8BY3: Quarterly Report

My birding life has taken a nosedive, not only because things always slow down as the year progresses, but also because I have generally disappeared as life’s distractions take over. (E.g., I meant to post this 27 days ago.)

I did not see an indigo bunting this year. Everybody saw indigo buntings this year. I saw so many photos of buntings at feeders and never saw one on my own.

I added only ten species in the third quarter, six on a July work trip to Portland, where not only did I see the rare-and-much-sought-after little blue heron but also, for the first time in many years, American oystercatchers. Another highlight was a pair of peregrines hunting above the skyscrapers of Philadelphia, which we saw from a rooftop before heading off to the Rolling Stones concert.

This quarter: osprey, willet, common tern, little blue heron, Bonaparte’s gull, American oystercatcher, mute swan, peregrine falcon, solitary sandpiper, green heron.

Year-to-date count: 136. (2012: 110. 2013: 173 [which turned out to be that year’s total]. 2014: 116. 2015: 124. 2016: 113. 2017: 141. 2018: 138.)