2019: A Year in Review

This was without a year the best birding year I have ever had. 300 species is pretty incredible on a year, and I went to some amazing locations. We started off a little slow in January, but stuff picked up in February with a Little Gull in Dallas, and a wild encounter with a dead body.

Little Gull in the center with Bonaparte's Gulls and a Ring-billed Gull

I really got spoiled starting in March. Caddo Lake brought in a few really cool birds, but it was migration that stole the show from late March to early May. This was my first spring on the Texas coast and it did not disappoint. All of my migrant time was spent at Lafitte's Cove in Gavleston outside of one visit to Woodland Park in Houston. I really wish I got to High Island, but my car was not reliable at all and the drive to Lafitte's Cove was much shorter. Galveston in general is way more accessible to Houston, but now that I have new wheels I look forward to making a trip out there. Woodland Park is also fantastic as a little migrant trap. I was blown away. There were several vantage points to a creek that is shallow enough for exhausted migrants to bathe and hydrate. Even skipping out on famed sites, I only missed a few warblers. Cape May was the biggest miss and it's frustratingly still a lifer. Cerulean and Blackpoll Warbler are uncommon misses. I am disappointed I missed Kentucky Warbler as well, and that and Cape May Warbler are becoming a nemesis. Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Blue-winged Warbler, Orchard Oriole, and Indigo Bunting absolutely outshone the misses, though. Migration was absolutely a highlight of the year and I can't wait for it to start again.

Hooded Warbler, Lafitte's Cove

Scarlet Tanager, Woodland Park

May was the start of something special. The aforementioned migrant extravaganza was in full force, and I went to my favorite birding destination in Texas: Big Bend National Park. We came at the perfect time. Colima Warblers were in and a very rare Slate-throated Redstart was seen in Boot Canyon. An incredible few days brought both birds and a family of bears. We did have some misses that were surpassed by the birds we did see. We were with a group chasing the Slate-throated Redstart and left a little early. They later saw a very rare Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. They also saw a Blue-throated Mountain-Gem, a sought after lifer that I may try and get this year, and a Painted Redstart, one of my favorite birds.  But we also got Varied Bunting, Mexican Jay, Blue Grosbeak, and a surprising Green Kingfisher.

Pronghorn in the Marfa area

Slate-throated Redstart, a very rare find in Texas

Black-tailed Prairie Dog

June brought a rare Red Phalarope and a life changing trip to Alaska with Anthony. The birds were incredible. Arctic Warbler. Kittlitz's Murrelet. Rhinocerous Auklet. Willow Ptarmigan. And that was just the birds. We had Grizzly Bears, Moose, Caribou, and Humpback Whales. We did Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks. I can't recommend it enough.

Red Phalarope

Grizzly Bears

Barrow's Goldeneye

Harlequin Ducks, Resurrection Bay

Moose

Northwestern Fjord, Kenai Fjords National Park

Off trail hiking is encouraged at Denali to save the tundra. I highly recommend it.

Parakeet Auklet

Kittltiz's Murrelet

Humpback Whales

Willow Ptarmigan

The flurry of birding activity between April and June honestly wore me out. That, combined with college football season brought birding to a halt for the most part in the fall. I did go to Brazoria NWR and I also successfully chased the third Texas record of Northern Wheatear in Victoria.

Northern Wheatear, Victoria, TX

In October I made my big fall trip to the Rio Grande Valley. I found RGV specialties like Green Jay, Altamira Oriole, Morelet's Seedeater, and many others. The Alamo Inn in Alamo was an incredible place to stay, and every birder should make a trip to the RGV at least once. My favorite site is Estero Llano Grande SP, where I was able to pick up some missed migrants like Tennessee and Nashville Warbler. Bentsen-RGV SP was also another favorite stop that is very productive with its hawk watch tower. I also got my lifer Golden-winged Warbler there. The National Butterfly Center, although it didn't have any unusual birds, is a must see. I will try and go every time I visit the Valley. The amazing Salineno did not disappoint with Morelet's Seedeater and Audubon's Warbler.

Green Jay

Gray Hawk

In November I chased Brown Booby successfully and birded Wheeler NWR over Thanksgiving in Alabama. In the process I finally got my nemesis Hooded Merganser.

December was a fantastic month for the sole reason that I hit 300 species on the year with a Fox Sparrow during the Dallas CBC. I got to explore Lake Tawakoni as well with my dad, where we ended the year on a high note with a Pacific Loon.

Brown Booby

Hooded Merganser, Wheeler NWR

The best bird on the year has to go to Colima Warbler, but Arctic Warbler, Kittlitz's Murrelet, Slate-throated Redstart, and Northern Wheatear were other highlights. The biggest miss is by far Wood Duck and Painted Bunting. Seriously, how did I miss those?

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Woodland Park

Painted Bunting, an egregious miss on the year

Now that 2020 is here I'm not really sure what my goals are. I really want to focus on joining the Century Club, getting 100 birds in 100 counties. I currently sit at 5 counties over 100 in Texas. The only thing I would have done differently in 2019 is stop more on road trips for 20-30 minutes to get some birds at a rest stop or something. I don't have any set plans for 2020 but some big moves are definitely on the horizon!

Boot Canyon, Big Bend National Park. This canyon is my favorite spot in Texas. I have to get back this year.

300

6 species to go with an entire week to go birding.  Not a bad situation to be in. I go to join the Dallas CBC at White Rock Lake with Matt DuRoss, an old high school teacher of mine. We met up at 5:15 off of West Lawther near White Rock to look for owls at Cox Cemetery. Within about 5 minutes we had an Easter Screech Owl flying over and we got excellent looks at it. We would hear another one later on in the morning as well.

West Lawther Drive is a really great spot for ducks as you get to the north end of the lake. I never birded there in the past, and I was really surprised at the great views you could get of the lake. Hooded Mergansers were present, which is so weird to me because I could not find these birds to save my life, but now they're showing up everywhere. We got a highlight of the day, a late Common Yellowthroat.

Our next was the bountiful Sunset Bay on the east side of the lake. Sunset Bay is always full of birds and it's a great place to get close views of American White Pelicans. This was also where the American Black Duck had been seen in 2017 and 2018. The group saw a Red-breasted Merganser that I unfortunately didn't see, but we had the usual mix of species outside of that. I did get a year bird in a Song Sparrow, which put me up to 297 including a Forster's Tern. 4 more to go, and we had plenty of time left in the day. The real highlight is the field and forest to the northeast of Sunset Bay. It was very productive.

The lighting is awful, but there is bird #300. A Fox Sparrow.

The first bird I got glass on was a Harris's Sparrow, a really great find. I was especially happy because it meant I didn't have to look for them at LLELA. We also had Eastern Bluebird, Blue-headed Vireo, and Eastern Towhee. American Goldfinches flew into view. 299. FOX SPARROW! 300! I let out a deep breath of relief. 300 birds in a year is pretty good. It may not break any records, but it's a cool milestone.

Afterwards we went to the field by Boy Scout Hill on Mockingbird. We were hoping to walk through the tall grass to get LeConte's Sparrow, but the grass had been cut and only Savannah's were present. We ended the day at the spillway to try and get the Iceland Gull, and we may have had it. It also could have been a Herring Gull, and I thought it was too close to call. I don't care, though. I saw 300 birds in 2019, that is more than enough.

The mystery gull. I'm pretty sure this is a Herring Gull but there was an Iceland lurking in the area.

Galveston Island State Park

My last weekend of the year in Houston was a big one. I was very close to my goal of 300 year birds with a total of 288. The coast has so much species diversity, which makes it the perfect place to snag a few year birds that I was missing.

I woke up early on the morning of the 15th ready to go. It was shaping up to be a nice day, and with good light I held out hope to snag a few great birds that I needed, including a few that I bafflingly missed. My destination was an easy choice: Galveston Island State Park. The park itself is really small, but it has a marsh and a beach, perfect for shorebirds, passerines, and waterfowl. The 2 ideal birds were Seaside and Nelson's Sparrow, 2 birds that are tough to find even in the right habitat. I didn't hold my breath, but I desperately needed others. Somehow I was missing Northern Harrier, and I was also looking for Palm Warbler and Clapper Rail. I was in the perfect habitat for all of them.

White-tailed Kite

The beach was closed due to some construction, and at the visitor center a very helpful ranger told me where to get my 2 sparrows. Really the only trail to take in the park is the Clapper Rail Trail, which is an easy stroll that takes forever because you're stopping to see birds. On my way out of the visitor center I was given great looks at White-tailed Kite and kingbird looking bird. It dawned on me that it was probably Couch's, but I didn't want to stop and figure it out. I figured I could come back later.

Getting on the trail when I did immediately paid off. A Forster's Tern, a year bird that I somehow was missing, flew across the marsh while Pied-billed Grebes and Red-winged Blackbirds occupied their usual spots. Something made me turn around to admire the incredible view, and l was rewarded handsomely. A Clapper Rail had wandered into the open for great looks.

Clapper Rails are normally pretty tough to see. I was able to get a long glimpse of this one.

I crossed another area of the marsh and saw some weird looking wren. Marsh Wren! Another year bird and a pleasant surprise. I would also get a lifer Sedge Wren, another bird I was not expecting. As I rounded the observation in the area where Seaside and Nelson's Sparrows were supposed to be I had plenty of waders and an Eastern Meadowlark. No sparrows besides Savannah unfortunately. Buffleheads were swimming in the bay.

As I started working my way back I stopped to look at another Marsh Wren. A warbler flew in. Eye stripe, yellow on the flanks...PALM WARBLER! Last time I saw one I had fleeting views, but this one was very cooperative. Then all the birds dropped and fell silent. A group of sandpipers scattered. A bird of prey was around, and I looked to the skies and found my nemesis, a Merlin. I have been in the perfect area for years and missed it. Not this time!

Palm Warbler

The island had one last surprise for me. I decided to make one more loop to look for the sparrows, and all of a sudden a ghost shot up. Not a real ghost, but the gray ghost, Northern Harrier. It scared me as it flapped up and glided across the field. I've never been that close to one and I was amazed at how massive they are.

I ended the day with 6 new year birds and 2 lifers, a day that exceeded expectations. I sat at 294 year birds, and with Christmas coming up in Dallas it looked like I would hit my goal!