Sunday, April 28, 2024

Birding by Categories

 

What is known as the ABA Area includes the continental United States and Canada plus Hawaii.  It does not include Mexico or any of the West Indies both of which are closer to the mainland United States than Hawaii.  Go figure

The American Birding Association area, the Holy Grail of counting species, includes the continental United States and Canada, tiny St. Pierre et Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland, and Hawaii. Why the area includes Hawaii, more than 2000 miles off the mainland coast but it does not include Mexico with whom we share a border, Cuba, 90 miles from Florida or all of Central America and the West Indies that are closer than Hawaii remains a mystery! 

Slightly more than 1100 bird species have been recorded in the area considered the “ABA Area”. Among those 1100 or so species are some that are spectacularly abundant and widespread like Red-winged Blackbird and American Robin. Others are numerous where they occur in their normal range but that range is restricted geographically. Harris’s Sparrow is a perfect example. Still others are exceedingly uncommon or may have been observed here only once or twice in recent history. Red-footed Falcon (I saw it on Martha’s Vineyard), Masked Tityra (I saw it in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas) or Long-billed Murrelet (I saw this Asian seabird in the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky) fit the latter category.

Species abundance and distribution on top of individual skill, create challenges for determining how likely someone is to find species X in the area.  To aid that dilemma, the American Birding Association developed a system of categories to classifiy the difficulty of finding any of the 1138 species that have been recorded in the ABA area. The categories, copied directly from the ABA website include the following:

Code 1 and Code 2: Common or Uncommon. Species that are reported regularly in moderate to large numbers in the ABA Area, whether or not breeding. There is no firm distinction between Code 1 and Code 2 species, except that Code 1 species logically are more widespread and usually more numerous. Code 2 species are less widespread in the ABA Area and may also occur in lower densities.

Code 3: Rare. Species that are reported regularly (i.e., annually) in low numbers in the ABA Area. This category includes non-breeding visitors and very local breeding residents.

Code 4: Casual. Species that are reported irregularly (i.e., less than annually) in the ABA Area, but with six or more total reports, or three or more times in the past 30 years, that typically reflect some pattern of occurrence.

Code 5: Accidental. Species that have been reported in the ABA Area five or fewer times ever, or fewer than three records in the past 30 years.

Code 6: Cannot be found. Species that are probably or definitely extinct, or are extirpated from the ABA Area, or exist entirely within captivity, or exist as released populations that are not yet naturally reestablished.

A former colleague recently sent me an update of how many category 3, 4 and 5 species he still needs to see in his quest to reach 800 species in the ABA area. His email was a spark for me to determine how many Category 3, 4 and 5 species I am missing in the ABA area. My total of 173 species includes one species (European Goldfinch) that is introduced and thriving in Wisconsin and that has been categorized as Category 2. I need to return to my native Cheesehead State to add this bird to my ABA list.

At the same time, I determined which Category 4 and 5 species I have already seen in the ABA area along with what state I saw them. If I have seen the bird in several locations, I simply recorded where I saw it the first time.

The following table summarizes the Category 4 and 5 species I have seen and breaks down their distribution by state or province.


Category

Species

State First Observed

4

Baikal Teal

Colorado

4

Garganey

Arizona

4

Falcated Duck

Alaska

4

White-cheeked Pintail

Florida

4

Key West Quail-Dove

Florida

4

Zenaida Dove

Florida

4

Green-breasted Mango

Texas

5

Xantus' Hummingbird

California

5

Spotted Rail

Texas

5

Northern Lapwing

New York

5

Southern Lapwing

Florida

4

European Golden-Plover

Delaware

4

Eurasian Dotterel

Alaska

5

Collared Plover

Texas

4

Northern Jacana

Texas

5

Little Curlew

California

5

Eurasian Curlew

Massachusetts

4

Great Knot

Alaska

5

Spotted Redshank

Kansas

4

Long-billed Murrelet

Kentucky

4

Black-tailed Gull

Alaska

4

Yellow-legged Gull

Washington DC

4

Kelp Gull

Texas

5

Large-billed Tern

Florida

4

White-winged Tern

Delaware

4

Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel

California

4

Stejneger's Petrel

California

5

Tahiti Petrel

California

4

Streaked Shearwater

California

4

Jabiru

Texas

4

Blue-footed Booby

California

5

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Texas

4

Little Egret

Delaware

5

Western Reef-Heron

Nova Scotia

5

Crane Hawk

Texas

4

Roadside Hawk

Texas

5

Mottled Owl

Texas

5

Stygian Owl

Texas

4

Eared Quetzal

Arizona

5

Amazon Kingfisher

Texas

4

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Alaska

4

Eurasian Kestrel

Massachusetts

5

Red-footed Kestrel

Massachusetts

5

Bat Falcon

Texas

5

Masked Tityra

Texas

4

Nutting's Flycatcher

Arizona

5

Social Flycatcher

Texas

4

Piratic Flycatcher

Florida

4

Variegated Flycatcher

Florida

4

Tufted Flycatcher

Arizona

4

Cuban Pewee

Florida

5

Pine Flycatcher

Arizona

4

Thick-billed Vireo

Florida

5

Cuban Vireo

Florida

4

Brown Shrike

California

4

Brown Jay

Texas

4

Eurasian Jackdaw

Massachusetts

4

Tamaulipas Crow

Texas

4

Bahama Swallow

Florida

5

Gray Silky-Flycatcher

Texas

5

Sinaloa Wren

Arizona

5

Blue Mockingbird

Texas

4

Bahama Mockingbird

Florida

5

Brown-backed Solitaire

Arizona

5

Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush

South Dakota

5

Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush

Texas

4

Dusky Thrush

British Columbia

4

Fieldfare

Minnesota

4

Redwing

New Brunswick

4

White-throated Thrush

Texas

5

Red-legged Thrush

Florida

4

Aztec Thrush

Texas

4

Red-flanked Bluetail

New Jersey

5

Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush

Alaska

4

Tricolored Munia

Florida

4

Siberian Accentor

Idaho

4

Common Chaffinch

Nova Scotia

4

Eurasian Bullfinch

Alaska

4

Little Bunting

California

4

Black-vented Oriole

Arizona

4

Streak-backed Oriole

Arizona

4

Crescent-chested Warbler

Arizona

4

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat

Texas

4

Fan-tailed Warbler

Texas

4

Golden-crowned Warbler

Texas

4

Slate-throated Redstart

Arizona

4

Crimson-collared Grosbeak

Texas

4

Yellow Grosbeak

Arizona

4

Blue Bunting

Texas

4

Red-legged Honeycreeper

Florida

4

Bananaquit

Florida

4

Black-faced Grassquit

Florida

Category 4

63 species

Category 5

29 species

Texas

27 species

Florida

17 species

Arizona

12 species

California

9 species

Alaska

7 species

Massachusetts

4 species

Delaware

3 species

Nova Scotia

2 species

British Columbia

1 species

Colorado

1 species

Idaho

1 species

Kansas

1 species

Kentucky

1 species

Minnesota

1 species

New Brunswick

1 species

New Jersey

1 species

New York

1 species

South Dakota

1 species

Washington DC

1 species

Given its location adjacent to Mexico, its not surprising that the bulk of the birds seen in these two categories were from Texas.  The best stories come from those species seen in just one state or province.  For example Dusky Thrush in British Columbia, Siberian Accentor in Idaho, Spotted Redshank in Kansas, Long-billed Murrelet in Kentucky, and Fieldfare in northern Minnesota.

The Dusky Thrush showed up when I was interviewing for a job in Portland Oregon.  I dashed out of the interview, caught Alaska Airlines to Bellingham, Washington, took a rental car over the border and found the bird in late afternoon.

 


The Siberian Accentor was found near Sun Valley Idaho while I was in Tucson, Arizona for a meeting. I flew from Tucson to Salt Lake City and then to Sun Valley and saw the bird 10 minutes after arriving at its stakeout location. 

 
The Spotted Redshank was observed while I was in Alaska for a meeting.  Quite by accident my return flight to Nebraska made a connection in Kansas City.  There I claimed that I had missed my connection to Grand Island and had to wait a day for another flight.  Instead I dashed over the state line and found the species that was much more likely in Alaska where I had just been, foraging on a prairie wetland with Dickcissels singing all around it.

 

The startling find of a Long-billed Murrelet from Asia, swimming around among the barges on the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky, was too tempting to pass over. I called in sick to work, caught an early morning nonstop from Washington National Airport (never ever call it Reagan National!) to Louisville where I found the bird in late afternoon sunning itself in the warm November sun.


The Fieldfare, a Eurasian cousin of the American Robin, was found in late November not far from Grand Marais, Minnesota, along the North Shore of Lake Superior.  For it I flew from Nebraska to Duluth, Minnesota, rented a car and raced up Minnesota Highway 61 two hours to just outside Grand Marais.  There in the late November afternoon sun I found a large group of birdwatchers standing by the side of the Highway pointing into the forest.  Exiting my car at 4:00 p.m., I followed the pointing fingers and saw the Fieldfare in a spruce tree. My view was brief but convincing.  Sunset was about 4:15 p.m. and I planned to return in the morning the next day for a hopefully longer and more satisfying view.  The same group of birdwatchers from yesterday afternoon were back at the spot.  We stayed in that spot all day.  The Fieldfare was never seen again.


1 comment:

  1. So many tales to tell from a life of chasing birds. The caracara was a grueling experience that finally ended well. Made me question why I’m doing this!

    ReplyDelete