Above: Wide swath of high pressure in the forecast for most of the CONUS and SE Canada... This is a typical pattern for late August... I like to call it - BOAT WEATHER! (woot)... (The map is a long-range for Aug 21st)
I don't really understand why this weather (above) is great for mega-rare birds, but it is.... Don't get me wrong - I have theories, but I don't really get it... Some theories:
1.) - High pressure over a large area gives any wayward bird a clear flight path to cover huge distances (eg,/ no bad winds or rain to stop them from flying non-stop for long periods).
2.) There's something going on with the upper level winds under this pattern that I'm not totally aware of... In the future, I think I'll be focusing on what the winds are like 5000-10000 feet up and trying to correlate it to the occurrence of some rare birds... But I'm not there yet...
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Regardless, the last two weeks of August may well be the best time of year for a cosmic-rare bird to arrive in Ontario outside of the first three weeks of May...
Not "total number of rarities" --- but a high concentration of mega rares... Not counting Hurricane birds, here are some late-august records in far SOUTHERN Ontario only:
Cassin's Sparrow
Multiple Swallow-tailed Kites
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Spotted Redshank
Royal Tern
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Manx Shearwater (TWO!)
Great Shearwater
Black-throated Sparrow
Thick-billed Kingbird
I'm sure you'll agree, them's some darn good birds... It's a great time to keep some gas in the car and your super-important smartphone at the ready...
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Totally unrelated - here's two pics of a funky lookin Harrier from two winters ago...
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