Month: May 2018

Progress on Goals

Completed Goals

  1. Reach 200 species on my Essex County life-list. This was completed on January 31, with a Great Horned Owl. I’m currently at 210 life birds for Essex County.
  2. See a Lapland Longspur.
  3. See a Prothonotary warbler
  4. See a Rough-legged Hawk
  5. See a Siskin in Essex County
  6. Make a day outing to Point Pelee during May (migration)

Goals Not Completed (Yet)

  1. See an American Pipit
  2. See a Yellow-headed Blackbird
  3. See a Northern Shrike
  4. See a Snowy Owl in Michigan
  5. Reach 150 species on my U.S.A. life-list (Currently at 120)
  6. See the remaining Scoter species (just one left–Black Scoter)
  7. Reach 200 species for the year in Essex County (I’m at 148 species–74% of the way there. See the note at the end of this post).
  8. See the remaining realistic heron/egret species in Ontario (No progress to report)
  9. Reach 250 species on my life-list. (Currently at 239, so only 11 more to go!)

200 Year Species in Essex — Update

Today is May the 4th and I’m currently at 148 species for the year in Essex County.

I had a great outing at Point Pelee and Hillman Marsh recently, with 65 species in total (over 20 FOY and 3 lifers). This morning, I was able to get a couple more FOY birds at Sadler’s Pond in Essex (Warbling Vireo and Chestnut-sided Warbler).

I have 52 species left to reach 200 for the year in Essex County (74% of the way there!). The goal seems much more attainable now. Here are 52 species I’m going to try to get in the remainder of the year (in order of eBird frequency). The ones which are lifers are marked with a (*).

  1. Orchard Oriole
  2. American Redstart
  3. Magnolia Warbler
  4. Red-eyed Vireo
  5. Indigo Bunting
  6. Least Flycatcher
  7. Black-throated Blue Warbler
  8. Eastern Wood-Pewee
  9. Scarlet Tanager
  10. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  11. Veery
  12. Chimney Swift
  13. Great Crested Flycatcher
  14. Common Tern
  15. Ovenbird
  16. Tennesse Warbler
  17. Red-breasted Nuthatch
  18. Cape May Warbler (*)
  19. Bay Breasted Warbler
  20. Bank Swallow
  21. Northern Waterthrush (*)
  22. Wilson’s Warbler
  23. Lincoln’s Sparrow
  24. Blackpol Warbler
  25. Black Tern
  26. Canada Warbler
  27. Cliff Swallow
  28. Blue-winged Warbler (*)
  29. Semipalmated Plover
  30. Philadelphia Vireo (*)
  31. Ruddy Turnstone (*)
  32. Green Heron
  33. Short-billed Dowitcher
  34. Marsh Wren
  35. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (*)
  36. Eastern Screech Owl
  37. Yellow-throated Vireo (*)
  38. White-eyed Vireo (*)
  39. Black-crowned Night Heron
  40. Bobolink
  41. Solitary Sandpiper
  42. Semipalmated Sandpiper
  43. Broad-winged Hawk
  44. Hooded Warbler (*)
  45. Orange crowned Warbler (*)
  46. Willow Flycatcher (*)
  47. Black-billed Cuckoo (*)
  48. American Pipit (*)
  49. Sandhill Crane
  50. Common Nighthawk
  51. Yellow-breasted Chat (*)
  52. Mourning Warbler (*)
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April Report

The migrants were a bit slow coming in this April, just like the warm weather.

Nevertheless, I brought my Essex County year species total to 117, which is 7 ahead of last year’s count. I’m starting to feel pretty good about my chances of reaching 200 this year.

Here were some Essex County highlights:

  • A lifer Vesper Sparrow in Ojibway’s Tallgrass Prairie.
  • Lifer Wilson’s Snipes at the Essex Lagoons while birding with Jeremy B.
  • An unbelievable amount of Brown Creepers at Point Pelee (I counted 30, but there probably were many more.)
  • The continuing Snowy Owls in Essex. They could be still here in MAY!!

I spent a few days in Indiana for a friend’s wedding, and I did do a bit of birding there, though the species I saw there obviously don’t count for my Essex County totals. I was able to find 2 lifers as well as 9 FOY species. The two lifers were: a Louisiana Waterthrush and Yellow-throated Warbler (which I was very happy to get, since Yellow-throated Warblers are hard to find in Essex County–none were found last year). The FOY birds were: Wood Thrush, Bobolink, Osprey, Broad-winged Hawk, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Carolina Chickadee, Sandhill Crane, and Pileated Woodpecker.

May is upon us. Good birding to you!

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