It's been a while...

Ok, so I know I haven't posted anything birding-related for a while, so here it is, a summary of my month and a week since the last post. First off, I've added 55 species to the year list, bringing it up to 122 - a reasonable total for this time of year although I'm still missing a ton of birds that are around. There hasn't been much out of the ordinary - last ski day was April 4, on which I found my FOS Red-shouldered Hawk - always a nice bird up here. I went to Sudbury for Easter, and on the way there managed to find 2 Ross's Geese and a Cackling Goose, both of which used to be super rare in the area but are annual now. The day after my return I went out and found another Ross's Goose, along with a lot of waterfowl. The first shorebirds have returned, with Greater Yellowlegs and Woodcock on the list. I managed to shatter my record numbers of Pintails and Green-winged Teal in a field, with 120+ and 60+, respectively. On April 19, saw 11 breeding-plumaged male Lapland Longspurs, something you don't see too often. Yesterday I went to Whitefish Point for the first time this year, and we had a good day despite the rain and constant NW wind - basically the worst conditions for spring birding. We managed 76 species by the end, with 16 year birds and 2 new for my SSM list! The new ones were American Avocet (2nd point record) and Spruce Grouse (FINALLY!!!!). I also added Short-eared Owl to my WPBO list, one that has been missing for too long. Went out today to look for a yellow-throated warbler, with no success. It probably took off with the cold front yesterday. Managed to add Brewer's Blackbird though. That's it for now - we should be seeing a massive influx of migrants over the next week if the weather cooperates, there are a ton of new species coming in to southern ontario!

Ross's Goose - Desbarats

Mallard - Sudbury

Trumpeter Swan - Sudbury

Hoary Redpoll - Sudbury

Common Redpoll - Sudbury

Short-eared Owl - WPBO

American Avocet - WPBO

Spruce Grouse - Vermillion Rd.

Recent birding

Scratch that post from the other day, thunderstorms are perfect weather for Bigbying! Well...ok maybe not, but it did provide me with my first Ring-necked Ducks for my yard list.

Yesterday I headed out east of town after school, to be greeted by water, and lots of it. Yes, the ice is still covering most of the lakes, but the fields in Bar River are almost all under 1-2 feet of water. Diving ducks were swimming out in the fields, definitely an odd sight for the Sault. The ducks overall are building in numbers, and I had my first Green-winged Teal, Wood Ducks, and Pied-billed Grebes for my SSM yearlist. The highlights were definitely the above mentioned year birds, plus over 250 Tundra Swans in the fields, huge numbers of both Hooded and Common Mergansers, and the Ross's Goose that I found the other day, hanging out with around 1500 Canada Geese and a few Cackling Geese.

I'll not post a list, as they get kind of repetitive (at least at this time of year) but I saw 52 species in the few hours I was out, my highest total for one day so far this year.