‘BIRD OF THE YEAR’
Rare birds spotted in 2021 vie for county award
2021 was a stellar year for rare avian visitors, as four of the five nominees for Humboldt County Bird of the Year turned out to be the first confirmed sightings for these species here.
“This was by far the hardest voting ever (in the ninth year of the award). I hope we don’t have another year like this anytime soon … just for voting purposes, of course,” wrote Rob Fowler to fellow judges Tom Leskiw and Jude Power.
The bird crowned as Humboldt County Bird of the Year for 2021 — a Eurasian skylark — was first spotted in Loleta just three days into the new year, during the Centerville Christmas Bird Count (CBC). It was only the fourth California record for a bird for which the bulk of its population winters in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The Humboldt County Bird of the Year award is intended to honor the rare species that find favorable habitat here for periods usually ranging from a single day to several months and the dedicated birders that “pound the patches” to dig them out for others to enjoy.
Sometimes, the birds attract people from out of the county or even from out of state to spend their ecotourism dollars here. The award is sponsored by Fowlerope Birding Tours, the website tomleskiw.com and Jude Power. Species were selected based on their rarity in the county, whether they remained long enough to be seen by many people, with a plus if their sighting generated some visitor spending. The award was presented via Zoom prior to the Godwit Days keynote lecture on April 16.
The goal of anyone finding what they believe to be a rare bird is to document it thoroughly: study it, take photos and/or sound recordings, and write notes about its appearance and behavior. But the CBC team of Tony Kurz, Casey Ryan and Lucas Brug was hampered by poor weather conditions and a dull brown-and-white, seven-inch-long bird that was seen only in flight.
“The bird’s call reminded me of a house finch. Its overall body shape was like a lark or pipit. Its strangest characteristic was the way it flew, like a lark, pipit or longspur, clearly not a finch by shape or flight, but why did it sound like a house finch? It didn’t sound at all like the Eurasian skylark I saw two winters ago in Del Norte,” said Tony Kurz.
“This bird stayed at the same elevation and lazily fluttered around, acting as if it wanted to land but never committing. I recorded its call on my phone. It finally landed amid a flock of meadowlarks, but they all flew away when our counting crew approached.
The next day, I shared my recording, and we came up with a small list of potential birds. None of them seemed to match, so I reported it as a ‘passerine (perching) species’ during the Centerville Zoomed species tally on Jan. 4. I suggested that people look for it if they were birding in the area.”
Russ Namitz acted on Kurz’s suggestion two days later, visiting the sighting location, a field at the intersection of Cannibal Island and Cock Robin Island Roads. After some time, the bird landed on the ground, allowing Namitz to observe it more closely and definitively identify it as a Eurasian skylark.
“I was intrigued to hear about a ‘mystery bird’ from team leader Tony Kurz,” Namitz said. “I visited the area on a cool, overcast day with intermittent light rain. A large flock of American pipits and western meadowlarks was feeding in the field. I pulled over, using my truck as a blind. After about an hour, the flock was close enough to scrutinize with binoculars. I spotted a smaller passerine that I expected to be a horned lark, but it soon was clear that I was looking at a Eurasian skylark!”
More than two dozen birders, including some from out of the area, eventually caught up with and submitted eBird reports for this first county record, which continued to be seen until at least Feb. 14.
2021 runner-ups
The species garnering second place was tundra bean-goose, sighted and identified by Keith Slauson.
“I was heading home from work on Oct. 14 and decided to take the scenic route through the Arcata Bottoms, to look for interesting birds. I pulled off along Jackson Ranch Road
to scan a flock of Aleutian cackling geese when I spotted a different species of goose. I grabbed my camera and started taking photos. I wasn’t 100% sure of the identification, as there are two species of beangoose to consider, tundra and taiga. The two can be difficult to separate and were not species I’d studied before. After comparing my photos to others on eBird, I felt comfortable getting the word out that there was a bean-goose in the Arcata Bottoms. Light was beginning to fade, but a number of birders made it there before dusk to see it,” Slauson said.
The bird proved very accommodating, sticking around until at least Nov. 6, generating 67 eBird reports and many photos. It was the second Humboldt County record for this species: in 2015, a hunter shot one, which was not seen alive by birders.
Slauson’s sighting was only the fourth record for California.
Brown-crested flycatcher came in third. This first county record turned out to be a real family affair for the Slausons of McKinleyville. On Oct. 8, 9-yearold Leo Slauson looked out the dining room window and spotted a “cool-looking bird” that he pointed out to his mom, Rose, and sister Naomi. Rose took a photo with her phone and texted it with the question “What bird is this?” to her husband, Keith.
“Once I saw the picture of a bird with a very large bill and relatively pale plumage, I thought it might be a species of flycatcher quite rare to this area, a browncrested flycatcher,” said Keith Slauson. “When I got home, I saw the bird perched on our sports net and began to study it through my binoculars. I texted two birders who live nearby that there was likely a rare bird in my yard and since my camera was malfunctioning, I needed others to help document it.
“The species in the genus Myiarchus pose field identification challenges, as several have subtle morphological (body structure) differences and are most safely identified by their vocalizations,” Slauson said. “Unfortunately, the bird in my yard was silent. Rob Fowler played vocalizations of brown-crested flycatcher, to which the bird responded by changing its perch position to face us, but did not respond vocally. The next day, while I was at soccer games for Leo and Naomi, further broadcasting of calls elicited a vocal response, confirming the bird’s identification. According to eBird, this sighting was the northernmost detection within its range.”
Only the fourth record for Northern California, it was last reported to eBird on Oct. 10.
In fourth place is pine warbler. This first Humboldt County record turned out to be a one-day wonder. Rob Fowler found, identified and photographed it on the Hikshari’ Trail, near Eureka’s wastewater treatment plant, on Oct. 7.
“I went to look for vagrants (unexpected birds) at Elk River Wildlife Sanctuary,” Fowler said. “I pulled into the lot at the end of
Hilfiker, got out and heard black-capped chickadees calling from the woods. I played a tape and one of the first birds to pop out was a bright yellow-green vireo, only the second one I’ve found in Humboldt! As I headed back to my car, I heard a warbler chip coming from shore pines on the west side of the trail near the parking lot … and out popped a super dull warbler that I quickly photographed. It flew south towards the riparian and I couldn’t re-find it. In flight, I saw with my naked eye that it lacked color on the rump, so I started getting excited that I might have a hatch-year female pine warbler, the first documented record for Humboldt. I felt I needed someone to confirm the bird, since I have only seen brighter males in SoCal and Texas, so I sent my pix to Logan Kahle, asking ‘Is this what I think it is?’ He quickly replied with some expletives, confirming what I thought. I put the word out on the local WhatsApp chat. Everyone that chased the bird that day saw it, as it foraged high in the Monterey pines, but the next day, no one could refind it.”
The final bird for 2021 is lesser nighthawk, which Keith Slauson sighted and identified near the Hammond Bridge in McKinleyville on March 29. This was the first Humboldt County record for this species, which remained around until at least April 7. Two others — Rose Albert and Jayde Blair — separately had seen what they believed to be a nighthawk about a week earlier, but did not pin it down to species or put out a call for confirmation help from the local birding community at large.
Keith Slauson said, “Around 7:30 p.m., I took my dog, Clover, for a walk to the Hammond Bridge. I didn’t bring binoculars or a camera. Once on the bridge, I noticed a nighthawk foraging low, barely above the alders. Given the date, the likelihood of it being a common nighthawk was extremely low, as that bird is a late-season migrant here. I texted Rob Fowler and Greg Gray for backup and they arrived in time to see the bird. While they were in route, I snapped photos with my iPhone, in the hopes that one would capture a diagnostic field mark. Luckily, one did, and the ID could be confirmed as the first record of lesser nighthawk in both Humboldt County and northwestern California. The bird, which ranges from lower California south through Mexico and Central America, was last reported to eBird on April 7 and seen by many other birders.”