No Regrets?

My impromptu Florida trip started with that gorgeous Flamingo and got better when I headed across the state to Key Biscayne in hopes of seeing two rare birds that were reported at Crandon State Park. One of the birds is pretty rare in the US - Thick-billed Vireo. I arrived at the park at 7:30 AM and found the bird immediately. It was sitting in the bushes along the path to the Nature Center. Honestly, this is one of those birds that could easily be overlooked as just another White-eyed Vireo until you hear the song and look closely at the bird. Here is a photo of the Thick-billed Vireo.

Thick-billed Vireo

Now compare with a photo of White-eyed Vireo taken on the same day at the same park.

White-eyed Vireo

Tough right? You can notice a split eye ring and thicker bill on the Thick-billed Vireo but that is about it. The second rare bird is easier to identify but proved more difficult to find at the park. I looked and looked. Other birders showed up and searched too. Finally, I found the bird moving along in the trees with some other birds. Yay! Female Western Spindalis.

Western Spindalis

By 10 AM, I had found the 2 rare birds and headed back across the state feeling pretty satisfied with the trip. Of course some of the fun of birding is "bragging" about it to my friends. I sent the photos above to some friends. Later that evening, Steve emailed back asking if I had also seen the Bananaquit. What Bananaquit? I quickly looked online and read that a Bananaquit had been seen at the same park at 2:30 in the afternoon. THE SAME PARK where I was on THE SAME DAY.  AAARRRGGGGHHHH! I could have let that ruin a perfectly good day but I didn't. Bananaquits, like the Spindalis, show up in Florida almost every winter. I'll have another chance to see one. Right? Please say yes. . . . #noregrets.

Pretty in Pink

You might think that Flamingos are easy to see in Florida. Many residents have plastic pink flamingos in their yards which makes me think that the flamingo is the Florida state bird. They are not - the state bird or easy to see. American Flamingos are not common and where they are regular, they are difficult to see. Most of the Flamingos in Florida are seen at the bottom end of the Everglades by people who are kayaking in the back country. No roads can take you there. And most boats cannot access the area either. I've tried to see Flamingos in the Everglades in the past. I drove all the way to the end of the road and asked the people at the campground. They just giggled and told me that I needed a boat. I slinked away. That was years ago.

Fast forward 15 years and now there is a single Flamingo that has been hanging around in a wildlife refuge up on the Florida panhandle near Tallahassee. The bird has been there since December but I haven't been able to get there to see it. That all changed on Sunday when Connie agreed to make a quick road trip this week to see the bird. Truth be told, she really wanted to visit her sister who lives in Florida. A compromise seemed like the best solution. We left Pennsylvania at 6:30 PM on Tuesday and drove straight through arriving at St. Mark's NWR at 9:30 AM on Wednesday. 15 hours of straight driving.

I probably didn't do enough research because we arrived at the spot and found a vast area of impoundments to search. As we stood there wondering where to start, a Vermillion Flycatcher flew out to the road. WOW! Totally unexpected rare bird.  We have seen this bird in Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize. I saw one in another spot in Florida a few years ago but this guy put on a show searching for bugs along the road and perching on low sticks at the water's edge.

Here he is looking for a bug to pluck from the water.

Luckily, we found a birder who had seen the bird a few times. He was taking his friend/wife/? out to the impoundment to look for the bird. We walked ahead of the couple trying to cover a lot of ground quickly. Peanut LOVED the walk. We went about a mile out on the dike road. I heard someone yelling and looked back to see the couple frantically waving their arms. They found the Flamingo. We headed back to meet them with our spotting scope. Donna aimed the scope out into the marsh and viola, we had the bird!

In the scope

Happy dances ensued.

Flamingo! The bird is back there somewhere

Seeing the bird through the scope was great but I needed a better view so I headed out for another mile to get a closer look. It was quite a hike but totally worth it. The Flamingo was right there!  He/she didn't care a bit about me or Peanut.

Me and the Flamingo

I spent another 20 minutes watching and photographing the bird as he/she was feeding in the impoundment. Flamingos are much taller than I imagined.

Flamingo

He/she would stomp around in circles searching for food.

Flamingo

You can see how the bird uses his foot to search and stir up the water for food.

What a great experience.

Chasing the Rare Birds on St. Paul Island

Many of the birds that we saw on the trip are expected to be there. They are arctic birds that either live on the island or pass through there during migration regularly. But as I eluded to in the last post, those birds are not really the birds that birders go to St. Paul for. Birders go in hopes that birds from Russia and other parts of Europe and Asia get blown over on west winds. Lucky for us, we had 2 days of winds blowing from the west that produced some good "vagrants". We saw a handful that pleased the crowd starting with Olive-backed Pipit.

Olive-backed Pipit

The tough part of the trip for me was that most of the vagrants that we saw were the product of us flushing the bird out of "Putchkie" weeds or flying past so fast that photos were either not possible or really crappy due to the speed of the bird and weather conditions. The Pipit above is just one example.

Another big find for the trip was this Gray-streaked Flycatcher. Again, the bird was flushed from the weeds and barely sat still. Boring little bird from Eurasia but a big find on the island. Look at this lousy photo:

Gray-streaked Flycatcher

While we were looking at this bird, another - even better bird showed up behind us. The bird first landed on the gate across the road but wouldn't sit still long enough for a photo. In fact, the bird took off and we didn't see it again until the next day. And then, only from a distance. Red-flanked Blue-tail is the name of the bird. It is one that I used to look at in field guides and dream of seeing. You can see both the red flank and the blue tail in this photo which is super cropped but identifiable.

Red-flanked Blue-tail

I didn't even get photos of the Brambling or the Eurasian Skylark at all. I managed a few photos of Emperor Goose.

Emperor Goose

And although we saw a few Yellow-billed Loons off the coast, I only managed this shot of one.

Yellow-billed Loon

All of the birders shared sightings and information with everyone else. By the time we left the island, all of the birders had seen the same species. Nobody missed a bird. Having said that - I can say that our group came away from the trip with one special sighting that some of the other birders didn't see . . . the St. Paul Shrew. This little shrew is only found on St. Paul Island and nowhere else. We flipped every piece of wood looking for one. It was a running joke all week with the bird guides. We were so happy to find the rare birds but each time that happened, one of us would say "if only we could find the shrew". And then it happened - I saw one running right down the middle of the gravel road as I was walking back to the van. I yelled "THERE'S THE SHREW! THERE'S THE SHREW!" Of course, everyone thought I was joking until they looked up and watched the little bugger run right under the tire of the van.

Shrew under the tire

We caught the shrew to get a better look. Marty had the great idea of using the cover of his camera lens to make a little corral for the shrew. Check out the schnoz on this shrew.

St. Paul Shrew

The little fella starting shivering so I put him back in the Putchkie to continue with his day. We were one-up on the rest of the birders!

Little Feathers Jewels

Missing from my earlier reports on Arizona are some of Connie's favorite birds - hummingbirds. In our area, we have one type of hummingbird which is Ruby-throated. Don't get me wrong, they are splendid little gems that make us all smile all summer long. We have a pair that nest in our yard every year and drink from our feeder before heading south for the winter. I hang the feeder on tax day every year and wait with anticipation for the first sign that our man is back. This year, I didn't see him until after our return from Arizona which was fine because we had plenty of hummers to look at there.

Arizona is in the west and for some reason, they get many species of hummingbirds there. Many people, restaurants, hotels and gift shops hang feeders to entertain their visitors. We sat at a few of the famous hummingbird stations including Madera Canyon, Paton's Yard and Beatty's Guest Ranch and were treated to some awesome birds. The most common hummer at all feeders was Broad-billed Hummingbird. You can tell this bird by the overall dark body and bright red bill.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Not to be confused with the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds which have a red throat like our hummers but also have a rufous or green "vest".

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - male

 Like most hummers, the Broad-tailed female is pretty plain. This allows her to hide in the nest better.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - female

It's no secret that hummingbirds are the smallest bird species but when you see many species mixing it up at feeders, you can see that even within this group, some are tiny. The Black-chinned Hummingbird is pretty small but very mighty. This guy chased much larger birds away from "his" feeder at Beatty's Ranch all day long. You can see from this photo that if the sun catches his chin just right, it is actually purple, not black.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Here is is in mid flight chasing off another bird.

Black-chinned Hummer

If Black-chinned is one of the smallest hummers, then Magnificent is one of the largest and, well, magnificent. I'll let you decide for yourself.

Magnificent Hummingbird

Even with all of the hummingbird diversity, Southeast Arizona also hosts some rare hummers. We spent an evening at Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast with host Mary Jo to get a glimpse of Lucifer hummingbird. This is one of 3 different males that came to the feeder just before dark to tank up on sugar water before finding a roost for the night.

Lucifer Hummingbird

It's funny to see other types of birds at the hummingbird feeders. This Acorn Woodpecker figured out how to get his tongue into one of the holes.

Acorn Woodpecker

And this Painted Redstart which is a warbler also tried his luck with the sugar water. Here he is getting ready to jump on the feeder.

Painted Redstart

Other birds came in to grab some seed from the other feeders. This very rare Streak-backed Oriole was reported at a famous yard that I love the name of - "Bob Rodriquez's Yard (formerly Dave Jaspers yard)" I guess Dave moved to another house with an awesome yard. We visited in the middle of the day and sweated our asses off but didn't see the bird so we went to lunch and returned later. We got to see the bird a few times. He loved the oranges that Bob had speared around the yard.

Streak-backed Oriole

This is Lazuli's Bunting which is really cool to see.

Lazuli's Bunting

And Green-tailed Towhee pecked around on the ground.

Green-tailed Towhee

Most of the feeder stations also had water features which attracted this Gambel's Quail. These quail have crazy feather plume sticking out of their heads.

Gambel's Quail

And this Scaled Quail which was a life bird for us was hanging around another feeder. Not as gaudy but still a nice looking bird.

Scaled Quail

Many people go to Arizona and forego the rigorous hikes up the canyons. They simply spend time at the feeders and get to see all of these cool birds.

There's Rare, And Then There's Mega Rare

I have spent the past two weeks lamenting. You see, there is a rare gull in upstate New York. A juvenile Ross' Gull was found on Tupper Lake hanging around the ice fisherman waiting to feast on fish guts. This is a gull that is usually found in extreme arctic. People travel to the arctic and still don't see the bird. And here is one only 7 hours north. 7 hours seems easy until you can't find anyone to drive up there with you. The gull hung around for about a week and then couldn't be found. Needless to say, I didn't go to see the gull and I'm still regretting it.

Flash forward a few days. The Internet lit up on Friday with news of a Mega Rare bird being seen at bird feeders near Reading PA. Black-backed Orioles are only found in the mountains of Mexico which is nowhere close to Pennsylvania. This bird doesn't migrate. How did it get here? Who cares. I wasn't about to miss out on this one only an hour and a half away. Lori went with me. We arrived to masses of birders lining the sidewalk in this residential neighborhood. It was like a carnival atmosphere. The bird was easily seen but not close to the road. You can see it here hanging out with 2 Cardinals.

This bird is so famous that the neighbors have a guest book for people to sign. We met people from New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia. People are coming from all over to see the first recorded Black-backed Oriole in the United States. By the end of the day, 197 people saw AND recorded their visit in eBird.

The jury is still out as to whether the bird will be "countable" in official records. In order to be legitimate, the records committee must be sure about the species - no doubt about that, and the provenance of the bird - big doubt about that. How did the bird get to Pennsylvania from Mexico? If the committee suspects that the bird got here by human hands - smuggled, accidentally transported by boat, plane or truck, or escaped from a cage - then the bird will not count as a wild bird and therefore will not be accepted on anyone's life list.

So why then would 200+ birders go to see the bird? 2 reasons. First, it's a pretty, orange bird in the middle of a gray winter. Second and more important, we all have the bird "in the bank" just in case the record committee accepts the bird as a wild vagrant. Check! Only time will tell.

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

Let's set the stage with some background. First, if you read this blog or related to me, you know I've been traveling a lot lately for my job. Next, if you live in the Philly area, you know that the weather has been terrible lately - overcast, rainy and cold - not really ideal birding weather. Lastly, if you are a birder, you know that this time of year can produce some really rare birds. All of these things came together last week in a big way.

I have 2 projects going on for clients in the Bay Area of California. Both projects require me to meet with them in person but my calendar is booked solid for May with both work and birding. As luck would have it, the weather was so bad that I cancelled a trip to the shore last weekend and started to look at airfare pricing to California. Things worked out and I booked a last minute trip leaving Philly on Sunday, staying in Berkeley through Wed and catching the red-eye home on Wed night/Thurs morning. I had a few target birds to look for on this trip which I will post later. This post is about bonus birds - in particular a mega rare bird that I stumbled upon on my last day of the trip.

The business part of the trip included a meeting with a client in Milpitas which is down near San Jose. The meeting was scheduled for 10 AM. How could I spend the morning? Hmmm. Birding of course. The night before, I searched eBird for a location close to my meeting that looked promising for shorebirds. I clicked the link for Alviso Marina and was shocked to see Little Stint in the list of recently recorded birds. Now, you need to know that Little Stint is a super rare bird from Asia. This bird was only the second ever recorded in all of California. I had to go.

Arrived at 6:15 to find that the park doesn't open til 8:00 AM. That didn't stop me. Over the fence I went with my binoculars and camera. I was surprised that I was totally alone for 2 hours looking for the Little Stint. I thought for sure there would be others but only one other birder came along. We didn't find the Little Stint. We did see these Eared Grebes floating on the glassy water.

Eared Grebes

The sky was overcast and there was no wind which created a bright and smooth water surface. The grebes were not afraid of us at all. In fact, they dove under water and popped up very close to shore which allowed me to take these shots.

Eared Grebe

You can see why they are called "eared" with that yellow tuft of feathers but I think they could also be called "Devil-eyed" grebe due to that red eye or "Crested" grebe due to the crest that is always up unless they are getting ready to dive underwater.

Eared Grebe

I am also a sucker for American Avocets. This location had a lot of them. They nest here and seem to be oblivious to people walking past them on the trail.

I never realized that they had those shocking blue legs.

One of the things that you might notice about all of these photos is that there are little black dots on them. This isn't a camera problem. The dots are tiny little flies that were here by the billions. So many that when I walked on the path, a cloud of them would rise up and fly around my feet to avoid being squashed. You can see it best in this photo. The Avocet is stalking the flies but they are too smart. They move just far enough so the Avocet can't reach them.

Avocet hunting flies

Obviously, the Avocet gets plenty of flies to eat but not in that photo. Here is another photo pocked with flies. These are Red-necked Phalaropes. We usually see these birds in the ocean but they stop along the mudflats in migration too. Looks like they were taking a break from eating flies.

Red-necked Phalaropes

The other birder told me that the Little Stint has been seen every day in the afternoon but not in the morning. Sigh. Why did I get up so early? Oh well, seeing Eared Grebes and Avocets made the trip worth it. But I had other ideas too.

My meeting went great. I was supposed to be there until 4 PM but when I told my client about the rare bird, he agreed to cut the meeting short. So, I tore out of there at 2 PM and headed back to the park. This time, the gate was open and there were many other birders there. All gathered at the end of the trail where I had been searching for the Stint earlier. I literally ran to get there. Tada! Little Stint.

Little Stint

I know it doesn't look like much after seeing the spectacular Eared Grebe and elegant Avocets but this bird is more sought after by far. Here he is with 2 other species - Dunlin and Western Sandpiper. He chased both of these birds away from his little mud island.

Little Stint (left), Dunlin (center) and Western Sandpiper

The other birders disbanded after awhile leaving me and one other lady there to watch this little lost bird feeding in the mud. The park is dissected by a train track which is very busy. Here is the scene. The Little Stint is there next to his island.

Little Stint and American Flyer

A few other birds that were seen include this Short-billed Dowitcher. I know, "short billed"? Believe it or not, there are also Long-billed Dowitchers. Imagine that.

Short-billed Dowitcher

Here are a group of them poking their long bills into the mud below the water.

Dunkin' Dowitchers

The most numerous species at this location is Western Sandpiper. Here is one getting ready to grab a fly from the water's surface.

Western Sandpiper

 The Little Stint was icing on the cake for this trip. I'm glad I made the last minute decision. My clients are happy too. Now, back home to witness spring migration.

Varied Week But Not Today

This week:

• Our location was varied - started in Florida, spent the night in Virginia, arrived home in Pennsylvania and spent the day today in New Jersey.
• Our weather was varied - 86 degrees in Florida but only 33 degrees today. 
• Our TV watching was even varied - we watched shows that we never heard of before in Florida like "2 Broke Girls" and "Pitbulls and Perolees" (not kidding), then football and our soap opera at home.

The only thing that wasn't varied was my luck chasing the Varied Thrush that showed up right in the Villas about a month ago and has been seen sporadically ever since. The Varied Thrush is a bird from the north and west. Of course, with everything that is going on at home (Connie's broken ankle etc) I haven't been able to go after the bird until today. And of course, with my luck you know how the chase was going to end up.

I met Harvey at 7:30 AM and headed out to Cox Hall Creek to look for the bird. Harvey has seen the bird a few times and agreed to help me find it today.  The last report of the bird stated that it was in the Holly Woods near a Bluebird box. The report said that the bird was seen hanging out with another rare bird - the Red-headed Woodpecker. We spent 2 hours freezing our hands and feet off looking. We finally found a Red-headed Woodpecker but the Thrush could not be found.

Red-headed Woodpecker

By 9:30 we needed warmth and breakfast. Harvey went home to do chores and I headed back to the park to look again. I started to feel better when I found another Red-headed Woodpecker. Again, no Varied Thrush but to my surprise, I stumbled on 4 Bobwhites scurrying up the path in front of me. I managed to snap a few shots before they scattered into the grass. They are so small and so cute. I noticed that some of the quail have white faces and some have tan/beige faces. Turns out that the birds with white faces are male and the beige faces are females. 2 of each in this covey.

Bobwhites

I re-found one of the male birds huddled under a bush just off the path.

Bobwhite

Still no Thrush so I went to Wawa for a Diet Coke and much needed bathroom break. Back to the park for third try. The wind was really howling all day. So much so that even this Merlin was sitting in the woods instead of on top of a snag like he usually does. Merlins are falcons and should be used to the wind, but today was too much for this guy. He really liked watching Peanut running around below him. Good thing Merlins eat birds and not mammals.

Merlin

I'll cut to the chase - no Thrush. A few other birders were looking for the bird throughout the day without luck either. One guy dipped for the 7th time today. Another missed the bird for the 5th time. I don't feel that bad about not seeing this elusive bird. I hope it hangs around so that I can try to vary my luck.