When the word got out that the bird was a Red-flanked Bluetail, birders descended on the small community the next morning. When it was successfully refound that morning, the numbers of birders exponentially grew over the next few days with birders arriving from as far away as Nova Scotia and Georgia, to name a few. A fairly strong coastal storm moved in on the 10th. There were no reports of the bird on the 10th or 11th. Due to other obligations, I wasn't able to try for the bird until Tuesday, the 12th. Many assumed it had moved on before the storm. I spent about five hours there with about a dozen birders, but none of us saw it. Again, there were no sightings from the 13th. Then on the 14th, there was one report without a photo of the bird being seen late in the day, which was promising but was met with some skepticism. I decided to try a second and last time on Saturday to see if I could refind it.
I left around 6:00 AM and got there around 8:00. I was the only birder there. I parked outside the development and walked in to Harry's house. Harry came out and told me that the bird had not been seen all week except for the aforementioned report on late Thursday. I walked around to the Juniper Street side of the woods since the sun was hitting that side. A Cooper's Hawk was perched in a tree farther up the street. Hopefully, it hadn't captured a small bird with a blue tail.
A Hermit Thrush was feeding along the edge of the woods and in one of the holly trees.
After a careful check of the Juniper Street side, I walked back around to the Spring Street side, parked myself alongside 26B Spring Street, and began looking. At around 10:10, I noticed a bird fly up from the back of the woods and land on a branch at about mid-level. At the same time, the resident from 2B Juniper Street walked up along the side of his house and said, "The bird's right in front of you!" Later, I found out that he had seen the bird on a low branch and on the ground about 10 feet from his back window where it flew up into the woods just before he tried to get a cell phone photo of it. That's when I first noticed it. It flew a little to the right and perched on another branch just long enough for me to see its field marks and pumping blue tail. Just as I was ready to snap a photo, it took off, flew over my head, and went into the holly behind Harry Riker's house at 2A Spring Street. I saw it fly around there once and then lost it behind the holly. It was my first one for the United States. I sent out a text alert to let others know that the bird was indeed still present. Several birders began filing in over the next few hours. I stayed until around 2:00, hoping to see it again and maybe get a photo, but that didn't happen. When I left, there were eleven cars parked along the road.
I had previously seen one in almost the same plumage near Vancouver, Canada back on February 18, 2013. Since I didn't get a photo of the New Jersey bird, here are some of the photos of the Vancouver bird.
It was fun talking with Harry Riker about his "life-changing experience" with the bird and the hundreds of birders that came to see his incredible find. I want to thank him and his neighbors' fantastic cooperation allowing birders around and, in some cases, on their properties.
I was one of the eleven other birders who were hoping to see the bird behind Harry's home the day that you finally saw the bird. Your sighting gave us hope that the bluetail was still there. Although I did not see it that day I was rewarded on my fourth attempt with great views and some photos. Thanks, Harry and Nancy for your hospitality and thank you to the Crestwood community for welcoming us birders into their streets and lives.
ReplyDelete