2013 and beyond

It's pretty simple: the most birds seen or heard from one's yard during 2013 will be the "winner". Want in? O.k....then do it despite that.

2013 promises to be a lot less mean but still a carbon-free birding competition, even if slightly less exciting than a MEGA x EPIC hybrid.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I'm having fun now...

Man, I love it when I come home from work and the sun is still high in the sky! What a beautiful day! Does it sound like I'm excited? Well, yes sir, and here's why...

I drove into Douglas across the Kalamazoo River noting that there were some decent duck numbers on Kalamazoo Lake to the west and Wades Bayou to the east. Encouraged that some might be visible from the roof, I scoped from there and at 7:15pm a swarm of Aythya rose above the tree-line. Leading were two Greater Scaup. However, the majority of the mass was indistinguishable to anything but scaup sp. A few moments later three small, buoyant gulls flew through my field of view. The white wedges in their outer primaries confirmed what I suspected to be Bonaparte's Gull. (For the skeptics - no significant dark underside of primaries.) A few more minutes of patient waiting and another smaller group of scaup sp. cleared the trees followed by three Lesser Scaup. A Tree Swallow zipping overhead finished off the roof-sit.

All told today were 5 yardbirds for the year: EATO, GRSC, BOGU, LESC & TRES. This brings my year list to 65. The scaup and bonies were all-time yardbirds putting that total at 165. Whats next?!

2 comments:

  1. come on Rick! So close to first place! Someone needs to bring the warrentless down! Boner gulls are a nice pick-up too.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Damn Rick- can you slow down even a LITTLE!?!?!? Geez. I was just starting to get close.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.