Day 19.268: Birds from the boat

Apart from yesterday's life bird and a great shearwater that I missed with the camera for the second trip in a row, here are some other birds from yesterday's adventure:

Canada geese and common eiders

Surf scoters

Green-winged teal

J spotted this distant bird apparently chasing or being chased by a smaller bird. I was pleased that a photo helped confirm it was a peregrine falcon out over the shore as we left port. Another birder on the trip identified that both birds were immature peregrines.

Bald eagle

Black scoters

Northern gannet

Red-necked phalarope - a very quick flyby. I was far from sure I'd got a photo

Northern fulmar (tube-nosed bill visible)

Razorbill

It tried to take off and then faceplanted with a "I meant to do that" recovery

Atlantic puffin

Atlantic puffin

Atlantic puffin

Bonaparte's gull

Northern gannet

Northern fulmar

Wilson's storm-petrel

Although it was late to be seeing these birds, there were enough to see several in one shot like this

...and to get nice individual shots when they came close.

Razorbill

Common loon

Black guillemot (not particularly black at this time of year)

Black guillemot

It turns out that the phalarope was a life bird too.

Day 19.267: Parasitic jaeger

I took a birding boat trip from Boothbay Harbor with my friend and nature-guru J and a load of other experts. It yielded a lot of great sightings, but - as far as I am aware - only one life bird for me - this parasitic jaeger:

Pretty great views of this unusual bird as it chased some small gulls quite a way out in the Gulf of Maine.

Day 19.266: Homecoming

E5N1 paid a short visit so he could go and play in the alumni-enhanced pep band for the homecoming football game today. He was wearing the day-appropriate color - at least until it got too hot. 

It was a blast and the larger-than normal band sounded great. Most of them don’t even go here. 

On Day x.266 you might ask me what day it is - it’s Day x.266. 

Day 19.265: Black squirrel surprise

In addition to the birds I reported on yesterday, I saw a few gray squirrels, a chipmunk:

Eastern chipmunk

And this beautiful fellow:

Melanistic gray squirrel

Altogether not bad for a tiny pocket of nature in the suburbs of Toronto.

Day 19.264: Canada birding

It may not have been the life-bird bonanza that my trip to California turned out to be, but I did manage a small amount of birding during my first day in Canada. Here is some of what I saw:

Ruby-crowned kinglet that refused to pose for me

Actual Canadian Canada geese in Canada

American robin

The woods were full of common grackles. I caught this one taking a bath

Such pretty iridescence in this light

I think that tiny-looking duck is a wood duck

Mallard

Possibly a mallard or hybrid?

There were no gulls, then one, then two, then three,... Within minutes there were probably a hundred - likely ring-billed gulls I think.

 

Day 19.263: Exile near New York

My layover on the way back from Toronto today was in Newark Airport which, despite being in New Jersey is the airport with the best views of New York City. 

Manhattan skyline as we came into land 

House sparrows in the terminal

Upper Manhattan as we left

The Hudson was visible until just south of Albany when a combination of clouds and distance hid it from view

This is the Green Mountains of Vermont breaking through the clouds as we passed over the state line leaving New York behind