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.
