Make hay whilst the sun shines

The sun shone today and the Bird Gods looked down pleasingly on me but did test me a bit.

I picked up Jim and Mark from the airport soon after 0930 after their Ryan Air flight landed 20 minutes early. Our first stop for Pine Grosbeaks was not successful and we moved on to the Hawk Owl which showed really well including in a dog fight with a Magpie. After this we tried for the Grosbeaks again and had three birds at ridiculously close range in great light. These were the target species for today as they were both ticks for Jim but we did of course have one more to look for. Jim had previously seen a GG but as the view had only been of a head sticking over the rim of a nest in Finland he was keen to see a a body as well (Mark had seen all 3 species before and was only along for the ride 😉)

We had the whole afternoon to look for the GG and just as well as it took 3 hours to find one. Whilst looking we had a GG SHRIKE hunting and catching an unidentified bird but it wasn’t until 10 past 4 that Mark calmly announced he had a GG OWL. Only a month ago it would have been dark by this time but the days are much longer now so it was still nice and light and we watched her at close range for another hour.

The weather has become very spring like (normally we would have a metre of snow and temperatures of -10C) and I feel that I am now on borrowed time with having all three of these species so readily available on my door step but may the good times continue 😎

Piney

GG

Hawkie