The Nemesis Bird

Those chases I’ve gone on and competely missed seeing the rare bird I was trying for.

An Aechmophorus grebe (either Western or Clark’s) was reported today at Blue Marsh Lake by a local birder. Being only about 45 minutes away I jumped in my car and drove down to the lake, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bird. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the bird from the multiple [...]

On Monday I headed to Cape May, NJ with a friend to look for a Dovekie that had been reported on Two Mile Beach. There was also a Barnacle Goose hanging around and both of these birds would have been lifers for me. Red Crossbills and an Ash-throated Flycatcher were being seen on Cape May [...]

Since everyone from my brother to Google is posting a list of 2007 by the numbers, I might as well do it too…
3- number of first state records I missed in PA this year (Slaty-backed Gull, Long-billed Murrelet and Yellow-billed Loon)77- number of posts this year253- number of species I saw in PA in 2007269- [...]

I had an excellent Easter. I saw 2 of the 3 birds I chased, missing only Yellow-headed Blackbird. That miss is not too big of a deal because between Scott’s Oriole (1st PA record), Lazuli Bunting (3rd PA record) and Y-h Blackbird, the blackbird is the most likely to turn up in PA again in [...]

Well, I went to go find the Western Kingbird again. I figured it was so easy the first time, why not try to get it for this year’s list. It is an attractive bird anyways, so it would be nice to see again. Well, no such luck for me today. I [...]

Well, I have been to Memorial Lake 3 times now to see the Thayer’s Gull and last night was the closest I have come to see it. It showed up as it was getting dark and Tom Johnson gave me a call that he was seeing it from across the lake. My mistake [...]

I have a brand new miss for my list. There was a Northern Shrike reported around the same area as that mystery empid (probably Least Flycatcher) during the Solanco CBC. It was in an easy to locate area and close to my girlfriends house so I decided to give it a shot today. [...]

Missed another good bird yesterday. There was a Thayer’s Gull reported at Memorial Lake State Park along with a first cycle Iceland Gull. Both are good for the area with Thayer’s being especially hard to find this far east. It was a second cycle bird that had been seen at least several [...]