Five years ago Melissa and I lost our friend, Jen, to cancer. One thing that can be said of Jen was that she knew how to live life–she loved people and loved having a good time. Jen always brought joy, laughter, and a special flare to every gathering she was a part of. Jen introduced us to a concept we had never heard of before–birth month. Yep, she celebrated her birthday for an entire month by indulging fancies and whims with her friends and family for 30 days instead of just the one day. That’s just who she was. It turns out that Jen and I shared the same birth month (September), yet here I had been robbing myself of 29 days of celebration for 30+ years. It was time for me to make up for lost time, so this birth month I indulged myself by going on two special life bird chases with a couple of good friends. So by my count, I still sold myself short by 28 days. Sigh…maybe next year I’ll get it right.
The first chase was on September 6th. News broke that day of a juvenile Sabine’s Gull at the Albany sewage ponds. This was less than an hour’s drive from home. So after work, Steve Gardner and I made the chase on a beautiful early fall day to get this lifer. The bird was quite accommodating, swimming right up to us. Unfortunately Steve and I never got to see it fly and see the distinctive wing pattern despite waiting on it for 45 minutes.
Sabine’s Gulls are a rare but expected species throughout the Minnesota during September. What wasn’t expected was a bird that turned up two weeks later in Carver County–a first state record Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, a bird from Siberia. They mostly show up in Alaska but are also seen occasionally in the lower 48 along the west coast. This find by Pete Hoeger and Bob Williams was absolutely remarkable. Consequently, Randy Frederickson and I chased this bird together after work on September 21st. The hordes were out in full force for this mega. Initially when we arrived, we and the 20 other people there couldn’t find it even though it had been spotted 10 minutes before we showed up. After a good 20 minutes filled with much internal panic everywhere, one of the birders got us on the bird. The wind, distance, and similar looking juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers made spotting and re-spotting the bird a tough task. Photography was a nightmare; I would have to settle for diagnostic photos in these conditions. But considering I never thought I would ever, ever see this bird in my life, I’m not complaining.
By birding standards I’ve actually been celebrating Birth Quarter instead of just Birth Month. The great birds have continued long past September. I’ve been to Arizona and back already, so there will be more stories of lifering and night-owling with the famous Tommy DeBardeleben of TOBY fame. There have also been good birds back home, including a new county record that I found. Lots of excitement coming at you on the blog in due time…
Evan was quite pleased to get his lifer Tiger Salamander. The Le Conte’s was just not a big deal to him. In fact, when I noticed a promising-looking patch of prairie that butted up to a cattail slough, he declined to walk it with me, opting instead to stand in one spot observing, whittling, etc. It was on this solo walk-about where the magical moment finally happened: I flushed a Sparrow from the prairie hillside toward the cattail slough in front of me. I advanced, somewhat hopeful, and stopped about 15 feet short of where it landed. I gave a little pish, and a yellowish bird popped up to investigate. I knew what it was before I even pulled up the binoculars. Then, with the sun at my back, I looked through the binoculars and finally saw this striking lifer. What a thrill–and to experience it so close to home made it even better. Not only did I finally get this lifer, but a little more pishing allowed me to get some photographs before it disappeared into the cattails forever.
And with that I met back up with Evan and went home. It was perfect. Finding the last regular lifer I can possibly get in the county on such a beautiful day was bittersweet. I don’t know how many more lifers, if any, I will get in the county, but it doesn’t matter. This was a day to remember.
That pretty much sealed the deal for them, but for added insurance I got seats which put Evan in a position of high probability to check off a major bucket-list item. It worked.
Having the entire family on the jumbo-tron and on TV was the icing.
I mean, seriously, an indoor/outdoor pool where you can actually swim under the freaking wall of the hotel–how cool is that? This is the kind of thing that blows kids’ minds.
So what about the birds? Let’s get on with it then. I had a number of targets of regular breeders in this central part of the country. The first one I targeted is one that has caused me heartache on a couple of occasions in Minnesota, the Least Tern. Since this bird breeds in shallow rivers with sandbars, Omaha is a great place to go after them because of the nearby Platte River. Unfortunately, though, it was getting late in the year to find any, and my chances were slim. Regardless, we were going to give it a try, checking out a couple of spots on the way to our Omaha hotel. The first stop was a place I’d been watching on eBird for months and was eager to see, a sandpit lake in Fremont, Nebraska.
I’ve been yearning to see that bright yellow-bill for awhile. My family waiting in the car probably didn’t even notice the fist-pumping going on outside over this lifer.
Getting a lifer at the first stop for that species keeps the non-birding family happy. And even better (for them) was that this bird only stuck around for 10 minutes before flying off forever.
It was finally time to get to our hotel–Marin was getting antsy for a pool fix. The Heron lifer felt good, really good, but I was still bummed about the lack of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. Then just 20 minutes from the hotel, I spied one on a fence and turned around for some looks. It was a STFL alright, but a nub-tailed one and not the big male I was hoping to see. Hopes for that, along with a few other birds, would have to be pinned on Day 3.
Shortly afterward we heard another hoped-for/expected lifer, the Carolina Wren. Eventually I got to see a couple of them. Their tea-kettle song is awesome.
After giving up on the Painted Bunting search, we headed out into the countryside south of Kansas City. Malcolm had some ideas about where to find Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. And find them, we did.
We never found any with super-long tails, but at one point we had about 30 of them all together on the wires and fences around us. It was a crazy, cool sight even if most were nubby.
Some had tails of decent length, enough to showcase the big forked-tail when they flew.
After enjoying the pile of Scissors for awhile, Malcolm took me to a spot to look/listen for Northern Bobwhite. We weren’t having any luck, so for the heck of it I tried playing a recording. Almost immediately a Northern Bobwhite called back! We never did see one, so this bird will have to enter the life list as a heard-only. I’m okay with that.
Malcolm had told me that MIKIs catch dragonflies on the wing, and that’s exactly what this one had done.
But then I noticed there was a juvenile MIKI. That dragonfly was the dinner that its mom or dad brought back for it.
After the dragonfly transfer had been made, the adult took to the skies to find another. Seeing these birds glide around gracefully like their namesake is quite the sight.
Having now seen one fly, Evan and I are certain we did see one the previous day on the way to the Twins game. This experience has also given me confidence that I would recognize this unique silhouette should I see it in the skies over Minnesota some day.