Georgia Year list- 2007
A year in review ...
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Georgia Year list- 2007 A year in review ... |
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12/31/07 |
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UNEXPECTED SPECIES!!!!!! Green-breasted Mango - 10/30 Say's Phoebe - 12/22 Snow Bunting - 11/8 Smith's Longspur - 12/24 Snowy Plover - 12/29
SPECIES NEEDED (Let me know if you see any of these, please!!!)
Magnificent Frigatebird
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Tundra Swan Cackling Goose Brant Eurasian Wigeon Cinnamon Teal
Common Eider Long-tailed Duck Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle
Long-tailed Jaeger Glaucous Gull Iceland Gull Black-headed Gull Sabine's Gull Black-legged Kittiwake
Black-billed Cuckoo Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Long-eared Owl
Anna's Hummingbird Allen's Hummingbird
Evening Grosbeak
Lapland Longspur Shiny Cowbird BOLD=hope to find RED= Missed!!!
SPECIES SEEN From 1/1/2007 to 12/31/2007 ~ in Georgia ~ 331 seen LOONS Red-throated Loon Pacific Loon Common Loon GREBES Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe Eared Grebe Horned Grebe Western Grebe SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS Black-capped Petrel Cory's Shearwater Greater Shearwater Manx Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater PELICANS American White Pelican Brown Pelican GANNETS AND BOOBIES Northern Gannet CORMORANTS Double-crested Cormorant ANHINGAS Anhinga HERONS, EGRETS AND BITTERNS Great Blue Heron Great Egret Tricolored Heron Little Blue Heron Reddish Egret Snowy Egret Cattle Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Least Bittern American Bittern STORKS Wood Stork IBIS AND SPOONBILLS White Ibis Glossy Ibis Roseate Spoonbill DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Greater White-fronted Goose Snow Goose Ross's Goose Canada Goose Wood Duck American Wigeon Gadwall Green-winged Teal Mallard Mottled Duck American Black Duck Northern Pintail Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Canvasback Ring-necked Duck Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Black Scoter Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Common Goldeneye Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Common Merganser Ruddy Duck NEW WORLD VULTURES Black Vulture Turkey Vulture OSPREY Osprey HAWKS, EAGLES AND KITES Swallow-tailed Kite Mississippi Kite Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk FALCONS AND CARACARAS American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon TURKEYS Wild Turkey GROUSE, PTARMIGAN, PRAIRIE-CHICKENS Ruffed Grouse NEW WORLD QUAIL Northern Bobwhite CRANES Sandhill Crane RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS Black Rail Clapper Rail King Rail Virginia Rail Sora Purple Gallinule Common Moorhen American Coot Limpkin OYSTERCATCHERS American Oystercatcher AVOCETS AND STILTS Black-necked Stilt American Avocet PLOVERS AND LAPWINGS Black-bellied Plover American Golden Plover Semipalmated Plover Wilson's Plover Killdeer Piping Plover Snowy Plover SANDPIPERS American Woodcock Wilson's Snipe Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Marbled Godwit Whimbrel Long-billed Curlew Upland Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Willet Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Purple Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Wilson's Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope JAEGERS AND SKUAS South Polar Skua Parasitic Jaeger GULLS Ring-billed Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull American Herring Gull Bonaparte's Gull Laughing Gull Franklin's Gull Little Gull TERNS Gull-billed Tern Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Common Tern Forster's Tern Least Tern Bridled Tern Sooty Tern Black Tern SKIMMERS Black Skimmer PIGEONS AND DOVES Rock Pigeon Eurasian Collared-Dove Mourning Dove Common Ground-Dove CUCKOOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo BARN-OWLS Barn Owl OWLS Eastern Screech-Owl Great Horned Owl Barred Owl Short-eared Owl NIGHTJARS Common Nighthawk Chuck-will's-widow Whip-poor-will SWIFTS Chimney Swift HUMMINGBIRDS Green-breasted Mango Ruby-throated Hummingbird Black-chinned Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird KINGFISHERS Belted Kingfisher WOODPECKERS Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker TYRANT FLYCATCHERS Olive-sided Flycatcher Eastern Wood-Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Say's Phoebe Vermilion Flycatcher Great Crested Flycatcher Western Kingbird Eastern Kingbird Gray Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher LARKS Horned Lark SWALLOWS Purple Martin Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Cliff Swallow Cave Swallow Barn Swallow WAGTAILS AND PIPITS American Pipit KINGLETS Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet WAXWINGS Cedar Waxwing WRENS Carolina Wren Winter Wren House Wren Sedge Wren Marsh Wren MOCKINGBIRDS AND THRASHERS Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher THRUSHES Eastern Bluebird Veery Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin GNATCATCHERS Blue-gray Gnatcatcher CHICKADEES AND TITS Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse NUTHATCHES Brown-headed Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch CREEPERS Brown Creeper SHRIKES Loggerhead Shrike CROWS AND JAYS Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Common Raven STARLINGS European Starling OLD WORLD SPARROWS House Sparrow VIREOS AND ALLIES White-eyed Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo FINCHES, SISKINS, CROSSBILLS Purple Finch House Finch Red Crossbill Pine Siskin American Goldfinch WOOD WARBLERS Blue-winged Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Pine Warbler Prairie Warbler Palm Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Cerulean Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Prothonotary Warbler Worm-eating Warbler Swainson's Warbler Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Louisiana Waterthrush Kentucky Warbler Connecticut Warbler Mourning Warbler Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat TANAGERS AND ALLIES Scarlet Tanager Summer Tanager Western Tanager SPARROWS, TOWHEES, JUNCOS Eastern Towhee Bachman's Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Seaside Sparrow Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow Le Conte's Sparrow Henslow's Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Smith's Longspur Snow Bunting SALTATORS, CARDINALS AND ALLIES Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Painted Bunting Dickcissel BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, GRACKLES, ETC. Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Yellow-headed Blackbird Rusty Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole Bullock's Oriole Orchard Oriole -------- STATISTICS -------- Species seen - 331 |
Georgia 2007 Year List
December 31, 2007- Thanks to Georgann alerting us to finding RED CROSBILL on her CBC route, Deb and I joined Greg Bailey and his daughter Natalie (she is one heck of a birder!) at the location and were able to relocate the birds. We could hear the birds calling from further back in the woods, and eventually the flock moved closer to the road. It was a mixed flock of Red Crossbills, Pine Siskin and Brown-headed Nuthatch. The habitat looks great in this area, we also had six Red-breasted Nuthatches and two White-breasted Nuthatches (for the ever popular nuthatch slam) on the road before we found the crossbills. Unfortunately, the fog this morning thwarted our efforts to see the Cackling Goose. We tried until dark at Pine Chapel Road when the flocks of Canada Geese were returning for the night but no little ones with them. That was YEAR BIRD #331 and the final one for the year!!! Thanks to everyone who helped me reach this number! December 30, 2007- I just got back from the coast after a whirl-wind few days of CBC's, chasing birds on the coast and some just good birding. The highlight, of course, was the SNOWY PLOVER that Walt Chambers discovered on Jekyll Island on Saturday. Earl Horn and I took off from Cordele after seeing the Say's Phoebe and Smith's Longspur with Deb Zaremba and Karen Theodorou. We made it to the beach in time to see and photograph another GREAT bird found this past week by Walt. The plover was YEAR BIRD #330! Here are a few images on the bird from Saturday;
December 26, 2007- I had pretty much expected that my chances for new year birds were rapidly coming to an end, let alone state or life birds! The past few days turned out to be a huge surprise. It all began on Saturday when Dan Vickers and I tried to relocate the Limpkin that was seen at the Veteran's State Park near Cordele in Crisp County by Terry Johnson on the Lake Blackshear CBC. We spent the better part of the day searching the area but could not find the bird. On our way back to Atlanta, we decided to make a run down the Cobb-Cheek road to see if any Short-eared Owls were out early. We were surprised when a SAY's PHOEBE flew across the road in front of us! This species had not been seen since the late 1980's in the state, so it was a great find. Here are a few images taken yesterday, when the bird was relocated by several observers.
On Monday, Walt Chambers called early in the morning to tell me that he found an odd longspur in with a flock of Horned Larks and American Pipits at the Marshallville Sod farm. Not planning on birding today and getting my Christmas errands done, I hesitated about 2 minutes before jumping in the truck and heading south again! I met Walt at the sod farm and was son joined by Pierre Howard and Jeff Sewell. We relocated the longspur by listening for the rattle flight call and eventually were able to see it on the ground. I took several shots of it through my scope at about 75 yards. The consensus was that it was a SMITH'S LONGSPUR! This would be the first accepted state record of the bird if correctly identified and fully documented. Great job by Walt again! Here are a few images;
This image was taken by Pierre Howard showing the full wing pattern and extension:
These images were taken by Dan Vickers of the bird yesterday;
Finally, while Pierre Howard were going to relocate the Say's Phoebe in Cordele, we made another stop at the Veteran's Park in Crisp County. While I was busy taking care of some business, amazingly Pierre spotted the Limpkin across the lake in some vegetation. In the 10 seconds it took me to get to where Pierre was standing, the bird disappeared. It took us 15 minutes to finally locate again, further down the shoreline. We got good scope views of the LIMPKIN, but it literally vanished in front of our eyes in the vegetation on the lake shore and we could not find it again. The bird is like Houdini! I could never get a photo of the bird, but here is a picture taken at Reed Bingham last year. These were YEAR BIRDS #327, 328 & 329! Also of note, the Smith's Longspur was my 700th ABA bird!
December 10, 2007- It's not often you can see ten Manx Shearwater in Georgia waters and not have it count as a year bird! We just returned from a trip to the coast to try and fill in some blanks on the year list checklist. My targets were Plain Chachalaca that I missed on Sapelo during the Coastal Festival and winter pelagic species. Helena Wood and Dan Vickers joined me on the trip to Sapelo. Prior to heading out to Sapelo, Dan and I tried to photograph the Green-breasted Mango in Dublin again. For the pelagic portion, we had a group of 11 birders eager to look for winter birds on the Atlantic. Our first stop in Dublin required a lot of patience! We waited four hours and about fivr minuted before we had to leave, the Green-breasted Mango finally made an appearance at the feeder. I fired off about 25 shots in 10 seconds through my scope and I could hear Dan's shutter going as well! Here are a few of the shots from that visit;
We left Dublin, and headed to the dock and out to Sapelo Island where were greeted by Mr. Bailey. After dumping our gear we set out to look for PLAIN CHACHALACA with what little light was left. After checking all the historic locations, we came up chachalaca-less. Our last ditch effort just before dark resulted in a resounding response to our audio lure. I happily checked off year bird #324! passing my previous best year total of 323. Needless to say, I was a very happy camper that night! The next morning we woke earlier than expected (ummm, the clock in the room was a wee bit off) and headed out to try and photograph the bird we had found the previous night. Unfortunately, the fog had rolled in overnight and we couldn't see very much. We waited until there was enough light in the sky, and were able to see the bird close to the road and get some rather poor images.
The rest of the morning was rather uneventful, and we made the 12:30 ferry back to the mainland. Dan and I headed north to Tybee Island, along the way stopping to photograph a strange white bird that we saw driving down the highway at 70mph. It turned out to be an albino Northern Mockingbird! I asked Dan to make a quick pass along the RV campground on Polk Street to check the feeders at 12 Polk for doves. He didn't believe me when we slowly rolled up to the yard and I quietly announced "There it is!", there was a WHITE-WINGED DOVE on the ground under the feeder! I needed this bird for the year, having tried unsuccessfully many times on Jekyll Island and Tybee earlier in the year. This was year bird # 325
The next day's forecast was for dense fog in the morning, so the likelihood of us going out on the pelagic trip seemed very low. After talking with Captain Steve, we decided to push the departure time to 9AM from the dock, hoping that the fog would lift. The next morning we awoke to clear skies! The fog bank that had rolled in the previous evening was gone. We rushed to the dock and were underway by 8:30AM on a clear, calm ocean. Since we were looking for gulls, jaegers, ducks and alcids, we decided to work the in-shore reefs between 10 and 20 miles. We came upon some huge rafts (for GA) of Common Loon, Bonaparte's Gulls, Red Phalarope and Northern Gannets! Amazingly, over the course of the day we also found 10 Manx Shearwaters, several in groups of two or three, within sight of land! That set a new high count for the state. There were several Parasitic Jaegers chasing gulls on the ocean, and finally we found one POMARINE JAEGER for year bird #326. The non=birding highlight of the trip was encountering a NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE about eight miles off of Wassaw Island! Here are some photos from the pelagic trip and a couple of scenic shots from the weekend!
November 25, 2007- Deb and I just returned from the coast. Earl Horn and I birded Tybee Island on Friday and Altamaha WMA to Jekyll Island on Saturday. We started before sunrise on the beach at the north end of Tybee, out from the lighthouse. As soon as it was light, the first birds of the day were six PURPLE SANDPIPERS roosting on the beach. It was a great start to the day! I know these are common winter birds for this site, but I just love watching them working the jetty with the Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings. The sea duck activity was fairly slow but there were several groups of BLACK SCOTER, including a raft of one male just off-shore. There were several fly by BUFFLEHEAD, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, LESSER SCAUP and GREATER SCAUP. A group of very probable SURF SCOTERS flew by at a pretty good distance from shore. The NORTHERN GANNETS stole the show, with several hundred seen off-shore and many in close to the shore, diving on bait fish. There were several BONAPARTE’S GULLS mixed in the big gull flocks and at least three or four LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS. A nice group of 58 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER included two banded birds. The flock of BLACK SKIMMERS numbered in the hundreds as well. Away from the beach, the best bird of the day was the LARK SPARROW that we are able to relocate along 6th street near the 4-H center. This bird was originally discovered by Sandy Beasley and Brenda Brannen. We found the bird about half way down 6th street from the 4-H center, on the marsh side of the road. There is a small patch of sand and grass, and the bird was long the edge of the grass and flew up in to the shrubs. We tried unsuccessfully to find White-winged Doves on Tybee Island before returning to the beach for some more sea watching. A bonus to the day was a visit to Deb and Andy Barreiro’s house, where Earl found a lifer butterfly for me, a CASSIUS BLUE, feeding on some flowers in her yard! The afternoon seawatch produced about the same results as the morning, but we also added the fist RED-THROATED LOON and a close in PARASITIC JAEGER. On Saturday, we started before dawn at the Altamaha WMA near Darien. We had pretty much the expected mix of ducks, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, WOOD DUCK and MOTTLED DUCK. We also had six juvenile BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS with one adult flying around the tower on the east side of GA17. All the expected waders were present, and a few SORA were calling. We headed to Jekyll Island following the morning at AWMA, and tried for White-winged Dove at Marjorie’s house again but failed. There were very few ducks moving around the north end of the island so we tried the south end while the tide was still high. Finding the expected species resting of the beach, we did add two PIPING PLOVERS (one with bands) to the weekend list, as well as some CASPIAN TERNS, GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS and a group of eight AMERICAN AVOCET on the beach. Back in the dune area, we were pleased to find one or possibly two male PRAIRIE WARBLERS still moving around the scrub. Earl was heading home on Saturday so we left Jekyll and I made a final stop at Tybee Island again to see if the strong North West winds had deposited anything new. I was pleased when I set up my scope in the cold, damp 25+MPH winds to find that the raft of ducks off shore at the lighthouse point had tripled since yesterday. I now had three Black Scoters in my scope… oh yeah. While we were headed home on Sunday morning, Karen Theodorou alerted us to the presence of the BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD that she and Julia Elliot had banded in McDonough. We were lucky to be in the area, and the Wilkins allowed us to stop by to see the bird. It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend birding on the coast! These two were YEAR BIRDS = 322 & 323, which tied my previous best year total from 2000!
Photos: Lark Sparrow, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Prairie Warbler, Cassius Blue November 17, 2007- Several Atlanta area birders joined up with Terry Johnson and members of the Ocmulgee Audubon Society for a field trip to Run Creek. Terry graciously led the group on an early morning tour of Lake Juliette and the Rum Creek area. The day started off with a bang, with PINE SISKIN and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH on the feeders at the DNR Headquarters. Incidentally, Pine Siskin was Pierre Howard's 320th year bird as well! The highlight of the trip for me was seeing over 30 EARED GREBES on the ponds! This location is, with out a doubt, the highest wintering concentration of this species in the state. This was YEAR BIRD #321 for both Pierre and myself.
Photos: Eared Grebe November 14, 2007- An early morning start at 5:30AM and I was looking at a REDHEAD by 6:45AM! Actually, I was looking at the silhouette of a Redhead to be exact. Between the low light and the fog, I had to watch the bird until about 7:30 to be certain it was indeed a male Redhead! Thanks to Marion Dobbs alerting us to the presence of the great assortment of ducks at Garden Lakes near Rome, I added YEAR BIRD #320! November 11, 2007 - Deb and I decided to try the western side of the state on Saturday to see what water birds the cold front may have brought to the area. We hooked up with Walt Chambers on Saturday morning and explored West Point Lake and Dam then we went on to Lake Walter F. George and finally ended the afternoon at the Bradley Unit of Eufaula National Wildlife Refugee. There were very few ducks on any of the lakes, and there had been a hunt in Bradley that morning so we really did not have much lake luck. Proving once again that the fifth time is the charm, we did find the VERMILION FLYCATCHER on the dike near the silo at Bradley. While we were there, my phone message beeped and I found out (thanks to Jim Flynn) that David Heeden had found a late migrating AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER in Cobb County, only 12 miles from my house but about 150 miles from where I was standing! We immediately started heading back to the truck and made it out of the Bradley in record time, jumped in the truck and started heading north. Luck was with us and traffic was light, and we arrived at the Cobb County site at 4:30 with plenty of day light left to look for the bird. Unfortunately, the bird decided to leave at 4:25! Darlene Moore and Bill Lotz had just seen and photographed the bird 10 minutes before we arrived! D'oh!!! We watched, along with Ken Blankenship, until nearly dark but the bird did not come back. (I was corrected from my previous post on this subject by Cheryl Kanes, who made a dash with Panos from Augusta to try and get back in time to see the bird. They definitely waited until dark, using the headlights of their car to try and see the bird!!!). We went home, some what dejected, that we had been so close to seeing the bird. I spent many weeks combing the sod farms in Bartow, Macon, and Statesboro looking for this bird in August and September, then as fate would have it, one is deposited nearly in my backyard and I miss it by 10 minutes!! Such is birding. On Sunday morning, after a couple cups of strong Shade Grown coffee, I decided to try and see if the plover had returned to the polo fields in Cobb County or decided to continue on it's trek to Argentina. As I was heading down I-75, coffee cup in hand, my phone once again rang out and it was First Year Male Birder, Mark McShane calling to tell me that he was at the polo fields looking at the bird! As I gently (ha!) accelerated the truck towards I-285, I had visions of Peregrine Falcons and Cooper's Hawks dropping from the skies for a tasty morning meal. After what seemed like a very long time, I got to the polo fields and literally ran the 1/4 mile to the spot that Mark was standing. I was thrilled when Mark said those four little words that all birder's chasing a bird long to hear.... "It's in the scope!" If I thought I was happy seeing the Clay-colored Sparrow at the AWMA earlier in the week, this one made my year! From the low of "just missing" the bird to the High of "it's in my scope", it doesn't take much to make us happy! As we were standing and observing the bird, Dan Vickers and Cheryl Kanes came up and joined us, along with David Heeden. Every one was excited about getting to see the bird. Eventually, Mark mentioned that he had not yet seen the Snow Bunting in Darien, and that is was impossible for him to go until next weekend. Well, that was just not fair, so I suggested a road trip. (Of course the fact that Earl Horn and Jim Flynn had seen a CAVE SWALLOW the previous day may have had something to do with my generosity). Cheryl decided that it would be a good idea too, and the three of us (after dropping Mark's car off at home in Gwinnett) sped off for the coast. We made it to the Altamaha WMA by 3PM, and started out the impoundments on the east side. The breeze had picked up and there were no swallows in the pond where Jim and Earl had seen the bird the previous day. As we approached the tower, I saw a smaller swallow mixed in with a group of Tree Swallows and as I got my bins on the bird I shouted out "CAVE SWALLOW!" The bird had flown behind the tower and was crossing the pond behind the tower. I saw the bird clearly for about 10 seconds, and could see the buffy rump, cinnamon color and darker fore head well. Unfortunately, I could not get Mark and Cheryl on the bird quickly enough. We ran up to the tower but lost the bird as it moved south and got behind the reeds. We decided to move down the dike to try and get a better view of the pond but all we could find were Barn and Tree Swallows at that point. Luckily for Mark, the SNOW BUNTING was in the same location, happily munching grass seeds for spectacular looks at another life bird for him. We looked for Clay-colored Sparrow along the dikes but could not find any, only an immature WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, another life bird for Mark. As we watching the swallows dipping over the ponds, Mark found a nice flock of 30 GLOSSY IBIS flying overhead, once again a life bird! He was racking up life birds today! It eventually got too dark to keep watching the swarms of tree swallows over the marsh so we decided to try for the Black Rail that Trey had reported from the west side of the WMA. Just as it was getting dark, we attempted to hear the rail but the only response to the tape was a SORA doing the single note call and a distant VIRGINIA RAIL (and another lifer for Mark!). We left the AWMA, pretty exhausted but having had a great afternoon! Incredibly, I ended up with three new year birds this weekend, one which I had already marked down as a miss for the year! These birds were YEAR BIRDS = 317, 318 & 319!
Photos: American Golden Plover, Snow Bunting, Vermilion Flycatcher(2006), Cave Swallow(Photo credit: Jim Flynn) November 8, 2007 - Thanks to the great job Sandy Beasley and Brenda Brannen did alerting everyone to their find of the Snow Bunting at the AWMA near Darien, Deb and I were able to relocate the bird in the same location this afternoon! Almost as exciting for me, was finally finding a Clay-colored Sparrow while we were walking out to the Snow Bunting location. I had spent many, many hours walking the dikes at AWMA hoping to find the sparrow, so that made the day unforgettable! These two were year birds number 315 & 316.
Photos: Snow Bunting, Clay-colored Sparrow(2003) November 5, 2007 - I spent last weekend on the Georgia Coast, joined for part by Pierre Howard. We did pretty well and enjoyed the great weather and birds but nothing really unusual showed up. The highlights of the weekend were finding an “Ipswich” type Savannah Sparrow at the south end beach on Jekyll Island and about the same time a fly over blue-phase Snow Goose on the beach. The “Ipswich” was at the end of the trail leading out to the beach from the pink house. The birds was on the edge of the dunes and kept running under the dune grasses. Pierre and I both were able to photograph this rare visitor. The other highlights from the weekend were finding a LINCOLN’S SPARROW and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW at the Altamaha WMA in Darien. These sparrows were on the west side of the highway near the older observation deck looking over the M.A.R.S.H. project area. The birds were in the area just to the right of the tower along the path to the cross dike. Some other good birds were a flock of nine juvenile BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS with one adult on the east side of the AWMA near the observation tower, an AMERICAN BITTERN, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, a flock of 75 GLOSSY IBIS, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Greeen-winged Teal, 1000’s of Tree Swallows with a few Barn Swallows mixed in, and a couple of Vesper Sparrows. At Andrew’s Island Causeway we had a single AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN in the river and were surprised to see a group of ten NORTHERN PINTAIL flying in with Northern Shovelers over the marsh. Back at Jekyll Island I added two AMERICAN AVOCET on the south beach, a single female BLACK SCOTER in the surf, several Wilson’s Snipe in the marsh going out to the beach, Painted Buntings at the campground drip and at Marjorie Clark’s feeders, Seaside and Sharp-tailed Sparrow sp. on the causeway, good numbers of Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied Plover, Willet and Semi-palmated Plovers on the causeway at high tide. While I was sitting and watching Marjorie’s feeder hoping to see the White-winged Dove on Sunday, Deb called to tell me that she was looking at a PINE SISKIN and two RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH in our backyard in Marietta! D’oh! Luckily, when I got up on Monday morning, there were two Pine Siskins in the feeder and the Red-breasted Nuthatch was still around. The siskins were only here a short time, and by 10AM they were gone. Hopefully more will show up! That was year bird #314
Photos: Pine Skiskin, "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker October 30, 2007 - When you least expect it, a great bird shows up! Pierre, Karen, Deb and I just returned from viewing a GREEN-BREASTED MANGO in Dublin at the home or Laurie and Marshall Jackson. (This is the same yard that was hosting a Western Tanager, Bulloch's Oriole, Baltimore Orioles and Rufus Hummingbird earlier this winter!, see Feb 18 entry below). The bird was banded this morning by Bob Sargent and was feeding normally late this afternoon, shortly after we arrived. What an amazing bird, and a first state record for this species. There are very few records outside of Texas, so this is an extremely rare occurrence. Cliff Gibbons sent me these two great images of the bird being banded and released by the homeowner. This is year bird number #313, and state bird number 369!
Photo credit: Cliff Gibbons of Green-breasted Mango October 15, 2007 - Just got back from the Coastal Birding Festival weekend and it was great! The weather was excellent for birding (but not so much for migrant fallouts) and the coast was beautiful. I spent a lot of time trying to kick up year birds with out too much luck. On Thursday, after fighting traffic to get out of Atlanta, we finally made it to the coast around 4:30PM and after a quick stop at the convention center, headed out to the Altamaha WMA to scope things out for the field trip I was leading there on Friday. There were not many birds around and the wind kept what few birds were there down for the most part. Pierre Howard, Deb and I managed to find a few nice birds once we met up with Bill Lotz, Dan Vickers and Grant McCreary. The night came to an end with an American Bittern flying over the marsh and the silhouette of a Great Horned Owl in the distance. The next day was beautiful again, but still windy. I led a group through the Altamaha WMA and we were lucky to find a nice group of 21 Black-bellied Whistling-ducks on the west side impoundments. We ended the day with about 72 species of birds, but no new year birds. I went back in the afternoon and tried to find Clay-colored Sparrow on both the east and west sides of the refugee but had no luck. The day was saved when Karen and Luke Theodorou alerted me to the presence of a REDDISH EGRET on the south beach of Jekyll Island. I ran over to the spot and luckily found the bird just five minutes before it disappeared for the night! On Saturday, I joined Jeff Sewell on his trip to Sapelo Island. The day was gorgeous but there were very few migrants. We found a nice flock of Black-throated Blue, Palm, American Redstart, and Prairie Warblers but not much else. Dan Vickers and I spent most of the day trying to locate Plain Chachalaca but could not find any. Miss number two for the weekend! On Sunday, Pierre Howard and I led a trip to the Andrew's Island dredge site. Once again, a beautiful day, with few migrants. The highlight was finding an immature White-crowned Sparrow of the western gambelii race at the gate to Andrew's Island. We also found a good number of White Pelicans, Avocet, Stilt Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers (2K+), Dunlin and Black-bellied Plovers. We tried really hard to turn one in to a Golden Plover but no luck! The other highlight was watching an adult Peregrine Falcon dive repeatedly on the flock of shore birds for several minutes, hovering then diving and getting all the birds up. We never saw it catch anything, so we assumed it was just having some "fun" and making some practice runs. The weekend was great but I only managed to muster up one year bird on my quest to break my previous best year count of 323 species in the state in one year. That brought my year total to 312, with three big misses for the year.
Photos: American Bittern, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Warbler September 23, 2007 - Well, it's been a long time since I was able to find another new year bird! I've been checking the sod farms continuously hoping to kick up an American Golden Plover but no luck yet! Today, Deb and I decided to try our luck at Carter's lake in the afternoon and birded along the Hidden Pond Trail. IT was pretty quiet but we did find some warblers and vireos along the trail, as well as a couple of flycatchers. The highlight came as we were walking back to the truck and a PHILADELPHIA VIREO popped up from some leaves and foraged in front of us for several minutes. On Sunday, I made another trip to the Marshalville Sod farm in the hopes of kicking up something new. The best birds there were several Stilt Sandpipers and an American Bittern along the dirt road bisecting the sod farm. On the way back to Atlanta, I drove through Bond Swamp NWR near Macon and was able to find a single YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was another new year bird. This was finally YEAR BIRDS = 310& 311.
Photos: Philadelphia Vireo, American Bittern September 4, 2007 - On Monday, I checked out the sod farm in Marshallville, thanks to a call from Darlene Moore who went down on Sunday to look for the Wilson's Phalarope that Jeff Sewell alerted us to that Walt Chambers reported on behalf of Bill Birkhead. I think that makes it a quadruple assist. THANKS to everyone! And thankfully the bird was still there on Monday! The sod farm conditions were perfect for migrating shorebirds. There is a large pool of water in the main part of the sod farm that had about 100 birds on the pond when I got there at 6:30 in the morning. The phalarope was in this big pool, and seen on and off throughout the morning. At about 7:30 a Northern Harrier got all the birds up and flying around and most left the pond. There was also a nice flock of swallows, about 75 birds flying over the pond, most were Barn Swallows but I counted about 20 BANK SWALLOWS and a dozen or more Tree Swallows. There are still a good number of Horned Lark and I had a group of about 30 flying over in the early dawn. The pond held about 15Blue-winged Teal, five Little Blue Herons, two White Ibis and a large flock of about 75 Cattle Egret. There were three Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the field around the pond and two Upland Sandpipers. This number of birds paled in comparison to the number of birds on the back part of the sod farm. At one point, there were over 300 yellowlegs up and flying when a Northern Harrier (the same one?) cruised over the marshy area that they were feeding. There were also about 200 Pectoral Sandpipers spread out across the back of the farm, with another five Upland Sandpipers and three Buff-breasted Sandpipers. The sheer number of birds was just wonderful. The phalarope was YEAR BIRD = 309. August 31, 2007 - Deb and I relocated several BANK SWALLOWS along Pine Chapel Road in Gordon County this afternoon that Joshua Spence had reported at the site yesterday. That brought the year total to YEAR BIRD = 308. August 29, 2007 - Max Medley found several Baird's Sandpipers at Carter's Lake yesterday, so Deb and I decided to take a ride up to the lake to look for them today. After a quarter mile hike (trudge?) through the mud, I found two birds at the end of the mud flat along with a Sanderling and several other shorebirds. The species seen included: Semipalmated Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least, Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, Sanderling and the Baird's Sandpipers. I took a few images through the scope of some of the birds while I was out there. That was YEAR BIRD = 307.
Photos: Baird's Sandpiper, Sanderling, Semi-palamted Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper August 28, 2007 - Deb found an Olive-sided Flycatcher at Kennesaw Mountain this morning and luckily it stayed long enough for me to see it as well. The bird was just before the snag area at the top of KMT on the left side of the road. YEAR BIRD = 306. August 26, 2007 - After several unsuccessful attempts to get off shore this year, we were finally able to go out to sea with Amick Fishing. Pierre Howard set up a trip to head out to the 100 fathom break, approximately between 70 and 80 miles off the coast. It was a nice day with seas a little rough but we made it out. The group of 10 birders were able to pick up a good assortment of pelagic species (see the full write up at: ) The list of species included CORY'S SHEARWATER, AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER, GREATER SHEARWATER, BLACK-CAPPED PETREL, SOOTY TERN, BRIDLED TERN, BLACK TERN. With the addition of theses birds, my year list total = 305.
Photos: Cory's Shearwater, Red-necked Phalarope, Audubon's Shearwater, Bridled Tern, Black Tern, Black-capped Petrel, Greater Shearwater August 25, 2007 - On the way to the coast, Deb, Pierre Howard, Ken Blankenship and I decided to drive by the Marshallville sod farm to look for shorebirds. WE were able to relocate the UPLAND SANDPIPER (15), and the BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER that had previously been reported. These two birds brought my year total to YEAR BIRDS #297 & 298.
Photos: Upland Sandpiper June 17, 2007 - Several birders from Tennessee discovered a first summer FRANKLIN'S GULL on Carter's Lake while looking for the South Polar Skua. Deb and I decided to drive up on Sunday morning to look for the bird. We were lucky to run in to Max Medley and Larry Russell who had already observed the bird at close range before we arrived. Shortly after we arrived, Karen Theodorou joined us and soon after the bird made another appearance at fairly close range and flew over us. I took a few digital images of the bird. At the time of the sighting, we all felt good about the identification of the bird. When I looked at the images on my camera, I became alittle skeptical. The field marks we saw in teh field were not as apparent on the small screen. I uploaded the photos and several extremely skilled birders reviewed them and agreed that it was indeed a first summer Franklin's Gull. I am pretty amazed that Carter's Lake would generate two great year birds in the middle of June! YEAR BIRD #296!
Photos: Franklin's Gull June 12, 2007 - Incredible as it seemed, Joshua Spence reported finding a SOUTH POLAR SKUA at Carter's Lake this afternoon. Deb and I left Marietta around 4PM and met Chuck Saleeby, Pierre Howard, Cheryl Kanes, Bill Lotz, Mark Davis, Sterling Blanchard and Dan Vickers at the boat ramp near the marina at Carter's Lake. When Deb and I arrived, the group had already seen the bird and were pointing out over the trees as we made our way to the shoreline. We got a distant look at a large dark bird soaring away from us in to the sunset! I was not a happy camper! Luckily, the bird turned and worked it's way back towards us, at one point passing directly over us. The bird stayed in the area for about an hour, dropping occasionally on to the water and then getting up and flying again. I was able to take some distant shots of the bird through my scope for ID purposes, although I think Chuck was able to get a fantastic shot of the bird flying by before we arrived. Thanks to Josh for letting everyone know that he found the bird and where it was at, so quickly. Great find! I wen back on June 23 and was able to get some better pictures of the bird. YEAR BIRD #295!
Photos: South Polar Skua June 10, 2007 - On the way back from Reed Bingham State Park today, I stopped by the Sun Trust building in downtown Atlanta and looked for the PEREGRINE FALCONS that had nested. I quickly found three birds circling the building and soaring on the thermals. What a great site in the city! YEAR BIRD #294
Photo Credit: Dan Vickers 2007 June 9, 2007 - Pierre Howard, Bill Lotz, Dan Vickers and Darlene Moore joined Deb and I at Reed Bingham State Park to go out with Chet Powell in search of the Limpkin that he has been seeing at the park. WE enjoyed a great day on the river but unfortunately only a few of the group were able to catch a view of a single bird flying across the river and out of sight. On the way back to Atlanta, Deb, Pierre and I detoured through Tifton and located three SWALLOW-TAILED KITES foraging low over some mixed woods of pine and oaks. At one point, we watched one of the birds drop on to the oak tree and emerge with something in it's talons. We assumed it had grabbed a bird from the tree but when we examined our photos of the bird (below) we could see it was not a bird but instead a bat! What an amazing sighting to have witnessed. Later, we made a stop in McDonough to look for the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. We found one bird (presumably the male) calling on the tower. No other birds were seen in the area. YEAR BIRD #293
Photos: Swallow-tailed Kite (with bat in talons) May 31, 2007 - Pierre Howard joined me on the coast for the first part of a four day trip to the coast for some fantastic birding. The first stop on Wednesday was the Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area near Darien. The conditions on the east side of GA 17 are perfect for breeding birds right now and in about 5 minutes I had added BLACK-NECK STILT, LEAST BITTERN and BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK to my year list! The area was teeming with wildlife, and we counted over 40 Black-necked Stilts (many on nests), over 50 Glossy Ibis, a few Gull-billed Terns, hundreds of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, White Ibis, several pairs of Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, and many family groups of Mottled Ducks with over 25 young birds! We headed to Jekyll Island where we quickly picked up the GRAY KINGBIRD at the convention center as we entered the island. We walked out to the beach at the south end but there were very few birds roosting on the beach. We did find an adult plumaged COMMON TERN mixed in with the Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns. Our next stop was at Gould's Inlet and we luckily hit it at the perfect time. The tide was coming in and there were quite a few shorebirds moving in. The highlight was a group of 47 Red Knots in breeding plumage and in perfect light. What a sight! There was one banded bird in the mix. We also picked up a single SANDWICH TERN mixed in with the Royal, Caspian, Forster's Terns and a few LEAST TERNS flying around. There were also a good number of other shorebirds, included Willet, Semi-palmated Sandpiper, Dunlin, Sanderling, Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans. A nice surprise were the four late Whimbrel that we found there as well. We ended the day at the Altamaha where we enjoyed a great sunset along with Black-bellied Whistling-Duck calling over head as the sun set.
Photos: Little Blue Heron, Painted Bunting, Common tern, Gray Kingbird, Black-necked Stilt, King Rail, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Least Bittern
May 29, 2007 - Deb and I happened to be out running errands and decided to swing by the farm ponds on Bartow County to look for Dickcissel for her. We did not find any, but in the "mud hole" off Brandon Farm Road we found a single RED-NECKED PHALAROPE in breeding plumage. It was a great surprise and very beautiful bird. YEAR BIRD #283
Photo by Ken Blankenship and Rachel Cass
May 25, 2007 - Having missed the LEAST FLYCATCHER earlier in the month, Pierre, Deb and I decided to try again in Rabun County. We were rewarded with three singing birds! One came in close enough for some photographs which was great. On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped by Ila to see the now famous ROSS' GOOSE in the small frm pond. YEAR BIRD #281 & 282
Photos: Least Flycatcher, Ross' Goose May 23, 2007 - I decided to get out at lunch time and walk the Cobb County Parks area along Allatoona Creek. At the end of the walk I found a male MOURNING WARBLER. Pierre Howard and I relocated the bird later in the day but it left the area while we were still there. We also picked up BLACK RAIL in a marsh in Greene County. YEAR BIRD #279 & 280
May 13, 2007 - We stopped by ELHUIE this afternoon after doing a dry run of Deb's BBS route in western Carroll County. We found at least three WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERs still on the ponds. YEAR BIRD #278
Photo: White-rumped Sandpiper May 13, 2007 - Deb and I met Karen and Luke in Blairsville and we were glad to find that the WILLOW FLYCATCHERs were still on territory this year near the Ingles parking lot. We had three birds singing along the creek at 7:30AM. The adjacent lots are being developed so it was good to know that these birds are still doing ok. Ivy Log Gap Road produced 4 male Ceruleans on territory, and 6 Blackburnians, along with the expected large numbers of Black-throated Green (12), Chestnut-sided(14), American Redstarts(8), Hooded(6), Yellow-throated(2), Blue-winged (1), Yellow(1), Kentucky(2), Northern Parula(1), Worm-eating(5), Black-and-white (4), Ovenbird (16), Yellow-rumped (1 and getting late). Also had Scarlet Tanagers, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and a single Ruffed Grouse. We ended up with 18 species of warbler for the day, not too bad a day and ended with a male GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER in Fannin County. YEAR BIRDs # 276 & 277
Photos: Willow Flycatcher, Golden-winged Warbler, Chestnut-Sided Warbler May 12, 2006 - We started early on Saturday morning at Piedmont NWR and we were rewarded with singing BACHMAN'S SPARROW at the same location that Patty McLean posted last week off Barron Russell Road. At the end of the road, was a very active colony of RED_COCKADED WOODPECKERs, with six adults foraging and calling all over the area. Other birds of interest there were Prairie Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chats, Summer Tanager, Acadian Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatchers, Red-eyed Vireos and Wild Turkey. We proceeded to Bond Swamp east of Macon and we found six SWAINSON'S WARBLER singing, along with about 14 Prothonotary Warblers, Hooded, Louisiana Waterthrush, Indigo Buntings and Mississippi Kite. We then checked a few ponds east of Macon and south for shorebirds but came up empty except for the expected SolitarySandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper and Yellowlegs sp. , as well as some WMA’s and Public Fishing Areas. The southern part of the state was covered in smoke on Saturday, and when we reached Cordele, visibility was so poor you could hardly see across the street. On the way back to Atlanta, we checked on the SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER in McDonough and found one bird (male we think) sitting on the wires next to the tower. We looked for about 20 minutes for a second bird but had to leave when the storm hit. YEAR BIRDs #272-275
Photos: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Swainson's Warbler May 5 - 11, 2007 - Back at KMT for the first time on 5/5 since our trip to California. It was a pretty good day with 21 species of warbler and two new year birds for the list , a female WILSON'S WARBLER and a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. The total report of birds for the day can be found at: KMT Report 050507 The next day a CONNECTICUT WARBLER was found at Cochran Shoals so Deb and I tried for it at lunch time and we were very lucky to relocate the bird. A couple of days later, Grant McCreary found an ALDER FLYCATCHER in the greenspace in his subdivison, Ivey Manor. Deb and I were in the area birding at Dawson Forest the next day, so we tried and were successful in relocating the bird in the morning! This one was singing and calling from the dense foliage about 20 feet away from us! On the 10th, I took a ride up to Bartow County and after a tremendous rain storm, a single DICKCISSEL was singing on the fence post on Brandon Farm Road. YEAR BIRDS #267-271
Photos: Dickcissel, Gray-cheeked Thrush May 2, 2007 - Deb, Pierre and I made a trip up to Pine Log WMA this evening to try for nightjars. We were not disappointed! There were a minimum of 25 WHIP-POOR-WILLs and 15 CHUCK-WILL-WIDOWs calling at dusk. We also added YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and a VEERY at Kennesaw Mountain today to the yearlist. For a complete listing of birds seen at Kennesaw you can click here; http://www.georgia-birding.com/KMT/kmt050207.txt YEAR BIRDS #263 - 266
May 1, 2007 - We were very surprised to look out our window tonight and see a LINCOLN'S SPARROW in the seed dish eating some millet! This is the first time we have ever seen this species in our yard and it was a great year bird as well! YEAR BIRD #262
April 30, 2007 - The YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD that was discovered at ELHUIE over the weekend remained at the same location long enough for Deb and I to relocate it today! YEAR BIRD #261
April 2 thru 29, 2007 - The spring migration is here! I'm not going to list all the species seen during migration but Kennesaw be very, very good to me! I picked up all of the hoped for species, like Cerulean, Blackburnian, Nashville, Blue-winged and Magnolia. There were a few surprises, like a WARBLING VIREO on 4/30. A trip to the mountains on 4/2 turned up RUFFED GROUSE and COMMON RAVEN. On 4/6, I stopped by Bartow and picked up the BREWER'S BLACKBIRD and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW that I missed earlier in the month. And finally, a visit to St. Catherines for a migration count helped me add MISSISSIPPI KITE, PURPLE GALLINULE, WHIMBREL, GULL-BILLED TERN, PAINTED BUNTING and BOBOLINK to the list bringing the YEAR BIRD TOTAL to 260.
Photos: Mississippi Kite, Northern Parula February 18, 2007 - One final trip to middle Georgia, this time to Dublin, was required because a home owner there was hosting some great western species. We arrived to the home of Laurie and Marshall Jackson around 9am along with Giff Beaton, Pierre Howard and Dan Vickers. Shortly after we arrived, a male Bullock's Oriole came in to the feeder along with a female WESTERN TANAGER and three Baltimore Orioles! What a great yard! We drove by a public fishing area on the way back to Atlanta and added the first PURPLE MARTIN of the year to the list. YEAR BIRDS #199 & 200.
Photos: Westen Tanager, Bullock's Oriole
photo credit: Pierre Howard 2007
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