Ever been on a rare bird chase?
Birders often enjoy chasing birds that are hard to see in a given area. Keeping lists of bird species seen is extremely popular in the birding world, and in many cases, birders keep a worldwide list as well as a country list, state list, county lists, and even year lists for some or all of the locations. Listing is exciting, but can also mean that you’ll be tempted into dropping everything and speeding off to who-knows-where to chase a species that you may only have one shot at seeing in that area.
Such was the case when we heard from the WV Rare Birds texting group that five Roseate Spoonbills were present at South Mill Creek Lake in Grant County, West Virginia. James isn’t much of a lister, but I try to keep up with my WV list, and we both love the thrill of a bird chase. The first text came in late on a Thursday, and there was no time to make the two-hour drive before dark to attempt to see them. We decided that, if they were reported on Friday, we would take off as soon as James got off work.
Roseate Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills are native to much of South America, Central American, and southern coastal parts of Florida and Texas. As the name implies, these large, flamingo-colored wading birds have giant spoon-shaped bills that they use to filter water through in search of edible invertebrates. I think they are equally beautiful and bizarre — check out this video (with footage I took in Florida and Texas) to see for yourself.
They aren’t migratory in the traditional sense, but disperse after breeding or when environmental conditions invoke them, and rarely, there are mini “eruptions” that send a small number of spoonies north. Such was the case for these 5, the second recorded sighting of Roseate Spoonbills in WV, that occurred at the same time as a few sightings in Virginia and the Carolinas.
Spoonbills at South Mill Creek Lake
We were ecstatic to see that the spoonbills were sighted Friday, and we took off as quickly as we could to get there and watch them about an hour before sunset. Success is sweet, especially alongside the feeling of relief that the drive was not in vain! We enjoyed seeing the spoonbills for a little over an hour, watching them actively feeding among geese, Killdeer, and dozens of Cedar Waxwings flying overheard. We didn’t try to get too close to them — we had our Kowa Spotting Scope with us (as always!), and had incredible views from a diagonal access point across the lake. I digiscoped videos of the seemingly carefree and happy spoonies as a record of the sighting.
Home via Uno’s
Shortly before dark, we took off back toward home, stopping at Uno’s in Deep Creek for a celebratory slice of pizza. The spoonbills were the 259th species I have seen in West Virginia. I’ll admit, I’m trying to crack the top ten in the state for most species seen on eBird… I’ve been stuck at #11 for about a year now! What do you think my next new state bird will be?
West Virginia Rare Bird Resources
As of this writing five days after the sighting, the birds are still present, which is a remarkably long time to get to see these rarities. If you want to keep in the loop on rare birds in West Virginia, here are four free resources for you:
Mountain State Birders-WV »
This Facebook group is a hub for rare bird reports and general birding updates alike.
WV ListServ »
You can read or share information about rare birds in the ListServ, a long-time-running email subscription service. This resource is admittedly becoming less popular, but if you really want to keep up with rare bird reports, I suggest subscribing.
WV Rare Birds Text Group
This is a no-frills, no-small-talk, only rare bird alerts texting group started in 2021. To join this group, send us an email with your name and phone number, and we’ll get you added.
eBird Rare Bird and Needs Alerts »
With an eBird account, you can view or set up hourly or daily rare bird alerts for WV. If you use eBird to keep your bird lists, you can also view target species that you have not seen in any given area.
