What was that?

It's crunch time, I need a few more than 30 species to break the record. Notable birds I still need are Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers. Purple Sandpiper is a reasonable review species to go prospecting for so part of my end game is walking the rock jetties near me looking for Purple Sandpipers and I can also be alert to the possibility of Wanderling Tattler and Surfbird. Long shots for sure but the more time in "rockpiper" habitat the better the odds. Both are also decent places to look for jaegers.

I walked both of the Brazoria County jetties, Surfside and Quintana on Monday, covering a total of 1.4 miles of jetty. Nothing but the usual suspects. On Tuesday I hit East Beach in Galveston where a Pomarine Jaeger spent a few months in 2016. Nothing out of the ordinary there, although there are a few Jaeger reports from here this year.

On to the North Jetty on the Bolivar Peninsula. This jetty is almost 5 miles long, but a cut in the jetty at about the 2 mile mark limits how far out you can walk. Fun fact about the jetty: General Henry Martyn Robert, the author of Robert's Rules of Order was the original engineer for the jetties 1895.

Nelson's Sparrow

I started out on the jetty with visions of making it to the cut. I'd guess I've never been more than about a half mile out on this jetty. I passed the last fisherman at about that distance. Close to where the marsh grass meets the jetty I found lots and lots of Nelson's Sparrows. A fair number of Seaside Sparrows too.

I kept going past the 1 mile mark. I made it out 1.6 miles and noticed the weather was turning and I didn't want to get caught way out on the jetty. Making it to the cut would have to wait for another day.

Mystery Bird
Bolivar Flats/North Jetty.

I saw a bird way out on the Bolivar Flats that looked very dark and it wasn't hanging with the other gulls. I watched it for a bit and saw it get back up. Much darker than any gull and a bit smaller than a Herring Gull. It got up again and looked like it was heading closer. I readied the camera and tried to keep glass on it. I looked hard for the white flashes in the primaries I expect from a Jaeger, nothing. It looked as close as it would come and I tried for some photos but they are poor, I did note a paler mantel and darker primaries. At first nothing added up in my mind.

The bird flew out into the Bolivar Roads and was gone. I now wonder, could this have been a juvenile Heermann's Gull? the colors and the size are about right. My best photo seems to show a pale base to the bill. What do you think?

Distant with a large gull
Herring or perhaps a Lesser Black-backed Gull

In flight

In flight closer, not sure the pale colors in the primary
are real

An Evening with Mr. H

As we were settling in for the night in Fort Stockton, Bob Friedrichs and I got word that Mr. H high up in the Davis Mountains had an Evening Grosbeak at his bunker. First thing in the morning I sent Mr. H a note asking if we might visit the bunker and catch a glimpse of this beauty. Mr. H answered quickly that he had not seen it yet today.

Evening Grosbeak
Davis Mountains

We headed out to Imperial Reservoir since Bob had never been. Its about 20 minutes north of Fort Stockton and has had a number of good birds over the years. There is not really any direct access anymore though, the caretaker doesn't appear to be on site anymore, but you can scope a lot of lake from the gate and any big water in west Texas is worth checking out. We would be off grid while there unfortunately.

At the lake we tallied 30 species in 40 minutes, the best birds being a distant Willet and a first for me in west Texas Bald Eagle.

Right as we had gone off grid Mr. H responded telling us the Grosbeak was back. We got the message on the way back into town 45 minutes later and we immediately headed to the bunker. It was 140 miles to the Davis Mountains and we would make it about 11:30 am.

Right after we left Fort Stockton Mr. H went silent. We went silent too, most everyone was silent! ATT was offline and neither Bob nor I had a working connection.  It turned out ATT was out in the whole region and we didn't have service until we got almost to Ozona that day on the way home, We had to hope the situation stayed the same at The Bunker. As a backup I extracted the GPS coordinates from a photo I took at The Bunker and plugged them into the GPS.

We made it almost to The Bunker when the car would not make it a steep hill, right as we passed a 4x4 only sign. The GPS said only 0.2 miles to The Bunker. We parked and started to walk. A flock of Red Crossbills flew over as we huffed and puffed up the steep mountain with our flat land lungs.

We made it about 11:35 and Mr. H greeted us in Duck Dynasty camo. I get the impression Mr. H wears a lot of camo around The Bunker for security reasons.

Mr. H bid us to take a seat and be quite, this bird was skittish. Mr. H left us to make coffee and we watched. A male Rivoli's Hummingbird kept catching my eye.

We had been on watch only about 10 minutes when Bob called out in an excited whisper "There it is!" It came out on to the platform feeder, Evening Grosbeak was Year Bird 491!. There is something about these "diversion" birds when you change plans and go back for a bird that makes them more exciting, more satisfying.

Bob and I raised cameras at the same time. Curse you Alessandro Volta! my camera battery was dead! I had 4 charged ones in my pack, back at the car. Fortunately Bob popped the battery from his camera out and loaned it to me so I could get a few shots of my own.

Headed back it was cash only until we got to Ozona. It seems all credit card processing depends on ATT out west. One wag waved his phone at the woman behind the counter as we grabbed a bite to eat saying "My Verizon phone works just fine". I was so happy for him, he still had to pay cash like me.

It was a long drive home, we covered about 880 miles that day by my reckoning, The Grosbeak made it bearable.

At Any Costa's

Costa's Hummingbird, El Paso, TX

Bob Friedrichs and I were up bright and early and headed to the hummer house, making it there at 7:45 am. Hummingbirds were active and we watched multiple Anna's Hummingbirds chasing around. We divided up searching Bob taking the backyard and myself in the front.

Not very long after we got there a smaller bird made an appearance just as Bob came back to the front yard. This looked like the bird we had seen photos of, smaller, darker headed, looked like it had a bolder collar than any of the Anna's we had seen. It was having a bad hair day too, it showed a very unruly crown. It flew down inside the tree and perched deep inside. We struggled for a good photo. The Anna's were bullies and chased it several times. From the chasing birds we saw some garnet red flashes of color, not the purple of a Costa's. We couldn't be sure in the chase what bird we were seeing though.

This continued for some time. Bob decided to stake out the back feeder hoping for a Broad-billed Hummingbird that had been reported coming to that feeder. I staked out another feeder that the Costa's was reported to favor.

Our mystery bird made a few appearances at this feeder, but from my angle was hard to see. I never saw the gorget color. Bob returned from the backyard and this time he caught a glimpse of purple he thought. It was looking better and better for this bird. Still we weren't sure. Bothering us was the tail looked long in the photos too.

No one had really seen the bird for 7 days now. It had not been identified right away when it was photographed and no one had been able to look for it since. Compounding the problem was the original photo showed the bird in heavy molt and it would be expected to change a lot in a week. Our bird had more feathers in the gorget, but that's to be expected.

We called it a day after 3 hours and headed out to prospect for more birds. We circulated the best photo to our Hummingbird Guru and he confirmed Costa's Hummingbird for Year Bird 490. He also thought the tail looked ok since males have longer tails. Unlike a lot of year birds at this point I feel more relief than elation, this one was a struggle.

We hit some spots in El Paso County prospecting with nothing all that uncommon being found. At a dairy feedlot on Hudspeth County right next to the highway we found about a hundred Yellow-headed blackbirds mixed in with the thousands of Brewer's Blackbirds.

Probably a hyper-marked Herring Gull
Lake Balmorhea 

We made it to Lake Balmorhea with time for some gulling before it got dark. It was windy now and the lake churned like the ocean. We found some gulls though and it took little time to identify Ring-billed and Franklin's Gulls.

We moved around the lake. An interesting gull flew at us and Bob jumped out to photograph it. On the water I spotted another gull that looked interesting. It had a very strong scapular pattern. I circulated some photos. A few who felt California Gull, and more that liked Herring Gull. Gulls can be a challenge and some defy easy answers.

Remember that gull in flight that Bob was photographing? Later reviewing the photographs, it was a California Gull. With gulls shoot first and ask questions later is often good advise.

We headed into Fort Stockton and got one of the last rooms in town. We celebrated with pizza and beer. We got word of a great bird we had to figure out if we could get in the morning.

Prospecting for Gull Gold

Lewis's Woodpecker
Guadalupe Mountains NP

Bob Friedrichs invited me to go along with him to West Texas while he chased some birds he needed for his Texas list. At the time we were leaving I had no year bird targets in West Texas that were known but we planned to prospect for rare gulls on the West Texas lakes we could access, and maybe something rare would show up we could chase.

Due to problems I had with a failing phone, the essential tool of a compulsive lister like myself I did not get to Bob's house in Palacios until almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We quickly loaded and hit the road for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. While en route we got a return call we had made about some access and learned that a Costa's Hummingbird had been reported in El Paso. I quickly shot off an email to the homeowner and crossed my fingers for a positive reply.

While driving we speculated where to look for gulls after we finished at the national park and Bob mentioned he had never been to Red Bluff Reservoir. I never had been either and knew only a little about access. Red Bluff had been a hotspot a decade ago for rarities but things had been quit for some time and not many checklists had been turned into eBird from there recently. That sounded prime for finding something unreported and we decided to prospect there after we finished at the park when we realized it was only about an hours drive away.

It was getting late and we heard nothing more on the way. We pulled into Pine Springs at Guadalupe Mountains National Park about 11 pm Mountain Time 642 miles later and about 730 miles from when I left the house. The campground was totally full it appeared. We moved to the overflow parking areas and decided to stay there next to a picnic table. I decided to follow Bob's lead and opted to sleep al fresco on my pad in my sleeping bag without a tent also. I was in my bag and dozing off in less than five minutes I bet. Through the night I could see the stars and hear a nearby Great Horned Owl hooting.

We woke at about 7 am and first light in the sky and 42 degrees and were ready to hit the road in less than 10 minutes. Easiest breaking camp ever! I munched a bagel as we headed to Frijole Ranch.

Mean while back at the ranch we right away found Stellar's Jay for a rare drive up sighting of this montane species in Texas. A Juniper Titmouse taunted us from deep in a juniper letting use only see flashes if it.

Cassin's Finch
Guadalupe Mountains NP

We headed down the trail to Smith Springs. In the trees down slope from Manzanita Springs Bob quickly found one of his targets, Lewis's Woodpecker. We worked the area and also turned up several Cassin's Finches for another target of Bob's. There were crazy numbers of Dark-eyed Juncos everywhere. A Sharp-shinned Hawk starting chasing around birds ruining the party. We pressed on to Smith Springs.

At the springs proper we found it crawling with Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Hermit Thrushes. I heard and we later located Golden-crowned Kinglet there. As we turned back another Juniper Titmouse called next to the trail.

Almost back to Manzanita Springs we found two Townsend Solitaires and a Sage Thrasher. A quick check around the ranch house showed nothing new in the pecan trees, but plenty of activity from Acorn Woodpeckers, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays, and a couple of Stellar's Jays.

We spent three hours at McKittrick Canyon. Stellar's Jay and Red-breasted Nuthatch being the two unusual birds we found. We headed off to Red Bluff Reservoir.

As we neared the reservoir we found signs that said "private property permit required, purchase at the office" Cool we thought, its going to be access like Lake Balmorhea. We got to the office and a sign on the door said "Office Closed, No Permit Required at this time". We headed down to the lake in a old park. At first we though there weren't many birds here but coots. We started scanning and we realized there were a lot of ducks, thousands really mostly Ruddy Ducks. We explored along the shore and found not much other access to the lake to view more distant birds. There was a floodway on CR 448 we figured we weren't trespassing if we walked down to the shore to get another view of the lake. We tallied 7 species of waterfowl. A group of maybe twenty gulls teased us on the point of an island too distant to make positive ID's on. Some where much smaller than those we assumed were Ring-billed Gulls. We did ID both Ring-billed Gulls and Franklin's Gulls in flight.

Red Bluff Reservoir
Trust me, there is a Sabine's Gull out there

We moved back to the park and scanned hoping some of the the distant gulls we could see in flight would move closer. Bob was staring through the scope and I heard "oh oh oh, I might having something, wait wait, Yes! Sabine's Gull!" I'm sure it was just seconds before for he gave me a turn at the scope, but it seemed an eternity. I followed a small gull skimming the water, all the way across the lake. Was this it? it circled, it banked, Yes! I could clearly see the black and white pattern on the wings even at this distance. Sabine for Year Bird 489! I watched it while Bob readied the camera for a shot if it got closer. Back and forth it flew, another bird approached, it banked. In the same view I had two Sabine's Gulls! We watched until all the gulls roosted in the lake for the night but never got a picture opportunity. This bird is one of the sweetest of the year for me, going prosecuting for it and striking gold like this.

We headed for El Paso, our GPS overloads telling us it was going to take three hours. On the way we secured permission to try for the Costa's Hummingbird. A late dinner at Whataburger and we made it to bed at a decent hour, ready for hummers the next day.

Wicked Tuna

All the scheduled Texas Pelagic trips were cancelled this year because of low participation. That hurt because I was counting on those trips for birds, lots of birds. I needed a back up plan. I found a company that does long range tuna fishing trips that go off the continental shelf in to pelagic waters from Port Aransas. I was about to go when Hurricane Harvey hit at the end of August and slammed right into Port Aransas. I gave it a couple of weeks and the September trip I thought looked good was already full. I booked the next 36 hour trip and put out a call online for others to join me. Bob Friedrichs decided to go also and we were set.

South Polar Skua
Photo Bob Friedrichs

We met the boat at 3:30 am on Saturday morning. I was having trouble with my scopolamine patch for seasickness adhering but I could feel the dry mouth sensation that says "I'm working" We bordered a little after 5 am and were off about 5:30 am. Bob and I hit the bunks and slept until about 7:30 and first light. Almost immediately we had Royal Terns in about 120 feet of water. Swells were expected to be very low but when we woke it was rougher than the 1.5-2 foot swells expected, I'm guessing about 3 foot.  Manageable but the bow was just too wet to be on. We positioned ourselves on the stern and kept watch.

Brown Booby
photo by David Sarkozi

At about 9;50 we spotted the first pelagic species, a Cory's Shearwater in about 500 feet of water for Year Bird 485. We ground on. At about 10:20 am we crossed the 600 foot mark and started "down" the slope of the Continental Shelf. I was out of Bob's sight when a Pomarine Jaeger flew by and I missed it at about 11:00 am. About 12;30 I was barely keeping my eyes open and we were on a large stretch of nothing on the bottom in about 3000 feet of water. I decided to take a nap. I asked Bob to wake me if I wan't back in 90 minutes. about 80 minutes after I hit my pillow Bob had a Bridled Tern sitting on the some trash. At 90 minutes Bob got me up because he had just seen a Brown Booby. When I got up on deck the booby was still there chasing flying fish.

Somewhere along the way my patch came off. I was flying without a net. I did take a dose of Bonine about 5 pm, but other than that I did well with motion sickness and had no problems

Sunset 150 miles offshore

About 4:45 pm we arrived at our destination, a floating rig in about 5000 feet of water 156 miles from Port Aransas. Bob and I spotted some birds over the rig, We soon realized they were Peregrine Falcons. We spotted another, and a another. We eventually had a firm count of 8 Peregrines and an Osprey on the rig. We trolled for fish for a while and fishing started in earnest about sunset. Tuna started coming on-board, some bit in half by barracuda. I lost one that felt like a good fish. Bob landed 2.5 Black-finned Tuna. I fished with no luck until midnight. The meds making be drowsy. I decided I needed some sleep and hit the hay for 3 hours and joined Bob at 3 am. He had had no luck. I fished with no luck until 5:30 am and thought they must be about time to head back and decided to sleep until sunrise. Right after I went below Bob hooked a big one, it took him 30 minutes to land a 56 pound Yellow-finned Tuna. Worn out he came below.

We both set alarms for 7:30 and slept through them, but we both made it on deck about 8 am. It was much calmer now and we took up posts on the bow. At 9:30 Bob called out a bird flying right for us. It passed close and I got glass on it and initially thought jeager. Bob managed some good photos and we reviewed them getting more excited. This was a skua and we later confirmed South Polar Skua for Year Bird 486 and a Life Bird for both of us!

Masked Booby
Photo by Bob Friedrichs

At 10:30 am Bob spotted a bird right above the horizon and called Audubon's Shearwater. I got on it and saw there were two birds, and I concurred with Audubon's Shearwater for Year Bird 487.

At 11:30 am Bob spotted a Masked Booby right by the boat for Year Bird 488. It was also chasing flying fish and we could see it dive and go at least 6 feet underwater next to the boat in the clear blue water. This booby was one I was afraid I was going to miss which made it sweeter.

No other birds after that, We crossed back onto the shelf at about 2:20 pm. By my count we had 7 pelagic species. We got 13.5 hours birding in deep water by my reckoning. A standard 12 hour Texas Pelagic trip makes about 3.5 hours in the deep water and has been costing about $200. This trip costs $400 and you get almost 4 times the birding time in deep water, so hour by hour its a pretty good value. The berth is nothing special dark and I have to say pretty darn dingy, but I had no trouble sleeping and being able to do that was a great relief on a trip this long. An you could end up with a lot of tuna! Want to see where the trip went, click here for a map. There are 4 more 36 hour trips scheduled by Dolphin Docks this year I might have to try again!