Recent window view - a nice morning...
August 13th - I had plans to wake up early and do a condo watch - after getting TWO new species the previous morning... I DID NOT get out of bed on time, and didn't even start watching until after 10am - when I setup my "work station" on the balcony... Highlights:
- Aerial insectivores like Purple Martin, Chimney Swift and Cliff Swallow
- 2 flyby Common Loons (together)
- a flyby MERLIN (odd time of year/location imo)
- late in the day, a male Long-tailed Duck was near shore...
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August 14th - again, I tried to wake up at 6am to do a lakewatch... Which means I woke up at 6am - put my scope and binoculars on my balcony - then fell asleep on the couch for two hours...
I did notice 4 Mallards flyby mid-morning, the first i've seen from the balcony in at least two months... Not a notable species, but more proof that birds are starting to move around again....
There's always next time (and I'm sure that once Jaegers start arriving, I'll actually be keen enough to stay awake)...
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August 17th - a little mid-morning watching on calm as glass water, turned light east breeze and me watching on and off all day while I cleaned the condo (and went and got a haircut).. Things continue to increase
Carolina Wren still singing, Common Terns around (common) but declining in numbers...
15-20+ Common Loons (lots)
2 Greater Scaup
1 Lesser Scaup (together - first scaup in a whilllee)
2 Mallards (high flybys)
1 (distant) flyby Solitary Sandpiper (new condo bird!!!)
1 (close) flyby juv Least Sandpiper (new condo bird!!!)
3 ad Bonaparte's Gulls
1 juv Black Tern (new condo bird!!!) - late aft (4:40pm)
Increase in Martins/Swallows & some swifts
1 flyby Ruby-throated Hummingbird (up very high)
15+ Rock Pigeons flew in off the lake at mid day... (?)
Best bird was a ROSY-FACED LOVEBIRD of all things... Record photos:
Flew around the two condo buildings for 4-5 hours.. Made a lot of noise...
It's not everyday you're entertained by a parrot...
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August 18th - boom goes the dynamite
I finally managed to get out of bed around 7am... Around 710am I was out with my scope. I've discovered that you need a good 15 minutes of consciousness in order to properly use a scope. For some reason - my eyes just won't work until they've had their own "wake up" period... That was the reason why a flock of 15+ puddle ducks went unidentified. They could have been Teal... or Mallards... I just couldn't tell..
Thankfully 3-4 minutes later everything was functioning well when an adult LONG-TAILED JAEGER arrived on the scene. Full freakin tail streamers and everything - being CHASED by a Herring Gull... Beautiful, and ties the record early date for Hamilton (per Birds of Hamilton)... AWW yeah...
The skinny:
Green-winged Teal - 5 (3, 2)
Greater Scaup - 1
Mallards - 17+
Common Loon - 6+
Bonaparte's Gull - 2Lesser Black-backed Gull -1 (1st alt/2nd basic)
Long-tailed Jaeger - 1 (my 150th species for the "patch")
Parasitic Jaeger - 1 (45 mins after the LTJA - a year old bird - and a NEW condo bird!!!)
Great Egret - 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1 (male Merlin and female kestrel chasing each other)
Eastern Kingbird - 1 (up high)
Battle Royale!
That's a JAEGER! (The Parasitic)
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August 19th - well isn't this interesting... Somehow I was up at 6:30 - watching by 6:45...
- 3 Least Sandpipers
annddd..... Cormorants... Lots of Cormorants... Like thousands and thousands... And I wanted a little one... Maybe that's the reason I found something? I've looked at 10,000+ Corms each day for the past 4-5 days - wondering what is going on with the "Little Guys" being seen around the Great Lakes...
Two massive feeding frenzies broke apart, and streamed past my condo for 20mins straight.. I picked out one that looked DRAMATICALLY different than the 10,000 others I had looked at (all at similar range/distance/light etc).
Photos below are a sample... Best I can do from the 17th floor... In all the photos, the bird in question is the one on top (that didn't fit into the long lines of DCCO's)... To my eye - it is a small bird with a very long tail... But I could also just be crazy:
Anyways - that was my fun for the morning. I was at work by 9:30am... Leave a comment and let me know if you think I'm crazy or not...
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Another view of the recent sunrise...
Nice! I was taken aback when I saw the eBird alert about the Lovebird. The first weird domestic bird sighting I've seen reported on their since I signed up..
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