BIRDQUEST2004

On January 31st a resident of Berks County, Pennsylvania, found a very strange oriole in their yard.  Someone quickly identified it as a Black-backed Oriole.  If this bird is accepted it could be potential 1st ABA record.

The bird was seen at 20 or 21 Indiana Avenue, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania.

The people in the neighbourhood were open to visitors but there were rules to be followed.

Viewing only between 7:30 and 4, please sign the logbook, please stay on the sidewalk and be courteous.

Well after a month of indecision and seeing numerous photos of this Oriole, I decided to make the 1500 km pilgrimage to see the bird.  I asked the guys if anyone was interested in going and Richard Killeen said he’d love to go see the oriole.

Richard and I had decided that to go March 1st at the end of my shift but the weather was terrible, rain and snow all the way.   So we left on the Thursday at 5am but weather still wasn’t great, winds were high, with falling and blowing snow.

There was a Clarks Grebe in Oswego which was on the way but when we got there the winds were blowing at 50-60 mph in our face so we had no chance of seeing that bird.

Not much else happened and we arrived in Sinking Spring at 2pm.  One birder was standing on the sidewalk and told us that the Oriole had just been there and she’d seen it 3 times in 30 minutes.

It didn’t take long and the Oriole came in to feed on the grapes that had been put out for it.  Below is a composite photo of the bird, showing top and front views, because we had to stay on the sidewalk, these images are from over 150 feet.

After 30 minutes it was time to head home, there really wasn’t much time to bird n the way home, so we drove straight home arriving at 11:00pm.

Eventually they may say this is an escapee but regardless its a beauty.

Ciao for now….

Well fast forward a year and the ABA accepted this bird as not an escapee and countable…

 

 

 

 

 

This trip with Chris Feeney would be my 3rd try for the Yellow-legged Gull, that has been seen of and on every winter for a few years.

We decided to make this a crazy, go for the rarities trip….first 3 days in St. John’s for the Gull, then leave from Halifax in my car and drive to St. John, New Brunswick for the 3 Shelduck and then on to Rhode Island for the Graylag Goose.  Chris would then fly home and I’d drive 8 hours back home.

I drove the  13 hours to Halifax Airport (a trip I’ve done many times) and caught my flight to St. John’s on January 9th.  Chris had arrived in the middle of the previous night and had a good yet short sleep and was raring to go.

Off we went in the rental car and over the next 2 1/2 days glassed over 10,000 gulls hoping to see the Yellow-legged Gull or the even harder Kelp Gull, but the gulls had a different idea.  The weather was warm but the winds high, the gulls were spooky with all the Eagles in the area and you’d no sooner started to go over a flock when they’d all take off as a group and then resettle.  You’d then have to start scanning through them again……

I’ve seen a few Yellow-legged Gulls in Europe but never in the ABA.

 

Well we did that for 2 1/2 days, we saw birds that could have been but they never were.  We saw birds that are very hard to find anywhere else in the ABA but easy here.  Tufted Duck, Eurasian Widgeon, Adult Iceland Gull, Black-headed Gull and Common Gulls, but the Yellow-legged Gull was a no show.

First Winter Black-headed Gull

Winter Plumage Black-headed Gull

Dovekie

American Widgeon

1st Winter Glaucous Gull

Iceland Gull Adult Winter

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Tufted Duck

Iceland Gull 1st winter

Almost Pure Iceland Gull Adult winter

Lesser Black-backed Gull Adult Winter

Eurasian Widgeon

Common Teal

Was good having dinner with Jared Clarke and sharing stories over a good meal and a few pints.

Ciao for now