- May 4
Unlike last year, May the fourth was not with me..
Slept in becuase the weather was less than ideal (cold & N wind), so no morning birding to report. I walked down to "Kiah's Marsh" in the afternoon, but didn't turn up anything besides a Northern Waterthrush.
Surprisingly enough, the best birding of May 4th was at night. Around 11pm I went outside to listen for owls and even though I didn't hear any, I heard 2 Eastern Whip-poor-wills, a Ruffed Grouse and my first nocturnal flight call of the year (warbler sp).
New additions to yard yearlist;
- Eastern Whip-poor-will
Yard yearlist total at May 4th - 98
- May 5
Went out for a skywatch around 9:00am, which turned out to be super quiet (N wind and 2°C, so I'm not surprised). Highlights were 4 flyover Common Loons and a Northern Harrier. A quick walk down my road produced a singing Blue-headed Vireo, but not much else.
The highlight bird of the day came in the evening though, when I had 4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows fly over (yard lifer!).
New additions to yard yearlist;
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Yard yearlist total at May 5th - 99
New additions to yard yearlist;
- Eastern Whip-poor-will
Yard yearlist total at May 4th - 98
..................
- May 5
Went out for a skywatch around 9:00am, which turned out to be super quiet (N wind and 2°C, so I'm not surprised). Highlights were 4 flyover Common Loons and a Northern Harrier. A quick walk down my road produced a singing Blue-headed Vireo, but not much else.
The highlight bird of the day came in the evening though, when I had 4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows fly over (yard lifer!).
New additions to yard yearlist;
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Yard yearlist total at May 5th - 99
...............
- May 7
Got up at sunrise for some reason and skywatched (aka tried to stay awake) until 8:00am. The temperature (1°C.. Yikes), coupled with the north wind overnight sure didn't help migration and the yard was fairly dead. I ended up with 36 species, which surprised me as it didn't seem that birdy. Highlights were;
- 1 Wild Turkey
- 4 Common Loons
- 1 Eastern Bluebird
- 1 Pine Warbler
- 1 Ovenbird
That was it for birding..
Oh the joys of a late spring!
- May 7
Got up at sunrise for some reason and skywatched (aka tried to stay awake) until 8:00am. The temperature (1°C.. Yikes), coupled with the north wind overnight sure didn't help migration and the yard was fairly dead. I ended up with 36 species, which surprised me as it didn't seem that birdy. Highlights were;
- 1 Wild Turkey
- 4 Common Loons
- 1 Eastern Bluebird
- 1 Pine Warbler
- 1 Ovenbird
That was it for birding..
.....................
- May 8
Two words sum up May 8th - late March. Even though the calender says it's the second week of May, I'm determined that we have time traveled back to March. The north winds were very strong all day and it snowed on and off all afternoon, so birding was a miserable activity to consider. The wind let up a bit in the evening and the sun came out, so I walked down to Kiah's Marsh to look for cold birds. I had just arrived at the marsh (almost a 2km walk from my house) and was trying to enjoy some evening birding when a blizzard came out of nowhere and slammed me with biting N wind and a white out... Needless to say the walk home wasn't too pleasant. I guess the best bird of my wintery walk was Blue-headed Virso.
- May 8
Two words sum up May 8th - late March. Even though the calender says it's the second week of May, I'm determined that we have time traveled back to March. The north winds were very strong all day and it snowed on and off all afternoon, so birding was a miserable activity to consider. The wind let up a bit in the evening and the sun came out, so I walked down to Kiah's Marsh to look for cold birds. I had just arrived at the marsh (almost a 2km walk from my house) and was trying to enjoy some evening birding when a blizzard came out of nowhere and slammed me with biting N wind and a white out... Needless to say the walk home wasn't too pleasant. I guess the best bird of my wintery walk was Blue-headed Virso.
Oh the joys of a late spring!
...............
- May 9
- May 9
eBird Global Big Day!
Got up @ 6:30am for some yard birding.. I woke up to what seemed to be another March day, -2°C and a snow covered yard. Not surprised that it turned out to be quiet, but I did have a flyover Ring-necked Duck and a few Yellow-rumped Warbs going south (smart birds). Stayed out until around 7:30, when the wind picked up and it started snowing..
I originally wasn't planning on going birding anywhere, but when I came in and checked my phone, I saw that Jarmo Jalava (who lives like 4km from me) had a Painted Bunting at his feeder(!!). I drove over with my mom 20 minutes later, but the bird had disappeared 😢(and was never seen again). I did get my FOY Vesper Sparrow in his yard though.
Since I was already out, I went down to Isaac Lake to cheer myself up after that terrible dip.. the marsh at Isaac was actually ok and I got my firt Marsh Wren and Sora of the year, as well as a nice pair of Trumpeter Swans.
Full list here..
https://ebird.org/checklist/S68667906
The day was pretty quiet after that, I added a few new species to my day list (House Wren.. Caspian Tern..) which left me at a mighty 54 species. Not bad for barely trying, but pretty slow for the second week of May. For reference, I got 90-110 species in Bruce on past eBird big days (last year the big day was on May 4th and I got 106..).
While looking at my eBird records, I stumbled across this awesome list from May 9th, 2019.. what a difference.
- May 10
Cold & birdless, which seems to be the new norm. I heard my first Virginia Rail of the year at Kiah's Marsh, but that was it for highlights.
......
The weather looks prettyou underwhelming for the next few days (Nish wind and cold), so it probably won't be too productive for my yard. Thursday should be decent though, it looks like we are actually getting south wind! - yes, you heard me right, real south wind for a change.
Anyway I should get some new birds this week, so I'll try to write an update later in the week.
Got up @ 6:30am for some yard birding.. I woke up to what seemed to be another March day, -2°C and a snow covered yard. Not surprised that it turned out to be quiet, but I did have a flyover Ring-necked Duck and a few Yellow-rumped Warbs going south (smart birds). Stayed out until around 7:30, when the wind picked up and it started snowing..
I originally wasn't planning on going birding anywhere, but when I came in and checked my phone, I saw that Jarmo Jalava (who lives like 4km from me) had a Painted Bunting at his feeder(!!). I drove over with my mom 20 minutes later, but the bird had disappeared 😢(and was never seen again). I did get my FOY Vesper Sparrow in his yard though.
Since I was already out, I went down to Isaac Lake to cheer myself up after that terrible dip.. the marsh at Isaac was actually ok and I got my firt Marsh Wren and Sora of the year, as well as a nice pair of Trumpeter Swans.
Full list here..
https://ebird.org/checklist/S68667906
The day was pretty quiet after that, I added a few new species to my day list (House Wren.. Caspian Tern..) which left me at a mighty 54 species. Not bad for barely trying, but pretty slow for the second week of May. For reference, I got 90-110 species in Bruce on past eBird big days (last year the big day was on May 4th and I got 106..).
Some pics from Isaac/Jarmo's...
 |
| - Great Egret |
 |
| - Trumpeter Swans |
 |
| - Blue-winged Teal |
 |
| - Vesper Sparrow |
While looking at my eBird records, I stumbled across this awesome list from May 9th, 2019.. what a difference.
New additions to yard yearlist;
- Ringed-necked Duck
Yard yearlist total at May 10th - 100!
...............
Yard yearlist total at May 10th - 100!
...............
- May 10
Cold & birdless, which seems to be the new norm. I heard my first Virginia Rail of the year at Kiah's Marsh, but that was it for highlights.
......
The weather looks prettyou underwhelming for the next few days (Nish wind and cold), so it probably won't be too productive for my yard. Thursday should be decent though, it looks like we are actually getting south wind! - yes, you heard me right, real south wind for a change.
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