Even quieter than yesterday with a brisk westerly wind blowing. The nets were very quiet with poor total of just over thirty new birds, best being Canada Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. A walk around the harbour found very little evidence of migrants except for a couple Blackpoll Warblers at the lighthouse. Birds setting up residence include Black-billed Cuckoo, Warbling Vireo, American Redstarts and many Yellow Warblers. The Canada Geese goslings continue to grow and on arrival back at the yard an Orchard Oriole made a brief stop.
30th May
A relatively quiet day today with a gentle westerly wind.
The afternoon was spent at Lake on the Mountain where the observatories board meeting was taking place. I had a walk around finding an Eastern Bluebird along with Meadowlarks, Bobolink and Baltimore Orioles. The highlight of the walk however was seeing some new dragonflies and butterflies. Back at the lake and four Black Terns were feeding over the water. 
Beaverpond Baskettail
29th May
Rain over night cleared at dawn to leave a warm dry day with sunny spells. It was obvious that birds were still around from yesterday as 8 Canada Warblers fell into the nets straight away. There were a good variety of birds being caught with 3 species of Thrush, 4 Flycatchers (9 Traill’s and a Kingbird), 16 species of Warblers and several Red-eyed Vireos. Cedar Waxwings reached a milestone today with 7 birds taking us over 10 times the previous spring record of 56! The morning’s total catch came to 152 birds with the best being a female Blue-winged Warbler.
Cedar Waxwing
In the afternoon a walk found much the same with a Canada Warbler in traverse but viewing is becoming increasingly hard in the wood now. However I did finally find a Giant Swallowtail when I actually had my camera. Spent a bit of time after chasing the calls of frogs around the marsh until I found a Grey Treefrog. Back at the house at dusk when a skunk pottered by searching for food 
Giant Swallowtail
28th May
The weather remained unsettled with frequent showers all day writing off any banding! A walk early morning saw a Semipalmated Plover and 2 Least Sandpipers on the spit in the harbour along with 2 Caspian Terns, 12 Herring Gulls and 30+ Ring-billed Gulls. Out again after dinner I wandered around the harbour finding several warblers on route to the lighthouse. A Canada, Mourning, 4 Black-throated Green, 12 Blackpoll, 3 Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided with several Yellow and Magnolia Warblers. A look at the spit produced no waders but a Buff-bellied Pipit instead. Back to the obs added a Traill’s and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher as a cuckoo called in the distance.
Buff-bellied Pipit
27th May
A day with no wind but many showers. At 8am we were lucky to get the nets open for about 3 hours however we just caught over 30 birds but a nice selection. Male Blackburnian, 2 Black-throated Green, 2 Blackpoll, 3 Grey-cheeked Thrush and mustn’t forget a male House Sparrow. A wet afternoon gave me a chance to catch up with this blog (a bit anyway).
26th May
Birds just love a brisk easterly wind for moving up the lake. Should I say water birds as the woods were dead with only 36 new birds caught. Back to the lake though and a watch from 06:30 to 07:20 was rewarding with a passage of 1200 Pale-bellied Brant, 111 White-winged Scoter, 122 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 ‘tern’ spp. and 2 Long-tailed Ducks sat off shore.
Brant
A trip to Kaiser Cross Road to revisit the flooded areas was good for shorebirds. There were roughly 2 Black-bellied Plover, 50 Semipalmated Plover, 6 Semipalmated Sandpiper, 20 Least Sandpiper, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs and 20 Dunlins. Wildfowl consisted of a Black Duck and 2 Green-winged Teal with a group of Mallards. Over the back an American Bittern sat proud over a marshy area, blowing his chest up and calling loudly as he bounced the sack of air up and down.
25th May
A glorious sunny day with a light north easterly wind but my thoughts were back in the UK. The nets were very quiet today with a handful of Magnolia, Yellow and American Redstart. Two Traill’s Flyctachers were also caught along with two Yellow-bellied. At 10am I disappeared inside to watch a computer screen as what sounded an amazing football game developed with Burnley putting on a fine display. I could only dream of what my sister was experiencing. As the final whistle blew I couldn’t believe it, and still can’t, that the mighty CLARETS from the north are in the PREMIERSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
24th May
A wet start to the day as showers moved through but there was no wind. From the lighthouse we witnessed a movement of waders with an estimate of 250 Dunlin past with the odd little one thrown in as well. However more unusual were a flock of 52 Whimbrel followed by a second group of 80. As the weather cleared out to leave a sunny day a Whip-poor-will was found roosting high in a tree. The nets were finally opened with the most prolific species being once again Cedar Waxwing with just over 70 caught. A leisurely walk to Traverse in the evening was unusually quiet.
23rd May
A quiet day for migrants as a light northerly halted any movement. Census was poor with just 39 species noted with the best being 3 Blackpoll Warblers and Scarlet Tanager. But there was something new for me skulking under bushes at the starting point, a Fisher that is a type of martin.
Blackpoll Warbler
Once ten o’clock arrived so did David after finishing his birdathon around the county reaching a tally of 145 just slightly down on last year. Shortly after the wind switched to easterly followed by a flock of 250 Pale-bellied Brent flying low over the lake heading north. Other noteworthy sightings were 3 Mourning and a Canada Warbler, Osprey and again very briefly the Red-headed Woodpecker that perched on Dave’s car for a moment.
22nd May
Another very warm day with little wind and a close encounter. It was Dave’s big birdathon today starting at 10am so the hunt was on to see what we could find. The nets soon picked up Veery, Swainson’s and Grey-cheeked Thrush as well as Mourning, female Hooded and Nashville which are thin on the ground now. Around the trail were at least two Black-billed Cuckoos and a Yellow was also reported, by mid morning the black-bills found their way into our nets. 
Black-billed Cuckoo
Just after lunch I headed along the coast towards Point Traverse spotting a flock of waders on the rocky shore, there were 32 Dunlin and a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Approaching with care I got within a few metres of the feeding flock enjoying the close views that are usually difficult to achieve back in Britain. I had been watching them for some time when a mighty “whoosh” was heard and the flock took flight. Looking up from my camera I was stunned to see a immature Peregrine just metres away from me circle round before swooping to the shore picking up a rather dazed dunlin before heading off along the shore. (Arrrgggghhh, why did it not get the one I was photographing?)
Semipalmated Sandpiper and Dunlins
Later a look in the harbour found 3 Least and Spotted Sandpipers with the resident Killdeers as the lake starts to look empty of wildfowl with just a handful of Long-tailed Ducks, White-winged Scoter and Red-breasted Mergansers left. Back just by the banding lab the Red-headed Woodpecker showed very briefly once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment