Blue Mockingbird!

November 14 

It was the last day of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, and we were packing up the Swarovski booth. My friend Raymond, one of the guides in town for the festival, called me. I ignored it the first time, planning to call him back as soon as we finished packing up. He called again immediately. I figured I'd better answer. I did, and he informed me that there was a Blue Mockingbird seen in New Mexico! 

I have a group of clients from Michigan for the next three days. I'd fly Wednesday night, if the bird was still being seen, and chase the bird on Thursday. 

November 15 

Blue Mockingbird still being seen! Calling and most reliable at sunrise. 

November 16th 

Blue Mockingbird still being seen! Calling and most reliable at sunrise. 

November 17th 

Final day of guiding - Blue Mockingbird still being seen - calling and most reliable at sunrise. I'd fly out tonight at 7:45 pm, rent a car, drive to the spot, sleep a few hours and try for the bird at sunrise tomorrow! I parted ways with my clients around 3:30, and headed home to shower and finish packing. I flew from McAllen to Dallas, and from Dallas to El Paso booking my car rental during my short layover. 

I studied the car rental hours in El Paso, finding very conflicting information online. I called Budget half a dozen times, trying to get through but with no success. Well, the possibility existed that I'd get stuck in El Paso without a car until morning. Turns out that's what happened in the end, as all the rental companies except Enterprise were closed, and Enterprise was out of cars. Actually, pretty much everyone was out of cars, and it was a bit shocking to see the parking garage so empty. I cancelled my rental, and booked one with Alamo for 6:00 am. I  spent about 15 minutes contemplating sleeping in the airport, but I'm a super light sleeper and would have been absolutely wrecked the next day. I'd just finished guiding five days for the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival, followed by three days with my private group of clients, and was exhausted as it was. There were hotels within walking distance, so I walked over and found one, arriving around midnight. I'd need to get up at 5:30 am to get my rental car at 6, and arrive to the Blue Mockingbird spot as soon as possible. 

I didn't sleep well, anxious about getting the bird the next day. I'd considered driving from McAllen, eleven hours each way, which would have been cheaper, but would have gotten me to the bird in the afternoon instead of in the morning. Now, I'd taken two flights, had to spend the money on a hotel, and needed to rent a car. It was about three times as expensive as driving to the bird and camping would have been, but time is of the essence, and with the all-time Lower 48 record within reach, I need to be minimizing my chances at missing birds. 

I got my rental car and started the two and a quarter hours to Rattlesnake Springs at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and when halfway there, received a report that the Social Flycatcher was refound in Brownsville, Texas, yesterday - just being reported today. Ugh!!! I might have just been better off staying home! 

I arrived to Rattlesnake Springs around 8:45 am. There had been no sightings of the bird, despite over a dozen people looking since sunrise. Not good. 

We spent about an hour looking, most people stationed right at the spot where the bird had been most regularly seen, while a few of us wandered around searching other areas along the small stream. I'd started back toward the main location, when I saw someone running the other direction, farther down the trail. He was running away from me, and I was ready to enter a full sprint. He stopped me, and pointed the other way. The Blue Mockingbird had been seen in the original location - which I was right beside - and he was running to the others down the stream to tell them about the sighting. I got eyes on it for a handful of seconds, and an awful digibinned video with my iPhone through my Swarovski binoculars, and then it vanished.

It was seen briefly and heard calling a few times every 45 minutes or so, and then it would completely disappear.

After about an hour, I weighed my pros and cons of going to Maine for Barnacle Goose next, which was my original plan, versus flying straight home for the Social Flycatcher. After learning that flights to Boston and Portland were a mess, I focused on how soon I could get back to the RGV. There was a United flight that could get me to Harlingen at 11:30 am tomorrow. Unfortunately nothing through American, which I usually fly, and nothing into McAllen with any airline. I booked it. 

Then, I remembered my 86,000 airline points, which I'd never used before. I decided to try booking award travel, to see if it gave additional options. It did! I booked a 5 am flight to McAllen the following morning, first class. It was 19,000 miles, which seems "expensive", I think, but for me, it was free, and the only option to get me to McAllen at a reasonable time to get the Social Flycatcher before sunset the next day. I  booked it, and cancelled my United flight. 

I chatted with some of the birder women at the Blue Mockingbird spot, gifting five alarms during my time there. I hung around until 11:30 or so, then made my way up to Carlsbad for lunch at Guadalupe Mountains Brewing Company. I celebrated with a caprese sandwich and a black cherry hard cider, my first real meal since lunch the previous day. Then I headed back to El Paso to meet my friend Brenda for dinner. She works nights, and she offered me her bed for the night while I was at work. We had about an hour to catch up on life's adventures from the last two years, before she needed to leave for work. I'd been considering sleeping in my rental car, and was thankful for the bed, especially when it was 44 degrees when I woke up at 3 am to leave for the airport! 

Year List: 707