Two Toughies

I decided to devote my Saturday to a wild chase to add two difficult species to my Bigby list - Vermilion Flycatcher and Ferruginous Hawk. Both species are decidedly rare in Orange County. To my knowledge, there is exactly one Vermilion Flycather in the county this winter, and probably fewer than ten Ferruginous Hawks are present in the county (and probably most of those are on the mostly-inaccessible Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.) The flycatcher is at El Toro Memorial Park, a small cemetery in Lake Forest, and one or two Ferruginous Hawks sometimes winter at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which is right on the way to the flycatcher.

My alarm clock woke me from a deep coma at the slightly reasonable hour of six-thirty. Neither hawks nor flycatchers are particularly early risers, so I saw no reason to drag myself out of bed in the dark. I covered ground quickly, arriving at the air station around eight-thirty. Irvine Boulevard cuts for about three miles through the heart of the station, and I kept a keen eye open for hawks as I cruised along. Two miles, a few Red-tailed Hawks, and a billion California Ground-Squirrels later, and I still hadn't seen my target hawk. Then I noticed a big white thing on a bush, which turned out to be a Ferruginous Hawk!



Fortunately, after several minutes the hawk took off and flew almost overhead. Beautiful bird. All hawks are gorgeous, but these guys are especially striking.



It didn't me take much longer to reach my final destination, El Toro Memorial Park. It is almost exactly fifteen miles from my house to the cemetery, and I made the trip in about an hour and a half, including birding stops.



I was faced with a dilemma upon arriving at the cemetery. I had to carry my phone (actually, my mom's phone; my phone inexplicably stopped working yesterday) and wallet along with me, but my biking shorts don't have pockets. I resorted to wearing my sweatshirt, which boasts nice pockets, even though it was way too warm to be wearing it. I proceeded to stroll into the cemetery, climb the hill where the flycatcher usually hangs out, and - flushed a small brownish flycatcher! It landed in a nearby tree - drat, a Say's Phoebe. I combed the area around the hill without any luck, and then desperately moved on to other areas of the cemetery. I freely wandered the cemetery, carefully avoiding visitors who gave me black looks and also two rather creepy guys who appeared to be doing doughnuts on a gator over graves.

I found some decent birds, including two new Bigby birds: Mountain Chickadee and Bullock's Oriole. The flycatcher, however, was nowhere to be seen. I scoured its favorite hill a few more times before heading back to my bike for a much needed swig of water (it was burning hot with that darn sweatshirt on) and a snack. Feeling like a hobo sitting on the curb, I snacked and thought of a plan of attack. I finally came up with the age old strategy eat more, try again. So, I ate a chewy chocolate chip snack bar and a bruised banana before reentering the cemetery to have another go at the flycatcher. My plan worked. Thirty seconds later I was looking at the female Vermilion Flycatcher sitting in a tree that I had already checked about twenty times that morning. So, remember kids: eat more, try again.



I triumphantly exited the cemetery, stripped off the too-warm sweatshirt, and high-tailed it for home. Surprisingly, I made it home in an hour and fifteen minutes. That includes some nasty uphill sections! It was a great morning of Bigbying. In addition to the Ferruginous Hawk and Vermilion Flycatcher, I added Horned Lark, Western Meadowlark, Bullock's Oriole and Mountain Chickadee to my Bigby list. I believe that pushes my list up to one hundred thirty-eight. Cool.

That Was Easy!

Most serious birders spend large amounts of time "chasing" rare birds. I am no exception, but my ability to chase rare birds is somewhat handicapped by the fact that I lack both a driver's license and a car. Oftentimes, rare birds only hang around a day or two, and conning/begging/convincing/coercing/bargaining with my parents for a ride usually takes longer than that. It is entirely understandable why they are reluctant to drive forty-five minutes to see (or maybe not see) an obscure brown sparrow they've never heard of; only a rabid county lister would see the point of that.

But a Vermilion Flycatcher! This species occurs fairly regularly in Orange County, but, being new to the county, it wasn't on my county list. I convinced my mom that the little cemetery where it was wintering was "only a few miles" out of the way home from Starr Ranch and that it would take "only a few minutes" to find the bird.

Hmm.

For once, I was actually right on both counts. The cemetery - El Toro Cemetery in Lake Forest - was only about five miles off the two forty-one toll road we take home from Starr Ranch. On Friday afternoon, after a slow morning of banding at Starr Ranch (we caught exactly six birds, though I did see a couple Scott's Orioles which made things worthwhile), we glided into the cemetery and parked. It took all of about two minutes to located the female Vermilion Flycatcher hawking insects low in some trees nearby. It was rather unwary, almost tame, so I managed to shoot some decent photos. A nice new Orange County bird for me. Don't ask me what my current total is, as I do not know the precise figure... somewhere in the 270s, I believe.

It was nice to easily locate the bird I was seeking for once! Far too often have I chased a rare bird unsuccessfully. Some of the close misses are painful to remember, but some birders get in bragging matches about the birds they've missed ("Once I missed an Ivory Gull by two minutes." "Oh yeah? Once I missed a Bananaquit by thirty seconds!") I hope to boost my sub-par Orange County list past the three hundred mark by the time I leave home for college. It is possible, but it will take a lot more successful rarity chases like this one!

Crossing the Border

I do a lot of birding in Orange County, and as today approached I wasn't sure where exactly to go. Huntington Central Park? No, too default. Crystal Cove? Nah, I don't think there will be too much there. San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary? No... way too default. So, my dad and I decided to cross a certain border to bird a new and exciting place.

No, not the U.S./Mexico border (I wish!), but the border between Orange County and San Bernardino County. Only a little corner of San Bernardino County touches Orange County, but in that corner is Prado Regional Park. A Vermilion Flycatcher and a Ross's Goose had been seen here, and I was also interested in adding to my paltry San Bernardino County list.

After a short drive (it is less than half an hour away), my dad and I arrived at Prado Regional Park. Before we even parked the car, I had picked up a couple county birds: Yellow-rumped Warbler (yipee!) and Acorn Woodpecker. We stopped to check the lake first. There were plenty of American Coots, Ruddy Ducks, Mallards, and a smattering of other common species. We began wandering around the park, clueless about where to go, since we've never been there before. Without trying very hard, I racked up a few dozen species - passerines flitting in the trees and brush, ducks, herons, and egrets (Great Egret pictured at the top of the post) on the lake, and raptors soaring overhead. It wasn't long before I spotted the Ross's Goose loafing with a small group of domestic geese on the shore of the lake.



Suddenly, there was a flash of red, and a beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher landed in a tree right in front of us! We watched this gaudy bird for quite awhile, and unsuccessfully attempted to photograph it. However, the bird was very active and difficult to sneak up on. Later, we also saw an immature male and then a female Vermilion Flycatcher, for a total of three Vermilion Flycatchers. A new state bird for me (What number? Man, I have no idea... three hundred something-or-the-other), and as always a spectacular species to see.



While watching the flycatcher, I began hearing a suspicious twitter some distance away. At first I barely noticed it, I was so engrossed in the Vermilion Flycathcer. I stopped to listen, and heard only House Sparrows. However, I decided to start heading over in that direction anyways. Suddenly, I heard it again: a harsh twitter that sounded very much like a Tropical Kingbird! I hustled over there, and sure enough I found a Tropical Kingbird hanging out with a few Cassin's Kingbirds. This species is rare here, though it is one of the more common vagrants to reach southern California (I know the words "common" and "vagrant" do not below together in the same sentence, but... what the heck). It was too skittish to approach closely, but I tried photographing it anyways. Check out that heavy bill - pity the name Thick-billed Kingbird is already taken.



We meandered around the park until late morning, when we headed for home. The park was very birdy, and in just a couple hours I found about thirty new county birds, bringing my San Bernardino county list up to seventy-eight. That is still very low for a county list, but I'll undoubtedly be back in the future to work on it more.