#5mrchallenge

Week 2 of the 2019 5 Mile Radius Birding Challenge has drawn to an end and I managed to add six species this week. That brings my total to 33 or 9.48% of the species seen in the county according to eBird.

Today’s outing yielded a couple good finds. We found this pair of Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis) on a cold and windy walk this afternoon. After we got to the car my husband asked if I was sure they were still in my radius. I had a sinking feeling for a moment, but when I checked the reference image I’m keeping on my phone, they were in by a comfortable 166 meters! The location is where the red star is. Whew!

Another, even cooler sighting on this hike was a pair of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator). There were Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) nearby, which are more common and easily confused. Comparing back and forth between the separate pair and the larger group I was able to compare field marks and I’m pretty confident of the ID.

I got some encouragement from looking at the lists people are submitting for this area. On the lists being submitted in my radius, there just aren’t a whole lot of species being seen right now. And the ones people are reporting that I haven’t yet seen are, for the most part, common ones I should have no problem getting in the next 50 weeks.