Red-throated Loon 3/21/2022

 

  For the second year in a row I spotted a Red-throated Loon off shore from my yard.  Last year's bird required a spotting scope zoomed to 60x magnification and a couple of guide books to ID due to its distance estimated at half a mile.  By contrast this year's RT Loon was nearly at the shoreline 120' below the top of the bluff.  In fact it was so close that I didn't see it while I was seated 8' from the edge. It was only after I stood up to calmly remind my dog that barking at woodchucks is not appreciated by anyone, that I looked down and saw the loon. When I notified a few local birders of the sighting, Dave Dister texted back that last year's bird also showed up on March 21. 

  When predicted rain never materialized the persistent east southeasterly winds made for optimal conditions for bird migration as it pushed ducks up the coast and raptors toward the shore.  I ended up with 48 species for the day that included 9 species of ducks, 7 species of raptors, 525 Tundra Swans and  117 Sandhill Cranes.  Nine first of the year species were observed which brought the year's total to 67 and a flock of Northern Pintails became the 179th species on the all-time yardlist. 

   Here are a few photographic highlights

Tundra Swans

 

Dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Pintails, yardbird 179

Sandhill Cranes

Bird Dog at Night 3/13/2022

 

   A prediction of a Northern Lights display had me outside last night waiting for a show that never materialized.  Turns out it had already peaked before the Sun went down.  While out I decided to try to do some owling.  I started by imitating a Saw-whet Owl's toot call.  No response.  I had better luck when I tried the Eastern Screech Owl's whinny and monotonic trill.  After a few attempts I heard one...and then a second Screech Owl reply.

  As I listened, I noticed my dog Nico looking up at the closest tree about 10 feet away.  Sure enough with her super night vision she had located the owl who had relocated and was silently checking us out.  With the camera already out, I repositioned to get a better angle at the bird. 

  Not the best shot but the lump on the horizontal branch is the owl.

     Ten years and 5 days ago while attempting another ultimately unsuccessful photo session with the Northern Lights I took the photo below. 

   It's my late dog Roscoe with Canis Major (the Big Dog) in the background sky.

   And last night....

It's almost like history repeating.  What has changed it 10 years?...new dog, I live 200 miles farther north, the dog photo taken with phone instead of camera, the bird on Roscoe's night was a peenting  American Woodcock but best of all I didn't have to drive 70 miles to find a relatively dark sky.