Sunday, August 16, 2015

Collared Plover (Lifebird) and 4 other TX Statebirds - August, 2015



One of the most exciting birding discoveries in summer 2014 was a Collared Plover detected in south Texas.  A second record for the US, this bird was seen quite reliably every day for about a 2-week period in August 2014 at a spot called the Hargill Playa, a 30-minute drive north of McAllen.  Although I don’t typically chase ABA rarities, with monthly business trips to Houston, a number of times I’ve added a vacation day to pursue life birds in south Texas.  And the Collared Plover was no exception – I added a day to my regular August 2014 Houston trip, flying into McAllen to try to look for the Plover.  Unfortunately I arrived in south TX on August 18th which was the first day the bird wasn’t seen.  I spent 3 hours in the heat, humidity, and wind searching for the bird but to no avail. 

The Hargill Playa is a large flat basin with a pond that varies in size based on recent rainfalls.  The pond is surrounded by a salty beach and vegetation that to my un-trained eye looks like saltbush.  All in all, the site looks like one you would see in the Great Basin in Nevada.  On my 2014 trip the site was full of birds – shorebirds, waders, terns, and gulls principally.  I had 48 species during that visit, including family groups of Snowy and Wilson’s Plovers, which were a bit surprising for this inland location.  But alas, no Collared Plover.

Hargill Playa
Fast forward to July 2015 – on the 21st a Collared Plover was again detected at Hargill Playa – undoubtedly the same bird as last year.  I happened to be in Houston at the time, and would have loved to drop everything and run right down to south TX to look for the bird.  But I had a full work schedule and couldn’t break free.  I knew I had another Houston trip coming up in 3 weeks, and would be able to add a vacation day on that trip to try for it.  But would the bird stay that long?  Although last year it was only around to 2 weeks, its last day was August 17th, and this year I would be able to get there a full week earlier.  An optimist might say that this year the Plover would stay at least until last year’s departure date.  A pessimist (or realist?) might say that the bird would be long gone after a 3-week wait.  Ever the optimist, especially when it comes to birding, I booked my August trip with an extra vacation day to head to south TX.  But this time I would drive from Houston, instead of flying, to give me more flexibility to try for other birds in route.

The 3-week wait became agonizing at times.  Although the Collared Plover was reported daily initially, it soon became old news and no reports were posted some days- even though I checked eBird, the TX listserve, NARBA, and a Lower Rio Grande Valley blog.  And then the week before my trip came the first negative posts.  But positive reports were posted the last 2 days before my trip, so I became more optimistic.  And being hopeful that I could find the target bird rather quickly, I developed a gameplan with the help of eBird Needs Alerts to go after 4 other possible TX statebirds between Houston and Hargill.  My flight was scheduled to land around Noon in Houston, and my plan was to head right to Hargill.  With a 5-hour drive that would give me a couple hours of birding time in the evening, and I would have much of the day available the next day as well.  If I had time I would go after my other targets, but only after finding the Collared Plover, focusing on that highest priority target first.

One challenge was going to be the extreme heat wave that TX was experiencing at the time.  With heat indices of 105-110 throughout much of the day, birding out in the sun at the playa would be difficult, if not dangerous, except for the early morning and late evening.  And in fact, recent reports showed that birders were mostly finding the Plover in the morning, so even the bird was avoiding the mid-day heat.  As a result, even though I would have some birding time in the evening the first day I arrived, I was less than optimistic that I would find it then, instead thinking the next morning would be a more promising time.

As soon as my flight landed I quickly checked the various websites and the Plover was indeed seen that morning!  And since my flight had landed at least 30 minutes early I would have plenty of time to try for it that evening.  But as I made my way south, I began to debate whether I should rush down there right away.  With my flight getting in early I would get to the playa by 5 PM, still in the teeth of the afternoon heat.  An option was to make a quick stop along the way to search for one of my other targets, allowing for a later arrival in Hargill.  One of my statebird targets was Purple Gallinule which had been seen in a pond just a 10-minute side trip off my route to Hargill.  But should I take time away from my prime goal?  I’ve missed key targets in the past by pursuing lower priority birds first, and didn’t want that to happen this time.  Just before I had to make the decision whether to head for the Gallinule, I checked my weather app and the heat index at Hargill was still 110.  And since I figured no one would be at the site to tell me I just missed the Plover anyway, I took the turnoff to try for the Gallinule first.

The spot I was heading for was called Mittag's Pond/Hays Lake a short distance east of Riviera.  Several Purple Gallinules had been reported here and at 2 nearby wetlands in the last week.  The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that it was teaming with activity – at least 40 Black Terns were skimming low over the water, numerous waders of several species were scattered throughout, and there were at least 50 Fulvous Whistling Ducks sitting in the shade of some small bushes – yes it was very hot there!  I didn’t see any water lilies which I typically associate with Purple Gallinules, but there was a section of mudflats that had dying vegetation as if the water level in the lake had dropped recently.  I started scanning this area and quickly picked out an immature Gallinule – though just a Common.  I saw no other Gallinules, and didn’t think the habitat looked very good for a Purple anyway.  So not wanting to take too much time away from the Plover search, I decided to head to Hargill after this short 30-minute side trip.

When I arrived at the playa I saw another car up ahead and a birder already looking out over the basin.  I drove up to him and asked if he had seen the Plover.  He said he had it about 20 minutes earlier at the water’s edge right in front of us.  He then went back to his car to get his camera, but had not re-found it.  The birder told me a Caracara had flown in and all the birds scattered.  My heart sank.  That was my worst-case scenario – if I had not taken the 30-minute side trip I would likely have seen the Plover the moment I had driven up.  And now it was gone.  Why hadn’t I followed my own rule to go after the key target before trying for any other birds? 

I set up my scope and started my search, first scanning the shoreline where the other birder had last seen the Plover – but it was not there.  In fact there were no shorebirds at all.  I expanded my search area a bit and found 2 Caracaras at the water’s edge – 1 was feeding on something – hopefully not a Plover.  Now my mind jumped to Falcated Duck in CA and my 5 unsuccessful searches for that bird.  Was Collared Plover going to be a similar nemesis bird? 

I scanned the shore again with my binoculars and noticed a small “bump” close to the water’s edge.  Although I had scanned this area several times earlier without this feature getting my attention, this time something caught my eye.  I put my scope on it and realized that the “bump” was actually a shorebird sitting on the sand, with its back almost identical in color to the surrounding sand.  I zoomed in and easily identified it as a Plover, but with Snowy’s and Wilson’s also at the playa, I needed to determine what species of Plover it was.  I started checking for all the key field marks – white forehead with a black stripe just above it at the top of the head, black patch in front of the eye and not behind, and then a complete black band across the chest.  It was the Collared Plover!  Over the next 30 minutes we watched it as it eventually stood up and walked along the shore line giving very good views, including showing those pink legs.  I got these passable phonescoped pictures of the bird despite being a fair distance awat, the scope shaking in the wind, and lots of heat shimmer.








Now that I had checked off my principal target bird, I had quite a bit of time to go after my TX statebird targets.  Though since the heat index was still 106, I wouldn’t be spending too much time chasing after birds out in the heat and sun.  I decided to head just a couple miles to the west of Hargill Playa to Brushline Road where up to 3 Glossy Ibis were occasionally reported in with White-faced, though not in the past 10 days.  And several Purple Gallinules were reported along that road as well. 

When I got to the northern end of the dirt road I was quickly surprised by how many birds were around.  In the drier areas numerous Lark Sparrows were hopping along the road, and I found 3 coveys of Bobwhite calmly feeding along the roadside (can’t remember the last time I saw a Bobwhite).  Soon I arrived at the first wetland which was covered in a flock of blackbirds – mainly Great-tailed Grackles with some Bronzed Cowbirds mixed in.  Then I noticed a lone dark Ibis at the edge of the marsh – just a White-faced (I guess I’d have to be really lucky to have the only Ibis around be a Glossy).  I scoped the back of the marsh and found at least 30 more dark Ibis – but all were too far away to ID.  A bit further along I came upon a flooded field with a number of both Whistling-Ducks and 8 dark Ibis close to the road.  Lighting was perfect but again all were White-faced.  Next I came up to a pond full of water lilies – ideal for Purple Gallinules and a pretty spot, but no Gallinules were in site. 

 
Two other wetlands featured a family group of Common Gallinules, at least 200 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, and several more distant dark Ibis.  I reached the end of the road, and came upon a nice group of Groove-billed Anis and several Pyrrhuloxias, but still no target statebirds. 

I turned around and thought that I’d check out those same wetlands one more time on the way back to the playa.  When I reached the pond with the water lilies I noticed some movement, quickly hit the brakes, and noticed an adult Purple Gallinule dancing across the lily pads – statebird #2.  With so much birding time in TX I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to get this one for my statelist.  TX was the 8th southeastern state where I’ve seen this species, along with 3 in New England as a rarity (see my statebird map below).


The next wetland I returned to was the flooded field, but it had the same 8 White-faced Ibis I saw before.  And there was just 1 wetland left where I had 1 close White-faced earlier.  Once again there was one dark Ibis close to the road which was still a White-faced.  But then it took off and landed a few feet away next to 2 other dark Ibis that I hadn’t yet spotted.  The first one was again a White-faced, but when I checked the last bird I was having trouble seeing red eyes.  This bird was in basic plumage, whereas all the others were in pretty high breeding plumage.  I spent a couple minutes scoping this last bird, seeing only dark eyes and no white around the face.  It was a Glossy Ibis – statebird #3.  TX was my 3rd central state for this otherwise eastern US bird.


It was now 7:00, and although the heat index was still 105, I headed back over to the Hargill Playa to try to get additional views of the Collared Plover.  Two other birders were there when I arrived, but they had not seen the bird.  I did a quick scan and didn’t come up with the Plover, so I called it quits for the day, very happy to have seen the Plover earlier.

With 3 of my target birds out of the way, there were only 2 possible new statebirds to pursue on day 2 – Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and Magnificent Frigatebird.  There had been many recent sightings of Buff-breasteds at multiple sod farms, including two fields with over 1,000 birds 2 days before.  So I was pretty optimistic, and rightfully so.  As I pulled up to my first spot, the Dacosta Turf Farm, I noticed some movement in the taller grass near the road.  Within seconds I had 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers right along the road – statebird #4.  I took this phonescoped photo of one of the nearby birds –the 499th species that I’ve photographed.


Within just a few minutes of scanning I counted 29 Buff-breasted Sands, probably the most I’ve ever seen in 1 day, let alone 1 field.  Although this is a regular migrant in the central portion of the US, TX was only the 2nd central US state where I’ve seen this species, though I’ve seen it in 9 eastern states as a rarer migrant. 


And while I was at the field this Upland Sandpiper flew in and landed right next to the road – not a new statebird but still a nice sighting.


My last target was the Frigatebird, which had been seen occasionally at several inlets on the upper coast.  I decided to make the small park at the inlet on Surfside Beach my first stop to try for this bird since it also looked like it would be a good spot to do a seawatch.  I arrived at the park and found a shady spot where I could stand and look out onto the Gulf.  Within seconds I noticed several birds soaring out over the water – they were Frigatebirds lazily circling over the inlet.  Within a couple minutes I counted at least 6 birds – that was easy – statebird #5.  I’ve now seen Frigatebird in 4 Gulf states, as well as Michigan as a rarity.


Since I got both of my targets so quickly, I had some free time and continued to bird Surfside Beach to work on my trip list.  I added a number of new birds for the trip – giving me a total of 91 species for the 2 days.  But it wasn’t long until the heat and humidity were a bit too much to take, and I made the short trip back to Houston.

What a successful trip!  Most importantly I saw Collared Plover as ABA lifer #746 and Lower 48 lifer #724.  It was the 10th lifer I’ve seen in TX in the last 6 years as a result of adding a vacation day to a Houston business trip.  And I also saw all four of my other TX statebird targets giving me 426 for my TX statelist.