- Oct 28
A snipe on my road was the only highlight of the day
- Oct 29
A fairly quiet morning in the yard, highlights were; Winter Wren, Evening Grosbeak, Common Redpoll and Northern Cardinal.
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| - Evening Grosbeak |
- Oct 30
North winds were forecasted all day, so my hopes were high for some new birds. I was out in the yard at sunrise.. and at -2°C it certainly felt like late October! As is usual for late fall here, morning flight didn't really get going until after 8am. I spotted a rather late Nashville Warbler flitting around the nearby goldenrod, so that was good start to the day.
Around 8:30 a flock of 5 Red Crossbills zipped over, a new bird for the yard this year and what I hoped was the start to the morning finch movement. It was just too dark for photos, so I had to settle for crappy backlit views. Then the wet sleet started to come down and forced me inside.. oh the joys of fall. Luckily it only lasted 20 minutes, so I went back out and resumed my watch. I'd only been out for a few minutes when I heard a Pine Grosbeak, another yard FOY. I whipped my camera up and managed to get a few shots off as it flew over. Not the best photos, but you can tell what it is! Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins were moving and I ended up with about 100 of each. I also saw a few whiteish redpolls among the commons, but the views were just too brief to call a Hoary.
Eastern Bluebird, Rusty Blackbirds and an Eastern Meadowlark were also highlights.
Around 11:00 a raptor flight started, with a few Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks heading south. The sun decided to come out around 11:30, so that warmed me up a bit. Then I looked up & Bam! Golden Eagle. I had been hoping for a golden for the past week, so I was happy to nail it. I normally get some in March/April, but I totally missed out this past spring. Shortly after that 2 more goldens flew over together, followed by a 4th around 12:30, not a bad count for here! I also had 2 more Red Crossbills go by, which I managed to get horrible record shots of..
I ended my watch around 1pm, when activity started to die off. I ended up with 44 species, a solid day here in late Oct. Full morning flight/hawkwatch list below;
- 14 Sandhill Cranes
- 4 Golden Eagles
- 3 Northern Harriers
- 8 Bald Eagles
- 2 Red-shouldered Hawks
- 10 Red-tailed Hawks
- 10 Rough-legged Hawks
- 600 American Crows
- 1 Eastern Bluebird
- 16 American Robins
- 1 American Pipit
- 3 Evening Grosbeaks
- 2 Pine Grosbeaks
- 1 Purple Finch
- 79 Common Redpolls
- 7 Red Crossbills
- 120 Pine Siskins
- 4 Snow Buntings
- 1 Eastern Meadowlark
- 1 Rusty Blackbird
- 8 Red-winged Blackbirds
- 2 Common Grackles
Some photos from the day
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| - Red Crossbills |
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| - Golden Eagle in a flurry |
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| - Pine Grosbeak |
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| - Golden Eagles |
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| - Golden Eagle |
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| - Golden Eagles |
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| - Red-shouldered Hawk |
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| - Rough-legged Hawk and Common Raven |
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| - Nashville Warbler |
I'm sure you're sick of my bad photography, so here's a sharp Pine Siskin..
- Nov 1
A lone Pine Grosbeak was the only real highlight of the day.
- Nov 2
Strong west wind and rain.. a few flyover black ducks were the only cool things.
- Nov 3
Snow Buntings, Evening Grosbeaks, White-winged Crossbills & Common Redpolls were the highlights of the morning. Also 2 Belted Kingfishers in the afternoon ~ definitely a surprise
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| - Evening Grosbeaks |
- Nov 4
Birding down on the shore on Lake Huron all day.
- Nov 5
Some more yard finches.. lots of Evening Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls, also Rough-legged Hawk and an actual good view of a White-winged Crossbill (not a backlit flyover like normal).
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| - White-winged Crossbill |
- Nov 6th-9th
Away from home for a quick visit to Southern ON. A mega rarity was in my yard when I was gone no doubt.
- Nov 10
Crazy warm temperatures, like it's been for the past week here.. 17°C in the mornin... in November! (For comparison, last year it was -18°C in early Nov). Strong south wind really killed the activity here and I only saw 16 species on my morning watch. Quality over quantity however, as one of my first birds of the day was a flyover House Finch! I know, I know.. not a super exciting for most people, but it was a yard lifer for me & one of the most overdue species for my place (surpassed only by my nemesis... dumb Green Heron), so I was quite satisfied. The finch gods were with me I guess, as the next bird I had was a Hoary Redpoll, a new bird for the year.
New additions to yard yearlist since my last post;
- Red Crossbill
- Pine Grosbeak
- Golden Eagle
- House Finch
- Hoary Redpoll
Yard yearlist at November 10th -179
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