Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Swamped

Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis 
(Fried eggs always come to mind when I see a bright WTSP)
White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca
American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea
American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea
American Tree Sparrow being moved along by a White-throated Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina
Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis with partial leucism
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Northern (yellow-shafted) Flicker Colaptes auratus
Northern Flicker probing the dirt

American Robins and Northern Flickers, out standing in their field
Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus
Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
Groundhog Marmota monax
Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa
  Last night’s nocturnal radar did not lie – they’re here! I hit the cemeteries hard with a solid 8:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. bimble, in lovely backsweat weather. My feet are thrashed to bits, but it was totally worth it.
  Large arrivals of Northern Flickers, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Robins, Chipping, White-throated and Song Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos were evident. Smaller arrivals of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Eastern Phoebes, Hermit Thrushes, and hyper-skulky Fox Sparrows were also notable.
  In a classic birding head-slapper, I see that Jean-Sebastien Mayer got eight species of raptor (including two Golden Eagles...whaaaat?) that I somehow managed to miss, at the same time that I was there. I suppose that’s because I tend to keep my eyes in the weeds.
  That dubious technique actually paid off towards the end of my session, when I spotted a Swamp Sparrow skulking near the north entrance. It took a few seconds of flipping through the pages in my mental field guide before I realized what the dainty bird was. It zipped into a bush, and when it popped out on the other side, I tracked it for a minute, until I noticed that something was amiss. I was flummoxed to find that at some point during its five-second stay in the bush, it had magically morphed into a Song Sparrow. Hey presto! There's some kind of clever 'Worth two in the bush' parable gag here, but I'm too tired for all that.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), April 24, 2018
Turkey Vulture-5
Peregrine Falcon-(1 on the tower)
Ring-billed Gull-3 (35+)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker-2 (1)
Downy Woodpecker-3 (1)
Hairy Woodpecker-2 (2)
Northern Flicker-23 (50+, one group in a field in the northeast corner was 30 strong)
Pileated Woodpecker-1
Eastern Phoebe-2 (2)
American Crow-12 (7)
Black-capped Chickadee-10 (5)
Brown Creeper-3 (2)
White-breasted Nuthatch-1
Red-breasted Nuthatch-1
Winter Wren-1
Golden-crowned Kinglet-20+ (15+)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-15 (20+)
Hermit Thrush-9 (5)
American Robin-20+ (45+ in the field mingling with Northern Flickers)
European Starling-1 (2)
Northern Cardinal-3 (2)
Chipping Sparrow-20+ (45+ including almost 30 mixed in with a large flock of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows at the edge of a field)
American Tree Sparrow-3 spotted in different areas, all were: on the scrubby periphery, mingling with White-throated Sparrows, and foraging at the edge of melting snow drifts
Song Sparrow-15 (17+)
Swamp Sparrow-1 skulking near the feeder at the north entrance
Fox Sparrow-14 scattered in scrubby peripheries, (3)
White-throated Sparrow-40+ well-dispersed throughout, (40+ ditto)
Dark-eyed Junco-70+ (75+)
Red-winged Blackbird-(1 chattering from a treetop in the northeast corner of NDN)
Brown-headed Cowbird-(1 vizzing north near Decelles at 8:15 a.m., got long binocular looks in good light)
House Sparrow-(3 near Decelles)
American Goldfinch-9 (5)
Pine Siskin-9 to 20, I was very possibly seeing the same itinerant group in different spots
House Finch-1

Purple Finch-1 female at the feeder

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