What started as a chase...

It was 3:30 am, and any hopes I had of actually falling asleep and not sleeping the entire day away were just pipe dreams anyway. So, I decided to call Dustin (Welch) to see if he was still planning on heading to Middle Creek WMA in Lancaster to try and find the MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD that had been reported there for the past week. Though I'm not much for chasing these days, and though the Mountain Bluebird wouldn't be a lifer, just a state bird, I decided to tag along and maybe get some birding in besides my daily checks of Lakes Echo and Minsi. We arrived at Middle Creek before dawn, and as it slowly got lighter I began to prepare myself for a potentially boring, long wait for this western mountain species to show itself. Dustin had hoped to photograph the bird as well, although thus far it hadn't come any closer than 50 yards to the road and viewing area. As the sun broke the horizon, it became evident that Middle Creek would provide us with plenty to keep us entertained until the Bluebird decided to show itself (if it did at all). It was quite brisk out, but as we stood outside the car Dustin caught sight of first one, then another SHORT-EARED OWL. The two birds made several close passes, and also perched up for several shots (Dustin, with his much larger lens was able to capture several decent photos in the dim light). We watched them as it got lighter, getting chased around by a Northern Harrier and chasing after the 20 or so Ring-necked Pheasants that were calling all over the place. Not since North Dakota had I heard so many of these comical birds. Owl activity slowed a bit as the sun finally shone across the fields and heated us up a bit. We decided to walk down the road a bit further to where the Bluebird had been seen, but not before a Great Egret, 5 Tundra Swans ans several Green-winged Teal passed overhead. There were many Tree Swallows jockeying for nest boxes, and Field Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks were calling from the grassy fields across from the Bluebird's hang out. Before we made it too far, we were stopped in our tracks by the loud and unmistakable call of a SANDHILL CRANE coming from back near our car. We did a quick about-face and soon located the large bird across the field that the Shorties had been cruising earlier. The crane called several more times before making a breif flight across the field to join some grazing Canada Geese further down the road. We continued back down the road, and set up shop near some of the other birders that were present, scopes pointed at the corn-stubble that the Bluebird was frequenting. We had seen and heard several Eastern Bluebirds thus far, though no sign of the Mountain-yet. As we waited, other expected species made their presence known, like Horned Larks and Savannah Sparrows, and Dustin spotted 4 WILSON'S SNIPE loafing out in the corn. Around 9, the MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD finally decided to pop up, about 100 yards out into the fields. Scope views were had by all, and as we watched he slowly worked his way closer to where we stood. In all of my photos the bird appears as just a dot on a cornstalk, but Dustin managed a few documentary worthy shots. Satisfied with the looks we had gotten, we decided to head on after watching the bird for a short while. A bit further down the road, one of the day's 10+ American Kestrels flushed a nice-sized flock of 100+ American Pipits. We also found a few RUSTY BLACKBIRDS feeding in the lawn near the visitor center, and found more Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Ducks and a male Greater Scaup on our way out of the complex. Without even trying, and not covering an exceptionally large area, we had totalled 65 species of birds before 11 am. The Bluebird chase, in essence, had simply become the catalyst for getting us out on a beautiful and productive day of birding. With a little effort and planning, 100+ species could have been attained on this early day in April. Though I missed the Snow Goose spectacle here at Middle Creek a few weeks ago, it was still an enjoyable day and great place to spend the morning birding.

Plenty of Fowl on a gorgeous day

The past two days have been the nicest of the year thus far, with temperatures reaching into the high 60's today. Though I didn't bird much today due to prior responsibilities, yesterday I managed to get out to some local spots in Monroe and Northampton Counties with my friends Rebekah and Cheris. We stopped at my usual spots (Lake Minsi, Echo Lake, PPL/Martin's Creek and other river spots), and though the weather was perfect there weren't many surprises to be found. A pair of Wood Ducks among many Mallards were swimming around the small pond on Cherry Creek in Cherry Valley. After a rather large breakfast at the Water Gap diner, I set out to find an Eagle or two to show the girls. The nest at MetEd in Portland was empty, but there were Field Sparrows and my first Eastern Phoebe of the year singing. The only raptor we found on DePues Ferry road was a distant Osprey (first of the year) perched in the nest on the tower out past the fly ash basin. As we were leaving, a Tree Swallow perched just outside the car window and allowed for some good photo opportunities (my camera is in the car, however). Lake Minsi held a single female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER among the many Commons, as well as a few Pied-billed and at least 6 Horned Grebes. Most of the Horned Grebes were still in winter plumage, but I did manage to get a few distant shots of one inbreeding plumage swimming alongside a winter bird. A nice surprise at Echo Lake was four NORTHERN SHOVELERS, two male and two female. Though annual, I don't see many Shovelers in this general area. There were also some lingering Bufflehead and Ring-necked Ducks at Echo. Backtracking, we stopped at Bear Swamp to walk around a bit. There were Wood Frogs calling, but the bird life was generally quiet and conspicuous. As we were leaving, two COMMON RAVENS flew by with a herd of crows hot on their tails. It was a rather slow day, but the delightful weather more than made up for the lack of birds. Driving home last night past the swamps and vernal pools on National Park Drive, the Spring Peepers were deafening, and several American Woodcock were displaying as well.

Spring Forward

Spring has arrived, though technically we still have a week of winter left. The small bit of open water at Lake Minsi grew steadily this week with all of the rain we got, and along with Echo Lake was filled with waterfowl- Hooded and Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed and Horned Grebes and of course many Mallard and Canada Geese. Also during the torrential downpour on Thursday there were a pair of adult Bald Eagles (one was standing on the ice, something I don't see them do too often) and despite the rain I heard my first of the year Red-winged Blackbirds singing, Song Sparrows, Fish Crows and Common Grackles flying around. I've also been hearing Spring Peepers this week, and reading reports of Spotted and Jefferson's Salamanders, Wood Frogs and other herps being seen though I haven't had the chance to get out and look for them yet this year. I replaced my camera, but am still waiting to acquire a lens for it. Hopefully I'll have it before things pick up and get too hectic bird-wise. Its about that time now, which seems to come earlier and earlier every year, when it becomes harder and harder for me to sleep due to the fact that I know there are millions of birds migrating overhead every night. Its that same zugenruhe-induced insomnia (one of my favorite words, though I can't ever remember how to spell it) that strikes every year. Its only a matter of time before the birds are back and singing, and I can start slapping some bands on those pesky Golden-wingeds again. Until then I'll just have to keep busy with salamanders, sparrows and ducks.

Everglades January 2011

I left Augusta for my week+ vacation in mid-January, arriving in Cheifland and the Lower Suwwannee River National Wildlife Refuge and after stopping to visit a friend in Atlanta I got therethe evening before DeeAnne,Cheech's girlfriend did. Cheech (Brandon Miller) was working out where the river meets the gulf, and rode around on fan boats all day yring to trap Cotton andRice Rats on the various islands out in the delta/gulf. I accompanied him and his crew one day, and managed to see a decent number of birds that were new to me for 2001 (I never hadthe chance to make it to the Georgia coast) such as: Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls,Forster's and Royal Terns, Brown and American White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew (State Bird for me), Black Skimmer, Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, Wilson's Snipe, American Oystercather,Marsh and (many) Sedge Wren, Seaside and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. DeeAnne showed up later that day, and we managed to leave the Refuge by mid-afternoon (1/21). We made it to Punta Gorda that evening, and added several trip birds along the way, including my "state" pair of Sandhill Cranes, several Bald Eagles, and several species that were just sitting on the concrete barriers that lined the bridge/causeway including more terns, gulls, oystercatchers, shorebirds and out in the bay, single Common Loon and Great Black-backed Gull which we wouldn't see for the rest of the trip.

Early the next day (1/22) we started out on Birdon Lane, in the Big Cypress National Preserve, which was a loop road running North from US-41 and returned to 41 a few miles more east. There weren't very many birds on this stretch, despite its name, though we did get good looks at the pa;er Floridian race of Red-shouldered Hawk, and we also flushed a Least Bittern, uncommon in this season down there. We continued along 41, where a small

boardwalk a

tthe Oasis Visitor Center had a few large gators, some Palm Warblersand several Anhinga and Little Blue Herons posing only feet away.

We stopped and scanned for a while at the old Osceola Fanboat Rental place (where several people had suggested to look for Kites, also near "40-mile Bend". We then located our campsite, at Cedarcrest, which was free but full. After Cheech and DeeAnne set their tent up, we ventured back out to see if we could locate a Snail Kite or maybe get to check out Shark Valley before it closed. Another quick Kite scan turned up nothing, so we headed to Shark Valley to see if there were anymore tours g

oing out that day and how much they would cost. As we pulled into the driveway, and before even reaching the kiosk, DeeAnne spotted our fir

st collective lifer of the trip: a shockingly close Purple Gallinule walking along the lilly pads with its ridiculously long toes that reminded me alot of the toes on a Northern Jacana. Even in the low overcast light we could see the iridescent blues, purples and greens at only about 20 feet a

way. This bird had become a bit of a nemesis for a while- Cheech and I missed them on our Atlantic Florida trip last winter, and there had been one here in the Lehigh Valley for at least a week or two a few years back that would have required little effort to chase. I'm glad I got to see this one in Florida though, in its element, and not at some de

tention pond in Allentown.

We searched in vain for a Snail Kite on the way back to the campground, but only picked up a few trip birds like American Bittern, Limpkin, Tree Swallow, White-eyed Vireo (try as I might, I just couldn't turn it into a Thick-billed) , Louisiana Waterthrush and Common Yellowthroat. Back at the campsite it was getting a bit chilly, so we got a fire going and reh

eated our Hibachi from the night before-delicious! As we ate we discussed our options for the following day. I had wanted to try and make it down to the Homestead area of the Everglades, then perhaps hit Shark Valley on our way back through since it was closed today. I passed out in the car, under blackets and pillows galore- Cheech and DeeAnne were cuddled up intheir tent, yet we all woke up shivering as the overnight temps had dropped down into the low 40's/high 30's. We also slept in a little later than we had wanted to.

We arrived at Shark Valley just as the first tram Tour was leaving, but decided to just walk the road ourselves and save ourselves the 30$/person we would have spent. Once again, birds were everywhere and very photogenic. Anhingas, Tricolored Herons and more Purple Gallinules (this time in even better light!) were very approachable. There were a few Pied-billed Grebes just hanging out under the mangroves, as well as another new trip bird, an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron. As we walked on we saw several close White Ibis, and DeeAnne found her very first Limpkin. Unlike the handful of Limpkin I had seen up until that point (which were all distant, or flying directly away from me) this bird sat just 15 feet away, just looking at us and allowing us to study every inch of the bird as we snapped pictures. We saw a few more trip birds- Gray Catbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, Blue-grey Gnatcatchers and a few others. Satisfied, yet realizing we wouldn't make it to Homestead, we also came to the understanding that today (1/23) was probably our last/best shot at seeing a Snail Kite around 40-mile bend. Besides Gyrfalcon, the Snail Kite remained the only Lower 48 Raptor species I had yet to see.We arrived again

at the Fanboat Rentals, and shortly after dismissing a few Black Vultures I spotted a single adult Snail Kite, a good distance away but close enough to see its white rump, general shape and color. After the bird passed in front of some trees and out of sight, we jumped in the car and headed west towards the spot we had last seen it. There were notmany good places to pull over, but I was finally able to pull off into a small driveway. We all got out, and shortly after the adult Snail Kite came soaring past, giving us as good a look as any of us had hoped for. We could see its orange bare parts, the angle at which it held its wings, the blue-grey color with black primary patches. Again we lost it further down the road, and here's where things went downhill for me. I was so excited about finding and seeing the bird, that I left my 1200$ camera on the roof of the car before speeding off towardsthe boat launch a mile down the road to see if the bird would pop back up since it was moving in that general direction. Satisfied with the l

ooks we got, we headed for Cor

kscrew Swamp Sanctuary, anout an hour's drive to the north. In was in the Corkscrew parking lot that I quickly came to the realization that my camera had either been taken or had fallen off my roof at some point. So, we hopped back in the car, calling the various Park Offices and Visitor's centers en route to see if anyone had found and turned in a camera and 100-300mm lense. None had thus far, but I had lost the camera little over 2 hours ago. We retraced our steps, checking to shoulders and roadsides

on the way back to Ochopee. We found nothing along the roads, but judging on where the camera was sitting on the roof, it was more likely to fall off into the middle of the road and into a million pieces. We went

back to every spot we had stopped, including the Fan Boat place where the initial sighting was, then the driveway, where I last remembered having the camera out and where I left it on the car, then to the Public Boat Launch, where the empty beer bottles outnumbered the collective teeth amongst the many fishermen. So, in the end, it turned out to be one expensive Snail Kite, and certainly one I won'ty ever forget. The camera was expensive when I bought it, but the batteries were being held in place with a piece of micro cloth and a rubberband. The hillbilly that found it was probably pretty pissed off when the pawn shop only of

fered him 50 or

60 bucks for the thing...at least he made enough to cover a week's worth of Budweiser and beef jerkey. What was even more depressing was the loss of my memory chip, which consisted of more than 500 really good shots of birds I may not see again for quite some time. My bittersweet day ended at the Motel 6 in Naples.

Monday (1/24) found us at America's fist National Wildlife Refuge, J.J. Ding Darling. I was still sour about losing my camera, but made the most of the day and abundance of birds.The Wildlife Loop reminded me a lot of Brigantine, except here there were dozens more people than I have ever seen at Brig. The birds, however, were spectacular. Even though the tide was almost out there were Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Reddish Egrets (including a few white morphs), Tri-colored, Little Blue and a bold little immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron who sat just a few meters from our feet wathing the goings-on and soaking up some morning sun. The mudflats were covered with Least, Semipalmated, Western and a few Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Short and Long-billed Dowitchers and others. We spent some time at the gift shop before leaving for some of the other "birdable" spots further down the coast, but there were still a whole bunch of people at the lighthouse and the fishing pier ( we did get a great close-up of a Great and Snowy Egret. By early afternoon we knew we had to leave with time to search for Burrowing Owls over inCoral Bay, so we hurried over. Burrowing Owl was at the top of DeeAnne's must-see list, so we got directions and navigated through the urban grid of streets to the Public Library where several burrows were supposed to be. Shortly after arriving, we followed a pair of Cattle Egrets over to three women, one of which was taking pictures of something on the ground with what looked to be a 500mm lense. Sure enough, as we got closer, we could see two owls sitting right outside their burrow. The woman certainly didn't need 500mm- we were standing no more than 5 or 6 feet from where the owls stood, alert yet not seeming to mind our presence.

The ride home was bittersweet (and long). As I tallied up our trip list (which I will post a link to soon, as well as where stopped for certain birds) I realized that we had seen some really good birds, and only missed a few species that were somewhat "expected". The theft of mycamera, along with all of my photos from the first 2/3 of the trip was still fresh in my mind, but I did manage to get a few crappy shots with my dumpy little point and shoot. It was cool to finally see the Everglades, but Florida birding, or birding anywhere in the southeast really, has become more of a chore than a destination I look forward to. I've lived/worked in North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia, and have visited Florida twice now. With the exception of a North Carolina Pelagic, I've found this whole area to be generally un-dramatic in terms of scenery and overpopulated in the way of people and tourists. You can get really good looks at birds that are much harder to find elsewhere though, so it has that going for it at least. I'll have to make at least one more trip to Florida, for breeders we've missed like Black-whiskered Vireo, White-crowned Pigeon, Mangrove Cuckoo and Smooth-billed Ani, as well as an April Dry Tortugas trip for Noddies, Boobies and migrant Passerines. As it seems is always the case, the La Sagra's Flycatcher was refound in Miami the day we left, and a Smooth-billed Ani was spotted only 20 miles from where we had been camping just a few hours after we headed north. Also unbeknownst to us, the recently reliable Kelp Gull reappeared just days after we returned as well. So it goes! Overall it was a great trip, full of birds, good friends and interesting people

Bird On

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Winter in Augusta, Now back in PA

Around the end of November, shortly after my little brother died, I drove down to Fort Gordon (Augusta), Georgia to work on a wintering songbird study on the military base. Our boss, Bok Lee left after spending two days trying to teach us her protocol (Her English was broken, and there was quite a large language barrier right off the start), and spent the next ten weeks in Korea, China and Thailand. It took two days to get in touch with her (Her advisor, Dr. John Carrol had since left for Africa to oversee another student's project) and the problems began to pile up. She (Bok) had expected us to be working a lot faster than was actually (humanly) possible. Once we got the flagging and surveying down time-wise, our next problem was that our 2-wheel drive truck was constantly getting stuck on the icy, sandy tertiary road and we required a tow from the Natural Resources guys a few times a week. We also had to replace a tire and the electrical system (speedometer, odometer, other dash board lights) still hadn't been fixed by the time we left. It had also taken UGA 6 weeks for me to receive my first paycheck(!) and I'm still waiting on my last two checks. The trailor I had been living in since late November still didn't have running water, a workable toilet, or heat for cooking and heating (I ended up buying my own little plug-in heater eventually)the entire two moths and change I worked there. These things, along with her protocol (which I will go into a bit of detail in a moment) led Nora to write her "I quit" emails a few days before Bok's return, and I soon followed suit, although I could have stayed if I wanted to. On top of all of the logistical, vehicle, living situation and not getting paid parts, there was the protocol itself.

From day one we could tell there were many flaws in her protocol, which in essence was a combination of Area Searching and Transect counting. On a 100 meter transect, the primary observer walked along the transect 25 meters at a time, while the secondary observer walked 50 meters away from the transect at an angle and then 5o meters back. So, the secondary observer had to walk four times as fast as the primary obsever di, both recording the birds and their movements at the same time. From start to finish the whole process was supposed to take 10 minutes, although there were several occasions 12 minutes still wasn't enough time. Her original thought was that the secondary observer would be flushing birds into view for the primary observer- a scenario that happened maybe once out of almost 200 surveys. This method would and does work fine in prairie or grassland habitat, but we were working mostly in Longleaf and Loblolly Pine plantations, or young (10-15 year old) Oak stands. We were flushing birds from the canopy, often away from the transect and it became obvious that this type of protocol would be a bad one for the birds and the habitat we were surveying in.

The habitat and the birds weren't so bad. Flocks of Pine Warblers were a daily occurrence, and other half-hardies (at least referred to back home in PA as such) included Black and White Warblers, Palm Warblers, Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Towhees and Chipping Sparrows. Brown-headed Nuthatches were almost as common as the Carolina Chickadees, and I never grew tired of their squeaky-toy calls. There were several days when all 8 species of Woodpecker were observed, with Red-headed and Red-cockaded being the hardest to nail done. I also ran into a few Bachman's Sparrows, and other more common species like Loggerhead Shrike, a few Red and White-Breasted Nuthatches and many Red-shouldered Harks among others.

Overall, the whole project was poorly planned. Nora and I had brought up several foreseeable problems before Bok had even left, but they didn't seem to concern her at all. When things started to snowball, and we still could not keep a steady dialogue with her, we both came to the conclusion that we'd had enough. If she really expects to eventually get her PhD she had better start caring more about the project in general. Bok returned on February the 3rd, and I was back home to PA here by the 7th. I did manage to squeeze in a rushed but semi productive trip to Florida to visit Cheech and look for some birds I/We needed......