24. November 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

Our season officially opened on the 14th of November and we had great looks at the cranes. We had high tides all week which while covering up some of our hot spots enabled us to get into the shallow waters of Sundown Bay and get really good looks at the few cranes in the area. The migration was just a bit off from previous years with only 91 birds counted from the airplane on Thursday the 19th.

This weekend was outstanding after the front on Friday with a lot more Whoopers and other new arrivals. We picked up American Bitterns on both Saturday and Sunday, The Common Loons have arrived en mass, we saw three flying on Saturday which is always a treat. They are so big and so fast! White-tailed Hawks have also been pretty reliable for a change.

Other species seen:

Snow Goose
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
White-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Peregrine Falcon
Sandhill Crane
Whooping Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Horned Lark
Sedge Wren
Seaside Sparrow

Special thanks to Richard Gibbons!

Happy Birding!

Capt Tommy

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10. November 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

We made a trip to the refuge this morning and picked up 19 Whoopers. Unfortunately none were close but it is always a thrill to get the first birds of the season. We saw one juvenile and its plumage was beautiful!

I really love this time of year because the always seems to be a lot of action. As the cranes arrive they all have to work out their territories and that is always exciting. Today the male of a territorial pair on Dunham Bay chased a cohort of 3 sub-adults around for about 20 minutes until they finally had enough and went elsewhere.

The season officially starts this Saturday the 14th of November so come on and join us.

The highlights of the day were: Whoopers, Snowy Plovers, White-tailed Hawks, and a lesser Black backed gull.

Happy Birding!

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