Birding
[Birding (and more) in Calhoun County and beyond
For the first time I can recall I did a purposeful Big Day on January 1st. My previous best was 28, so I just wanted to get to 30. With the warm temperatures there was still plenty of open water to explore in the area. Despite this the waterfowl continued to be around in low numbers, at least for me. Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded and Common Merganser were in open water that likely wouldn't be around normally. Homer WTP was even open, not something that normally happens. There weren't a lot of notable birds, just lots of common birds. Hercules and I got back home for lunch at 31 birds, so now I had a new target of 40 birds.
Northern Shrike was still at 23 and O DR N. I missed it first lap around, but upon turning back it was perched up high on west side of 23 Mile. Nice bird to get, that isn't always out in the open. 3 Short-eared Owls showed up late in the evening to put me at 39. One short from my new goal. Luckily shortly before 8 I managed to get a Great Horned Owl calling in the yard. The following weekend, and still plenty of open water, brought me my first January records of Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal at Ackley Lake and the Black-crowned Night Heron was still hanging around at Albion College. 4 Short-eared Owls were still around on Jan 6. Finally nabbed Rough-legged Hawk while looking for Shorties on the 6th, as well as Bald Eagle. No birding the following weekend as we had a storm come through, finally. Snow has been non-existent this winter except for some in late November. It wasn't until the 20th that we got back out and I was able to pick off Horned Lark and an unbelievably high county of Snow Bunting. One frame I counted 1410 Snow Buntings!! I'm sure there was over 1500 there as not all of them were in the frame. It was crazy. I also saw what I initially thought was a Turkey Vulture, but it did rock. It stayed gliding well over a mile off at B DR N Fields, so I was able to get some distant snaps and even the scope on it. It really gave off Golden Eagle vibes (flight and glimpses of what looked like limited white and golden nape), but the lighting played some tricks with the underwings. Finally looking at rough pics and some help from Whatbird.com I confirmed my thought it was a Golden Eagle!! Wasn't counting on that bird this winter. My first January record of GOEA. Pine Creek Wetlands on the 21st gave up 5 raptors in only 15 minutes, with Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagle and a FOY Red-shouldered Hawk that I intially called a Red-tailed Hawk. The 22nd in the yard I got my first January records ever of Fox Sparrow and Purple Finch, alas just one day wonders. An interesting bird behaviour that has happened a couple times is a large flock of American Crows doing a murmuration imitation. I made the note in my checklist that they were "doing their best imitation of the Crebain of Dunland" (had to look up the name to be sure). They were circling around and noisy as all get out. Normally they just fly over well spaced out directly on their way from roost to fields then back to roost at night. Somehow I have managed 7 first January records for me this month. Puts me at 95. I'd really like to push January and February over the 100 mark. With the warming temps coming I'm guessing I could still manage Red-winged Blackbird still. There have been sightings recently of the Blackbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown-headed Cowbird and Field Sparrow. Also could managed Winter Wren and Barred Owl, maybe even Great Black-backed Gull still. Guess not completely impossible I could pick up 5 more this weekend, but defintely not counting on it. Probably have to wait till next year. On a somewhat related note the county is at 86 birds so far this month, with a previous best of 80. Quite impressive start to the year. Still not like we are exceelling compared to nearby counties though. Definitely a very active January. Jan Birds to get to 100
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Between pushing things for end of the year, early push for 2024, and Chaos haven't gotten back to wrap things up for 2023. Starting back up on the 21st I managed a couple snaps of this abieticola Red-tailed Hawk with a THICK belly-band. The Short-eared Owls continued, but with only 4 on the 21st. No great looks, and very dark out (a theme of the last couple weeks of 2023). Somehow managed a halfway decent shot of a Northern Harrier, even at 1/250th speed. The 23rd managed to be a somewhat banner day for FOY. We started out at Grever's, still trying to find Red Crossbills. I debated which way to go after that, and last second chose to track back down H DR N. As we drove down there I spotted a shape up at top of a dead tree. Immediately gave off falcon vibes, but was an odd spot for a Kestrel. Managed to stop without it bolting and got some nice looks at a FOY Merlin. Had about given up hope on getting one. After not being able to pick up anything unique at Duck Lake we hit up Voorhees to try for Barred Owl again. I did a litle playback and had. nothing happen. As I started to drive off I instinctvely looked back over my shoulder for traffic and saw a noticeable shape in the trees on other side of the road. There was a Barred Owl staring right at me!! Managed to catch 1 Short-eared Owl as the light was fading at J DR N. Then decided to check a spot on G DR N where I have had Eastern Screech-Owl in the past. A little playback and managed to get a faint "whinny" call. Early morning on the 24th I had a pair of Great Horned Owls calling. Not bad, 4 different owls within about 14 hours! The Screech-Owl got me up to 211 for the year. 24th we headed out yet again, hitting up Kimball Pines Park to try for Crossbills. I had a Blue Jay that was doing a perfect Red-shouldered Hawk call. I mean absolutely perfect call. The Short-eared Owls put on a nice show that evening. I counted 5 of them with a bonus Rough-legged Hawk attempting to steal a vole from an owl.
I've somehow managed to rack up 7 FOY birds this month, so far. I've hit that 3 other times, but they were all basically catch up birds that didn't even get me to 200. 6 of the 7 at least were catch up birds for the year. The 7th was a big one that put the county at 226 for the year, tied with last year for best year. Ed Hicks, late on the 17th, found a juvenile Glaucous Gull on Duck Lake. Despite the late hour, Herc and I rushed out there, and with some help from Nolan Williams got on the beast of a bird in the middle of the Ring-billed raft. A really nice bird that unfortunately didn't make another appearance. Chaos wreaked havoc through most of the month. I did managed to get out of work on time on the 8th and catch some brief glimpses of a couple Short-eared Owls. Then went to Albion College and snagged the Black-crowned Night Heron for a new December bird. This bird hung out for quite a while with last sighting on Christmas Eve. Besides a trip to Grevers on 12/9 to try for Crossbills, we didn't get back out until 12/14 to try to snage the Northern Shrike for #206 on the year. The CBC started on 12/16. Got out there probably later than I should have for the owls I needed. Ended up strking out on any owls. I did manage some FOY Pine Siskins finally with a flyover at Waubascon Lake and 8 at Bedford Cemetary, while looking for Crossbills. Another nice find was this leucistic juvenile Trumpeter Swan. It lacks the dusty grey that a normal juvenile would have this time of the year. Note also the orange legs. Another couple of nice finds on the CBC were this abieticola Red-tailed Hawk, and close looks at this Red-shouldered Hawk. The CBC turned out to be one of my best efforts that I can remember. I had 35 species, with a high day for me in December of 43. We decided to head back out after grabbing a bite to eat. We hit Grevers hoping for Red-breasted Nuthatch or some Crossbills. All I could manage was a Pileated Woodpecker there. Duck Lake is where things really paid off with 7 birds there, including a Long-tailed Duck. We ended up at B DR N Fields for Northern Harrier and another flyover from a Short-eared Owl. It was dark, but managed some shots as it locked on me and passed over, and slightly East by about 50 feet. We ended the day at 47 birds. The Pine Siskin on the 16th, and Glaucous Gull on the 17th brought me to 208 birds officially making this my 3rd best year in the county somehow. Not sure how I managed that with the 2 weeks in North Carolina and Chaos being more structured than the previous 2 years. Luckily I was able to ditch Chaos for the last 2 weeks of the year and get out some (not as much as I wanted to). I've decided to try to get to see the Short-eared Owls as much as I can while they are here. They have already started putting up fence posts for the %#$>*&@ solar farm. On the 20th we ened over there and had some very close views of one of them, with very poor lighting. Similar to the above pics these are heaving on the noise reduction. I think I'll pick this back up tomorrow with the remainder of December.
Easily a Top 5 birding experience this past week near Albion. The day prior, 11/27, Short-eared Owls were reported by Dr. Dale Kennedy, and photographed close to the road. It was too late for me to head out, and I was not having a good day with this fallout from some food poisoning. I just had to hope that they held till the next day. I ended up with a Dr. appt. that day and decided to just burn a 1/2 day. Part of that 1/2 day was to be able to head over to Albion. We got there a little after 4:30 and it was a smorgasbord!!!!! Owls flying all over the place. I eventually ended up with 10 in one scan!!! This location has been amazing for Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur, and is now set to be turned into another damn solar farm!!! At least it gave up this amazing experience. But wait, there's more!!!
One owl, for some reason, focused right on me and flew my way from about 100 yards out. It stared straight at me the whole time as I snapped away in awe. It eventually flew directly over me, at about 20 feet and then cruised back over the road. I still am just amazed at this experience, and the photos I was able to get. The animated gif below are all uncropped images strung together. I've had maybe 3 seconds of total time seeing this species prior. Not a whole lot has happened in the past few weeks. Had a mystery hawk on 10/30 that was likely just a Red-tailed Hawk. It was flying with another one, but wings looked longer and it flapped at wrists a few times. Very odd, but I had no glass to get a better look at it. A juvenile Sharpie has visited the feeder a handful of times starting on the 31st, then every other day on 11/10-11/14. I would catch it sitting on the feeder and maybe chase after something in the small cedar and then come back. I'm becoming more convinced that there should be two color morphs considered for Eastern Red-tailed Hawks; rufous and light. I keep seeing some very heavily rufous washed birds with darker markings on the top and bottom. Not sure how to research further to prove this, but it is on the project list. I made a run out to Duck Lake on the 11th, mostly to check for gulls and see if I could manage a duck or grebe I might need. I found a rather unexpected Long-tailed Duck. Nobody else managed to see it in the past week, and I relocated it again yesterday the 19th....and again nobody saw it the next day. While out there I also managed to get a decent recording of a Common Loon calling..finally.
Also on the 19th we headed over to Albion again to get a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron that had been there since the 15th. Chaos was having none of trying to get over there during the week. Also the Limpkin is still hanging out there. So managed 3 very rare birds within a couple of hours. I think I can get to 205 still this year at least. Just need White-winged Scoter that was reported out to Duck Lake today, and possibly Red-necked Grebe that were potentially out there. Then should be able to get Barred and Eastern Screech-Owls still. I always get to this time of the year though thinking I can still get plenty of birds, and then only end up with a couple new ones. It looks like, in December, I either get 7 FOY bird (3 times) when I don't get near 200, or I get 1 (3 times) or 2 FOY when I get over 200. I might spread out a bit since I am at 251 species overall this year, and my second best year is 253. So if I extend my travels I little I should be able to get 255-260. Unfortunately I never managed a Broad-winged in the past 3 plus weeks. Down to Eastern Screech-Owl and Cackling Goose as ones that I can still get up to 10/10 years. The Owl I feel okay about, but not so much the Goose. Honestly was shocked to see that those have been annual birds for me. Always felt like a struggle to get one. Since my last update I managed to nab a Surf Scoter at Brooks Nature Area on 10/15 for bird #200 for the year. That was one of my goals for this year. Keeps my yearly average over 200 over the last 10 years, including my Big Yard year where I only got to 180. That bird helped push Brooks into a tie with Whitehouse at 183 birds, for #1 hotspot in the county. A number passed a couple days later, and then with a bird I'll discuss in a bit now at 185. I think there is a shot to eventually get the checklist there to 200. I've come up with 19 somewhat likely candidates.
None of these are totally out of bounds for showing up there, and likely do and just timing has been off. One bird I wasn't expecting, and didn't even think about showing up there popped up on 10/22. I snapped some pics of a gull flying out of there, and didn't even look close at it. Shortly after arriving at the lookout this small darker juvie gull caught my eye. It ended up being the same bird I fly over heard about 10 minutes prior. It gave me lots of great looks, and I had no doubt, as it landed amongst the Ring-billed Gulls, this was a juvie Lesser Black-backed Gull. Most of our sightings have been near R DR N, or at Duck Lake. I also hardly ever have many gulls at Brooks. It just doesn't attract them like Duck Lake does. This was bird #185 at Brooks, and my 161st bird tying my hotspot high with Woodland Park, and 1 more than my yard. The bird gave some nice flybys, even being chased by the Ring-billeds with what appeared to be a leaf in its mouth. This bird would be a bird that hatched this year, and already this far south and away from the Great Lakes. It was also, by a day, the earliest in the season I've had one. Not my bird, but the Limpkin was sighted again...one month after it first showed up. Things are really going to start getting tough for it. Hopefully it decides to take some favorable winds and head to warmer climes. Not a whole lot of other highlights in the past 3 weeks. My downed tree limb I think save a bird from a Cooper's Hawk on 10/5. On 10/6 I probably had my Broad-winged Hawk at Woodland Park with some hawk jumping off the forest floor, but just never got a really good look at it. I did have a late Green Heron and Eastern Wood-Pewee, and this weird looking juvie Red-tailed Hawk. Lots of spotting going down the neck, thick patagials and the spotting going all the way down the belly. Early in the morning on 10/10 I had the pair of Great Horned Owls calling back and forth for a short bit. The next day I had my latest record of Tennessee Warbler. Not too surprising with the way the weather has been. We managed a late walk at Brooks on the 18th, and then ran out to Duck Lake. The large groups of gulls have already started to show up with close to 3000 out there already. Very spread out, and nothing that immediately popped out as odd. I might have had 3 White-winged Scoters out there, as previously spotted, but I didn't try to snap pics and never located them again. Tough call from that distance. Nothing else of exceptional note. Rough past couple of weeks for the family, so motivation has been a little lacking. If not for trying to make sure Hercules got some walking time, I'd probably not gotten out at all.
Some shots from the past few weeks, only half being birds. I was originally thinking my next post would be titled "The year without a Broad-winged Hawk", as that has been my year so far. Looking closer birds I have seen every year, the past 10 years, excep this year are also Cackling Goose and Eastern Screech-Owl. Still have time for those. Not so much for the Hawk. The bird that was the impetus for this post was something truly unbelievable. A Limpkin was spotted at Whitehouse Nature Center!! This is a bird that on a trip to Florida one year I specifcally targeted, along with Snail Kite and Wood Stork. At that time there were just a couple dozen records of this bird north of Florida. It was nearly exclusively a Florida bird for years. Even just in 2020 there was a single record north of a line from Atlanta, East and West. 2021 brought some records to Minnesota, Illinois and Maryland. 2022 was Limpkin summer with records up into Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Niagra in NY.
Michigan had 2 records last year (I think these were determined to be 2 different birds), and we have had 5 more this year, with the Calhoun bird being the latest. I drove 200 miles in 4 trips to finally see that bird. It was very elusive, but others kept seeing it when I was not there so I didn't give up when reports were coming in on Monday 10/2. I got to the little boat dock near the Albion College football field and started scanning. Nothing though. I moved over to this pipe that was in the river and started to scan again. Just as I was about to give up and head to the Nature Center I spotted it well hidden under some overhanging branches slowly moving in the water. It even bathed for a bit. What an amazing bird I never expected to see here, even with the other birds showing up in the state. #252 for the county, and #199 for the year. Bird #198 for the year was American Pipit, with 12 seen on the fence of the buidling at Homer WTP. I almost gave up on those there also, until I decided to scan the top of the fence and noticed them all hanging out there. I also managed a young Bald Eagle fly close by, and then 4 way up in the sky. On the way back home I ran in to another young Bald Eagle lower, and 4 up high. I thought they were the same birds, but looking at my pics they were all different birds. 10 Bald Eagles in one day isn't bad at all.
The weather continues to be weird this fall with a lot of winds from the south keeping some birds up north longer. I've had my first October record of Eastern Wood-pewee, and even had 2 of them on 9/29. Along with that though the American Pipits are my first September record of that species with earliest arrivals previously being 10/2. It still feels like some warblers haven't come through. I've only seen 6 Yellow-rumped, and no Palm Warblers yet this fall. My latest bird, so far, is a Wood Thrush giving some volley calls on the morning of 9/30. This bird was 18 days later than my previous latest Wood Thrush. Just a very weird Fall migration this year. Sound like the Great Horned Owls may be setting up shop in the woods again as I had 2 calling the morning of 10/1. Hopefully I can get back to having windows open, without the need to run the fans to cool things off, soon. Hopefully also a chance still for some Broadwings to show up. Chaos and other appointments have limited my ability to get out during the big migration days. Only a few of real notable #s birds the past 3 weeks. I managed really good looks at #197 for the year Northern Waterthrush, and my first records of Common Nighthawk and Northern Harrier for September was seen a couple of times over the house. We have been unable to go to Brooks since they did some herbicide spraying on 9/7, and just don't want to even mess with being near that stuff with Hercules. The downed tree limb has been fairly good for seeing some warblers at below eye level. Plenty of Nashville, Tennessee, Cape May, Bay-breasted, Restarts and Ovenbirds. Hoping to catch a Broad-winged while taking some walks on a nearby open air trail. Still missing that bird this year. I've seen that bird every year I have seriously birded. Chances are starting to diminish quickly though. I did have this insanely cooperative Swainson's Thrush that flew at the window I was sitting at a couple of times. It then stayed out in the open allowing me some of my best looks at this species. Notice how the change in light almost had me thinking it was a Gray-cheeked Thrush with the gray back and cheeks. Buffy eye ring doesn't lie though. I still think I can get to #200, just probably not with my missing warblers. Duck Lake birds are probably what it is going to come down to. I wouldn't say no to any winter finches though. Maybe some Red Crossbills will push down here. Here are some other photos I've managed to snap in the past few weeks. Couple of "artsy" shots of cobwebs in the morning sun.
It sure doesn't feel like much has happened bird-wise, but looking back at the numbers it has been a decent past 2 months. July only had 73 birds, a farily middle of the road number. I did manage a Yellow-breasted Chat (first July record for me) calling at Brooks Nature Area to add #191 to the year. Another 1st July record for me was a Great Horned Owl calling outside at the house.
Thought I had a shot to break 100 in August, but stalled out at 99. Still vary productive with 5 FOY, and whole slew of early migrants. August 10th a Baird's Sandpiper was reported at previously undiscovered fluddle location. I was albe to run out there on the 11th and nab it, then head to the Millpond and catch a couple of FOY Great Egrets. On the 20th this same fluddle gave up a couple of Stilt Sandpipers for #194. On the 25th this same little fluddle gave up waaaaay better looks at a Wilson's Phalarope than the spring view. For early birds I had an American Wigeon at Homer on 8/13. This thing was about 6 weeks early for the county. I had a branch come down, and decided to leave it as I was noticing birds going through it. Good thing I did I had my first ever August records of Wilson's Warbler (8/25) and Mourning Warbler (8/22). Other early records:
I didn't get as much birding in as I planned, as I've spent the past 10 days trying to get through this allergy/cold mess. The furnace may have been turned down this year in NC, but there was some other stuff in the air apparently. We started the trip on the 27th with a quick ~2 mile walk at a favorite hotspot on the way. This was to get my dog some exercise so he would sleep for a while on the drive. Nothing much exciting there, but it worked. The morning of the 28th the highlight was a couple Black-crowned Night-Herons flying over as we prepared our 2nd day of travel after stopping in VA. On the 29th we drove down Governor's Road in Winnabow, NC. In the swampy/river area I was able to hear a distant Bobwhite, and a couple of Barred Owls (NC Lifer) calling back and forth. A Red-shouldered Hawk screamed a few times also to mix in. A Yellow-throated Warbler (NC Lifer) surprised me as it sang there also. The biggest surprise was a screaming Red Junglefowl (domestic) right near the road. Ended up being two of them just wandering around. Further down into the Pine barrens on Governor's Road I managed Lifer Bachman's Sparrow (audio only), and NC lifers Wild Turkey and Hairy Woodpecker. I managed photo lifer Prairie Warbler, and an absolutely horrible photo lifer of a Bobwhite. Plenty of Yellow-breasted Chats and White-eyed Vireos, along with numerouns Pine Warblers overpowered the Praire Warblers. Photo lifer Prairie Warbler May 30th we managed to get over to Fort Fisher and Federal Point. I was hoping for lifer Least Terns and Gull-billed Terns, but was only met by Caspian, Royal and Sandwich Terns. A flagged Surf Scoter (NC Lifer) was hanging out at Federal Point, and I managed some nice shots of a cooperative Semipalmated Sandpiper. A young, singing Painted Bunting added to the noise from a juvenile Northern Mockingbird. On the way back we stopped again on Governor's Road for a quick look and caught a quick glimpse of a Swallow-tailed Kite over the treetops. Young singing Painted Bunting and a banded Royal Tern Various Fort Fisher and Governor's Road birds.
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