Thursday, April 13, 2017

100 Birds!!!

A Little Bird Nerd original design

Back in January, I wrote a blog post about the first fifty species of birds I'd seen in 2017 in Macomb County. Just a week into January I had observed fifty different avian species. This may sound like a lot for one week, but really, because the "year list" resets each January, each species counts as something new. This makes milestones out of even the most common birds, from Canada Geese to House Sparrows and European Starlings. Because of this, that first fifty adds up quickly.

I knew the next fifty would take much longer than a week to reach. Having spotted many of the common winter birds, it would now be a matter of waiting for new arrivals to trickle in. January passed, then February, both fairly mild and pleasant temperature-wise. I birded as often as I could, squeezing in visits to local parks, watching out the back window at home, and of course always birding while driving... or walking... er, always birding! With March came final papers and exams, so I was trapped inside for much of the month, finishing the last semester of my bachelors degree. While many of my classmates had professional plans for post-graduation, I was simply looking forward to the chance to go birding more (I know, that's probably bad). So as soon as I finished, I got back out on the trails, hitting and exceeding 100 species by April 4th.

I suspect I'll reach the next fifty milestone (150 species) in a shorter amount of time than this lot, as spring migration should bring a wide variety of birds. I can't wait!!

For now, scroll down to enjoy photos of species #51-100 I've seen in Macomb County in '17. (')< ♫

January 11th

Great Blue Heron
Rough-legged Hawk (poor quality photo but great bird!)

January 12th

Ruddy Duck (definitely one of my fav ducks)
Common Merganser (female and male)

January 13th 

Brown-headed Cowbird (male and female)
Carolina Wren
Merlin

January 14th

Great Black-backed Gull (juvenile)

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Hooded Merganser (male and females)

January 16th

Sharp-shinned Hawk (could not get it in focus!!)

January 18th

Eastern Screech-Owl

January 29th

Great Horned Owl

  January 30th

Snowy Owl (female) to complete the owl trifecta!

February 1st

Snow Bunting
Horned Lark

February 5th

Lapland Longspur

February 18th

Turkey Vulture (aka Tuvu , aka Cathartes aura)

February 19th

Belted Kingfisher (one of my yard friends)

February 22nd

Killdeer
Sandhill Crane


Northern Shoveler (still waiting for a closer view of some of these ducks, aka better quality photos)
Gadwall

February 24th

Cedar Waxwing (such a cool looking bird!)

February 25th

Ring-necked Duck

Surf Scoter (top, black bird)
Red-breasted Merganser (male and female)

March 11th

Wood Duck (female)

March 16th

Purple Finch (female)
Northern Pintail (just left of center)

March 18th

Fox Sparrow (found on a Ford House Bird Walk with WBU GPW)

March 23rd

American Coot

March 24th

Pied-billed Grebe
Tree Swallow

March 27th

Savannah Sparrow

Blue-winged Teal (female and male)
Virginia Rail (with chick; photo taken summer '15)
Marsh Wren (one of my favorite birds to photograph)

Green-winged Teal (another duck I desperately need a better picture of!)

March 29th

Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Eastern Phoebe
Osprey (photo taken in '16 at Pte. Mouillee)

Eastern Meadowlark

March 31st

Northern Flicker (male, as evidenced by black moustache)

April 2nd

Great Egret

April 3rd

Wilson's Snipe
Forster's Tern

Pileated Woodpecker

April 4th

Field Sparrow (aka "The Lipstick Sparrow", or the "Tea Kettle Sparrow" ©LBN)

Happy Birding! (')< ♫ ♪