PeregrinePrints highly irregular quiz - birds in flight (May 2015 edition) #1

You know the drill - leave a comment, don't leave a comment, don't cheat, cheat - play along however you like... If any photos in particular are overly challenging, I'll highlight them and provide some additional chances to get it (otherwise, I'll just post the answers at some point!) 

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Sample OBRC report - White-faced Ibis

A decent example where a short observation + photos = a short report. I still think I've covered the bases and included the relevant information! Don't shy away from sending in your reports/photos! obrc@ofo.ca !!

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OBRC Report - White-faced Ibis
1 - adult
Point Pelee National Park (Tip)
May 11, 2015 at ~8:35am

Optics: Vortex 8x42 Razor Binoculars. Canon 1DX DSLR, 600mm F4 lens. !
Circumstances: Birding at the ,p of Point Pelee during a light (to very light) reverse migra,on when I suddenly spotted a dark ibis barreling in off the Lake and heading north directly over the point. I yelled out “IBIS!” and took a dive towards my camera. I secured a number of images as it passed reasonably close overhead and vanished from view. The photos leave no doubt as a White-faced Ibis. I was standing next to Tim Lucas who said he couldn’t really tell/hear what I had blurted out, but presumed it was Ibis when he saw the bird ;)

Descripton: See photos. Superficially like a DCCO with long legs and an excep,onally long decurved bill. White feathering on face with pink facial skin nails the ID

Similar Species: Glossy Ibis clearly eliminated on facial details

Experience with species: First time I’ve “found” one in Ontario. One previous bird observed in Hamilton October 2006(?) I believe? That had been found by Dave Donn at the Dundas Hydro Pond (basic adult).

Notes: It is my understanding that the same bird was observed that afternoon/evening at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons by the Burrell family, but they should make the call on the same/ different bird issue.

Weather: Graphics added at the end of this report !

Brandon Holden

contact yada

One last kick at the 2015 rarity can

Summer Tan at the tip of Pelee - May 11 (I think). Picked out by Ken Burrell

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Who doesn't like unusual birds? This year has seen a steady progression of decent to good rarity weather throughout the month of May, and it looks like the bird gods will give us yet another dose before the calendar shifts to June. Check out the surface forecast for tomorrow (Monday) morning - 

Another front pushing in from the south (even though the subtropical jet gets weaker as we go along) - we will still feel the effects of it in terms of rapid bird migrations. Check out the 850mb wind model run/guess from the NAM:

And then things keep on ripping straight through to Tuesday morning as well:

Things could remain interesting (less so, but interesting) on Wednesday as well (see below), and I don't really see anything "bad" on the forecast right through to the end of the month. We may not see enough precipitation to knock down the birds (maybe next weekend?) - but it's great for the birds themselves.

Here's hoping for a few more spectacular birds in the province this week - and we'll see what things are looking like for next weekend. The weather network seems to think we will have a massive cold front + rain (which would be an excellent grounding of late migrants headed to the arctic) - but I also don't really believe them at times. For now - Monday-Tuesday and maybe Wednesday for rares!

2015 BIG YEAR - April Update

April 2015

This is the fourth 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 - 1
Canada Goose - 670
Mute Swan - 1
Trumpeter Swan - 1

Tundra Swan - 353

Wood Duck - 25
Gadwall - 46

American Wigeon - 64

American Black Duck - 4
Mallard - 276

Northern Shoveler - 55

Northern Pintail - 141

Green-winged Teal - 55

Canvasback - 40
Redhead - 330

Ring-necked Duck - 4
Greater Scaup - 3154
Lesser Scaup - 1545

King Eider - 3
Surf Scoter - 1415
White-winged Scoter - 1895
Black Scoter - 139
Long-tailed Duck - 2415
Bufflehead - 68
Common Goldeneye - 35

Hooded Merganser - 8
Common Merganser - 81
Red-breasted Merganser - 720

Ruddy Duck - 200

Red-throated Loon - 11
Common Loon - 154
Horned Grebe - 397

Red-necked Grebe - 5

Neotropic Cormorant - 1

Double-crested Cormorant - 4630

Great Blue Heron - 49

Great Egret - 8

Turkey Vulture - 962

Osprey - 15

Golden Eagle - 1

Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 67

Cooper's Hawk - 13
Bald Eagle - 6

Red-shouldered Hawk - 8
Red-tailed Hawk - 127

Rough-legged Hawk - 5

Killdeer - 119

American Woodcock - 2

Bonaparte's Gull - 1339

Little Gull - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 1565
Hering Gull - 520
Iceland Gull - 1

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 3
Glaucous Gull - 7

Great Black-backed Gull - 51
Caspian Tern - 130

Common Tern - 61
Rock Pigeon - 15
Mourning Dove - 158
Chimney Swift - 1

Belted Kingfisher - 21

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 10

Northern Flicker - 77
American Kestrel - 17
Merlin - 5

Peregrine Falcon - 2

Eastern Phoebe - 6

Blue Jay - 19
American Crow - 124
Common Raven - 3

Horned Lark - 31

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 61

Purple Martin - 3

Tree Swallow - 405

Barn Swallow - 82

Cliff Swallow - 1

Black-capped Chickadee - 24

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1

White-breasted Nuthatch - 2

Brown Creeper - 9

Carolina Wren - 3

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 17

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1

Eastern Bluebird - 68American Robin - 4755

Brown Thrasher - 1
European Starling - 4070
Lapland Longspur - 2

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 8

American Tree Sparrow - 3

Chipping Sparrow - 4

Savannah Sparrow - 2Song Sparrow - 49

Dark-eyed Junco - 71
Northern Cardinal - 21

Red-winged Blackbird - 6521

Eastern Meadowlark - 1

Rusty Blackbird - 63

Common Grackle - 6376

Brown-headed Cowbird - 4027
House Finch - 81

Pine Siskin - 10
American Goldfinch - 217
House Sparrow - 179

Total species - 109

Total ebird checklists - 27

Best birds of the month: Neotropic Cormorant, Golden Eagle, Little Gull, King Eider, "impure" Green-winged X Common Teal

Useless seasonal rarities: Chimney Swift on Apr 11th! 

Highlight "big year" birds: rarities aside - Ring-necked Duck, Lapland Longspur, Brown Thrasher, Ruddy Duck

Checklists of the month:


#1 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22644687 (unquestionably epic)
#2 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22657932 (volume)
#3 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22783044 (and more volume)

Total species added to the big year this month: 36

Big year total to date: 113



Target species going forwards: May birds. All the May birds. Maybe even some rarities if I'm around...

eBird needs alerts - check back, post-May

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 | March |


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Thoughts:

Once again, I hardly saw anything in the previous months (Jan-Mar) that I didn't see in April... Heck, even the Neotropic Cormorant decided to have a double-month layover. There was some epic migrations in this month, even though things felt really late in "getting going". The best birding was probably the first few days of the month before some abnormally cold weather set back in. I was busy enough with work that it didn't bother me too much...

I was really happy with some "first condo records" such as Golden Eagle and Lapland Longspur. The Eagle was probably one of my best looks ever at the species as it slowly circled beside my building. A lot of other birds were great for the season.

I'm sure i'll look back and identify some "misses" as well - such as Fox Sparrow or Eastern Towhee. Mid-late April was tough!

I'm posting this late, and May is half over (along with a few trips to Pelee and a lot of work) - but it's prime time rarity season, so we'll see what other goodies will turn up going forwards!

Apr 15

Apr 16

Apr 20

Apr 20

Apr 21

Apr 21

Apr 26

California Gull photos + weather look ahead

Photos of the California Gull at the tip of Pelee on 12 May 2015!!! It's the same freakin bird found by my Dad (my Dad!) at the Seacliffe Beach in Leamington several days earlier (and hadn't been seen since). It's in 2nd alternate garb, and lookin pretty awesome. I was darn excited to look up and see it landing on the point.

Photos!

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Weather! 

Tonight! Probably too rainy for vagrants, but migration will continue. I'm guessing it won't be a fallout of any kind, but a single patch of rain could make for an exciting day. 

Monday 

Looks more like a vagrant setup (above) but could still be too rainy. Too much moisture and a low that isn't formed terribly well. We'll see! Could easily be a great day if the stars align. 

Long Term - 

Looks like the awful split jet may return after this weekend... But we're also late enough that some birds may move regardless of weather. Could be boring. High pressure in late May can also be good for vagrants. Who knows. Doesn't look terribly exciting. But late May... We'll see..

White-faced Ibis photo + new Rarity Alert

White-faced Ibis at the tip of Point Pelee - May 11, 2015

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Friday is looking interesting for SW Ontario, and maybe Saturday as well. Probably not an exceptional vagrant setup, but there are already lots of rare birds around to be seen... Could be a good setup for a drop of migrants though! 

Then Sunday-Monday is looking like a bona-fide rarity blow once again... I feel that it is pretty unusual to get BOTH good rarity weather AND large numbers of migrants on the ground. These two forecast maps seem to show the differences pretty well. 

Rarity weather - may be the better of the two days

Decent rarity weather. Of course, forecasts change. Regardless this weekend should see some excellent birds!

Pelee Parking-lot Alert - Wednesday

North winds + Sun + Pelee + post-rarity-bringing-weather = a chance for some good birds!

Understanding the "north wind effect" at Pelee in May is something I've yet to really understand. I've been there on seemingly fantastic conditions and seen little. I've been there on seemingly awful birding and had Black Swifts.

Yet one can't deny - north winds can blow rarities down the tip... The prototypical bird is Mississippi Kite, but I know recent years have also brought Swallow-tailed, said swift, Black Vulture, Swainson's Hawk, Ibis, Fish Crow, Pelicans (B and W), Cattle/Snowy Egrets, etc...

What else could occur?!

You get the idea.

If the winds are NW, I sometimes worry birds are missed from the VC as they hug the east beach.
If winds are NE - I feel better...
If it is cloudy, you miss out on a lot of the fun (very few hawks)...
If it's sunny - things can get really exciting...
Yet if it's sunny, sometimes the Lake breeze kicks in and turns the wind south...
If the wind is strong out of the N, sometimes low level lake cloud pours off of St. Clair and Huron (ruining everything)..

It's a work in progress, but things are shaping up well. IF there is a good batch of sun, tomorrow afternoon could be darn exciting there! (Could also be darn boring. Sometimes I think conditions need to be good first thing in the morning to make it happen)..

I have fairly low confidence in this type of rarity birding (hence, no rarity alert). But I thought i'd mention it. Good luck to those who are out there!

I've always thought about getting an Anhinga like this...

Eurasian Tree Sparrow flight photos

Does this count as some sort of Karma? I'm not sure...

Eurasian Tree Sparrow in flight at the tip of Point Pelee! May 8, 2015

Hot salsa