Birding Notes February 2007
 
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Birding 07

February 19

Birding Notes


4:30 PM May 10 I have finally reviewed and labelled my iPhotos for February 19 and updated my birding database. This entry will chronicle the birdwatching activities.

While waiting for our boat to arrive we watched the following Hummingbird on a power wire above us:

I doubt if I will ever get another image of a hummer as good as this one. The little fellow remained on the wire for almost 20 minutes while we watched it and took pictures of it. Now to check the image against the field guides to see if we can put an adjective in front of the name. My first guess is a Lucifer hummingbird, based on my Sibley field guide. However I am lacking a Mexican field guide to see if there are other possibilities. Mary Ann has identified this as a Mexican Sheartail.

As soon as our boat left the village harbour, we saw a raptor in the observation tower. Once again, it obliged by not flying off. It turned out to be a Peregrine Falcon. This was a lifer for both Phyllis and I, although we hope to see one some day in Alberta.

The photos fail to give a proper sense of scale. The hummingbird is actually much smaller than the falcon.

The third lifer of the mornig was a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron:

A short time later I was able to obtain another image of one.

As we were returning to port, we were fortunate to watch two ospreys fighting over a fish that one had caught:

That is some fish!

I made a note of the birds that we saw on this trip. The following birds were also on my list, but I was not able to get a photo of them (and thus I also do not have an accurate time for the observation):

  • Yellow-throated Warbler
  • Black-and-white Warbler
  • Black-crowned Night Heron
  • Yellow-breasted Chat
  • American Redstart
  • Couches Kingbird

I have confidence in the list that was created at the time, and am grateful that we had two birders with us that could make the identification at the time we were watching them. I am adding them to the bottom of my list for this day's observations.

Here is a table summarizing the day's observations.

Name
Photo
Time
Location
ID#
Lifer
Mexican Sheartail
Yes
8:02 am
Dzilam de Bravo
60
Yes
Peregrine Falcon
Yes
8:20 am
"
61
Yes
Great Blue Heron
Yes
8:55 am
on tour
13
.
Great Egret
Yes
8:57 am
"
14
.
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Yes
8:59 am
"
62
Yes
Reddish Egret
Yes
9:36 am
"
11
.
Snowy Egret
Yes
9:40 am
"
15
.
White Ibis
Yes
9:41 am
"
30
.
Spotted Sandpiper
Yes
9:42 am
"
63
No
Roseate Spoonbill
Yes
9:45 am
"
34
.
Double-crested Cormorant
Yes
10:14 am
"
32
.
Laughing Gull
Yes
10:15 am
"
07
.
Greater Flamingo
Yes
10:16 am
"
06
.
Osprey
Yes
10:21 am
"
64
No
Southern Roughwing Swallow
Yes
12:11 PM
drive back to unit
65
Yes
Crested Caracara
.
12:30 PM
"
03
.
Mexican Sheartail
.
.
on tour
66
Yes
Yellow-throated Warbler
.
.
"
67
Yes
Black-and-white Warbler
.
.
"
68
Yes
Black-crowned Night Heron
.
.
"
69
Yes
Yellow-breasted Chat
.
.
"
70
Yes
American Redstart
.
.
"
71
Yes
Couch's Kingbird
.
.
drive back to unit
72
Yes

SUMMARY of the session: We saw 23 different birds, including 13 new birds, 11 of which were lifers.