Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hummer rescue

A hummer got stuck in my shed just a few minutes ago, and was lucky my brother happened to get his bike out and notice it! I went out and managed to get it fairly quickly and without too much stress on the bird, then grabbed my camera and got my mom to make up a bit of sugar water. After a few minutes of recouping, it managed to drink almost a full teaspoon of the water, then took off into a nearby tree to preen and rest for a bit. A happy ending!

Resting

Drinking the sugar water - see her tongue?
I forgot to mention that my nightwatching the other night was fairly successful - had a Black-throated Green Warbler as well as a few others that I wasn't sure of. This morning as I walked out to the car I heard a Veery doing it's flight call - yard bird #96! There were also 3 or 4 different warblers up there but I didn't have much time as I had to get going. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll sit outside for a bit before heading to work.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Migrants

I biked down around the Locks and Bellevue for a few hours after work today (got off early!). Migration is definitely picking up, and I had 13 warbler species for the ride, highlights being Bay-breasted, Mourning, Wilson's, and an Ovenbird out in the open! The Bay-breasted was my last SSM warbler for the year, I was worried when I missed it in the spring... Lots of baby birds around, warblers included...robins, waxwings, grosbeaks, and orioles were all pigging out on berries, while sparrows kept to the undergrowth. Absolutely nothing in the way of shorebird habitat, I might be done for them (on the Bigby at least). At Bellevue, picked up another Wilson's Warbler along with a Scarlet Tanager - first for the SSM year! So, two new birds for the SSM year and also the Bigby, which is now up to 160!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

nightwatching and warblers

I tried a bit of nightwatching (listening) the past two nights, nothing on the first night (too noisy), had a few cheeps and chirps last night, but again was pretty noisy, and there were quite a few mosquitoes around. I'll try again tonight if the rain holds off. Had my first flock of fall warblers go through the yard, along with a family group or two of chickadees - Black-throated Green, Nashville, and a juvenile Mourning Warbler were all I could pick out before they took off. Had the Mourning Warbler about 5 feet away out my front window, catching insects in the lilac! There's been quite a few flocks going through the golf course, but I didn't have the binos and I'm no good with warbler call notes yet. Hopefully I can get some birding time in before all the warblers and shorebirds take off!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

MB trip pics and list

This is a little late, haven't been able to access the photos (they were on the other computer)... Here's the list for my trip out west, along with a few shots. Year birds in bold, new birds for Canada have a * and my one lifer is marked with ***. The list is below the pics.

Richardson's Ground Squirrel (prairie dog) at Oak Hammock Marsh

Red Fox kit at Hecla Provincial Park

Sunflower at Whitewater Lake

Whitewater Lake, east compound

Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow at Whitewater Lake

Upland Sandpiper west of Whitewater Lake

Sunset at the Farm

Snow Goose - 1
Canada Goose - 600+
Trumpeter Swan - 1
Wood Duck - 15+
Gadwall - 200+
American Wigeon - 300+
American Black Duck - 1
Mallard - 2000+
Blue-winged Teal - 500+
Northern Shoveler - 500+
Northern Pintail - 400+
Green-winged Teal - 200+
Canvasback - 10+
Redhead - 30+
Ring-necked Duck - 30+
Greater Scaup - 200+
Lesser Scaup - 200+
Hooded Merganser - 2
Ruddy Duck - 300+
Common Loon - 1
Pied-billed Grebe - 30+
Red-necked Grebe - 50+
Eared Grebe - 200+
Western Grebe - 100+

American White Pelican - 300+
Double-crested Cormorant - 100+
Great Blue Heron - 30+
Snowy Egret - 1
Cattle Egret - 7
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 30+
White-faced Ibis - 1
Turkey Vulture - 20+
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 5+
Swainson's Hawk - 20+
Red-tailed Hawk - 100+
American Kestrel - 30+
Merlin - 10+
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Prairie Falcon - 1
Sora - 2
American Coot - 5000+
Sandhill Crane - 20+
American Golden-Plover - 1
Semipalmated Plover - 100+
Piping Plover* - 1
Killdeer - 200+
American Avocet - 30+
Spotted Sandpiper - 10+
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 400+
Willet - 10+
Lesser Yellowlegs - 400+
Upland Sandpiper - 40+
Hudsonian Godwit*** - 13
Marbled Godwit - 15+
Ruddy Turnstone - 1
Sanderling - 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 30+
Least Sandpiper - 200+
Baird's Sandpiper - 15+
Pectoral Sandpiper - 3
Short-billed Dowitcher - 10+
Long-billed Dowitcher - 2500+
Wilson's Snipe - 2
Wilson's Phalarope - 40+
Franklin's Gull - 5000+
Bonaparte's Gull - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 1000+
California Gull - 5+
Herring Gull - 500+
Black Tern - 200+
Common Tern - 2
Forster's Tern - 20+
Rock Pigeon - 2000+
Mourning Dove - 1000+
Common Nighthawk - 1
Chimney Swift - 50+
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 15+
Belted Kingfisher - 10+
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 50+
Hairy Woodpecker - 50+
Northern Flicker - 100+
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2
Willow Flycatcher - 6
Least Flycatcher - 10+
Eastern Phoebe - 20+
Great Crested Flycatcher - 10+
Western Kingbird - 100+
Eastern Kingbird - 200+
Loggerhead Shrike* - 1
Yellow-throated Vireo* - 5
Warbling Vireo - 4
Red-eyed Vireo - 200+
Blue Jay - 500+
Black-billed Magpie - 10+
American Crow - 1000+
Common Raven - 500+
Horned Lark - 100+
Purple Martin - 200+
Tree Swallow - 500+
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 10+
Bank Swallow - 2000+
Cliff Swallow - 100+
Barn Swallow - 500+
Black-capped Chickadee - 100+
Boreal Chickadee - 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5+
White-breasted Nuthatch - 10+
Brown Creeper - 2
House Wren - 10+
Winter Wren - 3
Sedge Wren - 20+
Marsh Wren - 20+
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 4
Eastern Bluebird - 20+
American Robin - 200+
Gray Catbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 1
Sprague's Pipit - 50+
Cedar Waxwing - 400+
Nashville Warbler - 3
Northern Parula - 2
Yellow Warbler - 100+
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 10+
Magnolia Warbler - 10+
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10+
Black-throated Green Warbler - 5+
Blackburnian Warbler - 4
Palm Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 10+
American Redstart - 30+
Common Yellowthroat - 50+
Canada Warbler - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 100+
Clay-colored Sparrow - 10+
Vesper Sparrow - 100+
Savannah Sparrow - 500+
Le Conte's Sparrow - 5+
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow* - 2
Song Sparrow - 100+
Swamp Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 30+
Northern Cardinal - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 10000+
Western Meadowlark - 100+
Yellow-headed Blackbird - 2000+
Brewer's Blackbird - 5000+
Common Grackle - 5000+
Brown-headed Cowbird - 500+
Orchard Oriole - MN - 1
Baltimore Oriole - 2
Purple Finch - 30+
Red Crossbill - 20+
White-winged Crossbill - 20+
Pine Siskin - 100+
American Goldfinch - 300+
Evening Grosbeak - 10+
House Sparrow - 500+

Number of Species: 164

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Back

Yep, I'm back, got home last night. Had a pretty good trip, finished with 164 species (163 in MB), and added 1 lifer, Hudsonian Godwit. Shorebirds were the highlight, with over 3000 individuals of 23 species, and there were a few that I missed! As you can see by looking at my site, my MB list was only 148 before this trip! I'll put up a trip report sometime soon, and I got a few pretty good pics which haven't been uploaded to the computer yet.