Sean's Blog

Location: Penitentiary Glen
Observation date: 5/23/09
Notes: Started 75 degrees (F) and sunny; felt closer to 80 by the time we finished.
Number of species: 13

• Canada Goose 4
• Barred Owl 1
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
• Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
• Eastern Phoebe 2
• Blue Jay 1
• Tree Swallow 3
• Black-capped Chickadee 3
• White-breasted Nuthatch 3
• Chipping Sparrow 2
• Northern Cardinal 2
• Common Grackle 1

The Barred Owl was a sight; something must have roused it from it’s rest, as it was moving around, which is why we saw it in the first place. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird I caught sight of by accident, as it was about 25 feet or so away and up in the branches, but I was able to follow it for a bit as it darted around from tree to tree.

I’ve found myself as of late watching and listening to birds when I’m not doign anything else, or to relieve stress. I’ve done it now a handful of times when I’ve had to cross campus alone for reason or another, and I did it this weekend at my Mom’s house.

On BGSU’s campus, there’s not much exciting or different eight now, but it does help to learn common species; the American Robin, European Starling, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, House Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Northern Cardinal are all species I’m getting better at noticing from afar as well as by their call.

This weekend we went to visit my Mom, and during the process of getting the grill ready, cooking, and eating, watching the skies was a great way to deal with the down time. I kept a number of different lists while I was there and will up submitting them to ebird.org here shortly. I manager to point out a Common Nighthawk to Meghan finally, which, like the Chimney Swifts over the neighborhood and the Killdeer we saw near the golf course/development, was a sighting I didn’t expect to see.

I’m about a week late on posting this one, but I entered it a couple days ago and was then away from the Interwebs for a couple days.

Location: Oak Openings Region
Observation date: 5/17/09
Notes: The day started sunny and around 57 degrees (F), perhaps getting 10 degrees warmer.
Number of species: 25

• Red-tailed Hawk 1
• Mourning Dove 1
• Red-headed Woodpecker 6
• Downy Woodpecker 2
• Least Flycatcher 1
• Eastern Phoebe 2
• Great Crested Flycatcher 3
• Blue Jay 1
• Tree Swallow 3
• Black-capped Chickadee 1
• Tufted Titmouse 2
• White-breasted Nuthatch 1
• Eastern Bluebird 2
• Veery 1
• American Robin 4
• Pine Warbler 1
• American Tree Sparrow 1
• Chipping Sparrow 10
• Field Sparrow 2
• Lark Sparrow 1
• Savannah Sparrow 4
• Indigo Bunting 1
• Brown-headed Cowbird 3
• Orchard Oriole 2
• American Goldfinch 1