Life List 199 (3 life birds that day)
Bird List For That Day
Northern Fulmar 15 Life Bird!
Eurasian Oystercatcher 2 Life Bird!
Pied Wagtail 3
Eurasian Wren 2 Life Bird!
4 species today
Yesterday we drove from Belfast to Bushmill. We only went to Belfast briefly for 1 night and did not do much (personally I don't know why we went). But anyway, we went to Giants Causeway and Carrick-a-rede where we walked across a rope bride between two cliffs above the ocean. Giants Causeway is a unique array of rocks formed naturally by volcanic eruptions over 60,000,000 years ago. While hiking on the rocks, I saw this EURASIAN WREN life bird 197! This is life bird 197 not 196 because I saw a pied wagtail in Belfast which was a life bird, but did not blog about it. I saw also saw another PIED WAGTAIL on the rocks at Giant's Causeway. Look at that mountain view! My dad and sister finally caught up to my mom and I and we started to walk back. As we were walking I spotted a quick glimpse of an EURASIAN OYSTERCATCHER and had to get a close look at this life bird. Once I got close, I managed to get a fairly decent shot of him. Minutes later we all hopped in our car and we drove to Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, our second destination. We parked our car and walked to the rope bridge that led us from one cliff to another cliff, with an estimate that we are 200 feet above the water. Here's a photo of the bridge. Once I got across, I was totally psyched to so close to so many birds! Many of those birds happened to be NORTHERN FULMAR! Life bird 199! This may even be one of the top 3 best species I have seen on my entire life list!!! Here is the fulmar on the I got a photo of. We walked back across the rope bridge and headed for the car. We drove to Dark Hedges, which was in a scene in the show Game Of Thrones. Later we drove to our cottage where we will stay for 2 nights. Overall it was the best day on our trip so far, being in nature and seeing cool things for hours. I also saw 3 life birds, one which is one of the best birds on my entire list, the Northern Fulmar!!! It was an amazing day!!!
Life List 199 (3 life birds that day) Bird List For That Day Northern Fulmar 15 Life Bird! Eurasian Oystercatcher 2 Life Bird! Pied Wagtail 3 Eurasian Wren 2 Life Bird! 4 species today
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Yesterday was officially the first day on our trip around the world. We arrived at the airport in Dublin, Ireland. We were all very tired, but I was lucky to get a 3 hour nap on the plane and had enough energy to bird. By the way, just to let you know I got a life bird warbling vireo that I saw before we left but never got a chance to blog about it. So after that my life list was at 188. The first life bird I wanted to see was a common wood pigeon, which are super common here. Later that day I saw my first COMMON WOOD PIGEON! Life bird 189! Later we decided to walk around Trinity College where I saw some more life birds such a EURASIAN BLUE TIT and COAL TIT! Before lunch we went to a park called St. Stephens Green, which made for great birding. At the beginning of our walk I spotted this odd gull that had red legs and a red beak. If you know what this bird is, please contact me! In the pack of gulls, I spotted 1 LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL that is uncommon in the Chicago area. And also a few abundant EURASIAN ROBIN which was a life bird for me! I also saw 6 EURASIAN MOORHEN, MUTE SWAN, and EURASIAN BLACKBIRD! All life birds! The next day we walked around the ground of an art museum which were quite nice. While walking around the grounds, I saw this HOODED CROW! Another life bird!. I think it was a great 2 days of birding and seeing so many different birds!
Life List 195 (7 new life birds in the last 2 days) Bird List For The Last 2 Days Hooded Crow 3 Life Bird! Eurasian Magpie 10 Eurasian Moorhen 6 Life Bird! Herring Gull 20 Rock Pigeon 50 Common Wood Pigeon 2 Mute Swan 5 Life Bird! Eurasian Blackbird 3 Life Bird! Eurasian Robin 11 Life Bird! Lesser Black Backed Gull 1 Blue Tit 7 Life Bird! Coal Tit 1 Life Bird! Hi everyone, yesterday I went out looking for a King Rail at Air Station Prarie in Glenview, where I had went just recently. A King Rail is a bird found on the Atlantic coast and rarely flies into Illinois. In late July I went out looking for this bird at a different location but did not find it. I am hoping to find it this time. While birding I spotted this SOLITARY SANDPIPER, a species I have seen here recently. Then on the pond on the west side of the prarie, I spotted this LESSER YELLOWLEGS, a species I have also recently seen here. While I was watching the shorebirds, I picked out 1 WILLET an uncommon species I have only seen once. I was lucky to find that bird, but did not get a photo. I also saw a SPOTTED SANDPIPER the most common sandpiper found in the area. While watching shorebirds I also saw a flock of LEAST SANDPIPERS fly in! Life bird 186! Here is a photo: Well, at the end of the day I did not find the king rail once again. I am going to try to go out and search for it when there is another sighting.
Life List 186 (1 life bird that day) Bird List For That Day Least Sandpiper 5 LIFE BIRD! Spotted Sandpiper 1 Willet 1 Lesser Yellowlegs 2 Killdeer 4 Solitary Sandpiper 3 Canada Goose 5 American Goldfinch 2 Song Sparrow 2 House Sparrow 1 Recently I went on a trip to Montrose Point and North Pond, both in Chicago. At about 8:30 my uncle and I arrived at Montrose point, our first stop. As we started our walk, the first in interesting bird I saw we saw was a HOUSE WREN which is a common species. As we got closer to the beach where we will look for shorebirds, I found a YELLOW WARBLER and a BLUE GRAY GNATCATCHER in the same tree. I approached the beach and immediately saw my first SEMIPALIMATED PLOVER! Life bird 184! (Photo below) At the same time, I also saw this SEMIPALIMATED SANDPIPER! life bird again! Just minutes later I saw a juvenile SPOTTED SANDPIPER another common species I have seen here before, which I did not manage to photograph. After another quick walk through Montrose, we got in the car and headed for North Pond. I spotted many birds on our walk at North Pond, such as this juvenile BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON. And this Male WOOD DUCK. I saw many more herons, such as these 2 GREEN HERON. Adult green heron on left side, possible juvenile is on right side. And then this GREAT BLUE HERON a heron much larger than the green heron and also more common. During the walk I saw 2 CASPIAN TERN and this DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT, a large black bird with an orange bill. (photo below) Well, that concluded our wonderful birding trip to Montrose Point and North Pond. It was exiting adding two birds to my life list! thanks to my uncle for driving me. It was a great day of birding!!
Life List 185 ( 2 life birds that day) Bird List For That Day Rock pigeon 2 Semipalimated Plover 7 LIFE BIRD! Semipalimated Sandpiper 1 LIFE BIRD American Robin 1 Yellow Warbler 2 Blue Gray Gnatcatcher 1 Caspian tern 2 Ring Billed Gull 30 Black Capped Chickadee 5 Common Grackle 1 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Mallard 5 Red Winged Blackbird 5 Barn Swallow 50 Cedar Waxwing 1 Killdeer 3 House Finch 3 American Goldfinch 5 Mourning Dove 1 Canada Goose 15 European Starling 4 House Sparrow 2 House Wren 1 Birds Of North Pond Green Heron 2 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Great Blue Heron 1 Black Crowned Night Heron 6 Canada Goose 2 Wood Duck 3 Caspian Tern 2 Ring Billed Gull 3 Mallard 7 Double Crested Cormorant 1 Today I had a wonderful birding trip to Air Station Prairie in Glenview. There have been many interesting shorebirds here that I was trying to find. I had many target birds including Lesser Yellowlegs, Least sandpiper, Virginia Rail, Semipalimated Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper. I approached 2 ponds as I walked in where I saw at least 30 shorebirds. Immediately, I got great looks at this SOLITARY SANDPIPER! Life bird 181! For most of the time, I tried to identify many sandpipers at both ponds. some were to far out to make out using my binoculars, but I did identify a few shorebirds such as this KILLDEER, which was common at the prairie. Just minutes later, I identified my first LESSER YELLOWLEGS! Life bird 182 (no picture though)! These birds have clear yellow legs slightly taller than the killdeer and the solitary sandpiper. Just before we had to leave, I checked one of the ponds and saw the VIRGINIA RAIL! Life bird 183! I was lucky to get just feet away from the rail and get a nice shot of it (see below)! At the end of the day I was super exited to see 3 life birds! The bird of the day goes to the Virginia rail, which was a treat. It was a great day of birding!
Life List 183 (3 new life birds today) Birds seen birding today Virginia rail 1 LIFE BIRD! mallard 10 lesser yellowlegs 2 LIFE BIRD solitary sandpiper 2 LIFE BIRD barn swallow 1 song sparrow 1 cedar waxwing 1 mourning dove 2 American goldfinch 5 killdeer 10 eastern kingbird 5 red winged blackbird 10 |
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December 2020
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