In just under 5 months I've notched 90 species of birds here at Bryce Canyon - and I thought I had done it today when I heard a familiar chatter that I knew without looking belonged to a Belted Kingfisher. I was pretty excited knowing I had but 10 to go to hit the 100 mark (after totaling up the list a few days ago and thinking I was at 89). But just discovered that I am actually at 92 - I noticed when adding the kingfisher that I'd forgotten to add Great Blue Heron and Rufous Hummingbird to the list. So just that quickly I have only 8 to go to hit the century mark and I would think that some southbound migrants ought to be showing up soon.

An update was posted today at the Pacific Shorebird Migration Project and Bar-tailed Godwit "E7" has settled in on New Zealand's North Island after her incredible flight across the Pacific:

Update of Bar-tailed Godwit movements: 10 September 2007

* One godwit (E7) departed from Alaska on her southbound migration on 30 August and 8 days later had successfully reached her southern home in the Firth of Thames on the North Island of New Zealand.
* E7 flew over 11,500 km (about 7,000 miles) in a single flight! That is quite a feat for any bird.
* E7 is currently near the mouth of the Piako River near a roost site that she frequented last March. Observers from the Miranda Shorebird Centre and University of Massey are on the outlook for her and they hope to get close enough to obtain a visual observation of her leg flag and a photograph.

I created an animation in for my Wings on the Wind talk using the data from her flight and "wowed" the audience last night with it. You can download and view an excerpt (460k, click here) that is just under 2 minutes long. The file is in "PowerPoint show" format and advances slides automatically once you start it. (If you do not have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer (Windows only), you can download the PowerPoint Viewer free from Microsoft here.)