Yellow-Crowned Night Heron Mason County 4/18/2022

   

    Yesterday Donna and John Haack found a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Grant Township.  It is the first record of this southern bird in Mason County. Today with Brian Brosky guiding me by texts I got to the correct location on Nurnberg Rd, where I was fortunate enough to find another birder Joe Lipar, who was able to point me right at the seemingly glowing yellow crown of the wayward heron about 50 yards from the road.

  That's enough road birding.  Here's what has been visiting me at my house lately...

April 11 brought...

Belted Kingfisher

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Peregrine Falcon

 On April 12 I saw...

Northern Flicker

Purple Finch

Flock of Scoters

Mostly White-winged but not always 
Black Scoter in yellow circle and Surf Scoter in the red.

And on April 13 the south wind brought the first of the year....

Northern Harrier

White-Crowned Sparrow

Brown Thrasher

As well as a Common Loon.

  So far for the year I've seen 95 bird species from the yard which puts me about 2 weeks ahead of last year when I didn't hit that total until May 1.

Thrasher Kids 6/18/2021

   Two brand new Brown Thrashers have accompanied their parents to my yard the past couple of days.  Although they do a little foraging on their own, they still prefer having food dropped right into their mouths.

Warblers and More 9/14/2020

 

  Favorable conditions overnight brought a few migrating birds to the yard on Monday.  I had 7 species of warblers. I was able to get photos of the Magnolia above, along with

Yellow Warbler

WIlson's Warbler

And Blackpoll Warbler.  

  Other warblers that I saw but couldn't get photos of were Ovenbird, American Redstart and Black and White. 

   Lincoln's Sparrows also showed up today.

    Lingering summer residents included 

    Brown Thrasher

     Red-eyed Vireo

 Among raptors a few Broadwings passed over in the mid-afternoon. 

  Also saw a couple Merlins.

    At one point a Merlin took aim at a Broadwing that violated its airspace. 

Getting Birdy Around Here 5/2/2020

   To paraphrase Glenn Danzig from the Misfits punk anthem 'Where Eagles Dare'(1979)...."Work down the street at night. But live where eagles dare". 

   From the first morning that I moved into this house and watched a Bald Eagle fly by at eye level as I was eating a bowl of Tony Tiger, I realized that I would get some great eagle photo-ops.  Now we just have to working on getting more photogenic fish into my photos.

  I can almost imagine the eagle singing the first line of the chorus(which can't be printed here) in the aforementioned song while the steelhead joins in for the second line. 

Eagle:"I ain't no #^$  &% (   * #*  of a    #(@*(!# "
Together: "You'd better think about it, Baby"

  At my previous house I would only see Brown Thrashers once or twice a year if at all but here they have been present everyday since they arrived on April 20.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak arrived April 29

Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrived May 1.

    Today I added 5 birds to the yard list bringing the total up to 88.

House Wren #84

Gray Catbird #85

Palm Warbler #86

Gadwall #87

   Not pictured Common Yellowthroat #88.

Migratory Bird Count - Riverton Twp. 5/12/2018

   For the second year in a row I covered the whole of Riverton Township during the Mason County Spring Migratory Bird Count.  Dave Dister tipped me off on Blue-winged Warblers in my count area.  I had scouted the area during the mid-week but was unable to find them.  Fortunately today was a different story.  I heard 3 singing males and was able to secure some properly lit photos of one of them.

   Another good bird was this Hooded Warbler (1st Spring Female?).

   Baltimore Orioles were seen in several locations.

   Other birds were....

Vesper Sparrow

Eastern Bluebird

Tree Swallow

Green Heron

Yellow-throated Vireo

Female Buffleheads. The one on the right appears to be eating a waterbug.

Solitary Sandpiper, alone with its reflection.

Sandhill Cranes

Bobolink

Gray Catbird

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black and White Warbler

Brown Thrasher

Yellow-rumped Warbler

American Redstart

Red-eyed Vireo

Yellow Warbler

Eastern Kingbird

   Back at my house, I added a few more species during an afternoon feeder watch.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Lincoln's Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

White-Crowned Sparrow

I ended my Riverton survey with 66 species and was able to add another 7 in my yard when I got home.