Property List Goal Surpassed!

Hurricane Ike brought some unwelcome problems to our lives. Cleaning up limbs, trees and shingles has dominated most of my time over the past week. I'm still not done. As bad as it was for us, it definitely was worse for others. However, the cooler weather and lower humidity after Ike was a welcome relief. I was forced to be outside more over the past week and got to do quite a bit more birdwatching than I would have done otherwise. Because of that, this week I surpassed my 2004 number of species seen on the property. In 2004, I saw 129 species. I began 2008 with the goal of seeing more species than I did in 2004. I added the following birds over the past week to my 2008 list:

• Ring-billed Gull on 9/13
• Herring Gull on 9/16
• Chuck-will's-widow on 9/18
• Olive-sided Flycatcher on 9/19
• Baltimore Oriole on 9/19

That brings my total to 132 species on the property in 2008. There are still several species I didn't see on the property this year, so the total definitely has potential to go higher. I guess my goal now is to get to 140 species by the end of the year.

The hummingbirds have really come in large numbers now. The past three nights have seen 70 to 80 hummingbirds around my feeders in the evening. I have to make nectar everyday to fill the feeders. It will be much easier now that the power is back on and I can get water from the faucet.

Speaking of hummingbirds, I had a very interesting experience. I was sitting in my living room one morning drinking my coffee watching the hummingbirds at the feeders. All the sudden, a large bird swooped in and the hummingbirds scattered. The larger bird flew to a tree behind the feeders. I grabbed my binoculars and it was a Loggerhead Shrike with a hummingbird in its beak! It shook the hummingbird a few times and then flew off toward my neighbor's yard. I lost it then. Last year a shrike tried to catch the hummingbirds with no luck (that I saw anyway) but this one definitely had one. While I hated to lose one of my hummingbirds, it was neat to see the display!

Every night I've heard a Barn Owl screeching. It's amazing what you hear when you have to sleep with the windows open. Now that the heat and humidity are returning, I'll take the air conditioning!