It's all Greek to me

Perfect morning yesterday (Oct 30th) with overcast skies and very little shimmer because of cold temps. Scored a LALO past the liar and a sweet lineup of unidentified birds including 3 Podiceps, 3 Pluvialis and a single Calidris. Bing, bing, boom.

Also had 2 Asio heading south at dusk.

The photo is from 10/29 and shows what Portage Point looks like at 60x. The insert shows a bridge too far.

Trick or Treat

Should I stay or should I go?

So, losers: You got to let me know. Should I stay or should I go? ba bum bum baaaaa baaaaa bum.

rarity rankings

Here's the results of the Rarity voting.... Each participant ranked their preference for the Top Ten ranked rarities and I scored them by assigning 10 points for the #1 bird, 9 points for #2, 8 pts. for 3 etc., etc.

Numbers following the record: first is the number total points based on the system just explained, second number is the highest ranking received by a participant, and third number is total number of members ranking a particular bird in the top 10.

For example -- White-winged Dove recieved 79 points, was ranked #1 by at least 1 person and scored in the top 10 on all 8 members voting list....

Figure I'll keep the list of all birds and we'll do a re-vote when merited.

1) White-winged Dove* - June 12 - Columbus OH – 79,1,8

2) Yellow-throated Warbler- 29 Aug - MQT- da Yoop 71,1,8

3) Swainson's Hawk- May 1 MQT- da Yoop 61,2,8

4) Rose-br. Grosbeak - Jan 2 - Warner - Central OH 56,2,8

5) Little Blue H/Snowy E. (imm) - 18 Aug- Naperville 36,4,7

6) Oregon Junco - 8 April- TOR - the Yoop 36,5,8

7) Am. White Pelican - 4 May -Booner's Wastelands 20,5,7

8) Black-bellied Plover - 5 May - overflying Naperville 15,4,3

9) Foxy Sparrow - Jan/Feb - Kaplan - UP MI 14,6,4

10) Dickcissel - Sep 8, Putzville (nocturnal flight call) 11,4,3

11) Barn Swallow - 31 March - Kitty – UP 9,7,3

11) Cerulean Warbler - 30 April - Curtis' Urban Woodlot 9,7,3

13) Least Flycatcher – 8 June - DAZL’s slab 8,8,3

14) Northern Shrike - Mar 8 – Brigham 7,6,2

15) Merlin - Jan - Haas & Kaplan - UP MI 4,8,2

16) Golden Eagle – 3/21- TOR – UP, Big Rig9/? 1,10,1

16) Sora- over Black Oak forest- Putzville, 4/28 1,10,1

16) Yellow-b. Sapsucker – 4/13 - Booner Wastelands, 1,10,1

16) Am. Woodcock – 3/17 - Dykstra's urban oasis 1,10,1

Next game - please send me the measurements of your yard so I can calculate and plot species per unit of area, curious the relationship..... acres or yard dimensions are great. Thanks

10/11/10

Went through the day thinking it was 10/10/10 only to be told this evening that I was a day late.

Our red maple lost most of its leaves today, sparrows are filling up the yard with a nice influx of american trees. Rusty Blackbirds 60-70 continue to stage in a row of ash trees before heading to roost -- I watched them eating ash seeds tonight. Boocho Robins have arrived and descended on a neighbors mountain-ash.

Rare still air over the Portage Marsh during happy hour was good for picking out a couple of distant coots -- #156.

151 - WIWR and an October NOWA

A typical October morning at the wetlands... Goose numbers building by the day. Speckle-belly or rossii anyone?
Yesterday (10/7) I was surprised to see this guy bobbing along the logs while I was looking for snipe. This is my first every October Northern Waterthrush. It was still present this morning at 7:40AM.

Deep fall in the deep north

Noticed the first frost the night before last -- but I've been gone a lot so can't swear that it is the first. The tomatoes and basil are still alive so we haven't had a hard frost yet. Beyond the Farmer's Almanac musings I've had a couple of new yardies -- one new to the list; Ruffed Grouse (#153) , a bird I flushed yesterday before leaving to chase water ouzel.

The second was today -- a couple of American Pipits (#154), I've heard a few candidates the past couple of weeks but the birds today were nice and clear and similar species were eliminated. Namely a starling that sits on the wire and occasionally gives something that sounds like their flight call....

Still waiting for Global Warning to get the rarity list posted....figure we could keep a running total off-list and revote when merited - like college football rankings.

still a lot of sparrow around but the warblers have thinned out to Myrtle's with an occasional Palm.....seeing a lot of distant shorebirds on the sandbar; undoubtably plovers, sanderlings, and dunlin. trying to figure out how to add them to the yard-list. ideas?

HETH 'n BTBW

Had a nice pair of birds come in near the bath today...
Other than this Black-throated Blue, it's been slow for warblers in the yard over the last few days.