Time for a Road Trip

     Back to birding and blogging! Dan and I have reunited to conquer birds once again with arizona as the target. It's 2 am and we are somewhere in Georgia. I mean Florida is on the way to Arizona right?? Someone get me a map quick... Oh maybe we made a wrong turn, oops. I guess Smooth Billed Ani and Flamingo will have to do while we figure out this map issue. It's going to be an all nighter to get there so I figured I'd fill everyone in on recent happenings and birds.

     Earlier this month Jeremy and I took a trip to Portland, Maine (and New Hampshire and Vermont). A certain egret was chilling there and had been for over a month. That's right I'm talking about that little one from across the pond. 14 hours and another all nighter and there is Little Egret right in the scope. 2 plumes, dark lores, and all.
   
     What else does Maine have to offer since we are here? How bout some sexy Roseate Tern and a sparrow that favors these salt marshes? A quick trip to Scarborough Marsh quickly netted both of these species so we were off to New Harbor and a boat trip to see puffins!! This was a little hour and a half boat trip that circled a breeding colony of puffins. Awesome, yes. We also picked out a few Arctic Terns while out there but the real surprise came when I spotted 4 Cory's Shearwaters sitting on the water! A very unusual sighting this close to land (less than 2 miles). They then proceeded to fly around the boat giving great views to the passengers, a lifer for many. Ok, now not much left iMaine. Let's head for the hills. 

     In the white mountains of New Hampshire we started to hike up Mt. Jefferson in hopes of hearing and finding a singing Bicknell's Thrush. It wasn't long until we heard some drumming and then spotted the first lifer of the day, Black-Backed Woodpecked. Point blank in the face. Bigger bird than I thought. Ok keep hiking. Higher and higher and higher. Swainsons thrushes singing everywhere and then finally, the sweet sound of a Bicknell's Thrush! Way off the path and down the mountain. Just no way to get closer and get a visual. However during that attempt and couple Boreal Chickadees decided to come see what we were up to. 

     Next stop was moose bog in northern Vermont. Targets were Spruce Grouse and Gray Jay. We got mosquitoes instead, and lots of them. I don't think I've ever been bitten more in my life. Not only are there a million mosquitoes but there are like 5 birds and none of them are the targets. Finally after 2.5 hours I hear some gray Jay action. Then boom, 4 gray jays right in the face. Deceivingly big but by far one of the cutest birds there are. That stupid Spruce Grouse was the only real dip of the whole trip. Not too bad. 12 lifers each for the 4 day blitz. 

     I promise more blog posts to come during this new and epic 2 week road trip across the country with Dan. Birds, open road, rarities, beer, and who knows what else. Going to be the craziest 2 weeks ever! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

UPDATE: North Carolina and ABA 400!

     Hello everyone! (If anyone is still checking my blog and waiting for updates) I apologize for my serious lack of posting in the last 2 months. I also apologize for my serious lack of birding during that time as well. Here is an update post to get everyone caught up on things and then (hopefully) I will begin to post with more regularity again. Things have been absolutely insane for me lately. I took my finals, wrapped up my honors thesis (which really cut into my birding time), graduated college, lead tours and birded at the Biggest Week in American Birding, moved back to Dayton, and then drove to North Carolina for a family vacation. I'm sorry for boring you with all this life stuff, I know what you're thinking, get to some birds already!

     Well the biggest week was absolutely loaded with birds and after pitiful months in Feb, March, and April (adding 8 year birds each month, I'm ashamed), it was exactly what I needed. In the 10 days of the festival, I led 4 tours and saw over 200 species of birds. Many new for the year and a single lifer. The infamous Kirtland's Warbler! In fact I got to see 2 beautiful females during the 10 days. One at Oak Openings in Toledo and then another on my way home a few days later in Columbus. Leading tours was a new experience for me. I started slow as I tried to figure out the best way to get 10+ people on a tiny little warbler. As the week went on I began to get much better at guiding large groups of people and it was really a lot of fun. Definitely a learning experience and I want to thank the folks at BSBO. I'm looking forward to next year already!

     That was a very brief update on spring migration. It has already come and gone. Now I am currently enjoying the sweet paradise of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. My family comes to this island every year for a week in the sand and the sun and now some birds also. Coming to NC I needed 4 more lifers to reach 400! However there weren't very many possibilities. I could only think of 4 realistic ones. Swainson's Warbler (in WV), Bachman's Sparrow, Painted Bunting and Gull-Billed Tern. Each one presenting it's own set of problems and issues. Also I had to sneak all of these birds in during family vacation time, not an easy thing to do. So I quickly got my cousin into liking birds, made him an ebird account and boom! I had a new birding partner for the week. First stop, the mountains of WV for SWWA.

     New River Gorge is where we ended up going and immediately Noah thought, "How are we gonna find this thing in all these thick woods?" Ha! We just need to listen and find Rhododendron and that is exactly what we did except nothing was singing. Hmmmm. Just keep walking. After about 30 min I finally hear one singing way out in the distance. Awesome but terrible at the same time. I want to see one of them which I understand doesn't happen very often. Then next thing I know I hear another one behind us and it is much louder. Sounds like he is singing right along the trail so we rush over there. Noah sees the little guy hanging really low in the bush before I do! Sweet! Now pictures? This guy is tucked way in there down low but I do my best to get something. Then I just watched him sing and forage on the ground as I enjoyed my lifer number 397! Next stop, the ocean!

     The beach is probably my favorite place on Earth. It has this incredible calming presence to it with the blue sky and the gentle yet beastly ocean. It also plays host to my favorite group of birds, the shorebirds. My beach house came equipped with these strange super binoculars on a tripod. Perfect for some seawatching. A chair and a beer and I'm set for hours of scanning. Seawatching has proven to be the hardest type of birding I've ever done. Understanding and identifying birds (some of which I don't see often) cruising past is quite difficult. Whoa! What was that?! Long slender wings, large bird. Can't be a shearwater this close to land, can it? No. Hmmmm maybe a gannet? Is that possible? I think so but I'm not certain if that was it. I'll have to find another one. The next day, even closer, a for sure Northern Gannet flies right past!! No pics but still awesome! Lifer 398 and an unexpected one at that. I'm so close, and the next day looks like good weather so I thought I would make a final push. Leaving the nice beach for the woods.

     The Longleaf Pine Savannahs of Croatan National Forest is a special habitat type that is one of my favorites as well. It plays host to the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker as well as my main target, Bachman's Sparrow. Noah and I get out and start walking a trail, at least we think its a trail. Only about 30 yards in, I immediately hear a Bachman's Sparrow singing. Then it flew across the path and landed high in a pine tree way far away. It disappeared too quickly for pictures. Crap! Did I just miss my only chance at a pic? We kept walking and heard several sparrows calling deep in the shrubs. Then we were greeted by a very cool family of Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers. Always a great treat to see. Next thing I know a small brown bird pops up and flies into a small shrub by the path. I know immediately that it was a Bachman's Sparrow and went straight for the camera. Click! Nailed it. Amazing views of this tremendous sparrow. 399. We continue to bird this area for a little while longer then head off in search of 400.

     There have been reports on eBird of Painted Buntings at Fort Macon State Park for several days now and it is only about 10 minutes from the beach house I'm staying at so we head straight there. I don't even know where to begin to look for this bird. I play the song in the car to learn it really quick and then we get out and just do a little birding. A DC Cormorant flew by and then we found a nice little pocket of White Ibis. Carolina Wrens were singing and then I hear it, PAINTED BUNTING. Noah lets go track it down!! We finally get eyes on it as it flies over right into the dead tree we were just at. Mission success, #400. A great feeling and I couldn't have asked for a better bird to be 400. PABU really are quite sunning. I've now let the feeling sink in for a day and really just enjoyed it but now I can't stop thinking about 401 and tracking down a Gull-Billed Tern. Maybe tomorrow!!

     Many year birds have been added and I will do my absolute best to keep this blog updated from now on!





   

Black-Tails > Cottontails

     On April 3rd, a local Indiana birder photographed what he believed to be a Hudsonian Godwit. A great bird in itself, BUT it was actually a BLACK-TAILED GODWIT!! An ABA code 3 bird and very rare visitor, especially as far inland as Indiana. I got my stuff together, formed a nice carpool including a fellow Rogue Birder (Jeremy), and set off on a mega chase.

     Since it may or may not have been a new bird for the RB Life List and it involved another RB member and just cause I haven't in a while, Chris asked me to write up a blog post for the RB blog. Please check it out here. BTGD Chase    I know the suspense of success or no success is killing you. Save yourself and click the link above! And if you'd like to read on the story behind this bird and find, check this out. BTGD Story

Is there a Godwit in there? You tell me.

Oh Moma Mia, Moma Mia!

     Quoting Freddie Mercury and Queen can only mean one thing. Well I guess it could mean 3 things... 1. Some sporting team just won a championship or they are "rocking" someone. 2. Its time to party. 3. Bohemian. Waxwing..... Since this is a bird blog its safe to say that this post will be about the third option with a little bit of the second, and really a tiny bit of the first as well. I mean it is March Madness after all but I digress. Back to the action and what has me singing. My Sunday started out like most Sundays, that is until about 12:00pm when I my phone started ringing. Hmmmm Jeremy is calling, this must either be rare bird related or he crashed his car again. Luckily it was the former. The dialog went something like this:

    Jeremy, "Bro, Bohemian Waxwings!" 

    Me, "What?!?!? Where, who?!?! Its March dude!" 

    Jeremy, " Doreene told Leslie to tell to tell Alex to tell me. Its at Lake Erie Bluffs. I'm going. I'm turning around and going!"

   Me, "Doreene is spreading the word? Must be good. Do you even know where the Bluffs are?"

   Jeremy, "No idea but I'm going!"

   Me, "haha! Its faaaarrrr!! Like close to 4 hours far. Screw it come pick me up and let's roll!"

     

2 of the 5 very sexy Bohemian Waxwings. For face melting pics
by Chris Collins of these birds, see the link below!
Be warned, your face might melt.

     We are off by 1 pm. Only about 3 hours and 45 min before waxy goodness. We stopped in Columbus to pick up Alex  who wanted to join the party. Off again! This long drive doesn't seem nearly as long due in part to the thrill of chase but more so just catching up with these fellow Rogue Birder members. (If you don't know what the Rogue Birders are, check out the blog on the right side of this page.) Jeremy had recently returned from Florida and Alex literally just got back from the Rio Valley so they had lots of fun bird stories to tell. Next thing you know we are 20 min out and I get a text from Doreene, "We have the birds". Perfect! We roll up in the parking lot, rush out to where the 20+ people are and look through a scope set up on the birds. Bang that was easy! Less than 30 seconds later however they all flew off. So we wait for about 20 minutes and they all come flying right back. All 5 of them and their Bohemian goodness. We snap a few distant pics and watch them until they fly off again. Amazing birds!

     After the BOWA, we decided to make a pit stop in Shaker Heights to try for the Fish Crows that nest there. These would also be an Ohio lifer for me. I always feel weirded out just driving through neighborhoods really slowly, over and over, for hours looking for birds. But that's what we did until we finally come on to 3 crows. 1 for sure spoke American, the other looked big and probably also spoke American but the third, smaller bird must have been a mime cause it just would not speak! We followed these 3 crows around for over 20 minutes and never heard a peep from the little guy so we couldn't call it a FICR. Stupid crows. Oh well. 3 more hours of driving and back home by midnight! 11 hour trip for Bohemian Waxwing and it was worth every second!

     The next morning Chris made the almost 8 hour round trip up there, hid in some bushes and got the greatest BOWA photos in the history of the world. Seriously you should check them out. Face Melting BOWA pic!  It was also his 300th Ohio Life bird so a BIG Congrats to Chris on that great accomplishment!

Urban Birding in the CLE

Urban Birding - Ducks and Construction

     Sunday I decided to try my hand at a little Urban Birding and hopefully make my way out of Dip City. The whole Urban Birding concept is a good one to attempt an increase of birders in more urban, big city (not dip city) areas. It has been a great movement so far and my good friend Jen Brumfield has been a fantastic ambassador and leader for it, especially in her town of Cleveland. Unfortunately Jen is now serving the people even more by working tirelessly for the Cleveland MetroParks which means less birding for her. Chuck Slusarczyk (yes I know that name is impossible) has been following Jen's lead and been a very active member for the Urban Birding effort in the Cleveland area. His spot of choice recently has been Scranton Flats, a nice urban area full of construction along the mighty (less polluted) Cuyahoga River. He has been birding there putting in many hours of work to improve his gull skills. Not an easy task and I think he has gotten better but of course he will be the first to tell you that he still has a long way to go. I believe that hard work should be recognized from time to time, good work dude and keep working. (Jen is still the zen master of gulls though haha). Ok shout-out complete, back to birds. Ducks have been good there recently and gulls have been even better. Rare/uncommon gulls were my "targets" of the day but really the goal was to have fun and just enjoy the birds again.

We have lift-off!

     I made the 45 min trip north and met up with Chuck to bird along the river. The morning brought some clouds but the temp was WAY higher (33 degrees F, scorching!) than the previous few weeks combined! The number of Red-Breasted Mergansers along the river was quite impressive. I'd say 5,000+. There were a few other species mixed in the bunch, Canvasbacks, Redheads, the other 2 Mergs, both Scaup, and even a cute little Buddy Duck (Jen's term). Gulls seemed scattered along the river which would make things a bit difficult to find the ones we were looking for. Chuck and I walked along the river to where the action was and start sorting. The gulls started to feed and come in closer, awesome. Then 2 uhhhh, guys (word choice here should be more vulgar) arrive and jump on some paddle boards and make their way down the river. Of course this flushes everything just when it started getting good. I guess that's the risk of Urban Birding, never know what's gonna happen. It did make for an impressive sight of RBME flights and flight shot opportunities so not all was lost.

I guess Thayer's is a thing...

     Since the "guys" kinda ruined the birding at this spot along the river, Chuck and I decided to check out a few other spots and check out Almighty Erie to see if anything is going on. Not much at Jefferson Rd. except my FOY Horned Grebe. Nice. The Lake didn't show much, still pretty frozen but we did cruise by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which was cool and quite 'Urban' of us. In a last ditch effort we decided to head back to Scranton with the thought the birds would have returned by now. We were right! Back to the gull watching platform, which in reality is a construction thing of some sort but hey, urban birding yo. Andy and John were still there searching through the gulls. So far they had an Iceland, a good sign. Unfortunately Andy is running out of time and Thayer's has yet to be seen, but like any good birder he gave it the ole "5 more minutes" routine about 3 different times. Finally it pays off for him as we get on a Thayer-ish like bird. It's in the air and slowing making rounds around the water so we can get good looks and nail down the ID. Bingo! Great looks at this bird and an Iceland Gull were excellent but being outside in the sun and warmth was definitely the highlight. Things are finally looking up here in Ohio. What a great fun packed day with a good friend. Thanks again Chuck for the help! Urban Birding, get out and get you some.

Dip City

       A place nobody enjoys visiting yet we have all been there again and again and again. A place where the people are bitter and sad all the time. A place where the people who reside there are simply known as Dippers, even if they are just there for a visit. A place that leaves all who visit in great pain and anguish. So why do we continually visit this terrible place that every single person hates? Its simple, we can't help it. It's inevitable, even for the best of birders. We just tend to get lost chasing something down and wander into Dip City. Every time we find ourselves wondering, how in the world did I end up here in this god forsaken town? This wasn't on my route or GPS when I left this morning. Sometimes its our own fault, we make a poor tactical decision like waking up late or being hesitant on leaving right away. I'm sure most of us have done this a few times and found ourselves in Dip City due to our own stupid fault. Other times we arrive there because of an uncooperative bird and its their stupid fault! Whether its a MEGA or just a needed county bird, we just drive around searching until we eventually end up in Dip City. Of course after some journeys you might find yourself deeper in the city than others but no matter where you are it still flat out sucks.

     Some are more fortunate than others and have only seen the city and felt the heart ache a few times. Others visit much more frequently and I feel deeply for those lost souls. There is only one way to cure the pain after visiting, keep on driving through the city until you get out and to the promised land. There is that Holy Grail on the other side if you can make it out! Now once you get out and taste the sweetness from the grail you forget all about the pain and suffering Dip City has caused you. In fact, you sort of forget Dip City even exists so the next MEGA that shows up you don't even think about the cursed city. That is until you wake up and find yourself right in downtown Dip City! It is just a vicious cycle of pain, elation, forgetting and repeat. Spending too much time in the city can weaken even the greatest of birding warriors. If you find yourself there, do everything you can to get out as quickly as possible. Even the smallest drop from the Holy Grail's magic nectar will be enough to cure some of the pain Dip City has caused and will allow you to continue on your birding quests. It is a slippery slope so find victories in the little things after being a big dipper. Missed the state first Gyrfalcon and find yourself in Dip City? Go get that county lifer Fox Sparrow to get yourself out of that evil place.

White-Winged Crossbill Feeder with no Crossbill

      As for me, I've found myself living in Dip City for almost a week now and its about time I get out! Back to back misses on a Yellow-Headed Blackbird in my home county and a terrible tactical choice (sleeping in) led to the miss of a gorgeous male White-Winged Crossbill. These have left me here in a territory I don't like and luckily have spent relatively small amounts of time in. Even after only 6 days of being in the city, it has begun to take its toll. I write this post as a warning to all who find themselves in Dip City. Don't stay for long and whatever you do, DO NOT become a permanent resident. If you do then that'll be the day you hang up the bins for good. What a sad, sorrowful time that would be. But one must always remember, you will end up in Dip City at some point (probably on multiple occasions) but you must be prepared to get out and live to quest another day. There is always that sip from the Holy Grail on the other side to keep us going and quench our thirsts even if only for a little bit.

HOFI Streak Comes to Sad End

     Well I am sad to say that my streak of avoiding House Finches in Ohio has come to an end. :( What a real bummer. Why, oh why did I look at that stupid bird. Of course I looked, I can't not look at a bird. That's something JB taught me, check everything that moves. Never know. Anyways, that was only part of my birding for the day.

The (Pretty) Culprit

      Today started innocently, wake up, get some work done, go to classes, pack my stuff and start heading south to Dayton to spend the weekend with my family. Of course I would be passing through Columbus with a few hours of daylight left so I would be stupid not to stop and bird some. Right? So naturally I had a little idea of where I wanted to stop and what I wanted to look for. Not much is worthy of a stop in these months. 'Rare' birds in Feb are common in April and May so why go out of my way to see them? Something I learned from last year. I figured I'd make a quick run through Blendon Woods MP and see if I can spot the Turkeys that hang out there. Normally you see them just by driving around a little. This was not normal and I didn't have any luck coming in so I got out to check the feeders for a few minutes. On my way is when I spotted the culprit that ruined my streak. A little, bright red male HOFI. Bastard. Oh well at least I can get it off my needs alert now and thats all that really matters anyways. Man was that thing getting annoying being on there. The drive back out didn't produce any Turkeys either. Dang. On to the next, more important spot.

Look at ME!!

     I figured I would give the Long-Eared Owl thats been hanging around SE Columbus for a few months now a try. When I got there I couldn't remember exactly where to go to look for the owl. After wandering around in the woods, a few nice cuts from thorns, and a little help from Chris I get to where I want to be. I was a little pissed I couldn't remember how to get back into those pines on my own. Finally I get back there, look up, and boom! A cute little LEOW sleeping away. Doesn't even look at me once. He just kept his head turned and tucked a little. Awesome! A few minutes later a Barred Owl calls off in the distance, bonus! Today made 2 ABA year birds and a 3 Ohio birds putting me at 106 in Ohio now. Not too shabby. Time for a little family time this weekend!

    A quick note: I am still working on getting photos of every ABA bird I see this year (or most of them at least). I have a lot of catching up to do still and I am slowly but surely getting there. Here is a link to my flickr album containing all the pics so far.  2015 ABA Photos 180/262 Please keep in mind that some pics are terrible and likely the first pic I took of that species so keep judging to a minimum.

Finch Madness Continues!

     I have been reading a lot of random bird blogs and posts recently from past years. Plus I've been chatting with Danno while he is in Texas looking at Gray-Crowned Yellowthroat and White-Throated Thrush and whatever. Needless to say my inner urge to go see something cool and 'good' was boiling over. What to do, what to do? Hmmmm... There aren't very many options being stuck here in amazing Ohio but I came up with a nice plan that didn't involve too much driving. I decided to make the 80 mile drive south to Mohican State Park to see the lone Ohio Evening Grosbeak. I saw this bird in 2014 for my Ohio big year and it would be a good bird to see again for my 2015 list and hopefully satisfy my bird needs (if only temporarily) Soooo 3 goals for the day, 1. See the EVGR (duh), 2. Check the small town of Perrysville for Euco Doves, and the most important goal of the day 3. Don't see a House Finch! Remember, my new birding goal is to go as long as I can without seeing a HOFI in Ohio. Its not like I'm purposely avoiding small birds as to not see one, I am (as always) IDing every bird I see. This stretch of not seeing an Ohio HOFI is becoming awesome really but I'm not sure what that really says about me as a birder... Oh well, alarm set.

      Up and at it early for the 1.5 hour drive south. The plan is to get there around 8:30 as the bird has been showing up around 9 daily. I picked an excellent day to go weather wise. No snow, a little sun, and cold to bring birds to the feeders. I arrive and the 'normal' parking spot is covered in a layer of 12 inches of snow. Yeah, not happening. What to do? Drive up and down the street for a little looking for the bird. Its not a busy street at all and there are A LOT of birds buzzing around. Good sign for EVGR, no so much for HOFI. Here comes a small finch like bird, oh crap could it be? Nope! Its only a goldfinch, then 2 then 31. The sheer number of birds there were great, bluebirds, blue jays, juncos, goldfinches, but where is the celeb? Finally I just park in the road and get out to look some. Right at 9 am the female beauty flies into a Maple Tree in the back line. Perfect! I enjoyed watching it until it flew off then I flew off before a HOFI decided to make a visit! On to Perrysville. Kinda lame really. Its just this tiny little town that is suppose to have a huge pop of Euco Doves, oh joy. Anyways, I drive around this neighborhood for over an hour. Enough time to make me feel like a complete creep so thats it for me and these Doves. Actually there were no doves, at all. Oh well, not mad. Euco is an easy one elsewhere in the state year-round if I wanted to get it. Time to get back home. Still no HOFI! Yes! Oh and I did get a nice close of experience with a gorgeous Rough-Legged Hawk. One of my favs. Hopefully this quenches my thirst for birds for a little while Dan is gone. Lots of school to do in the mean time. 2/3 goals met today, the most important 2. I have now seen both redpolls, PUFI and EVGR in Ohio before HOFI. Can this finch madness continue?! I sure hope so. Only the crossbills are left really (except for the ridiculous chance at Pine Grosbeak). Who knows I suppose.

      

Hooray for a Hoary!!

     Friday night I couldn't really get much sleep, I was too excited about the next day. I had a good feeling about finally getting to see a Hoary Redpoll. The conditions all seemed perfect, time frame was good, I had my Rogue Birder friends (please see the rogue birder blog, link to it and other cool blogs now in the right hand side) coming along to help spot it, the weather conditions were perfect for the finches to be out and active, and I had gotten word from my good friend Bill Kinkead that the bird was present on Friday. So up and at it early on Saturday. Jeremy, Dan and I all met up with Chris at his house at 5am (well I may have been 7 min late...), and we hit the road heading north to Toledo. The 2 hour 45 min drive goes by quickly and we are on location by 8am. Since I needed to be back in Dayton around 2:30 we had till about noon at the latest before we needed to head back. Thankfully my friends were understanding of time constraints. The plan, spend 8-12 looking for the Hoary if we have to. Luckily, we didn't have to! Very quickly we got on to a large group of 25+ Pine Siskins and a couple Common Redpolls, a very good sign. I saw the Hoary for a split second before dove low and flew left but I wasn't 100% sure to call it. About 3 minutes later Jeremy gets on a bird, we all look and confirm it, Hoary Redpoll! Bingo baby! It was hanging out with 3 CORE. It was only 8:35. That was quick but of course we stayed for another hour out in the freezing cold to try and get some pictures of this cute little Ohio rarity. A lifer for me and another Ohio bird to get me 1 closer to my goal of 320 by the end of 2015. I am still incredibly stoked about this bird! Ever since the Hoary at Wendy Park while I was in Texas I've been thinking about this species and when I would get one in Ohio. Very lucky another showed up in Ohio this year!

     So its 9:40, mission accomplished but now I have a new mission for the day. It's January 31st and CORE and HORE gave me 99 species for Ohio. Only needed 1 more for my first January 100! Game on. Easiest target, House Finch... haha! We spend some time up in the Toledo area seeing some of the local celebs at Maumee, like Northern Saw-Whet Owl and Northern Shrike. A couple of very good birds that other Rogue members still needed. But still no House Finch! Like seriously? We even checked some feeders up there and nothing. Ok time to head back to Dayton, still at 99. Maybe I can get a quick HOFI at Chris's house or Jeremy's feeders once we get home. Another 2 hour 45 min drive back and finally we get to Chris's. Goldfinches in the yard, no HOFI. Dang. I go to drop Jeremy off at his house real quick and check his yard. No HOFI. Dang. I'm running out of time. It's only 2:45 but I had my Goddaughter's birthday party at 3 that I needed to get to. I pretty much gave up on the HOFI idea and started to think about sneaking away at the end of the party to get the Great Horned Owl at Woodman Fen, BUT while stopped at a red light near my house, a tiny little hawk comes busting out of some trees right over my car! Sharp-Shinned Hawk! 100!!! What a great surprise and now the stress was gone, wasn't expecting to get to 100 having spent 1/3 of the month in Texas. Time to see my little baby Chloe.

     The party was fun and little Chloe got about a million presents for turning 3. She was a bit overwhelmed by all of them haha. The party was winding down around 5 and I was getting a little bored so I took my little cousin Noah with me to look for GHOW really quick before dinner casue why not. He hasn't birded really and never seen an owl so I thought this would be a cool experience for him if we could find the thing. After about 15 min of searching, I'm looking one way and Noah the other and he spots the owl bailing out of tree! Needless to say he was excited. It only took about 3 minutes for us to walk over there and then I relocated it in a tree thanks to the help from some Chickadees. It was a great experience for Noah where he got to spot the owl on his own and I got to teach him some cool things about the outdoors and birds. Now he just needs some bins and a guide to help him get started! Here is a picture of the owl that he took with my camera. It was a very nice moment and great way to end such an amazing day! Now let's eat!

     Final January stats:
         ABA birds: 258 (7th according to eBird), absolutely fantastic start. Neil saw 252 in Jan in his big year and Chris saw 247 during his but of course they had a few rarer birds than I did but still very cool to be on a better "pace" than either of those guys!
         2015 Ohio: 101 species. My first January 100! Still no HOFI! I think its kind of hilarious and now my goal is to see how long I can go without seeing one.
         Miles in a car: 6256. WOW haha. A lot of fun and luckily I only had to drive for about 2000 of those miles.

     It was an absolutely fantastic first month of 2015 birding for me!! Now on to February!

Update Since Texas

     Let's see, its been a little over 2 weeks since I've returned home from Texas and since my last post. It has certainly been a busy 2 weeks with school starting up again. Ohio has been uhhhh, cold. Quite cold. Oh and snowy! I am not a fan of either. The birds here though are good just like always. Ohio will always be my home and I think it is one of the best birding states in the country. I am lucky to be apart of Ohio birding. One of my goals for the year was to add to my Ohio life list (320 would be nice) and still post a decent/respectable number for the year in Ohio (maybe 275-280). I had some catching up to do after being gone for the first 10 days of the year! The Rogue Birder gang and I went on the annual OOS trip to The Wilds on the 17th in hopes of scoring a Golden Eagle, an Ohio lifer for me. That day had beautiful weather and 2 beautiful Golden Eagles soaring high in the sky! Score! I've also been slowly but surely building my Ohio year list and am now up to 96 species with a few good ones. I've also missed on a couple birds like White-Winged Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll and I've had to rescue a few fellow birders from a multi car mess one day! It has been quite an eventful couple of weeks and I've been adjusting and coming down from my Texas high. The posts will become more regular from now on.

     In regards to my ABA list as of Jan 28th, I've added 20 species since being home bringing me to 255 on the year! Highlights include a trip up to Eastlake Power Plant (after the car crash...) to see a cute little Harlequin Duck, a run to Preble County Ohio (aka the middle of nowhere) to see a distant Snowy Owl out in a corn field, and stumbling upon a massive flock of 30.000 gulls at Huron Pier with Greg and Danno and seeing absurd numbers of both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls in the flock. It's been a nice few weeks of Ohio birding. So far Golden Eagle has been the only Ohio lifer for me but Saturday, Chris and I are planning a trip to Toledo. I HAVE to give that dang Hoary another try!! Fingers crossed and stay tuned!

Angel Gull and Back to Ohio

     Final leg of our journey back home from Texas. We stayed in Muskogee, Oklahoma for the night and got up early to head north towards a certain bird that we were calling Angel cause its a jynx to say the real name. The first 3 hours of the drive were dull until I checked on my and saw that Angel was still there today! Over the course of the next 4 hours, excitement slowly started building with the pass of each mile. 180, 120, 60, 30, 15,5... Finally! After about 7 hours of driving we arrive to see Angel sitting on top of a Marina roof, just chilling. We got it! Now I can say, Angel is an Ivory Gull but it sure did look like an Angel. A very rare bird to be in the lower 48 so many people were jumping at the chance to see this gorgeous bird. A true stunner in its all white adult plumage. Normally found way up north in the cold Arctic Circle, this bird had caught some winds and drifted all the way down to the Mississippi River in Quincy, IL. Still can't believe the beauty of this gull. We were very lucky to have seen this bird. Things had to fall into place perfectly and it was not really out of the way on our return trip. A life bird for all of us and a fantastic way to end such a great trip. Also seen there was my lifer Eurasian Tree Sparrow, how convenient. We also picked up a few more year birds while we were there and on the rest of the trip home. I am now finally back in Ohio and start school again on the 12th. Ugh! Oh well, it was an absolute blast starting the year off like this. The return voyage home was ridiculous. Seeing a Brown Booby (tropical bird) and an Ivory Gull (arctic bird) in 2 days was insane and they both happen to fall along the route home! Couldn't have been more perfect! Big thanks to Dan and Shawn for all the fun on this trip. Looking forward to the next one but for now, its time for school and a few Ohio birds.

     Just a few stats from the past 10 days. Birds seen, 235 species which is good enough to currently be ranked 3rd in the ABA according to eBird behind Cameron Carver and Dan (stupid Virginia Rail). I saw 67 life birds on this trip bringing my current life list to 390! We traveled a total of about 4097 miles in 10 days and we were in 11 states! (I asked Dan to take a quick 5 min detour so we could go into Kansas since I've never been there). Quite an insane trip. The next weeks will be spent in Ohio while Dan flies off to California to continue his lower 48 big year. Please follow him along at his blog, http://www.birdingthecandle.blogspot.com/

     Oh and I am still sorting through pictures and working on my flickr page, may take a few more days! haha.

My First Boob(y)!

    A 4 hour drive this morning from Loredo TX up to Lake Travis was the first stop to look for the main target of the day. Brown Booby. This bird has been hanging out at this lake for a while now. We arrive around 10:30ish and try to figure out where to start looking for this thing. Shawn's initial reaction upon seeing the size of the lake was "holy &#$@, we are never gonna find it". This might take a while. Oh and did I mention it was cold! Like 28 degrees in Austin Texas where the average temp for this time of year here is 61. We scope this lake over and over and over again and can't find this bird anywhere so finally I just start wandering around to look for sparrows and stuff. I wandered pretty far and was freezing so Shawn and Dan came looking for me in the van. It's a good thing I went down this ridge because as we were driving out and looking at a sparrow, Dan looked up and spotted the booby flying right by the van! Perfect timing. If I hadn't wandered off and if Dan hadn't looked up we probably would've given up. We track this stunning boob till it lands on a stump just off shore so walk out towards it. While we are out there watching it, I found myself thinking about how insane it that I see my first booby species when its 28 degrees outside. Its just plain stupid. This is a tropical bird! BOOBY BABY!! Life bird for both Dan and me! I love sharing a lifer with Dan since he doesn't have the opportunity much anymore cause he already has a great list. This was all I really wanted from today so I was happy but we did bird some other places in the area and scored a few more year birds including a couple of my favorites, Western Scrub-Jay and a cute little Burrowing Owl. Missed on McCown's Longspur hunt. Maybe another time. Its late now and we have another long day of travel tomorrow with another great potential bird! Current year total is 225! Looking forward to tomorrow and finishing this amazing trip on a positive note. Lots of miles and lots of birds seen.

Final 2 Days in the Valley

     Well today and yesterday were our last days in the south Texas area. Tomorrow we start our trek back to the bitterly cold Ohio. Bummer, These last 2 days have been great as we scored many of our targets we had for these 2 days. We focused on Texas specialties that we missed during the first few days and picked up a few other year birds and nice pictures in the process.

     We started Tuesday at Sabal Palm bright and early. Main targets were Tropical Parula and Groove-Billed Ani. Trop Par was probably a long shot but this was our best shot at finding one on this trip. No recent reports really. We located a few feeding warblers and a Northern Parula but no Tropical. While walking on one of the trails we heard this call note that seemed interesting. Dan got on the bird first and realized that it was the Dusky-Capped Flycatcher that has been hanging out for a couple weeks now. I got a brief look before it took off. It continued to call in the distance but never showed again so no picture. Dang. Nice pick up though. Hopefully I can get a pic in Arizona later this year. Towards the end of our time here Dan and I decided to hike a different trail and we found 3 Groove-Billed Ani!! A very uncommon to rare bird here in the winter. Finally, a life bird for Dan on the trip! I am very happy for him and that I got to share that one with him. I'm bummed that Shawn missed them though. Oh well, he has them as a life bird already. From here we went looking for Aplomado Falcon at Old Port Isabel Rd. Too bad it was all flooded and we couldn't get there. We did however get to watch a Cactus Wren on a Cactus! It was certainly one of my favorite birds of the trip. I wasn't expecting to see this species on this trip but I'm glad I did. From there we hit South Padre Island and picked up a few more birds but missed the Purple Gallinule. Then we went looking for Aplo Falc again, this time at Laguna. We got some helpful tips from a lady at the nature center who was just licking her lips at the thought of those gorgeous falcons. We walk out there and located a pair of Falcons way out in the stratosphere! After a while they flew in a little closer and allowed for better looks and an IDable picture. Great bird to close out the day!

       Wednesday Jan. 7th, our last day in the Valley. We were still missing some important valley birds but we had a good plan to target them. First stop, Anzalduas Park. Right away we get on a Ringed Kingfisher so a brief look before it takes off out of sight and into Mexico. Check. This park had quite a few birds in it including a few gorgeous Vermillion Flycatchers. We located a small feeding flock and Shawn spots a small gray bird, Verdin! Excellent, check. On our way out we spot a distant hawk on a telephone post, Gray Hawk! Check. Next stop, a quick run through at Falcon Dam to pick up Pyrrhuloxia. We check the feeders behind the Rec Hall and find a few of them within a few minutes of being there. Check. We are on a wicked good pace and scoring every bird we wanted to but we still have the 2 most difficult to locate left. First, DeWind's feeders to hope for an appearance by Audubon's Oriole. This bird shows here regularly but is very sporadic in its visits so it might take hours before one shows. We were running out of time and still had another bird to see. Luckily we had a gorgeous bird show after about 30 minutes of feeder watching. Check. (On a side note, these feeders are absolutely incredible. There were at least 15 Great Kiskadee in my sight at one time and a ton of the beautiful Altimira Oriole). Last stop, White-Collared Seedeater. We had no idea how long it will take to locate this code 3 species and we had dwindling light. Maybe a little over an hour left to search for them. We arrive at San Ygnacio Bird Sanctuary where a few have been recently. We walk past the gate and almost immediately get on a White-Collared Seedeater! Check!! We ended up seeing 4 of these cute tiny birds. I still can't believe how easy that was. Fantastic pick up to end the day. Stayed in Loredo tonight and getting up early to head north to Lake Travis in the Austin area where a Brown Booby has been hanging out for a while now. Fingers crossed. I had a fantastic time in southern Texas and we closed out by snagging everything we needed to!

Perfect Timing!

     Today was a day full of great timing and a lot of success. We decided to hit Goose Pond first thing in the morning to try for whooping crane which required us leaving at 4:45 from the hotel to get there around 8:15. I was running on about 3.5-4 hours of sleep. Great fun. Anyways, we get there and as soon as the little pond comes into view I spotted these 2 Whooping Cranes. They stuck out, huge white birds. Good thing we got there when we did because after 5 minutes they picked up and cruised right out of there. Our first good timing event of the day. While flying they were joined by 3 others for a total of 5 Whooping Cranes but they were soon out of site. Almost missed these spectacular birds. We did pick up a few other year birds on this stop like Vesper Sparrow, Common Loon, and Redhead. Finding these cranes quickly was a big boost for the day, now we could head south again by 9am and try for a few other birds. Our next stop, a rest stop on 281 on our way back to the valley. Target. Painted Redstart.



     It took us about 2.5 hours from the cranes to get to the rest stop on 281 where a Painted Redstart has been hanging out at. Yes I said a rest stop! We got there at about 11:30, way ahead of schedule. This was a pretty large area with lots of trees and a decent number of birds (of course, I mean it is Texas after all). So we are looking, and looking for this little guy but just finding other birds including my first Blue-Headed Vireo of the year. After a while we split up, Dan and Shawn go back towards the restrooms but I wanted to stay by the loop trail cause I had a feeling it would be there. Not long after I hear the chip call note! Look around. Boom. Painted Redstart. Absolutely stunning but this was no time to take pics or admire it. I had to find Dan and Shawn! I turn back and start booking it towards them. They got pretty far away. Shawn spots me running and immediately starts going to the loop. Now where is Dan? Of course he is so far away looking in a tree. Hey Dan! I got it over here! Soon we are all watching this gorgeous little guy. One of the prettiest birds I've ever seen and very friendly and active. Quick little bugger. We spend some extra time with him since we are ahead of schedule then back on the road. Bye pretty guy.

     One other bird of note from today was a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher that Dan spotted along the road while we were driving to Edinburg! I was not expecting to get this bird on this trip since they really aren't in Texas in the winter months. I am extremely happy about getting it so I don't have to make a special trip later this year for it. Dan will probably just another one in Erie County, Ohio this year anyways though. He seems to have a knack for spotting these awesome birds!

     Since we have so much extra time we decided to stop at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands Park and do some birding on this beautiful Texas day. What a good choice. We ended up getting good looks at many nice species like Curve and Long-Billed Thrasher. I also managed to snag my lifer Lesser Goldfinch which was very nice. This place had quite a few birds hoping around in it and some nice new warblers for the year. Somehow we just kept adding more and more year birds the longer we birded there. Oh there's a Nashville Warbler. What's that? Oh Wilson's Warbler, It was kind of ridiculous actually. After we left that park with 7 new year birds, we headed south to a park that might give us a slim chance at Tropical Parula. Of course once we got there we discovered it is closed on Monday. Most of the parks in the area were closed today. Bummer, not even a chance to look for the parula. We now turned our focus to finding the two Texas special (and countable) parrot species. Green Parakeet and Red-Crowned Parrot. They can be tricky to nail down because you can only reliably get them when they are at their roost in the morning or coming in to roost at dusk. They are MIA throughout the rest of the day. Nobody really knows what happens to them. The hard part here was finding their roosting spot. We managed to figure out a good spot for Green Parakeet and thanks to help of Greg back home (command center) we were able to find the location for Red-Crowned as well within a few miles of each other. Green Parakeet first. We get there, look up and way out in the sky is a flock of them! Parrots fly in a loose flock and swirl around a lot. Incredibly noisy birds too. We chase the flock around until we get them perched on a wire. 300+ Green Parakeet was certainly a sight to see. If we weren't at that spot at the right time we would have missed them! Next stop, Red Crowned. We turn down the road we needed to and I looked up and was like "oh look there they are" as a flock was flying around. Again, perfect timing for these birds. We chased them around until they landed in a tree right around dusk. Score! Both targets here! Great way to finish the day strong! Covered another 400 miles today! Looking forward to tomorrow, a key day to really nail down some rarer birds in the valley on our best weather day. Year total is now 190.

Texas and the Valley Day 1

     Well I didn't do a post from yesterday and even as I right this one I am starting to realize how difficult it is to come back to a hotel after a long day of non stop birding/driving and then make lists, plan for the next day, go through pics, and then still find the energy to write a blog post. I have been bad about that to start the year but hopefully I can figure out how to do this in a timely fashion and on low energy. There is just soooo much to do here, its incredible. This post will cover the last 2 days and a lot has happened so it might be a long post! Now that we won't be driving through most of the nights I hope to have time and energy to catch up some post regularly down here.

     Jan 3rd, first stop: Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. The weather report looked iffy for today with rain in the forecast and pretty chilly for Texas (52 degrees haha). Shorebirds, shorebirds, and more shorebirds!! I thought I was in heaven. Shorebirds are one of my favorite groups, probably second behind herons/egrets. Seeing shorebirds in this number in January was awesome! A few life birds were out there on those mudflats like Western Sandpiper and Long-Billed Curlew. There was virtually no light and light rain was on and off but it was good enough. We cruise up on a bird, boom! Mountain Plover! That was the main target for this stop. We couldn't have taken more than 2 steps out of the van when a Barn Owl just started booking it in the field behind us! Score. After this we headed to Anahuac NWR. We had a few birds on our minds to get there but mainly we were crossing our fingers that the rain would hold off!

     We knew that Vermillion Flycatcher had been somewhere at Anahuac for the past week or 2 and of course we wanted to see it. We didn't know where to start to look really though. We pull into the lot, get out and Dan goes "Hey look, Vermillion Flycatcher". Are you kidding me? There was a second bird playing around on the rail on the walkway to the nature center. Well I guess maybe we should start with the Auto Tour now and see what other goodies we can turn up. Most of the usual stuff really until a bird flew over and landed in a bush on the side. Dark Sparrow. A little pishing and he pops out for a second. Seaside Sparrow, bingo baby! Secret little bird who didn't like coming out in the open but with some patience we all got good looks at it. On with the tour. A little while later, Shawn shouts from the back seat about a bittern just standing out in the open across the little water ditch. Crazy! To make it even more crazy, just down the road Dan spotted another American Bittern literally on the side of the road about 15-20 feet from the car. Stupid looks at this thing. I guess you could say we had some fun at Anahuac. After a little convincing, I get Dan to say yes to checking out Bear Creek Park in the Houston area as the last stop to look for Greater Pewee since it won't be too much added driving time.

Why not take a selfie from the car with a Bittern when you have the chance!

     Bear Creek Park was all flooded but the sun came out and it was beautiful! After a little driving around and asking some questions we arrive at the Pewee spot. After about an hour, it starts getting dark but then we pick up on the "Pip pip" call note. A little dark out from any good pics but certainly good looks and this little guy would not shut up! Very good pickup, especially in Texas. Its late now but its time to head to the valley. Finally! We don't arrive until like 11:30 after 6ish hours of driving. 

    

     Jan 4th and my first day in the Valley! We decided to start in Estero Llano Grande. Walk in, White-Winged Dove, Golden-Fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-Backed Woodpecker, Buff-Bellied and Black-Chinned Hummingbird. Its gonna be a good time at this park! We joined up with a little bird hike that was going on with a few other people which was a fun time. It was cool to talk to people about this area and where I was from and how birding is in Ohio. There was another group there also escaping the cold, they were from Minnesota. I was just getting life birds at every turn! Its just like, oh once you're done with that Kiskadee there is an Inca Dove right there and a Pauraque on your right. Oh check out that Green Kingfisher and Yellow-Cronwned Night-Heron. I was doing all I could to keep up haha. 22. That's the number of lifers I got there this morning! Mary G. was with us and while we were there she got a call about a Blue Bunting over at Santa Ana NWR which is where we were planning on going next anyways. 

     No Bunting. Bummer. We did get good birds in the park though while we were searching for it. It is just a difficult bird to relocate since its so secretive. I don't think anybody ever did see it again. We did spend quite a few hours in that park. We got a tip about a Fulvous Whistling Duck in the park so we decided to give it a shot. No luck where it was suppose to be. Dang. We are all pretty tired and hungry at this point. We stopped in the nature to talk to the worker there really quick and he said the duck was found earlier today in a different pond. He said it was about a mile away but you had to walk there. He was wrong.... After a quick fuel, pit stop of poptarts for me, Dan and I decided to trek out there to look for this duck. Shawn stuck back to bird the nature center area. Let me just tell you something, it was much farther than a mile! It took us a solid 90+ minutes of power walking before we got backed to the car, it was at least 5 miles on already tired legs through mud. It sucked. Oh and on top of that, no duck still! Oh well, thats the way it goes. Gotta get up early (really early) so we can make it to Aransas at first light. Hoping for Whooping Crane tomorrow and other goodies! Maybe I'll have energy to post tomorrow too so these long posts don't happen anymore! Year total so far = 174, not too shabby but still a lot more to add while I'm down here! Gonna be a busy 4 more days!

The Start of a New Year

    The first day of the year involved pretty much all traveling. 869 miles to be exact! I started in Kettering, OH in the morning where Dan and Shawn came and picked me up at. That night I was staying in a hotel in Hammond, Louisiana. My first time ever being in LA (and also Mississippi but we only drove through that state). Ended up with 24 birds for day 1 which isn't bad considering pretty much the whole day was spent on a highway. (I did manage to rack up all of 16 birds in Ohio before I left). It is day 2 that was much more interesting.

    Jan. 2nd: Dan, Shawn and I got an early start, after not much sleep, and started to head West towards Texas. The night before, Dan and I had discussed some plans in the car (Shawn was sleeping) and we decided to try out Cameron Prairie NWR where a Eurasian Wigeon was being seen (don't worry, Shawn agreed to the plan when he woke up). We did however make a first stop at a gas station with a little pond that proved to be quite magical! Every few seconds we were finding a different bird and a new species for the year. That 15 min stop yielded close to 40 species including 2 lifers for me!! (Mottled Duck and Crested Caracara). Then we stopped at Lacassine NWR for about 2.5 hours. This spot was like a drive around auto tour and it also produced some really good birds for us like Anhigna (a lifer) and Merlin. After we finally got out of there, we arrived at Cameron and this place was pretty amazing. Another auto tour type thing, this one a smaller loop with water and shrubs on either side. The amount of birds present, especially ibis and herons and even raptors, were unreal! We could get so close to some of these birds without ever leaving the car. I've never seen anything like it and I had fantastic looks at all sorts of great species including, Eurasian Wigeon, Roseate Spoonbill, White and White-Faced Ibis, many duck species, and 2 of my favorites, Black-Necked Stilt and Tricolored Heron! We went to the nature center area after the auto tour loop and found a Cinnamon Teal (rare for this area) and we relocated the dark morph Ferruginous Hawk that has been hanging around for a few days now (another rarity for LA). We were on fire today! On the way to Texas in the evening, we picked up a few more year birds including a lifer for me, a gorgeous White-Tailed Kite!

     Today was unbelievable and I haven't even seen a single bird in Texas yet!! We ended the day notching 95 species (I think) which brings me to 103 on the year so far. A list can be found on the right hand side of the blog. I'm going to try my best to document as many species as I can with either video or recording or picture, and upload them to an album on my flickr page. Right now I'm a bit too tired to start the album but I will post a link when I do. Here are a few shots from today that I took and actually had the energy to look through. Shawn Collins has a lot more pics posted already from today (see link below and go check it out). I got to get to bed, another big day ahead of me tomorrow! Oh and we traveled another 309 miles today! Total mileage for the trip = 1178.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pghdjshawn

Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk

Tricolored Heron, stunning!

Hungry Gator!

A lovely White Ibis

My lifer Anhinga