Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sightings of late

Rose-breasted Grosbeak
The Spotted Towhee was last sighted on the 1st and there hasn't been any other mega bird to take its place since but in lieu of anything outstanding has been a nice mix of boreal birds that have shown up in recent days.

Foremost among them (at least in my humble opinion) has been the arrival of the Bohemian Waxwings over the past two days as we went from 0 to at least 50-100 around the point in several obvious flocks.  I also got word that there was a flock of at 250 at the river mouth the other day so their annual invasion has begun.  Also seen each of the past several days have been Pine Grosbeaks and White-winged Crossbills with a few other "large" finches mixed in for good measure.  The redpolls are still arriving daily but no confirmed sightings of Hoary among them of late.

Predatory birds seen lately have included at least two Northern Goshawks including an adult which flew in off the lake on the 6th (despite what some people might tell you about that species crossing water), a few days with decent Rough-legged Hawk migration, and a young Northern Shrike that has been present, but elusive, for a few days.

The most interesting passerine of late is a partly leucistic Rose-breasted Grosbeak that has been present at the feeders for a few days, the previous late date for this species at the point was September 28th so its clearly a little lost.

Scott