My Summer of Birds

It has been a pretty spectacular summer for me and my bird life list. 29 new birds: Brant Goose, American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Wood Duck, Tufted Duck, Greater Scaup, Long Tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Spruce Grouse, Bonaparte’s Gull, Anna’s Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Red Shafted Northern Flicker, Olive Sided Flycatcher, Chestnut Backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Bewick’s Wren, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Veery, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Parula, Yellow Rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, White Crowned Sparrow, White Throated Sparrow, Dark Eyed (Oregon) Junco, Black Headed Grosbeak, and White Winged Crossbill.

I got pictures of some of these birds, and some of the pictures were good. Like this one of a Greater Scaup on Quidi Vidi:


I also like this Quidi Vidi duck, happily chewing its feathers, but I can't tell what it is. It's either really common and I'm stunned, or it's some kind of hybrid. It has a green mallard-like head but I can't make out the browny-black and white body.


There was another duck nearby that was reddish-brown and white.


This Northern Parula, captured early in the morning during our staff retreat on the Rouge River, isn't bad:
There was a Yellow Rumped Warbler nearby but I did not get any great pictures of him, unless you like bird belly.

One of my best finds was in Vermont: a Gray Catbird, which I immediately identified by call. A very cool moment.

This Veery hung around the back yard for a few days; it seemed to like our neighbour's patio best:


I also saw many birds that I had seen before but this time around, with our good camera, had the chance for some half-decent shots. This is a regular dark-eyed junco:


We have them all over the back yard in March, but this little fellow was hanging out at Kelly's mother's house in Portugal Cove in April. As was this lovely Redbreasted Nuthatch:


These pine siskins, also in the Cove, made a lovely decoration.


Back at home, we had white-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, and chickadees. Downy woodpeckers were all over our neighbourhood. These two were in our neighbour Bill's tree and let the triplets from next door and me get quite close:


We also had a pair of pileated woodpeckers in the backyard for a couple of days; I had never seen them here in the city before. And who knew that Blue Herons were city birds? They are in Vancouver. I'm more used to seing them in marshlands.


The good camera also let me get a couple of action shots like those that I see on real birders' blogs but was never able to get with a point and shoot. A cardinal in mid-flight:


A chipping sparrow in mid-song:

It really has been fantastic and I haven't been the only one in the house who's enjoyed it. Harry and Daisy have, of course, but it seems that Kelly has as well. We are getting ready now for a trip to the UK and we have plotted out plenty of history, food, and beer. Then one day Kelly peered up from her maps and said, "What are we going to do about birds?" I said, "Oh, let's not worry about it; let's just see what comes." That seemed to satisfy her, but when I got home from work a few days later she handed me a sheaf of printouts: "A Guide to the Birds of Greenwich."

Lucky me. Everyone should be so fortunate as to have their own librarian.