slowly but surely

#21, as photographed late morning from INSIDE my living room, looking across the street, behind the neighbor's house and across a large field... Still have not had these within my actual yard. No other new action, exc. I did see a gull spp 1/2 mile from the house, which would be a year yard bird.

Surprise Jan Yardbird...Peregrine Falcon!

I spent a half hour out exploring the newly flooded greens outside my apartment and picked up 5 yard year birds. The highlight however was an incredibly low flyover of a PEFA (less than 40 feet overhead) that cruised down the course (yardbird 74). The 52 Mallards were all dabbling in the newly exposed fluddles. Here's my eBird list (year birds italicized):

Cackling Goose (Richardson's) 2 (a real yearbird for me)
Canada Goose 321
Mallard 52
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull (American) 22 (steady stream of gulls flying over to the west)
Mourning Dove 6
European Starling 8
American Tree Sparrow 9
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 4
Northern Cardinal 2
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 6

You have NADA to say, Mr. Slacker!

Ok Slacker, may I remind you that once spring rolls around and I tally up my Warbler War points, if they are any where close to 09, you will have NOTHING to say! (for those who have not noticed this tid bit of information on the side bar here's a reminder of the score... Curtis: 38; Dave: 3). Seems I was the only one able to beat the Fritz at his WI yard in ANYTHING! Nuf said!
Oh, and no, there's not much going on here currently. The most interesting thing lately was this strange House Sparrow hybrid that Caleb has suggested is a HOSP x MUSW. I rather thought it was a HOSP X WHCR...any other thoughts?

Year of the Kat

Swamp Kat here. I live in a 640 sq. foot "cottage" on the mend in Escanaba, Michigan (that's in the Upper Peninsula). The mullet lot (lawn in the front - buckthorn/alder jungle in the back) is an impressive 50' X 146' . The idyllic scene is made slightly more interesting by the fact the property is perched upon the almost world famous Portage Marsh -- home of Michigan's only nesting Little Gulls just 34 short years ago. While the marsh is connected to Lake Michigan I cannot see open water from my yard - just a Serengeti of cattails. Since I have only stalked these parts since July I don't have an all time yard list so really looking forward to your encouragement to get me off on the right foot and to help me identify some of the less familiar marsh birds (they are such good hiders). I know some of the more petty and combative among you are nervous but don't worry I am a humble and graceful winner.

My yard year list stands at 20. Notables; Red-bellied Woodpecker, Ring-necked Pheasant, Fox Sparrow.

My rest-of-the Winter "wish-list"; Northern Shrike, Bohemian Waxwing, Glaucous Gull. If not for these birds I could sleep until Punxsutawney Phil says it's safe to come out of my den.

Enjoy those cute widdle kinglets....Krazy with a ker-ke-do.

Views from the Wasteland

Thought you guys would be interested in a few pics of my 'yard' so you can see first-hand the top-notch possibilities that come my way each and every day. Check out this action! This is the view to the north...spent a lot of time this fall looking down this street (Westhampton Drive...ha! I laugh at street names anymore these days). The great thing about our apartment (I refuse to call this place a town home) is that there are lots of windows so I can see stuff fly by quite frequently. As you can all see, there's basically NO vegetation so all I have to hope for are fly-bys. The sad thing is that I don't even have a sight-line to the retention pond to my northwest.

These are my saw-whet trees. One of these days, I will find one roosting here. No laughing!

So that's Booner's yard.

Hasta~

Do Dream Yard Birds Count?

I had a dream the other night that all you guys wanted to come visit me and witness my wasteland of a yard in person. During your visit, I found a Varied Thrush hanging out on my roof. Needless to say, my yard was thus vindicated as a primo birding location and I was able to up my O-10 list to '3'.

Dreams are soooooooo weird....

Booner

21- Merlin!

Let me start out by saying, Merlins just may be my favorite bird. They have skill, looks, and most importantly- "tude". They don't really give a fuck about anything, and just keep-on, keeping on. I can only hope that when I am finally smote from the earth for my various blasphemy's, that the many hands of Vishnu decide to remold me into a merlin for my next life.

Oh yah, Purple Finch today too.

Spring is early at the Putnut residence

Just looked outside, naked eye, and was astonished to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet foliage gleaning in the black oak! Normally I have to wait until March for that bird. Note that other than Warning, who lives somewhere near the Tropic of Cancer, if I remember right, I am the only one with this species for 2010... Couldn't manage a pic before it left, unfortunately.

A final new yardbirder- KRAZY KAPLAN

OK, lest this thing get out of hand, I am introducing one final new addition to the blog, and at the same time closing the door on new members for the time being. Let's try this out for a year before we add any more. This time, I welcome famed yooper Joe Kaplan, a man who tries hard but is still working out the finer points of bird identification such as Phoebe vs Pewee, and is hoping his life list will break 400 this year. With a little instruction from good birders (us not being included in this category), perhaps he will have stuff like this worked out by next year.

In seriousness, Joe can trade barbs with the best of them, and unfortunately for us he lives within very short distance of Lake Michigan near Escanaba, right on the fringe of Portage Marsh. This guarantees he will see a lot of cool stuff from within the yard, so I was somewhat hesitant to welcome him as I was hoping to have a fighting chance this year. But hey, the more SOBs we can have onboard, the more fun we'll have. In any event I thought I'd kick things off by showing you the chain of stores he owns selling fireworks in IN and IL:
and the view from his backyard:Joe- how's about a synopsis of your yard, its location and acreage, some aerial imagery, and a puerile attempt at trashtalk?

While the slag heap was dreaming of bird he might see in his yard someday, I decided to go out and get it done. But yeah Davey, I too have birds that are just a few miles down the road that don't deem my scruffy yard worthy of their attention, most notably - Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Harrier, and American Pipit (you'd think even a pathetic birder like me would get these as a fly over or something). While I failed to get anything new to the yard as I hiked the land with my dog Jack, I did find some fun birds including a bird I forgot to count before (EABL) and a fly over Horned Lark. These were yardbirds #40 and 41.

The land was pretty birdy today with a roving band of corvids harassing the local pair of Red-shouldered Hawks, Red-tailed Hawk, and I suspect the local Barred Owl next door. Those rascals. Speaking of Rascals, I hope you other Yard listers can find some good birds of your own soon. Or, just dream on.

Location:Home Observation date:     

1/20/10 Number of species: 25  

Canada Goose     3 

Red-shouldered Hawk     2 

Red-tailed Hawk     1 

Mourning Dove    1 

Red-bellied Woodpecker     2 

Downy Woodpecker     3 

Hairy Woodpecker     1 

Northern Flicker     1 

Blue Jay     12 

American Crow     12 

Horned Lark   1 

Carolina Chickadee     5 

Tufted Titmouse     3 

White-breasted Nuthatch     4 

Carolina Wren     1 

Golden-crowned Kinglet     2 

Eastern Bluebird    4 

American Tree Sparrow     4 

Song Sparrow     4 

White-throated Sparrow     4 

Dark-eyed Junco     5 

Northern Cardinal     10 

House Finch     8 

American Goldfinch     8 

House Sparrow     5

- B. Warner

the lake competition

I like this idea Ben, its time to tally up our lake counts- how do we do it? With in a mile or half a mile from the lake? Quarter? In eyeshot?

Thoughts?

18 & 19

RB Nut and a Shrike today bitches! Catching up Brigadoon!