Unofficial, Unsanctioned, Unqualified Hawk Watcher 8/14/2020

     A year ago yesterday Matt McConnell noticed a movement of Red-tailed Hawks passing over the city of Ludington.  The next day I drove up to vantage point at my work and saw 50 more migrate by in an hour. 

  Since then I have moved from a house in the woods to a lake house with a great expanse of sky.  I have been looking forward to the late summer raptor migration since the day we moved in. I spent a little while in the yard yesterday afternoon but only saw 1 Red-tailed, along with a Merlin and an American Kestrel (which was a new yardbird #137).  

   Today was a different story as I saw 138 migrating raptors.   I initally thought all the distant buteos were Red-tails but later when I reviewed the photos I noticed some were Broad-wingeds which were also new to the yardlist.

Redtail and Broadwing

                                               Red-tail and Immature Bald Eagle

Two Upper birds are Broadwings the lowest one is a Redtail.

   Seems whenever two Bald Eagles ride the same thermal one will have to remind the other to social distance.

   An Osprey was also an unexpected surprise. 

 

   Here are some photos from the last couple of days.

The Bluebirds are wreaking havoc on the local butterflies and moths....

They only laid two eggs in their new nestbox, after their first nesting effort was cut short when a storm blew down their previous box in June.  Only one egg has hatched.

Eagle with its lunch.

Yesterday's new yardbird.  American Kestrel

   What appears to be a monstrous Walking Stick......

......looks less formidable when placed on a more natural setting. 

Spring Migration Peaking. 5/16/2020

Yellow-throated Vireo (#107)

   The southeast winds overnight brought a great variety of migrating birds to my yard.  I ended up with 60 species for the day which included 8 that were new to the yard list. 

Philadelphia Vireo (#108)

Magnolia Warbler (#109)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (#110)

Pine Warbler (#111)

Veery (#112)

Least Flycatcher (#113) - National bird of Chebekistan

  The only new bird that I wasn't able to photograph was a male Scarlet Tanager that flew over while the camera wasn't handy. Regardless the yard list is up to 114.  

 Other birds of interest in the yard this morning.....

Common Yellowthroat

Black and White Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

The Orioles have gone through 8 lbs of oranges in 3 days, seen here at the grape jelly bowl

  Earlier in the week the Blackpoll Warbler below became the 100th species on the yard list

Multiple Catbirds are being seen daily

Merlin

Indigo Bunting

Mason County NAMC 5/9/2020

     The bright sunshine was deceiving as the morning of the North American (spring) Migration Count started out with temperatures near freezing and winds gusting over 35 mph.  As uninviting as the brisk wind was today, it was better than what we had yesterday and is forecast for tomorrow, where both days' forecasts included snow.  Below is a mid-spring lake-effect snow cloud making its way toward shore yesterday afternoon.

  Didn't see as many birds on the count today as I had in previous years but some of those that I did see allowed me to get some decent photos.

Common Loon

Yellow-rump Warbler

Palm Warbler

Warbling Vireo

Gray Catbird

Field Sparrow

   Only saw 42 species when I covered my assigned area of Riverton Township.  But I added  10 more species after I got home and counted birds around my yard.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Muskegon 10/5/2019

    On Thursday, Roger Hagerman found a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at the Muskegon Wastewater Treatment Facility. It is only the third time this species has been seen in Michigan (the first was also at this location back in August 2016).

Pectoral (left) and Least (right)

   My work site was quite birdy on Friday afternoon.  The American Golden Plover was one of two up on the reservoir.

 

Red-tailed Hawk

   Down on the lower reservoir road there was  a good variety of birds passing through....

Orange-crowned Warbler

   ...with several birds choosing to pose on the barbed-wire fence.

American Pipit

Eastern Bluebird

Lincoln's Sparrow

Eastern Pheobe

Gray-cheeked Thrush 5/15/2019

  Added a new bird to the yardlist this evening when a Gray-cheeked Thrush (#127) emerged from under a spruce tree and stepped into the sunlight.  It's the fourth bird that I've added to the list since Friday.

   This morning it was noticeable that a significant influx of birds arrived overnight.

Blue-headed Vireo

     First of the year visitors to the yard in addition to the Thrush included.......

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Indigo Bunting.