Friday, December 21, 2007

Brief update

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post but this season has a way of bogging one down in business. I have been working many hours this past month and most mornings that I have off, I have slept in, catching up for all of the 6-hour sleeps I had during the week.

However, updates will come soon, mainly from the holidays when I'll be able to birdwatch Pelee again. My Greyhound trip home is only 2 days away and after Christmas, I plan to bird, bird, bird. It's become a bit of a tradition for Marianne and I to be the first birders to the tip on New Year's Day so hopefully we'll be out there to find the first birds of the year!

I'm also on my way to becoming a member of the Toronto Ornithological Club. The irony is that by the time I become a member, I'll be moving back to Leamington! That is, unless a good job falls into my lap (unlikely). One of the most exciting aspects of being a member is that I will get a tour of the ROM's bird collection and I can look through the files for all of Ontario's rare bird reports. I could spend a week reading those and not get bored! I also finally checked out the Toronto Reference Library and they have a wonderfully large section of texts and guides on birds. I sat for about an hour perusing field guides I plan to purchase, some rare texts, and a few guides that I didn't even know existed. A day spent looking through all of this material is something I definitely plan to do once I get back to Toronto.

So stay tuned for upcoming updates and hopefully things will settle down in 2008 so I can start posting again...and of course, go birding as often as possible.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Humber Bay East/West and High Park OFO Trip

On Sunday, December 9, David Milsom lead an OFO trip to Humber Bay, Colonel Sam Smith Park (southwest of Humber Bay), and High Park. All in all, it was a great trip lasting from 9:00am to 4:30pm with a total of 56 species, good for a day of birding in December.

I personally knew I was in for a good day within minutes as the first birds we saw walking away from the parking lot in Humber Bay East were a group of Trumpeter Swans in the small ponds adjacent to the bay. There were 2 adults and 2 juvenile birds, all trumpeting a few meters away from the group (32 people total to start). This was a lifer for me, as the species is now considered countable after enough years post-reintroduction. This is one of many lifers I've gotten this fall, probably due to being on Lake Ontario versus Lake Erie where some of the species that are difficult to find in my hometown are quite easily found here. Other waterfowl (and waterbirds) present in the ponds and also at Humber Bay East/West included Common Loon (3), Horned Grebe (1), American Coot, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, American Black Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Redhead (good numbers mixed in with large rafts of Scaup), Greater and Lesser Scaup, Long-tailed Duck (numerous), singles of Black and White-winged Scoter (each only seen by a few members of the group), Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Hooded, Red-breasted, and Common Merganser, and a single, nonbreeding male Ruddy Duck.

Landbirds were few and far between but in Humber Bay East/West we saw Northern Shrike, American Tree Sparrow, Chickadees, 2 Northern Mockingbirds, and a Killdeer at the warm-water outlet near the white archway connecting Humber Bay East and West.

We then headed to Colonel Sam Smith Park (at the foot of Kipling Avenue), which was a new area to bird for me and it produced some good birds. There we had 8 Snow Buntings, an American Kestrel, an American Pipit, American Tree Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, a single Winter Wren, and 4 Red-necked Grebes. At this point, it began to snow a bit more intensely so visibility was low. There was also the trouble with ice; two members slipped and fell leaving us with a knee and ankle injury.

Those brave enough to stay out in the snowfall then drove to High Park to visit the north end of Grenadier Pond where open water is still available. Here there were Mallards, a Great Blue Heron, 3 Swamp Sparrows, and the highlight for the day, a secretive Virginia Rail found by Chris Escott. In this area, we also picked up American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, and a few other passerine species.

The trip proved that winter birding can be a great time, especially when some of our common species produce the most excitement. Unfortunately, no white-winged gulls were present.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Humber River birding

Well, I don't have much to report from today's trip as the cold brought me back inside and next to my radiators with a blanket and the remote control fairly quickly. Note to self: buy warmer gloves.

I decided to try somewhere different than High Park or Humber Bay East today so I hopped on the streetcar and transferred onto the subway to get to Old Mill Station where the trails run along the Humber River (including Etienne Bule Park, King's Mill Park, and Home Smith Park). My hope was to get Pine Grosbeak but I unfortunately wasn't that lucky. Note to self: don't get hopes up for Pine Grosbeak.

The area is decent for birding with open water that had Mallards, Canada Geese, and Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. In the wooded areas, I found Chickadees, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch, Juncos, Downy Woodpeckers, Cardinals, a flock of Blue Jays, 3 Purple Finches, 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets, a single Brown Creeper, and two perched Red-tailed Hawks overlooking the river.

I did get some neat mammal sightings though. I saw my second Red Fox for Toronto skulking through the trees near the river. The last time I saw one was at High Park. There was also a Muskrat in the river and once I got home, Jess and I saw a Raccoon in the trees outside our apartment window.

The next time I go out, I think I'll try Humber Bay East again since there are a lot of waterfowl on the lake right now. Note to self: buy warmer gloves.