Three Weeks, Three Chases

Normally I would be worn out and birded out. I'll normally take a week or two after a big trip and skip out on birding as I get back in the swing of things. But there was no desire to rest. A rare Black-throated Blue Warbler was being seen in a Dallas yard, and fortunately this yard was a stone's throw from my parents' house in Dallas. I had to go. This stunning warbler typically spends the winter in the Caribbean islands and along the coast of Central America. They like to breed in hills and mountains starting from the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and up through the Great Lakes and Northeast. Their migration path takes them out of range of Texas. The TOS Handbook says they're rare migrants on the Texas coast, and even rarer off the coast. Seeing one in Texas is a big deal, seeing one in Dallas is nuts.

The local bird happened to be seen in the side yard on the corner of a street, and the owner was really cool about people seeing it. I made the quick drive over and after about 25 minutes of waiting I got amazing looks at a gorgeous male Black-throated Blue Warbler. It is one of the most stunning birds I have ever seen, and I can't believe it stuck around for so long!

Black-throated Blue Warbler

The next week I texted an old high school teacher, Matt DuRoss, to see what birding he was up to since early migrants were starting to trickle in. He invited me to join him on a chase to Austin to look for the first state record of White Wagtail. As tired of driving as I was, I couldn't say no. Early on Saturday Matt, Peter Billingham, and I set off for Roy Guerrero Park.

The day started out pretty rainy, and we started at one end of the park, which happened to be the wrong end. We had some great FOY records like Barn Swallow, Purple Martin, and Little Blue Heron, but we also had some lingering wintering birds like Vermillion Flycatcher, Spotted Sandpiper, and American Wigeon.

After finding out the bird was seen on the opposite end we rushed over to start scanning for it. Whoever found this bird deserves major props because it was impossible to find until someone pointed it out to us. Scoping from a high ridge on the opposite bank of the Colorado River, this bird blends in perfectly. A little movement caught my eye in the scope, and there is was! White Wagtail! This is the best Texas bird I have ever seen. In terms of rarity I will never see a rarer bird than a first state record, so we had to admire this one for a while.

White Wagtail. Doesn't get any better than this!

After lunch at Terry Black's Barbeque, which is totally deserving of its reputation as one of the best barbeque places in Texas, we set off for Hornsby Bend, a wastewater treatment plant that is well known for some good birds. It's a pretty good spot, and I think if we were a little later in the month we would have had some amazing shorebirds. Eared Grebe was still lingering and we had Crested Caracara as well as a huge flock of Sandhill Cranes flying over. Overall a very successful day in Austin!

Just when I thought the birding would slow down, it picked right back up. Midweek a pair of Red Crossbills were reported at Lake Ray Roberts State Park in Denton County. A front was moving and on a rainy Saturday morning my dad and I made decided to make the trip, fully expecting them to be gone.

Red Crossbill is a very rare bird in the state. They are resident in the upper reaches of the Davis and Guadalupe Mountains, but that's about it. Occasionally an irruption will occur and they will invade the state, but this was not the case. To get a Red Crossbill in east of the Pecos River is amazing, so we had to take advantage of this.

You can juuust see the cross in the awful lighting

As bad as the rain was we had great luck. We pulled in, and within 10 minutes we had Red Crossbill! They were right by the entrance where they somehow stayed. We also had a possible Bronzed Cowbird, but in the bad light we could not be certain. Overall the state park has some birding potential. There are some good trails that go through woodlands and the edge of the lake. Despite the awful weather we still had 32 species, including a FOY Black-and-white Warbler and 5 Common Loons.

Common Loon

3 chases is a pretty fun stretch, and it's even more fun when they're all successful. And I'm sitting 141 year birds before spring migration has even started, which I will happily take.