Week 5 Summary
WEEK 5
2019 Total: 97 Species 2019 Lifers: 1
Highlight Birds: Purple Finch, Cooper’s Hawk
January 27 (Sunday), January 28 (Monday), January 29 (Tuesday), January 30 (Wednesday), January 31 (Thursday), February 1 (Friday)
Overall, it was a very lazy week of birding by me.
I got two nyjer seed feeders to hopefully draw in Pine Siskins, still no activity on the feeders.
February 2 (Saturday)
Most of the week was pretty uneventful, but Saturday was surprisingly productive for my year list. I started it with a nice snowy walk and picked up 2 female Purple Finches, a Cooper’s Hawk, and a Fish Crow (all first of the years). After that, I headed for the refuge. There are a few more rarities in the area that I’m hoping to find like the couple of Redheads, or that Blue-winged Teal, or the Mute Swans. I’m still missing a few common species too, but I’m not in a big hurry to find them.
Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
The refuge started off slow. All of the usual birds. I eventually made it to Tom’s Cove and noticed a few people with cameras pointed at some Snow Geese. I make my way down there to get some shots of the geese. There was maybe about 150 of them. Eventually, about 300 more fly in. I can hear the other photographers’ rapid fire shutters clicking. Click, click, click, click, click (maybe 10-14 fps). I’m standing there trying my best. Click… click… click… all blurry photos. I’m not having a great time with focusing on birds in flight with my Canon Powershot. I leave the area and head for the wildlife loop. On the way, I pick up some Dunlin (I’ve seen them this year already, but haven’t officially put them on an eBird checklist yet until this day) and I see a car stopped, looking at some ducks. I honestly don’t remember what the other ducks were, maybe Mallards, maybe Buffleheads, but there was one lone Common Goldeneye with them. I get my camera and hop out of the car, only to have it fly away while I”m focusing on it.
Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens)
Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens)
The wildlife loop was unproductive. A lot of the water still had ice on them, so the waterfowl were elsewhere. I decide to go back to Tom’s Cove to do a raid in Pokemon Go.
As I’m sitting in my car playing Pokemon Go in the beach parking lot near Tom’s Cove, the hundreds of geese take off. All of them fly directly over me. I’m too slow with the camera, but sometimes its good to just take in the moment and not be worried about the photo. One of my favorite feelings that birds give me, is when they make me feel small; it might be a huge murmuration of blackbirds or in this case the hundreds of geese. It’s almost like looking at a big mountain or the ocean.
Happy Birding!