Five more

Pied Billed Grebe

I had Friday and Saturday off this week.  Knowing I would be in New Hampshire next week and by then the majority of songbirds will be south anyway, I decided to do some hardcore birding this week. Over my two days off, including driving, I birded 21 hours.

I started Friday with my friend Sue at Trustom Pond. We didn't see any new birds but we took all the photos we wanted of a Pied-Billed Grebe. It was very close in the little pond. It had no fear of us at all. My my main motivation to go to Trustom was to see Common Galinule. It is a fairly rare bird but one shows up there every year. I tried a couple of times but missed.

As I was leaving Trustom, I texted Jan StJean that the Galinule wasn't there and I was headed to Napatree. Her response " you're not spending enough time there. The bird is there. Bring your scope and find it!"

American Pipit

I went to Napatree and got bird #275, American Pipit. After I left Napatree I bought a soda ( I rarely drink soda) and a snack. I went back to Trustom for the Common Galinule. I was going to stay until dark if I had to. I walked out to Otter Point, set up my scope and cracked my Coke. Within five minutes the Galinule (#276) came out of the reeds and I saw it. I had spent a combined two hours looking for this bird in my other attempts. I was willing to give it three hours this time alone! I didn't feel like adding an open soda to the equipment I had to trudge back to the car so I finished it while enjoying my success. As you can imagine, I texted Jan that I got the bird and got the "See, I told ya"

Bad picture of Common Galinule, but good enough for an ID

Saturday morning was COLD! I got to Snake Den Farm just after the sun came up. To my surprise a young birder named Patrick Felker was already there. Patrick is a 19 y/o kid that is obsessed with birds. He is a great birder who knows bird songs far better than me. He is a great kid. We checked out the front field then worked our way back to the back fields.

At one brushy area we saw a bird about four feet up in a small maple. We both put our binos on it. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. It was a Connecticut Warbler. Connecticut Warblers (#277) are unbelievably rare.  Also making them difficult to see is their habit of staying hidden in brush and to walk on the ground. It is a large warbler with a white eye ring. It has a yellow belly. Instead of hopping like most birds, it actually walks along branches. We had a solid 20 second look at it.

This bird is so rare that some of my expert birder friends have only seen four or five in their life (some have only seen oneor two). In Neil Hayward's book about traveling across the country doing a big year, where he saw almost 800 birds, he devotes a an entire chapter to the difficulties of seeing a Connecticut Warbler.

Patrick sent a message to our bird group. Within an hour the parking area was full. Patrick and I moved to the field where we could warm up in the sun. Along with other birders, I saw a Lincoln's Sparrow (#278). There was also a clay colored sparrow there but I missed it. Clay-Colored would have been another lifebird and would have been a good bird to add to my list.

At 1:30 pm,  a few of us met at Succatash Marsh to look for rails and Nelson's Saltmarsh Sparrow. Rails are rare and the likelihood of seeing one was pretty much nil. The sparrow was our main goal. I have seen Nelson's the last two years at Scarborough Marsh in Maine. However, I had never seen one in RI. Carlos Pedro was the leader of the expedition through the marsh (boots required). We flushed a  couple of sparrows. The first one took off out of sight. The second one flew 40 yards to a bush in the marsh. We walked close to the bush and got great looks at it until it(#279) flew back into the marsh grass.

After we got out of the marsh, three of us talked for over an hour. From there, I drove up to Carbuckle Pomd where I searched for Purple Finch until dark and owls after dark finding neither. Missing those birds was no big deal. Seeing a Connecticut Warbler, a bird I will probably not see again for 5 years, alone made for an amazing day.