13 November 2024

Posts Tagged ‘horned grebe’

Christmas Count Day

Sunday, December 18th, 2022
Dunlin, Rockland Breakwater, Rockland, Maine, 18 December 2022.
Dunlin at the Rockland Breakwater.

Today was a special day that only happens once a year: Audubon Christmas Bird Count Day. It’d been four years since I’d participated, and I was really looking forward to it. It did not disappoint.

In fact, among the birds we spotted at the Rockland Breakwater (which I hadn’t walked since Jack’s and my return from Salt Lake City back in April) was a lifer for me: Dunlin. Fact is while heading out across the great granite blocks, I nearly stepped on the bird. (OK, it was maybe eight or ten feet away.) There were a pair that I saw (although my birding pals saw a third). Not every day you get a lifer.

Brown Creeper, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 18 December 2022.
Brown Creeper.

Many other species also (see below), and then I returned home for Jack and right away we hiked Beech Hill—albeit a little later than usual.

Notable at the hill were a posing Brown Creeper and the call of an Evening Grosbeak in overflight. Snow up there (not much here, a mile and a half away).

I kinda like the end of the year but, to me, every day is a holiday.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 10:02 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. Blue Jay (v)
2. American Crow* (v)
3. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v)
4. Downy Woodpecker** (v)
5. Brown Creeper
6. Evening Grosbeak (v)
7. Black-capped Chickadee**
8. Red-breasted Nuthatch** (v)
9. Northern Flicker
10. Tufted Titmouse (v)

Elsewhere

11. Mallard
12. Herring Gull
13. Great Black-backed Gull
14. Ring-billed Gull
15. House Sparrow
16. House Finch
17. Common Goldeneye
18. Common Loon
19. Horned Grebe
20. Long-tailed Duck
21. Black Guillemot
22. Purple Sandpiper
23. Canada Goose
24. American Wigeon
25. Surf Scoter
26. Bufflehead
27. Red-breasted Merganser
28. Dunlin‡
29. Common Eider
30. Ring-billed Gull

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year
‡Lifer

High Wind

Saturday, March 23rd, 2019
Loon with fresh-caught crab, Rockport Harbor, Maine, 23 March 2019.
Loon with fresh-caught crab.

Dog and I got to the hill a bit late this morning, and by the time we did, the wind was high. A trace of snow had fallen overnight, but the temperature was also high—upper-30s (F)—and I knew that’s soon be gone. Bird sightings included those in flight only: gulls, crows, and vultures.

The waves were rockin’ at the harbor, meanwhile, but a loon and some grebes were fishing. Ducks sticking to the calmer river outlet.

And later, during a quick stop in Camden, I spied three crows diving on a red-tailed.

The wind makes you feel alive.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
2. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
3. American Crow*
4. Herring Gull*
5. Turkey Vulture
6. Northern Cardinal** (v)

Elsewhere

7. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
8. American Goldfinch (v)
9. American Robin
10. Rock Pigeon
11. Mallard
12. Common Loon
13. Horned Grebe
14. Red-tailed Hawk

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

Grebe, Revisited

Thursday, March 14th, 2019
Horned Grebe, Rockport Harbor, Maine, 14 March 2019.
Horned Grebe.

Snowed a little last night, maybe an inch and a half. Wet snow, scenic. Warm this morning—mid-30s (F). A lot of the snow melted by the end of the day.

However, during our mid-morning hike, dog and I encountered a lot of it still. Nice hike. First up the hill even though we didn’t start until 10. I cleaned out a couple bluebird boxes, got wind of several species.

No photos, though, so later we swung by the harbor. Low tide, but an accommodating grebe posed for me.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 10 a.m., I hiked the open trail

1. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
2. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
3. Downy Woodpecker (v)
4. American Crow*
5. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
6. Black-capped Chickadee** (v)

Elsewhere

7. Herring Gull
8. Mourning Dove
9. American Robin
10. Mallard
11. American Black Duck
12. House Finch (v)
13. Horned Grebe
14. Rock Pigeon
15. Northern Cardinal (v)
16. Turkey Vulture

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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