It has been a slow start to the year for Birding with Christian. While there has been plenty of birding, it has mostly been local and not really a ton worth writing about. That will be changing! Migration is just getting started and some big trips are coming up. Christina and I will be honeymooning in Dominica, as well as a big trip later in the year. Finally, I have my annual solo trip to a birding destination of my choosing! But how do I decide where to go? With so many places to choose from, I started thinking about what I wanted to see most, which then got me to thinking about what I already had seen. I made lists for Texas, the ABA area (US including Hawaii and Canada), and then the world. It has been a blast putting together the lists, so here is my ABA birding top 10 seen and most wanted!
As a calculation note, this is not just the coolest looking birds. The company, the adventure, and the vibes came into play on all of these.
10. Veery
To be honest, this was a shocking addition on my part. Veery is a thursh that is not super common in Texas, and while they do pop up during migration I never had seen one. That changed in April 2021 when Christina and I went on our first birding trip together (as well as our first trip ever together). The highlight was a 2 hour ferry ride from Key West to Dry Tortugas National Park, a day after dipping on Antillean Nighthawk. We made friends with a British birder named Chris shortly after the boat took off and would bird with him all morning. Flying fish guided us to Hospital Key where we got to enjoy great views of Masked Boobies before arriving at Fort Jefferson, where Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg, was imprisoned. We saw a really stunning seabird colony of Brown Noddies, Bridled Terns, and Magnificent Frigatebirds, but the highlight was the fountains at the fort, which attract tons of neotropical migrants. While Christina's favorite was the Summer Tanager, my favorite was the tan, drab looking Veery. Everything else was expected, but the Veery wasn't, which is a great way to look at the trip. I expected to have fun with Christina, but not as much as we actually had.
The Veery was a perfect representation of birding. Getting up early, getting seasick, making new friends, and going nuts because the best bird wasn't the Masked Booby, Scarlet Tanager, or Black-throated Blue Warbler, but the "boring" Veery. the company and vibes carried this bird to the top 10, and Dry Tortugas is a must visit park.
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| Veery |
9. Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Normally I wouldn't care about Empid flycatchers. They all look the same and don't look super interesting, except for Buff-breasted Flycatcher. On top of that, it requires a little bit of adventure to get to. The best place to find them in North America is in SE Arizona and they occur at pretty high elevations, which means you have to hike up to find them. Or...you can embark on a drive up Carr Canyon that is said to be one of the more terrifying drives you can do with blind, one-lane turns, no guardrail, and a steep drop. I went to Miller Canyon to look for them first, and I likely had one, but it was not confirmed. I was really nervous to go up Carr Canyon since I rented a Sedan, but I had to risk it.
It was a pretty intense drive, but getting to the Reef Townsite Campground was worth the stress. The scenery was stunning, the weather was cool, and the birds were awesome. There isn't a wild story about searching for it in a campground, but this was a really important bird for me to see. I was really intimidated by the drive, which was not that bad at all, and this forced me to get a little more out of my comfort zone, which has already served me well on other birding trips.
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| The tight squeeze up Carr Canyon |
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| While I didn't get a pic of Buff-breasted Flycatcher, this is a Yellow-eyed Junco |
8. Razorbill
Razorbill was my top bird from Maine, which was the first ever out of state birding trip I took. Winter in Maine sounds insane, but it was a lot of fun and I finally started to realize the awesome birds in my field guide that I thought I would never see were actually pretty attainable. My birding horizons have expanded dramatically since 2018, but at one point Razorbill was a bird I thought I never would see. Alcids always catch my eye when thumbing through a field guide, but they can sometimes be hard to see from shore.
As usual, it's not only the bird, but the overall experience. It was cold, windy, and overcast at Biddeford Point, perfect seawatching weather to me. I felt like a madman in the howling wind, and that joyous moment when seeing a bird I doubted I would got the blood flowing. Immediately after looking in the scope I saw my lifer Snow Bunting, too! Maine in the summer is pretty rad, but Maine in the winter made me want to buy a beach house there. It's a different kind of beauty, but I can't wait for my next trip up there.
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| No pictures of Razorbill, but here are some Harlequin Ducks! |
7. Boreal Chickadee
Any bird with the name "boreal" in it is going to get my attention. Boreal forests feel so wild, remote, and full of serene beauty. While I am in my tropical birding bag at the moment, the most connected I have felt with nature has been in the boreal forests. I've looked for Boreal Chickadee a few times and never saw one in Alaska or Maine. I finally found a good spot for them at the Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota, but it was -20 degrees and my hands were searing from the cold. I actually had to turn around and sit in my car for 20 minutes. My glasses were also freezing over after a few minutes, which made my mind up right there that I was going to get Lasik. That alone makes Boreal Chickadee a top 10 bird for me, but I trudged back through deep snow to see them, and all the cold seemed to disappear. This is a bird that feels best enjoyed in the winter.
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| Boreal Chickadee |
6. Black-footed Albatross
For the longest time I skipped the seabird section of my field guides. They're hard to see from land, and pelagics are really intimidating. You're on a small boat getting tossed around in the ocean for 10 hours, you don't see a ton of birds, and when you do they're hard to identify and focus on. Nevertheless, I always wanted to go on one and did so out of Westport, WA. Seabirds are the most underrated type of bird, and I am now hooked, and since then I have been on one out of San Diego, and hopefully I can add another place soon.
The bird that really made the trip was Black-footed Albatross. They have a wingspan of over 7 feet, but field guides do not really illustrate that as well. This bird looked like a jet soaring over the water. You can't help but look at one and not be gobsmacked by what you are seeing. Here's something crazier: it has nothing on the Wandering Albatross's 12 foot wingspan.
It wasn't just the bird, but the way we saw it. It was a cloudy day out of sight from land, just the perfect way to see an albatross. Even had we not seen it, the pelagic was an amazing experience with the Northern Fulmars, South Polar Skuas, and various shearwaters, but Black-footed Albatross took things to a totally different level.
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| Black-footed Albatross |
5. Great Gray Owl
If you can't tell by now, I like to earn my birds. Suffering adds to the satisfaction. A great example was my motivation to see Great Gray Owl, which was on the same trip as my search for Boreal Chickadee.
The Sax-Zim Bog is an iconic American birding location. Right outside of Duluth, Minnesota, it is the ideal place to get boreal birds in the winter due to the community hanging up feeders and its proximity to an airport. The star of the show is the Great Gray Owl, one of the largest owls on the planet. It's not all that rare in the ABA area, but it is most easily found outside of Duluth.
I booked my trip months in advance, unaware of what was about to occur. Previously, the coldest temperatures I ever experienced was 15. As the trip approached, a polar vortex hit the area (that would eventually hit Dallas and cause mayhem). Temps were -45 at sunrise. I was truly scared and unsure if I should even go, but I did after loading up on thermal gear. The best way to see one is at sunrise or sunset along a decently busy highway. You just drive up and down with tons of other cars doing the exact same, parking on the road side. Saturday had no owls. Sunday morning the same. I had racked up Evening and Pine Grosbeak, Boreal Chickadee, Northern Shrike, and Northern Hawk-Owl. Amazing birds. But along the main road on Sunday I braved those negative temps as the sun inched lower and lower. Finally, in a group of 30 people on the shoulder of a highway we got one. My hands nearly got frostbite grabbing the metal with no gloves, but I didn't feel the cold in that moment.
The next day was full of disruptions as the vortex hit Texas, but I was comfortable knowing I had one of the most successful birding weekends you could ask for, highlighted by the mythical Great Gray Owl.
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| Great Gray Owl |
4. Kittlitz's Murrelet
Finding these birds is like finding a needle in a haystack. Little is known about them, but you can only find them in quiet fjords around glaciers. They are small, rare, and were critically endangered until 2014. It was estimated the Exxon-Valdez oil spill killed 5-10% of the population. So yeah, a pretty scarce bird. They also look similar to the Marbled Murrelet, and from a distance they can be quite hard to distinguish, which is about the closest you can get to these birds.
Kenai Fjords National Park is a great place to find them, which required Anthony Rasp and I to take an 8 hour tour to the Northwestern Fjord. This is without a doubt the most underrated national park and it may be the most beautiful, yes, beating out Yosemite, Yellowstone, and even Denali. Icebergs floating underneath glaciers as Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, Humpback Whales, and Sea Otters go by will take your breath away. I've even had Orcas out there! I can't explain the views, you can only see them for yourself.
On top of that, this was a turning point bird for me that changed the way I look at the world. After this trip I wanted to quit my job in Houston and join the Coast Guard in Alaska so I could see more birds like this. That didn't happen, but it did get me started on the path to quitting a job I hated in a city I hated and getting to where I needed to be. While this is my #4, of all the birds on the this list I think this is #1 bird you need to make it a point to see.
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| Kittlitz's Murrelets |
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| Northwestern Fjord |
3. Slate-throated Redstart
This is the rarest ABA bird on this list. A montane bird native to Central and South America, there are probably around 20 records north of Mexico and a good chunk of those are in SE Arizona. One showed in Boot Canyon in Big Bend, which of course is the only place to find Colima Warbler in America, so I had to make the long, 13 mile hike after a 10 hour drive from Houston with Gordon and TJ.
What fascinates me about Big Bend is that we don't know what rare birds are out there. Solitary Eagle has been seen literally just over the border in the Maderas del Carmen Mountains and Flame-colored Tanager hybrids have been seen as well. The geography, national park status, and difficulty to get into these canyons can obfuscate the birding gems that are up there, although the regular inhabitants are equally as cool.
I don't have as much to say about this because the rarity speaks for itself, but this is a stunning bird and Gordon and TJ getting into the chase really added to the overall experience.
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| Slate-throated Redstart |
2. Red-faced Warbler
Probably the most visually stunning bird on this list, Red-faced Warbler was long my dream bird. They are restricted to the extreme southwestern United States, usually in the sky islands of Arizona and New Mexico. Sky island birding is my favorite place to go birding, so it's only natural I would be really into any bird that can be found here. Southeast Arizona had long been my pinnacle American birding destination, but not just for Red-faced Warbler. A smattering of incredible birds can be found in the sky islands, which range from Texas to Arizona, as well as northern Mexico (this bird is a rare find in Texas but is casually recorded). They also are home to the only Jaguars that live in the United States. It's a birding Mecca.
When I finally had the opportunity to go I first went to Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. It was a really hard hike to get up there, but once I did I was rewarded with stellar views and even better birds like Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Painted Redstart, and yes, Red-faced Warbler. They are quite common in their habitat, but it is a stunning habitat with a stunning bird and you get an all around 10/10 natural experience.
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| Red-faced Warbler |
It makes a strong argument for #1, but there is absolutely no debate.
1. Colima Warbler
Painted Bunting was my gateway drug into birding, but Colima Warbler was the heroin that made me addicted to it. In 2017 TJ and I decided to visit Big Bend and I had never even heard of a Colima Warbler. They are common in their habitat, but that habitat barely stretches into the United States. The Chisos Mountains are the only place you can reliably see them, and the Boot Canyon hike is called "The Colima Death March." Round trip it takes about 11-13 miles, and the quickest way up is 3 nearly vertical miles.
I failed the first time I tried it. In 2017 I got sick from the heat in the desert. We did the hike, but in July they stopped singing and we had a very uncomfortable bear encounter that scared us me down the mountain. After two years of it gnawing at me TJ, Gordon, and I went, hoping to not only get the warbler but the Slate-throated Redstart.
Exhausted, we got to the top of the Pinnacles Trail, my feet covered in blisters. But someone ahead shouted out that they had one I took off sprinting. There it was, just off the trail. It is the hardest I have ever worked for a bird, but the success gave me a high that I have never felt before.
It's not a particularly visually appealing bird, but it is the hardest I have ever had to work for a bird. The challenge, the scenery, the people, and the failure all made it an unforgettable experience to see a bird that has a single outpost in the United States. My photography skills were awful at that point so I have no picture, but I do have a vivid memory.
I not only have 10 birds I've seen, but a top 10 that I want to see the most in North America. I won't have any pictures, and I will keep descriptions short.
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| Boot Canyon |
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| Triple Threat Trio |
10. Greater Sage-Grouse
9. Ivory Gull - A high Arctic gull that is frequently seen with Polar Bears. Sign me up for birding in an extreme climate, although it is very hard to get to. Even Utqiagvik is almost too far south.
8. Snowy Owl
7. Black Rosy-Finch - limited range above the rocky tree line. For such a gorgeous bird it'll be worth the effort it requires, although my goal is to get it in the Sandia Mountains in the next year or two.
6. Gyrfalcon - Best bet is a return to Alaska, the farther north the better. Twist my arm!
5. Antillean Nighthawk - Only found in the US near Key West and a pain to identify. Christina and I tried for this in Key West and dipped. Not the worst miss on this list!
4. Spectacled Eider - Another Arctic bird that looks dope, this means I have to get to Utqiagvik, and I am dying to get up there.
3. Akohekohe - Maui endemic that is critically endangered and can at this point only be seen at one place on Earth: Waikamoi. Unfortunately you can only visit on the third Saturday of the month. Waikamoi is the place in the US that I want to get to the most.
2. Elegant Trogon - Most painful miss belongs to this. I chased one in New Braunfels and dipped, then had one calling right above me in Madera Canyon in Arizona and missed that as well. I was tempted to put Eared Quetzal on the list but it doesn't occur regularly enough in the ABA area to put it on here, but they are similar birds.
1. Gray-headed Chickadee - Amazingly, something beats out Elegant Trogon. Only 8 known documentations on eBird in the last 10 years, this is one of the least known breeding birds in America. It requires a multi-day trip through remote northern Alaska and you cannot drive to see them. This is the ultimate North American bird.
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