Believe it or not, I just returned from my first actual birding festival in two years—and it was worth the wait! I was invited to speak at the 33rdannual HummerBird Celebration in Rockport-Fulton, Texas last year when, for covid—not corvid—reasons, organizers were forced to cancel the event. Even as I flew down this year, however, I had little idea what the celebration would be like. I was in for a treat.
One advantage of having mainly one kind of hummingbird in a region is that it greatly simplifies the almost impossible task of distinguishing female Ruby-throated from female Black-chinned hummingbirds!
The festival is organized by dedicated staff and volunteers at the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce and the event, as its name suggests, celebrates hummingbirds. “Wait a minute,” some of you may be asking, “aren’t there only three or four species of hummingbirds in eastern Texas in the fall?” Correct. But the event doesn’t focus only on diversity. It celebrates raw numbers, mainly of one species: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. The entire community joins in, and one of the coolest things about HummerBird is the self-guided tour of houses full of feeders and backyard habitats where participants are encouraged to feast their eyes on a plethora of Ruby-throateds. The festival, though, offers much more.
One of my duties as a speaker was to co-lead a four-hour field trip of 40 birders out to Fennessey Ranch, a working ranch that also focuses on conservation and research. After struggling a bit to find the place, we split into two groups and began “hay rides” around the property, looking for as many birds as we could find. Coming from Montana, I discovered that almost every species was a Year Bird for me, but Braden has coached me well over the years, and together with my co-leader, ranch naturalist Sally Crofutt, we identified almost everything we heard and saw. They included some real surprises, including my Lifer Broad-winged Hawk, migrating Anhingas (I didn’t even realize they migrated!), and my find of the day—only my second-ever Blue Grosbeak.
Green Jay was our Fennessey group’s Most Wanted Bird, and this fellow obligingly complied with our wishes!
But the celebration offered much, much more, including:
a fabulous Hummer Mall packed with all kinds of bird-related vendors and demonstrations
a host of interesting speakers
great birding all along the area’s waterfront
One great thing about HummerBird is that terrific birding surrounded us. I found this cooperative Crested Caracara—along with numerous other species—along the shore just down from my hotel.
Speaking of speakers, I spoke to two enthusiastic audiences about Braden’s and my 2016 Big Year and other adventures, and before one of my talks I had the pleasure of listening to Dawn Hewitt, editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest. She gave wonderful hints on learning bird calls—something I would use almost immediately. I was surprised how well-attended the entire celebration turned out to be, and I headed back north feeling full of positive bird vibes as I prepared to spend a couple of days birding High Island and the Bolivar Peninsula—the subject of my next post(s)!
If it’s one thing we at FatherSonBirding hammer over and over again, it is the 3 Ps: Planning, Persistence, and Preparation.
Okay, actually, we have never talked much about this, but it’s a catchy concept, isn’t it? The 3 Ps, in fact, came very much into play recently when, after our rather disappointing birding in Boston, Braden and I headed up the coast to a place Braden had carefully researched (P Number 1) ahead of time: the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.
One of the gems of the New England coast, Parker River NWR turned out to be our favorite birding spot of our week-long sojourn.
I had actually never heard of Parker River before, but Braden learned about it from some online birding buddies and checked it out to see if it was “visit-worthy”. His verdict? Definitely. Not only might we collect a handful of Life Birds there, the refuge protected one of his top ABA target birds: Saltmarsh Sparrow.
Now, I have to say that when we visit a National Wildlife Refuge, I generally expect a pretty low-key, rarely visited location. Imagine my surprise when we encountered a mini traffic jam waiting to get in. In fact, it became evident that the refuge served not only to protect wildlife, but as a critical outdoor outlet for congested coastal Massachusetts. Our visit started auspiciously with a stop at Lot 1, where we got a quick fly-over of a Baltimore Oriole—the only one we would see on our trip. Crossing the highway, we encountered an even cooler surprise: the closest looks we’d ever had of Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers! This was especially useful after the ID struggles we’d had with birds in eastern Washington only weeks before, and it really helped us examine the unique properties of each.
Having both Semipalmated (left) and Least Sandpipers right in front of us really helped Braden and me visually imprint these hard-to-ID species in our brains. Note especially the darker, browner overall appearance of the Least. Its yellow legs are a giveaway, too—but only when they aren’t covered in mud!
As we moved on, though, Braden felt pessimistic about seeing Saltmarsh Sparrows. He had Planned. He had Prepared himself with knowledge. But Boston had put an “unlucky” vibe in his head. As we made our second stop along the refuge’s main road, however, he suddenly shouted, “I see them!” Indeed, not thirty feet from us, at least four or five fairly nondescript little birds bumbled about in some tall marsh grass, seemingly not knowing what they were doing. “They seem like juveniles,” Braden surmised, and having studied this species quite a bit, he would know.
Saltmarsh Sparrows used to be lumped with Nelson’s Sparrows as one species, the Sharp-tailed Sparrow. As its own species, however, the Saltmarsh Sparrow occupies a narrow range of saltmarsh habitat along the East Coast and, in fact, requires this habitat for nesting. Because of this, it is at extreme risk from higher sea levels caused by climate change, and its population has been steadily declining. This makes protecting places like Parker River NWR even more important—and made us feel especially privileged to have such a close experience with them.
Our amazing experience with Saltmarsh Sparrows proved once again that persistence just may be the most important attribute of a successful birder.
Leaving the Saltmarsh Sparrows, we continued to hit other places in the refuge and were rewarded with a host of Year Birds, and two more Life Birds: Purple Finch and Great Crested Flycatcher—our number one ABA need to that point. Which all demonstrates the third P of birding: Persistence. Sure, luck plays a role, but just getting out there again and again will eventually take luck out of the equation, something we learned for the thousandth time at Parker River.
As some of you may have surmised, the recent spate of cooler, rainy weather put an end to my “Truck Birding” goal of 100 species, but I don’t hold a grudge. In fact, I have conjured up a new goal to replace it—breaking my all-time ABA Big Year Record of 336 species. More on that later.
In bigger news, I recently took Braden back to Orono, Maine to begin his college career at the University of Maine. As you can imagine, it was an emotional experience, but a good one. Because of COVID, we had not even had a chance to visit the campus so we decided to go a week early to explore the area, get him settled—and of course—bird our butts off. First up? A three-night stay in Boston to catch a Red Sox game (they won 6-0!) and see what kind of birding blessed Beantown.
We did not see a single bird during the Red Sox’s decisive victory over the Texas Rangers, but did get an up-close view of a home run by Xander Bogaerts as it sailed over the Green Monster. (Note: let’s see if MLB or the Sox forces me to take down this image. They are notorious about controlling baseball images.)
Our plans were stymied by heavy rain our first morning, so we tested ourselves against the stuffed bird specimens at the Boston Science Museum and managed to pick up Double-crested Cormorant, Herring Gull, and Great Black-backed Gull out the rain-drenched window on the Charles River. Afterward, we walked to Boston Common, hoping to find some great city birds. We were sadly disappointed. The problem? The world-famous downtown park has almost no understory layer—no bushes, hedges, and shrubs to offer cover to songbirds. As a result, Common Grackles, Canada Geese, starlings and other “trash birds” dominate. A progressive city such as Boston should fix this situation right away, don’t you think? With a lot of searching, we did manage to spot two Eastern Phoebes and coax in a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, but ended with only nine species, a dismal showing.
Our next morning also began badly. Thanks to our loyal FatherSonBirding reader, Roger Kohn, we bee-lined to Belle Isle Marsh, and were immediately driven back into the car by bloodthirsty waves of mosquitoes, forcing us to seek out a nearby drugstore for insect repellent. Upon our return, we still lost several pints of blood, but were able to chalk up 27 species. Alas, we missed our main target bird, Saltmarsh Sparrow, and saw nothing else to write home about. Feeling a little blue, we headed to our next destination, Deer Island.
Being an energy nut, I was interested in the how the giant sludge digesters (and windmills, only partly visible) at Deer Island produce energy for the rest of the plant. You can also see the bits of prairie habitat next to them above.
Deer Island is home to a fascinating wastewater treatment plant that serves 43 cities in the Boston area, and its giant egg-shaped sludge digesters have become famous and intriguing landmarks. We decided to embark on a three-mile circumnavigation of the treatment plant, especially hoping to glimpse some pelagic birds in the surrounding waters. We saw none, and not too much else very interesting for most of the walk. We did console ourselves by learning the differences between juvenile Herring and Black-backed Gulls, and Braden found me some Lifer Common Eiders floating offshore, but one of the most interesting things was that some great prairie habitat exists along the trail and we saw mating Monarch Butterflies and individual Black Swallowtails on our hike.
Having heard grim reports of Monarch Butterfly declines across the U.S., we were glad to find at least one or two individuals in almost every location we visited—including in the shadows of the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant!
Finally, close to the end of our walk, two terrific birds showed themselves. One is a bird we especially hoped to see: our first ABA American Oystercatcher. We had seen one in the Galapagos in 2017, but never on U.S. shores! As we rounded a bend near a rock jetty, though, we were scanning dozens of Double-crested Cormorants when I caught the distinctive red-and-white flash of an AMOY. Even better, it soon flew over to forage on the pebbly beach below us!
This American Oystercatcher—the first we’d ever seen in the U.S.—garnered Boston Bird of the Day honors!
After enjoying the oystercatcher for a full ten minutes, we had just resumed walking when a large dark bird flashed by like an F-18. “Peregrine Falcon!” Braden shouted. We couldn’t believe it. We had hoped to see one there, but didn’t think it was possible. It provided a great testament to the value of conservation efforts and why we need to keep protecting nature. It also happened to be great timing to head to Belle Isle Seafood for lunch!
(by Braden) By the time our posse of eleven reached Logan Pass at 6 in the morning, the parking lot was already full, though that did not hamper the views. Nick Ramsey and I rushed over to the bathrooms, admiring a view we had not experienced for years (despite having been to the lower-altitude parts of Glacier Park every year since 2017) and nabbing Cassin’s Finch and White-crowned Sparrow, then hopped back into Joshua Wade Covill’s car and headed for the Piegan Pass trailhead.
Nick and I had arrived at Josh’s house in Columbia Falls late the night before after a helping of early-summer shorebirds south of Kalispell and were greeted by not only Josh, one of Montana’s birding mammoths, but also by an assortment of the country’s top birders: Tom Forwood Jr., a southern Montana-based birder well-known for the Big Day records he had set across Montana (some of which had been with Josh) and working at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park; Marky Mutchler, a recent graduate of Louisiana State University who had been the ABA young birder of the year a few years back and whose six-out-of-five star photos decorated every part of eBird’s website; four field techs currently studying nesting birds like Lazuli Buntings and Spotted Towhees on MPG Ranch, and two more birders, who along with Marky, currently spent their time researching grassland birds like Long-billed Curlews and Sprague’s Pipits out on the American Prairie Reserve. Several of the people I had already met through Facebook, while I was excited to meet others for the first time. I knew I was in the presence of greatness the minute I stepped out of the mini-van and onto Josh’s lawn, where I pitched my tent.
We were all here for one reason: to see Glacier National Park and its birds under the guidance of Josh, who knew the park like a Black Swift knows the underside of a waterfall, and who had, in fact, just started a Glacier-based guiding company! While several of us had been here before, others (including many of the field techs) had never seen this part of the country before, and we were prepared to assist in blowing their minds.
We woke up on Saturday morning at 5, getting into the park before the ticket period started, and were up and over Logan Pass by 6. A MacGillivray’s Warbler sang downslope of us as we bug-sprayed up in the Piegan Pass trail parking lot, and then set off into the forest of Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir. Almost immediately Josh halted the group to point out several White-winged Crossbills singing from treetops, their complex trills a new sound for me. This habitat made much more sense than the cemetery in which I’d gotten my lifers earlier in the year.
My dad and I usually see Pine Grosbeaks at lower elevations during winter, so it was very special to see them at their breeding altitudes.
In a clearing several miles up the trail Josh called in a Varied Thrush for the photographers of the group (several people including Marky, had brought giant lenses) and a pair of Pine Grosbeaks, not wanting to be left out, had decided to forage in the grass and shrubs at eye-level about ten feet from us.
As we hiked, I learned about the individual research projects that each of the field techs were looking at on the APR, which included Long-billed Curlew migration patterns and parasitism on grassland birds by Brown-headed Cowbirds. We talked about top birding spots everywhere from New Mexico to Missouri and exchanged stories about how everyone had gotten into birds. It was particularly fun visiting with Tom and Josh, as they seemingly had an answer to everything I wondered about along the trail. Tom didn’t just know the birds—he identified every flower and butterfly we came across, and he and Josh pointed out the glaciers and peaks around us as we rose in altitude, many of which they had individually hiked to. They also had a wealth of knowledge of birding Latin America, specifically Costa Rica, something I was incredibly interested in.
After about three miles we rose above the stunted forest marking the end of the subalpine zone and were hiking along scree fields and across lingering snow patches. A Golden Eagle soaring high above welcomed us to the alpine zone as pikas mewed at us from their rocky burrows, and the bird community changed abruptly. Rather than crossbills and grosbeaks, Gray-crowned Rosy-finches filled the finch role up here, and all of us were shocked to encounter a Brewer’s Sparrow belting out a song from a patch of young trees! A rare subspecies of Brewer’s Sparrow, known as the Timberline Sparrow, lived above the tree line in Glacier Park and in mountain ranges farther north, a rather strange change from the normal sagebrush habitat the species used elsewhere in its range. No one in the group had ever seen one before, including Tom and Josh, which meant that everyone had gotten at least one new bird out of the hike!
This surprise Timberline Sparrow (a subspecies of Brewer’s Sparrow) was a Lifer for our entire group!
Speaking of new birds, I was here for my Montana life bird #299: White-tailed Ptarmigan. These cryptic, high-altitude game birds only lived in the northwest part of the state, and only in Glacier were they easily-accessible. As we reached Piegan Pass, Josh pointed out a large snowfield. We would be walking around the base of the field after a quick lunch, as it was perfect ptarmigan habitat: it turns out that most alpine habitat was unsuitable for ptarmigan. These picky birds require access to water, shade (i.e. low cliffs) to hide from the sun, and vegetation (i.e. moss) for food. If a site does not have one of these three things, it’s unlikely to contain ptarmigan.
After a lunch full of various mammals from Least Chipmunks to Hoary Marmots trying to steal our food, we set off in a large search line to try to find ptarmigan as an American Pipit displayed in the air high above us, an activity shared with the Sprague’s Pipits my dad and I had found earlier this year. After about fifteen minutes, Skyler Bol, one of the MPG Ranch field techs, yelled, “Got one!”. We all maneuvered across the rocks over to where he stood, and sure enough, there sat a surprisingly small game bird, half-white and half-brown, curiously staring up at us.
It had taken me more than seven years for me to finally see a White-tailed Ptarmigan, but I couldn’t have asked for a better experience—or company—in finding my 299th Montana bird species!
Everyone whipped out their cameras and settled around the fairly unconcerned bird, and soon Skyler spotted another one sitting on a small waterfall nearby! We basked in the ptarmigan glory for at least an hour, then wished the small birds good luck and cold temperatures, and headed back down the trail.
Once we were firmly in the subalpine forest again, we began stopping periodically and playing for Boreal Chickadee. It was great habitat for them, and several members of the group had never seen them before. You might call it “pushing our luck”, but hey, it worked! About two miles from the parking lot after hearing a Mountain Chickadee and several Canada Jays impersonating Yellow-throated Toucans, Josh decided to play for them and a pair of Boreal Chickadees showed up! I had not expected to see them again this year after nabbing my lifer in May and it was great to watch them from a distance as other people took photos of their very first of these boreal birds.
Though our goal was to see White-tailed Ptarmigan, the day facilitated several epic QUACHs as well!
After spying a trio of Golden Eagles again at the parking lot, we headed back to Josh’s house, stopping briefly for a Chestnut-backed Chickadee (there would be several QUACHs completed today) at Avalanche Campground. I had to head home but many of the others stayed another day, and I would soon hear stories of Black Swift, Spruce Grouse and American Three-toed Woodpecker.
As we left the Piegan Pass trailhead, Josh mentioned that he thought it had been his best day of birding in the park, and I would have to agree. And not just because of the great and cooperative birds we saw—because of the people. I had learned so much from everyone as we hiked, and had really gotten to experience what the community I would soon be immersed in would be like. Everyone was so knowledgeable, yet humble and kind, and I was honored to be a part of the first annual “Camp Montana”, even if it was only for a day.
However, seeing the ptarmigan was also a bit sad—who knew how long these alpine birds would be here? With temperatures already breaking record highs within the park, the birds living at the tops of mountains barely had anywhere to go, and snow was disappearing fast. I am very fortunate that I got to experience the birds while they are still here, and hope that somehow, they can adapt to whatever climate change throws at them.
Ptarmigan are a poster bird for how climate change is negatively impacting our planet. As permanent snow fields disappear, habitat for these birds is rapidly shrinking—a call to action to drastically and rapidly reduce the CO2 emissions we as humans produce.
Another problem was posed by seeing the ptarmigan: What will my 300th Montana bird be? Now that I’d nabbed #299, I had no choice but to get to 300, but my options were few and far between, and my days in the state are running out…stay tuned to see what it will be! (I don’t have it yet).
In just the past year, protecting birds has reached a new level of urgency. Please read and share this post with as many people as possible. Thank you!
First off, I want to announce that thanks to all of you, Braden’s last post about the QUACH shattered records for number of views and is already SECOND all-time for our posts, trailing only Birding San Antonio’s River Walk? Are You Nuts? which we posted two-and-a-half years ago! Taylor Swift, can you feel us breathing down your popularity neck?
Probably not. The truth is, FatherSonBirding will never be as popular as Taylor Swift and other celebrities, but birds SHOULD be! As we all know, they provide millions of us a steady source of fun, interest, inspiration, and connection. Unfortunately, we also know that birds are in big trouble, not only from traditional threats such as poaching, invasive species, pesticides, and habitat loss, but from the GIANT SHADOW looming over all of us: climate change. I just read an article about the recent heat wave in the American Southwest and how it might devastate food supplies for millions of migrating birds. This is the very definition of depressing news!
How, as bird-loving, sensitive beings, do we handle what’s happening to birds and other species? It’s not easy—but it is easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless about the world situation. If we want to save our planet’s incredible biodiversity for our children and grandchildren, however, we have to turn our worry into action. Braden and I have four strategies for doing this that we’d like to share with you.
Swallows and other migrating songbirds have been particularly hard-hit in the last year due to climatic chaos that has most likely impacted their food supplies.(Shown: Northern Rough-winged Swallow)
Strategy #1: Education. We don’t know about you, but we feel that education is the key to every problem that needs to be fixed, and birds offer almost unlimited ways to further education. Just taking a friend out birding and showing her what you know helps raise awareness and concern about what’s happening to birds and the importance of protecting and creating habitat. Taking a school class or group of seniors out magnifies that effect—and gives you a chance to correct harmful misinformation out there such as “Climate change is a plot by radicals to harm oil companies” or “Climate change is happening, but is not caused by humans”. If you want to show people just how dramatically our planet is heating up, you can go a step further and share this rock-solid website:NOAA Global Temperature Increase by Year. Our blog, we hope, helps further bird education, too. That doesn’t mean that people will always do the right thing once they have accurate information, but if we leave education up to Fox News or Breitbart, let’s face it, we’re sunk!
Grebes, ducks, and many other birds depend on “watery” refuges to survive—refuges that are coming under increasing pressure as the American West and other parts of the globe become more arid from climate change. (Shown: Eared Grebe)
Strategy #2: Money. We’re always surprised how reluctant many people are to donate money to groups working for causes they believe in. Sure, some people don’t have funds to spare, but let’s be honest, most birders do. If you find it hard to open your bank account, just ask yourself, “What kind of world will I or my children live in if I don’t help solve climate change, habitat loss, and other problems? What will my money be worth then?” The answer isn’t pretty, and yet for the price of a dinner out, we can all make a significant contribution to a group working for birds. Following is a short list of Braden’s and my favorite groups that are helping birds. Check ’em out, then crack open that wallet!
Cornell Lab of Ornithology—the maker of eBird and Merlin makes huge investments in science and education to raise awareness of birds and promote conservation.
Bird Life International—Braden’s favorite group works on the entire international spectrum of bird threats, and also works with local communities to help protect birds and habitats.
Audubon—still the biggest name in birding, Audubon promotes bird conservation and education, and works on legislation to protect birds. (Note: the national, state, and local chapters are all independent entities. Donations to national don’t trickle down, so consider donating to all three.)
American Bird Conservancy—also works on a wide range of bird-related issues including the urgent problem of outdoor cats.
Houston Audubon Society —a regional bird powerhouse, promoting bird education and conservation, and protection of vital habitats, especially for migrating birds. Think High Island from the movie The Big Year!
Union of Concerned Scientists—one of Sneed’s favorite groups, we make monthly contributions to this group working to fight rampant disinformation and promote rational, scientific solutions to a host of problems facing us.
Strategy #3: Reducing Consumption. As birders, we need to acknowledge that we use the planet’s resources by driving around looking for birds. This makes it especially important that we reduce our consumption of fuel and other resources in other ways. There are myriad ways to do this, from turning out lights to making sure we eat our leftovers to letting our grass grow a bit longer before cutting it. Braden’s and my biggest reason for avoiding fast food restaurants these days isn’t the food quality, it’s the amount of waste they generate. We know many families that have cut down on Christmas gift-buying in favor of donating to worthy causes, and that’s a trend we wholeheartedly endorse. After all, is your uncle really going to miss that singing trout on the wall? The possibilities to reduce our footprint by reducing consumption are almost endless. Please note: the idea of plastic recycling sounds good but is basically wishful thinking. According to the EPA, less than 10% of plastic is recycled. The vast majority of it ends up in landfills, where it will persist for hundreds or thousands of years—hopefully, but not necessarily, before it strangles or gets ingested by a bird. One solution: encourage your stores to carry products packaged in truly recyclable or reusable paper-based, metal, or glass containers and whenever possible, choose appropriately. Of course, always bring your own reusable bags when shopping!
Plastic waste may be killing millions of birds that ingest it. It’s also a major source of mortality for birds who, like this pelican I encountered in Texas, get tangled up in it.
Strategy #4: Let Your Politicians Know! Okay, voting for politicians who support environmental causes is a no-brainer, and let’s face it, that means voting for Democrats these days (check out this scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters). We find this partisanship mystifying since we know that millions of Republicans love birds and two presidents who enacted some of the most important environmental legislation—Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon—were Republicans. (Note there are a very few current Republican officeholders with strong environmental records such as PA’s Brian Fitzpatrick. Again, see the scorecard.) Nevertheless, it’s important to let ALL of your representatives know that you support taking steps to replace carbon-emitting fuels with renewable energy, support mass transit, protect habitats, and do other things that safeguard birds and other wildlife. We write, email, and call our state and US representatives on a regular basis, and also write letters to the editor of our local paper about key issues. Don’t know who your representatives are? No need for embarrassment. Here’s a handy website for looking up your federal reps: Congress.govSimilar sites exist for each state. Just do a search on “find my representative”. Audubon, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and other groups on our list above also do an excellent job keeping us informed about important legislation and issues.
You undoubtedly can think of other strategies for helping birds, from picking up plastic litter to running for office yourself. But here’s a closing thought: by saving birds, we are saving ourselves. Some may disagree, but we feel that if the majority of bird species don’t survive, humans probably won’t either, and really, it’s time to get serious about it. If we can cultivate an attitude among birders that each time we go out birding, we will also do something to help birds, there’s going to be no stopping us. Thanks for taking action.
In saving birds, little actions lead to big results.Thank you for taking the first steps!
