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.