Tuesday 19 July 2011

Back in June, Brandon Holden (www.blog.peregrineprints.com) posted a photo of the US drought map, showing a severe lack of rainfall in the southern states. Last Thursday's map is similar.

While this continues the possibility remains fairly high for southern species to escape the drought and head north into the upper midwest and Ohio. Brandon highlighted in his post (from June 25) the chance of Dickcissels, Little Blue Herons, and perhaps, if we are really lucky, another Neotropic Cormorant to be found in Ontario. Dickcissels seem to be around in some weedy areas in the SW corner of the province, and hopefully we willl soon get some wading birds with their post-breeding dispersal.

Cassin's Sparrow is another species that has ended up "in the news" a fair bit this summer. South Dakota is host to one currently, and many other states and provinces well north and east of its range have had records. Here is a video of one from Ohio:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveslager/5836908633/in/pool-437129@N20/

With August on the horizon, the diversity of shorebirds being found at lakeshores and sewage lagoons in Ontario is bound to increase. Avocets and Willets are being reported regularly in Ohio (plus my two avocets lately at Tilbury and Blenheim) so keep an eye out for these distinctive birds! Other rarer shorebirds could definitely show up as well, so scan those flocks for Curlew Sandpipers, Ruffs, or even Tattlers and Redshanks!

So what can we expect in the next little bit?
Not much, I don't think. I certainly don't want to be moving around in this 37 degree C weather we will be getting on Thursday (52 degrees with the humidity!!!????), let alone the birds.
Just across the river from me at Pointe Mouillee in Michigan, they are currently host to two ibises (one is a White-faced, the other is debatable) and a Little Blue Heron. I would love it if they decided to cross the Detroit River! Other notables recorded recently from Michigan include Blue Grosbeak, Mississippi Kite, Swainson's Hawk, Green Violet-ear (???!!!), and Mountain Bluebird.

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