Friday 27 May 2011

Swift & Sure

Managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and made my bleary-eyed way to Mount Tolmie for around 6.45am. Yes, it had rained overnight, and yes it was overcast - but (why does there always have to be a but?) that wind had rather too much west in it for my liking...
Unperturbed, I spent close to 2 hours creeping around the place in search of lurking migrants. If they were there, they were lurking well and completely evaded detection.
The local chipping and white-crowned sparrows were seen, as were northern flickers, dark-eyed junco, spotted towhees, Bewick's wrens and both orange-crowned and Wilson's warblers. Oh, and several brown-headed cowbirds.
The only thing that may have been a grounded transient was a female 'Myrtle' warbler, which I came across after about an hour and a half of staring at trees.
Just as I was despairing at the lack of avian goodies, I noticed 7 black swifts heading northwest ahead of the clear band moving in from the south. A year-tick, if nothing else.
Despite the relatively poor showing this morning, I'll certainly be giving this excellent spot a few more chances before deciding to take up stamp collecting.

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