Sunday, September 18, 2011

Some stuff

Well, I'm determined to get more posts on here than last year, even if they are somewhat spread out! I'll start with the most recent and work my way backward through the summer.

I got back to Guelph to start my third year on September 4th, and managed to get over to Hamilton 3 times in the following week before classes and work started piling up. This turned out to be a good decision on my part as I added 3 new birds to my Ontario list, being White-rumped Sandpiper, Parasitic Jaeger and Long-tailed Jaeger (in that order). I was hoping to score a phalarope as well to make one of the jaegers my 300th Ontario bird but that was not to be and I'm currently sitting at 299.

In addition to these I also managed to see a fair number and variety of shorebirds and catch up with Josh and Brett (from the California trip that was my last post!) whom I hadn't seen for a while. Among the 16 species, covering pretty much all the regulars, were Stilt Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope and the aforementioned White-rumped.

I've also managed to close in on some goals I've set recently that should be easy to achieve - being 250 species for the year in Ontario (currently at 248) and 400 for the year in the ABA (currently at 395). Still some easy ones to go!

I'll leave you for now with some (distant) shots. More to come in the near future.

Least and White-rumped Sandpipers with a Semipalmated Plover

Parasitic Jaegers, Van Wagner's Beach (Hamilton)


3 comments:

dwaynejava said...

David, good to see an update! I hope to learn a little more about Guelph's birding hotspots. Impressive lists BTW ...-DM

Anonymous said...

Wow, you actually posted!!! Nice stuff - Hamilton was good this year.

You sure about that WRSA? Looks kinda like a semi...

David Bell said...

Thanks guys!

@Josh - yep it's a WRSA - I have another shot where you can clearly see the wing cross and most of the white rump, plus the orange base of the bill was seen in the field by myself and Ken Williams. It looks a bit short in this pic because it's turned a little sideways and a bit colourful because it's a HY!