Not in California

The Common Crane mentioned earlier turned out to be an old acquaintance, an escape that's been visiting NJ with a Sandhill Crane consort raising hybrid cranes for years.  The TX oriole has made no further appearance and the same with the Western Spindalis in FL that was a 30-second wonder.  But on Friday  news of a Little Stint at Point Reyes CA came in.  I sat down and figured out how to get there yet still put in an appearance at home when our holiday visitors are there.  I settled my Southwest Airline flight schedule through a combination of using a free ticket and traveling into and out of San Jose instead of Sacramento, San Francisco, or Oakland.  With all that finalized, I enjoyed time with Joyces' daughter Jana, her husband Dan, and their twins.  After their arrival on Saturday, they went ice skating. Then we all went to see the Lion King at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.  Several years ago Joyce and I had taken Bethany's family to see it.  It was a hit again this year.  The puppetry, choreography, and choral work were outstanding.  The entrance march of the animals is still magical and the story still resonates.  When we got home, I checked the rare bird ticker, found the stint had not been seen on Saturday and the weather was expected to deteriorate, so I cancelled my carefully made flights, and went to bed.  Today we're enjoying a fine morning at home with the kids.  The robins have arrived in the holly and the Red-breasted and Brown-headed Nuthatches are successfully competing with the squirrel for sunflower seed.  Later today Joyce and I will attend a seventieth birthday party for Rosemary Julian.  It should be a blast.

I Came Home

     During the night before last I woke up, got up, and made the decision to go home.  It was 1:30am and I was in my Spokane motel.  I checked on the computer for any last minute good news on the Black-vented Oriole in Texas.  Finding none, I took the plunge.  I changed my airline reservations for Wednesday.  I was going home.  With those changes in place I went back to bed for a few hours and got up in time to shower and catch the shuttle to the airport.  I checked in at Southwest but I because my layover in Denver was longer than four hours, I would have to pick up my bag and wait three hours to re-check it.  The route from Spokane to Denver flew over much of the length of the Rockies.  Snow, snow, snow.  It was gorgeous to behold.  I'm sure the ski resorts are loving it.  In Denver I waited, read, had lunch, and finally checked in including another security ritual.  I'm still awaiting my first groping.  Another three hours of waiting, but during that time I watched a Rough-legged Hawk and a Ferruginous Hawk hunting over the airport grasslands.  Really nice!  Then I was on my way to Chicago Midway.  The plane was a bit late and my connection was tight, so I didn't get the meal I had planned.  Of course when I got to the gate which was all the way around on the other side of Chicago Midway, my flight was delayed and there wasn't food to be had.  I enjoyed a couple of granola bars, boarded the plane, and flew to Norfolk where Joyce picked me up.  Got to bed about 1:00am.
     Today I'm watching our bird feeders while it's snowing at home and I'm enjoying it immensely.  The TX oriole hasn't been seen again.  There's no follow-up on the Common Crane sighting in NJ, but I'm checking into it.  So I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cup of coffee, and wait for something cool to drop in at our feeder.

The Last Chicken

Those of you who have tried to show other birdwatchers any of the chicken-like birds - quail, grouse, and their kin - know that it's not easy to predict whether you'll actually see them even though you go to places where you have seen them before.  They seem to have a mind of their own.  Those like the prairie chickens use a lek which makes the process of seeing them easier.  But for the others it can be kind of a crap shoot.  The reason Gray Partridge is the last of the regular ABA species for me this year is that I just haven't been in any of their prime habitat.  In fact if you examine where I've been and where I haven't been, you'll see that those places where I've spent no time outline almost exactly the range of this partridge.  That was a consequence of my plan of getting the midwest breeders on their wintering grounds since I wanted to spend a big chunck of their breeding season in Alaska.  I knew that the winter is a fine time to see Gray Partridge; snow makes the process easier plus they tend to be in coveys then.  So I came to Spokane out of California because the partridge is there and because Southwest Airlines flies there.  I had gotten some helpful information from Allan McCoy and Jon Isakoff as to where I might find the birds in the Spokane area.  Jon, in fact, had outlined a route I was to follow.  After arising to a downpour, I had breakfast at my motel, a Ramada right across from the airport.  The skies were very dark as I headed west, but at least the rain had stopped.  The wind was whipping the car around a bit, but I found the first set of roads I had been advised to try.  I completed that loop with no partridges, but the Horned Larks were abundant along the snow-packed roads.  A few ravens, magpies, and red-tails were checking out the roads as well.  I turned south out of Davenport WA and started the second, longer loop.  There was more snow here.  I checked the bushes along a creek where three pheasants were drinking, but not in the company of partridges.  After a series of right-angle turns, I was stopped dead in my tire tracks.  In front of me on the road was a covey of ten Gray Partridges.  They were between me and the sun, so my first photos were a little too backlit.  However, the covey took off, flew over the car, and landed on the road behind me.  I turned the car around and got the upper photo (photo).  They didn't stay there long, choosing instead to fly up the hill, alighting on the snow (photo) where they picked at the ground and acted as if they were feeding.  I gave myself a high five and headed back to town where I checked out the flights out of Spokane.  A Black-vented Oriole was seen yesterday in the Rio Grande Valley, so I made reservations to go there tomorrow.  I had no sooner completed those changes when NARBA posted a report that a group of twenty or so birders had not been able to re-find the oriole this morning.  Before I make any other changes, I'll wait and see what the rest of the day brings.  It's been a good day.  Will Gray Partridge be the last bird of the year?

CVWO

I want to again ask those of you who enjoy reading this blog to consider making a donation to CVWO, the research and education organization that operates the Kiptopeke bird banding station on Virginia's Eastern Shore and sponsors other projects involving birds, butterflies, and conservation.  It's the end of the year and a good time to consider charitable donations.  CVWO is a 501c3 organization with a good track record.  It hires quality paid staff to carry out their mission and produce the results which have made them the premier Mid-Atlantic songbird banding station for several decades.  Just click on the CVWO button in the upper left of my blog and you will be taken to their website which guides you through the online donation process.  Your contribution will help maintain the high quality work from this outstanding organization.  Thanks.

Brown Shrike

After a night of very little sleep and much driving, I reached the Clam Beach area of Humboldt County where we searched for the Brown Shrike ten days ago.  I had stayed in a Motel 6 in Ukiah for four hours and rose to find a good luck message at reception from Bill Mauck, a fall Gambell colleague.  In McKinleyville I met up with my birding partner, John Spahr, at his motel.  He had seen the shrike yesterday as had Chris Hitt and Wes Fritz.  But he wanted to show it to me today.  We walked down the hill to the spot where it had been seen yesterday.  There were three birders there already.  It was at that point that I realized I hadn't brought my binos down the hill.  So, I walked back up the hill to get them and walked back down only to meet one of the birders coming back with the story that John had found the bird three minutes after I left.  They all yelled after me and John tried to call me on my cellphone, but it never rang.  I wasn't worried; I had two days for the bird and I knew it would pop up for me.  And it did! (web photo)  Not long after John left to go look for a Tufted Duck which had been reported, the shrike appeared in a bush not far from where it had been seen earlier.  It put on quite a show, hopping around and flying short distances.  Then it took off to somewhere and couldn't be re-found.  Our group left and drove up to where John had just seen an Arctic Loon and called to tell us (now the cellphone works!).  We found the loon and scoped it, a yearbird for Chris.  Then I left to go to a wireless hotspot to move my airline reservations up a day to tomorrow.  While I was doing that, John got his Tufted Duck.  So Chris is now at 699 and John is at 701, the shrike being bird #700.  John and I had lunch together, after which he went to the Arcata airport for his flight and I drove back to San Francisco to a motel.  Tomorrow I fly to Spokane to look for Gray Partridges.

In California - For the Last Time This Year?

     Let me fill you in on yesterday.  I woke up in St. John's at 4:11am; the alarm had been set for 3:30.....pm(mistake).  Yeah, I know!  Everyone's done that, but I didn't have much time to think about it since I had a 6:00am flight to make.  I put on my clothes, dragged my stuff down to the car, and drove to the airport in the falling snow.  A road-closed detour slowed me down a bit, but I found the rental car return place at the airport, parked, and slipped the keys into the hole in the desk for that purpose, since it was a little before they opened the desk.  At the Air Canada desk the agent checked my bag but could only give me one boarding pass.  I was to get the other two passes at my next stop.  I went through Canadian security and had enough time to get a muffin and a cup of coffee.  Wandering around in the boarding area was this fidgety 300 pounder.  I pegged him as my seat mate.  I was right.  He just couldn't get settled the entire way to Halifax.  Our flight was delayed an hour getting out of St. John's  while they cranked up the de-icer.  Once we got to Halifax I asked where I should go since I was an hour late, and was directed to the American security area where they, of course, asked for my boarding pass.  I didn't have one and was redirected to the United Airlines counter where the agent printed them out.  Back to security.  I got the full treatment - the full body scan plus every section of my backpack swabbed and searched.  I finally made it through and to the gate in time to make the flight to Chicago.  In Chicago the flight to Norfolk was late so I got into home port an hour late, but my bag was there and I got to spend the rest of the day with Joyce.  We had a lovely trout dinner and I got through the chores I needed to so I could leave today.
     My flight today left at noon so it wasn't a problem to get things together in plenty of time.  Of course I left something behind.  You'd think I could get out of town flawlessly by this time, wouldn't you?  So now I'm in San Diego waiting for my flight to San Francisco where I'll get my rental car and drive to Ukiah and a Motel 6.  Tomorrow I'll finish the drive to McKinleyville where the Brown Shrike has been seen this past week.  There was an unconfirmed ebird report of the bird for today, but I haven't heard from John Spahr, Chris Hitt, or Wes Fritz yet as to whether they saw it today.  May tomorrow be ShrikeDay.

My Last Full Day in Newfoundland

What is it they say?  Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.  It was indeed a red sky this morning as I headed out for my last full day here in Newfoundland (photo).  At breakfast I tried oatmeal rather than my usual bacon and eggs; I liked it.  With coffee, of course.  First stop was the sewage outfall, the location where the Black-tailed Gull had been first seen in St. John's.  After about an hour, Jared Clarke arrived.  We chatted and checked out the gulls for a bit, then he left.  Not too much later I left too to go to Pleasantville, the other major place where the gulls have been hanging out.  Today they were on a grassy terrace and not on the metal roof of the large building as they have been the past two mornings.  I scanned carefully, but no black-tail.  Jared drove up, scanned, and moved on.  I went back to the sewage outlet with mostly the same results except that the Common Gull showed up.  Then back to the grassy area where it was clear more gulls were present.  But still no black-tail.  Up to this point I had seen eleven species of gull in St. John's; black-tail would make twelve.  You can't come to Canada without visiting a Tim Hortons.  Now was my time to do it.  I got some pastries to go with a large coffee and then found out they didn't take Visa or American cash.  Fortunately I had just enough Loonies to make the purchase.  Back to the car and gull watching.  I finished the snack, took a few more great gull close-ups, and was debating lunch when the phone rang.  It was Jared.  He had the gull, right at the spot where I had been half an hour earlier.  Fortunately I knew the way since I had driven it so often.  It still took longer than I could bear.  But the gull stayed and I got to see it well.  It was sitting near Great Black-backed Gulls out in the open so I'm quite sure it wasn't there on my last visit.  I thanked Jared.  He had also called Bruce Mactavish who drove up at that point.  We both took quite a few pictures (photo).  It's a small gull, being only slightly larger than a Ring-billed Gull.  The bird's bill is long and narrow and has a unique red and black tip.  The mantle color is similar to that of a Lesser Black-backed Gull.  You can see the black tail band in the photo.  So thanks to the enormous help of Bruce Mactavish, Dave Shepherd, Dave Brown, and Jared Clarke I have bagged the three target birds for which I came to Newfoundland.  I'll get a great night's sleep tonight.  I have to; I need to catch a 6:00am flight home tomorrow.  On Saturday I fly to Calfiornia for another try at the Brown Shrike.