Northern Lapwing - 726!

Dec 23 

After a scheduled and then cancelled flight for Steller’s Sea-Eagle, which disappeared at 1 pm the previous day, and a scheduled and then postponed flight to the Northern Lapwing in Maryland (I freaked out over the idea of chasing the bird which had only been present one day, and decided to wait another day to see what happened), I flew to Philadelphia. Debbie picked me up from the airport - an essential part of the planning, as my flight was scheduled to get in at 2:30 pm, the bird was 45 minutes from the airport, and sunset was at 4:40 pm, and renting a car may have been cutting it a bit close to sunset. 

Debbie picked me up and swept me away to New Jersey immediately. She’d sweetly packed me a bagged lunch / dinner, with tasty vegetarian food, plus fancy Lindt chocolates for dessert. It was much appreciated after a day of short connecting flights and avoiding expensive airport food. 

We chatted and caught up on the drive- I’d met Debbie in 2011 at John Heinz refuge in Philly when I saw my lifer Least Bittern. I’d seen her for about 15 minutes, also at Heinz, a week and a half ago while looking for Rusty Blackbird after picking up Barnacle Goose, but there wasn’t much time to catch up. 

We arrived to a few cars and half a dozen people enjoying close views of the Northern Lapwing. The light was perfect! It wasn’t even a state bird for me- I’d seen two in New Jersey in 2013, but these views were so much more incredible than the looks I’d had at those birds, that it pretty much felt like a life bird. Those head plumes! It looks like a bedazzled Killdeer. 

I met several women at the lapwing spot, including Shannon and Kacey - a mother / daughter birding duo from Virginia. 

There were a couple of hilarious moments for me, including a woman whose friend had sent her a picture of me, telling her I was going looking for this bird today, and that if she saw me, she could count ME as a lifer! 

Another truck passed by as we were about to leave, and it was a family of non-birders, who happened to have watched The Big Year (now on Netflix) a few days prior. They happened to be driving this random country road with cars parked, and asked people if they were birdwatching. Debbie and I were already in the car. They had asked the other birders, jokingly, if anyone was doing a Big Year, and the others motioned to us and sent them to drive up to our car. The look on his face was absolutely priceless, and I was thoroughly enjoying how excited a complete non-birder was about the whole thing! I hope this family finds some binoculars and joins the global birding family pronto! 

Afterward, Debbie took me to Sara’s place where I’d spend the night. Sara picked me up a week and a half ago and took me to the Barnacle Goose. She is doing a Pennsylvania Big Year and remains five birds short of the new record. It’s been fun to compare and contrast big year experiences. Sara made an amazing vegan chili for dinner, and we celebrated the added year bird with peanut butter whiskey shots. Sounds awful, tastes amazing. 

BAT FALCON Breaks the Record!

Dec 18 

I arrived straight off the plane around 4:30, and ran all the way from the parking lot to the tower, getting distant looks at the Bat Falcon immediately, and then walking a bit down the tour loop road, where the Bat Falcon was so cooperative  that people were literally just walking away from stupid good looks. 

I lived on-site and worked here as a Visitor Services Specialist in 2012-2013; it is the job that first brought me to South Texas. I joined the Friends of the Wildlife Corridor board, which supports the refuge, in 2017, and very soon after found myself organizing rallies and protests, and lobbying in Washington DC to protect Santa Ana from a border wall. An ABA first, in my home county, in this special place incredibly dear to my heart, was the perfect way to break the Lower 48 Big Year record. #725!

Quick New Birds Update

I’ve been traveling without my computer, and Blogspot formats posts I make from my phone differently, but I know people are anxious and I wanted to give you all a quick update; I’ll flesh out the details more after I’m home. 

First I flew to Philadelphia and picked up Barnacle Goose (720) and Rusty Blackbird (721).

Then I flew to Boston, got on board a fishing boat out of New Hampshire, saw about ten Dovekie (722), and drove back to Massachusetts for Black-headed Gull (723).

I tried and dipped on the Northern Lapwing in Connecticut. 

I’m currently en route to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Smith’s Longspur should tie me for the #1 spot with 724! 

After that, I have tickets to Chicago for a Gyrfalcon in Indiana, OR Minneapolis for Northern Hawk Owl at Sax-Zim Bog, OR home if neither of those birds are being cooperative. Anyone’s guess is as good as mine when it comes to what bird is going to break the record! It’s CBC season and I’m expecting more rarities to be turned up! 

Thank you so much to everyone who’s contributed in some way, whether it’s been a meal, a ride, a bed to sleep in, or donations to my GoFundMe. So far, thanks to donors and the amazing partnership I have with She’s Birdie, I’ve been able to gift 239 personal safety alarms to women I meet along my travels. My fundraiser is still open and can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/birdie-big-year-elevating-women-birders . 

Dec 18 

I got my Smith’s Longspur to tie the record at 724. Heard first, then seen, I was in the middle of getting documentation when a message came through that the Bat Falcon first found on December 8th was refound! We abandoned the documentation mission, went straight to the airport, and I was on a plane home just before noon. I’ll get to Santa Ana around 4:30 pm with about an hour of daylight remaining. The next bird will break the record! 

Home, and Another Year Bird

Dec 8 

Sometime along my flights home, a message came in from Troy that he'd just had some Mountain Plovers in West Texas. That was the cue I was waiting for- they should be in the RGV too! I got home immediately unpacked, did my laundry, and repacked. This has been my life now - forever on the go, never knowing when I may need to leave by car or plane at a moment's notice! 

Dec 9 

I'd said a few weeks ago that I was done guiding for the year, but scheduling worked out to guide Rebecca from Connecticut for one day. My plan was to go looking for Mountain Plovers north of Harlingen after we parted ways, but local birder Mary Beth found them about 30 minutes northwest of my house, instead. It was getting late in the day, and I'd decided I'd just wait until morning to go looking for them. 

Dec 10 

Up early, yet again, to be out around sunrise. I had drinks and snacks with me, prepared to spend as many hours as it would take to find Mountain Plovers in the vast expanse of bare, freshly plowed fields in McCook, Texas. 

To my great surprise, it took less than 30 minutes for me to pick them out of a distant field with my binoculars; though it took getting a scope on them to confirm the ID 100%. 

I messaged Jessica and Paul, who were just up the road and had started looking from the opposite end. They came to meet me, and we enjoyed the Mountain Plovers for a while, counting at least 21, before they headed off for more birding, and I  headed home. 

I napped on and off through most of the rest of the day, enjoying every second of the stillness and peace. 

In the afternoon, a Barnacle Goose was found in Pennsylvania. Flights were crazy expensive for the weekend, but I have a ticket booked for Monday morning, and I'll be trying again for Rusty Blackbird there, too. 

Final stretch - just six species away from breaking the record! 

Year List: 719 

Nemesis Chase!

Dec 6

Dave dropped me off at the Portland airport at 6 am for my flight. I'd get to Newark by 7:30 pm. Yuck! I've been flying with American Airlines, and nearly everything goes through Dallas. A 3 hour 40 minute flight, followed by a 3 hour 27 minute flight. 

I arrived in Newark, picked up my rental car, and went straight to my hotel, too tired to stop anywhere for food. I bought microwave popcorn in the hotel vending machine, and made it in the microwave in my room. There are so many unglamorous aspects to big years that only other big year birders will fully understand. 

Truth be told, I'm really getting ready to be done. I'm tired of traveling, of airports, of the stress of chasing birds, or perhaps more aptly put, the stress of the possibility of missing birds, when so much time effort and financial investment is involved. 

Dec 7

After a full night's sleep, I jumped in the car and started the drive to eastern Pennsylvania in search of Pink-footed Goose. There had been a bird an hour closer, in New Jersey, that I had planned to go look for, but it wasn't seen at all yesterday, so I was erring on the side of the bird that was seen yesterday. Also, the Pennsylvania bird was reliable in the morning, and the New Jersey bird had been most reliable in the afternoon. One of my financial tactics has been to get in and get out of places as fast as I  can, minimizing days of car rentals, hotel rooms, meals eaten on the road. 

I arrived at the reservoir to a couple of birders already scanning, but most without scopes. I surveyed the flock of Canada Geese twice with my scope, and nothing. 

Scores of geese were making their way into the reservoir by the minute, likely having roosted somewhere in the nearby fields for the night. On the third scan - there it was! 

My heart nearly skipped a beat. I'd gone in search of this species so many times during the years I  spent living in Cape May, New Jersey, soon after college - ten years ago! Pink-footed Goose! 

I stuck around another twenty minutes or so, making sure the other birders got on the bird, before heading to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to look for Rusty Blackbirds. 

After spending an hour at Great Swamp with no luck, I decided to prioritize the King Eider that has been hanging out on Staten Island, New York. My friend Gabriel already had the bird pinned down. I drove the hour, met him in the parking lot, and we walked out to the sleeping King Eider. 

We waited about 30 minutes, in hopes that it would lift its head or decide to go for a swim, but it was pretty content to just sit with its bill tucked into its back. 

We tried for and dipped on Rusty Blackbird at a spot on Staten Island. Next was trying for Purple Sandpiper, which had been reported along artificially placed rocks whose primary purpose appeared to be to prevent beach erosion. Walking up, one was obvious immediately, and eventually we found almost a dozen of these cute little Purple Sandpipers investigating all the wet rocks for tasty morsels, and not minding if they got half-covered in water from a wave in the process. 

I said goodbye to Gabriel, and made my way to a spot that Rusty Blackbird was reported in New Jersey, dipping again not long before sunset. I made my way back to my hotel, and, once again too tired to drive anywhere, walked to the Radisson next door and had dinner at their restaurant. It was the first real meal I'd eaten since dinner in Oregon! 

I walked back to my hotel, went to drop my luggage in my room before returning my rental car, which I'd return within 24 hours and just take the hotel shuttle in the morning - another strategic money-saving tactic. I couldn't get into my room! My key card wasn't accepted, or rejected. No lights came on. It turns out, their maintenance worker had to manually take apart the entire lock in order to get into my room, found that the batteries in the mechanism were dead, and told me they'd have to get me a new room, which wound up taking another fifteen minutes. I still had to return the dang rental car, but I was so exhausted. I got my new room, dropped the car, took the air train to the very other side where the hotel shuttles were, and took the Radisson shuttle since it was the first shuttle I saw, then walked back to my hotel. I packed all my luggage to be ready to fly home in the morning. 

Oh, how I was so ready to be home, to sleep in my own bed, to see my dog, to simply rest. 

Year List: 718 

Washington & Oregon!

Dec 3 

In the backseat of the car, with Dave driving and Shawneen as co-pilot, I half-slept on the way to eastern Washington, and the almost four hour drive went quickly. We arrived at the small marina that the Slaty-backed Gull had most often been seen at, around 8:30 am. The bird has wintered here for a few years now and had been present in the area for almost two months. We scanned. Waited around a bit. Scanned. Nothing. We drove a few miles either direction, along the river, scanning, waiting. Nothing. We came across a small urban duck pond of sorts, with lots of non-native geese, a few snow geese, some Mallards, and a lot of gulls. One of the gulls was an Iceland (Thayer's) Gull. I did a bit of digiscoping to document it, and we continued on to resume our look for the Slaty-backed. We made our way back to the marina that we had begun at, and there it was on the small metal roof, just as it was depicted in many of the photos I'd seen on eBird. Slaty-backed Gull! In all, it'd taken about three hours for us to find it, and even though we knew it had to be around somewhere, I was relieved. 

We next drove to a giant cow farm where we looked for quite some time for a Rusty Blackbird, but came up empty handed. We stopped for dinner at a pub on the way home. As soon as we got back to Portland, I went straight to bed. I felt jet lagged and exhausted. 

Year List: 711

Dec 4

Up early again, this time to head to the coast to look for Ancient Murrelet. It was possible we would see them on the pelagic trip out of Newport, which had been rescheduled from today to tomorrow, but I didn't want to risk missing it on the boat and having to invest extra days after the fact if we didn't. On the way to seawatch at Boiler Bay, we swung through the Williamette Valley, a known Gyrfalcon location, but no luck. Then, on to seawatching. We didn't spend too much time at Boiler Bay before Dave picked out two pretty quickly. I was able to pan with my binoculars and get on the Ancient Murrelets pretty quickly, then got them in my scope for about five seconds, at which point they landed on the ocean and appeared to have dove immediately. We were unable to refind them, but I was happy with the brief, yet identifiable views. 

We tried a second time for Gyrfalcon on the return trip, but came up empty again. Two squabbling Peregrines were the best we could do. 

Year List: 712 

Dec 5

Up superrrr early and out the door by 4:45, for the 2.5 hour drive to Newport for the pelagic trip through Oregon Pelagic Tours. My target was Laysan Albatross. Anything else would be a bonus! 

We arrived around 7:15, waited for others to show, and listened in to the the standard orientation, already feeling cold at about 43 degrees. Dave & Shawneen were two of the leaders, along with Bill and Dave. 

As we were finishing the boat part of the orientation, Shawneen caught my attention and was whispering something to me from across the boat. I quietly made my way over to her side as the captain was talking. Glaucous Gull in the harbor! A good start to the day. 

Lots of Common Murres, a good number of Ancient Murrelets, a Cassin's Auklet or two, and eventually we were at our first chum spot. The captain stopped the boat, and fish oil and popcorn was dispersed behind the boat, creating a visible oil slick. In almost no time, lots of gulls found it, then a few Black-footed Albatross, then a Laysan Albatross came in to investigate the boat, giving great views! 

Soon after, I was starting to get pretty tired from the seasick meds, and I was very cold, and was not having a ton of fun. But, that changed pretty quickly with our second chum stop! Again, after not much time at all, a young Short-tailed Albatross, dark and giant with its bubble gum colored bill was heading toward the boat. Only one problem - I was on the wrong side of the boat and couldn't see it! I got to the other side of the boat as quickly as I could without knocking anyone else over as we were rocking in the swells. It had crossed the bow again, and was on the other side! I ping-ponged myself across the boat again, and finally saw the bird. Yesssss! Short-tailed Albatross!!!! 

This is a globally endangered bird, and is very rare anywhere, but Oregon Pelagic Tours has had them regularly on their December trips for several years now. This particular boat, in this particular month, seems to be the best chance to find them along the entire west coast, and today proved that! 

Dave being Dave, had taken a candid shot of my disenjoyment while I was cold and tired, which contrasted well later on with a candid he took later of my excitement over the Short-tailed Albatross! 

We headed back to Portland, Dave having driven us 1,019 miles in the last few days. I'd fly out tomorrow morning to Newark, New Jersey, in hopes of my nemesis bird, Pink-footed Goose. I'm ten birds away from the record, which continues to look increasingly feasible. 

Year List: 715

Small-billed Elaenia

Whew! 

Apologies for the delayed posting - it's been quite the week! Eight days in eight states, including three full travel days (two planes each) and the remaining five days included over 1600 miles by car. Texas to Wisconsin to Illinois, back to Wisconsin, to Oregon, to Washington, back to Oregon, to New Jersey, to Pennsylvania, to New York, back to New Jersey, and home to Texas. 

Dec 1

I took an evening flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in order to try for the Small-billed Elaenia which was being seen at Waukegon Beach Park, right on Lake Michigan, between Milwaukee and Chicago. I'd posted on my Facebook, asking if I knew anyone in the Milwaukee area who might be able to put me up for a night. My friend Glenna had a friend with space, but it ended up being a bit too far out of the way for it to work well logistically. 

I reached my layover in Dallas, and upon landing, received a text message from some really fun clients I'd had in the Rio Grande Valley last March. Colette and Kris were reaching out to let me know they'd just heard about the Elaenia, which had been there about four days now, and they wanted to make sure I knew about it. Yes! Yes, I know about it- and I just landed in Dallas en route to Milwaukee! Well, it just so happened that they live in Milwaukee, and they offered to pick me up from the airport, drive me to their house for the night, and go with me to see the bird tomorrow morning. Perfect! Except - there was one concern about the arrangement. They'd need to leave to head back to Milwaukee no later than 10:30 am for a commitment they had. I thought it over a bit, and decided it was worth the risk. Most days, the bird was being seen by 8:30 am. Worst case scenario, they'd take me back to the airport before noon, I'd rent a car, and turn around and head down to try for the bird again. 

Dec 2

I'd gotten in late, slept soundly, and we were on the road early the next morning, to get there by 8 am. Arriving shortly before, the bird had not been seen yet, which was to be expected, based on the behavior from the prior days. 

We waited, and the crowd grew, from six to twelve to probably around twenty birders. 8:30, no bird. 9:00, no bird. 9:15, no bird. I started to worry. The reports from the last few days said that birders walked right up to the chain link fence and peered in, and that was the only way to see the bird, who didn't seem to mind the presence of birders despite being just ten feet from the bird. After some discussion with the other birders, Rob and I walked up to the fence and peered in. 

Sure enough, there it was! Small-billed Elaenia! 

We motioned for the other birders to join, and everyone got close, though somewhat obscured looks, through the handful of yew bushes that apparently comprised this bird's full habitat. Once everyone had looks, I gifted personal safety alarms to all the women birders present. 

Afterwards, we drove to a spot two miles away, which has European Goldfinches. They are not countable currently, but may be some day. I'm totally not into introduced species - I've added so many lifer parrot species to my list this year, out of necessity. If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I "missed" Common Myna on my January trip to Florida (before I knew I was doing a big year), because I failed to look up from my phone, at the intersection where my travel companion had gotten his lifer. As for the goldfinches, however, I figured I may as well see them since they were so close. 

We headed north a bit to look for Glaucous Gull, and dipped. They returned me to the airport, and I took an afternoon flight to Portland, Oregon! I'd be staying with my friends Dave & Shawneen, and Dave picked me up from the airport around 9 pm Pacific time. I was exhausted already. A 5:00 am alarm was set to head up for Slaty-backed Gull in Washington. 

Year List: 709