Xmas on the beach

...is not some new fruity cocktail but rather a description of how I spent my Xmas this year in Jamaica. 

So far the only kind of birding I was able to do was from buses or taxies and since I usually shit my pants on these drives, fearing for my dear life, I haven't been able to see very much apart from LITTLE BLUE HERON, CATTLE EGRETS, SMOOTH-BILLED ANIS, TURKEY VULTURES etc. Today we headed out to Fort Clarence beach just south of Greater Portmore. The time of day and location did not allow for any serious birding (I also didn't bring bins as theft can be a problem apparently), but still a few interesting birds were  flying by including BROWN PELICANS, ROYAL TERNS and MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS. Others like GREATER ANTILLEAN GRACKLES were hanging out in the (Mangrove??) trees on the beach. The shrubs in the adjacent gardens had COMMON GROUND DOVES, a hummingbird I never got to ID properly (given the overall dark color probably a Jamaican Mango). A close encounter with a RUDDY TURNSTONE at the beach rounded off a great day at the beach. Ok, my appetite is wetted now, I am twitchy probably comparable to migrant birds that feel their inner 'zugunruhe', ready to take off - OK you get the point.

Fort Clarence beach

Quick scan

Time only allowed for a quick spy on Lake Needwood and Lake Frank after work. I had never visited the site that late but it seems CANADA GEESE are visiting Lake Needwood to roost and I counted 100 geese on the lake that were later joined by another 30 or so just around dusk. Other ducks on the lake were 22 HOODED MERGANSERs 1 fem. BUFFLEHEAD and a couple of Mallards. Lake Frank had around 10 RING-NECKED DUCKS and another 2 HOODED MERGANSERS. Definitely a high count for both Canadas and Hoodies for me at the site. Impressive was a constant stream of AMERICAN CROWS and FISH CROWS that were flying across the lake to their roost site for about 30 minutes. I would not dare an estimate but I am sure they were in their thousands. Me and the missus are heading out to Jamaica this week so the next post will be about the Jamaica trip and hopefully some Carribean birds. Not sure how much birding will be accomplished but I am sure we will see some goodies. I will have some kind of camera handy, so there will be pictures to spice up the blog.

Foxxy sparrow

I had a great plan all worked out Friday night which should have taken me to the Occoquan NWR early  Saturday morning. A great plan since I had all of Saturday off. Well, after ignoring my alarm clock for too long that plan went out the window and I headed to the closer Meadowside NC instead. Coming up the hill from the nature center I found plenty of bird activity with the best bird being a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER - my first for MNR. Great start! The pine tree that I passed on the other side of the hill must have some kind of bird magnet - YELLOW-RUMPS, SONG SPARROWS, HERMIT THRUSH, TUFTED TITMICE and GOLDFINCH were all concentrated within the same tree.
Until getting close to Big Piney Trail, the number of sparrows was considerable low given the mid-week cold snap. Just as I was feeling sorry for myself for not seeing any exciting sparrow species a FOX SPARROW popped up from the bushes - another first for the site for me. On the way back I added a COOPER'S HAWK. As usual I checked Lake Needwood before heading home: as I scanned through the flock of 30 or so Ring-necked Ducks I picked out one female GREATER SCAUP. A new e-bird for the site and one not easy to find in Montgomery county I would think. Somewhat disappointing was the lack of any Long-tailed Ducks since sightings were reported from Black Hill and other sites around the area.
To round things up, 4 new species were added to the patch list which stands at 62 now.

Inaugural blog

Well, this is my first post and  from now on I shall share every aspect of my live with you in public and uncensored. Not really - the blog actually is about birding and the traveling that comes with it. The blogging site is still pretty dull and under construction, but will hopefully become more colorful as I am adding pictures and descriptions of birding spots to the site. Let's get started then. I got to the Meadowside Nature Centre by around eight this morning on what should be a VERY slow birding day. Surprisingly, the GRAY CATBIRD that I found on the Big Piney trail two weeks ago, stuck around and who knows may decide to stay for the winter. Another late species was a EASTERN PHOEBE in the same general area. Lake Needwood was the birdier of the two lakes today and held 80 RING-NECKED DUCKS, a couple of HOODED MERGANSERS and PIED-BILLED GREBES. I tallied only 35 species for the day and added a GREAT-BLUE HERON to the patch list which currently stands at 58 but I am sure will grow over the next year. A nice day to be out with mild temperatures. Hopefully I will manage to get out into the field at least two more times before my trip to Jamaica before the end of the year. I will keep you all posted!