I’ll tell you what state it is–it’s the state of chaos; it’s the state of shock and awe. Minnesota is simultaneously being invaded by both Snowy Owls and not one, not two, but three Vermilion Flycatchers this week. Incredibly there hasn’t been such a sighting in 21 years and two of this year’s birds have shown up at the same location. Moreover, other good vagrants and migrants keep popping up all over the state, sending birders’ heads spinning, not knowing which direction to travel. I was in such a predicament this weekend–frozen with indecision.
I finally opted for the two reliable Vermilion Flycatchers in Becker County. It would make a dandy addition to my state list whereas all the other good birds popping up were ones I already had locked down for that category. I asked Evan if he wanted to go along, and I was delightfully surprised when he said he wanted to go on this adventure. So this morning we left the house at 4 AM to go north of Detroit Lakes to see those Vermilions at first light. Which we did. Promptly seeing our MN VEFL upon arrival, I raised the camera, looked through the viewfinder, and read the message “No Memory Card”! Are you kidding? It finally happened that I’d go on a rarity chase and forget something so crucial. It didn’t bother me tooooo much because I have lots of photos of striking VEFL males from Arizona already. But still, it hurts a bit. Thankfully, birding friend John Richardson pinch hit for me and let me use a couple of his shots for the blog. And if you’re going to have a pinch-hitter, who better than a slugger like rarity-magnet John, a.k.a. Mr. Brambling, a.k.a. Mr. Black-headed Grosbeak, a.k.a, a.k.a.
Becker County Vermilion Flycatcher #1; I believe this is the individual we saw; Photo by John Richardson
Becker County Vermilion Flycatcher #2; Photo by John Richardson
Pretty neat stuff, right? Not only were these some great birds, but the homeowners were top-notch people, very friendly and welcoming. Evan thoroughly enjoyed their dog, and they thoroughly enjoyed that a youngster had come out to witness a cool phenomenon in nature. They were even kind enough to tell me where the nearest Wal-Mart was so I could pick up a memory card because…..we were off next to look for reported adult male Long-tailed Duck in winter plumage! Though the Vermilion was a state bird for me and the LT Duck was not, I was more excited about seeing this duck in this plumage. There was no way I was going unprepared for this one.
Once we finally made it to the slough south of Stakke Lake in Becker County after spending a ridiculous amount of time in that Wal-Mart, it took a little bit of searching before I found it. Our views were distant, but I was able to get Evan some looks on the LCD. His response was something along the lines of “Whoa, cool!” Indeed. It seemed so odd to see an ocean duck sitting on a slough and hugging the shoreline, or in this case, sitting on it.
Such a striking bird. Check out this chest!
Even though it was far away, it was still such a treat to watch this handsome duck. Our lifer a couple a years ago was an immature-type bird that did not live up to its name.
After that fun, Evan and I hit the road for the 3-hour trip home. Our second Northern Shrike of the fall was a nice bonus on our drive. Despite the memory card snafu, it was a memorable trip with Evan where we got to see some really fantastic birds for Minnesota.
We’ll get back to the Arizona stuff, I promise, but don’t be surprised if there’s another interruption or two!
This trip, besides giving us a cool lifer, brought us to the edge of the world, which is somewhere near Baudette. We were within spitting distance of Ontario, an experiment in which the spit would shatter upon impact 11 months out of the year. Yes, that Woodpecker got us to explore a corner of the state we probably never, ever would have dreamed of going…ever. And then we would have missed seeing Willie, Minnesota’s largest walleye.
This bird did do more than sit on a wire, not much more, but we saw it fly down to the road to forage. It’s tail pattern in flight is quite a sight. The homeowner who discovered this bird told us to watch for that pattern when it flew.
One can only imagine the thoughts running through this grasshopper’s head in this moment. Is it just me, or is it on its knees pleading for mercy?
Hunger trumps mercy apparently.
The two large backyard ponds and connecting channel had many shady, reclusive haunts and corners from the overgrown vegetation along the banks. And there were enough large snails and crayfish around for Herons to have a “Chubby Bunny” contest too.
The announcement came in early enough in the evening that those lucky Twin Cities birders could swarm it immediately. My trip was too far to get there before dark. I was there the next day, though. Conveniently I had to go to the Cities that day anyway. Inconveniently, the time of day was wrong and the bird did not come out. So I made the 1.5 hour trek again the following day, only this time in the evening when the bird had been showing. It took nearly two hours of waiting, but just as I was about to call it quits, the bird flew in from its treetop roost to begin its foraging.
Hmmm…I wonder why they didn’t have a chick with them. It’s best not to think about that.
I got back to the house, happy with my morning, and was busy documenting my LASP sighting. Then an email came in that changed the course of my day. After nearly 15 hours of observing the mystery Kingbird over the course of a week, Bruce Fall clinched the ID after hearing the Kingbird vocalize when a Brown-headed Cowbird got too close for comfort. Tropical Kingbird. Holy smokes. This is a scarce bird in even the tiny corners of Arizona and Texas that it calls home. I told Melissa I would have to try to squeeze in a fast trip to the Cities to try for this one. This was a Minnesota first state record of a Tropical Kingbird after all.
The bird was out there a ways, so I did the best I could for photos.
I showed the kids the bird on the camera’s LCD. With another check mark for his list, Evan was out of there (and Melissa and Marin too).
I was hoping for better photos, so I stayed for a little while. After ten minutes of observation, something incredible happened that two other birders present and myself witnessed: the Tropical Kingbird stretched out its neck, pulled its wings behind its back, and vocalized! It was a 1-second higher-pitched trill. I later listened to the sounds of TRKI on the iPod, and it was a match for the first call listed. I felt bad for all the birders that have watched and watched this bird just waiting for such a moment. Luck of the draw I guess. Just like when something even better then happened–the Kingbird flew to a low perch right on the path! Matt Stratmoen, his 600 mm lense, and I hustled down the path to get near it. We’d snap some photos, creep closer, snap, creep, snap, etc. We eventually got within 100 feet or less.
Matt is the one who took that amazing image of the Orr Black-backed Woodpeckers with the mom and dad in profile perched on either side of the nest hole with the baby sticking his head out screaming. Amazing image. It’s on 
We won’t talk about the quality difference between Matt’s photos and mine of the Tropical Kingbird from the same distance. But I can live with mine. The views were phenomenal and more than I hoped for.
The Kingbird had enough of this low perch and went back to his tall, remote Cottonwood. I got what I came for and then some, so I hustled back to the van after just a half hour of observation. After all, Swedish meatballs and a fight loading Ikea furniture in the van were calling my name.
The weather forecast for the day was not good with thunderstorms all day long starting at 6 AM. As we made the half-hour trip up to Orr, the rain paid no attention to the forecast and came a little earlier. Ugh. So much for good photography conditions IF the birds were even still there. Regardless, I had come 300 miles for this. There was no turning back now.
My memory’s a blur, but I think I left my dad in the dust as I raced down the Bog Walk to find the nest. Everyone said you can’t miss it; it’s right by the boardwalk and the young are making a holy racket. It turns out you can miss it…by a day.
It was sickening. I knew this outcome was a very real possibility, but knowledge and feelings are very different. Adding injury to insult were hordes of mosquitoes and a steady rain. In vain I looked and listened, but those Woodpeckers weren’t speaking to me. It was a ghost town. I thought about giving up to get ahead start on licking my wounds on my 300 MILE DRIVE HOME. But then I remembered I’ve been in this spot before and have come out thriving. Coming to mind were clutch birding moments from my past like getting the Chestnut-collared Longspur last minute at Felton Prairie last year with Steve Gardner or getting a lifer Blue Grosbeak at Blue Mounds State Park two years ago with Evan in a break in a rainstorm the last morning of our trip. I sent Dad back to the car to get a reprieve from the rain and mosquitoes; I had work to do.
The suppressed calls I was hearing now made sense as this was a young male just learning his voice. Though not that evident in this photo, you can see the yellow spot on the forehead. Watching it long enough, I eventually saw momma come in.
I really wanted pictures of mom and dad, though, especially dad with that golden yellow crown. Eventually momma and baby made their way to the trees by the boardwalk with me shortly and soggily behind them. Dad was able to get his life looks at this bird now too and then proceeded to be my spotter for photographing them.
With the low light conditions that exist in a bog at dawn on a rainy day, I needed all the chances I could get in order to get any kind of decent photo. We positioned ourselves within earshot of the calling baby and sure enough, we’d get frequent looks at the mother as she would forage for food to bring back to baby.
The jet-black back of these birds really stands out. You can see how it would be effective camouflage in their preferred habitat of recently burned forests.
Despite the poor conditions for photography, getting this much-wanted lifer in this way in this place with this company was pretty special. After all, we’d all be stuck on some metaphorical tree without the guidance of a parent. Mine even called me out of the literal trees and gave me dry socks for the ride home.
Getting to the scene a few hundred yards down the trail, I heard the bird immediately. Several birders and I strained to locate it. One lady claimed she saw it.
Before we left, I thought I heard the soft bee-buzzzz call of a Blue-winged Warbler. Nah, couldn’t be…
If two unplanned lifers weren’t enough, how about a third?! Several Terns caught my eye right away when we got to the ponds. Their bills looked excessively reddish and other clues were leading me to the conclusion that I was looking at Common Terns, which aren’t so common in Minnesota compared to the excessively common Forster’s Tern.
I spent much time agonizing over this ID after the fact as Common and Forster’s Terns are incredibly similar looking. Many hours were spent scouring images on Google, studying Sibley, etc. Common Terns have reddish-orange bills while Forster’s Terns have a straight-up orange color. The red really popped when I looked at these birds.
Dunlin were excessively plentiful and quite striking in full breeding plumage.
There was a lot going on with the shorebirds, both in numbers of birds and numbers of species. Wilson’s Phalaropes and White-rumped Sandpipers can be seen in my photos, but I didn’t focus any of my photography efforts on them. I probably could have spent hours photographing all these shorebirds, but I wanted to take another crack at that White-eyed Vireo and the day was already getting long for the non-birders. It was time to head back to New Ulm and hit the trail one last time.
The Blue-winged Warbler was another great consolation prize in a day full of consolation goodies. It felt good to get better photos of this species.
So, we went to see a White-eyed Vireo and failed in that regard. However, this day was an unimaginable lifer and FOY grab. Getting four lifers (WEVI, HUGO, SAND, COTE) in a day instate is unheard of at this stage in our birding. Topping it off with some incredible shorebirds like the Avocets and Turnstones as well as the Blue-winged Warbler really made for an exciting day back on our old stomping grounds.
What are a couple of birders to do when they are kicked out of the house for a bonafide girls-only, princess birthday tea-party? Hmmmm…
This sighting at a birding-rave may be the rarest thing I’ve seen yet. Just how special is a Cinnamon Teal in Minnesota? It’s drive-your-Porsche-on-gravel special.
Some fun history on Gyr is that this same individual was caught and banded in 2003 in the Duluth/Superior area. At the time it was a third-year bird. It ended up returning every winter for four years and then did not return until this year! Given when it was banded, the age of this male Gyrfalcon is estimated to be 14 years 8 months–the oldest Gyrfalcon on record!
