Round Robin » Jessie Barry

Sapsuckers Overcome Mishaps, Misfortune to Tie Their Big Day Record [video]

Hugh — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:58:33 +0000

The concept of a Big Day is a bold one—a midnight-to-midnight sleepless birding blitz to see or hear as many species as humanly possible. Team Sapsucker—Chris Wood, Jessie Barry, Andrew Farnsworth, Marshall Iliff, and Tim Lenz—took on that challenge in Texas last year, setting the North American record at 264, and then they doubled-down for Big Day 2012, drawing up a never-before-tried-route that they hoped would net them even more birds.

Their run started in San Antonio in the wee hours of Friday, April 27. After a promising start, misfortune struck in the form of an old nail at a city dump, traffic in Houston, and a late-day shift in the sea breeze. By the time the clock struck midnight, the team had tied their own record of 264 species, getting their final bird with just four minutes to spare.

Big Day 2012 began at midnight with a Yellow-crowned Night Heron at Brackenridge City Park in San Antonio, then a sweep through the city that included a nesting American Robin beneath a streetlight. A flashlight scan yielded a swimming Least Grebe (as Barn and Great Horned owls called), and a bevy of ducks in the moonlight: Canvasbacks, Redheads, Wood Ducks, and Northern Pintails. Three of the team also heard an Elf Owl, but the other two missed it—crucially, as it turned out.

At daybreak, the Sapsuckers scooted west toward Uvalde, an area rich in Mexican birds. During scouting, Iliff had drawn up a plan to connect the dots between the birds, timed to when they began singing at dawn—a Tropical Kingbird at 6:20 a.m., a Green-tailed Towhee at 6:55 a.m., then a Ringed Kingfisher that regularly flew by the same spot at Chalk Bluff Park at 7:08 a.m. The Sapsuckers arrived at 7:04, but the kingfisher didn’t show. A precious half-hour ticked by. The team scooped up a Rufous-capped Warbler—one of very few records ever in the state—and an unexpected American Pipit, but still no Ringed Kingfisher. From there, the team rolled into the Uvalde Fish Hatchery, where the hatchery manager had granted the team special access to pick up Cinnamon Teal, Ring-necked Duck, and Yellow-rumped Warbler—three species the team didn’t see anywhere else during the day.

Next, the team made the fateful decision to go for a Chihuahuan Raven at the Uvalde city dump. They pursued one to the top of the landfill before a whishing sound grabbed their attention: a nail protruding from a rapidly deflating tire. And the spare tire storage mechanism wouldn’t release.

Time to call it quits and try again the following day? Not for team captain Chris Wood. “There are no ‘re-dos’ in Big Day,” he said. “A hockey team couldn’t get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, then decide they’re having a bad day and they want to try again tomorrow. Same thing with Big Day.”

The Sapsuckers pulled into Garza’s Radiator Shop in Uvalde and Wood, speaking Spanish, persuaded the repair man to do a quick fix. “Evidently, he likes birds,” Wood said. Farnsworth sprinted two miles to an ATM while Iliff, Barry, and Lenz huddled around their computer to recalibrate the route. Within 30 minutes the Sapsuckers were back on the road. They had to drop a few locations (and birds) from their route to make up time, but soon the team was in the Hill Country, where they nailed Black-capped Vireo, Golden-cheeked Warbler, and Varied Bunting in short order. Iliff called in a Greater Roadrunner, and by 11:08 the team was leaving the Hill Country for Houston—30 minutes behind schedule, but at roughly 150 birds for the day, a little ahead of where they had hoped to be on their Big Day list thus far.

On the four-hour drive to Houston, Farnsworth used his uncanny skill at long-distance spotting, picking out Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, and Franklin’s Gull from his seat in the back. When the team pulled over to verify the gull they found themselves standing atop a fire ant nest. A painful price, yet worth it, for a bonus bird that migrates at high altitudes and often flies right over Texas.

Near Houston, misfortune returned. Rice fields that were brimming with water, and waterfowl, just a day earlier were almost completely dried up. A flock of 25 Hudsonian Godwits was gone. A few shorebirds pecked around in the muck: Wilson’s Phalarope, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. In a patch of piney woods in Houston, the Sapsuckers hit eastern species including Downy, Red-bellied, and Red-headed woodpeckers and Prothonotary and Pine warblers, but missed Great Crested Flycatcher. The misses were adding up.

So was the traffic in Houston. Still 30 minutes behind schedule, the Sapsuckers hit rush hour. Farnsworth used driving skills honed in Manhattan to weave through the gridlock and reach the route’s most critical point: the ferry to Port Bolivar. Miss that 4:30 connection, and their Big Day would be over. But the team arrived 15 minutes early—enough time for the authorities to conduct a full inspection of this suspicious-looking car filled with five people with binoculars. The team netted a Magnificent Frigatebird during the crossing, and the ferry arrived in port one minute early.

At Bolivar Flats, the team marched down the beach to rack up several gulls and terns, along with a Lesser Scaup, though they missed American White Pelican. In trees just off the beach, the team found a cluster of eastern migrants such as Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, and Baltimore Oriole. At High Island, a legendary spot for migratory songbirds, they scored 15 species in 75 minutes, including Cerulean, Magnolia, and Blackpoll warblers.

But then the sun went down, the winds picked up, and the birding came to a grinding halt. At Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge the team listened for marsh birds in the dark for three hours, adding only Seaside Sparrow, Yellow and King rails, and Common Gallinule. At 11:56 p.m., a Purple Gallinule called once, and that was it. The final bird for Friday, April 27.

Thirty seconds after midnight, several gallinules erupted into a chorus of laughter, and Team Sapsucker laughed right along with them. “It had been a tough day, and we all needed a good laugh,” Wood said.

Minutes later, Iliff tallied the day’s score in the dark, his face illuminated by the glow of his laptop screen. Jubilation at first—265 species, a new record!—then mellowed with the realization that the team had to subtract some birds due to the 95 percent rule. This rule states that 95 percent of the birds on a team’s list must be seen by everyone on the team. Upon double-checking the numbers, Iliff realized that that Elf Owl in San Antonio wasn’t unanimous. Off the list it came, and the day’s tally dropped to 264—a repeat of the record.

In tying the record—tallying 11 new species every hour of the day, or one new species every five and a half minutes, all day long—the Sapsuckers proved once again how remarkable a record of 264 species in 24 hours really is. More importantly, though, the generosity of all of our Big Day donors helped us raise needed funds for the Lab’s conservation work. Sponsorship by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics ensured that all donations go directly to conservation.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the Sapsuckers aren’t already thinking about getting just one more. As Farnsworth said, “We’ll definitely be coming back to Texas again next year.”

Though next time, they might avoid the dump.

Special Thank-You Video From Team Sapsucker

On the day after Big Day, the members of Team Sapsucker took a few minutes to say a big thank-you to all who donated or pledged in our biggest fundraiser of the year.

And for those of you keeping track at home, here’s Team Sapsucker’s Final Big Day 2012 List
(in taxonomic order)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Bobwhite
Wild Turkey
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Brown Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Magnificent Frigatebird
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Swallow-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite
Mississippi Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Harris’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Peregrine Falcon
Yellow Rail
Clapper Rail
King Rail
Sora
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
Wilson’s Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Phalarope
Laughing Gull
Franklin’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Monk Parakeet
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Elf Owl
Barred Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
Common Pauraque
Common Poorwill
Chuck-will’s-widow
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch’s Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Bell’s Vireo
Black-capped Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Hutton’s Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Green Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Chihuahuan Raven
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Sedge Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Long-billed Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Tropical Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Rufous-capped Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Olive Sparrow
Green-tailed Towhee
Canyon Towhee
Cassin’s Sparrow
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Le Conte’s Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Varied Bunting
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

264: A new North American Big Day birding record

admin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:15:31 +0000

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The endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler is a prized bird of the Hill Country
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Black-crested Titmouse, a Texas relative of the Tufted Titmouse
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Fulvous Whistling-Ducks stand out from other waterfowl with their gangly proportions
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A Monk Parakeet gathers twigs for its nest
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A migrating Lincoln's Sparrow looks like a finely painted version of the Song Sparrow
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Seaside Sparrows can be hard to find hidden in the coastal grasses
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Sapsucker Tim Lenz trains his binoculars on the Texas foliage
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Marshall Iliff takes a break from recalculating possible Big Day routes to get some photos
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Rice fields near Victoria were good for shorebirds such as American Golden-Plover
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A white-phase Reddish Egret along the coast near Port Aransas
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One of the gaudiest coastal birds is the Black Skimmer
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The ones that got away: Team Sapsucker saw Sooty Terns before and after, but not during, the Big Day

The Big Day is over and Team Sapsucker has set a new record for the most bird species seen or heard in a 24-hour period in North America. By birding nonstop from midnight to midnight on Friday, April 22, Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff, Brian Sullivan, Jessie Barry, Andrew Farnsworth, and Tim Lenz amassed a total of 264 species—three more than the previous record.

It was fun, it was hard work—and it was a conservation fundraiser. Pledges received so far total nearly $200,000, and there’s still time to make a pledge to help us break that mark. All the raised funds go directly to support conservation work at the Cornell Lab. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Big Day and Team Sapsucker so far.

The Big Day run ended a grueling week of scouting during which the team searched out key birds on their list of more than 300 possibilities. As new sightings came in, the team meticulously revised and streamlined their route to connect as many hotspots in as short a distance as possible. Aiding them in scouting were other Cornell Lab staff who came down for the event, as well as legions of Texas locals who offered advice about patches they’ve been birding for years. Local landowners were generous as well, granting access to private marshes and rich woodlands in a state where public land is scarce. Team Sapsucker is especially grateful to all the Texans who welcomed them and aided their cause.

The day began at midnight with a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and a Barred Owl in a fashionable riverside section of San Antonio. In what the team later described as “perfect night birding,” the Sapsuckers found about 15 species before dawn, including a Cinnamon Teal on a moonlit wastewater treatment plant, as well as five owl species and three nightjars: Chuck-will’s-widow, Common Poorwill, and Common Pauraque.

At dawn their Toyota minivan was parked at Cooks Slough, a riparian zone near Uvalde, west of San Antonio. Desert birds such as Chihuahuan Raven, Cactus Wren, and Verdin were the draw in the Uvalde area, along with southern specialties such as Green Jay and Audubon’s Oriole. Alas, the Say’s Phoebe that had been hanging around the same fencepost all week seemed to have chosen Thursday night to migrate—it was one of the team’s few misses.

An arc through the Texas Hill Country centered around Neal’s Lodges added two endemic species, the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo, along with Hutton’s Vireo, Canyon Wren, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and others.

Under Big Day rules, everyone on the team must see 95% of the species on the final list. The remaining 5% are can be seen by fewer than the entire team—Big Day competitors call them “dirty birds.” An example from this year’s Big Day was the Monk Parakeet, a bird the team picked up as they sped through San Antonio on the interstate. Five of the six Sapsuckers raised their binoculars to spot the bird sitting on its nest while the sixth—Marshall Iliff—kept his hands on the steering wheel.

From San Antonio the team headed for the coast for migrants: raptors, shorebirds, and warblers from Victoria’s agricultural fields and Corpus Christi’s barrier beaches. The three-hour drive was an opportunity to refuel on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (As part of a new space-management plan in the cramped van, the team had reluctantly agreed on only one sandwich type for the day’s meals).

On the way east, the team’s raptor expert, Brian Sullivan, looked out the window and selected a promising-looking kettle of hawks. It turned into one of the day’s highlights, with 400 American White Pelicans soaring among a group of Swainson’s Hawks and Mississippi Kites. A few moments later, Andrew Farnsworth spied a dark fleck moving far above the kettle—a Swallow-tailed Kite only barely within binocular range.

Wetlands and rice fields around Victoria held American Golden-Plover, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Wilson’s Phalarope. These migrants, here to refuel on their way to Arctic breeding grounds, brought the Sapsucker shorebird total to 31 species. Warblers proved harder to find as the week’s hot weather and strong south winds carried many migrating species farther north. Still, by working the coastal woodlands the team pushed the day’s warbler list to 19 species—plus both forms of Yellow-rumped Warbler (eastern Myrtle and western Audubon’s), just in case they are once again split into separate species, as they were for much of the twentieth century.

With daylight fading the team found their 260th species, Eastern Wood-Pewee. If the Sapsuckers were going to set the record, it would have to happen in the dark. The tying species came with a whistled “bob-white!” from a pasture outside Port Aransas, and the go-ahead bird—#262—came with its own applause: a calling Clapper Rail. Two more rails, Virginia and Black, rounded out the day’s list at 264.

With 90 minutes left, the Sapsuckers tried for 265 by staking out a Tropical Kingbird nest Chris Wood and Jessie Barry had found earlier in the week. A few days ago they had confirmed there was enough ambient light to see the bird on its nest even at night. But the day’s high winds had the bird hunkering down over its nest and out of view, and so the record stands at 264.

As midnight struck, the plan was to celebrate with a pizza dinner, but apparently all the pizza places in Rockport, Texas, also close at midnight. And so it was with one more PB&J that the team toasted their victory.

(Images by Chris Wood except Reddish Egret, by Jessie Barry.)

Keep reading for the full list of species the Sapsuckers recorded on the Big Day and their locations (listed in taxonomic order) and see more discussion of the hits and misses on the eBird site:

1	Black-bellied Whistling-Duck	Breckenridge Park–Tuleta Dr. (San Antonio)
2	Fulvous Whistling-Duck	Copano Bay–south end LBJ causeway
3	Snow Goose	Riverside Park, Victoria
4	Wood Duck	Cooks Slough
5	Gadwall	Sabinal WTP
6	American Wigeon	Sabinal WTP
7	Mallard	Breckenridge Park–Tuleta Dr. (San Antonio)
8	Mottled Duck	Riverside Park, Victoria
9	Blue-winged Teal	Sabinal WTP
10	Cinnamon Teal	Sabinal WTP (male)
11	Northern Shoveler	Sabinal WTP
12	Green-winged Teal	Dupont Wetlands
13	Redhead	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds
14	Greater Scaup	Oso Bay Bridge (distant)
15	Lesser Scaup	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds
16	Bufflehead	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds (*late; two females)
17	Red-breasted Merganser	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds (*late; male and female)
18	Ruddy Duck	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds
19	Northern Bobwhite	Port Aransas–Murphy’s Pasture (heard; third to last bird of day)
20	Wild Turkey	Cooks Slough
21	Common Loon	Copano Bay Causeway SP (alternate plumaged)
22	Least Grebe	Dupont Wetlands
23	Pied-billed Grebe	Sabinal WTP
24	Eared Grebe	Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
25	Neotropic Cormorant	Dupont Wetlands
26	Double-crested Cormorant	Nueces Bay Causeway (scarce this late!)
27	Anhinga	Cooks Slough (Not seen by all
28	American White Pelican	DeWitt County
29	Brown Pelican	Copano Bay Causeway SP
30	Great Blue Heron	Cooks Slough
31	Great Egret	Dupont Wetlands
32	Snowy Egret	Dupont Wetlands
33	Little Blue Heron	Rt. 316 fields
34	Tricolored Heron	Dupont Wetlands
35	Reddish Egret	Nueces Bay Causeway Island
36	Cattle Egret	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane field
37	Green Heron	Cooks Slough
38	Black-crowned Night-Heron	Cooks Slough
39	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron	Breckenridge Park–Tuleta Dr.
40	White Ibis	Dupont Wetlands
41	Glossy Ibis	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
42	White-faced Ibis	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
43	Roseate Spoonbill	Dupont Wetlands
44	Black Vulture	Concan–Cielito Ridge
45	Turkey Vulture	Concan–Cielito Ridge
46	Osprey	Rt. 35–Guadalupe River
47	Swallow-tailed Kite	DeWitt County (pick of the day by Andy)
48	White-tailed Kite	Aransas grasslands (near probable nest site)
49	Mississippi Kite	DeWitt County (up to 50 seen on drive)
50	Northern Harrier	road near Bird Seed Factory
51	Cooper’s Hawk	Towhee Church
52	Harris’s Hawk	Tyler Rd.–mp 3.1 (on nest; ATLAS
53	Red-shouldered Hawk	Cooks Slough (ad)
54	Broad-winged Hawk	DeWitt County
55	Swainson’s Hawk	Uvalde quarry (ad)
56	White-tailed Hawk	Sikes Road Catfish Ponds (ad)
57	Red-tailed Hawk	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
58	Crested Caracara	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
59	American Kestrel	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane field (on fence)
60	Merlin	Oso Bay Bridge (Not seen by all
61	Peregrine Falcon	Mustang Island mangroves (on tower)
62	Black Rail	Cape Valero
63	Clapper Rail	Port Aransas–Murphy’s Pasture (singing)
64	Virginia Rail	Port Aransas Birding Center (second to last bird of day)
65	Sora	Cooks Slough (flushed from pond edge)
66	Common Moorhen	Dupont
67	American Coot	Sabinal WTP
68	Black-bellied Plover	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
69	American Golden-Plover	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
70	Wilson’s Plover	Coast Guard Base
71	Semipalmated Plover	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
72	Piping Plover	Coast Guard Base
73	Killdeer	Dupont Wetlands
74	American Oystercatcher	Indian Point causeway (on nest)
75	Black-necked Stilt	Dupont Wetlands
76	American Avocet	Dupont Wetlands
77	Spotted Sandpiper	Cooks Slough
78	Solitary Sandpiper	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.) (flying over car)
79	Greater Yellowlegs	Copano Bay Causeway SP
80	Willet	Copano Bay–south end LBJ causeway
81	Lesser Yellowlegs	Dupont Wetlands
82	Upland Sandpiper	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane Ranch (private)
83	Whimbrel	Coast Guard causeway
84	Long-billed Curlew	Indian Point causeway
85	Marbled Godwit	Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
86	Ruddy Turnstone	Nueces Bay Causeway Island
87	Sanderling	Nueces Bay Causeway Island
88	Semipalmated Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
89	Western Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
90	Least Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
91	White-rumped Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
92	Baird’s Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
93	Pectoral Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
94	Dunlin	Dupont Wetlands
95	Stilt Sandpiper	Dupont Wetlands
96	Buff-breasted Sandpiper	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
97	Long-billed Dowitcher	Dupont Wetlands
98	Wilson’s Phalarope	Dupont Wetlands
99	Laughing Gull	near Bloomington Landfill
100	Franklin’s Gull	near Bloomington Landfill
101	Ring-billed Gull	Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
102	Herring Gull	Oso Bay Bridge (SY)
103	Least Tern	Indian Point causeway
104	Gull-billed Tern	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
105	Caspian Tern	Nueces Bay Causeway Island
106	Black Tern	Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
107	Common Tern	Mustang Island–crossover 1A beach (ad)
108	Forster’s Tern	Copano Bay Causeway SP
109	Royal Tern	Copano Bay–south end LBJ causeway
110	Sandwich Tern	Coast Guard causeway
111	Black Skimmer	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
112	Rock Pigeon	Uvalde (town)
113	Eurasian Collared-Dove	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
114	White-winged Dove	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
115	Mourning Dove	Cooks Slough
116	Inca Dove	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane Ranch (private)
117	Common Ground-Dove	Rt. 2690 (Not seen by all
118	Monk Parakeet	San Antonio (Not seen by all
119	Yellow-billed Cuckoo	Cooks Slough (Not seen by all
120	Greater Roadrunner	Cooks Slough
121	Barn Owl	TX-2690–large open field (sitting on fence)
122	Eastern Screech-Owl (McCall’s)	TX-127–wash west of TX-2690 (whistled up; photos; short whinny call heard “weeow”)
123	Great Horned Owl	TX 400–mp 2.5 (young on nest found by KVR)
124	Elf Owl	TX-400–mp 1.1 (whistled up in same spot where first found (as first Uvalde Co. record?) three days earlier)
125	Barred Owl	Breckenridge Park–Tuleta Dr. (San Antonio) (heard calling pre-dawn; flew in in response to hoots)
126	Lesser Nighthawk	TX-2690–southern portion
127	Common Nighthawk	Port Aransas–Murphy’s Pasture
128	Common Pauraque	Mitchell Lake–entrance (whistled up at night)
129	Common Poorwill	TX-2690–bend to right
130	Chuck-will’s-widow	TX-2690–bend to right
131	Chimney Swift	Cooks Slough
132	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	Blucher Park
133	Black-chinned Hummingbird	Neal’s Lodge–Cattle Guard feeders
134	Buff-bellied Hummingbird	Blucher Park
135	Belted Kingfisher	Cooks Slough (MJI, JHB, and TCL only)
136	Green Kingfisher	Cooks Slough (MJI, CLW only; ‘dzzrrt’ call heard)
137	Golden-fronted Woodpecker	Cooks Slough
138	Red-bellied Woodpecker	Riverside Park, Victoria
139	Ladder-backed Woodpecker	Cooks Slough
140	Downy Woodpecker	Riverside Park, Victoria
141	Pileated Woodpecker	Riverside Park, Victoria (in nest hole)
142	Eastern Wood-Pewee	Paradise Pond (Not seen by all
143	Least Flycatcher	Cooks Slough
144	Black Phoebe	Concan–Sabinal River bridge
145	Eastern Phoebe	Towhee Church (heard singing)
146	Vermilion Flycatcher	TX-2690–southern portion
147	Ash-throated Flycatcher	Cooks Slough
148	Great Crested Flycatcher	Riverside Park, Victoria
149	Brown-crested Flycatcher	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
150	Great Kiskadee	Cooks Slough
151	Couch’s Kingbird	Cooks Slough
152	Western Kingbird	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane Ranch (private)
153	Eastern Kingbird	Packery Channel (flyover)
154	Scissor-tailed Flycatcher	Cooks Slough (flyover)
155	Loggerhead Shrike	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane Ranch (private)
156	White-eyed Vireo	Cooks Slough
157	Bell’s Vireo	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
158	Black-capped Vireo	Concan–ridge to east (Not seen by all
159	Yellow-throated Vireo	Concan–Pecan Grove
160	Hutton’s Vireo	Concan–HUVI bend (singing)
161	Red-eyed Vireo	Concan–Cielito Ridge (singing)
162	Green Jay	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
163	Blue Jay	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
164	American Crow	north of Victoria (flew across road)
165	Chihuahuan Raven	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
166	Common Raven	Concan area
167	Horned Lark	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane field
168	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	Concan–Sabinal River bridge
169	Purple Martin	Cooks Slough
170	Bank Swallow	duck pond off Rt. 35
171	Barn Swallow	Cooks Slough
172	Cliff Swallow	Sabinal–bridge to north
173	Cave Swallow	TX-400
174	Carolina Chickadee	Riverside Park, Victoria (heard singing)
175	Black-crested Titmouse	Cooks Slough
176	Verdin	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
177	Cactus Wren	Cooks Slough
178	Rock Wren	Uvalde Quarry
179	Canyon Wren	Concan–Cielito Ridge (heard singing)
180	Carolina Wren	Cooks Slough
181	Bewick’s Wren	Cooks Slough
182	House Wren	Cooks Slough
183	Sedge Wren	Copano Bay Causeway SP
184	Marsh Wren	Dupont Wetlands
185	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	Cooks Slough
186	Black-tailed Gnatcatcher	TX-400–mp 1.7
187	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Cooks Slough
188	Eastern Bluebird	Concan–Pecan Grove
189	Swainson’s Thrush	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
190	Hermit Thrush	Concan–ridge to east (giving mew call)
191	Wood Thrush	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
192	American Robin	San Antonio Botanical Gardens (on nest)
193	Gray Catbird	Blucher Park
194	Northern Mockingbird	Sabinal WTP (singing)
195	Brown Thrasher	Blucher Park (*late; continuing bird in park seen well)
196	Long-billed Thrasher	TX-127–wash west of TX-2690 (singing at night)
197	Curve-billed Thrasher	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo (calling at dawn)
198	European Starling	Cooks Slough
199	Sprague’s Pipit	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
200	Cedar Waxwing	Concan–Cielito Ridge (flock seen)
201	Tennessee Warbler	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
202	Orange-crowned Warbler	Cooks Slough
203	Nashville Warbler	Cooks Slough
204	Northern Parula	Riverside Park, Victoria (singing)
205	Yellow Warbler	Packery Channel (male)
206	Chestnut-sided Warbler	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
207	Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	Cooks Slough
207	Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)	Cooks Slough
208	Golden-cheeked Warbler	Concan–Cielito Ridge
209	Black-throated Green Warbler	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
210	Yellow-throated Warbler	Towhee Church
211	Blackpoll Warbler	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond (female)
212	Black-and-white Warbler	Towhee Church
213	American Redstart	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond (yellow start)
214	Ovenbird	Blucher Park (Not seen by all
215	Northern Waterthrush	Blucher Park
216	Common Yellowthroat	Port Aransas–Paradise Pond
217	Hooded Warbler	Blucher Park (female)
218	Wilson’s Warbler	Cooks Slough
219	Yellow-breasted Chat	Cooks Slough
220	Olive Sparrow	Cooks Slough
221	Spotted Towhee	Towhee Church (female feeding along edge of fence)
222	Rufous-crowned Sparrow	Concan–ridge to east
223	Canyon Towhee	Concan–ridge to east (MJI, BLS, AF, TCL only)
224	Cassin’s Sparrow	Cooks Slough
225	Chipping Sparrow	Cooks Slough
226	Clay-colored Sparrow	Cooks Slough
227	Field Sparrow	Concan–Pecan Grove
228	Vesper Sparrow	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
229	Lark Sparrow	Cooks Slough
230	Black-throated Sparrow	TX-400–mp 1.7
231	Savannah Sparrow	Sabinal WTP
232	Grasshopper Sparrow	TX-400–mp 1.1
233	Le Conte’s Sparrow	Copano Bay Causeway SP
234	Seaside Sparrow	Mustang Island mangroves (heard singing)
235	Lincoln’s Sparrow	Cooks Slough
236	Swamp Sparrow	Hans Suter (Not seen by all
237	White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern)	Cooks Slough
238	Summer Tanager	Concan–ridge to east
239	Northern Cardinal	San Antonio Botanical Gardens (calling at night)
240	Pyrrhuloxia	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane (south)
241	Blue Grosbeak	Cooks Slough
242	Lazuli Bunting	Neal’s Lodge–Cattle Guard feeders (CLW only; female)
243	Indigo Bunting	Blucher Park
244	Painted Bunting	Cooks Slough
245	Dickcissel	Cooks Slough
246	Red-winged Blackbird	Cooks Slough
247	Eastern Meadowlark	TX-2690–mp 5.8
248	Yellow-headed Blackbird	Uvalde–Dunbar Lane Ranch (private)
249	Brewer’s Blackbird	Sabinal Feedlot (female)
250	Common Grackle	Tyler Rd.–mp 1.5
251	Boat-tailed Grackle	TX-1289 ricefield (Calhoun Co.)
252	Great-tailed Grackle	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
253	Bronzed Cowbird	Sabinal Feedlot
254	Brown-headed Cowbird	Cooks Slough
255	Orchard Oriole	Tyler Rd.–mp 0.5
256	Hooded Oriole	TX-400–mp 1.7 (female)
257	Bullock’s Oriole	Cooks Slough
258	Audubon’s Oriole	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
259	Baltimore Oriole	Blucher Park
260	Scott’s Oriole	Concan–Cielito Ridge (female and male)
261	House Finch	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo
262	Pine Siskin	Neal’s Lodge–Cattle Guard feeders (calling flyover)
263	Lesser Goldfinch	Neal’s Lodge–Cattle Guard feeders
264	House Sparrow	Uvalde–4th and Cenizo

Big Day scouting report: Heating up in Texas

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:03:22 +0000

At the Cornell Lab yesterday we had snow, hail, freezing rain, and regular rain. In Texas, where our Big Day team is scouting for an attempt at the North American record on Friday (and raising money for conservation), it was 88 degrees with a hot 30-mph wind blowing out of the south. Over the phone, I could barely hear Marshall Iliff because of a Summer Tanager over his head, belting out its song.

As envious as I was about the warm temperatures and 20+ species of warbler the team has seen so far, the weather may be more of an adversary than an ally on the Big Day. With the heat and the wind, “In terms of migration fallout, it looks like it’s not going to be the big pileup of migrants on the Texas coast that you sometimes see,” Brian Sullivan told me. “So we’re trying to find as many lingering wintering birds and breeding birds as we can, to link as many of those together as we can to get to our total.”

That’s not to say that the team’s list is anything like sparse. As Brian spoke to me, he and Andrew Farnsworth were scanning a flooded ricefield. “We’re looking at stacks of Pectoral Sandpipers, Stilt Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, phalaropes,” Brian said. “Out in the middle there’s a heronry with nesting Cattle Egrets and Roseate Spoonbills.” Andrew interrupted to point out a White-rumped Sandpiper. Farther along their route, which they’ll visit during the early afternoon on the Big Day, they’ll pick up “grasspipers”: Buff-breasted, Upland, Baird’s Sandpipers, Long-billed Curlew, possibly Hudsonian Godwit. They’ll also swing just northeast enough to find some classic eastern forest species: Blue Jay, Downy Woodpecker, American Crow, Red-bellied Woodpecker.

With a goal of seeing 262 species in 24 hours, the name of the game is habitat diversity. That’s why Texas is the place to make and break Big Day records: within a roughly 150-mile radius, birds from four parts of the continent come within driving range: eastern forest birds jut up against western desert species; Gulf Coast seabirds approach Hill Country endemics; and birds from the tropics—migrants on their way “home” as well as tropical residents at their northern range limit—fill in from the south.

Marshall and teammate Tim Lenz were in the Texas Hill Country, racking up species with a decidedly western feel: Scaled Quail, Cactus Wren, Audubon’s Oriole, Lark Bunting. “I think Bushtit is the only common bird we haven’t been able to find so far,” Marshall said. Then it’ll be a matter of optimizing the route—deciding where to spend each minute of the day. Even this aspect of a Big Day requires incredible bird knowledge. “We need to arrange it so we’re there when the birds are waking up,” so the team can save daylight minutes they’ll need later, Marshall said. “It’s important to know what time we can get Great Kiskadee, how early does Green Kingfisher start calling, what time do the Wood Ducks fly overhead?”

Chris Wood and Jessie Barry will lead the late afternoon stretch through the Corpus Christi and Port Aransas areas. On the beaches and barrier islands they’ll be hoping for as many migrants as the weather brings them. “There’s not much we can really do to scout that,” Jessie said, “but we’re making sure we get all the lingering ducks and shorebirds we can, like Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Lesser and Greater Scaup, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Northern Pintail.” They’ve found a reliable Tropical Kingbird they can pick up as late as 10 p.m.—then it’ll be back out to the marshes to spend their remaining hours finding Yellow, Black, and King Rails.

Holding on to migrants that are on the verge of departing is one major source of anxiety. “There’s a Say’s Phoebe that sits on one fence every time Tim and I drive past,” Marshall said. “We know it’s going to migrate sometime in the next week, and we just hope it’s not before we do the route.” Brian and Andrew are hoping the same thing for a single Snow Goose they ran across unexpectedly yesterday. A Northern Pintail and a Ring-necked Duck that Jessie had been hoping would stick around are among the birds that have already left—forcing the scouters to fan out looking for replacements.

When Friday arrives—or Thursday night, since the Big Day starts at midnight—the team will be eager to start counting Texas birds in earnest. With luck, the weather will serve up a few unexpected migrants, the Easter weekend traffic will be merciful, and a Common Pauraque will flash across their headlights on some dirt road, just before midnight. Follow their progress with us on Facebook.

(Team Sapsucker thanks their scouting compadres: Ken Rosenberg, Nate Senner, and Lewis Grove from the Cornell Lab; and Texas locals Mel Cooksey, Willie Sekula, and Derek Muschalek; as well as the many landowners who have kindly granted them permission to bird on their land.)

Big Day Team Hoping for a Big Win—You Could Too (Video Contest)

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:29:27 +0000

Team Sapsucker, the Cornell Lab’s competitive birding team, is scouring the Texas back roads for Black-capped Vireos, Rock Wrens, and Green Jays. They have two days of scouting left before they make their attempt at the North American Big Day record. For 24 hours, from midnight to midnight on Friday, April 22, they will race through Texas’s hill country, rice country, and Gulf beaches to try to break the current record of 261 species. They’ll need to average almost 11 new species per hour!

They’re going all out because the Big Day is also a push to raise money for the Cornell Lab’s conservation work. Thousands of people pledge either a flat total or a set amount per species—10 cents, 25 cents, a dollar—so the bigger the Sapsuckers’ list gets the more money gets raised. In the last quarter-century, Team Sapsucker has raised a total of more than $2.7 million for conservation. Learn more about this year’s route and see some of the birds they hope to find in the video, above.

Oh, and keep your eyes peeled—you can enter your own contest to win a pair of Nikon Monarch binoculars, a Cornell Lab fleece vest, or a Cornell Lab ball cap. Just answer three questions correctly and you’ll be entered to win. Thanks to Wild Birds Unlimited at Sapsucker Woods for providing the prizes.

We’re only about 60 hours away from the main event. Let’s wish Team Sapsucker good luck—you can follow their progress on Facebook.