February is coming to an end and the YTD species count stands at 260.   Some quick birding around Miami last weekend yielded several exotic species including the impressive Blue and Yellow Macaws.

And the comical Common Myna, which is becoming easier and easier to spot from Miami to Key West.  

Saturday was a rare day where I got to engage in three hobbies in the same day.  After the early morning birding, we stopped by the South Florida political button show and added a few buttons to my collection including these pins which are now the oldest in my collection, dating to the 1892 election.  Two gold stars if you can name them.

And, after an interesting lunch at Captain Charlies we spent a couple of hours doing some shelling at MacArthur Beach.   Interesting because it's a small place and it was overrun with hoity-toity old folks who all thought they should have a table upon request.  And, because a girl of about 11 or 12 was using the restaurant windows and door to vogue as if it was she who invented the self-absorbed pastime.  And, of course, the parents sat clueless at their table inside the restaurant unaware of the performance.

Finally, these Sanderlings appear to be waiting for their migratory buddies to begin showing up in March.  After picking up 180 species in January and 80 in February, we'll see if we can make it to 25 in March ahead of what should be big numbers in April (Texas), May (Arizona), and June (California).

Day 3 in Minnesota started off with a bang as we picked up Boreal Chickadee, White-winged Crossbill and Brown Creeper within the first half hour.   After a futile attempt to locate a Northern Goshawk, we headed to an area where a Snowy Owl has been regularly sighted over the past couple of weeks.  

Along the way, we saw our second and third Great Grey Owls.  Both were in hunting mode under the gray morning skies.

After striking out with the Snowy Owl, we headed southeast to Crex Meadows in Wisconsin.  Again, we picked up three more species quickly including Ring-necked Pheasant, American Tree Sparrow and the Horned Lark pictured below.

Shortly thereafter, we located the Golden Eagle perched high in a pine tree under the deteriorating Wisconsin sky.

While searching for the Sharp-tailed Grouse, we witnessed Bald Eagle sex.  Sorry, but the photos are not suitable for this blog.  What I'm really trying to say is I didn't get a good picture.  Anyway, with a little luck, there will be a couple more eagles flying around this spring.

With the weather deteriorating into snow flurries, we weren't able to locate the Sharp-tailed Grouse or the Rough-legged Hawk we were looking for.   We did run across this Ruffed Grouse, probably the 10th one of these observed during our three days in the north country.

While we did not get every target species on the list, we did very well, adding 27 species to the YTD tally which currently stands at 254. So, in just a month and a half we are more than half way to the 2025 goal of 500 species.   Unfortunately, the more we get, the tougher it becomes to get more.  We'll see. 

Now it's back to the Free State of Florida and some birding in shorts and t-shirts instead of four layers of pants and jackets.

-33 degrees.   As in below zero.   That was the temperature Wednesday morning at the Sax-Zim bog north of Duluth, MN as we began our search for anything with feathers or fur.

This Pine Marten didn't mind the cold at all.

The headliner for day 1 was lifer #541... the Boreal Owl.  This owl is about the size of a football and may or may not be present in the bog in any given year.

Day 2 was warmer with the thermometer reading just -21 degrees below zero when we arrived at the bog.  The Great Gray Owl was a super find to start the day.  After empty trips the past two years, we finally got one this year.  We spotted it atop a dead tree about 50 yards off the road but it quickly disappeared into the forest.  Happily, it emerged just down the road and posed for pictures while it soaked up the 'warm' Minnesota morning sunshine.  In contrast to the Boreal Owl, the Great Grays average about 28" in length.

We then headed further north to Grand Marais, MN in search of Bohemian Waxwings.  Along the way we passed the Split Rock Lighthouse standing watch over the western shore of Lake Superior.  This lighthouse dates back to 1910.

And, yes, we got the Bohemian Waxwings.  This is another species that we have not observed on the last couple of trips to Minnesota.

The photo below shows a mixed group of Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings.  The Bohemians are easily distinguished from their more common cousins by the rufous red color under their tails.

The Bohemians flew into the ash tree where they collectively crushed the ash berries with the Cedars and then flew out as quickly as they had arrived.  And, that was that.

Tomorrow, we take another shot at a Snowy Owl before heading to western Wisconsin in search of Golden Eagle, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Rough-legged Hawks and American Tree Sparrows.  And, no, they were not previously called Mexican Tree Sparrows.

  

 After leaving New Jersey and the 1,500 Snow Geese at Brigantine behind...

we spent three days at the Outer Banks picking up several new species for the year including the Northern Gannet.

Our pelagic boat trip went 31 miles off-shore but we only picked up three new species for 2025 and 0 lifers.  That was quite the disappointment.  The wind throughout the day made the ocean look like a giant slurry of mercury, water and concrete mix.  At times, it looked more like a moonscape than an ocean.

In addition to very poor lighting conditions, trying to take photos of small birds on a boat bobbing in 5 to 10 foot swells was made even more difficult by the propensity of the birds to either dive or fly away as the boat came into range.  If the birds happened to stay put, you typically had a second or two to locate the bird through the camera, focus and shoot before the next wave removed the bird from view.

I did manage a serviceable shot of a Razorbill...

and, while we saw many Dovekie during the trip, I was unable to get a picture.  The photo below shows a Dovekie from my visit to Huntington Beach in South Carolina last year.  Dovekies are about the size of a Nerf football.  The Razorbills are a bit larger.

We also saw numerous Atlantic Puffins.  Again, no shots but, this is what they look like from a previous trip to Maine.

Tomorrow, we'll be at Huntington Beach in South Carolina searching for Horned Grebes, White-winged Scoters and Red-throated Loons.  I have had no luck with the latter two over the past four years.   Then it's on to Minnesota on Tuesday and the Sax-Zim Bog where temperatures will likely be a balmy minus-5 to 10 degrees (F).  This means my suitcase will get heavier as I will need to pack an extra t-shirt.

Having completed a quick stop in Charlotte to pick up a clean bill of health from the dentist and, after picking up some common winter birds for the area including Red-headed Woodpecker, Pine Warbler and White-throated Sparrow, we made a beeline past the D.C. swamp to the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City.

It was a balmy 31 degrees when we arrived late morning at the Barnegat Lighthouse in search of maritime species that winter on the mid-Atlantic coast.  The late afternoon was spent at the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Refuge formerly known as Brigantine... a much better name in my opinion. We pretty much checked every box on the list with 21 new species observed for the year.

Among the ducks observed were the showy Long-tailed Duck...

The Harlequin Duck...

And, the Surf Scoter.

This American Pipit would have been new for the year had I not seen it in South Texas two weeks ago.  Some birds have limited ranges, some don't.

I managed my best look to date of the very skittish Snow Bunting.

Northern Harriers making their lonely, late afternoon sorties over the grasses are a fairly common site in large marshes like Brigantine.

It was raining clams at Brigantine as numerous American Herring Gulls were pulling clams from the tidal muck and dropping them on the dirt road upon which we were travelling.  Apparently, dropping the clams onto the road from 40 or 50 feet in the air helps open them up for the gulls.  Telling the insurance agent, "Well, my car got hit by a clam..." would probably be the acme of foolishness.

With the YTD count standing at 215 and most of our New Jersey target list complete, we head south tomorrow to the Outer Banks with a couple of stops on the Delmarva peninsula to search for Red-necked Loons and Common Goldeneyes.