Birding Here and There

Calliope Hummingbird

When I began birding I was given a friendly warning about how addictive the hobby can be.  "The first hundred birds are practically outside your window.  But if you get into it, the last hundred  will cost you a second mortgage."  Sure enough, the first hundred were all local and relatively easy.  I hope I'm not on my last hundred just yet, but lifers are getting harder and harder to find.  My previous hundred have involved birding in Florida, Texas, and Alaska and pelagic trips into the Atlantic and the Gulf of Alaska.  Within the last week my car passed the 200,000 mile mark, most of which have been on birding trips.  Such is the life of an avid birder; you can see some great birds close to home, but then you have to hit the road to see another.  It's what we do.

Early this week I heard of two hummingbirds, a Calliope and a Rufous,  hanging out in the same yard in nearby High Springs.  Neither would be a lifer, but both were great birds for Florida.  So I found myself sitting in a backyard in the cold hoping the birds would be cooperative.  The Calliope showed up very quickly and posed for photos like a runway model.  But several hours passed and the Rufous was a no-show.  Fair enough.  One of two isn't too bad.  Besides, I had a bigger goal in mind.

Bar-tailed Godwit, Lifer #450.

In my last blog I mentioned a trip to Tarpon Springs in search of a Bar-tailed Godwit.  After 3.5 hours of driving, we stayed in one spot for well over seven hours in the rain without success then drove 3.5 hours back home.   A week later The Big Red Van was on the road again chasing the same Godwit.  This time the story was a bit different.  This time the trip took a little longer since we hot rush hour traffic, but we pulled into Howard Park at about 9:15.  We saw the bird at 9:16.  We didn't even have to get out of the car.  We drove up to the spot, looked out the window and there it was, my lifer #450.  We hung around for a while and took a bunch of photos.  We also saw a Wilson's Plover, a bird I haven't seen in a couple of years and have never photographed.  We snapped away and got a few good photos.  We ate lunch and started back home.

During the drive back toward Gainesville we got word that a Western Tanager had been seen in the same yard we had visited the day before!  Now we knew what we were doing with our Friday!  Again, we reached the yard early in the morning and hunkered down in the cold to wait.  I noticed that the water in the birdbath was frozen.  This was not comforting.

Rufous Hummingbird

Once again, the Calliope showed up quickly.  It was soon joined by some Baltimore Orioles, American Goldfinches, Chipping Sparrows and several more of the usual north Florida feeder birds.  But there was no Tanager.  Then there was a moment of excitement - the Rufous Hummingbird made an appearance, and it too posed graciously for photos.  But still there was no Tanager.  We waited for about five hours before leaving.  On the way out I joked that I was leaving to break the jinx so the rest would see the bird.  About 40 minutes later I got a text that the Western Tanager had made an appearance.  Dang!

The week ended with a sense of deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say.  I heard of anothr possible Western Tanager in yet another yard near Gainesville.  This time I caught a very fleeting glimpse of a what might have been a Tanager, but that was all.  Once again, I left with the same comment about breaking the jinx.  A bit later I got an email with a photo, not of a Western Tanager but of a female Painted Bunting that showed up just after I left.  Can I call it or what??  But what the heck, I also received a photo of a male Painted Bunting ... in yet another yard in yet another nearby town.  Maybe I'll go there tomorrow and help someone else find a great bird when I leave!

From top: Marbled and Bar-tailed Godwits and Ruddy Turnstone

Wilson's Plover

American Goldfinch

Baltimore Oriole