White-winged Scoters
Montrose was hopping this morning with passerines, dominant among them Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers and Swamp Sparrows. Also, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Hermit Thrushes, White-throated and Savannah Sparrows, American Pipit, Cliff Swallow, and a male Scarlet Tanager. Non-passerine highlights include Great Egret, Green Heron, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson’s Snipe, and Virginia Rail.
South winds in spring are the ticket.
I’m still in waterbird mode, which means I haven’t been paying much
attention to landbirds. This is just as well as the persistent east
winds have put a damper on passerine migration along the lakefront.
Yesterday and today, April 20, I had single Red-throated Loons flying
north past the Point. Yesterday’s bird looked like an adult in nearly
full breeding plumage. Not exactly what I want to see at this time of
the year but I’ll take them.
Other than the loons I saw little else of interest. Red-breasted
Mergansers are still around as are a few Horned Grebes. I had several
large flocks of Double-crested Cormorants winging north too.
Here’s to southwest winds.
I walked out onto the Fishhook Pier this morning, April 13,
to see what if anything was on the water or flying by. It’s getting late
for waterfowl so I wasn’t expecting much but I did have Common and
Red-throated Loons. The Common was on the water on the lakeside and the
Red-throated, a basic type bird, was flying north. I also saw a few
Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal flying around, small numbers of Lesser
Scaup, a couple Bufflehead, and continuing Red-breasted Mergansers and a
few Horned Grebes. I didn’t look very hard for landbirds but with the
east winds I wouldn’t expect to see many.
I had a latish Short-eared Owl at Montrose this morning, April 11. The
bird flushed from the native planting area at the southeast corner of
the Point and circled the beach a few times before I lost sight of it. I
don’t know if it came down in the Dunes but that seems likely. I didn’t
spend a lot of time birding so I didn’t see much else, the most
interesting thing (for me) being a FOY Northern Rough-winged Swallow at
the Harbor mouth.
Harlequin Duck, with Red-breasted Mergansers (click to see the larger version)
The female Harlequin Duck reported on March 27 was still at Montrose this
morning, March 28. It was consorting with a group of Red-breasted Mergansers on the lake side of the Fishhook Pier, but after a few minutes it flew to the very end of the pier where it remained until I left. Harlequin Ducks are rare and irregular visitors to Montrose. BTW, the scientific name of Harlequin Duck, Histrionicus histrionicus, is an allusion to the boldly patterned plumage of the males.
I spent about 2.5 hours at Montrose this morning, March 19, most of that
time looking at the lake. The visibility was good and there were birds
to look at, both on the water and flying around. Except for blackbirds
and Robins, landbirds were scarce. My highlights (not a complete list):
Gadwall – ~12
American Wigeon – 5
Redhead – ~30
Lesser Scaup – ~20
Greater Scaup – 1
White-winged Scoter – ~20
Common Goldeneye – ~12
Bufflehead – ~7
Common Merganser – 1 adult male flying north
Red-breasted Merganser – ~300
Red-throated Loon – 2 flying north, both in basic type plumage
Common Loon – 1 alternate plumaged bird flying north
Horned Grebe – ~50, most on the lake but a few in the harbor
Eared Grebe – 1 alternate plumaged bird on the lake
Great Black-backed Gull – 1 first cycle
Glaucous/Iceland Gull – 1 near adult flying north
The Eared Grebe was a big surprise. I tried to turn it into something
more expected but everything about the bird said Eared Grebe. Somewhat
surprisingly it was in full alternate plumage; most of the Horned Grebes
today were still in basic plumage or transitioning into alternate
plumage. I also had a meadowlark in the Dunes that looked good for a
Western but I let it go.