My birdwatching year
Jan. 12th, 2020 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI usually have extra focus on one organism group a year, and last year it was birds. I am in general a bad birdwatcher since my focus is more on the plants on the ground, and then I don't see the birds. But I wanted to make an effort this year. Here are some highlights, mostly birds I'd never seen before.
I began the year with Siberian jays, which are inquisitive and charming corvids.
March 16: I hear the bittern for the first time in my life, blowing its foghorn in the reeds. But I don't see it.
April 7: A pair of smews briefly alights on a lake on their way north, and I see them for the second time in my life. They are much more beautiful than the weird name suggests.
April 29: I am in general more interested in native birds than overseas ones that happened to fly the wrong way, but someone points out an American green-winged teal to me at a bird sanctuary.
April 25: I see the sleek hawfinch with its powerful beak, at a friend's bird feeder.
May 19: I decide that I want to see a kingfisher, and sit down on the bank of the stream where it lives. After half an hour I see it! What a jewel.
May 28-31: I go to Öland, which is somewhat of a birdwatching paradise. Since I'm traveling alone, I'm probably missing a lot of birds, but I do see the collared flycatcher (lovely!), hear a scarlet rosefinch, and see the little tern. Also I hear a corn crake in Uppsala, which I have previously only heard in Poland.
June 3: As a present for my 40th birthday, my dad takes me on a trip down the Halland coast to look at the migrating waders, where I see eight(!) birds I've never seen before: the reed warbler, little stint, red knot, little ringed plover, grey plover, european shag, ruddy shelduck, and brent goose.
July 21: While hiking in the mountains I see a flock of greater scaup.
July 26: While doing forest surveys I see a two-barred crossbill.
November 13: The pine grosbeaks have invaded the south. I have never seen them before, but now they are difficult to avoid.
December 7: A northern hawk owl has set up camp in one of the city nature reserves, and I go to look at it.
Also today I went birdwatching by the sea after a hard wind with some better birdwatchers to help me, and saw kittiwake and black guillemot! This was actually one of my bingo squares for this year, but maybe I'll go once more before I cross it off. Would love to see a northern gannet.
2020's theme is lichens, probably of less general interest.
I began the year with Siberian jays, which are inquisitive and charming corvids.
March 16: I hear the bittern for the first time in my life, blowing its foghorn in the reeds. But I don't see it.
April 7: A pair of smews briefly alights on a lake on their way north, and I see them for the second time in my life. They are much more beautiful than the weird name suggests.
April 29: I am in general more interested in native birds than overseas ones that happened to fly the wrong way, but someone points out an American green-winged teal to me at a bird sanctuary.
April 25: I see the sleek hawfinch with its powerful beak, at a friend's bird feeder.
May 19: I decide that I want to see a kingfisher, and sit down on the bank of the stream where it lives. After half an hour I see it! What a jewel.
May 28-31: I go to Öland, which is somewhat of a birdwatching paradise. Since I'm traveling alone, I'm probably missing a lot of birds, but I do see the collared flycatcher (lovely!), hear a scarlet rosefinch, and see the little tern. Also I hear a corn crake in Uppsala, which I have previously only heard in Poland.
June 3: As a present for my 40th birthday, my dad takes me on a trip down the Halland coast to look at the migrating waders, where I see eight(!) birds I've never seen before: the reed warbler, little stint, red knot, little ringed plover, grey plover, european shag, ruddy shelduck, and brent goose.
July 21: While hiking in the mountains I see a flock of greater scaup.
July 26: While doing forest surveys I see a two-barred crossbill.
November 13: The pine grosbeaks have invaded the south. I have never seen them before, but now they are difficult to avoid.
December 7: A northern hawk owl has set up camp in one of the city nature reserves, and I go to look at it.
Also today I went birdwatching by the sea after a hard wind with some better birdwatchers to help me, and saw kittiwake and black guillemot! This was actually one of my bingo squares for this year, but maybe I'll go once more before I cross it off. Would love to see a northern gannet.
2020's theme is lichens, probably of less general interest.
