Okay. 200 yards; sitting atop a big rock; 8X binoculars; a tiny bit too big to be the HORNED LARK that's been seen very near there; wrong posture for one of our ROBINS; settled on KESTREL as an ID; satisfied that everything fits.
Back to pouring my coffee.
Forward about half a minute. That damn Kestrel has blown up as big as a gull. PEREGRINE! No doubt. But I couldn't possibly have been so wrong about the Kestrel ID.
A quick scan revealed that the Kestrel had been chased to another perch by the bigger raptor, not morphed into its cousin.
It all happened as fast as I could turn around.
So those two raptors have been stirring things up this morning but not as much as I expected. A 2nd Peregrine has arrived within the last few minutes but it isn't actively hunting so it's being pretty much ignored by potential prey.
With the winds dropping, seas flattening and temperatures staying a few degrees above freezing, bird activity has picked up since Sunday morning.
I hung a feeder with oil seed yesterday, just on speculation. I knew that we had some few GOLDFINCHES but the sunflower seed has attracted upwards of 30 of the little fellows, as well as at least 5 PINE SISKINS.
Less welcome are over 2 dozen STARLINGS that popped up this morning. So far they have confined themselves to foraging but I fully expect them to eventually hit the sunflower feeder and/or patio ground feed. Fingers crossed: maybe the raptors will target them and leave everyone else alone.
JUNCOS and other sparrows have diminished somewhat but there's still lots around. ROBINS & GRACKLES were about the same with a handful of each this morning but the Grackles (and possibly the Robins) seem to be increasing with the passing hours.. About 30 RED WING BLACKBIRDS are new arrivals, joining the single young male that's been here for a few days.
SNOW BUNTINGS are still present; perhaps 20 in total.
GANNETS are still plunging here and there so some feed must be present.
Back to pouring my coffee.
Forward about half a minute. That damn Kestrel has blown up as big as a gull. PEREGRINE! No doubt. But I couldn't possibly have been so wrong about the Kestrel ID.
A quick scan revealed that the Kestrel had been chased to another perch by the bigger raptor, not morphed into its cousin.
It all happened as fast as I could turn around.
So those two raptors have been stirring things up this morning but not as much as I expected. A 2nd Peregrine has arrived within the last few minutes but it isn't actively hunting so it's being pretty much ignored by potential prey.
With the winds dropping, seas flattening and temperatures staying a few degrees above freezing, bird activity has picked up since Sunday morning.
I hung a feeder with oil seed yesterday, just on speculation. I knew that we had some few GOLDFINCHES but the sunflower seed has attracted upwards of 30 of the little fellows, as well as at least 5 PINE SISKINS.
Less welcome are over 2 dozen STARLINGS that popped up this morning. So far they have confined themselves to foraging but I fully expect them to eventually hit the sunflower feeder and/or patio ground feed. Fingers crossed: maybe the raptors will target them and leave everyone else alone.
JUNCOS and other sparrows have diminished somewhat but there's still lots around. ROBINS & GRACKLES were about the same with a handful of each this morning but the Grackles (and possibly the Robins) seem to be increasing with the passing hours.. About 30 RED WING BLACKBIRDS are new arrivals, joining the single young male that's been here for a few days.
SNOW BUNTINGS are still present; perhaps 20 in total.
GANNETS are still plunging here and there so some feed must be present.
Several flocks of CANADA GEESE have passed since mid-morning, with numbers ranging from a dozen to over 70 per flock.
HARLEQUINS in the cove in front of the house have tallied in at well over 50 both last night and this morning. Most certainly there are more scattered around the island so we might have a new high number resident this winter. We'll see once it's pretty certain that all the migrants have settled in for the winter.
As well as the oil seed feeder, I've placed a few Grapes, a couple of halved Oranges and two bowls of Grape Jelly: pure speculation.
But then; my Bird-Of-The-Day is a GREY CATBIRD that just happened to discover the jelly about an hour ago.
We are beginning to get fine drizzle so I guess that we are into another round of inclement weather. Who knows what this cycle will push.
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