October has now ended. It was not a terribly exciting birding month. I didn’t get out to any major hotspots such as Point Pelee or Holiday Beach. I also didn’t see any Golden Eagles like I did last October.
Nevertheless, the birding was decent enough. I found 91 species of birds, which is 8 more than last October. I found an Orange-crowned Warbler, which is a lifer, and a Red-shouldered Hawk, which is a year bird. Both these birds were seen at the Essex Lagoons.
In terms of social birding, I enjoyed an Essex County Field Naturalists outing lead by Kory Renaud on October 13th. It was at the Essex Lagoons. The bird showing was not amazing, but it was a fun time and a good opportunity to get outdoors and learn about birds and other wildlife.
Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of the month was to see some of the winter-ish ducks starting to appear, such as Redheads, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Scaups, Buffleheads, and Goldeneyes.
I spent most of October without my camera, but the repair is finally done and I once again can take photos! My Essex County year list now sits at 215. I look forward to see what late fall and winter brings! There has obviously been a lot of buzz about this year being a great winter finch year. I have a few to add to my life list if they show up. We’ll see! It’s not that long until the Christmas Bird Counts are upon us.
Here are 10 species I haven’t seen yet this year in Essex County and I feel could be somewhat realistic targets for the remainder of the year:
– Long-tailed duck
– Lesser Black-backed Gull
– Golden Eagle
– Yellow-headed Blackbird (lifer)
– Lincolns Sparrow
– Short-eared Owl
– Northern Shrike
– Common Redpoll (lifer)
– Red-throated Loon
– Marsh Wren
There are others. I’d love to find one of the Crossbills or an Evening Grosbeak, though I don’t have a good chance for these in Essex County.
