Couch's Kingbird, Tawas Point

[Karl Overman]

Robert Epstein and I went to Tawas Point early today at the  
conclusion of a Michigan Audubon/Detroit Audubon Camp at Loon Lake in  
Iosco County.  We ran into a number of birders looking for the  
Couch's Kingbird.  We were at the very tip looking at shorebirds,  
including 2 Whimbrel, when Scott Terry yelled out that he had the  
Couch's Kingbird.  It was a speck heading south over Lake Huron which  
fortunately turned around and headed back to the point, diving in  
some place about 200 yards to the north.  This was at 8 am.  We could  
not find it so Robert and I left to head home.  As a footnote, at  
about 6 am we had seen a Willet on a small island off the Ace  
Hardware on U.S. 23 in Tawas.

Hopefully someone else who stayed longer today with give a further  
update on the kingbird.

As Robert and I were in on the initial finding of the bird on May  
26th, I thought I would recount the events surrounding finding it as  
it shows how modern technology impacts birding today.

I was leading a field trip to Tawas Point for the Audubon group.  We  
had already birded the tip and were straggling back to the parking  
lot when I saw through vegetation a Robin chasing a long tailed  
looking flycatcher which disappeared toward the south.  It looked  
interesting so I hustled back toward the tip.  Well I did not find my  
mystery flycatcher so I started walking back along the bay side.  I  
found a yellow bellied kingbird perched low in a shrub.  It flew off  
at below eye level, revealing a forked tail that had no white on the  
edges.  I yelled for my compatriots to get on the bird.  It was  
skittish but eventually landed on a power line where we could view it  
well.  I was telling Robert to photograph it and look at it latter.   
He banged off a couple of shots with is Canon SLR in the minute it   
perched for us before it flew off high and to the south, out of  
sight.  This was around 12:40 am.

We knew that Becky and Jeff Kingery were birding the point so we went  
looking for them, as Jeff is a former Wings tour leader and knows  
Tropical/Couch's Kingbirds as well or better than any one else in the  
state.  Jeff looked at the display of Robert's camera, and thought it  
looked promising for that type of kingbird, which realistically is  
impossible to id to species by sight.  He asked if Robert had a lap  
top with him.  Well, yes he did, in his car.  So back to the parking  
lot.  Robert downloaded the image on the computer.  Jeff looked at  
it--no doubt, it is a Tropical/Couch's Kingbird type.

Now we had an obligation to the wider birding public to let them know  
of this find even though it may have gone and even if we could not  
say which of the two species it was because it never called.  So  
Robert called on his cell phone to Scott Jennex, counting on word  
getting out through this well connected birder.  Becky, Jeff, Robert  
and I then trudged back down the tip looking for the now less  
mysterious--but not definitively identified-- kingbird in hopes that  
it would call.  Jeff had an i Pod with nice speakers with seemingly  
all North American birds on it--but no Tropical Kingbird.  Robert had  
a CD player in his car with all North American birds so we went and  
got that.  We spent over an hour looking for the bird without  
success.  Robert and I were giving up and heading back up the tip  
when Jeff called from the tip, saying he had the bird.  Back we went.  
In the interim we were fielding calls on our cell phones from various  
birders about whether we heard the bird--no--because a number of  
Michigan birders had seen a Tropical Kingbird in the U.P. in the late  
fall 2 years ago (I think) and were reluctant to burn up $3.50 gas if  
this bird proved to be a Tropical.

Now the bird was relatively cooperative, often perching low.  We  
played both Tropical and Couch's calls to it.  Not a peep.  Groan.   
We stayed with the bird until 4:40 p.m., when we passed it on to the  
enthusiastic teen trio of Neil Gilbert and Eli Thomas and Rob  
Poniatowski who busily clicked away at the bird.

Robert Epstein and I had been there all day and were growing weary.   
We knew that Scott Jennex was on his way from the Detroit area and  
Phil Chu was heading down from Whitefish. We would leave it in their  
capable hands to see if they could coax a sound out of this  
exceptional vagrant.  Of course the kingbird did speak up the next  
day as you all know with Brad Murphy hearing it and comparing it to  
Mike Sefton's recordings on his i Pod.

With all the high tech stuff a well outfitted birder needs these  
days, I think there is a market for birding caddies.

Cheers,

Karl Overman
Farmngton Hills, Mi.