The Highs and Lows of Birding

2018 was a great year of birding. I got to see some amazing birds. With that said, there were some lows. I had unreal luck with rarities. My first chance was in January with a Red-throated Loon and American Black Duck at White Rock Lake. I got the duck, but not the loon. Dipping on a rarity happens, especially when you're at my level of experience. I did get Tundra Swan in Fort Worth later in the month. It was miserably cold but I got 3 of them. It was a birding highlight of the year.

American Black Duck at White Rock Lake

Tundra Swan at Fort Worth Nature Center

A great start, right? I had another chance to get a rarity when an Elegant Trogon showed up at Landa Park in New Braunfels. My amazing girlfriend Katie braved an enthusiastic birder and a brisk morning to look for a bird that didn't show up. It sucked, but I told myself that dips happen.

Another chance at hard to find birds occurred in the Davis Mountains and South Llano River SP. There Alex and I missed Golden-cheeked Warbler and Montezuma Quail. I expected Montezuma Quail to miss but missing Golden-cheeked Warbler was irritating. We were in the place to see them, and we just missed it.

In November I missed Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Sugar Land. I had to be somewhere during the 24 hours it was seen. I got back in the middle of a storm and the bird was never seen again. That hurt a lot.

December hurt the most for rarities. I already detailed the crushing miss of Great Black Hawk in Maine. I was in the city and there was nothing I could do once it had been found. 20 minutes later I would miss Snowy Owl, a grail bird of mine, at the best place in the state to see it. On Galveston Island on Christmas Eve I missed Prairie Warbler, despite it probably seeing me. A week later I would miss Tropical Parula in Houston at Edith Moore Sanctuary.

Sounds like birding is just a disappointment, but that's far from the truth. The highs always make up for the lows.

In San Francisco I was exhausted after birding the entire city. I was walking out on a pier to look at grebes and I saw a Common Murre just chillin right by the pier. I knew I they were in the area, but I didn't even consider seeing one. A lot of rare birds (which this wasn't) are stumbled upon. You have to be at the right place at the right time. I was in the right place at the right time and I got lucky.

Common Murre in San Francisco

In May at South Llano River it was hot and Alex and I were exhausted. We went out at the wrong time to bird. To be fair, we were just stopping briefly at the park to look for the endangered Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler. Vireos are hard for me to find an identify. Sweating profusely, we saw the BCVI fly into a tree. We saw the black cap. We drove the remaining 5 hours to Fort Davis more energized than before. 

Later on in that trip we were feeder watching at sunset. The birds were stunning. Black-headed Grosbeak, Western and Hepatic Tanagers, and a flash of...pale blue? We had seen plenty of Blue Grosbeak, but this was baby blue. I nearly jumped through the ceiling. Someone had been studying their field guide, and even though it was the tail end of migration, it was undoubtedly Lazuli Bunting. This was one of the last few flying through and we got a brief glimpse at it. I would have given our chances at seeing it at 5%, and we got it!

A not so great pic of the Lazuli Bunting

Right before I started my job I got to spend some time in Dallas with my family. I got what would be my last shot at Golden-cheeked Warbler. I drove to Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is full of the perfect Ash Juniper habitat that they are exclusively found in. I hiked all day but didn't find one. I heard a few calls, but nothing showed up. Safe to say it was demoralizing and frustrating. But as I descended towards my car I heard the buzzy call of what sounded like Black-throated Green Warbler, except that bird would be very rare in late May. And guess what bird sounds exactly like it! Sunburned and dehydrated I sprinted to where the sound was coming from. There wasn't just one Golden-cheeked Warbler, there were 4 or 5! I went from nearly passing out to feeling energized. What an amazing feeling.

As I highlighted in my last post the disappointment of missing Great Black Hawk and Snowy Owl was negated by the high of seeing Snow Bunting and Razorbill in the span of 5 minutes.

The last high of the year was at Galveston Island State Park. Palm Warbler was a lifer for me, I was unsure I'd be able to find one due to inexperience. 30 minutes into my walk I saw a bird flitting around with yellow near the rump. I figured it was the abundant Yellow-rumped Warbler, but I was wrong. A spitting image of the field guide, Palm Warbler. While locally common, this was a big win for me after Maine. I used to miss a lot of locally common birds because I had no clue where to look. Normally I'd look for Palm Warbler in the tall trees, but I knew to look lower for them. It's a small win that was particularly motivating, just like when I found Louisiana Waterthrush at Bear Creek Park in August.

Louisiana Waterthrush at Bear Creek Park

But that wasn't the only high in Galveston. Rails are all over the marshes down there, but they're crazy secretive. They live in tall grass in and run instead of fly. In fact, they can be so hard to see that the ABA started to allow records of "heard only" because of birds like rails. The most notorious is Black Rail, and few if any are seen in a year. I didn't see Black Rail, but I did get amazing looks at 2 different Clapper Rails on the trail. 2 runners scared one off before I could get a picture of one, and my slow movement to grab my camera scared the other off, but that was after I froze and looked for a few minutes. So much for bad luck, right?

Birding is never a bad time. The unexpected makes every trip an adventure, and usually there's something cool lurking around every corner, even if it's not the most stunning or sought after bird. The highs outweighed the lows by far, and despite the disappointment of a dip you bet I'll chase the next big rarity with gusto. I cannot wait to see what 2019 has in store, and lets just say a few massive moves are in the works.

Birding the Northeast

Portland Head Light

The temperature was 9 degrees when I checked the weather in Portland, Maine the day before my trip. Yikes. I had a crazy weekend planned in the city. I scored a great deal on a flight and rental car for the weekend, so like a rational person I decided to go to Maine in the winter. My plan was to spend Friday afternoon looking for the first ever ABA record of Great Black Hawk that had been seen in a local park, then try to get Snowy Owl at the Portland Jetport. What I didn't realize was that the sun starts setting around 4 PM, and I got off the plane after 3. I was exhausted after getting up at 4:30 to fly to Philly then connect to Portland, and in the fading I did not see the star bird. The weather was actually very pleasant, but it gets COLD once that sun goes down. It got into the low 30s while I was there but during the day it was in the 40s. I decided for a lobster roll, settled in at the Airbnb, and I was in bed at 8:30.

My plan for the weekend was to drive 90 minutes South to Parker River NWR and then work my way north and stop at various places in New Hampshire and Maine. I wanted to spend Sunday in the general area of Portland to make sure I got to my flight in time. I was going to start at Biddleford Pool before heading to Dyer Point and fitting Scarbrough Marsh in if I had time. I was refreshing eBird in case the Great Black Hawk returned, but I booked my flight before it was rediscovered in the area so wasn't gonna spend all day chasing it. No way I would miss it if it showed up, but I came in expecting to not see it.

The High Roller Lobster Roll

A not so great picture of a White-winged Scoter, but a lifer is a lifer!

Lifer Common Loon! I snapped this through my scope

Parker River is a must see. It boasts a species list that is second only to the legendary Cape May. It's as birdy as it is beautiful. Wow. I spent the first chunk of the morning scoping the beach by the entrance, immediately getting lifer Common Loon and Black Scoter. Long-tailed Duck and Herring weren't too far behind. The coastal dunes were picturesque, and it's easy to see why this place draws nature lovers from across the region. A fellow birder pointed me in the direction of a King Eider and Snowy Owl, and although they were gone by the time I got there I got excellent looks at all 3 scoters, Common Eider, and Red-breasted Merganser. American Tree Sparrow was present as well in the lot. Off the beach there was various waterfowl including a ton of American Black Duck. Northern Harriers hovered over the fields and a Bald Eagle scared off a flock of Canada Geese. I will definitely be back at some point. It is gorgeous and there's not a bad place to see birds at all. Overall I had 29 species.
I had such a great time that I ran out of light. I raced across the state line to New Hampshire to go to Hampton Harbor to look for my lifer Glaucous Gull. As the sun went down it got freezing, but I was out there in a parking lot scoping for gulls. The best way for me to tell the difference was the lack of black on the wings. Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were abundant, and a Common Loon was floating around. Then in the fading light I looked up and it was right above me! Glaucous Gull! It flew up to a post and I enjoyed good looks of it, but the wind was whipping up and I had to go back and get me a lobster roll!

Sunday was another early morning. I stopped in Saco along the river to get Common Goldeneye on my way to East Point in Biddleford, which is supposed to be a can't miss in the winter. A snowstorm was blowing in, and the wind was bone chilling. East Point has little tree cover and my scope couldn't even stay straight. Staying out of the wind I was able to get up close views of White-winged Scoter and Red-necked Grebe. Just as I was packing up to move on I saw a white flash along the ground. That could only be one thing, SNOW BUNTING. It was right in front of me and I missed the picture. I pretty much walked right over it. I set my scope back up on the other side and I saw plenty of ducks bouncing around, including Razorbill! In the span of 10 minutes I got 2 of the birds I was dying to see. I was the crazy man laughing into the freezing wind. It was glorious. I then drove north to Dyer Point, Portland Head Light, and 2 Lights State Park to get the stunning Harlequin Duck. That was another bird I used to longingly look at in my field guide as a kid.

I've dreamed of seeing Harlequin Ducks, I could not have asked for better looks

As unforgettable as the trip was, there were a few disappointing moments. I couldn't find Common Redpoll, as you either find a flock of 50 or see none. Surprisingly I missed Black Guillemot. I missed Snowy Owl despite chasing it on Saturday and going to the Jetport where it is supposed to be reliable. The worst miss was Great Black Hawk. It had been seen pretty much every day leading up to the trip, and it disappeared the day my flight landed. I looked as I rushed to the airport on Sunday and it wasn't there on Sunday as well. Someone reported it 30 minutes after I had gone through security at the airport. I was crushed. It had been in an adjacent yard all weekend and the owner got around to reporting it at sunset on Sunday. I was frustrated, but that's how birding goes. I had a brutal year with rarities and I'll write a post about that later on.

Long-tailed Duck! This is an immature or female but I got fantastic looks at the long-tailed males as well

This trip was incredible. The Maine/Massachusetts birders were incredibly friendly and extremely helpful with finding some incredible birds. The lobster is out of this world and I got to try an authentic Philly cheesesteak when I stopped in Philadelphia. The Razorbill and Snow Bunting were 100% worth the freezing winds, and the Harlequin Ducks were so stunning that I sat and watched them swim for an hour. Maine in the winter sounds a little insane, but it is a must do and I can't wait to go back!

Still can't get over the Harlequin Ducks!