It's about time! The DuPage River is exactly 1.18 miles to the east of my living room window. Common Merganser is a common wintering species along this river and it's been open pretty much the entire winter. Just so happened to look out my window this afternoon and had a raptor flying away. I was hoping the raptor was a Coop but it turned out to be a female kestral carrying prey so it looked unusually large with the naked eye. As I tracked her with my bins, she brought me into a sight line that intersected two male Common Mergs flying north along the DuPage. Year bird #13 and yard life bird #36.
Given the paucity of overall bird life at The Wastelands, it pulls through every now and then with a good 'tick'. I see that I now have two species seen nowhere else in this comp...haha! And the only yard to ever 'check' COME is Fitzpunk's WI yard birding insanity.
Lest I get a big head, I will now end this post. Come spring, I'm going to get smoked on the warbie front.
Hasta chumps-
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I think early spring is my favorite yardbirding because there are so many cool flyovers that you only have a shot at then! Nice pickup for the wastelands man.
ReplyDeleteSo, I placed COME as a #6 on the rarity comp. Mainly considering that I don't live terribly close to the river and what the heck else am I going to get over here. I figured that if Slager could post BCNH as #5, COME at least warrants a #6. Thoughts? Quibbles?
ReplyDeleteHmm I don't know. I suppose if you have to select one thing to throw up there that's probably your best bird (Feb CACG?). But I don't know how truly exceptional it is? I guess I don't have a problem with each person getting to put up their respective rarest yardbird of the year up there... I think the top few spots should be reserved for truly exceptional birds though (our top three birds right now fall in that category IMHO).
ReplyDeleteWhat does everyone else think?
eh, whatever Boone needs to feel good about himself.....
ReplyDeleteWell, I considered the context of my yard and I believe it'd be harder to get COME as a flyover as opposed to a CACG. There are always flocks of geese flying over this place. But since it was just a flyover, anything's possible, eh? So, I'll remove it because it isn't a rarity but considering contextual factors, it's more so than not. But as Owl Ranch states, I do feel good about myself now.
ReplyDelete