Soil Hill

A Snow Bunting was a nice surprise this morning. It flew from the shorter section of grass on the NW side of the Soil Hill Summit. The bird was flushed at a distance of around 10 meters, frustratingly not being seen on the deck prior to this. Upon taking flight, the bird began to fly straight up, emitting a soft whistling call a handful of times. When it reached somewhere between 10 – 15 meters in altitude it then flew strongly east, and began to utter the more familiar rattle like call, which I always consider very similar to Turnstone. It only did this call once, making rapid progress in an easterly direction. It did appear, once on the east side of the summit, that it was dropping in altitude but the bird disappeared behind the ‘Mounds’ and I could not confirm if it landed or not. Extensive searching by myself, NK and JJL produced no further sign. I managed, in my panic, to grab a handful of shots but almost all were useless except one which nicely shows the extent of the white in the wing. Just a bit disapointing that it did not sit on the deck a bit longer, or that it didn't linger in the area.

-Snow Bunting