August 11, 2019
If you based success purely on my bird list for the year, only by the numbers, then I have had a rough year. I am still missing many common birds and really haven’t landed any extraordinary sightings. I am well below last year’s total at this same time, but that is largely because I didn’t travel much this year. But I have to admit, I have had a lot of fun birding this year and find it hard to complain at all.
Here are my June and July birds:
JUNE BIRD LIST
- Western kingbird – St. Louis county bird from a tip from MO-Birds list serve.
- Orchard oriole
- Common yellowthroat
- Black and white warbler
- Cerulean warbler – a beautiful specimen observed near Sinking Creek in Echo Bluff State Park.
JULY BIRD LIST
- Common nighthawk – I still have only seen one all year, a swooping, diving show-off giving me great looks while on an evening walk in my neighborhood.
- Least tern – a single bird hunting along Riverlands Way when the great flood finally subsided.
- Bobwhite – vocal birds also along Riverlands Way. Somehow they survived the flood.
- Acadian flycatcher – A bird I always have trouble coming up with a positive ID. But this one landed next to me on a gravel bar while on a solo float trip. He sang and sang and gave me all the time I needed to confirm the ID on my birding app. https://ibird.com/app/iphone/ibird-pro-guide-to-birds/
- Dickcissel – Plentiful in the right habitat both in Missouri and Nebraska.
- Baltimore oriole – Several stunning birds seen at Mahoney State Park in Nebraska.
- Western meadowlark – Many seen/heard in Nebraska.
- Black crowned night heron – Nesting birds observed at mid-town St. Louis mixed rookery. This rookery is amazing, and will get its own blog post someday soon.
This brings me to a very meager total of 141 birds for the year. The misses to date are actually somewhat unbelievable, but as I mentioned I’m really not too worried about it. I have slowed down my walks, and spend a lot of time listening to the birds and working on an audio ID. I have made a few trips just for birding, something I find really relaxing and enjoyable when I have the time.
Perhaps my favorite birding was done with Billy and Debbie on early morning casual walks around Mahoney State Park. Debbie is not really a birder but she is a good sport. Billy has so much enthusiasm for everything outdoors that he is just a joy to be around. The three of us got all excited about the plethora of bluebirds, the friendly chipping sparrows, the noisy dickcissel, and the ever-present barn swallows. Somehow we lucked into a few orchard and Baltimore orioles, and marveled at the bright colors of the goldfinches. We saw nothing exceptional, but everything we saw was exceptional. That is really what it is all about.
So who knows what August will bring, but looking at our family calendar I imagine any real birding I am going to get in will be brief. I’m looking forward to the hummingbird battles around the garden, the growing flocks of Mississippi kites, and the prospect of a good day shorebirding. But if all I get is a noisy Carolina wren shrieking at me early on a Sunday morning encouraging me to get out of bed, I am a happy man.
