Most birders have a “nemesis bird.” A bird that, despite significant effort, eludes observation. Jeannette’s “nemesis bird” is the Varied Thrush. She has only heard, but not seen them in California, and attempts to “chase” them elsewhere have been unsuccessful.

Last winter, we chased one in Newburyport, MA only to later find out that we missed the bird while we helped to dig a car out of a snowbank! We were not rewarded for our good Samaritan efforts that day! This year, two Varied Thrushes have been turned up within about 2 hours of our home. But, with the holiday shopping season, we were without a day off for a month. But yesterday, with our regular day off back on schedule, we decided a Varied Thrush chase was in order.

One bird, in Old Town, ME has been present for over a month, reliably visiting a feeder, but it had not been seen in 3 days. (The homeowner, by the way, was welcoming birders to come look for the bird – see the comments from my last blog entry). So, we decided to head south to look for a bird hanging out in Boston’s Fenway section.

The bird has been frequenting a small area of “The Fens,” near the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials. Our plan was to bird a park while rush-hour traffic cleared, head to the Fens, see the Thrush, and then get a good lunch in the North End, and bird our way home. So much for that plan.

We only left about 10 minutes late in the morning, but hit enough traffic on our way down to fall even farther behind schedule. Our first stop was Deer Island in Winthrop, part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Historic Park. We enjoy walking there, as the open fields often contain sparrows, seaducks are abundant offshore, and the panoramic views of the city and the other Harbor Islands are outstanding. (The “hills” at Deer Island, by the way, were created by the excavations for the gigantic sewage treatment plant there that has done wonders to clean up Boston Harbor – remember those devastating ads that George H.W. Bush ran against Dukakis in ’88?) Despite rather slow birding – an American Kestrel was the highlight, a few American Tree and Song Sparrows were in the fields, and Common Eiders, scoters, and Common Goldeneye were abundant offshore – we spent more time here than we planned, so left for the Fens even later than we planned.

Now, usually, when we go into the city we take the “T.” This time, we took our dog, and therefore our car. Mistake. Driving in Boston is no way to relax on a day off. And, as is usual of when we drive into Boston, we got lost. We did eventually find the Fens, and eventually where the monuments were, and we eventually even found parking! But, by this time, it was already 11:30am.

We were most afraid to have heard that others had already seen the bird, and a Cooper’s Hawk had just taken it out. We arrived, but no other birders were present, but there WAS a Cooper’s Hawk – luckily, she had not eaten recently. We were soon joined by another birder, so at least we knew we were in the right place.

A lingering Fox Sparrow was a good find, as was an Eastern Towhee and a Red-bellied Woodpecker (nice for us from up north anyway). Lots of birds were in the area, but no Varied Thrush was to be found. We spent an hour and a half searching, before our stomachs came calling. We found a nearby deli, which took forever to make two sandwiches. We got back to the park - the other birder was no where to be seen - he did say he only had 2 hours before his meter ran out, right? He didn’t see the bird and now went home did he? We were in that deli for a while!

Well, nothing we can do except eat. So we did. Uh, let’s just say that the sandwiches were NOT worth waiting for. In fact, they were terrible – not that great Boston Deli sandwich we were planning on. So, not only did we (so far anyway) miss out on the Varied Thrush, we missed out on our great lunch that we were equally as excited about! By 2:00, we decided to throw in the towel and head north.

We stopped at Dunback Meadows in Lexington, where – thanks to information from the birder that we ran into in the Fens – has been hosted a number of Long-eared Owls. We wandered around that park for a while. Although we didn’t find any Long-ears (a birder we ran into there told us none have been seen in a couple of days), Jeannette did spot a Northern Saw-whet Owl WAY up in a Red Pine - far higher than I have ever seen one of this little gnomes. (Jeannette's on a roll with these guys - two within a week!). A cooperative Northern Shrike was also seen, for another consolation prize.

“This is why I don’t chase birds,” exclaimed Jeannette on multiple occasions.

Common Eider, Deer Island:

Boston skyline:

The Hills of Deer Island:

That's a LOT of poo!!

By the way, Jeannette and I leave tomorrow morning for 4 days in Atlanta. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how I am going to escape to get some birding in - this is for a Convention and Trade Show. Ugh, four days indoors. See ya Monday!