The next "rare bird peak" of the birding calendar approaches

There have been some good birds around recently...


Calliope Hummer in southern Indiana -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dongorney/14843519764/

Wood Stork in MN -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/86915314@N02/14846993772/in/pool-ebird

Black Skimmer in NY - just off Lake Ontario (!!!) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/krankykestrel/14787189486/in/pool-ebird

Great Shearwater in NY - (just off Lake Ontario!!!!!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/krankykestrel/14693002092/in/pool-ebird/


Some serious mega's there! Not to mention there have been a host of "rares" around as well - Piping Plovers, Avocets, Tricoloured Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Ibis (etc etc etc) on Lake Erie alone (outside of our province)...

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I'd say we're on the doorstep for something mega! And luckily enough for us, we are approaching one of the serious "mega seasons" of the birding year...  The end of August - and very (very) early September!

The list of "mega's" from this timeframe is nutty!


Aug 20 - Great Shearwater (Toronto)
Aug 20 - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Hillman Marsh)
Aug 21 - Spotted Redshank (Nepean)
Aug 23 - Long-billed Curlew (Hamilton)
Aug 23 - Black-headed Grosbeak (Kingston)
Aug 24 - Prairie Falcon (Long Point)
Aug 24 - Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Essex)
Aug 26 - Manx Shearwater (Ottawa)
Aug 27 - Western Wood-Pewee (Long Point)
Aug 28 - Thick-billed Kingbird (Presqu'ile)
Aug 29 - Black-throated Sparrow (Port Burwell)
Aug 29 - Virginia's Warbler (Thunder Cape)
Aug 31 - Manx Shearwater (Hamilton)


And that's just a sample! (A lazy collaboration more like)....

So yeah! Get ready for it... Late August can be great birding and pack serious mega's.. Far and away one of the best times of the year - and the weather is (often) great!!!

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As a side note - last year I had an utterly insane birding run (from my condo) in roughly the same time frame:

From a blog post done last year:

I'm probably going to sit back and marvel at the birding insanity I had from Aug 17-Sep 17 2013.... Some of the notables -

1 Rosy-faced Lovebird (escape, but still sweet) 

1 Red-throated Loon

1 Neotropic Cormorant (first for Hamilton - only 6-7 ever for Canada) 

1 Northern Gannet (first adult for Hamilton and 4th adult for Ontario) 

4 Peregrine Falcons

4 American Golden Plover

1 Whimbrel

3 Red-necked Phalaropes

7 Long-tailed Jaegers

24 Parasitic Jaegers

4 Pomarine Jaegers

4 Sabine's Gulls

7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

1 Black Tern

1 Brown-chested Martin (first for Canada pending acceptance) 

Utter insanity. Especially when you consider the fact that I saw every last one of them from my balcony...

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