Brydon - September 22, 2012

[Randy]

Hey everyone,

I managed to get out this morning for a couple hours to check out the local activity. It was much more active here that it has been recently and accordingly I picked up more species than I have for a number of weeks.

Waterfowl are starting to return, and in addition to the GW teal that returned a couple weeks ago, there were a couple American wigeons and 1 pied-billed grebe.

LOTS of yellow-rumped warblers around today and pine siskins were quite numerous as well, which is somewhat unusual.

The highlight for me was finding a Wilson's snipe in the open at the marsh. Considering this was a lifer for me 1 week ago, I'm pretty happy to get another good look at it. It was species #103 for me at Brydon, which I think seems to be pretty good for only being here for just over 1 year. The marsh also had a single pectoral sandpiper and 6 killdeer. This is where the teal and wigeons were as well.

Upon my return, I was treated to a Cooper's hawk sitting on my bat box. Unfortunately it flew away as I was focusing my camera on it.

Overall 33 species found, making for a decent morning. Despite this, unfortunately there were no great opportunities for photos. I'm definitely looking forward to more waterfowl species coming through in the coming weeks.

Here's my list:

Canada Goose 2
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 95
Green-winged Teal 8
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Killdeer 6
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Wilson's Snipe 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Mourning Dove 1
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Steller's Jay 3
Northwestern Crow 10
Black-capped Chickadee 12
Brown Creeper 4
Bewick's Wren 1
American Robin 3
European Starling 3
Cedar Waxwing 8
Common Yellowthroat 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Spotted Towhee 3
Song Sparrow 6
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Pine Siskin 20
American Goldfinch 20
House Sparrow 1

[Chris]

Randy, nice list there. Snipe are always hard to see.

Always exciting to add a new species to a place you visit frequently.

[Randy]

Thanks Chris. I agree with your comment about how it's interesting to visit the same place every week and see how things are changing.

On a slightly separate note, I just went out briefly this morning and found the snipe again. Hopefully it continues to hang around. Also saw my first coot on the lagoon since early spring I believe.