Crimson-collared Grosbeak

It was really difficult to contain my excitement this morning.  I had made arrangements to visit Allen Williams at his home in Pharr.  He had reported a Crimson-collared Grosbeak a couple of days ago, and since the other grosbeak which had been reported at Valley Nature Center wasn't seen yesterday, I decided to look for the bird with Allen at his place.  After a mistake with his address and a follow-up call to Allen, I finally parked the car and walked into his yard.  His wife popped out of the house and the three of us chatted for a bit about how putting in native plants on their property had blossomed (?) into a full-time business in the Valley.  He took me on a tour of the property, a little over three acres.  All the while the two of us were listening for the up-down call note of the grosbeak.  We saw a Clay-colored Thrush (lower photo) which used to be a very rare bird, but has now become a regular breeder in the Valley.  A Curve-billed Thrasher hopped into the birdbath.  A Kiskadee called.  After our walk during which he put fresh fruit out on tree snags, we separated, he going toward the front yard while I stayed in the back.  Finally Allen called, I heard the call note, and the bird flew into a tree next to me where I was able to get a recognizable image (photo, manual focus) for the record.  In the photo the bird is chewing on a leaf.  Yum!  I hung around in the hopes I might get a better one.  But aside from another brief good look at the bird, another photo-op didn't materialize.  I left Allen to get on with his work and drove to Denny's where I had a nice breakfast, and used their wifi to catch up on the day's bird happenings.  Which were - the Fork-tailed Flycatcher in CT was seen today and the Thick-billed Vireo in FL was seen again and verified.  The chase is still on.
I had much of the day left to bird so I drove to NABA's Butterfly Park near Bentsen SP where a Rufous-backed Thrush had been found.  Although it was seen today by a staff member, it didn't come to the birdbath as hoped while I was there.  I did see some nice birds and the mix sort of reminded me of a good Christmas Bird Count up north on steroids.  Lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers, many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Blue-headed and White-eyed Vireos, House Wrens.  You get the picture.  There were, of course, some Valley specialties such as Olive Sparrow, Long-billed Thrasher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Black-crested Titmouse, and Green Jays.  And, oh yes, the butterflies!  They were unbelievable, colorful, varied, and plentiful.  I got a lifer with the appearance of a Tropical Leafwing.  I also ID'ed one a Comma only to find that Comma's don't occur in the Valley.  Ah me!
So now I'm in the Harlingen airport waiting for my flight to San Antonio which is already an hour late.  When I get to San Antonio, I'll try to get a good night's sleep before my early departure tomorrow to meet up with the intrepid Mr. Abbott in CT.  May the Fork-tailed Flycatcher be there tomorrow afternoon.

A Change of Plans

Normally not much happens on a travel day.  And for the first half of today that was true.  But when I arrived in San Antonio from San Diego, I had three phone messages which told me that there was a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in CT and a possible Thick-billed Vireo in FL.  At that point I was on my way to the Rio Grande Valley to try for the Crimson-collared Grosbeak, and I decided to continue on that path.  But I changed my return flight from Harlingen TX to Hartford CT instead of Norfolk VA, so I can try for the flycatcher on Friday afternoon.  I'm holding on plans for the vireo until it is confirmed and it's relocatable (yes, that's a word!).  In Hartford my New England companion Denny Abbott will meet me and we'll go to Stamford where the flycatcher was discovered.  Denny is going to try for that bird tomorrow.  After a hit or miss on the flycatcher, I'll return with Denny to NH where I hope to see the White-winged Crossbills which have been coming to his neighbor's feeder ever since the day after we returned from our Maritime trip.  But let's not get too distracted from the current main course.  Tomorrow is grosbeak day.

The Salton Sea

I was in place this morning way too early; I didn't want to miss seeing the goose fly in.  But I wasn't the first to be there.  Another car with a single occupant was already parked there with its brake lights on because the driver's foot was on the brake pedal.  I waited awhile then got out and listened to the sounds of the morning - the coyotes, all the geese quietly murmuring, a few Sandhill Cranes calling.  And all the while it was getting lighter and Venus was fading away.  Another car drove up and thedriver of the first car, Richard Messenger, a self-proclaimed nomad who had broken away from the r/v park in Arizona where  he hosts, got out and introduced himself.  The recent arrival was Kim Kuska from San Mateo.  We all enjoyed the dawning together.  A few geese were getting up and flying around, but not the one we were inteerested in.  At about 6:22am Kim saw a single large dark goose flying toward us above the Snows and Ross's Geese that were beginning to move from a pond to fields to feed.  The bird got closer, and then turned to the east (photo) and landed in a field where he was the only goose.  Those with scopes trained them on the bird and confirmed that it was indeed the Taiga Bean-Goose.  The long sloping bill with its characteristic pale band was easily seen as was the long thin neck, brown back, and orange feet.  The head and neck profile is very swan-like.  There were high-fives all around.  A new year bird and an ABA bird.  A group of three Greater White-fronted Geese joined the bean-goose.  After we enjoyed several minutes watching the bird, it began to disappear into the grasses among which it was feeding.  About that time a carload of four young birders arrived from Phoenix.  It took a little patience but they all finally got to see it.  It provided some espcially great looks after a harrier flew over the field and the goose walked up onto a little mound.  In addition to the geese mentioned, we saw Brant, Cackling Geese, and the blue phase Ross's Goose which had been reported.  The other photo is of a Loggehead Shrike that took to posing on a sign post which someone had used to display a glove somebody had lost.
About 9:00am I headed toward  Long Beach to look for the Black-tailed Gull which was found last week, but which had not been regularly seen for several days.  I had a little trouble finding the location, but when I did, it turned out to be a pretty neat place.  I did see gulls (Western, Ring-billed, California, and Heerman's), but not the sought-after Black-tailed.  There were also Marbled Godwits, Willets, Black-bellied Plovers, a Sanderling, Eared and Western Grebes.  After a couple of hours of wandering around the area and convincing myself the gull wasn't there, I drove back to San Diego and got things together to fly tomorrow to Texas, where I hope to find one of the Crimson-collared Grosbeaks that have been reported recently. 

Florida Pelagic

 I was home from Canada for less than a day.  I had arranged to go on a pelagic trip out of New Smyrna Beach FL in the chance that maybe I could snag a tropicbird.  Odds were not good, but there was at least a possibility.  Go, and you have a chance; don't go and you definitely don't.  Yesterday I flew into Orlando, the gateway to Disney World and the capitol of airline travel for youngsters.  My rental car was a Ford Fusion, fully loaded, classed as a compact.  It's a nice car.  My motel was a mom-and-pop operation, my room was fine, and it was cheap.  I ate at a family restaurant nearby and hit the hay to get a good night's sleep.
The pelagic trip left at 6:00am aboard a 100ft aluminum boat.  It took a little while to get out of the inlet, but the weather was great and the winds were down.  The swells were as high as 12 feet, but the interval was longish so it wasn't bad  The forecast a week ago would have forced a cancellation.  Highlights included a great Pomarine Jaeger show; Cory's, Great (photo), and Manx Shearwaters; Bridled, Sooty, Sandwich, Royal and Common Terns; frigatebirds (photo); Black-capped Petrels.  But no tropicbirds.  Tomorrow I fly to San Diego and drive to the Salton Sea to look for the Tiaga Bean-Goose.

A Day on Prince Edward Island

Denny and I spent the entire day with Dwaine Oakley, the premier birder on PEI.  He tried his darndest to get us the crossbill and partridge, but it was not to be.  We did, however, witness my first Dovekie crash, a total of ten birds in over land, or on small bodies of water, or trying to evade the swooping pursuit by a Common Raven.  We did have some Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins, and a flock of well over a hundred Bohemian Waxwings (photo).  We had a fine day with Dwaine and did pass Green Gables, the literary location for which the island is famous.  We drove west reaching Calais ME before stopping for the night.  These posts are late because I'm waiting to reach the US where my wireless connection yields cheaper data transfer rates.

Better Photos of the Pink-footed Goose

Denny and I returned to the field with the Pink-footed Goose and I was able to get better photos.  The lower one shows his namesakes and the upper shows, through the riffled feathers, the extent of the wind.  Please do not underestimate the strength of this storm; it was a monster.  We were indeed pleased to get these two rare geese, although it is probable that the storm helped keep them in position.  After the photo session , we drove onto Prince Edward Island, a Canadian province I had never visited.  We tried a couple of areas which had been suggested but we had no luck with either the crossbill or the partridge.  We spent the night in Souris.

Two Geese Are Better Than One

It was fine weather for ducks or rather geese, but awful for the rest of us.  It wasn't too bad as we headed east from Calais ME and into Canada.  But as we got to eastern New Brunswick the wind was howling from the northeast and the rain was pounding down.  It took about three hours of tough driving to get to the area where the Pink-footed Goose had been seen.  The goose was found a couple of weeks ago by Stu Tingley who since then has kept track of its whereabouts.  A phone call from Stu recommended that since he hadn't found the Pinkfoot yet, we should go for the Graylag Goose.  We followed his suggestion and were half-way to  Truro NS when he called again to say that he had re-found the goose.  We elected to keep going to Nova Scotia and return to New Brunswick after we had tried for the graylag.  I called Eric Mills who had found the graylag originally and who had also been with John and me on Gambell this fall.  He related that two birders were currently looking at that goose and gave me the new location and also the phone number of Ian MacLaren, one of the birders at the goose spot.  I called Ian who updated the directions, but said he would not be able to stay until we arrived.  We got there a little over an hour later and found the flock of geese.  Shortly thereafter I spotted the Graylag Goose and was able to get a photo (lower) even though the conditions were terrible.  After thanking the homeowner who had graciously allowed us to view the geese from his yard, we headed back to New Brunswick.  I thanked Eric and Ian by phone for their help with seeing the graylag.  After a couple more hours of driving in intensely bad weather we reached the area of the pinkfoot and called Stu who told us where he had last seen the goose.  When we arrived at the spot, we found the goose, but the photographic conditions were even worse than they had been for the graylag.  However, I have posted an image (upper photo) and tomorrow we will return and try to get a better picture.  After that, if the weather is reasonable, we will probably go to Prince Edward Island to look for crossbills and partridges.  The two geese bring the year's list total to 715.