PeregrinePrints ... Blog

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Dec 16th - Recent Birdy News

(Model variation, worth watching though)

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2242 growing and is beta-delta-gamma, but no major news. Check out solarham! There was a major farside flare/CME a few days ago...

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How have I never heard of this?! - A Golden-crowned Sparrow has returned for its SIXTH winter in Ohio? -

http://rarebird.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=8371&PID=24810&title=goldencrowned-sparrow#24810

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The Eurasian Tree Sparrow "invasion" continues... Unless someone just released a bunch somewhere and now they're wandering aimlessly..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/artuso/15844244000/in/pool-ebird

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Who says I should get out more!?

The extent of my recent birding activities... Hopefully by the time this auto-posts, I'll be looking at a Slaty-backed Gull...

Thursday, December 11, 2014

James & Hudson Bays are FROZEN

NOAA snow/ice map for 10 December 2014!

How does this compare to previous years?

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007 - frozen! A lot of year to year variation here...

So what does it all mean!? I'm not sure... Probably nothing... But I sure would like to see some rare gulls, or a Gyrfalcon...

Monday, December 8, 2014

More Birdy News

This is OLD - but what the heck is that?

This seems to be happening - was in the forecast several days ago. A MASSIVE low just sitting in the pacific NW off AK/BC...

The darn thing is holding sub 975mb pressure for days - and NOT moving! Not sure what it means, but it looks awesome...

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Ebirds! - Condo Style -

Dec 4th, pre work - SLOW: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20776594

Dec 5th - morning! - Not half bad: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20805715

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Nice photo of the ETSP - but I can't help but wonder who some of these "bad birders" are:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/suebarth/15774925390/in/pool-ebird

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Len Manning just posted an amazing story/photos of a Snowy/Peregrine interaction. If we've learned anything these past two winters, it's that Peregrine's hate Snowy Owls..

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/hamiltonbirds/8YXXG_29NPY

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Amazing photos of a Red-shouldered X Red-tailed hybrid hawk!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/greatgrayowl/15767506350/in/pool-ebird

https://www.flickr.com/photos/greatgrayowl/15332289734/in/pool-ebird

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Neat little Nor'easter off the coast this week (mid week) - stalled just like the PacNW giant... Maybe it'll blow us some Kittiwakes or something (or a Great Cormorant, or a Fulmar, or a Thick-billed Murre)... I doubt it, but you never know...

Wednesday Wind north 30 knots.
Thursday Wind northwest 25 knots.
Friday Wind northwest 20 knots.

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News on the Cali drought from my Dad (hi Dad!)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141205124357.htm

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CRAY-ZAY stalled low's! Look at that beast off Vancouver.. To bad our storm is so small..

951mb monster off Greenland - not super unusual for that location, but still an epic monster

943mb max - moving into the UK at ~950ish - maybe they'll get Ivory Gulls?

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Something I'm still working on - the North Atlantic Oscillation - there is no doubt that when this thing goes UP (positive) - we seem to get rare birds in Ontario. The big bump in late Sept brought us a Gray Flycatcher. The bump in early Dec brought us a Brambling...

It's going up again this week - does that mean our little storm will bring something good?

I don't know - but it's worth looking into...

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Recent Birdy News

Is anyone else dying to see photos of this Empid Sp at Pelee? Any hints? Was it green/yellow? Was it gray? Was it cosmic?!

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My recent bird news:

Snowy Owl (at night!) - a few days ago at the Tollgate Ponds:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/hamiltonbirds/UNhUI7-kBdw

Back in the day, I would have put something like this on ontbirds! ;) --- http://ontbirds.ca/pipermail/birdalert_ontbirds.ca/2002-February/000376.html

CONDO!

Nov 30th - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20730787

Dec 1st (pre work) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20743726

Dec 2nd (pre work) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20755137
(epic east wind, largely missed... Seemed slow though)

Dec 2nd (post work) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20764647

Dec 3rd (pre work) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20764679

As you can see, it has been pretty slow... Maybe that will change! I hope to get a short morning watch in - pretty regularly - over the next little while...

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Minima CACG and ROGO chillin in MD? -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/74718851@N05/15306559363/in/pool-ebird

Hybrid Loon?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/icruickshank/15893207306/in/pool-ebird

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WEATHER!

Yesterday California had a good blast of rain - which will hopefully help their crazy drought...

As for birdy weather - not much... The chance for a big east coast snowstorm in the next 6-10 days, but it may not effect us here in Ontario much at all...

I'm seeing a lot of N and E winds in the forecast over the next week, but that will probably change..

Wait and see!

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ICE ICE BABY!!!!!!

Some of the great lakes have had special ice warnings already this year. Here's hoping for another record year! http://weather.gc.ca/marine/forecast_e.html?mapID=11&siteID=08400

(No big deal)

On the other hand, NOAA is showing MASSIVE ice cover on Hudson Bay already... Maybe it's weak, but that is HUGE! Maybe we will notice some changes in our bird life if it caps over early this year? Or maybe not?

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The sun has been spotty recently, but no big news.

I think that's all I've got for now!

Thursday, November 27, 2014

A "Rarity Alert" recap - it happened!

Sometimes you can't explain it, and often - if a system is packin rarities - some seem to arrive far too early to even be associated with the storm - but somehow they arrive (I'm thinking about the Solitaires)...

MEGA - Brambling

Other: Alcid/Murre in NY (lake ON)
Common Eider in SW MI
2 Solitaires in ON right now
Someone's pet Eurasian Tree Sparrow that arrived in Niagara
Tufted Duck (Buffalo)

That's a pretty solid list! I've seem other reports of "good" birds - GWF Goose, Ross's, Goose etc...

Gotta love those big storms!

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But now begins the vicious cycle of twitching. I'm going to come right out and say it - I hate twitching. There have been some birds I was very happy to get. Specifically, the Thick-billed Kingbird - was a remarkably awesome twitch. I also enjoyed the Whitby Smew a fair bit. (The Phainopepla was awesome!)

There are others that I "went for" - that I think I realized that "if I don't go now, I'll regret it later" - rather than being extremely excited to actually witness the bird itself. Some examples may be: The Rondeau Mag Frigatebird, the Elegant Tern, and even the Brown Booby to some degree (note: all of these birds were pretty distant).

Why am I writing about this? Because of that darn Brambling. It's an 8 hour round trip, for an AMAZING bird - but the 8 hours are holding me back...

I don't give a hoot about the Eurasian Tree Sparrow*..

But that Brambling sure looks awesome. I'm not trying to inflict my practice onto others - twitch away and love every second of it - it's just not for me - and I wanted to make a blog post about it. Maybe I'll look back and laugh when I realize I could have seen a Brambling today, but didn't....

Some of my thoughts on twitching:

- you learn a little by going on a twitch (about bird ID)
- you learn more by searching for rarities yourself (about bird ID)
- it is exciting to see a mega via twitch
- it is STUPIDLY exciting to find a mega
- most rarities show up in "vagrant season" - meaning time spent twitching, is time spent not looking for your own rares- at a prime time
- twitching a bird in "non vagrant season" is much more fun (eg,/ Sage Thrasher in February 2006)
- there are considerably more birds to TWITCH than to find (more regular gratification to twitch)
- competitive listing and twitching are practically the same thing

Anyways, just some chatter... It was a good distraction to thinking about that Brambling

Awesome bird!

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I have this personal vendetta about introduced species. I still need Gray Partridge for my Ontario list, because I just don't care... I never bothered to chase a Eurasian Collared Dove, but when I found one in 2013 (with Mr. Dave Bell) - we were still really excited... Just as I'm sure I would be if I found a EuroTree Sparrow - but dang, I have a hard time getting excited about them.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Rarity Alert Continues

2/3pm radar as the low "wraps up" and is (likely) bombing out... My red arrow shows the path of rarities arriving

By 9am tomorrow, the "back side" of the rain will already be free of southern Ontario - that's a fast moving storm track - with winds from the southern USA - arriving in a single night

Surface winds at 2/3pm (same as the radar image on the top) look pretty dull...

850mb winds (a bit higher off the surface) - Winds at 2/3pm - blowing in from Texas until it hits the rain - and strong!

850mb wind forecast for tomorrow (monday) morning. What birds are migrating right now in Arkansas??? Cause that's where I'd look to get an idea... Winds will be direct to southern Ontario - strong - and little to no rain in the way.

Water vapor at 9ish pm - showing the clear/dry skies behind the system

Ebird says some of the following are currently chillin in Arkansas - Geese (Snow, GWF), Avocets, Franklin's Gulls, Harris's Sparrows,

Ugh - that was a boring list... Let's try Oklahoma - Geese, Western Grebe, Frank Gulls, LB Dowitchers, EC and WW Doves, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Prairie Falcon, Scissor-tailed Fly, Rock/Bewicks Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Spotted Towhee, Harris's Sparrow....

Well, it's a start. Let's see if anything gets found! Rare birds are rare for a reason.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Rarity Alert !!! - mega storm early next week...

WPC outlook for Monday - showing a sub 980mb monstrosity.

WPC outlook for Sunday - showing warm air invading the province - and the two lows that will phase (and bomb) over the great lakes Monday.... This is a setup that can bring rares from multiple directions (west coast and gulf coast!)

WPC for late Saturday/Early Sunday - That odd front over Quebec is a setup I've seen bring rares in the spring - what will happen here?

Euro 850mb winds (above) and GFS precip below... A few "model runs" giving a hint at what may transpire..

This is a BIG ONE - but I always find that ~50% of these storms are not "packin rarities" at all... So IF it does end up bringing the goodies - it should be VERY good...

It's the last week of November - this is rarity time! And (I think) a storm this large has the potential to pull something in from long distances...

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Hence - the first RARITY ALERT i've posted here in quite some time!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Peregrine terrorizing Blue Jays + lookahead

Taken at Pelee several weeks ago (October?)... Over a few different days, I saw Peregrine's catch multiple Blue Jays (and a few starlings) at the very tip... This last image above shows the feathers flying, but no grab!

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All winds blow to Fort Erie on Tuesday morning... 40 knots! Who will be there to find the goodies? - Hopefully this primes the river for some great gulling.

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Monster sunspot 2192 returned a few days ago - much smaller than it was last time around. It was renumbered 2209, and is still Beta-Delta-Gamma, so maybe we'll get some more fireworks... Will keep an eye on it...

(solarham!)

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ENSO regions are warming - but NOAA actually decreased their odds of an El Nino event - saying they're not overly convinced it has staying power (needs to be 3 months straight)... Will keep an eye on it

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Into the future, the models keep hinting at more snow events, big blasts of arctic air - and the potential for some big storms... Generally too far to really have any confidence, but one thing is for sure - they aren't really seeing any major changes from what we've been experiencing for a few weeks now!

Will keep an eye on it...

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Dark "Light Morph" Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk

Back in early/mid October - a very heavily marked "light morph" juvenile Broad-winged Hawk.

So odd looking (to me), that I didn't really know what it was!

So I took a bunch of photos, and tried to sort it all out later. Can't get past BWHA...

Observed with Ross Wood