April 24 -
Pretty quiet day, highlights would probably be Hermit Thrush and Common Loon. I also had a cooperative Yellow-rumped Warbler flycatching in front of my house, which provided me with a nice photo opportunity.
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| - Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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- April 25
Because it looked to be a decent morning for weather, I got up early (6:30am) and tried a skywatch. There weren't that many birds moving, but the birding was pretty decent and it turned out to be worthwhile to wake up. Highlights were;
- 2 American Black Ducks
- 4 Wild Turkeys (surprisingly rare in my yard)
- 3 Great Blue Herons
- 1 Northern Goshawk
- 2 Rusty Blackbirds
The Northern Goshawk was definitely the highlight if the morning. I was watching blackbirds flying over and was just about to calls it quits and head inside, when a freaking adult goshawk ripped out of the forest beside me and flew right overhead! Unfortunately my camera response time was a bit slow and I only got pics of it flying away..
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| - Northern Goshawk |
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| - Goshawk of the north |
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| - Great Blue Heron |
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| - Rusty Blackbird |
Nothing else of note all day besides a Red-shouldered Hawk that drifted over in the afternoon.
New additions to year yearlist;
- Wild Turkey
- Rusty Blackbird
Yard yearlist total at April 25th - 84
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- April 26
The day started off rather cool with NE winds, so I didn't really bird in the early morning. I did try a skywatch around noon, which turned out to be fun even though there weren't that many birds. Birds seen included;
- 1 Common Loon
- 1 Northern Harrier
- 2 Broad-winged Hawks
- 3 Belted Kingfisher
- 1 Barn Swallow
The Broad-winged Hawks appeared to be the pair that nests in my neighbourhood and they were displaying over my yard all day. It was my first time hearing BWHA call this spring and it was exciting to watch the pair soar and dive over the forest all afternoon. A few times they came close enough for some pictures..
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| - Broad-winged Hawk |
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| - BWHA |
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| - Belted Kingfisher |
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| - BEKIs |
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| - Common Loon |
- Barn Swallow
Yard yearlist total at April 26th - 85
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- April 27
I didn't really do a dedicated skywatch as I was fairly busy all day. Highlight would probably be a flyover Common Merganser.
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- April 28
For the first time in what seemed like weeks the forecast looked promising (S winds, warm temps), so I woke up at 6:20am and went outside to see what was moving. It turned out to be a decent morning and I had 40 species by 8:00am (it started raining then so I called it quits). Highlights were;
- 150 Canada Geese
- 2 American Wigeon
- 2 American Black Ducks
- 3 Green-winged Teal
- 10 Double-crested Cormorant
- 1 American Kestral
- 1 Lapland Longspur (yard lifer!)
- 280 Red-winged Blackbirds
- 18 Rusty Blackbirds
The day was pretty quiet after the morning, but I did have a group of Northern Pintails flyover in the evening.
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| - Northern Pintails |
- Northern Pintail
- Lapland Longspur
Yard yearlist total at April 28th - 87
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That's it for now!
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