24 March 2023

Posts Tagged ‘ring-billed gull’

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

Lark

Tuesday, November 29th, 2022
Horned Lark, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 29 November 2022.
Horned Lark.

This morning’s hike was a fun one. Sub-freezing temps, but calm, with a nearly cloudless sky. In the woods, little birds abounded—chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, a couple woodpecker species. Quieter at the summit, until I rounded Beech Nut and spied a Horned Lark.

First of the species I’d seen since last I’d seen one at Beech Hill, at least four—and maybe five or six or seven—years ago. Mostly I’ve seen them in flocks, I think, but this was a solitary bird who posed for a minute.

Thanks, lark.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:51 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. American Goldfinch
2. Tufted Titmouse (v)
3. Black-capped Chickadee
4. Hairy Woodpecker
5. White-breasted Nuthatch**
6. Brown Creeper
7. American Robin
8. Horned Lark
9. American Crow* (v)
10. Red-breasted Nuthatch
11. Canada Goose (v)
12. Eastern Bluebird
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler
14. Downy Woodpecker (v)

Elsewhere

15. Ring-billed Gull
16. Herring Gull

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

†First-of-year

Unseasonably Warm

Sunday, November 6th, 2022
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 06 November 2022.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.

This morning—our first in Standard Time—we hiked the trails at the usual hour, dog and I. Except the clock called it 7 o’clock instead of 8. [Don’t get me started on my feelings about ridiculously stupid DST!] The air was unseasonably warm and a little muggy, and the wind was high.

Few other folks up there at such an “early” hour. Few birds, too—thanks, I figure, to the winds. However, I managed a few photos and a dozen species on my list.

No harriers today, though.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:14 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. Tufted Titmouse (v)
2. Black-capped Chickadee**
3. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
4. Purple Finch (v)
5. American Crow*
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler
7. Dark-eyed Junco
8. White-throated Sparrow
9. Blue Jay (v)
10. American Robin
11. Common Raven (v)
12. Song Sparrow

Elsewhere

13. Herring Gull
14. Ring-billed Gull
15. Hairy Woodpecker

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

†First-of-year

 
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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