5/29/10

A cracking morning with loads of passerines on the move; sometime mid-count Chris radioed to say he'd found a Mockingbird so me and Jason thought we'd go look for it; Phil said he'd hold the fort. Then Chris and Nova said they'd found a Bay Breasted Warbler near the mist nets so we went for that instead. While looking around the area it was obvious there was a pocket of bird activity near a small pond, including a Yellow Bellied Flycatcher giving great views. While waiting quietly in some pines by the pond a close warbler passed through some willows about 15 feet away, about 5 feet off the ground. In my bins i could see that it had a plain dark grey head with no hint of a supercilium at all, but a very strikingly bold white eyering. I quickly scanned the plumage for distinguishing features and noted yellow underparts, fairly plain concolourous dark upperparts across the head, mantle and wings with strong black streaks on the upper mantle; in the brief view i wasn't struck by any bold wingbars. The breast was unpatterned but there were black streaks on the rear flanks. It quickly moved on and I was immediately thinking Kirtlands but wanted to check a field guide for confusion species. Luckily Geoff had one nearby, and i was able to eliminate a first spring female Magnolia due to their contrasting wings and mantle, lack of dark streaks on the upper mantle; paler head and mantle and usually, presence of either fairly obvious wingbars, a hint of a post-ocular supercilium or some patterning on the upper breast. I staked out the spot for about 2 hours but it seems the bird was just passing through, though i did find Least and Alder Flycatchers, Wilsons, female Mourning and probable female Tennessee Warbler and interestingly a female Magnolia which Geoff had reported, this being noticeably different to the bird i saw. I'm really pleased to have found a good Point bird which i've been hoping to do since i started here, though it's tinged with disappointment that it didn't stay around for others to enjoy; i can understand why some people have shown some scepticism, as i've been on the other side of the fence many times myself! However as i've said to a couple of folks whilst i've been here, i never claim a bird unless i'm at least 110% certain of the ID. I was lucky enough to find another life bird too, a Great Crested Flycatcher behind the shack, though unfortunately only NTVs were obtained of the Olive Sided Flycatcher in the same area as it flew back south, though it had been calling loudly and frequently.
Canada Geese continue to go through, with 366. Still some White Winged Scoter and R B Merganser too with 27 and 33 respectively. 42 Common Loons was more than in recent days, while 19 D C Cormorant included a flock of 16. Shorebirds were noticeable with 9 S P Plover and 16 Sanderling.
Here's an evening view from the beach to help you get an idea of the scenery:

5/28/10 cont. Peregrine... err... hang on...

A bit of excitement during the count too. A sighting of a Peregrine came over the radio, i was busy counting so didn't immediately turn around. When i did i saw the bird flying away from us with some Broad Wings and remarked on its unusual, slow, stiff flight action, but was told that they sometimes fly like that here (!), though it seemed odd for it to be mixing so closely with the low flock of slow-moving Buteos. A minute or so later "Mississippi Kite" came over the radio; we couldn't see the bird but later found out that there was no Peregrine and it was in fact the Mississippi Kite! Hearty congrats to the 2 independant finders, but for me unfortunately, not UTB (Under The Belt) or OML (On My List) but "NTVs" (= Non-Tickable Views).

5/28/10 - Jolly Japes

An interesting and educational day today, if a little frustrating at times. There was a passage of terns on and off the whole day in small groups which totalled 47, but due to the conditions both myself and Phil felt it was not possible to say with 100% certainty what species any of them were! The sky was cloudless, and looking into the sun the whole day meant that birds were generally silhouettes, and even structural details became hard to discern in the glare. Add to this heat shimmer and some tripod shake when not in the lee of the shack and you have a recipe for some challenging bird ID! Indeed at times the birds seemed to show features of different and dissimilar species at the same time. Yet another reminder, not that i need one, of just how hard seabirding really is.
A lone tern flew through towards the end of the count and we agreed it was a good candidate for either Sandwich or Gull-Billed; i see the former pretty regularly between late March and late September. So ironically we may have had a 2nd State record, we just don't know which species! I think it's fair to say that there was a consensus that at least some of the other terns were Arctics. It makes me wonder how many go by un-ID'd. If a supporting cast for this High Arctic bird were needed it was provided by a respectable count of 12 Red Throated Loons, which nests the furthest north of all the loon species, getting almost as far north as there is land and small pools of open water. Additionally i had a Parasitic Jaeger during the evening flight which probably nests the furthest north of the jaegers. It is generally the case that the birds which breed the furthest north migrate the latest.

Canada Geese continued to go through with almost 200 and there was a good high count of Ring Billed Gulls with 168 - they really were "all over the gaff", as they say in Sheffield.

Laugher

A Laughing Gull flew over this morning, chuckling away which helped us to pick it up as it headed SE into the bay - unfortunately it just kept on going. This could be the same bird which Phil had 2 days ago, or could be a new bird. Canada Geese kept on going through, with a whopping 673 birds today. Loons made a slight comeback with 53, including 9 Red Throated. Five Swan sp looked large, heavy and long necked and were probably either Mute or Trumpeter but were too distant to ID. Black Bellied Plover put in a good showing with 34. And don't forget, there's still time to send in your pledges for the WPBO Bird-a-thon!

26/5/10 - O Canada!

The Canada Goose migration is well and truly underway, 437 on Wednesday and 283 the day before. There is a somewhat smaller passage early in the Spring, but as i understand it, no one is completely sure where these new birds are coming from, going to, or why. The most likely explanation seems to be that it is some kind of moult migration, perhaps of failed or non-breeders from further south, seeking fresh grazing to the north. In the UK where Canada Goose is an introduced non-native, a small moult migration has developed up into Scotland from further south. Certainly a lot of the birds we are currently seeing look pretty shabby and in need of some new feathers! Conversely, seaduck (scoters and Longtails) have come to a very abrupt halt. A Prairie Warbler was spotted by Jack in the pine just behind the shack and sang for a while before heading back south.
I had a couple of days off and Ken kindly drove us to the Keweenaw for an overnight visit. We spent quite a lot of time with Max up on Brockway Mountain and had stunning views of some raptors, despite the 90 degree wind coming all the way from Texas. One of the highlights was seeing a wolf by the side of the road! In the meantime Phil kindly held the fort back at the shack and had 2 Parasitic Jaegers and a Laughing Gull - good stuff.

Fog

Not much more to say really. Fog. Lots of it. More fog than birds certainly. A walk round the tip before the count produced 8 Black Bellied Plover, and while stumbling around behind the shack i had a flock of about 10 birds go over which looked and sounded like waxwings. Mid-afternoon they again flew over me, and i again failed to nail the I.D. Third time lucky, as i was walking out to the point for the evening flight they went over once more; this time i got my bins on them before they quickly disappeared and could see a yellow tail band - Cedar Waxwing fully trousered! Back of the net! And there were nearer to 20 this time. Hope they stick around. Another warm welcome to an even newer member of the team, Libby who will be volunteering here for a couple of months, supporting the team, providing guided walks and so forth. Do come along and support our programs if you can.

Waders...

...sorry, shorebirds were starting to appear today - a walk round the point before the start of the count produced superb close views of 6 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, 2 Piping Plover and 1 Spotted Sandpiper. 4 Whimbrel flew through mid-count. A shorebird flew over giving an unusual, quick 4 note wi-wi-wi-wi call; this is a close match for the description of Upland Sandpiper, though of course we'll never know what it was!
A warm welcome to the team again for Phil Chu; i know he needs no introduction to many of our visitors and was greeting old acquaintances as soon as he arrived. Phil will be helping out with the waterbird count for the next couple of weeks as usual. And he got off to a nice start by spotting a Black Tern, a great point bird and just totally stunning! Conditions were cloudier today and there were fewer duck; whether the two are somehow related i have no idea.

5/21/10 - Best day for Long Tails...

... with 501. Also 193 White Winged Scoters. Back home we call them "Velvet Scoters" - i wonder why? 4 Surf Scoters were nice to see. A light passage of gulls was again evident, and another tern was seen mid-range; darkish tones in the plumage suggest Common, as do the short tail streamers. 2 Piping Plovers were again present, though no sign of any nest scraping as yet. Two pairs have been located at Vermilion Point according to the guys there. Nice to see 2 male and 1 female Bobolink over the shack first thing, plus Magnolia Warbler in the nearest tree and male Scarlet Tanager shooting through, thanks to another "heads up" on the walkie-talkie!

A good count of Red Throated Loons today with 41. One Osprey and one Great Blue Heron, and another afternoon gull passage involved 8 Bonapartes, and about 90 each of Herring and Ring Billed.
The forecast is for the winds to turn much more to the south for the next few days. This could really open the floodgates... Interestingly i narrowly missed a Yellow Headed Blackbird in with the Blue Jay flock whilst i was trying to relocate a reported Henslows Sparrow, potentially a first for the Point. I wonder if things are starting to hot up.

Tern tern tern

The clear skies and calm conditions continue unabated. Over 230 each of L T Duck and W W Scoter flew by, 140 R B Merganser, and 20 R T Loon. Towards the end of the count a steady passage of approx 50 Herring and Ring Billed Gulls was evident. One Piping plover was present. Highlight was about 3 groups of terns going through mid-distance first thing totalling 38. I am familiar with Common and Arctic which breed in N Wales where i live. They were silhouetted against the light so plumage features could not be discerned but they had tail streamers the length of Arctics. This is a pelagic species which tends to migrate up the east and west coasts; the other species with long tail streamers is Forsters which is a scarce but regular migrant, usually in small numbers. Interestingly i had a lone tern three days ago with long tail streamers; i noted at the time that its' call was "unlike Common".
One Red Necked Grebe was the first for many days.