2015 BIG YEAR - September Update

September 2015
This is the ninth 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 - 528

Gadwall - 9
American Wigeon - 36

American Black Duck - 11
Mallard - 181

Northern Shoveler - 7
Northern Pintail - 228

Green-winged Teal - 72

Redhead -10
Greater Scaup - 156

Lesser Scaup - 13

Surf Scoter - 91

White-winged Scoter - 1450
Black Scoter - 5
Long-tailed Duck - 52

Common Merganser - 5

Red-breasted Merganser - 7
Red-throated Loon - 3

Common Loon - 104
Horned Grebe - 1

Red-necked Grebe - 6
Double-crested Cormorant - 1200
Great Blue Heron - 9
Great Egret - 2

Osprey - 6
Northern Harrier - 8
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Black-bellied Plover - 2
American Golden Plover - 1
Killdeer - 8
Spotted Sandpiper - 1

Hudsonian Godwit - 42

Sanderling - 1

Red-necked Phalarope - 34
Pomarine Jaeger - 1

Parasitic Jaeger - 12

Sabine's Gull - 3

Bonaparte's Gull - 2

Little Gull - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 2550
Herring Gull - 370
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 9
Great Black-backed Gull - 13
Caspian Tern - 28
Common Tern - 327
Forster's Tern - 1
Rock Pigeon - 16
Mourning Dove - 35
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Common Nighthawk - 2
Chimney Swift - 6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 10

Hairy Woodpecker - 2

Northern Flicker - 8
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1
Warbling Vireo - 5
Blue Jay - 20
American Crow - 1
Common Raven - 1
Tree Swallow - 1
Barn Swallow - 112
Black-capped Chickadee - 28

White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 11

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Veery - 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 27
American Robin - 50
Gray Catbird - 2
European Starling - 195
Cedar Waxwing - 79
Ovenbird - 1
Northern Waterthrush - 1

Tennessee Warbler - 11
Nashville Warbler - 22
Common Yellowthroat - 1

American Redstart - 30
Cape May Warbler - 5
Northern Parula - 5
Magnolia Warbler - 17
Bay-breasted Warbler - 26
Blackburnian Warbler - 3
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 14
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
Canada Warbler - 1
Wilson's Warbler - 6
Chipping Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 4
White-throated Sparrow - 43
Northern Cardinal - 11

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 12
Common Grackle - 116
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
House Finch - 41
American Goldfinch - 57
House Sparrow - 80

Total species - 115

Total ebird checklists - 23

Best birds of the month: Hudsonian Godwit (42), Pomarine Jaeger, Sabine's Gull (3), Little Gull (2), Red-necked Phalarope (34), Common Raven

Useless seasonal rarities: Junco? Not much is unseasonal in September...

Highlight "big year" birds: Gray-cheeked Thrush, Veery, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, American Golden Plover

Checklists of the month:

#1 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25241060 October firesale in Sept!

#2 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24947546 FIVE first condo records

#3 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24969423 Classic condo lakewatch day

Total species added to the big year this month: 13


Big year total to date: 188


Target species going forwards: October has some darn good birds to be found... There are many passerines that I'm still hunting for, but Gannets, Cave Swallows, Kittiwakes and Harlequins seem much more appealing.


eBird needs alerts - Many are the same as before House Wren, Swamp Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Field Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, etc... Least Flycatcher, Black-and-white Warbler and Black-throated Green could be embarrassing though...

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 | April | May | June | July | August |



Thoughts:






Last month I said September is the poor-man's May. And it was! I scored 2 Thrushes, 6 Warblers and 3 Shorebirds for the big year. AWESOME POSSUM.




October says 75% of my big year is over. Where does the time go? Not only that, but i'm on the wrong side of the calendar as many target species are starting to laugh at me on route to South America (*cough* Black-and-white).




There are still a few "targets" (I guess) that migrate through in October. Some will be ridiculously challenging from the 17th floor, but I think I'm up to the challenge. I'm looking at you - Towhee, Winter Wren, Blue-headed Vireo, Greater Yellowlegs, Hermit Thrush, AND OTHERS...




My efforts may be hindered though as October is a pretty nifty month for vagrants. As I write this (Oct 1st), the windows are rattling with NE winds and thoughts of Kittiwake are dancing. Harlequin, Brant, Gannet, Cave Swallow, etc would all be nice... Just not as nice as a Manx Shearwater.




Anything else? I feel like this is a repeat of September. Just bird! Lots to see, weather is key.

September 6th

September 13th

September 27th