One of the most exhilarating aspects of birding is finding “new” birds. These birds are called “Lifers”. Some birders go to great extremes to find these lifers. It is like a huge scavenger hunt on every continent on Earth. Most birders keep a Life List which keeps track of every bird species seen for the first time. Some make this list by writing each bird down on paper, some record the date in a field guide and some keep track digitally by posting the birds on an eBird checklist. The eBird checklist is a game changer for birders because eBird can keep track of each bird species, indicate the locations where the bird has been seen along with the date and time. It can also indicate where birds of choice are being seen at any given time. This component of eBird is useful to birders to know where to “chase” the bird they want and must have.

I love chasing birds. It is a huge challenge for me and can be very gratifying if the bird is found or can be very disappointing if not found. I have had both scenarios, it’s just part of birding. I receive a daily alert from eBird as to what rarities and vagrants are sighted based on the county they are found in. It will describe the exact location on a map where other birders have seen the bird and the number of sightings. Vagrants are those birds who accidentally end up somewhere out of their normal range far from home. These are usually migrant birds who have been storm-blown or birds that cannot survive in their normal range due to some natural disaster such as a drought or fire and are trying to find a place with food and water.

An example of a vagrant bird is the Cattle Tyrant who has been living in Corpus Christi since November 2023. This bird originally lives in South America but is believed to have embarked on a cargo ship and traveled all the way to a port in Corpus Christi. It is a very famous bird, it even made Instagram. It has been venturing out a bit but always returns to downtown Corpus in front of a Japanese restaurant. They must have good food there. People have been coming from all over to see this bird so they can add it to their Life List. I had the pleasure of seeing it on December 4th, 2023. It stayed perched in a palm tree in front of the restaurant as shown in the photo below.

Another example of vagrants were the three American Flamingos hanging out at Charlie’s Pasture South Trail in Port Aransas for about a month. Again, people were “flocking” there to see these beautiful pink birds. It was a great sight.

Here recently, I chased a few more birds down in Port Aransas, Texas. I got four life birds: the Red-breasted Merganser (a type of duck), a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Bonaparte’s Gull and a very rare bird, the Clapper Rail. I thought I saw the Iceland Gull and posted photos and a description but the Regional eBird guy said it was the Herring Gull so I had to change it. Oh well, I will have to chase him again another day.

Cattle Tyrant

American Flamingos

Clapper Rail