Rarities of days gone by (2015)

Ok, so I haven't posted for quite a while. That's not to say that I haven't seen anything interesting, or thought about posting - mostly that I simply haven't had the time/motivation to do so! I have a few posts coming down the pipes though between other projects, so stay tuned.

This year was relatively unproductive for me, as far as rarities go, as work brought me out of Ontario at just the wrong time (read: mass invasion of southern rarities). I then had terrible luck twitching anything in the Maritimes through the spring/summer (probably about a 15% success rate), and we had a relatively quiet fall out on the islands. Looking on the bright side, I did get to see a few pretty great birds, even if I had to find a good number of them myself! Also, having seen 1100+ species in Colombia this winter made it tough to complain about birding up here.

So, here are some of the more exciting sightings this year! Instead of posting a ton of photos here, I'll highlight eBird's new Media function, and you can choose which photos to look at. Overall I added 1 new ON bird, 4 new QC birds, 19 new NS birds and 51 new NB birds, bringing my provincial lists to 350, 178, 313 and 206, respectively. Self-found birds marked (sf).

Apr 26/27 - Yellow-headed Blackbird (sf), Long Point ON - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23094253

May 7 - Kentucky Warbler, Long Point ON - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23296694

May 12 - Sandhill Crane (sf), Beaubassin (NB/NS border, no photo) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23413664

May 15 - Eurasian Wigeon+Glossy Ibis, Sackville NB - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23452296

May 24 - Summer Tanager, Bear Point NS - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23637545

May 28 - Marbled Godwit, Grand Manan NB - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23689672

Jul 16-19 - Bicknell's Thrush (sf), northern NB - not a rarity but not a bird one gets to see often, much less handle! - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24334584

Sep 25 - Little Gull (sf), Seal Island NS - no photo - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25257591

Sep 26 - Kentucky Warbler (sf), Seal Island NS - no photo - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25257660

Oct 2 - RUFF (sf), Seal Island NS, arguably the highlight of the fall season on the islands - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25398058

Oct 19 - Yellow-throated Vireo (sf), Bon Portage Island NS - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25488128

Oct 24 - Red-shouldered Hawk (sf), Townsend's Solitaire (sf), Dovekie (sf) - Bon Portage Island, NS - no photo - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25540429

Nov 5 - BLACK RAIL (sf), Kentville NS - no photo - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25713545

Nov 7+20 - WESTERN FLYCATCHER, Antigonish NS - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25925038 

Nov 14 - Summer Tanager, Jolicure NB - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25830273

Nov 22 - Not one but TWO Mountain Bluebirds (sf), and a Western Kingbird (sf) - Digby Co, NS - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25946287  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25946299 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25949707

Nov 23 - Boat-tailed/Great-tailed Grackle (sf), Yarmouth Co NS - no photo - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26005811

Dec 7 - Black-billed Magpie, Echo Lake ON - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26167689