White-winged Scoters
Short-eared Owl (click to see the larger version)
I had a fine morning of birding at Montrose today, October 28, highlighted by 3 Short-eared Owls in the dunes, including this perched individual. This may be the first Short-eared I’ve seen at Montrose that wasn’t flying. Days with brisk west winds in late October are best for seeing these birds at Montrose.
eBird Checklist
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40169454
Montrose wasn’t quite as birdy (for me) as on Thursday, but it was still pretty good today, October 21. I ended up with 47 species in a little over 2 hours of effort, highlighted by
Baird’s Sandpiper – the continuing juvenile
Semipalmated Sandpiper – the continuing molting first cycle bird
Short-eared Owl – 1 in the dunes
Northern Shrike – 1 in the dunes
Black-throated Blue Warbler – female near the Magic Hedge
Le Conte’s Sparrow – 2 in the dunes
The Northern Shrike was my bird-of-the-day; I haven’t seen one at Montrose in a few years. Maybe this will be a flight year for them. The algae mat continues at the east end of the beach, and it continues to attract shorebirds and ducks. The dominant passerine was Swamp Sparrow.
eBird Checklist
https://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40043108
Green-winged Teal (click to see the larger version)
I spent a couple hours birding Montrose this morning, October 19, and it was inexplicably good. By inexplicable I mean no cold front passed the night before and no cold front is expected to pass until next week, so I don’t know why today was so productive. The increase in sparrow activity compared to yesterday was noticeable – today may have been “the” sparrow day of the fall at Montrose for me. I ended up with 54 species, highlighted by
Black-crowned Night-Heron – 3 immature birds flying around the point. Getting late.
Baird’s Sandpiper – the continuing juvenile bird
Semipalmated Sandpiper – the continuing first cycle bird
Franklin’s Gull – 2 first cycle birds
Short-eared Owl – 2 in the dunes
Le Conte’s Sparrow – 2, 1 in the dunes, the other in the native planting area
Nelson’s Sparrow – 1 in the native planting area
The algae mat at the east end of the beach continues to attract good numbers of shorebirds and ducks (where was this mat 2 months ago when we needed it?)
eBird Checklist
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40010343
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.
Short-eared Owl (click to see the larger version)
I had a Short-eared Owl at Montrose this morning, March 16. I first saw the bird flying over the lake from the base of the Fishhook Pier around dawn. It circled back and landed for a couple minutes in the Dunes before getting up and flying around again. This is typical Short-eared Owl behavior at Montrose. I didn’t walk through the Dunes so I don’t know if the bird settled down or kept going. Short-eared Owls often show up on days with strong west winds, like today.
Tis’ the season for Short-eared Owls at Montrose. This morning I kicked one up out of the western panne in the dunes. The bird flew out over the lake and circled around a few times before I walked away and lost sight of it. This is typical Short-eared Owl behavior at Montrose, and sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t.
Migration is really winding down, especially passerine migration, but I did have a few other birds, including:
Great Black-backed Gull – 1 second cycle type
Sanderling – 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 1
Hermit Thrush – ~10
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
Palm Warbler – 1
Winter Wren – 2
American Pipit – 1
Swamp Sparrow – 1
White-crowned Sparrow – 1
Savannah Sparrow – 1
Pine Siskin – ~40
Lapland Longspur – 2
Rusty Blackbird – 1
That’s about everything. In another couple of weeks there will be even less.