Violet

And the sky was made of amethyst
And all the swallows were just like little fish
You should learn when to go
You should learn how to say "no"

Birding with da boys on Thursday was okay socially, but not a greatly birdy day at Hempstead Lake STPK. So after the lack luster walk some of us reconvened at Valley Stream STPK for the previously reported Louisiana Waterthrush. Ed thrasher, Bob Prothonotary and I did not succeed, but while there, Bob was vexed by alerts to Whatsapp groups that were no longer ( or so he though ) of interest to him. I showed him how to mute the alerts.

Some time later, when we were just about ready to call it a day, an alert came in. Violet-green Swallow near Albany. WTF!? A potential first state record. And there was a picture. A perfect picture. That was most certainly a VGSW. Holy crap! Bob wanted the alerts back again.

Ed was nonplussed, and not interested. That is characteristically Ed. Bob knew the significance but was both interested and cautious. That is characteristically Bob. I knew the significance, checked the time, and immediately reasoned that without dawdling we could be there in a reasonable amount of time with ample time to search for this mega bird. This is charac....  Oh, you know the rest.

We found a place to leave Bob’s car, and bid Ed adieu. We hit the road with much anticipation. Holy crap; a mega rarity that will be a first NYS record if accepted, -and- it was captured with excellent photos.

On the way, it started to flurry! WTF? Snow? Oh wait, we were upstate, they don’t believe in spring until absolutely forced to. 

Snow flakes

We arrived on site and recognized both birders from up there ( Albany +/- )  and from down here ( Long Island +/- ). Some folks were walking out of the trail while we were walking in, but all reports were negative. Undaunted, we pressed on.

To our left was a wetland, part of the Mohawk River. To our right was the remains of the historic NYS Erie canal. Flying about were lots of Tree Swallows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and one Barn Swallow.

Sure, trying to find a similarly plumed bird among the swirling mass of swallows was a challenge, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Some temporarily resting birds were spotted on fallen trees in the canal, but none were the one we were looking for.

Bob and I were a bit surprised that a bird of such magnitude did not stimulate a greater response. Sure it was a week day, but birders call in sick all the time ( or so I’ve heard ) and with so many “working” from home, the ability to take an extended “bathroom” break is an option. And yet there was no where near what we would have expected in terms of the number of people searching.

I met John Hershey, the fellow with the remarkable dumb? luck who found the bird. The thing was, that he didn’t know it until he got home and reviewed his photos from that mornings walk. As he put it, he had shifted away from birding and gotten into photography. As a result he was focused on the images he could capture, and not so much on seeing and Iding the birds present. When he got home though, he new what he had and to his credit and got the word out.

After a few hours of studying the swallows unsuccessfully, we decided to refresh ourselves with a meal at Pancho’s Mexican restaurant. When we returned, there were even fewer people looking. By the end of the day I had seen a nice number of species that brought my Saratoga bird list up to 49, and also saw a muskrat and a beaver. But no swallow. Dang. Sunset meant it was time to go home, and endure the ‘drive of shame’.  

Beaver

Remember that Barn Swallow I mentioned?  Well there was one, and though the flock moved around the wetland quite a bit, when we studied where ever they concentrated and congregated, picking out that one bird was easy. My conclusion was that if the VGSW was present we would have picked it out as well.

Another dip. Add this to the missed Bean Goose that was just a short way north of here also in Saratoga county. OTOH prior to that I did succeed in getting great looks at Pine Grosbeak for my year list. Well I guess the bad part of the incredible number of rarities and first state records is that not getting them all is inevitable. Yin and Yang at work.

"You Go Girl?" Nah, Eu Go Plo (ver)!

In the good old days, there were a few places where one would find out about rarities. Not anymore, because there ~is~ such a thing as too much of a “good” thing. How many ABA rare bird fazebuke pages do we need to cry snake? How many wutsap, grope.me twittle, text groups, or -gasp- eburd alerts etc etc etc do we need? Plainly, there are too many.

Yes, that was a rant. It is an unfortunate sign of the times, known as the “disinformation age.” An ABA code 4 rarity shows up and dissemination of information was a bit less than forthcoming. Mind you, I did get to see it, but for those that have not or had not, where to look for updates might prove to be an exercise in frustration.

Why is this the case? All of this fragmentation hinders what many, if not most of us seek: timely information on birds so that we may experience them too. To clarify, I don’t think this is malicious, but most definitely frustrating and unfortunate to have to search multiple platforms.

I originally found out about this bird on Tuesday, and with consistent reports throughout the day Wednesday, a plan was hatched to go to see this bird on Thursday. I departed at 4:30 am and picked up Bob Prothonotary and Earic Miller.

We had an almost completely unencumbered trip. I remain perplexed that I-95, one of my least favorite roads, remains in a constant state of construction. Leaving very early was a way to ameliorate the tribulation of the former, and of dealing with others on the road, sometimes loosely referred to as other ‘drivers’.

Arriving on location at 9:30am, I was faced with a decision of whether to park in the far lot and walk to 2 miles to the last reported location, or risk driving the road. The pro parking thought was: avoid a possible ticket, the con was: it was a long walk, it might rain, and I was a bit over-tired and cranky. The uncharacteristic ‘cranky’ aside, con won.

It was slow going down a very passable unpaved road, but we eventually saw a cluster of birders. They were either glancing through scopes or taking pictures, signs arriving birders always want to see.

Sidling up, we all were able to spot our quarry tout suite. There was only a few shorebirds present, one Black-bellied Plover, one D
unlin, one Piping Plover, and the much desired European Golden Plover!  

If there had been a large group of plovers, its possible it would have been a tad more challenging to pick out. However, seeing the bird it immediately struck me as being quite pot bellied. More examination showed a small bill, especially compared to the Black-bellied plover near by. Yes!

Getting a lifer is no small feat at this point, so I was very pleased with getting ABA bird number 726. No surprise it was a lifer for all three of us, but I was a bit surprised it was an actual lifer for world birder Prothonotary. 

The only rub, was that the tide was extremely low. The birds were well out by the water’s edge and not giving the most glorious looks due to distance. We were very glad that we didn’t dip after the 4.5hour trip, an apparently overwhelming time duration that discouraged others from making an attempt. Curious, as it was not much longer in duration that the unsuccessful trip to dip on the Bean Goose that stopped in upstate NY after its departure from PA.

With the tide out, we decided to venture into town for coffee and then make a second pass at the Plover. This was a good idea, the incoming tide pushed the birds much closer and we got much better looks and photo opportunities. There was much rejoicing.

European Golden Plover - Nicely showing white under-wings

 

 

Black-bellied Plover L.                  European Golden Plover R.

Dunlin L.                      Black-bellied Plover R.

We shmoozed with some locals, curious about what we all were so enthralled by. One of the folks was an oysterman, and after our chat he recommended a local eatery, and we took his advice and enjoyed a superb celebratory beverage and repast.

There were many tasty choices, but we all chose oyster Po’ boys.

Po Boys and beer!

Flash forward, boy did we have good timing because Massachusetts was hit with a snow storm the day after our visit. Yikes! And as far as I can tell, the bird has not been relocated.

Thus Spohee Zarathustra

So 2020 was bad for so many reasons, mainly the pandemic and the POS in charge, but bird wise not too shabby! And 2021 is starting off well !

Well the birds start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Doesn't make sense not to bird for fun
If Your brain’s so smart why’s your head so dumb
So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with chasing the bird tweets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

I was enjoined to go out birding on the first of the year, and I’m glad I did. Beginning at Mill Pond, along with the usual suspects we easily saw the continuing Common Gallinule and the female Blue-winged Teal. Next stop at Camman’s Pond where we spotted Red-shouldered Hawk and Pintail Duck; and a brief stop down the road for Monk Parakeets.

Onward to Jones beach, we spotted a flock of Red Crossbills resting at the top of a deciduous tree; we didn’t even have to get out of the car. Scored eruptive Snowy owls (4) and Red-breasted Nuthatches as well as all the Scoters and Bonaparte’s Gull. Because of the hunters present, birds we were looking for at Point Lookout were not present, but a Red Phalarope flew by so an ample consolation! 69 species to start the year off is not too shabby.


On the second, I was attending to various chores when a report of a female Spohee ( Spotted Towhee ) came though the interwebs. I finished what I was doing and headed to a park I’ve only been to once before in Baldwin; that time it was for a Harris’s Sparrow, also found by a mysterious birder named Patton Chaoui. They find a lot of rarities for some reason...
 
At the park I was greeted by teaming hordes of birders but despite our collective best efforts we could not relocate the bird. At the figurative 11th hour, dusk anyway, Isaac Brant spotted the bird and called several of us. I had literally  just gotten in my car and started the engine, but was glad I did not have to double back.  I shut off the car and informed the others still in the lot.

The bird called few times, Bob Prothonotary and some others heard the bird call, but I couldn’t and it was not seen again. Spent about 5 hrs there trying to find the bird and didn’t, so headed there the next day hoping for a potential NYS bird...

Once again, I walked this uninspiring wasteland of invasive species. The non lawn areas was dominated by Chinese Bittersweet, Japanese Honeysuckle, Briar, and Multiflora Rose. Combined it made for an impenetrable tangle both physically and visually. We had spread seeds that Dunlin  had brought for just such an occasion, and we stationed ourselves observing the very uncharacteristic behavior of the White-throated Sparrows that did not avail themselves of the bounty before them. Instead they stayed a few feet in the brush. Only a handsome Fox Sparrow ventured into the open, and nice as it was, it was not our quarry.

So we walked the trails over and over. And over again. And then there came a report at about 9am that the bird had been found in the back lot. Everybody stated heading in that direction except me. I ran. But it was no use; the bird had been flushed by passers by, and despite a long vigil did not reappear.

We walked the paths and fields yet again and again, and by noon we still had not found it. 5 hours had passed. We walked to the back of the field where Isaac had seen the bird the previous day, and joined Earic Miller who was stationed there just looking and listening.

Together with Ernst Bushtit, Bob and I were scanning the sparrows and chickadees that were in the brush hoping to spot the towhee. Earic was about 20 feet behind us, and Bob had the great idea that I should play the call to tease Earic. Well it worked too well. He came over and said I’m hearing the bird! I tried to explain that I had played the call when Bob said he was hearing it too. The bird started responding to the call!  

The bird then popped up in the bittersweet and we got fleeting looks. I played the call once more and we all got much better looks, and there was much rejoicing. Because it had been raining, neither Ernst nor I had our camera. He went back for his, but I was happy just having seen the bird.  I posted a message about our success and location, and learned that others were able to see the bird later that day as well as a whole slew of folks today.

Well we all worked very hard for this bird. It appears that with the more pleasant weather today the bird has been far more accommodating, and that’s all good. For me its another NYS bird, number 433. Yes!