Vireo Discomfort...Gull Fails...The Drought...This Is No Time To Panic

A birder once famously said, "I've been very uncomfortable with my vireos", but I've only experienced itching and mild irrittion. Blue-headed Vireo was a sight for sore eyes last month. This bird was my 11th (and probably final) vireo species I've seen in California. Rejoice!!! Harbor Park, San Pedro, CA.

January is moving at snail's pace here in the bay area...maybe I'm experiencing some kind of post-Baja hangover. Maybe its the fact that December was plagued with vagrants, multiple state birds, and other goodness, from LA County to Modoc. Motivation is hard to come by.

On the birding front, not much is happening other than gulls. Slaty-backed, Glaucous, Vega, Kumlien's and Lesser Black-backed have all put in appearances already this winter here and there but I have not been able to muster what it takes to see any of these species. Glaucous (the commonest of the lot) bugs me in particular, because I actually missed them entirely last year. So despite my own failures, the gulls are not disappointing everybody.

This Thayer's Gull is often found near the nature center at Lake Merritt. Look at that sexy orbital ring.

I stared at this bird for quite a while. Eventually, I realized it was yet another Glaucous-winged X Herring hybrid, or a backcross....or something similar. You east coast birders have it lucky...seeing hundreds of hybrids in a day (or more) is a trying experience. San Leandro Marina, CA.

If you are not from the west coast, you may not be aware that California is undergoing a drought. A bad drought. I am tempted to say it's "catastrophic" but since California is prone to drought once in while, its just extra shitty. But they say that this is the worst since precipitation records had begun being kept. A massive high pressure system has been sitting over the eastern Pacific for months now, and refuses to budge. Until it does, that means no rain for most of the parched state. Many local Christmas Bird Counts recorded both extremely low numbers of passerines and waterfowl this year (for the latter, even in areas with plentiful habitat), which is not surprising. It's nice to go outside to sun and warmth everyday, but it's also depressing at the same time.

A Townsend's Warbler surrenders, accepting the inevitable Crush. A cold snap at the onset of winter sent many insectivores in the state down to the ground, in desperate search for food. Carpinteria, CA.

Clapper Rails are not agoraphobes, unlike their cowardly brethren. Like the Red Sea parted for Moses, the Clapper Rail plies the canal waters effortlessly. Arnold Road, Oxnard Plain, CA.

The snail's pace of things is probably also being brought on by the annual cycle of the Perpetual Weekend...I'm beginning to get restless, and I do not have work lined up yet, although not for a lack of effort. The relatively slow birding (aside from gulls) isn't helping, although I find that beer and whisky do help revive me. That all said, who am I to complain??? This is no time to panic. In much of the country, the birding is poor poor poor poor compared to the species diversity and local abundance of what the bay area has to offer...so I guess I will keep on pounding gull flocks (a humbling and occasionally miserable experience, even for this #7 birder) and visiting the Tufted Duck that lives a few minutes away. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, so the duck and I will really be putting our relationship to the test. Selah.

Another familiar vagrant, here is everyone's favorite Gray Hawk. I would love to know where this bird spends its summer months. Also seen in Santa Barbara County on this day were Lucy's and Prairie Warblers, Tropical Kingbird, Vermilion Flycatcher...SoCal can be brimming with good birds in winter. Carpinteria, CA.

A Stout Year

Resplendent Quetzal is one of the top contenders for Most Facemelting Bird of 2013...the mind reels. Photographed above the Savegre Lodge in Costa Rica.

2013 has come and gone...that was quick. There is no doubt other blogs in the Birdosphere have done some recaps of the year (Neil Hayward is the champ...Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrows...Rufous-necked Wood-Rail...Zino's Petrel birder politics and subsequent redemption...yadda yadda). Of course, you know all that stuff, so why rehash it? No, you came here for one reason...# 7.

For years now, I've been almost-enthusiastically year listing, more as a way to get out and birding and exploring new places than anything else...in other words, its fun but neither competitive or intense. It is a very good way to spend a Perpetual Weekend. In 2012 I finished with ~579 (birding in California, Florida, and Costa Rica), and this year it looks like I will be finishing with ~690 (Costa Rica, California, North Carolina). 690 is by far the highest year list I've ever had, and I'm pretty happy about that...of course, I could have gotten to 700 with just a little more luck (not dipping as much, having a better fall for vagrants in the bay area, one more day of landbirding in North Carolina).

700 will have to wait another year though, and I have a feeling it won't be 2014...but you never know. Without further delay, here is this leading birder's breakdown of 2013.

Number of new life birds: I don't know. Probably somewhere over 200? Costa Rica was insane.

Number of new ABA birds: 11 (8 in North Carolina, 3 in California).

Number of new California birds: 14 (including armchair ticks), with 4 in December!

Best lifer: This is hard. I saw so many. Copious lifers in 2013. Fork-tailed Flycatcher was something I'd yearned for for as long as I have been birding. Little Bunting was HUGE (not literally). Trindade Petrels brought the stoke. A rainbow of new hummingbirds were seen in Costa Rica. There's too many to choose from.

Best birder scandal: Although I really enjoy what is happening over here, it is no doubt the implosion of the San Diego birding scene (which resulted in the local listserv being completely abandoned for one operated by a different faction) and subsequent internet combat in San Diego, much of which went on behind the scenes. Remember "Todd Ingress", the fictional blind birder? Lines have since been drawn in the sand. WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON????

Bear witness to this vulgar display of endemism. Island Scrub-Jays were my constant companions for the spring and summer of 2013, even though I was not researching them. Santa Cruz Island (where else?), CA.

Best ABA bird: Little Bunting. I squeezed much satisfaction out of looking at this bird.

Best North Carolina bird: Trindade Petrel. Huge bonus bird.

Best California bird: Red-necked Stint on the LA River. Not the rarest, but it was number 500 for my state list. It was also number 500 for Officer Adam Searcy, who chased the bird with me. That makes us bird-married.

Best northern vagrant: Trumpeter Swans at Modoc National Wildlife Refuge (above). They are expected here in the winter so aren't vagrants per se, but the first time we saw them was an awesome experience. How to sum it up? State bird, majesty, spectacular sunset, serenaded by pleasant trumpeting, pleasant friends...followed by affordable beer and disgusting Basque food.

Best pelagic vagrant: Great Shearwater (off Half Moon Bay, in San Francisco County).

Best Siberian vagrant: I've already mentioned Little Bunting and Red-necked Stint...how about Arctic Loon? I was stoked to see the one wintering in Monterey (a state bird) after I returned from Costa Rica last January.

Best eastern vagrant: Hudsonian Godwit (Napa).

I have had a hell of a time photographing Gray Hawk over the years, despite living in southeast Arizona and spending a good amount of time in other places where they are easy to find (south Texas, Mexico, Costa Rica). I finally had some good luck last week with the bird in Carpinteria, CA...but I was robbed from the opportunity for even crushier shots (see below).

Best Central American Vagrant: Gray Hawk (first California record, Santa Barbara County.

Worst birder experience: A few days ago I was driving up to Oakland from SoCal and saw the Gray Hawk hanging out in its usual spot on Highway 101. The light was perf. I pulled over to crush it, making sure to give it plenty of space so it wouldn't flush into the side of a semi or something. As I got the bird in the viewfinder and was literally focusing on it, a black car pulled off the freeway and parked right next to the bird. You can guess what happened next, and the bird actually flew uncomfortably close to a moving truck that happened to be passing by. The car immediately left after flushing the bird. I was fucking pissed. To whoever you are, you are a dick, and I hope your year is filled with nothing but House Sparrows and feral pigeons.

I was really looking forward to meeting this bird in 2013...it did not disappoint. Fiery-throated Hummingbird is another candidate for Most Facemelting Bird of 2013. Photographed at Paraiso Del Quetzales in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica.

Most facemelting bird: Fuck. I was in Costa Rica. Was it the quetzal? Was it Bay-headed or Speckled Tanager? Fiery-throated Hummingbird? I can't decide.

Worst dip: Dipping on "guaranteed" Masked Ducks in Costa Rica. Ouch. Dipping on Snowcap at one of the best sites for them in Costa Rica also wrought significant pain.

Worst overall miss: I did not see a longspur of ANY SPECIES in 2013. Sigh.

Worst birding experience: Breaking my birdcrusher for the second time in a year by having it detach from its strap and slam onto a sidewalk. This prevented an aggravating number of crushes in the subsequent weeks (Bald and Golden Eagles, Ferruginous and Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Goshawk, Prairie Falcon, Trumpeter Swans, etc.).

Worst day of birding: Going to Outer Point Reyes in early September and seeing exactly one (1) migrant bird, a Western Wood-Pewee. Life was pain.

Best Raptor: The Black-and-white Owl at Cerro Lodge in Costa Rica.

Best birder experience: Watching "Stilt" break down into tears when she did not get to see a Streak-chested Antpitta that the rest of us got to see. It was incredible...and don't worry, she saw it a few minutes later. A very close second was Officer Jon Dunn telling me that I am not fit to serve on the CBRC (because I don't "support the committee", not because I suck). The kicker is that although he was talking to me, about me, he did not recognize me for the person he was talking about...who does that?

Band-rumped Storm-Petrel was one of many lifer pelagic birds off North Carolina last August. I was stoked to get so much boat time this year, off both coasts. Being a leader on Shearwater Journeys trips was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next year. Oh, I got seasick and puked for the first time this year, that was cool.

Best hybrid: Not rare by any means, but I looked at hella American X Black Oystercatcher hybrids in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. It's good practice.

Best bourbon: As with every year, I tasted many a bourbon this year...but I think Broken Bell is one of my new favorites.

Best beer: There's a lot of quality beer out there...but right now I miss Yuengling.

Best album: Bad Religion's True North. "I'm just a petrel in the storm; my island can't protect me anymore."

Greatest Coup of Birding: Oscar Johnson's ridiculous Common Swift above a random patch of desert in Riverside County, CA.

Best birder meme: THERE ARE SO MANY!!! Anything involving inner circles and puppetmasters. "It's too far for you to see"..."Black-chins are still migrating"..."Does he really pronounce it Justine?"...

This year I finally found a convenient/reliable spot for crushing Yellow-billed Magpies, one of California's most interesting, desired, and even poignant species. Photographed in Monterey County, CA.

Best California yearbirder: Dipper Dan. He may not have the highest total in the field, but he won.

Best self-found bird: A Slaty-backed Gull in Marin County (CA) was a long-awaited defeat of a state nemesis.

Best dream bird (aka best bird seen in a dream): Runt Harpy Eagle in northern California.

There were too many great bird trips to count this year, with new and old friends alike. I'm stoked to have such a strong network of friendly dorks available in a pasttime that is littered with people that I would rather avoid, and a girlfriend who is sympathetic to me being gone for months at a time and has a high tolerance for raging nerds. I'm looking forward to meeting more great people and great birds in 2014. I do have a quick trip planned in the very near future that should produce some cool shit (and cool tacos), but aside from that I really don't know where 2014 is going to take me for work or birding trips...and so the Perpetual Weekend rolls on.

El Tigre Fields

Green Ibis. Superficially similar to Glossy Ibis, but sporting a short bill with a thick base, and a slightly shorter, fatter neck. The difference in structure is obvious even from great distance.

After spending much of the day at La Selva, we decided to try out a random spot in the birdfinding guide I hadn't paid much attention to before...the El Tigre fields. This area was recommended for its marsh and grassland birds, neither of which we had really come across at this early point in the trip. The birdfinding guide warns that the site might not exist anymore, due to the high probability it might be turned into pineapple fields (a sad and common fate of much good habitat in the country), so we arrived with low expectations. Thankfully, this doomy prophecy was not at all true, and as of December 2012 the place was in good condition.

They also have what appears to be incredibly broad wings.

Green Ibis don't really get too colorful, but it was great to see them nonetheless. We had them as a heard-only bird at La Selva (thanks to Hainer of course) so it was immensely gratifying to add another Threskiornid to the ol' life list. 

We were given permission to walk out into the fields, and trip birds and life birds alike began appearing at a rapid pace. Among others, we were treated to crakes (heard only unfortunately), Sora, Purple Gallinules, Jacanas, Southern Lapwings, Harris' Hawk, Merlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Gray-crowned Yellowthroats, Giant Cowbird, Blue-black Grassquits, Olive-throated Parakeets, and the birds you see pictured today. What was probably a Sedge Wren got away without giving good looks (argh). Is this isolated population really the same species as our Lower 48 birds? Seems unlikely.

Anyways, no real crushes today, but the birds are of high quality...truly top shelf ticks. El Tigre was a great bonus spot, Dipper Dan later claimed he was in the throes of ecstasy while birding there. Check it out if you are birding the Sarapiqui area.

Red-breasted Blackbird was Bird Of The Site for me, although the seed Ffnch (see below) was a close second. Red-breasted Blackbirds are fond of grasslands, have a cool display flight and sing like a Savannah Sparrow...not much in common with the blackbirds of the north.

It was a crippler.

Nicaraguan Seed Finch was one of the species that we found here and no where else on the trip. I could not get over the size of their bills, they don't seem necessary. Gargantuan bill aside, these birds were quite a bit larger than the variety of other black finch/grassquit/seedeater type things that are found in the country.

Wild Muscovy Ducks!

Amazon Kingfisher is superficially similar to Green Kingfisher but is much, much larger and has a bill that could be used as a murder weapon.

I had seen this species before in Mexico but it was great to be reunited. Again, look at the size of that bill!

A haggard young Gray Hawk is just starting to acquire it's adult plumage. I'm sure it was grateful to be molting, because it really looked like shit.

Stilt was fiending for birds...at El Tigre, she frothed at the mouth. With every lifer her eyes would roll back into her head and she would begin speaking in tongues. Here she is recklessly diving into a canal and doing something weird with her hands.