Black Guillemot

I managed to add 3 more species to my life list; Red-throated Loon, Iceland Gull and Long-tailed Duck. This time of year, it has been challenging to find anything new around Woodstock so I travelled to the St.John area to find those three.

Gilles Belliveau helped me a great deal by creating a map of a number of areas where I could try to find a variety of species I have yet to see. I had never been around Maces Bay or Dipper Harbor and really enjoyed spending time around these fishing communities.

Here is my picture of the day, a Black Guillemot that I found in Dipper Harbor.

House Finch, Snow Bunting

I have neglected to post for quite some time now. I had been finding quite a few new birds every week or so over the summer, but that slowed down significantly from September up until now.

There is more activity in my backyard lately compared to what I have been finding around Woodstock. I had a House Finch come for a few days for the first time not too long ago. It was actually the first I had seen in NB as well.

Over the weekend, I did happen to find around 20 Snow Buntings along the St.John River. There have been reports of them showing up around the provinces and I finally got a picture of this species. Hopefully I'll get one of the bird up close sometime as this bunch wouldn't stay still for very long.

Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper

I came across a great place where I thought some shorebirds might show up a few weeks ago. Its called Lane's Creek. The creek runs into the Saint John River and found two Great Blue Heron there and some Double-creasted Cormorants there and made a mental note to go back there again.
This afternoon I found five Killdeer, a couple Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, three Greater Yellowlegs and three Least Sandpipers. I was quite surprised to see so many shorebirds in Carleton County.

Black & White Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Least Flycatcher

It has been quite a while since I have posted so I'll focus on some highlights of my backyard. Over the past few weeks, there have been many different families of birds that have spent time around our yard. Here is the list that I even added to today - Mourning Dove, Chipping Sparrow, Purple Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Robin, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, and Red-eyed Vireo (pictured).

I've also had a Least Flycatcher (pictured) in my yard for over a week now.

A few weeks ago, I had 6 Common Nighthawks flying over my house which my son and I enjoyed watching for a few minutes.

Its harder to find warblers out on my walks now, but lately I just need to look outside to find some. Here is what has been in my yard over the past two weeks - Blackburian, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula and Black & White (pictured).

Its the first time I've had a Black and White Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo and Least Flycatcher (just to be clear, this is my neighbor's satellite as we don't have a television!) in my yard before (pictured below in order).

Black-bellied Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

I was over on PEI again this past weekend and since it was our last trip of the summer, I went out birding a few extra times. I found 20 more species bringing my total up to 71 different birds that I found in two trips to the island this summer. The following five species were lifers; Ruddy Turnstone, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, White-rumped Sandpiper, Rusty Blackbird, and Black-bellied Plover. Now that I have seen these five on PEI, I hope to now find them in New Brunswick!

Nashville Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Grant Milroy and I were out early this morning to see what we could find. We met in Hartland and went to a street where he knew Purple Martins had been in the past. Unfortunately they weren't there, but I now know where to go look another time (or year!). Next, we went to a few marsh type areas to find a Northern Waterthrush (he found one yesterday link here http://birdingnewbrunswick.ca/photo/4-northern-waterthrush-stylish-guy?context=featured, I've never seen one). We didn't find one, however I did get my first picture of a Nashville Warbler. Near the end of our morning, we did end up seeing a Rose-breasted Grosbeak after lots of patience. This was a first for me and brings my total to 146 for the year and 158 for life in NB.

Willet, Semipalmated Sandpiper - PEI

This evening, I returned from my first visit to PEI of the summer. I was there for about four days and found 52 different species of birds. Three were added to my life list - Willet (pic #4), Semipalmated Sandpiper (pic #1) and Pied-billed Grebe. I met up with a local birder, Ron Arvidson, on Monday and he showed me a great area that I was hoping to get to anyway, Noonan's Marsh, which is right after you cross the Confederation Bridge.

I was pleased to get pictures of Short-billed Dowitchers (pic #2) and to find a Bank Swallow colony (pic #3). The Island Nature Trust had posted that they were looking for Bank Swallows so I went for a drive to where I have seen them for the past couple of summers and posted a video on their group here; https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10153031750325258&set=o.190787204315860&type=2&theater

Northern Mockingbird, Swainson's Thrush

Today I had the privilege of being shown around the Irving Nature Park by Gilbert Bouchard. I am in Brown’s Flat for the weekend so he invited me to meet him early this morning.  After over 3 hours of walking/driving around the park and going up by his house, we saw and heard 53 different species. Gilbert has knows numerous species by ear and since he lives so close to the park, he knew exactly where to find many birds that I had yet to see. He helped me add ten new birds to my life list! Northern Mockingbird (pictured), Swainson’s Thrush (pictured), Winter Wren, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Nelson’s Sparrow, Short-billed Dowitcher,  Nashville Warbler, Black Scoter, and Lesser Scaup.

 

 

 

 

Black-throated Blue Warbler

I had the pleasure to go birding with Grant Milroy in the Coldstream area this past Monday. We were out early at 6AM and stayed out for over two hours. Grant helped me add five new species to my life list. We saw ten different warblers, five of which were completely new to me. One is pictured below (Black-throated Blue) and the others were; Ovenbird, Mourning, Canada and Northern Parula. I'm now up to 132 in NB for the year!

Wilson's Snipe

I got back to Wilkin's Field this afternoon for just over an hour. I was pleased to find almost 20 different species, especially two that I looked extra hard for. Gilbert Bouchard had reported through ebird that there was a Sora and American Bittern there Friday evening. I found them both (no picture of the Sora and blurry one of the American Bittern flying away) so thats two more to check off of my life list! (126 for the year, 139 for life in NB) There were 3 Wilson's Snipes and I did get a decent picture of one that I have posted below.

Chimney Swifts

Last night, I got to see Chimney Swifts for the first time. I was in the Fredericton area and met up with Don Gibson. After reading this post from Nature NB http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Mail/NatureNB/1420748?year=2013, I asked Don if he could show me where they were. He didn't think they were still there so we were both pleasantly surprised to get to watch more than 80 of them for about twenty minutes. I posted a short clip below where you can hear them and if you look closely, see them flying about (it was past 9:30 and the sun was already down).

Nest

Some of my students found this bird's nest today. I saw a Yellow Warbler hanging around and after looking at different pictures for comparison, that is my best guess as to who the egg and little one's belong to.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

For the past half hour, I've been going through the most recent pictures that I have taken. I just figured out that I saw a Northern Rough-winged Swallow last week when I saw all the Tree, Bank and Barn Swallows. Now I just need a picture of a Cliff Swallow and to find a Purple Martin.....

1) Rough-winged 2) Barn 3) Bank 4) Tree

Black-crowned Night Heron & Eastern Wood-Pewee

I was determined to add to my life list today since I knew I had at least 2 hours to look around. After searching for those two hours along the Grafton Shore Road, I did find over 20 different species, but none were new. It was past 3 so I knew I should be getting home as my boys would most likely be up from their naps. As I was walking towards my car I continued to search and happened to see my first Black-crowned Night Heron (not an American Bittern) and Eastern Wood-Pewee. I'm now up to 112 for the year and 127 for life!

*Thanks to Merv Cormier for the correction! I was looking very hard for an American Bittern that I just assumed thats what I had found. I can't say enough how great its been to be a member of http://birdingnewbrunswick.ca/

Cedar Waxwing

I found my first Cedar Waxwings a few days ago along the St.John River. There were about a dozen of them sitting in a tree. This picture is from a few years ago close to my in-laws cottage on PEI. This is when I first started to really get interested in taking pictures of birds and it remains my favorite picture of a Cedar Waxwing that I have taken so far.

Last night I got out birding for a few minutes and found a few Bank Swallows mixed in with over 20 Tree Swallows along the St.John River in Woodstock. I know a nesting spot over on PEI where I've seen them many times before, but had yet to see any in NB until last night. I should also mention I saw my first Red-eyed Vireo of the year yesterday when I went out for a short walk along a trail in Nackawic.

These 3 birds have brought my total up to 110 for the year just in New Brunswick.  

Brown Thrasher

Today I happened to find my first Brown Thrasher. There were two of them just off of a trail behind where I work. Yesterday I saw them, but I wasn't sure what they were and didn't have time to stop to figure it out.

Chesnut-sided Warbler & female Northern Cardinal

It has been just pouring for the last 48 hours or so. There was a brief break in the rain this morning though so I went for a walk with my boys and got out in my yard before it started again. I was forunate enough to find a Chesnut-sided Warbler (lifer) on our walk and a female Cardinal showed up in our yard. A male has been hanging around for the past couple of days so I have been on the lookout for the female.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I had my first hummingbird of the year this morning. It will be nice to see them on a consistenly basis for the rest of the summer now. The picture is from a few years ago, but I wanted to post it since I have yet to post one of a hummingbird.
A male cardinal also showed up and was eating along with a mourning dove and some song sparrows.

* I got my first picture of the hummingbird in my yard this morning, see below!

Common Yellowthroat & Veery

I went for a walk along the Meduxnekeag orange trail today and found two new birds. The first was a Blackburnian Warbler (didn't get a good picture, just a blurry one of its orange head) and a Veery (second picture). I saw four Common Yellowthroats during my walk and managed to get this shot of a male one singing.

Blue-winged Teal & Gray Catbird

I couldn't sleep this morning so I ventured out to go birding before 6am. It was my plan all along to get out early on Victoria Day, but I didn't think there would be much to see with all the rain. I was wrong however, and I have decided I should get out in the rain more often actually. Here are some highlights from my morning:

American Redstart (first of year)
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Baltimore Oriole (first of year)
Belted Kingfisher
Osprey

Picture 1 - Gray Catbird - I heard this one in the distance and keep going through the woods until I found it. My son was quite interested in a bird by such a name so I played him a video that included it meowing. Yesterday I found 2 in Mactaquac, but couldn't get a picture so I was pleased to get one today.

Picture 2 - Blue-winged Teal (found in two different locations). This was a lifer for me and brought me up to 100! for the year and 121 for life in New Brunswick.

Mactaquac area

I saw 27 different birds today in 3 different areas (Woodstock, Keswick Ridge and Mactaquac). I got to add 4 to my life list today (Common Tern, Gray Catbird, Cliff Swallow and Black-throated Green Warbler) and two were the first of the year for me (White-crowned Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat).

Killdeer

Yesterday I was in the St.Stephen area for most of the day for a birthday party. I had about 10 minutes before everyone else arrived so I went down the road to Moores Mills lake where I thought I might be able to see at least one bird. I lucked out and found a Killdeer! The last time I saw one was as a small child when they used to nest in a rock pile near the yard of my parents home. This was the first picture I've ever taken of one and it brought my total up to 90 for the year and 115 for life in NB.

Spotted Sandpiper

Along with the two Warblers from my previous post, I also found this Spotted Sandpiper yesterday. I have now found 88 different birds in NB so far this year and 114 in my lifetime.

I still have yet to see any Ruby-throated Hummingbirds this year (I did put my feeder up over the weekend because they are in NB now) and there aren't any Great Blue Herons around Woodstock yet.

Magnolia & Yellow Warbler

Today I was out looking for birds in three different places around Woodstock and the Nackawic area. I managed to find two Warblers during my travels!

The first was a Magnolia Warbler which I've never seen before. Someday I hope to get a better quality picture. At first I thought it was a Yellow-rumped, but since I did get a picture, I was able to study and more at home and properly identify it.

The second was a Yellow Warbler. It was the first of the year for me and I am a little happier with the photo.

Green Heron & Bald Eagle

I stopped in Bull's Creek on the way to work this morning and saw these two birds. The Green Heron was my first and I noticed the Bald Eagle perched up high in a tree. Thanks to my friends at http://birdingnewbrunswick.ca/ for helping me ID the heron!

Savannah Sparrow and Blue-headed Vireo

Over the weekend, this Savannah Sparrow visited my in-laws backyard (first of the year for me) and this Blue-headed Vireo was on one of the UNB Woodlot trails (first one for me). I'm now up to 85 species in NB for the year and 111 for my life list in NB.

Northern Shoveler

I saw my first Northern Shoveler at the Keswick flats yesterday just before dusk.

Pine Siskin

I was surprised to count 24 different species today! Just a few posts ago I mentioned that 19 was my new record and I really didn't think I'd get more anytime soon. Most of the birds were out before lunch, but a few different birds came in the afternoon. I am now up to 111 species (all of North America) after some Pine Siskins made a visit to my feeders. I just mentioned the other day, on one of the birding sites I am a member of, that I have yet to see one. Even though I already posted today, I wanted to again since I got to add another to my life list.

We celebrated both of our boys' birthdays this afternoon (turning 1 and 3 in a few days) and I was outside cooking hot dogs. I heard a different song, saw the pointed beak and the bit of yellow on its wings. Anytime finches are around, I take a closer look just in case there are Pine Siskins around too. At one point this was the case with Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches and Purple Finches all taking turns eating. It was a great day all the way around!

Purple Finch

I had a couple of new birds fly over or stop in my yard today. I spotted a female Cardinal (first of the year for me) and a Tree Swallow flew overhead. Four Purple Finches stopped to eat for quite a while so I managed to get a picture of a male and female. They showed up last week and have been coming everyday since.