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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Finding Seaducks

   Sea ducks are one of winter's highlights for many birdwatchers. While being on vacation in Nova Scotia I made a trip down to a small bay. The results were incredible. The most common bird seen was the Red-breasted merganser. Over 100 of them were seen. Hooded mergansers were very numerous too. I found a small flock of about 25 birds. 3 Buffleheads were seen. One of many favorite type of birds are grebes. I saw 3 Horned grebes and 1 Red-necked grebe. In Newfoundland these types of grebes are infrequent and rare. My scope helped me find many smaller types of birds such as Buffleheads and a flock of Common goldeneyes that were a long way of shore. The weather had a negative effect on finding the birds because it was very foggy.


Sunday, December 14, 2014

A little warbler a long way from home!

The yellow throated warbler should not be anywhere north of Tennessee in the winter. Where does one show up? - Kelly's Brook, St John's - a small brook next to a large park. Yellow throated warblers are very glamorous with a striped body and a bright gaudy yellow throat. I found the bird on Saturday the 13th of December. When we got there, there were quite a number of birders looking for the warbler. One group of birders had been there for 2 hours. We looked around with no luck. Then we found a large flock of juncos. We followed the birds across the river until we had found the flock again. Then I saw a small bird with a large beak. I whispered, "I got the bird." I showed the bird to my companion in the art and another birder who was there too. What a good day! Below is an ebird interactive  range map. You can see a a bit of blue over St John's.