The Nemesis Bird » listing

Sanderling on mud

Drew — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:07:16 +0000

A few days ago at Conejohela Flats, I was treated to my first Sanderling in Pennsylvania. Soon after we landed on the flats it was running around with a Whimbrel, similar to the Buff-breasted Sandpiper the day before.

I am used to seeing flocks of Sanderlings on the shore, chasing waves back and forth as they feed. It is quite another thing to watch one loafing around in the middle of PA on a muddy island, with no waves. The Sanderling seemed pretty content to stick around, lounging around all day in pretty much the same location.

The Sanderling was actually a bit difficult to digiscope. Most of my photos ended up nicely focused except for the head, which was always moving. It was in constant motion, foraging in the drier mud and pulling out worms. Its very sturdy bill enables it to probe in harder mud for prey. In a study of foraging flocks of Sanderlings in New Jersey, the Sanderlings spent 65% of their time actively searching for food and 35% probing, gleaning and pecking (Morton 1996).

Sanderlings have been known to live up to 13 years (Boates and McNeil 1984). Based on broad-scale surveys, the N.A. population of Sanderlings is roughly 300,000 individuals (Morrison et al. 2000). The number of Sanderlings along the Atlantic flyway is estimated to have decreased by 80% in the last 30 years. The biggest threats to Sanderlings are human disturbance, habitat loss and the associated loss of food.

Sources:

Boates, J. S. and R. McNeil. 1984. Longevity record for the Sanderling. J. Field Ornithol. 55: 485.

Morrison, R. I. B., J. R. E. Gill, B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor and S. M. Haig. 2000. Population estimates of Nearctic shorebirds. Waterbirds 23: 337–352.

Morton, J. M. 1996. Effects of human disturbance on the behavior and energetics of nonbreeding Sanderlings. Ph.D. diss., Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg.

The Nature Conservancy. Sanderling. http://www.nature.org/initiatives/programs/birds/sibley/animals/art5632.html. Accessed 9/7/08.

Wood Sandpiper pictures

Drew — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:40:06 +0000

Friday afternoon I posted that I was off to chase the Wood Sandpiper being seen in Delaware. I got picked up at my house around 11am and by about 1:30pm we were driving down Broadkill Road, looking for a swarm of cars. When we pulled in, people seemed to be milling around, not really looking at anything in particular. This was not a good sign. The first birder we talked to told us the bird had last been seen about 10 minutes ago. It had taken off and the birders present hadn’t been able to see where it flew and had not been relocated yet. Being only the second east coast record, this was easily the ‘best’ bird I have ever chased and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomache when I heard this.

As we dejectedly pulled out our scopes from the trunk we happened to see a bird flying past the passengers side of the car and land on the shore right up the road. The white rump, a characteristic of Wood Sandpiper, had been obvious and looking at the bird it quickly became obvious that it was the Wood Sandpiper.

Wood Sandpiper- 5/9/2008

The Wood Sandpiper was quite cooperative, foraging along the near shoreline so at times it was only about 30 feet away. One interesting thing that we noticed was that it bobbed its rear end, Spotted Sandpiper-style, pretty much non-stop. It worked its way up the shore at one end of the road with a contingent of birders in pursuit, and then would fly to the other end of the road. This happened several times and I finally wised up and instead of chasing it, I stayed put. I figured if it came back this way, I might be the only one around and get really close looks.

And that is exactly what happened. It flew back and landed almost right in front of me, allowing me to get great unobstructed views.

The Wood Sandpiper seemed to be a mix between a Solitary Sandpiper and a Lesser Yellowlegs. At first, I thought there was no way that I would look at this thing and be able to pick it out as something different. But then I realized that it was different enough from each of these similar species that if I looked in a book, I would know it was different.

There were lots of other birds flying around; Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, yellowlegs and various peeps. This kept me occupied during the brief periods when the Wood Sandpiper was hiding.

The Wood Sandpiper is still being seen as of May 11th, 2008. Check the Delaware listserv for more up-to-date sightings.

Search for the Western Tanager

Drew — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:25:00 +0000

Sunday afternoon a post showed up on the PA Birds listserv stating that a Western Tanager had been found at John Heinz NWR. Not much detail at first but as people descended on the refuge to look for it they posted that it was a female and that it was being seen near the observation deck.

Luckily for me, Monday is my day off and so I decided to try my luck at finding the tanager as well as see what else was at the refuge. Both Little Blue and Tri-colored Heron had been reported in the last week.

I arrived a little after dawn and began walking down the path towards the observation tower. I was a little surprised at how quiet it was, none of the trilling songs of Palm, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers I had just heard at Middle Creek WMA. The sound of chattering Tree Swallows and the loud buzzy calls of Red-winged Blackbirds were about the only songs breaking the silence. Blue-winged Teal dabbled lazily in the water as several Great Egrets foraged in the distance.

Blue-winged Teal- female and male

I continued on, scanning the trees by the path for any movement. Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Song Sparrows were common as well as several Rusty Blackbirds. By this time I had past the observation tower and was quite a bit beyond where the Western Tanager had been reported. Here the sounds of Palm Warblers finally found me and I spotted several, happily wagging their tails.

On the walk back towards the observation tower I met up with some other birders. We stopped for a moment as 9 Glossy Ibis took flight and settled down, hidden again by vegetation. Nine Glossy Ibis are a pretty big flock for Pennsylvania. An American Coot swam around on the near side of the island and paused its feeding to look at us.

American Coot

Moving on, I began walking ahead of the other birders, slowly scann ing the trees. A bird popped up; sitting on the other side of the tree and partially obscured by vegetation. I got my binoculars on the bird and saw it was yellow and as it turned its head I could see it was the female Western Tanager I was searching for.

Excitedly I turned and beckoned the birders to come. Big mistake! I turned back to look at the tanager again and could not find it. It had flown off. That brief look was all I managed all day, despite several more hours of searching for it. But I was lucky enough to see it at all, number 272 for my Pennsylvania list.

Young gulls

Drew — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:37:00 +0000

On Monday I headed to Cape May, NJ with a friend to look for a Dovekie that had been reported on Two Mile Beach. There was also a Barnacle Goose hanging around and both of these birds would have been lifers for me. Red Crossbills and an Ash-throated Flycatcher were being seen on Cape May Island which would both be my first in NJ so it seemed like a lot of potential in one day.

Unfortunately, not a single one of those really neat birds showed up for us. We did manage not see some other good birds including 5 sandpipers including Western and Purple, all three scoter species and several half-hardies such as Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush and Eastern Towhee.

On the way back to Pennsylvania we stopped at Tullytown, right across the Delaware River from a huge landfill in New Jersey that attracts thousands upon thousands of gulls. You can see what lifer I saw here last year in a previous post.

Many great gull species have been seen here including California, Thayer’s, Iceland, Glaucous, Black-headed, and most recently, a Slaty-backed Gull. We managed to locate a huge first-cycle Glaucous Gull immediately upon arriving and I managed only one photo that was unobstructed by other gulls.

1st cycle Glaucous Gull

A little later my friend found a gorgeous adult Iceland Gull that I attempted to digiscope but I had too much trouble finding it in my viewfinder to actually photograph. We later came across the first cycle bird below which was easier to photograph.

1st cycle Iceland Gull

From all the photos I took, I managed some interesting ones where I did not get the bird I was going for. In the photo below, you can see the young Glaucous Gull in the background but the Herring Gull was insistent on being the primary subject and covered the Glaucous Gull up. So juvenile!

Herring Gull

Listing in PA and the run to see the AWPE

Drew — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:02:00 +0000

To start off with, I want to say that my Pennsylvania list is not really that impressive. Yet. I have been making great strides now that I have been spending more time in PA. I believe I was at around 240 about this time last year, and I am currently sitting at 257, with about 13 that I should be able to see with just a little bit of luck and a whole lot of stuff that will require a little bit more than luck.

To make it easier on myself, I have created a spreadsheet with all the birds that I would very much like to see in Pennsylvania. My biggest holes are waterbirds, sea ducks and shorebirds. I am missing both bitterns, maybe seven species of shorebirds and 2 of the scoters. Some of these birds just require visiting the Conejohela Flats with a little more regularity in the fall. Other species I want to see will require the perfectly aligned tropical storm to sweep out of the Atlantic and blow some storm-petrels, shearwaters, or terns my way. One, Whip-poor-will, only requires that I can drag myself out of bed before my bird surveys start (5am) to listen in some good habitat.

The one enjoyable thing about state listing is that it adds more excitement to seeing birds that are strays and vagrants from other parts of the country. I may have seen 50 Lazuli Buntings in the Dakotas and Montana, but seeing one in Pennsylvania was somehow even more special.

A bird I just recently added to my list for PA is American White Pelican. One individual was spotted a few days ago along the Susquehanna River north of Harrisburg. When it was relocated the next morning, I received a phone call that I should come and see it. At this time it was sitting calmly in the way, providing distant looks. I immediately started the 40 min drive to the river. Not more than 5 minutes into my drive I got a call that the pelican was taking off, circling up in a thermal and giving every impression that it was going to keep going up and leave. Well, I decided I might as well head to the river anyway and see what was there. I continued driving and a little later I received another phone call, this time telling me that it was still in the air, hurry! I picked up the pace a little once I was on a major route and had almost reached the rendezvous point when I got another call telling me to turn around, it was now south of their. I whipped my little car around and started heading south, pulling off the side of the busy 322 as Tom frantically pointed up at the circling bird. I leaped out and got to watch it for maybe ten minutes as it lazily circled up and down the river and finally disappeared from view. The pelican had been in the air for almost an hour total, an amazingly long time. I had really lucked out.

An excellent shot is available at Tom’s photo site.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Drew — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:02:00 +0000

I saw my 2nd state bird in as many days yesterday. Although its not very common in PA, Clay-colored Sparrows are findable in several parts of the state. They breed in some limited areas in the western part of the state and are sometimes seen in migration elsewhere.

This bird is coming to a feeder in Lancaster County and is the same bird the presumably frequented the same yard last summer. When I arrived I was greeted by the buzzy bzz bzz bzz bzz that is so characteristic of the Clay-colored Sparrows song.

It will be interesting to see if this bird continues to hang around for the summer and maybe finds a mate. Now I am off to training for my summer job doing point count surveys for the 2nd PA Breeding Bird Atlas.

New State bird on the drive home

Drew — Mon, 14 May 2007 01:49:00 +0000

This afternoon, I was driving home from New Jersey after completing the hawk counting season. It was a pleasant day but I didn’t see much bird-wise for most of the trip. It was pretty ordinary in fact until I turned on to Schantz Rd southwest of Allentown. I spotted a plowed field off to the right that was sporting a large (1/2 acre maybe?) flooded area. Straining my eyes as I slowed down I could see birds moving out in the water and one really seemed to stick out. Slamming on the breaks and swerving to the shoulder in the safest manner possible, I slung by binoculars to my eyes, fully expecting to see the graceful foraging of a Greater Yellowlegs. What I had seen as I was driving was white flashes above the water as a shorebird dipped into the water, but what really stood out was how high above the water the white flashes were.

Binoculars now up to my eyes, I focused….and bam, not a yellowlegs, but a gorgeous black and white bird. A Black-necked Stilt! No wonder the flashes had been so high. I managed to get a few record shots of the bird as it foraged and a video which you can watch once it has been processed by Youtube. I shot of some quick phone calls and then continued to watch the bird as it foraged back and forth over the same little flooded area. It gave me a fright when a Canada Goose landed nearby and all the Least Sandpipers and Semi-palmated Plovers took to the wing. I would have been sorry to see the stilt leave without giving others a chance to see it. Luckily it stayed and I know at least several people have gotten a chance to see it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to get back to that pond and have a better chance to study it.

Year Milestone

Drew — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:40:00 +0000

I finally hit the 200 mark for the year, a good start but not necessarily that stellar. There have been quite a few birds mixed in to make it interesting though. A Long-billed Murrelet showed up at Sandy Hook in January to provide me with my first rarity of the season. I was also able to see a Scott’s Oriole and a Lazuli Bunting in Mechanicsburg and Red Hill, PA, respectively, which were both new state birds for me. One notable bird I did not chase (and now regret) was the Yellow-billed Loon that was present on the Susquehanna near Harrisburg, PA for several days in May. Number 200 was a Whip-poor-will that sounded off as I walked around outside of the Weis Ecology Center. Hopefully this summer, fall and winter will bring me many more excellent birds to see and to chase.

The Ballet of the Shorties

Drew — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:48:00 +0000

Short-eared Owls have been on my want list for Pennsylvania for quite some time. I had several opportunities to see them while in college in northern Indiana and greatly enjoyed that. Then I got a tip on where they might be in my own county. My own county! Now some people might not understand that thrill, but having just recently hit the 200 mark in my current county, I am enjoying the growing number.

So anyway, there is a fantastic piece of grasslands not 20 minutes from my house. I decided to hit it late afternoon in order to be there for the most productive time for the owls. I was elated when I arrived, 2 were already flying around. After several minutes of viewing the antics of these two birds with my bins I whipped out the scope for a closer look and when one cooperatively perched about 80 yards away I pulled out the digiscoping setup and snapped a few shots. I was happy with the results so I pulled the camera off the eyepiece and looked back at the owls. Wait…what was that diving at the shortie?

Definitely a falcon. Hmmm, small and dark….could only be a Merlin. I watched as the Merlin repeatedly stooped on the owls, harassing them as only a Merlin harasses. This was my third falcon species for the day, pretty good for a January day in PA. As the Merlin exited the scene, a Northern Harrier gracefully floated onto the stage. There is something about harriers and shorties, they always go together. I have not once seen short-eared owls and not seen a harrier. This was a beautifully plumaged juvenile.

I noticed something about their flight, harriers have such graceful flight, bouyantly floating around on their long spindly arms. Short-eared Owls on the other hand have such a stiffness to their flight, almost like they are afraid to bend their wings.

I stayed put, watching the interactions, the pouncing and listening to their raspy barking call. Now there were four in the air at once. Trying to get some last images before the sun disappeared I managed the flight shot below. I had to do some tricky stuff to the photo to bring back the colors but I think it turned out nicely.