Nov 12 2011 - where did they go?

Good day at Chincoteague from sunrise to sunset
The sea was quiet to start with but later had a good procession of ducks (Black Scoter and teal mainly, what no surf scoter?!?) and good numbers of Gannet. several flock of Snow Gees over were the only ones seen (later they were absent form the pool). Several parties of Bonaparte's Gull were watched.
Several small parties of dolphin breached conveniently.
Hundreds of YR Warbler everywhere plus at least 1 Palm.
The flock of Dunlin included a couple with some remaining dark belly feathers
A rather nasty black duck x mallard hybrid swam nearby
The only white birds on the wildlife loop were Tundra Swan including a couple showing small areas of yellow at the bill base
A 2nd yr (?) male Harrier hunted the marsh and gave great views and 3 1st w white ibis were with the egrets in the marsh
Goof numbers of teal, wigeon, pintail and shoveler were periodically spooked by the harrier and the local eagle

Nov 5 2011 - migrants thru Occie

A good selection of migrants and others today.

A Hermit Thrush and Thrasher joined some Robins and Rusty Blackbirds found amongst the Blackbirds

Out in the bay a nice total of Eleven Horned Grebe were counted and seven Pied-Billed Grebe, the first Shoveler and Bufflehead and a late 1st w Parula.

23 oct 2011 - palmies

At Occoquan today I found an incredible number of Eastern Palm Warblers (c200)...

Sept 16 2011 - one extreme to another, a day in the Rockies

Apart from some good birds, it was great to get right up close and personal with the continental divide at 10000 ft and then back down to 'normality' at half that at Barr Lake near the airport. In the mountains waves of showers drifted through but once we were down on the plain the big sky had a couple of foreboding thunderstorms that thankfully circled us but made for some impressive skyscapes.
Nice birds today. Up in the mountains the very best must have been the Gray Jay that eventually gave up being elusive and came and sat in the tree above us. It took a little while but we eventually came across feeding parked of chickadees and kinglets and white-crowned sparrows were particularly numerous and showy.

Nov 4 2011 - crow time again

Flocks of crows flying away from roost before dawn over the bar side dinner. From calls all seemed to be American crow

Returning from the cinema last night around 9 (well after dark ) at least one American crow was heard flying over home