Tuesday, March 22, 2016

2015 Big Year Recap


Every bird of every species (or hybrid combo) from my condo in 2015. (Thee big year)


Cackling Goose 7
Canada Goose 6,085
Mute Swan 9
Trumpeter Swan 2
Tundra Swan 473
Wood Duck 61
Gadwall 90
American Wigeon 399
American Black Duck 250
Mallard 2185
Blue-winged Teal 8
Northern Shoveler 74
Northern Pintail 1173
Mallard x Northern Pintail (hybrid) 1
Green-winged Teal 233
Canvasback 51
Redhead 999
Ring-necked Duck 4
Greater Scaup 6810
Lesser Scaup 1848
King Eider 5
Surf Scoter 13,580
White-winged Scoter 29,348
Black Scoter 1072
Long-tailed Duck 105,831
Bufflehead 338
Common Goldeneye 4,885
Common x Barrow's Goldeneye (hybrid) 1
Hooded Merganser 12
Common Merganser 1430
Red-breasted Merganser 12948
Ruddy Duck 210
Wild Turkey 2
Red-throated Loon 184
Common Loon 649
Horned Grebe 412
Red-necked Grebe 25
Neotropic Cormorant 3
Double-crested Cormorant 24198
Great Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 102
Great Egret 12
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 23
Turkey Vulture 1066
Osprey 27
Golden Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 14
Sharp-shinned Hawk 74
Cooper's Hawk 32
Bald Eagle 55
Red-shouldered Hawk 15
Broad-winged Hawk 82
Red-tailed Hawk 179
Rough-legged Hawk 9
Black-bellied Plover 8
American Golden-Plover 1
Semipalmated Plover 16
Killdeer 188
Spotted Sandpiper 13
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 55
Whimbrel 46
Hudsonian Godwit 42
Sanderling 1
Dunlin 156
Least Sandpiper 1
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 17
Short-billed Dowitcher 2
American Woodcock 4
Red-necked Phalarope 52
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Parasitic Jaeger 15
Long-tailed Jaeger 1
Black-legged Kittiwake 1
Sabine's Gull 5
Bonaparte's Gull 2049
Little Gull 7
Ring-billed Gull 13860
Herring Gull 10,953
Thayer's Gull 4
Iceland Gull 32
Lesser Black-backed Gull 22
Glaucous Gull 139
Herring x Glaucous Gull (hybrid) 1
Great Black-backed Gull  1290
Herring x Great Black-backed Gull (hybrid) 4
Caspian Tern 803
Common Tern 1104
Forster's Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 158
Mourning Dove 1196
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Snowy Owl 13
Common Nighthawk 3
Chimney Swift 480
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 29
Belted Kingfisher 29
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 6
Downy Woodpecker 55
Hairy Woodpecker 10
Northern Flicker 108
American Kestrel 31
Merlin 19
Peregrine Falcon 33
Eastern Wood-Pewee 5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 7
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 67
Blue-headed Vireo 5
Warbling Vireo 18
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 2884
American Crow 641
Fish Crow 1
Common Raven 6
Horned Lark 158
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 185
Purple Martin 123
Tree Swallow 797
Bank Swallow 1187
Barn Swallow 2130
Cliff Swallow 366
Black-capped Chickadee  128
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
Brown Creeper 54
Winter Wren 2
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9
Golden-crowned Kinglet 169
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 43
Eastern Bluebird 80
Veery 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Swainson's Thrush 28
Hermit Thrush 4
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 6735
Gray Catbird 9
Brown Thrasher 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 10459
American Pipit 3
Cedar Waxwing 2240
Lapland Longspur 2
Snow Bunting 175
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 2
Tennessee Warbler 16
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 34
Common Yellowthroat 3
American Redstart 40
Cape May Warbler 5
Northern Parula 6
Magnolia Warbler 18
Bay-breasted Warbler 28
Blackburnian Warbler 4
Yellow Warbler 84
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 16
Black-throated Blue Warbler 3
Palm Warbler 14
Pine Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 123
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 8
American Tree Sparrow 24
Chipping Sparrow 83
Dark-eyed Junco 221
White-crowned Sparrow 46
White-throated Sparrow 347
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 77
Northern Cardinal 132
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 9
Indigo Bunting 12
Bobolink 26
Red-winged Blackbird 14497
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Rusty Blackbird 84
Common Grackle 10368
Brown-headed Cowbird 4811
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 70
House Finch 358
Purple Finch 17
Common Redpoll 16
Pine Siskin 332
American Goldfinch 2858
House Sparrow 2315



For a total of 316,675 birds!!!


Obviously some birds are double counted (2315 House Sparrows) - but I also made an effort to not get carried away ("only" 24198 Double-crested Cormorants for the year)...


Some highlights:

7 Cackling Goose
5 King Eider
1 Golden Eagle
55 Bald Eagle
46 Whimbrel
42 Hudsonian Godwit
52 Red-necked Phalarope
2 Pomarine Jaeger
1 Long-tailed Jaeger (actually a poor condo showing for Jaegers)
5 Sabine's Gull
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
2 Forster's Tern
13 Snowy Owl
1 Red-headed Woodpecker
33 Peregrine Falcon
80 Eastern Bluebird
2 Lapland Longspur
1 Prairie Warbler
2 Orchard Oriole



Rarest of rares: Neotropic Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Fish Crow (all ugly-ish birds!)


Top 10 Unexpected "Condo" Birds


10. Ovenbird
9. Wood Thrush
8. Winter Wren
7. Northern Waterthrush
6. Veery
5. American Woodcock
4. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
3. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
2. Gray-cheeked Thrush
1. Wild Turkey


Some major misses!

Passerines: Black-and-white Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Swamp Sparrow

Other: Greater Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Short-eared Owl, Great Horned Owl

Semi-rare: Brant, Cave Swallow, Snow Goose, Harlequin Duck, Pacific Loon



Ebird Checklists of the Year:


#3 - September 8th - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24947546

#2 - September 30th - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25241060

#1 - April 2nd - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22644687 (with photos too)



Will it happen again? Maybe not from the condo... But this isn't the end of "big years" for me... 

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Crazy weather right now


I'm glad pictures are worth 1000 words, because I don't really want to type all that much - but this weather is really interesting. The structure of this low pressure seems really atypical to me (?)...

Perhaps we'll get a Pygmy Owl or a Dipper... Or a Franklin's Gull... Or a Pacific Wren... Or a Lesser Goldfinch... Or a Cinnamon Teal... Or a Franklin's Gull...






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850mb


700mb 


500mb 


Really cool stuff!