Chasing down and photographing rare birds has never been my thing but lately I seem to have run into some of the most uncommon or rare birds in the entire country. During the first week of March I was leading a trip to Nebraska for the annual migration of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. This is a regular trip for me and I expect to see some amazing things such as tens of thousands of cranes filling the evening sky. I might even expect to see, if I am very lucky, a Whooping Crane mixed in the thousands of Sandhill Cranes. Whooping Cranes are very uncommon birds with populations numbering only in the hundreds.

However within 30 minutes of arriving in south central Nebraska, I pulled up to a large flock of cranes feeding in a corn field near the road. Immediately I noticed an unusual crane standing on the edge of the flock. Of course the first thing I did was grab my camera and ripped off a couple shots to make sure I had a record of the bird before it took off. Having never seen this kind of crane before I knew it was something special. A few seconds later the crane took off with the rest of the flock.

A quick check of the first field guide gave me no clue. The bird was not in the guide. Fortunately a friend had another field guide which did include the identity. We had found a Common Crane which is a kind of crane found in Eurasia and not found in North America. Our group broke into cheers at the fact that we found such a rare bird. A few phone calls later and we found out that this bird is probably the only one of its kind in the country in the wild.

Fast forward three week and I am in south Texas Rio Grand Valley where I am writing this column. This time I am working on photographing birds and animals for several new field guides for the state of Texas. While talking to some friends at a local gathering one evening I was told of a rare bird. For the past couple of weeks a White-throated Robin has been seen feeding in a mulberry tree in a town near by. So the next day I head over to see what I can find. I am traveling with 3 other professional wildlife photographers and it was an interest to all of us.

Within 10 minutes of arriving in the area we locate the bird feeding on ripening mulberries but the bird stays deep within the inter part of the tree and never leaves the dark shadows. We set up our cameras and begin the waiting process. An hour passes and nothing. We can see parts of the bird, a wing here and a tail there between the branches and leaves but we can’t get a shot of the entire bird. The bird is actively feeding on the berries and doesn’t even notice us.

Then all of a sudden, a bird that looks like a robin with a bright white throat, hops out into the open on a branch and the cameras start clicking in rapid fire mode. The bird remains out in the open for another few seconds before flying back into the shadowy interior part of the tree. We are thrilled. High fives all around.

The white-throated Robin (Turdus assimilis) normally occurs in the mountains of Mexico. The first one ever recorded in the US was in Laguna Vista, Cameron Co. Texas on Feb 18, 1990. This bird was coming to a feeder with other birds. The second record of a White-throated Robin in the US came in February 1998, also in Texas.

Then on March 18, 2008, Allen Williams, a resident of Pharr, Texas found a White-throated Robin feeding on mulberries in his rather large backyard. About a week later I was there to see and photograph this very rare bird in the US. I guess you don’t need to chase down rare birds in order to see these rarities. Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is just as good. Until next time…