March 2015
This is the third monthly summary of my 2015 CONDO BIG YEAR!!!
Red dot is my condo building
Red mark is the blue area defined in the first map
Click for - BIG YEAR RULES
The birds! (new species in bold)-
Cackling Goose - 2
Canada Goose - 975
Mute Swan - 4
Trumpeter Swan - 1
Tundra Swan - 81
Wood Duck - 2
Gadwall - 7
Gadwall - 7
American Wigeon - 5
American Black Duck - 37
Mallard - 709
Mallard - 709
Northern Shoveler - 2
Northern Pintail - 64
Green-winged Teal - 2
Canvasback - 6
Redhead - 311
Greater Scaup - 555
Lesser Scaup - 2
Redhead - 311
Greater Scaup - 555
Lesser Scaup - 2
King Eider - 1
Surf Scoter - 1315
White-winged Scoter - 1590
Black Scoter - 53
Long-tailed Duck - 2280
Bufflehead - 4
Common Goldeneye - 395
Surf Scoter - 1315
White-winged Scoter - 1590
Black Scoter - 53
Long-tailed Duck - 2280
Bufflehead - 4
Common Goldeneye - 395
Barrow's X Common Goldeneye hybrid - 1
Common Merganser - 30
Red-breasted Merganser - 570
Common Merganser - 30
Red-breasted Merganser - 570
Red-throated Loon - 15
Common Loon - 1
Horned Grebe - 1
Common Loon - 1
Horned Grebe - 1
Red-necked Grebe - 4
Neotropic Cormorant - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 54
Great Blue Heron - 2
Turkey Vulture - 89
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Bald Eagle - 12
Bald Eagle - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 7
Red-tailed Hawk - 22
Red-tailed Hawk - 22
Rough-legged Hawk - 2
Killdeer - 25
American Woodcock - 1
Bonaparte's Gull - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 1674
Hering Gull - 2103
Thayer's Gull - 1
Iceland Gull - 8
Glaucous Gull - 35
Great Black-backed Gull - 146
"Great Lakes" (Herring X Great Black-backed) Gull - 2
Rock Pigeon - 29
Mourning Dove - 356
Snowy Owl - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 7
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 3
Ring-billed Gull - 1674
Hering Gull - 2103
Thayer's Gull - 1
Iceland Gull - 8
Glaucous Gull - 35
Great Black-backed Gull - 146
"Great Lakes" (Herring X Great Black-backed) Gull - 2
Rock Pigeon - 29
Mourning Dove - 356
Snowy Owl - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 7
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 2
American Crow - 454
Common Raven - 3
American Crow - 454
Common Raven - 3
Horned Lark - 125
Black-capped Chickadee - 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
American Robin - 1631
European Starling - 3419
Snow Bunting - 8
Song Sparrow - 5
Northern Cardinal - 27
American Robin - 1631
European Starling - 3419
Snow Bunting - 8
Song Sparrow - 5
Northern Cardinal - 27
Red-winged Blackbird - 4401
Rusty Blackbird - 1
Common Grackle - 2524
Brown-headed Cowbird - 202
House Finch - 88
American Goldfinch - 13
House Sparrow - 440
Total species - 73
Total ebird checklists - 34
Best birds of the month: Neotropic Cormorant, King Eider, Common Ravens, Snowy Owl, Cackling Geese, Thayer's Gull
Useless seasonal rarities: Barrow's Goldeneye hybrid isn't seasonal, but still useless! Useless I say!
Highlight "big year" birds: well the Corm is clearly a standout, but good "big year" condo birds include Canvasback, American Wigeon, Red-shouldered Hawk, Tundra and Trumpeter Swans, American Woodcock etc... Finally getting a few Peregrine Falcons also made me happy :)
Checklists of the month:
House Finch - 88
American Goldfinch - 13
House Sparrow - 440
Total species - 73
Total ebird checklists - 34
Best birds of the month: Neotropic Cormorant, King Eider, Common Ravens, Snowy Owl, Cackling Geese, Thayer's Gull
Useless seasonal rarities: Barrow's Goldeneye hybrid isn't seasonal, but still useless! Useless I say!
Highlight "big year" birds: well the Corm is clearly a standout, but good "big year" condo birds include Canvasback, American Wigeon, Red-shouldered Hawk, Tundra and Trumpeter Swans, American Woodcock etc... Finally getting a few Peregrine Falcons also made me happy :)
Checklists of the month:
#1 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22343285 (probably the first good morning of migration)
#2 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22611087 (for obvious reasons)
#3 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22327952 (I like hybrids - and was a fun day)
Total species added to the big year this month: 26
Big year total to date: 77
Target species going forwards: It's a migration sensation! Hard to have targets when the birds are pouring through... I'd still love to get a Golden Eagle (or Black Vulture?!) from the hawk watches, plus I should just grab as many April migrants as possible... I think I'll be putting out some seed (somewhere far below) to try and score some sparrows etc.
eBird needs alerts - ebird seems to have deleted this feature (???) but you can be darn sure I should have had Blue Jay by now...
KM driven: 0
KM flown: 0
KM by boat: 0
KM by train: 0
KM by helicopter: 0
(1 Kilometer = 0.621371192237334 Miles)
Previous summaries: January | February |
---
Thoughts:
I pretty much saw everything to date in March... Hairy Woodpecker, Common Redpoll, American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco are the ONLY big-year species on my list that I didn't see in March... I knew I should have gone to Mexico!
I guess that isn't a bad thing, as I had a sweet mix of rarities and good condo birds to bolster the effort. A bird like Canvasback has been remarkably tough 'round these parts in recent years... So scoring a small group in mid march probably had me a bit more giddy than the cormorant... I was also getting seriously worried about King Eider, but thankfully a female arrived and gave me a break from scanning ducks...
Oh! And Red-breasted Nuthatch was new for my ALL TIME condo list (the only species of the month, and the 2nd "condo first" this year)...
Again the species tallies tell me that I'm doing everything right. I counted ~10,000 migrating passerines this month and can only hope that number increases in April! 26 species of waterfowl is also pretty exciting... With April here, all bets are off - as late month begins the utterly insane "prime time" season for rarities!
#2 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22611087 (for obvious reasons)
#3 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22327952 (I like hybrids - and was a fun day)
Total species added to the big year this month: 26
Big year total to date: 77
Target species going forwards: It's a migration sensation! Hard to have targets when the birds are pouring through... I'd still love to get a Golden Eagle (or Black Vulture?!) from the hawk watches, plus I should just grab as many April migrants as possible... I think I'll be putting out some seed (somewhere far below) to try and score some sparrows etc.
eBird needs alerts - ebird seems to have deleted this feature (???) but you can be darn sure I should have had Blue Jay by now...
KM driven: 0
KM flown: 0
KM by boat: 0
KM by train: 0
KM by helicopter: 0
(1 Kilometer = 0.621371192237334 Miles)
Previous summaries: January | February |
---
Thoughts:
I pretty much saw everything to date in March... Hairy Woodpecker, Common Redpoll, American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco are the ONLY big-year species on my list that I didn't see in March... I knew I should have gone to Mexico!
I guess that isn't a bad thing, as I had a sweet mix of rarities and good condo birds to bolster the effort. A bird like Canvasback has been remarkably tough 'round these parts in recent years... So scoring a small group in mid march probably had me a bit more giddy than the cormorant... I was also getting seriously worried about King Eider, but thankfully a female arrived and gave me a break from scanning ducks...
Oh! And Red-breasted Nuthatch was new for my ALL TIME condo list (the only species of the month, and the 2nd "condo first" this year)...
Again the species tallies tell me that I'm doing everything right. I counted ~10,000 migrating passerines this month and can only hope that number increases in April! 26 species of waterfowl is also pretty exciting... With April here, all bets are off - as late month begins the utterly insane "prime time" season for rarities!
Crazy sunrise on 31 March
Toronto on a remarkably clear night
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