First of all, many thanks to the islanders who hosted, helped, and welcomed visitors during the Springsong weekend!

On May 11th I did my Great Canadian Birdathon to support Bird Studies Canada and PIBO.  This was my second Birdathon and I didn’t have much of a strategy, and felt quite a lot of pressure to find lots of species – my usual job is counting common species. I usually ask advice from those with lots of experience, but this year I made the decision about which day to start and where to check for birds. Of course, I had great support from my co-workers, who were taking care of the banding station.

We hadn’t seen many warblers and flycatchers up until May 10th, which made it hard to decide whether to do the birdathon before or after the weekend. On May 11th I recorded 57 species, including 14 warbler species and lots of flycatchers, on my census, and decided to keep recording for my birdathon. My co-workers at the banding station, however, were quite busy that morning, which made me hesitate to leave the area just in case they got busier. After all they banded 72 birds while I looked for more birds. There were lots of Ovenbirds hanging around – we banded 17 altogether. When I found a bird, it was often an Ovenbird, which didn’t help add new species! I didn’t see any raptors either, even a Red-tailed Hawk and kestrel I had seen the day before. Strong east winds limited bird activity to the west side, along with my ability to catch the bird songs and calls. Ring-necked Pheasant, Chipping Sparrow, and House Finch were some of the species I couldn’t find. I usually hear and see them from the car when I’m driving, but not that day. I still don’t know how I missed a Downy Woodpecker and Yellow-shafted Flicker! Maybe I was focusing too much on looking for more species to hear them? Anyway, for the next time I learned it’s better to have check list to confirm which species I haven’t seen. I didn’t see any rare birds, but whenever I started to give up a new species showed up. A Green Heron flew over me from behind, a Chimney Swift flew across above the canopy, and a big flock of Black-bellied Plovers showed up.

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who sponsored my birdathon. Your support encouraged me a lot! I will do my best next year too!!

Here are the species I recorded on May 11th, 2017.

1. Common Loon
2. Horned Grebe
3. Double-crested Cormorant
4. Great Blue Heron
5. Great Egret
6. Turkey Vulture
7. Canada Goose
8. Wood Duck
9. Mallard
10. Red-breasted Merganser
11. Bald Eagle
12. Northern Harrier
13. Wild Turkey
14. Black-bellied Plover
15. Killdeer
16. Lesser Yellowlegs
17. Spotted Sandpiper
18. Ruddy Turnstone
19. Dunlin
20. American Woodcock
21. Ring-billed Gull
22. Herring Gull
23. Great Black-backed Gull
24. Caspian Tern
25. Common Tern
26. Mourning Dove
27. Black-billed Cuckoo
28. Chimney Swift
29. Red-headed Woodpecker
30. Red-bellied Woodpecker
31. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
32. “Trail’s” Flycatcher
33. Least Flycatcher
34. Eastern Phoebe
35. Great Crested Flycatcher
36. Red-eyed Vireo
37. Warbling Vireo
38. Blue-headed Vireo
39. Blue Jay
40. American Crow
41. Horned Lark
42. Purple Martin
43. N. Rough-winged Swallow
44. Bank Swallow
45. Tree Swallow
46. Barn Swallow
47. Black-capped Chickadee
48. Red-breasted Nuthatch
49. Carolina Wren
50. House Wren
51. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
52. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
53. Eastern Bluebird
54. American Robin
55. Wood Thrush
56. Veery
57. Swainson’s Thrush
58. Grey Catbird
59. Brown Thrasher
60. European Starling
61. Cedar Waxwing
62. Northern Parula
63. Nashville Warbler
64. Yellow Warbler
65. Chestnut-sided Warbler
66. Magnolia Warbler
67. Cape May Warbler
68. Black-throated Blue Warbler
69. Blackburnian Warbler
70. Yellow-rumped Warbler
71. Black-throated Green Warbler
72. Western Palm Warbler
73. Pine Warbler
74. Black-and-white Warbler
75. American Redstart
76. Ovenbird
77. Northern Waterthrush
78. Common Yellowthroat
79. Canada Warbler
80. Scarlet Tanager
81. Northern Cardinal
82. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
83. Indigo Bunting
84. Eastern Towhee
85. Field Sparrow
86. White-throated Sparrow
87. White-crowned Sparrow
88. Song Sparrow
89. Lincoln’s Sparrow
90. Brown-headed Cowbird
91. Red-winged Blackbird
92. Common Grackle
93. Baltimore Oriole
94. American Goldfinch
95. House Sparrow
96. Brewater’s Warbler
97. Green Heron
98. Northern Mockingbird