Friday 14 February 2014

Yankee Doodle Dandy - James Cagney

 If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
 if it keeps on rainin' Levee's goin' to break.
 When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.
It seems a lifetime since the last Post (2 days ago) since when I have been out on both with the nett result being ZERO! Despite one of the days being, on the whole, bright and sunny, water levels remain high, roads such as the Avon Causeway stay closed while a good many birds look to have disappeared. The many 'hundreds' of Lapwing there have not been seen over the last 2 days, and if it is possible to 'waterlog' Teal they too are absent. At Longham, the long-stay Black-necked Grebe has not been seen and Pochard are reduced to c2. Further afield the picture is even more gloomy, where at Portland dozens of Auks (mainly Guillemot and the odd unseasonable Puffin) have been washed up dead. That information comes from the Portland Bird Observatory Link.   
On the 'Bright Side', while the urge lasted and the archive was still open, we decided a few more images from across The Pond may be welcomed. This selection features 'vagrants' that have made the trans-Atlantic journey to be recorded in Great Britain, but have not been seen in this country by myself. The location and date of today's Baker's Dozen, +2 for cash, refers to my own particular sighting of that species.
 A huge favourite with most, even those yet to see one,
BLACK-and-WHITE WARBLER
10/10/1995 - Cape May, New Jersey, USA
 AMERICAN COOT
10/01/2000 - Pina del Rio, Cuba
 COMMON YELLOWTHROAT
26/03/2004 - Crooked Tree, Belize
 SONG SPARROW
05/10/1995 - Toronto, Canada
 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE
10/08/2001 - Lake Myvatin, Akureyeri, Iceland
 OVENBIRD
13/04/2004 - Monteverde, Costa Rica
 YELLOW WARBLER
04/05/1981 - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
(The birthplace of Frank Sinatra)
 TREE SWALLOW
26/03/2004 - Chetumal, Mexico
 CAPE MAY WARBLER
24/09/2007 - Cape May, New Jersey, USA
 BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD
26/04/2005 - Cape May, New Jersey, USA
 WILSON'S WARBLER
24/03/2004 - Piste (for Chichen Itza), Mexico
 HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL
 27/04/2008 - Kenai Fjord, Alaska, USA
 TUFTED PUFFIN
26/05/2008 - St Paul, Pribilof Islands, USA
 MAGNOLIA WARBLER
23/04/2004 - Piste, Mexico
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
(the eastern form known as Myrtle Warbler)
05/10/1995 - Niagara Falls, Canada
 Mean old Levee taught me to weep and moan,
mean old Levee taught me to weep and moan.
 Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well. 
Not the most accomplished version of the Blues Classic
but certainly the most Eye-Catching.
Doubt Memphis Minnie would approve?
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