent me a photo of the cerulean warbler which now that I have a photo definitely looks like a female. My view in the field was not as good as Laura's photo. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-57365683374170233672015-02-27T20:46:00.003-05:002015-04-03T09:47:39.610-04:00Bahia Honda SP--Double Red Letter Day!On Sunday 2/22 a bananaquit (code 4) was reported on on the Silver Palm Nature Trail at Bahia Honda SP located in the Keys in Florida. In mid January of 2013 a bananaquit, and a western spindalis were reported in the Key Biscayne area outside of Miami. I missed both birds on that trip, but did get to see a western spindalis in Florida in April of that year. When on Monday afternoon the bananaquit, plus a black-faced grassquit (code 4) were reported on Narba at Bahia Honda SP, I quickly checked for flight availability to Miami. I found there were reasonably affordable seats on the 6:20 PM flight, so I bought a ticket and rushed off to the airport. <br />
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I arrived in Miami about 8:15, and made the short drive down to Florida City to be in position to drive early Tuesday morning the additional 90 miles to Bahia Honda SP. I would have driven further down into the Keys Monday night, but being the height of tourist season, motel rates were ridiculously expensive--even Florida City was more than twice what I paid in December when Neil, Gerri and I went after the Key West quail-dove. I was on the road by 5:30 AM, and pulled up to the closed gate at Bahia Honda at 7:35. There was already a car in front of me from Pennsylvania. A man soon got out of his car, and we began chatting. His name was Joe, he lives in Bethlehem, PA, and spends a few weeks each winter in Florida.<br />
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Soon another car drove up, and, so typical of rarity birding, Mike and Corinne get out who are also from Bethlehem, PA. We had met in the fall of 2013 on St. Paul Island in the Pribiloffs in Alaska. They had come down to Florida for a week, and were on their way home when they heard about the black-faced grassquit. Once the gate opened, we all headed first to the Buttonwood campground bathhouse to look for the grassquit. After about 30 minutes with no grassquit in evidence, Joe and I decided to check out the bananaquit location which was about a 5 minute ride away. On the way over I found out he had been to Attu in the western Aleutian Islands in 1994 and also 2000.<br />
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We found the Silver Palm Nature Trail, and located an area about 150 yards down the trail that looked promising. We also met a couple from Minnesota who were spending some time in the Keys, and had heard about both birds being spotted. Soon a 5th birder, Claire from Mississippi, joined us and confirmed from her ebird report that we were in the right spot for the bananaquit.<br />
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About 9:10 I saw the bananaquit fly over my head and into a 10 foot high clump of vegetation. Before I could get anyone else on it, it buried itself. For the next 20 minutes or so, we all kept scanning the area in hopes it would reappear (in the photo above you can see Claire with her camera intently looking for the bird--click on any photo to enlarge). About 9:30 the bananaquit flew up out of the dense vegetation and into a large sea grape which you can see behind Clair. By then a family of 4, plus another couple had all arrived, and everyone was able to get very good looks at the bird (photo below taken by Claire--bananaquit in center of image facing right).<br />
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We called Mike and Corinne, and suggested that we switch places with them if they also wanted to see the bananaquit (they had seen the one I missed back in 2013). We did the swap, and took up our vigil at the bathhouse. The grassquit was initially found eating fruit on the ground that had fallen off of a large ficus tree. There were at least 10 gray catbirds there feeding along with an ovenbird. While we kept waiting for the grassquit to show up, we all got to know each other a bit better. A few white ibis came in to feed--1 adult and 2 immatures. A great-crested flycatcher also would occasionally stop in. Mike and Corinne returned fairly quickly after seeing the bananaquit.<br />
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About noon, Mike noticed the grassquit down on the ground at the corner of the boardwalk. We all slowly approached it, and were able to watch it for 3-4 minutes before it flew out of view (photo below taken by Claire). This bird is either a female or a first year male which might be sorted out if it stays around long enough for other birders to study it.<br />
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When it did not return right away, Mike, Corinne, Joe, Claire and I discussed driving 30 miles up to Long Key to look again for the Key West quail-dove. I was the only one of the group who had seen it, so everyone else was game to try again. We all were there for about an hour when Joe decided to move on. Mike and Corinne left about an hour later because they had a long drive ahead of them to Pennsylvania. Claire and I hung in until 6 PM, but no quail-dove was found. The best we could do late in the afternoon was a probable fly-over white-crowned pigeon.<br />
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I would liked to have gone home that evening, but by mid afternoon the airfare had almost tripled, so I opted to spend another night in the Miami area, and flew home the next afternoon. When I checked Narba Tuesday evening I saw that another birder I know, Liz Southworth, had arrived at Bahia Honda around 3 PM, and was able to see the bananaquit. Early on Wednesday morning she had also picked up the black-faced grassquit. I flew home thinking that I was not likely to see 2 life birds again in one day in the ABA area.<br />
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Addendum on 3/4: Mike and Corinne sent me some photos this morning 2 of which I am adding below--first the bananaquit followed by the black-faced grassquit. <br />
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-82496108341969900722015-02-08T18:03:00.000-05:002015-02-09T23:19:11.308-05:00Talking Rustic Bunting and Common Scoter!On Thursday night I finally decided to make a spur of the moment trip to northern California to try to see a rustic bunting (code 3) and a common scoter--the first ever recorded in the ABA area. The bunting has been hanging out in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for over 3 weeks. Neil Hayward flew out on Thursday, and was able to photograph it that afternoon (the 4 photos of the 2 birds were all taken by Neil--click on any photo to enlarge). I had delayed making the decision to go out because northern California is experiencing a pineapple express after having recorded the driest January in its history. <br />
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I arrived in SF at 1:40 on Friday, and was at the park at 3 PM. It was pretty windy, with rain often flying sideways. I found 2 birders from the Philadelphia area. One of them recognized me from when we first met on a Debi Shearwater pelagic trip during my lower 48 big year in 2010. Soon 3 birders from the Boston area showed up. Neil had told me to look for them. Two of them were Steve Moore and Barbara Volkle who I had also met in 2010 when they helped me join a Christmas bird count on the north shore of Boston in hopes of adding a thick-billed murre to my year total. <br />
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The Philly birders first located the rustic bunting feeding with a group of juncos under some redwoods. We only were able to watch it for a couple of minutes before it flew up into the trees. With the weather getting worse, soon everyone else decided to call it a day. I waited a bit for Neil to return from seeing the common scoter. We went to have an early dinner at Hunan--a chinese restaurant that I have been returning to for 35 years. After a nice meal, Neil headed down to the airport to check into his motel to be ready to fly to Texas at 6 AM on Saturday to try to see a gray-crowned yellowthroat and a white-throated thrush at Estero Llano Grande SP. I pointed my car north to begin a 5 hour drive to Eureka. It was one of the worst night drives in wind and rain that I have ever made, but I was checked in to my motel by 11:30 PM.<br />
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I was back in my car at 6:15 AM Saturday to cover the last 80 miles of the trip. When I arrived at Crescent City, the wind was blowing quite hard, but the rain was just intermittent. The common scoter was in the marina in the water right below the small shelter.<br />
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Within 15 minutes there were 25-30 birders spread around looking at the scoter. The 2 Philly birders were there. I met a young birder from Orange County, CA who recognized me from my blog. I mentioned him to Neil who said he thought he was the guy who set the Orange County big year record last year. It was no surprise that so many birders had come from near and far to see a potential new addition to the ABA area bird list.<br />
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After an hour of enjoying this very sleek and elegant scoter, I decided I needed some breakfast which proved to be a bit of work since the storm had knocked power out for much of Crescent City. I stopped for another look at the scoter before I began my drive back towards San Francisco. Even though Rob Fowler, a top birder in the Eureka/Arcata area, had responded to my email to say for over 2 weeks no one had seen the brambling that was first found in January, I stopped in Arcata to look for it. By noon the sun was out, and the temp was 66 degrees. While I was staking out the feeders at 1740 Buttermilk Lane, a birder from Florida stopped by as well. She was also on her way back from seeing the scoter. After over an hour of seeing only many juncos, pine siskins, house sparrows and finches, and a couple of stellar jays, we both decided to move on.<br />
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I was up this morning early again to stop for a second time at Golden Gate Park. When I arrived the rain was coming down, but the wind was much less than on Friday. I met a birder from the Bay area who had seen the rustic bunting just before I got there. It was with juncos and a few sparrows. A young couple arrived next, but with them also came heavier rain. They told me they were on their way to Washington state from Arizona, and stopped in to try for the rustic bunting. Next up for them would be the common scoter. <br />
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About 8 AM a woman who I had met on Friday afternoon stopped in again
to spread more bird seed. Apparently when the bunting was first found,
she decided to keep putting out bird seed for it, which may be why it
has stayed around for so long making so many birders very happy. About 9:30 we began to see a few juncos feeding along the edge of the
shrubbery. We changed positions, and were able to find the bunting
further back in. We got some nice views, some as close as 10-15 feet away. When the bunting flew up into the taller trees, and with the wind picking up along with the rainfall, we all headed back to our cars. I will be flying back to North Carolina tomorrow morning, and feeling very pleased with finding both these rarities. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-59384021704907567312015-01-25T08:17:00.002-05:002015-02-17T19:19:37.907-05:00Eurasian Kestrel in Nova ScotiaThere continue to be several very good rarities that were found late last year, and have continued to be seen into 2015. One of these is a Eurasian kestrel (code 4) that was first reported in December from Eastern Passage near Halifax, NS. Later it was discovered that someone had taken photos of it as early as November 21st. 3 weeks ago Neil Hayward asked me if I wanted to fly up to Boston, and then drive to Halifax with him to try for the bird. I could not get away at that time, so he and Gerri made the trip instead. They left at 10 PM, and drove though the night. It is 725 miles from Boston to the golf course in Eastern Passage--a small town on the edge of Halifax. They arrived between 9 and 10 AM, and did find the kestrel (all the photos of the Eurasian kestrel in today's post were taken by Neil--click on any photo to enlarge). They were back in Boston before midnight. <br />
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Since the kestrel continued to be reported, I decided to make a trip this past week to Boston, as well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, to see some friends. When the kestrel was seen again last Tuesday, I decided also to make the long drive up to try for the kestrel. I flew to Boston, was on the road by noon on Wednesday, and made it to my motel in Halifax by midnight Atlantic time.<br />
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I was up at 6 AM Thursday, and at the bird's "territory" by 7 even though it was still quite dark (sunrise was at 7:45). As it became lighter under a very overcast sky, I kept scanning the area looking for the kestrel. I flushed a snowy owl, and also found a large fox looking for its breakfast. At 7:40 I first saw the kestrel hovering over the grassy area between the road and the water. I had barely found it when it dove down to catch something, and then it flew off into the center of the golf course where it perched briefly on a tree before disappearing.<br />
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I kept scanning the area hoping for it to return for better looks. During the next hour I was visited by a murder of crows, and found a small mixed flock of common and hoary redpolls which were difficult to photograph as the wind blew them around while feeding (sorry for the not totally clear photo below). There was also a female northern harrier who was cruising the area in search of food.<br />
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About 8:30 I saw the kestrel hovering very far out over the golf course for about 5 minutes before it flew away again. At 9 the kestrel returned to the shoreline area, and began hovering in search of more food. With better light, I was finally able to study the bird. It is larger than the American kestrel (photo below taken in FL last month), has only 1 whisker on its face, and has no gray in the wings. This particular Eurasian kestrel is very light in general.<br />
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At one point the kestrel flew off behind a small building near the road, and when I relocated it, it was stooping at the snowy owl I had found earlier. The owl was unperturbed by the kestrel, and was very cooperative in letting me get close enough to take a picture with my small camera.<br />
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I was able to watch the kestrel continue to work the area around the road for another 10 minutes before it decided to disappear again. It was now about 9:30. As I was leaving a rough-legged hawk flew across the road in front of me to give me a nice send off. I was not really looking forward to another 11-12 hour drive back to Boston, but it proved uneventful. I even had the pleasure of finding a place in Maine that had a 2 chicken lobster special so I stopped for dinner. I was at my friends in Lincoln, MA by 9 PM.<br />
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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there have been some very nice rarities around to start 2015. The Key West quail-dove continues to be seen in FL as is a smooth-billed ani. Barnacle and pink-footed geese are still being reported in the northeast. 2 common cranes are intermittently being seen in NM and TX. The tundra bean goose is still in OR, as are the falcated duck, brambling and rustic bunting in CA. Arizona has a rufous-backed robin and a sinaloa wren. A Eurasian siskin is wintering over in Unalaska, AK. And just yesterday a blue bunting, and a gray-crowned yellowthroat were found in south TX.<br />
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Yesterday I was sent the link to a new big year blog (birdingthecandle.blogspot.com). I had heard that a birder I know from Ohio, Dan Gesualdo, was possibly doing a big year. I had seen his ebird list leading the way on the top 100. From his blog I read that he so far has birded in TX, OH, CA and OR. His total for the year is already over 300 birds, and it is not even the end of January. An awesome start! He says he is doing a lower 48 big year, which is the first I have known about since mine back in 2010. Dan, I wish you the best of fun as you pursue birds this year. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-33795115175426364292015-01-01T13:09:00.000-05:002015-05-24T19:29:07.804-04:002014 Year End ReviewAnother year of birding is in the books, so I am doing my year end review. In 2014 I did not bird as heavily in the ABA area as I did in 2013--no trip to the boonies of Alaska for example. But I did make my annual spring trip to Magee Marsh to bird with friends like Dan and Doreene (check my May entries for details). I also did a few successful chases of rarities that showed up in the lower 48 states during the 2nd half of the year. Those also were all added to the blog at the time of the chase. The last was my trip to the Florida Keys with Neil and Gerri to see the Key West quail-dove. <br />
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Since we made the trip to the Long Key SP, other birders discovered 2 quail-dove sitting together on a branch in the same area. And on the 28th of December a 3rd quail-dove was found on the Deering Estate in Cutler just south of Miami. My friend Bob Wallace had spent 3 days at Long Key SP without seeing the bird, and when he was called, he rushed up to the Deering Estate where he managed no better than the record shot just above--good luck picking out the bird.
Clues: a) the bird is facing to the right, and b) look for the shiny eye and a white horizontal stripe just below
the eye (click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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Addendum 5/24/15: Laura Keene was able to get a photo of the Key West quail-dove this spring.<br />
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Turning to big year efforts in 2014, I only know of one blog done by Dorian Anderson chronicling his self-powered big year. He road his bicycle down the east coast to Florida; across the gulf coast into Texas and onto Arizona; up through the Rocky Mountains to Washington; down the Pacific coast to southern California; back through Arizona and down to the Rio Grande Valley; and finally ending up in Dallas. He averaged almost 49 miles of riding per day, covering almost 18,000 miles. He saw 617 different bird species plus a possible ABA area first record of a red-legged honeycreeper. He also raised over $45,000 for bird conservation, and had 575,000 pageviews on his blog.<br />
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There have been a few other "green" big birding years, but none on the scale that Dorian just finished. He has established the template for a cycling big birding year. I know how tiring a big year can be--a 365 day marathon which in my case involved 82,000 miles of flying and 66,000 miles of driving. To do it riding a bicycle almost every day is a truly amazing feat and level of commitment.<br />
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Like most big year birders, he developed a plan that would optimize his goal of birding and cycling. Unlike most big years though, he could not really chase rarities, so the quality of his plan and assistance from other birders in the areas he visited was even more crucial to his success. Every big year birder to some degree studies prior big year efforts in order to develop a plan for his/her year. The wild card to reaching a very big total number of birds seen is how many rarities show up, and does the big year birder choose to chase and successfully find them.<br />
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As I have written before, to set a record, a big year birder must be willing to chase. Sandy Komito has talked about this often. Neil Hayward tying Sandy's full ABA area big year mark of 748 is even more amazing since Neil did not fully commit to doing a big year until April of 2013 which meant he did not chase a few rarities early in the year. As a result he is still hoping the rufous-necked wood-rail found in New Mexico last year will be accepted as a first ABA record which would push his total to 749.<br />
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I did check ebird, and found that Brandon Reo saw 667 different species in 2014 in the full ABA area, and 641 in the lower 48 states--both of which are outstanding results. Also from ebird, Leo Miller saw 610 in the full ABA area. Every year since 2003, Leo has seen over 500 different species of birds in the full ABA area, and 3 of those years he broke 600. Finally from ebird, Doug Gochfeld, a professional bird guide I met last year in Alaska, saw 609 species in the full ABA area. I also want to give a shout out to Dan Sanders who just completed his 20th consecutive Ohio big year. He and his partner Doreene finished 2014 with 318 species, which just fell short of their record of 320.<br />
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Returning to my own birding year in 2014, I added 8 more birds to my full ABA area (788) and lower 48 states (749) lists. The new entries include collared plover (code 5), whiskered tern (code 5), tundra bean goose (code 3), Egyptian goose (code 2), and Key West quail-dove (code 4)--all birds that I saw during the year. And due to changes in the ABA listing rules I was able to now count aplomado falcon (2010, 2012) and California condor (2006). Finally, the ABA added Ridgway's rail (code 2) as a split from clapper rail. I recently reviewed my 2010 big year records, and confirmed that I saw Ridgway's rails below San Diego in October of that year.<br />
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It is time to wrap up this blog post so that I can begin my annual New Year's day tradition of drinking port and eating blue cheese while watching college football bowl games. Happy New Year!<br />
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Addendum on 1/5: my friend Marty pointed out this AM that I did not mention the 3 week birding trip in Morocco last March. I was thinking about my birding year in ABA area only when I wrote the initial year wrap up post. So a belated addition about what was fully reported here on the blog earlier, and definitely fond memories of the birding and everything else that trip gave our group. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-54675892819708022932014-12-16T11:44:00.000-05:002015-05-24T19:25:15.985-04:00Key West Quail Dove--YESSSSS!Neil Hayward called me early last week to ask me if I wanted to join him and his partner, Gerri, to try for the Key West quail-dove. The plan was to fly to Florida Thursday afternoon, and have 2 full days on Friday and Saturday to try to see it. Since the bird had been seen again on 11/28, 12/2, 12/5, 12/6 and 12/8, I said I would join them hoping for success after failing before Thanksgiving. We flew into the Ft. Lauderdale airport at dark, and stopped at Kendall Lakes to see if we could find the Egyptian goose for Neil. There were plenty of muscovy ducks, but apparently the geese go to a roost at night. <br />
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Neil and I were at Long Key SP at first light Friday morning. Soon after we ran into Allison Fox who had seen the bird the morning before (all photos are mine unless indicated otherwise--click on any photo to enlarge). We split up to cover more of the trail. 5 minutes later she came running up to us to say the quail-dove had walked across the trail about 100 yards from where Neil and I were. We rushed back, and fortunately were able to relocate it about 100 feet off the trail feeding on the ground. We both were able to get identifiable looks at the bird before it vanished from sight. <br />
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Within the next 30 minutes another 1/2 dozen birders joined the hunt. One of them was Barrett Pierce who I had run into at Cape May chasing the whiskered tern in September. I met Barrett back in 2010 during my lower 48 big year, and then next saw him in August of 2011 at Coney Island when we both missed seeing the gray-hooded gull by one day. <br />
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All of us kept patrolling the trail in hopes that the quail-dove would walk out again. We also were listening very closely to try to hear the bird shuffling thru the dry leaves on the ground. At one point 2 of the park rangers came through, and did not seem very happy that over the weeks of birders looking for the quail-dove a couple of side trails had been used. As a result, they took downed wood and blocked the side trails. Then they put up new paper signs at the beginning of the Golden Orb nature trail. <br />
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At one point mid-morning we went to check the edge of the parking area when a large group of turkey vultures rose up off their roost. About 11:30, Neil was walking the trail where it changes from hardwood hammock to mangroves when the quail-dove appeared right by the trail. It flushed back about 20 feet. By the time the rest of us got to his location, it had once again walked out of sight. At 12:45, another birder found it about 100 feet from the prior sighting near some gumbo-limbo trees. Before any other birders could join him, the quail-dove once again disappeared.<br />
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After 3 sightings which totaled less than 1 minute of viewing, only 4 birders had gotten identifiable looks at the bird, and no photos had been taken. Gerri had not seen the quail-dove, so we continued to look for it until 2:30 when we decided to head back towards Miami. As we left the park I got a record shot of Neil and Gerri.<br />
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Neil had made a dinner date for us all to have sushi at a restaurant in Coral Terrace recommended by Carlos Sanchez--a young professional bird guide who lives in Miami. On the way to dinner, we stopped at Kendall Lakes just as it got dark, but there were no Egyptian geese still at the lake. We met Carlos at 6:30, and talked birding over some very good sushi.<br />
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The next morning we decided to start at Kendall Lakes, and this time Neil (his photo) was able to finally add Egyptian goose to his ABA life list. We then stopped at a new location that Carlos had told us about where he has found several red-whiskered bulbuls. As soon as we got out of the car we heard them calling, and ended up seeing 7 in all (Neil's photo).<br />
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Our main destination for the morning was to bird Matheson Hammock Park. Since it was Saturday morning, there were many people in the picnic area including a wedding party. The birding was pretty slow (palm, black and white, prairie, Nashville and parula warblers; blue-gray gnatcatchers; 1 blue-headed vireo; and 2 fly-over dark morph short-tailed hawks) until we were graced by the presence of a loud and so very striking blue and yellow macaw (Neil's photo).<br />
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We then checked out the mangrove section of the park where we had mostly shorebirds (killdeer, ruddy turnstones, and spotted sandpipers), an eastern phoebe and a great crested flycatcher. Next we went to the west section of the park which is usually good for parrots and parakeets. We found a juvenile broad-winged hawk and a kestrel (Neil's photos), and met some other birders, one of whom had gone to Long Key SP 6 times before finally seeing the quail-dove. While we were walking, we heard a group of parrots flying by, but they did not land.<br />
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After a short lunch, coffee and tea stop at Starbucks, we went to check out one more location in hopes of seeing cave swallows and white-crowned pigeons. We were too early for the swallows to have returned to their roost, and there were no pigeons either. We did see several iguanas (Neil's photo), and found 2 or 3 manatees feeding in the canal. It was now 3 PM, and there was not much chance of finding other
interesting birds. Neil and Gerri had plans to meet friends up in West
Palm Beach, so they dropped me at the Miami airport where I read a good book until my flight back to Chapel Hill.<br />
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Sitting at the airport also gave me some time to reflect on just how frustrating it had been trying to see the Key West quail-dove. In birding I have learned that there are satisfactory looks (meaning you are able to ID the bird), and then there are the much better satisfying looks where you get to spend long quality viewing time with a bird. I concluded that my 10 second ID look had to be the least satisfying tick of a life bird that I have ever had in my 40+ years of birding. That said, I am still very happy to have at least been able to see the quail-dove well enough to ID it. I also heard since I got back home that Barrett did finally see the bird on Sunday, but was not able to get a photo either. And yesterday, 3 other birders I know, Liz Southworth, Dave Nelson and Matthew Matthiessen were able to see it well including getting photos. My next post will be my wrap up on birding in 2014.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-46801837996286313322014-11-25T14:31:00.000-05:002014-11-27T09:43:06.929-05:00A Tale of 2 Geese and a Quail-DoveI was in Italy for 2 weeks at the end of October and early November. As a result, I missed a chance to go look for the Eurasian hobby (code 4) that spent a couple of weeks during that same period in Washington state. But then a tundra bean goose (code 3) was found at Nestucca Bay NWR, Oregon on November 10th. Last year in November one was seen at the Salton Sea. I happened to be in Arizona at the time, and met Neil Hayward to try to find it. Unfortunately it was a 1 day wonder. Another tundra bean goose showed up in Nova Scotia which Neil was able to see for his 2013 big year record total. <br />
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Another interesting rare bird this fall has been a Key West quail-dove (code 4) that was first reported on September 27th at Long Key SP in Florida--a 2 hour drive south of Miami. It was not seen again until October 7th, and then was not reported again until November 15th. <br />
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When the goose continued to be seen each day, I decided to make the trip to Oregon and then back home through Florida. I left Wednesday morning the 19th. I was up in the dark Thursday to make the 2 hour drive from Portland to Nestucca Bay NWR (click on any photo to enlarge). I arrived about 7 AM as small groups of geese were gliding into the fields to feed. About 7:20 the tundra bean goose flew in, and landed fairly close to the viewing platform. Soon 2 birders from Oregon joined me. <br />
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About 7:40 the goose flew off to the right, and joined a different group of Canada and cackling geese which were much closer to the entrance road. This allowed me to get a decent photo of the tundra bean goose (front center with orange foot up). When the rain began in earnest, I decided to head back to Portland to catch a train up to Seattle where I stayed for 2 nights. I was able on Friday to have lunch with John Puschock of Zugunruhe bird tours. We first met in 2010 during my lower 48 big year. It was good to catch up.<br />
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I arrived in Miami on Saturday evening, so I stayed near the airport. I was out at first light to look for Egyptian geese, which is an exotic that has established its presence in the Miami area so the ABA added it to the list this year. My first stop was a very well-known birding spot in the Miami area--the Kendall Baptist hospital. I found several muscovy ducks, lots of white ibis and a flock of monk parakeets. Across the pond I spotted what appeared to be a single Egyptian goose, but by the time I worked my way over to that side, the early morning speed walkers had flushed it. <br />
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So I visited next the Grace Church which is only 5 minutes away. I went there because my friend Doreene Linzell had seen 3 geese there last week. I once again found plenty of muscovy ducks, and had a flock of white-winged parakeets fly over, but no Egyptian geese on the canal or lawn. As I was leaving the church, I saw 3 Egyptian geese pass overhead. I still wanted photos, so my next target location was 10 minutes away at Kendall Lakes. I turned in at the sign, and immediately found many muscovy ducks, and upwards of 20 Egyptian geese. <br />
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With the Egyptian goose photographed, I was off to Long Key SP. I arrived by 9:30 AM, and immediately made my way to a poisonwood tree that is the key landmark for beginning a search for the Key West quail-dove. This bird got its name when it was first seen in the early 1800's at Key West. The species has not bred in the U.S. for decades, and now is an extremely rare visitor from the Bahamas to the Keys usually in the summer. The last fall record of one was in 1991.<br />
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I don't like birding in Florida especially when it is hot and humid, so of course that is what I got on Sunday--85 degrees and 80% humidity. I spent all day slowly walking back and forth on about 150 yards of trail covering the area in which the bird had been reported. Not only was there no sign or sound of the quail-dove, but the place was almost devoid of bird life. I counted a total of 9 birds in 8 hours. I did enjoy seeing the occasional Caribbean tree crab.<br />
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I finally gave up the hunt at dusk, and spent the night at Marathon which was another 15 miles further south. I was back at 8 AM when the park opened yesterday morning. I kept patrolling the trail until 11 AM when I needed to leave to make the drive back to Miami to catch my flight home to Chapel Hill, NC. Again there was almost no bird activity--black and white warbler, prairie warbler, blue-headed vireo, gray catbird and 2 cardinals kept me company along with many lizards.<br />
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I am back home now getting ready for Thanksgiving. While I struck out on the Key West quail-dove, at least I was able to add the Egyptian goose to my ABA life list along with the tundra bean goose. Unless I go after another rarity that shows up before the end of the year, I won't do another post until I do my year end review. Check back.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-28840851985587503052014-09-16T14:51:00.000-04:002014-09-17T15:31:42.239-04:00Whiskered Tern!!For the second month in a row, a very rare code 5 bird was found in the lower 48 states. Last Friday Louise Zemaitis discovered a whiskered tern feeding over Bunker Pond at Cape May Point State Park. The platform at the pond is a well known hawk watch counting spot in the fall. This is only the 3rd documented whiskered tern in the ABA area with the last visitor being recorded in 1998. The whiskered tern breeds in parts of Europe and winters in Africa. All of the documented sightings in the U.S. have occurred in the summer/early fall at Cape May with the 1993 bird apparently moving over to Delaware for a period of time before disappearing.<br />
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As soon as I saw the NARBA report on the the tern, I wanted to make the drive from Chapel Hill to Cape May, but knew I could not leave before Sunday afternoon because of house guests. Dan and Doreene called me on Friday to see if I was going to try for the tern. They left Columbus, OH Saturday morning with Laura Keene (the first 3 photos in today's blog were taken by her; click on any photo to enlarge), and Jay Lehman. They made it to Cape May in time to see the tern late that afternoon, and then went back the next morning to see it again.<br />
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Neil Hayward drove down Saturday morning from Boston, and was looking at the tern by mid afternoon. He left to drive back home before the Ohio contingent arrived. In the photo above the whiskered tern is standing by itself in the very center of the frame facing to the left, and in the photo below it is in the center flying to the left over the pond.<br />
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I was able to get on the road Sunday by 1:30 PM, and made it to Vineland, NJ by 9 where I spent the night. I was up at 5 AM and reached the park by 6:30. There were already a 1/2 dozen birders scoping the pond. One of them was Paul Hurtado who I had met last May at Magee Marsh in Ohio. Another birder I know, Barrett Pierce, was also there. Paul, Barrett and I walked out to the beach to check to see if the whiskered tern was roosting there with the other terns. <br />
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We had not been scanning the flock for even 5 minutes when Paul and I saw the whiskered tern fly in and land. We phoned the birders back on the platform. While we waited for them to arrive, the flock was spooked, but returned fairly quickly. Pretty soon we had 15-20 of us lined up (my photo), but we now needed to relocate the tern, which we did after a couple of minutes. Some of the group were having a hard time picking it out of the larger flock, but eventually everyone got on it. After about 15 minutes, the flock flushed again, and when they returned, the whiskered tern was not refound. Since I had a long drive back home, I decided to leave. I saw reports from later in the day that it was seen off and on at the beach, and over the pond throughout the day, and it was reported on the beach again this AM. Almost a 1000 miles of driving proved to be most worthwhile!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-58256917779655840512014-08-09T09:28:00.001-04:002014-08-10T10:52:18.113-04:00Collared Plover!!Once again the Rio Grande Valley in Texas has been the most recent birding hotspot in the ABA area. You may remember that last November the second ever recorded visit from Mexico of an amazon kingfisher delighted birders for many days (click on any photo to enlarge). I was able to make the trip down to see the kingfisher as did many of my birding friends from around the country.<br />
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Last Saturday, a collared plover--an equally rare code 5 bird from south of the border--was found at a small playa near Hargill, TX. And like last fall, its discovery brought in birders from all over the U.S. since the only other time it had been found in the ABA area was in May of 1992, and was seen by very few birders over a 4 day period .<br />
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As soon as I received the NARBA email alert I began to check on flights to McAllen Texas which is about 30 miles from Hargill. The airfares were all too high, and all the economy frequent flyer seats were already booked. Also, I could not leave until Tuesday because of commitments at home.<br />
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John Vanderpoel, who I first met when he was doing a full ABA area big year in 2011, called me on Monday to see if I was going to try for the bird. He was driving home from Michigan to Colorado, and the earliest he could get to Texas was Wednesday. I found out that Neil Hayward (MA), who completed his record setting full area ABA big year in 2013, was already in Texas that day. I talked with him that evening while he was still viewing the plover. He told me that the 3 top ABA area life listers (Macklin Smith (MI--893), Paul Sykes (GA--889) and Larry Peavler (IN--885)) had already come to see it. Another birding friend and avid chaser, Liz Southworth (MA), was there with Neil while we talked.<br />
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I also got an email from Dan Sanders and Doreene Linzell (OH) asking if I was thinking of going. The earliest they could go was on Wednesday, and they also were having a hard time finding an inexpensive airfare. I checked other Texas cities, and was able to get an economy frequent flyer seat into San Antonio that left at 7:15 AM on Tuesday morning. While enroute I found out that Liz reported seeing the plover again early that morning. She also said that a farmer who had a cotton field adjacent to the playa had warned birders that he would be spraying his field that day, and no one could be near it for 48 hours.<br />
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My connecting flight out of Chicago was delayed, but I still made it to San Antonio in time to make the 225 mile drive down to the Hargill before sunset. I arrived about 6:30, and was surprised to see no birders at the prime viewing location. I concluded it must be because of the spraying issue. There were a few birders parked on the other 2 roads that bordered the playa. I set up my scope and began to look for the bird. I called Neil who was already back home to get some more pointers from him about the bird's habits when he had seen it.<br />
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Soon after I began scanning the playa, a second birder joined me--Carol Thompson from Stephenville, TX. She said that the farmer had gotten very upset with the birders mid day. Because of his demands that the birders move, and the 100 degree heat, most people had left. A bit later another birder joined us, and we all spent the next hour scanning the area for the plover. The sun set at 8 PM, and it looked like we were going to need to return the next morning to try again when I saw a small bird walk out from behind a small clump of vegetation. We all got our scopes on it to find that it was the collared plover (the 3 photos of the collared plover were taken by Neil). We were able to watch it feeding on the sand over the next 10 minutes before dusk finally had us packing up our gear.<br />
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I returned on Wednesday morning, arriving at 6:50 AM in hopes of seeing the plover again. There were 2 snowy plovers with 2 chicks running around on the sand, but no sign of the collared plover (photo above taken on Monday by Neil shows a snowy plover in front of the collared plover). About 7:30 Carol joined me. We kept looking without success for the plover. I drove over to the other side of the playa to check a small water area in which it also had been seen, but only found a perched common nighthawk.<br />
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I returned to the north shore of the playa, and soon after the other birder from yesterday evening also arrived. A 4th birder then joined us who had been there also yesterday, but had left before I had reached the site. While we kept looking we enjoyed many other birds that were visiting the playa. At 9 the farmer drove up in his truck, and read us the riot act. I asked him why we had to leave since he had finished spraying the day before. He told us that there was a federal law about spraying which could cause him to be fined if we did not leave. We asked him when birders could return, and he told us Thursday morning. We packed up and departed. I began the drive back to San Antonio about 9:15. I called John
Vanderpoel who was enroute to Texas to warn him about the farmer. I
made it home Wednesday before midnight.<br />
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John tried to see the bird Wednesday evening, along with some others. The farmer did not come by, but the plover also was not seen at all on Wednesday. John met Mary Gustafson and Dan Jones (who had found the bird initially) on Thursday morning, and they relocated the plover. When Dan and Doreene heard that it was seen again, they and another friend, Jay Lehman from Ohio who just completed a full ABA area big year in 2013, bought tickets, and flew to Texas on Friday morning. All 3 of them were able to see the plover yesterday as did Monte Taylor (CA) who is at the top of the ABA life list for photos (840).<br />
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John Vanderpoel called me this morning to say that he, Dan and Doreene were on their way to another area close by to look for a yellow-green vireo that had been found yesterday--it would be a life bird for Doreene. Like here this morning in North Carolina, it is raining in south Texas. I have no new birding trips planned at this time, but who knows when another rarity might show up that I will want to try to see.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430646509081794476.post-73137087494799909392014-06-08T15:40:00.000-04:002018-05-21T16:07:34.928-04:00700+ Club Reunion: Trip to Hatteras, NCOn Wednesday May 28th, Neil Hayward flew from Boston, MA and Dan Sanders and Doreene Linzell drove from Columbus, OH to Chapel Hill, NC to spend the night with me before we all headed out to Hatteras, NC for a reunion of the 700+ club. The first ever gathering of those birders who had seen 700+ bird species in a calendar year in the ABA area happened back in December of 2012 in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The catalyst for that first meeting was to welcome John Vanderpoel to the group. With Neil Hayward and Jay Lehman both passing the 700 mark in 2013, we decided to have a reunion of the group, and to invite Neil and Jay to honor their big years. <br />
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Neil, Dan, Doreene, and I made a couple of stops on our way out to Hatteras on Thursday. First we visited Howell Woods in hopes of finding Swainson's warblers. The roads at Howell Woods have had a very tough winter, so unfortunately we could not drive all the way into the preserve. We had a nice 3 hours walking the roads and trails with many sightings of prairie warblers (all photos in today's post were taken by Neil Hayward unless indicated otherwise. Click on any photo to enlarge), but no Swainson's. We also had only fleeting glimpses of a Kentucky warbler.<br />
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Our next stop was a place just north of route 64 on the way out to Manteo. Dan and Doreene knew about Palmetto Peartree preserve from earlier trips out to Hatteras. It is the furthest north location to see red-cockaded woodpeckers. While waiting for the woodpecker to make an appearance, we did see prothonotary and yellow-throated warblers.<br />
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We also found a couple of brown-headed nuthatches with food for their young. <br />
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Finally, a red-cockaded woopecker flew into one of the nest trees.<br />
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We stopped in Nag's Head for dinner at Basnight's Lone Cedar Cafe where we all had the spring specialty--soft-shelled crabs. Neil and Dan had never had them before, and found them "odd". The huge pile of onion straws, and the key lime pie were definitely well received by all. We drove the last hour down to Hatteras, stopping to get some provisions for the next 2 days of pelagic trips with Brian Patteson. We ran into John Vanderpoel and a good friend, Doug Koch, who John and I first met at Hatteras during John's big year.<br />
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Friday morning we were all at the boat, Stormy Petrel II, at 5:15. Other 700+ club members included Sandy Komito, Al Levantin (both were in the book The Big Year which chronicled their and Greg Miller's efforts in 1998), John Vanderpoel, Bob Ake, Dan, Jay, Neil and myself. The rest of the birders on the boat were mostly veterans of pelagic trips, Kate Sutherland (Brian's long time "mate"), and some of the great spotters who join Brian for these trips (Todd McGrath, Dave Pereksta, Tom Johnson, and Bob Fogg). <br />
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It generally takes about 2-2.5 hours to reach the gulf stream where the warmer water temps, and deeper waters attract the seabirds that bring hard core birders out for 12 hours of boat time to try to find a relatively small number of bird species. Once we reached the gulf stream, Kate started chumming to attract the birds to follow the boat. We saw a few band-rumped storm petrels, many Wilson's storm petrels, but none of the very rare European storm petrels on Friday. We also had a couple of Leach's storm petrels come by the boat.<br />
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The one petrel species on Friday that was with us most of the day was the black-capped.<br />
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We also were visited regularly by a pomerine jaeger. The day before Jay Lehman had seen his life white-tailed tropicbird which he had been trying to see for 40 years! We were not blessed with any of the rarer birds, but did see 1 distant bridled tern, many Cory's and Audubon's shearwaters, and a few sooty shearwaters, <br />
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After returning to shore, the 700+ group went to Dinky's for dinner. Left to right (Sandy Komito: 1987 (722) and 1998 (748); Bob Ake: 2010 (731); Al Levantin: 1998 (711); Jay Lehman: 2013 (733 + 2 provisonals); Neil Hayward: 2013 (747 + 3 provisionals); Chris Hitt: 2010 (704, lower 48 states only); Dan Sanders: 2005 (715); and John Vanderpoel: 2011 (743 + 1 provisional) (photo taken by Doreene on my cell phone). Missing from the group this year were: Lynn Barber: 2008 (723); Greg Miller: 1998 (715); Bill Rydell: 1992 (714) ; Benton Basham: 1983 (711); Steve Perry: 1987 (711); and John Spahr: 2010 (704).<br />
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Saturday had us powering out of the dock about 5:30. The day was similar weatherwise and windwise to Friday. We saw pretty much the same bird species with black-capped petrels still all around us during the day. <br />
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Late morning brought us the rarest bird of the day--a herald or trindade petrel that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, flying up the slick and by the boat. We maybe had 30 seconds to enjoy it before it flew away--an all to common pelagic birding encounter! This was a life bird for John Vanderpoel.<br />
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We returned to the dock with some rough water for the 1st hour of our ride home. Dan, Doreene and I said our goodbyes to the group, and then drove back to Chapel Hill, stopping for one more dinner at Basnight's. Key lime pie capped the meal again.<br />
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It was really nice for some of the 700+ group to get together a second time, and once again share the unique experience of doing an all out big year in the ABA area. Who knows when another birder will cross the 700 species threshold in 1 calendar year. What I know for now is that I began doing this blog in late 2009 in order to record my lower 48 states big year in 2010. I have kept adding to it over the past 3+ years--either sharing my own birding trips, or talking about big year efforts. I have enjoyed doing it, and hope that my readers over the years have also had a good time following what I have had to share. While I will continue to bird, I have decided that it is time to at least take a break from doing Slowbirding. There might be new posts at some point, but I do not know when, so instead of closing with "stay tuned", I will only say that you might occasionally check to see if there is anything new from me.
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I had breakfast as usual at 6 AM with Dan and Doreene, and Bert and Mike. We went our separate ways to bird. The winds were still favorable, so Dan, Doreene and I spent the day again birding Magee and Metzger marshes, and Ottawa NWR. Doreene noticed a new vanity plate which she coveted since the great gray owl is her favorite bird (my photo).<br />
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The warbler show continued being the main theme on the boardwalk with many black-throated blues and black-throated greens putting smiles on birders faces (all photos in today's post are Laura's unless indicated otherwise. Click on any photo to enlarge).<br />
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A new bird for the trip was a yellow-billed cuckoo that typically kept itself well hidden thus making it very difficult to obtain good photos. A distant olive-sided flycatcher kept the crowd busy for awhile in order to make a solid ID. I also saw my first blue-headed vireo and cedar waxwing of the trip. Overall the volume of birds was down a bit compared to the previous 4 days, but there was still good variety. By the end of the day my warbler species count was at 24, and I saw my first orange-crowned warbler of the trip.<br />
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One of the special opportunities provided only during the biggest week in birding is taking a bus ride into Cedar Point wildlife area which sits to the west of Ottawa NWR. Doreene had gotten reservations for the Tuesday morning tour that left at 7 AM. We had done this tour a couple of years ago, and wanted to try it again. As we were driving up to the entrance all 15 of us cheered the male turkeys competing with each other (my photo).<br />
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Once we were on the 1-way road that takes 3-4 hours to traverse with stops, we immediately began to see and hear birds. There were plenty of warblers but also birds not seen normally at Magee like tufted titmouse. We heard another least bittern calling in the reeds next to the road.<br />
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At our third stop along the way, I walked a bit ahead of the group which meant I missed seeing some white pelicans fly over because I did not hear anyone point them out. That was okay because as I was carefully scanning the bushes along the road I discovered a Kirtland's warbler--the rarest warbler in the ABA area. I quickly got Dan, Doreene and their friend Jeff to join me since they were closer than the rest of the group. We all quickly checked for the key field marks--overall large size, long tail that was flicked regularly while eating, broken eye-ring, large bill size, no yellow in the rump, gray back with some streaking, yellow throat and breast with some streaking, etc.--and concluded it was a female Kirtland's. And then the bird disappeared (photo above added on 5/22; taken by Keith Lott the next day on the bus tour).<br />
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We signaled the rest of the group to join us, and as they arrived, fortunately the Kirtland's popped up again. We were able to spend at least 10 minutes studying it as it fed which also meant lots of photos were obtained (photos above and below were taken by Jim Long). We were all pretty excited since the only other Kirtland's warbler seen so far in the area was yesterday at Kelly's Island on another bus tour. There were only
about 400 Kirtland's left 40 years ago because of loss of habitat, and
cowbird predation on the breeding grounds. Through the trapping of the
cowbirds, and the expansion of the jack pine habitat in Michigan
necessary for them to breed, today there are estimated to be 4000. As a result, since 2010 at least one Kirtland's has been found at
or near Magee Marsh each year.<br />
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We finished our tour about 11:30, and headed back over to Magee in hopes of seeing a Henslow's sparrow that had been found earlier in the day. unlike the Kirtkand's warbler, Henslow's sparrows are not uncommon, but finding one on the boardwalk is totally surprising. It had been seen only briefly before it flew off, but by mid afternoon it was relocated feeding very close to the boardwalk. I have seen this species many times, but never at such a close range. It is one of our prettier sparrows.<br />
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As if a Henslow's and a Kirtland's was not enough, we finished our day at Pearson Park watching a full plumage female red-necked phalarope. Dan and Doreene said they thought this was only the 2nd red-necked phalarope that they had seen in the spring in over 20 years of birding in Ohio. My warbler count for the day was only 21 species, but the Kirtland's raised my warbler trip total to 31 in 6 days of birding which tied my personal best from last year. The day proved to be probably the best of the trip and a total of 99 bird species for the day, but the winds were beginning to shift to the north which was not a good sign.<br />
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Because the weather was not supposed to be so good on Wednesday, we got a bit later start than normal. We had not yet been over to Oak Openings, which is on the west side of Toledo. Dan, Doreene, their friend Bill, and I decided to spend the morning birding there. As we drove up we ran into a small group being led by Greg Miller. We immediately found grasshopper sparrow, and with a bit of work, blue-winged warbler which meant a new personal record for me of 32 for the trip. An hour later I was able to push the record up to 33 when we found a pair of pine warblers. About 11:30 the rain began to fall, so we drove back to have lunch in Oregon--a suburb of Toledo where we were staying. <br />
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With the rain subsiding, we headed back to Magee, stopping on the way to look at a large group of ruddy turnstones and black-bellied plovers most of which were in breeding plumage. Back at the boardwalk in only an hour's time we found lots of warblers including blackburnian and
magnolia. <br />
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Next up was another run through Ottawa NWR on the auto tour. We were still looking for yellow-headed blackbirds, and black terns plus a reported king rail. We found none of them, but there was a pretty close pair of trumpeter swans (my photo), and a group of short-billed dowitchers in full breeding colors. We decided to head in for the day since the weather continued to be crummy. With the winds predicted to be coming out of the north for the next
several days, I decided to start back home on tomorrow instead
of staying until Sunday as I had planned. <br />
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I awoke to light rain that turned into heavier rain fairly quickly. Dan and Doreene decided to drive about 90 miles south to try to see a Wilson's phalarope as part of their 20th consecutive big year in Ohio.<br />
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I drove over to the boardwalk in hopes that the rain would let up, and maybe the bird I still most wanted to see--Connecticut warbler--would stop flying north because of the weather. I read for a bit until the rain stopped. I put on my rain gear and began to cruise the boardwalk. It was chilly, windy and there were almost no birders, but there were still birds to be seen including American redstarts and Tennessee warblers. Alas, no Connecticut warbler showed up.<br />
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I did see a Philadephia vireo, a few eastern wood pewees, and a young rose-breasted grosbeak (my photo). Dan and Doreene got back in time from their successful chase of the Wilson's phalarope for me to say good-bye to them as well as Jay, and to say hello to their friend Joe. I then made the 6 hour drive back to Beckley, W. VA. to be in position to bird some there on Friday.<br />
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I was on the road by 6 AM to make the short drive to Twin Falls SP--a place that I had read about, but never birded. It was cool and partly cloudy. I found a few birds--blue-headed and red-eyed vireos, white-breasted nuthatch, red-shouldered hawk, black-throated green warbler, and an ovenbird (my photo), but not my target bird--cerulean warbler. One had been reported when I was at Magee, but I heard about it too late to see it.<br />
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I decided to try another spot called Crump Bottoms that also was supposed to be good for ceruleans. It took me about 90 minutes to drive there. I arrived by 11 AM which gave me hope that the birds would still be singing. I made it down the somewhat rough gravel road including a stream crossing before finally reaching the bottom. I almost immediately heard a cerulean calling. With some patience and perseverance I finally saw it singing in a nearby tree. This is one of my favorite warblers and was a perfect last bird for the trip. It was the 34th warbler species of the trip, and having seen prairie and Swainson's warblers, and Louisiana waterthrush earlier this spring, it meant the only eastern warbler that I missed for the year was Connecticut which I consider the hardest warbler to find.<br />
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I needed to get on the road again in order to arrive in time to make dinner for my wife, so about 12:30 I began the 4 hour drive home. In reviewing my trip list, I ended up with 176 bird species seen over 8 full days of birding, and there were another 14 reported that I missed seeing. So I ended my now annual Magee Marsh trip with new personal bests for warbler species seen, and also total bird species seen. I would say that while no day at Magee this year was a "10" birdwise, it was the most consecutive days of high quality birding that I have experienced in my visits there. Also, as always I want to thank those birders who have shared their photos with me, especially Laura, so that this blog can be more colorful and entertaining. I will be heading out to Hatteras, NC next week to do a couple of pelagic trips with Brian Patteson. Stay tuned!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07876569567125377386noreply@blogger.com1