An hour ago, as I sat in front of my parents' computer listening to George Michael, reactivating my Twitter account, and greedily jamming handfuls of Slowpokes down my gullet, I decided that maybe it was a good time to actually take advantage of the rare occurrence of a working rural Ontario internet connection and post something on Cerulean Sky.
It's December 28th and we're nearing the end of the year, so I'm going to provide you with some goals I have for the new year. These are by no means concrete and I might still add a few (there are still 3 days left in 2009 remember).
Goal # 1: Be prepared for my Scotland trip. Yessss I'm going to Scotland in September!! My dad's doing a duathlon there so we're taking a 2-week trip to Scotland followed by a few days in England. As much as I hated Russel Brand's biography, My Booky Wook, he did teach me something very important he learned while he was in therapy for drug addiction. If you add "To my shame" before any admission or embarrassing statement, you can get away with it sans judgment. Let's try it, la? To my shame, I am 24 years old and have never left North America. There, it doesn't sound as bad when you've already shamed yourself, does it?
How will I achieve Goal #1? Well, I just ordered Where to Watch Birds in Scotland, a guide that was published in 2002 that includes details of where specific species can be found, the abundance/reliability of each species, and very importantly, a calendar that shows when each species is present by season. Let's hope September is a decent month for variety (if I have another Florida Panhandle-during-the-off-season experience in Scotland, I will not be a happy traveler). I'll give this book a good perusal, plan an itinerary that fits with my parents' idea of the trip, and also buy the Princeton Guide to Birds of Europe when the next edition comes out in February.
Goal # 2: Add 10 species to my life list (in Ontario). At first I thought, let's make it 5 lifers within this province and make it easy...but hell, it might as well be a bit more challenging. Mind you, 10 likely won't even be that difficult for me since I am missing a good chunk of uncommon to common birds of Ontario. A trip to Algonquin during the right time of year, for example, could add at least 5 species to my life list! Throw in a few rarities and a trip to Van Wagner's Beach for Jaegars and 10 lifers will (should) be a breeze.
Goal # 3: Continue to be an active member of the Toronto Ornithological Club and volunteer for or join another natural history group in the GTA. I volunteered for FLAP in Toronto 2 years back, but very briefly and I have heard about a number of other clubs in the area but have never made a larger effort to find out more about these opportunities. I'm keeping this goal wide open.
Goal # 4: BUY CLOTHING THAT'S APPROPRIATE FOR BIRDING! Current status: no winter boots, no gloves, no scarf...I sometimes wonder how I survive through Canadian winters.
Hmm, let's just stop there. Various bigger goals are firing through the synapses of my brain at an alarming rate and most of them aren't realistic. Marianne's thinking big...a big year in the Pelee Birding Circle to be exact (I will help you all I can!) Last year, I made a new years resolution to post to Cerulean Sky at least once a month and you can see where that got me. One very good thing I have going for myself in the new year is that I'm no longer a loner-birder in the Toronto area. I have developed a good network of folks that are as excited as I am to get out birding when time permits that will no doubt keep my lists rising, my knowledge expanding, and my horizons broadening (how's THAT for a terrible last sentence!).
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Top 20 Most-wanted North American Birds
A while back, Marianne sent me a list of her top 20 most-wanted North American birds and asked me what my list would be. As per usual, it has taken me light years to respond but I decided it'd be fun to include my list here on Cerulean Sky so that the masses can see how far I've got to go with my N. American list and what some of my favourite birds that I haven't yet seen. I am pretty determined when it comes to certain lists so I have no doubt over my lifetime that I will eventually check off each of these species (unless some go extinct, which is an unfortunate possibility). I might make it a new years resolution for 2010 to take a trip within North America to a location where I can get a laundry list of new species and strengthen my experience (somewhere cheap and possibly Florida for a fourth time but actually at the right time of year). As of now, I have only substantially birded Ontario, the east coast of Canada, and Florida. There's a large expanse of land out there with a great number of birds waiting to be seen.
It was quite fun coming up with the list. I threw on Queen's best album, A Night at the Opera, sat down with my lover, The Sibley Guide to Birds, and reminded myself how lucky we North Americans are with our diversity of bird life. In evolutionary order:
1. Clark's Grebe (I would put down Western Grebe but I still resent that species after last year's epic fail trying to find it near the Leslie Street Spit. I think these two species together make up our best-looking grebe).
2. Blue-footed Booby (I don't know what it is but this species represents a symbol of evolution for me. It must be one of the most familiar of the world's birds and when I think of Darwin, I think of boobies).
3. "Wurdemann's" Heron (I haven't gone far enough south in Florida for this hybrid of morphs but the white splash over the head actually makes it a more attractive version of the Great Blue Heron in my opinion).
4. Roseate Spoonbill (This has always been my number one most-wanted N. American species since I started birding and picked up a cheap Waders of N. America book with the Roseate Spoonbill on the cover. It's such a bizarre bird; a mixture of beauty and homeliness. As you will see with the next on the list, I also think I included it 'cause I just like pink birds!).
5. Greater Flamingo (The flamingo is one of my favourite birds in the entire world. They're beautiful but almost look cartoonish in appearance, their stilt legs and S-curved neck make them seem agonizingly fragile, and I have a thing for tall birds).
6. Steller's Eider (It was hard not including Spectacled Eider in this list for its remoteness and odd look but I do think the Stellar's Eider is just a more beautiful duck).
7. California Condor (It's enormous, majestic, and it's hella rare. 'Nuff said).
8. Ferruginous Hawk Light Morph (Our most attractive bird of prey. The more white a bird has, the more I like them and this is our whitest hawk, discounting albinos, which I would love to see. I'm always jealous when folks see an albino red-tail at the hawk counts).
9. Greater Sage Grouse (Of the game birds, this one is the most fascinating to me and I would love to witness their courtship display).
10. Whooping Crane (Such a tall, attractive bird. Another symbol-bird for me, this time a symbol of conservation).
11. South Polar Skua (I honestly have some kind of obsession with cold grayish birds. American Black Duck and Dark-eyed Junco are other examples. I also think Skuas are just really cool, impressive birds).
12. Rhinoceros Auklet (am I the only one that thinks this bird looks like an elderly wizard?)
13. White-tipped Dove (I think this is N. America's most elegant dove after Eurasian Collared-Dove, my favourite of Family Columbidae
14. Greater Roadrunner (I don't even think this needs explanation).
15. Barn Owl (By far our most beautiful owl. Ghostly, heart-shaped facial disk...I can't wait to finally see this species).
16. White-headed Woodpecker (I am obsessed with this bird for some reason).
17. Florida Scrub-Jay (Unbelievably I didn't pick up this bird on any of my trips to Florida but in my own defense, I was not in the right area).
18. Varied Bunting (I've always seen the Varied Bunting as a Painted Bunting that was splashed with too much paint. The colour pattern of this bird looks completely random to me, a mix of too many colours until you almost get brown).
19. "Cape Sable" Seaside Sparrow (This is our rarest sparrow, la? Next trip to Florida, I'm getting it).
20. Yellow-eyed Junco (My favourite species in the whole wide world, the Dark-eyed Junco, my winter friend, has a counterpart and it's the only other Junco in N. America so I must see it).
Next up, I'll throw down some of my most-wanted WORLD birds!
It was quite fun coming up with the list. I threw on Queen's best album, A Night at the Opera, sat down with my lover, The Sibley Guide to Birds, and reminded myself how lucky we North Americans are with our diversity of bird life. In evolutionary order:
1. Clark's Grebe (I would put down Western Grebe but I still resent that species after last year's epic fail trying to find it near the Leslie Street Spit. I think these two species together make up our best-looking grebe).
2. Blue-footed Booby (I don't know what it is but this species represents a symbol of evolution for me. It must be one of the most familiar of the world's birds and when I think of Darwin, I think of boobies).
3. "Wurdemann's" Heron (I haven't gone far enough south in Florida for this hybrid of morphs but the white splash over the head actually makes it a more attractive version of the Great Blue Heron in my opinion).
4. Roseate Spoonbill (This has always been my number one most-wanted N. American species since I started birding and picked up a cheap Waders of N. America book with the Roseate Spoonbill on the cover. It's such a bizarre bird; a mixture of beauty and homeliness. As you will see with the next on the list, I also think I included it 'cause I just like pink birds!).
5. Greater Flamingo (The flamingo is one of my favourite birds in the entire world. They're beautiful but almost look cartoonish in appearance, their stilt legs and S-curved neck make them seem agonizingly fragile, and I have a thing for tall birds).
6. Steller's Eider (It was hard not including Spectacled Eider in this list for its remoteness and odd look but I do think the Stellar's Eider is just a more beautiful duck).
7. California Condor (It's enormous, majestic, and it's hella rare. 'Nuff said).
8. Ferruginous Hawk Light Morph (Our most attractive bird of prey. The more white a bird has, the more I like them and this is our whitest hawk, discounting albinos, which I would love to see. I'm always jealous when folks see an albino red-tail at the hawk counts).
9. Greater Sage Grouse (Of the game birds, this one is the most fascinating to me and I would love to witness their courtship display).
10. Whooping Crane (Such a tall, attractive bird. Another symbol-bird for me, this time a symbol of conservation).
11. South Polar Skua (I honestly have some kind of obsession with cold grayish birds. American Black Duck and Dark-eyed Junco are other examples. I also think Skuas are just really cool, impressive birds).
12. Rhinoceros Auklet (am I the only one that thinks this bird looks like an elderly wizard?)
13. White-tipped Dove (I think this is N. America's most elegant dove after Eurasian Collared-Dove, my favourite of Family Columbidae
14. Greater Roadrunner (I don't even think this needs explanation).
15. Barn Owl (By far our most beautiful owl. Ghostly, heart-shaped facial disk...I can't wait to finally see this species).
16. White-headed Woodpecker (I am obsessed with this bird for some reason).
17. Florida Scrub-Jay (Unbelievably I didn't pick up this bird on any of my trips to Florida but in my own defense, I was not in the right area).
18. Varied Bunting (I've always seen the Varied Bunting as a Painted Bunting that was splashed with too much paint. The colour pattern of this bird looks completely random to me, a mix of too many colours until you almost get brown).
19. "Cape Sable" Seaside Sparrow (This is our rarest sparrow, la? Next trip to Florida, I'm getting it).
20. Yellow-eyed Junco (My favourite species in the whole wide world, the Dark-eyed Junco, my winter friend, has a counterpart and it's the only other Junco in N. America so I must see it).
Next up, I'll throw down some of my most-wanted WORLD birds!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Phainopepla (from two perspectives)
November 14.
I woke up Saturday morning, the warm square of my bedroom window's light already drifted up to my waist, ensconced in the cozy cocoon of my duvet, emitting a pleas-ed purr (having not been jolted out of an ocean-deep sleep by that dreaded nerve-shattering alarm of my nemesis, the bedside radio). I can hear my husband grinding coffee in the kitchen; the distant, alluring sound muffled by the door. I lay with my eyes closed until the pressure to pee can no longer be ignored. A relieved sigh as I relax the muscles of my bladder and release the flow, while simultaneously, a steaming cup of coffee is being poured downstairs next to toast spread thinly with marmalade. Slippers on, floating slowly through the hallway in a day-off daze, I enter to see my husband turn, his graying hair still tussled from the night before, and a silly-proud smile as he looks down at the breakfast he has prepared, picking up my large mug and stepping toward me. Our eyes meet as I take the coffee from his hands, our fingers lingering for a moment as they interlock on the handle of the cup. I smile, turn away to pick up my plate, receive a playful slap to my behind, and saunter over to the living room's bay window. I pull back the curtains, my lips tighten, my brows furrow, and I shout back to my husband, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE DOING ON OUR FRONT LAWN??"
November 14.
I woke up Saturday morning to the thundering electric blast of my alarm clock, reaching over and ripping the plug from its socket as my eyes open to a blinding strip of light that has managed to slice through my curtains, my pupils shrinking to pin-points like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, hissing like a vampire that's just been exposed to the sun (I'm talking Bram Stoker vampires, not the glitter-in-the-sun Twilight ones). I roll myself off my lumpy mattress and sift through floor-laundry to find (semi)clean clothes for the day. That's when the excitement starts to sink in. The blood-racing, heart-pumping, adrenaline of chasing a black-feathered, red-eyed, so-out-of-its-range-it-seems-impossible south-westerner that has arrived in a suburb of Brampton, of all places. I swiftly shower, shove a handful of dry cereal into my face, and rush to the subway, already a couple minutes late for my ride (side note: Thanks again, Greg!). As we neared our suburban destination, we concentrated on getting the side-streets right, passing by quintessential, gardened houses in a quiet, gardened neighbourhood, eventually turning onto the quaint, gardened Addington Crescent. Needless to say, it was somewhat obvious that this was the spot. Vehicles stacked in leaning towers 5-cars high, parked back-to-back on every inch of pavement, binoculars, scopes, and cameras on every neck and in every trembling hand, stampedes of folks frothing at the mouth and clawing at elderly ladies who were between themselves and the crowd of people frantically pointing upward, a truck with a cow-catcher attached to the front pushing through the crowd to get the best look. I calmly exited my friend's car and sped-walked to the excited group of people gathered all over some couple's front lawn...and got my first-ever look at a Phainopepla.
I woke up Saturday morning, the warm square of my bedroom window's light already drifted up to my waist, ensconced in the cozy cocoon of my duvet, emitting a pleas-ed purr (having not been jolted out of an ocean-deep sleep by that dreaded nerve-shattering alarm of my nemesis, the bedside radio). I can hear my husband grinding coffee in the kitchen; the distant, alluring sound muffled by the door. I lay with my eyes closed until the pressure to pee can no longer be ignored. A relieved sigh as I relax the muscles of my bladder and release the flow, while simultaneously, a steaming cup of coffee is being poured downstairs next to toast spread thinly with marmalade. Slippers on, floating slowly through the hallway in a day-off daze, I enter to see my husband turn, his graying hair still tussled from the night before, and a silly-proud smile as he looks down at the breakfast he has prepared, picking up my large mug and stepping toward me. Our eyes meet as I take the coffee from his hands, our fingers lingering for a moment as they interlock on the handle of the cup. I smile, turn away to pick up my plate, receive a playful slap to my behind, and saunter over to the living room's bay window. I pull back the curtains, my lips tighten, my brows furrow, and I shout back to my husband, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE DOING ON OUR FRONT LAWN??"
November 14.
I woke up Saturday morning to the thundering electric blast of my alarm clock, reaching over and ripping the plug from its socket as my eyes open to a blinding strip of light that has managed to slice through my curtains, my pupils shrinking to pin-points like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, hissing like a vampire that's just been exposed to the sun (I'm talking Bram Stoker vampires, not the glitter-in-the-sun Twilight ones). I roll myself off my lumpy mattress and sift through floor-laundry to find (semi)clean clothes for the day. That's when the excitement starts to sink in. The blood-racing, heart-pumping, adrenaline of chasing a black-feathered, red-eyed, so-out-of-its-range-it-seems-impossible south-westerner that has arrived in a suburb of Brampton, of all places. I swiftly shower, shove a handful of dry cereal into my face, and rush to the subway, already a couple minutes late for my ride (side note: Thanks again, Greg!). As we neared our suburban destination, we concentrated on getting the side-streets right, passing by quintessential, gardened houses in a quiet, gardened neighbourhood, eventually turning onto the quaint, gardened Addington Crescent. Needless to say, it was somewhat obvious that this was the spot. Vehicles stacked in leaning towers 5-cars high, parked back-to-back on every inch of pavement, binoculars, scopes, and cameras on every neck and in every trembling hand, stampedes of folks frothing at the mouth and clawing at elderly ladies who were between themselves and the crowd of people frantically pointing upward, a truck with a cow-catcher attached to the front pushing through the crowd to get the best look. I calmly exited my friend's car and sped-walked to the excited group of people gathered all over some couple's front lawn...and got my first-ever look at a Phainopepla.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Read at Your Own Risk
Inspired by the latest talk of the TOC, I have decided it is time, after 110 days, to try to restore Cerulean Sky to its former glory (remember those good ol' days when you would set your alarm early so you could eagerly run to your computer to see if Cerulean Sky had any updates before heading off to the grind? Those late nights spent ignoring mouse-clicking ergonomics and pressing the refresh button every half second, inducing carpal tunnel while staring with bloodshot eyes and sipping a double double with trembling hands, desperate to see if Sky's author would perhaps post another biting commentary on the cormorant cull, or describe, in Pulitzer prize-worthy prose, his amazing adventures across acres of forests, wetlands, beach, and brush in search of waders, game, raptors, LBJ's, and everything in between?). You don't remember?
The inspiring talk was by Hamilton birder Brandon Holden, the smarter, more talented and charismatic, better-looking, younger version of myself (jealous? I'm not jealous!). I have enough difficulty stumbling to the front of the room to utter, in monotonous monotone, a mere guest list (usually in front of an audience who cannot contain at least a grin, chortle, or chuckle at my expense), let alone speak, seemingly with no nerves, for an hour about an incredible road trip across Florida with the aplomb of a seasoned expert while displaying brilliant photos from the journey.
All of this led me to look back on my now-14 years of birding to pinpoint where exactly things took a turn...not that things took a serious nosedive, there was just some point along the way where my learning curve reached a peak, leveled, and perhaps dropped an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bit (not a stock market crash thankfully. I won't need any bailout). Time is a factor, duh. I can't just go out birding whenever I want anymore and I certainly don't pore over my field guides like I used to (I do miss those days). But I did come to a realization that one of my greatest problems, probably since the beginning, is a (perhaps unfounded?) terror of a tarnished reputation; the scalding criticism of a hard-nosed veteran, having my name be synonymous with "novice" or "you can't trust his Ontbirds posts", an incorrect identification that ends up in the history books ("He mistook a Glaucous-winged X Herring Gull for a Thayer's Gull? Well I never...I'm not going to say hello the next time I see him." A non-birder might laugh, but it can be a tough world out there. Or at least in my mind it can be. Do I have issues?
With my current role as a no-talent hack, I struggle to sustain at least a minor role in the birding community. A couple of reports here, a few volunteer opportunities there, but there are those few rare (frequent) moments where I nearly despair at the knowledge of those around me. Even the mere mention of an obscure topographic detail that I have not heard of can send me into a tailspin of nerves (should I know this?...oh, I better not ask what they mean or I'll look like an idiot...I'll just nod and smile awkwardly, that should do the trick).
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm mostly teasing and I'm not a terrible birder. I consider my skills to surpass the average chimp. I know a good number of calls (but could certainly stand to dust off my bird song C.D.'s to be less rusty), I can confidently identify almost everything I see (sometimes it requires a bit of time to do a mental scan through my memory-bank of field marks but eventually I come to a knowledgeable guess), and I take pride in the fact that I know a lot about migration times, ranges, and general abundance/rarity of species. Of course, there are groups that cause more trouble than others. There are gulls that I couldn't identify if my life depended on it, a few sparrows throw me into a momentary confused, blank stare, and fall shorebirds can lead me to *gasp*, open a field guide. But hey, we're supposed to be having fun, right?
I worry too much. I worry that I worry too much. I worry that I worry that I worry too much. However, I think I'm beginning to understand it all now. Worrying is my comfort-zone, my safety blanket. Worrying a lot keeps me from actually calling out a bird's name. Worrying too much prevents me from admitting I just don't know what I'm looking at. Worrying even prevents me from going birding! It's not a good way to learn, worrying. Life gets in the way of birding all the time but I think one of the most helpful things for me to do is also the simplest. It's time to practice the parsimony principle. How do you become a better birdwatcher? You birdwatch! Side note: spell check apparently accepts 'birdwatcher' but 'birdwatch' is not a word? I have done fairly well this year dedicating a chunk of my time to birding (mostly thanks to some wonderful friends who invite me along on their trips), but one bit of basic birding that I'm missing right now is getting out there for a few hours on my own. From my experience, I learn the most when I'm by myself. If you don't know what you're looking at, there's no embarrassment, you just figure it out. You hear a call you don't know? You search out the bird, identify it by sight and by golly, you'll likely know that call the next time! Practice and parsimony. Less worrying.
In conclusion, I just reread this entire post, which may come across as the ramblings of a lunatic, and I question the intent of the arrow that is hovering over "PUBLISH POST". So it has come to this: the first post in 110 days and it's an offbeat admission of my birding insecurities. I'm sorry, my dear fans and followers. I promise more normalcy in my next post 111 days from now. Happy birding!
The inspiring talk was by Hamilton birder Brandon Holden, the smarter, more talented and charismatic, better-looking, younger version of myself (jealous? I'm not jealous!). I have enough difficulty stumbling to the front of the room to utter, in monotonous monotone, a mere guest list (usually in front of an audience who cannot contain at least a grin, chortle, or chuckle at my expense), let alone speak, seemingly with no nerves, for an hour about an incredible road trip across Florida with the aplomb of a seasoned expert while displaying brilliant photos from the journey.
All of this led me to look back on my now-14 years of birding to pinpoint where exactly things took a turn...not that things took a serious nosedive, there was just some point along the way where my learning curve reached a peak, leveled, and perhaps dropped an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bit (not a stock market crash thankfully. I won't need any bailout). Time is a factor, duh. I can't just go out birding whenever I want anymore and I certainly don't pore over my field guides like I used to (I do miss those days). But I did come to a realization that one of my greatest problems, probably since the beginning, is a (perhaps unfounded?) terror of a tarnished reputation; the scalding criticism of a hard-nosed veteran, having my name be synonymous with "novice" or "you can't trust his Ontbirds posts", an incorrect identification that ends up in the history books ("He mistook a Glaucous-winged X Herring Gull for a Thayer's Gull? Well I never...I'm not going to say hello the next time I see him." A non-birder might laugh, but it can be a tough world out there. Or at least in my mind it can be. Do I have issues?
With my current role as a no-talent hack, I struggle to sustain at least a minor role in the birding community. A couple of reports here, a few volunteer opportunities there, but there are those few rare (frequent) moments where I nearly despair at the knowledge of those around me. Even the mere mention of an obscure topographic detail that I have not heard of can send me into a tailspin of nerves (should I know this?...oh, I better not ask what they mean or I'll look like an idiot...I'll just nod and smile awkwardly, that should do the trick).
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm mostly teasing and I'm not a terrible birder. I consider my skills to surpass the average chimp. I know a good number of calls (but could certainly stand to dust off my bird song C.D.'s to be less rusty), I can confidently identify almost everything I see (sometimes it requires a bit of time to do a mental scan through my memory-bank of field marks but eventually I come to a knowledgeable guess), and I take pride in the fact that I know a lot about migration times, ranges, and general abundance/rarity of species. Of course, there are groups that cause more trouble than others. There are gulls that I couldn't identify if my life depended on it, a few sparrows throw me into a momentary confused, blank stare, and fall shorebirds can lead me to *gasp*, open a field guide. But hey, we're supposed to be having fun, right?
I worry too much. I worry that I worry too much. I worry that I worry that I worry too much. However, I think I'm beginning to understand it all now. Worrying is my comfort-zone, my safety blanket. Worrying a lot keeps me from actually calling out a bird's name. Worrying too much prevents me from admitting I just don't know what I'm looking at. Worrying even prevents me from going birding! It's not a good way to learn, worrying. Life gets in the way of birding all the time but I think one of the most helpful things for me to do is also the simplest. It's time to practice the parsimony principle. How do you become a better birdwatcher? You birdwatch! Side note: spell check apparently accepts 'birdwatcher' but 'birdwatch' is not a word? I have done fairly well this year dedicating a chunk of my time to birding (mostly thanks to some wonderful friends who invite me along on their trips), but one bit of basic birding that I'm missing right now is getting out there for a few hours on my own. From my experience, I learn the most when I'm by myself. If you don't know what you're looking at, there's no embarrassment, you just figure it out. You hear a call you don't know? You search out the bird, identify it by sight and by golly, you'll likely know that call the next time! Practice and parsimony. Less worrying.
In conclusion, I just reread this entire post, which may come across as the ramblings of a lunatic, and I question the intent of the arrow that is hovering over "PUBLISH POST". So it has come to this: the first post in 110 days and it's an offbeat admission of my birding insecurities. I'm sorry, my dear fans and followers. I promise more normalcy in my next post 111 days from now. Happy birding!
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Currie Tract
Last Friday, as a result of the considerable kindness of a fellow TOC member, Mark Field, I was able to visit a new birding destination in the GTA (Milton to be exact). As always, I get so swept up in the busyness of this city that when I finally get a day to go birding, it's always a great experience (relaxing, rewarding, refreshing...*insert other 'r' words that apply*).
The Currie Tract requires a vehicle to get to so I was at the mercy of my host who had visited the area a few times in the last couple months in hopes of finding the Prairie Warbler that has been reported there frequently this spring/summer. We didn't find it of course, but we did get some other goodies along the way.
Before I get to that though, I'll describe the park a bit first. From what I could gather, the area is connected to a conservation area and consists of a primarily deciduous forest next to a prairie-like, grassy habitat that stretches along for quite some distance underneath enormous hydro poles. The hydro poles constantly emit a humming energy that somewhat alarmed me at first but Mark assured me that you get used to it. Eventually I forgot the pressure in my ears but every once in a while I would think about it again or look up and feel like I was being microwaved.
It was all worth it though as we ended up getting some really good sightings in. The highlights included a singing Mourning Warbler, missed by me in spring, that was sickeningly cooperative. As we were listening to it sing, I suddenly remarked that there were two birds! To our disappointment, it ended up being a Tilly-hat toting dude with a tape player, relentlessly playing the song of the Mourning Warbler and getting it to close in on the trail.
Next up was a singing Blue-winged Warbler even though I was now wary of any songs as they could have just been a machine instead of the real thing. However, we eventually spotted the bird; another extremely cooperative fellow that showed off for quite some time.
I'm happy to have discovered the area and hope to get back there again sometime (next time, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and food are musts).
Day List (counting the moment we started to drive to the moment I was dropped off):
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo (seen and heard)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wood Thrush
Veery
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 47
The Currie Tract requires a vehicle to get to so I was at the mercy of my host who had visited the area a few times in the last couple months in hopes of finding the Prairie Warbler that has been reported there frequently this spring/summer. We didn't find it of course, but we did get some other goodies along the way.
Before I get to that though, I'll describe the park a bit first. From what I could gather, the area is connected to a conservation area and consists of a primarily deciduous forest next to a prairie-like, grassy habitat that stretches along for quite some distance underneath enormous hydro poles. The hydro poles constantly emit a humming energy that somewhat alarmed me at first but Mark assured me that you get used to it. Eventually I forgot the pressure in my ears but every once in a while I would think about it again or look up and feel like I was being microwaved.
It was all worth it though as we ended up getting some really good sightings in. The highlights included a singing Mourning Warbler, missed by me in spring, that was sickeningly cooperative. As we were listening to it sing, I suddenly remarked that there were two birds! To our disappointment, it ended up being a Tilly-hat toting dude with a tape player, relentlessly playing the song of the Mourning Warbler and getting it to close in on the trail.
Next up was a singing Blue-winged Warbler even though I was now wary of any songs as they could have just been a machine instead of the real thing. However, we eventually spotted the bird; another extremely cooperative fellow that showed off for quite some time.
I'm happy to have discovered the area and hope to get back there again sometime (next time, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and food are musts).
Day List (counting the moment we started to drive to the moment I was dropped off):
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo (seen and heard)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wood Thrush
Veery
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 47
Saturday, June 20, 2009
And I start to complain that there's no rain
I started this Saturday evening desperately attempting to make plans, any plans, but eventually just gave up and decided to go for an evening walk through High Park. It was quite beautiful really; a light mist falling, the vegetation glistening with water droplets, and the leaves of trees drooping forlornly with the heaviness of moisture. Overhead, Chimney Swifts chattered away as silhouettes of small birds flew by (almost certainly Chickadees).
Later, as the evening turned to night, I started to hear Common Nighthawks 'meep'ing above me, out of sight from my umbrella. I was also lucky enough to see a passing skunk near the main road, ambling along and (thankfully) minding its own business. It's so darn peaceful in there on nights like this.
As I was walking, I started to think about missing the Carden Alvar trip through the TOC and how disappointing it is that I wasn't able to attend. Everyone who went gushed about how wonderful the area is and the reports coming from there are excellent (especially the latest post on Ontbirds by Bob Cumming, who looks to have had a spectacular day there despite the rain). It's a trip that I must, must, must, must take.
The other outing I'm hopefully going on, particularly now that I have Saturdays off, is the Toronto Butterfly Count. To this day, I have never been on a single butterfly count in any area and I really want to learn how the Toronto area differs both in species and abundance from the Pelee Circle.
Later, as the evening turned to night, I started to hear Common Nighthawks 'meep'ing above me, out of sight from my umbrella. I was also lucky enough to see a passing skunk near the main road, ambling along and (thankfully) minding its own business. It's so darn peaceful in there on nights like this.
As I was walking, I started to think about missing the Carden Alvar trip through the TOC and how disappointing it is that I wasn't able to attend. Everyone who went gushed about how wonderful the area is and the reports coming from there are excellent (especially the latest post on Ontbirds by Bob Cumming, who looks to have had a spectacular day there despite the rain). It's a trip that I must, must, must, must take.
The other outing I'm hopefully going on, particularly now that I have Saturdays off, is the Toronto Butterfly Count. To this day, I have never been on a single butterfly count in any area and I really want to learn how the Toronto area differs both in species and abundance from the Pelee Circle.
Forgotten but not gone
If one was to count how many excuses I've come up with on Cerulean Sky as to why I haven't posted for weeks on end, one would likely find that the number of posts including said excuses outnumbers the posts without them...did that sentence make sense? I think it does.
Anyway, here's a list of reasons for my absence for you to choose from (as a friend pointed out, my last entry was quite the cliffhanger. I'm sick, and then no more posts!).
a) Busy with work. Perhaps my best excuse since I got a new position at work where I now perform a variety of cool administrative tasks. More responsibility, lots of challenges, etc. I'm loving it, but it is a time burglar.
b) I'm back in Toronto. The city provides so many distractions that when my day off finally comes, sleeping in and then socializing is just so tantalizing. I have, fortunately, made it out birding since I've been back in the city after being at Pelee for two weeks but nothing substantial enough.
3...oh, I mean c) No Marianne. I miss you, Marianne!
So, you're asking, when is he going to get around to talking about birds? Welllll, one goal I have in the next little while is to actually do a complete May post detailing the entire month. I also have to get out my complete May list as well. And of course, my favourite, the May misses!!
I'm also going to get around to catching up on and commenting on others' blogs entries that I've been missing lately. Let's hope I can bring Cerulean Sky back to some regularity!
Anyway, here's a list of reasons for my absence for you to choose from (as a friend pointed out, my last entry was quite the cliffhanger. I'm sick, and then no more posts!).
a) Busy with work. Perhaps my best excuse since I got a new position at work where I now perform a variety of cool administrative tasks. More responsibility, lots of challenges, etc. I'm loving it, but it is a time burglar.
b) I'm back in Toronto. The city provides so many distractions that when my day off finally comes, sleeping in and then socializing is just so tantalizing. I have, fortunately, made it out birding since I've been back in the city after being at Pelee for two weeks but nothing substantial enough.
3...oh, I mean c) No Marianne. I miss you, Marianne!
So, you're asking, when is he going to get around to talking about birds? Welllll, one goal I have in the next little while is to actually do a complete May post detailing the entire month. I also have to get out my complete May list as well. And of course, my favourite, the May misses!!
I'm also going to get around to catching up on and commenting on others' blogs entries that I've been missing lately. Let's hope I can bring Cerulean Sky back to some regularity!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
May 14, 2009 - Day 12 - FML
Ok, ok...it's not as bad as 'fml' but seriously, nausea, go to heck in a handbasket! I woke up today feeling like a used diaper. Hearing wind howling in my window and rain pouring down in horizontal sheets, I groaned, turned back over and promptly fell back asleep. My on-the-brink-of-vomitting stomach told me that to go to the park for a full day would be a death sentence so I decided to continue fighting this stupid bug with lots of sleep while hoping that nothing would show up on my second day off. That's when things started to go wrong.
The rain cleared and it turned into a beautiful day. I was halfway through watching She's the Man for the zillionth time (Channing Tatum was just walking across the screen with only a towel on), when my phone rang. It was Marianne. I groggily answered the phone and heard only this: "Can you hear me?....breaking up....Townsend Warb...."
I knew it would happen. The day that I can't go to the park due to being sick, something was bound to show up. The fact that it was an uber-mega-rarity only made the whole thing that much worse. These things happen every year. Last year it was Mother's day and I was at a family reunion when the call came in for a Lark Bunting. I got that bird, thankfully, but had to come home to a grumbling, guilt-mongering family. Apparently it's not nice to walk out on the family for a bird. I still don't get their reasoning. It happened with Northern Wheatear, too. The bird shows up the day I have to catch my Greyhound back to Toronto. I got that bird, too, but I cannot and will not go into the details of what I had to do for that one. Let's just say it was the definition of poor judgement by moral/ethical standards...totally worth it though!
So, back to the story at hand. After flying into a fit of blind rage and smashing a window with my mom's antique rocking chair and shaking my fists in the air screaming "How dare you, irony!", I calmed down enough to call Marianne back and got one more piece of information this time amongst the static: Townsend's Warbler, Tilden Trail. The dark expression on my face and grinding teeth must have screamed murder as my Mom placed her hand on my shoulder and slowly and quietly told me she would drive me to see the bird if I wasn't feeling well enough to drive. I started a texting war with birders who were already there asking if the bird was reliable, any further details, etc.
I went through every bad scenario I could think of on the drive there:
- The visitor center parking lot is full and I have to hike from White Pine to get there, arrive shaking, moments away from death, and hearing the words: "You just missed it! Unfortunately, it was eaten by a Cooper's Hawk. There's the bloody mess right over there!"
- Getting out of the car and rushing to see the bird and getting trampled by a stampede of birders, leaving me twitching in the mud with a broken shin bone piercing through the skin and having to crawl the rest of the way using only my fingernails, and a kind old lady saying, "Oops! It was just a leaf. False alarm."
- And my personal favourite scenario: Arriving on the scene to a large group of happy people using an oversized novelty pen to blissfully check off Townsend's Warbler off their May lists and saying, "Oh, if you were here only 5 minutes ago, it came right out in the open and actually landed on each of our hands and sang us that nice tune from Cheers."
Ok, so none of these scenarios came to pass (I just wanted to be prepared!) and I was actually quite relieved to find out that arriving an hour after the bird was reported made little difference. Only 3 people, the original finders, actually got the bird. Now I hear that there are also disputes over the bird's identity, but I won't get into that here. And lo and behold, it actually worked out in the end. Besides exhausting my body further and having to come home and sleep for another 3 hours after looking for the bird, I actually heard the Kentucky Warbler that was being reported on the same trail. That takes me to 177.
Alright, enough of this...it's time for more sleep.
The rain cleared and it turned into a beautiful day. I was halfway through watching She's the Man for the zillionth time (Channing Tatum was just walking across the screen with only a towel on), when my phone rang. It was Marianne. I groggily answered the phone and heard only this: "Can you hear me?....breaking up....Townsend Warb...."
I knew it would happen. The day that I can't go to the park due to being sick, something was bound to show up. The fact that it was an uber-mega-rarity only made the whole thing that much worse. These things happen every year. Last year it was Mother's day and I was at a family reunion when the call came in for a Lark Bunting. I got that bird, thankfully, but had to come home to a grumbling, guilt-mongering family. Apparently it's not nice to walk out on the family for a bird. I still don't get their reasoning. It happened with Northern Wheatear, too. The bird shows up the day I have to catch my Greyhound back to Toronto. I got that bird, too, but I cannot and will not go into the details of what I had to do for that one. Let's just say it was the definition of poor judgement by moral/ethical standards...totally worth it though!
So, back to the story at hand. After flying into a fit of blind rage and smashing a window with my mom's antique rocking chair and shaking my fists in the air screaming "How dare you, irony!", I calmed down enough to call Marianne back and got one more piece of information this time amongst the static: Townsend's Warbler, Tilden Trail. The dark expression on my face and grinding teeth must have screamed murder as my Mom placed her hand on my shoulder and slowly and quietly told me she would drive me to see the bird if I wasn't feeling well enough to drive. I started a texting war with birders who were already there asking if the bird was reliable, any further details, etc.
I went through every bad scenario I could think of on the drive there:
- The visitor center parking lot is full and I have to hike from White Pine to get there, arrive shaking, moments away from death, and hearing the words: "You just missed it! Unfortunately, it was eaten by a Cooper's Hawk. There's the bloody mess right over there!"
- Getting out of the car and rushing to see the bird and getting trampled by a stampede of birders, leaving me twitching in the mud with a broken shin bone piercing through the skin and having to crawl the rest of the way using only my fingernails, and a kind old lady saying, "Oops! It was just a leaf. False alarm."
- And my personal favourite scenario: Arriving on the scene to a large group of happy people using an oversized novelty pen to blissfully check off Townsend's Warbler off their May lists and saying, "Oh, if you were here only 5 minutes ago, it came right out in the open and actually landed on each of our hands and sang us that nice tune from Cheers."
Ok, so none of these scenarios came to pass (I just wanted to be prepared!) and I was actually quite relieved to find out that arriving an hour after the bird was reported made little difference. Only 3 people, the original finders, actually got the bird. Now I hear that there are also disputes over the bird's identity, but I won't get into that here. And lo and behold, it actually worked out in the end. Besides exhausting my body further and having to come home and sleep for another 3 hours after looking for the bird, I actually heard the Kentucky Warbler that was being reported on the same trail. That takes me to 177.
Alright, enough of this...it's time for more sleep.
May 13, 2009 - Day 11 - The nausea bug
Grrrr. It's so frustrating to get sick during May migration. Wednesday morning started off poorly and sort of just fell to pieces from there. I woke up well before my alarm to get ready to leave and noticed that it took an absurd amount of energy to drag myself out of bed. Uh oh. I poured some cereal and took a bite. Uh oh # 2. My stomach flip-flopped and I immediately stopped eating. Now, of course, being May, I ignored the signals telling me to go back to bed thinking it would go away as soon as I got out onto the trails but it wasn't meant to be. By 11:00am, after a slow morning at the tip, I broke out into the sweats. Uh oh # 3. I realized I needed sleep...fast...and that if I kept pushing myself, I was going to leave something on the trails that no one but soil decomposers would appreciate. Also, it's not normal for someone my age to have to take bench-sitting breaks just to keep going. Final uh oh before deciding to leave.
Therefore, there's hardly a thing to post for the day...and since it's now Thursday as I post this and I still feel like sh@t, I think I'll leave it at that :D
Therefore, there's hardly a thing to post for the day...and since it's now Thursday as I post this and I still feel like sh@t, I think I'll leave it at that :D
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
May 12, 2009 - Day 10 - Gas is expensive!!
What a great day. 10 full hours, 6 new species added to my May list, and the best company a birder could ask for. I joined a Toronto group made up of various members of the Toronto Ornithological Club and we had an awesome day together. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to actually write anything substantial today and I promise it will be a boring post...I just don't have the energy to put much thought into it!
The first good bird of the day was a beautiful Summer Tanager at the tip. It was actually one of the nicest I've seen, with bright red in the tail and a nice mix of orange-green throughout the rest of its body. I missed Clay-coloured Sparrow again but that's perfectly ok. There were other good birds to find. Bay-breasted Warbler was my first new bird on Woodland Trail. Then a Sharp-shinned Hawk flying over the same location. Later, the group had an Osprey over Tilden Trail. Following that, I got a Red-headed Woodpecker at a nesting hole across from Pelee Wings Nature Store. Finally, Hillman Marsh was excellent in the evening and I added Whimbrel and Black-billed Cuckoo to my May list from this location.
The one big blunder for me was walking 2 field lengths to see a Hooded Merganser that was reported in a canal in the Onion Fields. Our scopes couldn't see through the heat waves so I decided to put some extra effort in and made my way all the way down to where the bird was swimming. I trudged along the (private?) property, excitedly looked out into the water, and identified the bird as a Mallard. My shoulders have never slumped so low.
I also added a few more books to my Birding library today including The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (for taking into the field because the original Sibley's guide is just way too heavy for that!), A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of The Sparrows of the United States and Canada, which contains amazing plates illustrated by David Beadle, and finally, The Birdwatcher's Companion to North American Birdlife, a steal at $20. It's a good thing it was a steal, too...because gas for the truck is expensive. I thought I would save money on this trip but that ain't happening!
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Screech-Owl
Chimney Swift
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 105
The first good bird of the day was a beautiful Summer Tanager at the tip. It was actually one of the nicest I've seen, with bright red in the tail and a nice mix of orange-green throughout the rest of its body. I missed Clay-coloured Sparrow again but that's perfectly ok. There were other good birds to find. Bay-breasted Warbler was my first new bird on Woodland Trail. Then a Sharp-shinned Hawk flying over the same location. Later, the group had an Osprey over Tilden Trail. Following that, I got a Red-headed Woodpecker at a nesting hole across from Pelee Wings Nature Store. Finally, Hillman Marsh was excellent in the evening and I added Whimbrel and Black-billed Cuckoo to my May list from this location.
The one big blunder for me was walking 2 field lengths to see a Hooded Merganser that was reported in a canal in the Onion Fields. Our scopes couldn't see through the heat waves so I decided to put some extra effort in and made my way all the way down to where the bird was swimming. I trudged along the (private?) property, excitedly looked out into the water, and identified the bird as a Mallard. My shoulders have never slumped so low.
I also added a few more books to my Birding library today including The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (for taking into the field because the original Sibley's guide is just way too heavy for that!), A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of The Sparrows of the United States and Canada, which contains amazing plates illustrated by David Beadle, and finally, The Birdwatcher's Companion to North American Birdlife, a steal at $20. It's a good thing it was a steal, too...because gas for the truck is expensive. I thought I would save money on this trip but that ain't happening!
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Screech-Owl
Chimney Swift
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 105
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 11, 2009 - Day 9 - A day of misses, but new opportunities on the horizon
Glossy Ibis, Mississippi Kite, Wilson's Phalarope, Yellow-breasted Chat, Leconte's Sparrow: this list of missed species just keeps on growing!! Perhaps it was the birding gods punishing me for sleeping in this morning. A very kind birder told me that sleeping in is allowed but it did two things to my day. First, eliminated hours of birding from my day where I could have checked off a few easy warbler species. Second, it totally threw off my day when I had to park at White Pine and walk to the Visitor Center from there completely out of the loop on what was being seen throughout the park. It's kind of amazing how quickly the park fills with birders as it is a Monday and the entire Visitors Center parking lot as well as all of West Beach were full. Looks like I'll be waking up even earlier the rest of the week!
Something good came out of the day, though, and that was shadowing a hike led by Marianne in the Woodland Trail. I've agreed to do hikes next year and if all goes well (and I'm able to book of time again!) I'll be a hike-leader for the park (fingers crossed). I was very nervous about it all at first but after I shadow a few more hikes I think I'll be quite confident to do them well. There is a certain joy that comes from showing beginner birders a species that I now take for granted and see them react as if it was the most beautiful bird they've ever seen. Leading hikes is a challenge I look forward to next year.
The two species I added to my list today were Least Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone, two of my favourite species of shorebirds that I knew I would see eventually. I have no doubt now that I'll reach 175. If I could get over 180 or even 185 I would be content. Hopefully I'll actually see some of these rarities that are starting to show up.
Day List
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 91
Something good came out of the day, though, and that was shadowing a hike led by Marianne in the Woodland Trail. I've agreed to do hikes next year and if all goes well (and I'm able to book of time again!) I'll be a hike-leader for the park (fingers crossed). I was very nervous about it all at first but after I shadow a few more hikes I think I'll be quite confident to do them well. There is a certain joy that comes from showing beginner birders a species that I now take for granted and see them react as if it was the most beautiful bird they've ever seen. Leading hikes is a challenge I look forward to next year.
The two species I added to my list today were Least Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone, two of my favourite species of shorebirds that I knew I would see eventually. I have no doubt now that I'll reach 175. If I could get over 180 or even 185 I would be content. Hopefully I'll actually see some of these rarities that are starting to show up.
Day List
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 91
May 10, 2009 - Day 8 - A suggestion to mom
If there is any person in the world who deserves a day to recognize their importance, it is our mothers. The sacrifices made, the patience, the pain endured, the love and care, the commitments...we appreciate the work that goes into being a mom. So moms must have a lot of pull then, right? Well, I have a request for moms out there. Can you all, like, come together and work out an agreement to get the month that Mother's Day falls into changed? I mean, it's right in the middle of prime birding season! Do we have to honour mothers during May? I suggest we change the month to June and merge it with Father's Day. This would also eliminate the confusion a child in a same-sex relationship must feel on these days. We could just have a joint Parent/Caretaker Day and everyone is happy!
Mother's Day did screw up my day of birding but hopefully it's clear that I am being silly. I had a great Mother's Day celebration and I was still able to fit in a trip to Pelee in the morning, Kopegaron Woods in the afternoon, Hillman Marsh in the evening, and went back to Pelee at night to watch the American Woodcock displays again with my friend, Sara (and I sitll made it to over 100 species!). While on the subject of night birding, I obviously listened hard again for Whip-poor-wills but to no avail. I give up on this species. It's just too exhausting to stay so late in the park and then have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and head straight back.
The only new addition to my May list for the day was a Summer Tanager, but it was a great experience as the bird landed within feet of where I was standing. It's SO nice sometimes to get lucky like this rather than embarking on a wild goose chase for an hour only to be disappointed when the bird doesn't stay in the same location. It was a decent morning (although there were a lot of people).
After a brunch with family, I went to Kopegaron with my brother and the highlight there was an Orange-crowned Warbler. Still no Hairy Woodpecker though. Then I missed Wilson's Phalarope at Hillman Marsh (missing birds seems to be a big trend for me in the last few days!). As much as I complain though, I love being out in the beautiful weather enjoying the birds and birders.
Finishing off the day with the Woodcock displays was a great decision. These birds are a spectacle. The male almost looks like an insect as it launches from the ground, twittering and whistling while ascending higher and higher until it's almost out of eyesight and then plunges to the ground in an awesome display, maneouvering back and forth and impressing the onlooking female. An earlier group was actually lucky enough to witness a pair copulating (hmm, I wonder if I should put lucky in quotation marks?).
Day List
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
American Woodcock
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101 - Oddly enough, this is the third day this May that I've got 101 species!!
Mother's Day did screw up my day of birding but hopefully it's clear that I am being silly. I had a great Mother's Day celebration and I was still able to fit in a trip to Pelee in the morning, Kopegaron Woods in the afternoon, Hillman Marsh in the evening, and went back to Pelee at night to watch the American Woodcock displays again with my friend, Sara (and I sitll made it to over 100 species!). While on the subject of night birding, I obviously listened hard again for Whip-poor-wills but to no avail. I give up on this species. It's just too exhausting to stay so late in the park and then have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and head straight back.
The only new addition to my May list for the day was a Summer Tanager, but it was a great experience as the bird landed within feet of where I was standing. It's SO nice sometimes to get lucky like this rather than embarking on a wild goose chase for an hour only to be disappointed when the bird doesn't stay in the same location. It was a decent morning (although there were a lot of people).
After a brunch with family, I went to Kopegaron with my brother and the highlight there was an Orange-crowned Warbler. Still no Hairy Woodpecker though. Then I missed Wilson's Phalarope at Hillman Marsh (missing birds seems to be a big trend for me in the last few days!). As much as I complain though, I love being out in the beautiful weather enjoying the birds and birders.
Finishing off the day with the Woodcock displays was a great decision. These birds are a spectacle. The male almost looks like an insect as it launches from the ground, twittering and whistling while ascending higher and higher until it's almost out of eyesight and then plunges to the ground in an awesome display, maneouvering back and forth and impressing the onlooking female. An earlier group was actually lucky enough to witness a pair copulating (hmm, I wonder if I should put lucky in quotation marks?).
Day List
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
American Woodcock
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101 - Oddly enough, this is the third day this May that I've got 101 species!!
Saturday, May 09, 2009
May 9, 2009 - Day 7 - Cliff Swallow...CHECK!
That's right, I didn't see a Cliff Swallow until my 7th day in the park. Of course, like any common birds you have trouble finding for the first few days, after you see one, you see a ton. I had a couple at the Pelee marsh, then at Hillman, and lastly a single bird flying over Wheatley Park in the evening. I have a feeling I actually have seen Cliff Swallow already, I just wasn't paying close enough attention.
Another common bird that I finally got out of the way was Common Loon; a flyby at the tip. Today was just a slow day for me, though. A lot of people showed up and it was the first day they had to close the visitor center parking lot. This was nice as I was able to see a lot of birders from the Toronto Ornithological Club and others who only get to come on weekends. However, there just weren't many birds to chase/find. There were isolated pockets of passerines but between them, the trails were deadzones. I did, however, help Dave Milsom's group get on an Orange-crowned Warbler (my first for the spring).
A huge miss today was an adult California Gull that flew by the tip seen by Kevin McLuaghlin and co. This would have been a lifer and makes me wish I would have stayed longer to watch the reverse migration. You win some, you lose some.
At around 2pm, I gave up and went to visit my Grandma. A slight rain came through so I was pretty stoked with my decision to leave the park for a while. After supper and an hour nap, I headed to Hillman around 7pm and wasn't disappointed. It was probably the best night I've had so far for shorebirds. Somewhat surprising was a complete lack of Black-bellied Plover but there were Willet, Dunlin, Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers, and Lesser Yellowlegs. A Cooper's Hawk flying over was an added treat.
I expect quite a few similar days in the week to come as it starts to get harder and harder to add birds to my May list. It's coming along nicely though at 168 (I will definitely reach my target of 175). Hopefully a nice rarity will show up sometime this week and cause some real excitement.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 97
Another common bird that I finally got out of the way was Common Loon; a flyby at the tip. Today was just a slow day for me, though. A lot of people showed up and it was the first day they had to close the visitor center parking lot. This was nice as I was able to see a lot of birders from the Toronto Ornithological Club and others who only get to come on weekends. However, there just weren't many birds to chase/find. There were isolated pockets of passerines but between them, the trails were deadzones. I did, however, help Dave Milsom's group get on an Orange-crowned Warbler (my first for the spring).
A huge miss today was an adult California Gull that flew by the tip seen by Kevin McLuaghlin and co. This would have been a lifer and makes me wish I would have stayed longer to watch the reverse migration. You win some, you lose some.
At around 2pm, I gave up and went to visit my Grandma. A slight rain came through so I was pretty stoked with my decision to leave the park for a while. After supper and an hour nap, I headed to Hillman around 7pm and wasn't disappointed. It was probably the best night I've had so far for shorebirds. Somewhat surprising was a complete lack of Black-bellied Plover but there were Willet, Dunlin, Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers, and Lesser Yellowlegs. A Cooper's Hawk flying over was an added treat.
I expect quite a few similar days in the week to come as it starts to get harder and harder to add birds to my May list. It's coming along nicely though at 168 (I will definitely reach my target of 175). Hopefully a nice rarity will show up sometime this week and cause some real excitement.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 97
Friday, May 08, 2009
May 8, 2009 - Day 6 - Add one to every day list!
Before I get to how my day of birding was, I just realized while looking through my daily lists that I have failed to check off Ruddy Duck every single day of the week! This means that I can add one more species to each of my day lists. Looks like I've got some editing to do. This happened last year as well. I went through my list not once, twice, but thrice before realizing I was missing a species on my May list. This error brought me to 175 species instead of 174 and I was a happy man. As of today, I am at 161 and have little doubt that I will meet last year's tally.
Now on to today. The park was much busier with birds today, probably due to the south winds bringing in more species. One of the highlights was a reverse migration at the tip that is always a welcome challenge. I love picking out species in the sky as it proves to be a test of skills but there's also a good chance that a rarity will pop up amongst the common birds flying off the tip. Reverse migrants from today included blackbirds, orioles, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, various warblers, Eastern Bluebird, an Eastern Meadowlark, and a lot of Blue Jays.
Woodland and Tilden trail continue to be the most-birded areas of the park and today was not a let-down. I finally heard the Louisiana Waterthrush on Tilden Trail (a species I was starting to worry I would miss). Then on Woodland Trail, I had great looks at one of my favourite warblers, the Cerulean Warbler (the bird that inspired the name of my blog). A female Summer Tanager at the tip went unseen by me. I looked hard for a Chat reported on the Redbud trail but to no avail. I also missed a Mississippi Kite flying over the visitor center parking lot (an annual occurrence). However, an afternoon trip to Kopegaron Woods was surprisingly helpful as I got Tennessee Warbler and White-breasted Nuthatch there. The small conservation area was actually quite busy with warblers. I went there on a mission to see Hairy Woodpecker but that failed so I might have to go to Wheatley Park one afternoon to get this species.
I also went to the Shorebird Cell but it was pretty slow this afternoon. There was a White-tailed Deer that bound across the cell and through the water that scared all the birds up, which was interesting. That was then followed by 2 dogs chasing geese and their goslings through the water in the cell!! I'm looking forward to next week when more species of shorebirds arrive.
I'm feeling slightly brainless right now and I think I'm going to take a nap as I plan to do a much longer day tomorrow. I'm likely forgetting to write down other interesting experiences from today but I think I'll just stop here.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Dunlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 92
Now on to today. The park was much busier with birds today, probably due to the south winds bringing in more species. One of the highlights was a reverse migration at the tip that is always a welcome challenge. I love picking out species in the sky as it proves to be a test of skills but there's also a good chance that a rarity will pop up amongst the common birds flying off the tip. Reverse migrants from today included blackbirds, orioles, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, various warblers, Eastern Bluebird, an Eastern Meadowlark, and a lot of Blue Jays.
Woodland and Tilden trail continue to be the most-birded areas of the park and today was not a let-down. I finally heard the Louisiana Waterthrush on Tilden Trail (a species I was starting to worry I would miss). Then on Woodland Trail, I had great looks at one of my favourite warblers, the Cerulean Warbler (the bird that inspired the name of my blog). A female Summer Tanager at the tip went unseen by me. I looked hard for a Chat reported on the Redbud trail but to no avail. I also missed a Mississippi Kite flying over the visitor center parking lot (an annual occurrence). However, an afternoon trip to Kopegaron Woods was surprisingly helpful as I got Tennessee Warbler and White-breasted Nuthatch there. The small conservation area was actually quite busy with warblers. I went there on a mission to see Hairy Woodpecker but that failed so I might have to go to Wheatley Park one afternoon to get this species.
I also went to the Shorebird Cell but it was pretty slow this afternoon. There was a White-tailed Deer that bound across the cell and through the water that scared all the birds up, which was interesting. That was then followed by 2 dogs chasing geese and their goslings through the water in the cell!! I'm looking forward to next week when more species of shorebirds arrive.
I'm feeling slightly brainless right now and I think I'm going to take a nap as I plan to do a much longer day tomorrow. I'm likely forgetting to write down other interesting experiences from today but I think I'll just stop here.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Dunlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 92
May 7, 2009 - Day 5 - The longest day
Yesterday was epic. So epic, in fact, that by the time I got home, I was too tired to write my daily post. I left my house at 6:15am and didn't get home until 10:00pm. If it sounds like I'm bragging at all, well, I kind of am. I mean, that's like, a 14 hour day! And guess what? It was awesome.
The day started with Marianne and I making the great decision to bypass the tip area (which was rumoured to be completely dead) and heading to Sanctuary. It was quite birdy in the trail and we picked up three really good species: Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bobolink (my nemesis bird from last year...I never did get it!), and Sedge Wren.
Incredibly, I almost left for home at 3pm due to the rain that lasted for two hours but instead of quitting early, I decided to go for an early supper in Wheatley (3 pieces of greasy pizza) and then head back out to do some evening birding. It's a good thing I did, because I added a number of species to my May list that I may not get any other days during my trip home.
I got really lucky on County Road 21. On my way to Hillman after supper, I heard Vesper Sparrows in the fields adjacent to the road and I also picked up a Kestrel at this location. Oh, and that Snow Goose I was waiting for the other day? Got it at 6pm. At this point, I also almost got my dad's truck stuck in the ditch. Ron Tozer and Mike Tate met me at the location of the Snow Goose to tick it off their May lists. While they played things safe and turned their vehicles around in the closest laneway on the road, I had the brilliant idea of doing a 3-point turn (it sadly turned into a 4-point turn) to get my truck going the other way. Next thing I know, my back tires are squeeling in the grass off the road and I'm not moving. I had this horrible image of Ron and Mike having to push my truck while I stepped on the gas (red-faced with embarrassment) but fortunately, I was finally able to turn the front wheels enough to get myself out. They rightfully made fun of me for this adventure.
Next up was a late evening stop at the Pelee Marsh. It's a necessary part of a lister's trip to Pelee if you want to get those few extra ticks. It was beautiful to walk the boardwalk at this time of night with the sun setting in the west and flock of Sandhill Cranes flying past the moon in the east. Here, our large group picked up Black Tern and Marsh Wren. We then made a stop at Delaurier to get American Woodcock and American Bittern. A final trip in the moonlight to the Visitor Center parking lot was in vain. Not a single Whip-poor-will or Nighthawk was calling. Not even a Chuck-will's-widow.....what? I can be hopeful!
All in all, an exhausting, but fully satisfying day.
Day list:
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Dunlin
American Woodcock
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Golden-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 110 - my highest for the trip so far
The day started with Marianne and I making the great decision to bypass the tip area (which was rumoured to be completely dead) and heading to Sanctuary. It was quite birdy in the trail and we picked up three really good species: Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bobolink (my nemesis bird from last year...I never did get it!), and Sedge Wren.
Incredibly, I almost left for home at 3pm due to the rain that lasted for two hours but instead of quitting early, I decided to go for an early supper in Wheatley (3 pieces of greasy pizza) and then head back out to do some evening birding. It's a good thing I did, because I added a number of species to my May list that I may not get any other days during my trip home.
I got really lucky on County Road 21. On my way to Hillman after supper, I heard Vesper Sparrows in the fields adjacent to the road and I also picked up a Kestrel at this location. Oh, and that Snow Goose I was waiting for the other day? Got it at 6pm. At this point, I also almost got my dad's truck stuck in the ditch. Ron Tozer and Mike Tate met me at the location of the Snow Goose to tick it off their May lists. While they played things safe and turned their vehicles around in the closest laneway on the road, I had the brilliant idea of doing a 3-point turn (it sadly turned into a 4-point turn) to get my truck going the other way. Next thing I know, my back tires are squeeling in the grass off the road and I'm not moving. I had this horrible image of Ron and Mike having to push my truck while I stepped on the gas (red-faced with embarrassment) but fortunately, I was finally able to turn the front wheels enough to get myself out. They rightfully made fun of me for this adventure.
Next up was a late evening stop at the Pelee Marsh. It's a necessary part of a lister's trip to Pelee if you want to get those few extra ticks. It was beautiful to walk the boardwalk at this time of night with the sun setting in the west and flock of Sandhill Cranes flying past the moon in the east. Here, our large group picked up Black Tern and Marsh Wren. We then made a stop at Delaurier to get American Woodcock and American Bittern. A final trip in the moonlight to the Visitor Center parking lot was in vain. Not a single Whip-poor-will or Nighthawk was calling. Not even a Chuck-will's-widow.....what? I can be hopeful!
All in all, an exhausting, but fully satisfying day.
Day list:
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Dunlin
American Woodcock
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Golden-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 110 - my highest for the trip so far
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
May 6, 2009 - Day 4 - Keep on birdin'
Sometimes I feel like I lead two separate lives. There is the Toronto Jeremy who spends most of his time downtown, whether it be in coffee shops, bars, theatres, or friends' places, oftentimes chatting about world issues or complaining about the conservative party. Then there is the Pelee-during-May Jeremy, snacking on trail mix and sitting in his dad's Ford 150, pulled over at the side of county road 21, waiting patiently in the rain for a Snow Goose that has been returning every evening sometime after 5:30pm.
May alters my life so drastically for the 2 precious weeks I book off, it almost feels like an alternate universe. It has become an annual ritual to drop everything in my life during this wonderful time of the year and do what I love: birdwatch. Whereas a week ago, I was worried about finances, relationships, and work, now my only concerns are what birds I might miss, when the next big rarity will show up, and the best way to check off 175 species on my May list.
I can't stress it enough. I love Point Pelee, I love birdwatching, and I love the people I get to share my passion with during the best time of the year.
My 4rth day in the park was one of socializing. I had a great walk through Tilden Woods with Sarah Rupert, which was as much a birding walk as a time to catch up. The birds came first and we got some goodies, but we also let out our inner geeks with talk of Lost, Buffy, Indiana Jones, and of course, Star Wars. Unfortunately, I seem to have a slight Tilden Woods curse right now. I can't seem to get a lot of the birds being reported there including Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Sedge Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, and just today, a Golden-winged Warbler that flew away while we tried to look for it!
I did pick up quite a few new birds for my May list throughout the day though, including Willet, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, American Black Duck, Broad-winged Hawk, a female Merlin at Sparrow Field, Red-eyed Vireo, and a few others. I currently stand at 140 species, which feels pretty good but I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Around 3pm, I actually decided to leave for home but a seasoned veteran, Jerry Ball, chastised me for giving up so early. It struck me that, yes, I only have two weeks of this and then it's back to the city so I need to take full advantage while I'm here. So, Jerry and I went to Hillman Marsh, drove all through the Onion Fields, and ended up at Wheatley Harbour. Next thing I knew, Jerry helped me put in another 11 hour day, got me to 100 species, and added Black-crowned Night-Heron to my May list. I'll have to thank him tomorrow for keeping me going.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Malladr
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Merlin
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Little Gull - another single adult breeding at the Shorebird Cell
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101
May alters my life so drastically for the 2 precious weeks I book off, it almost feels like an alternate universe. It has become an annual ritual to drop everything in my life during this wonderful time of the year and do what I love: birdwatch. Whereas a week ago, I was worried about finances, relationships, and work, now my only concerns are what birds I might miss, when the next big rarity will show up, and the best way to check off 175 species on my May list.
I can't stress it enough. I love Point Pelee, I love birdwatching, and I love the people I get to share my passion with during the best time of the year.
My 4rth day in the park was one of socializing. I had a great walk through Tilden Woods with Sarah Rupert, which was as much a birding walk as a time to catch up. The birds came first and we got some goodies, but we also let out our inner geeks with talk of Lost, Buffy, Indiana Jones, and of course, Star Wars. Unfortunately, I seem to have a slight Tilden Woods curse right now. I can't seem to get a lot of the birds being reported there including Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Sedge Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, and just today, a Golden-winged Warbler that flew away while we tried to look for it!
I did pick up quite a few new birds for my May list throughout the day though, including Willet, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, American Black Duck, Broad-winged Hawk, a female Merlin at Sparrow Field, Red-eyed Vireo, and a few others. I currently stand at 140 species, which feels pretty good but I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Around 3pm, I actually decided to leave for home but a seasoned veteran, Jerry Ball, chastised me for giving up so early. It struck me that, yes, I only have two weeks of this and then it's back to the city so I need to take full advantage while I'm here. So, Jerry and I went to Hillman Marsh, drove all through the Onion Fields, and ended up at Wheatley Harbour. Next thing I knew, Jerry helped me put in another 11 hour day, got me to 100 species, and added Black-crowned Night-Heron to my May list. I'll have to thank him tomorrow for keeping me going.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Malladr
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Merlin
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Little Gull - another single adult breeding at the Shorebird Cell
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
May 5, 2009 - Day 3 - LIFER!!! Western Meadowlark
I am so happy right now. Happy it's May, happy I got a new species on my life list this afternoon, and happy that I still have 11 days of heavy birding to go. I missed you today though, Marianne!
I put in 11 hours total and it felt great. The park was incredibly slow for birds as there has still been very little movement since yesterday or the day before. Hopefully with rain Wednesday night and Thursday, along with predicted south winds, there will be an influx of migrants into the park and surrounding area.
Even slow days produce good birds, though. I birded most of the morning with Hugh Currie. Shortly after we arrived at the tip together, I spotted an adult breeding Little Gull land on the beach. The bird didn't stay long as it was harassed by other gulls. Beyond that, there wasn't much happening in the tip area. We later did the Woodland trail together and picked up a male Prothonotary Warbler. It was actually fighting a House Wren over one of the nest boxes in the vicinity. When we arrived, the House Wren was dragging itself through the water to the closest tree. That was a sight to see. Also on Woodland, we had a Northern Mockingbird fly over along with a Northern Harrier (both firsts for my trip).
I tried Tilden Trail as well with limited success. My target birds were Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Sandhill Crane. I only got one of the four: Worm-eating. I left the trail a wee bit frustrated but then I heard a report of a Western Meadowlark at the tip! Obviously I was on the next train to the tip.
The bird was found by Kevin McLaughlin and co. on the West Beach Birding Footpath near the transit loop at the tip. It was not a hard bird to find. Flushed as soon as I walked by the spot it was hiding, the bird flew to the top of a nearby tree and actually called out right in front of me, which was spectacular.
I ended the day at Hillman, struggling to reach 100 species (arghh what a struggle!) for the day and finally achieving that goal just as I was leaving for home: a Great Egret next to the entrance to the marsh. All in all, a good day that added quite a few species to my growing (but growing enough) May list. Oh, and how could I forget?! My first Chestnut-sided Warbler for May! It is and always will be my favourite warbler.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover - a single bird among the hundreds of Black-bellied
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dunlin
Little Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101!
I put in 11 hours total and it felt great. The park was incredibly slow for birds as there has still been very little movement since yesterday or the day before. Hopefully with rain Wednesday night and Thursday, along with predicted south winds, there will be an influx of migrants into the park and surrounding area.
Even slow days produce good birds, though. I birded most of the morning with Hugh Currie. Shortly after we arrived at the tip together, I spotted an adult breeding Little Gull land on the beach. The bird didn't stay long as it was harassed by other gulls. Beyond that, there wasn't much happening in the tip area. We later did the Woodland trail together and picked up a male Prothonotary Warbler. It was actually fighting a House Wren over one of the nest boxes in the vicinity. When we arrived, the House Wren was dragging itself through the water to the closest tree. That was a sight to see. Also on Woodland, we had a Northern Mockingbird fly over along with a Northern Harrier (both firsts for my trip).
I tried Tilden Trail as well with limited success. My target birds were Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Sandhill Crane. I only got one of the four: Worm-eating. I left the trail a wee bit frustrated but then I heard a report of a Western Meadowlark at the tip! Obviously I was on the next train to the tip.
The bird was found by Kevin McLaughlin and co. on the West Beach Birding Footpath near the transit loop at the tip. It was not a hard bird to find. Flushed as soon as I walked by the spot it was hiding, the bird flew to the top of a nearby tree and actually called out right in front of me, which was spectacular.
I ended the day at Hillman, struggling to reach 100 species (arghh what a struggle!) for the day and finally achieving that goal just as I was leaving for home: a Great Egret next to the entrance to the marsh. All in all, a good day that added quite a few species to my growing (but growing enough) May list. Oh, and how could I forget?! My first Chestnut-sided Warbler for May! It is and always will be my favourite warbler.
Day List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover - a single bird among the hundreds of Black-bellied
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dunlin
Little Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspain Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 101!
Monday, May 04, 2009
May 4, 2009 - Day 2 - Quality not quantity and the reasons for leaving early
Rarely will I be posting the day's news this early but the park was slow today. Now, of course, any day during spring migration has its highlights and it's always great to be out in that fresh Pelee air (we actually commented today in Ander's Field on how great the clover and various grasses smelled in the plains of the central region of the park). A day like today is a good day for catching up with friends, searching out specific species for your May list, and, in all honesty, taking it easy. No sense burning yourself out when 12-13 hour days are right around the corner (I'm aiming for 100+ species days in the week to come).
For these reasons, we called it a day a bit early. The plus side to this? Relaxing in Marianne's house after lunch (a great spinach salad and squash soup) while looking through her pictures from her trip to Florida (there was no limit to my jealosy, particularly while gawking at a picture that shows Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, White Ibises, Wood Storks, Little Blue Herons, and Great Egrets all wading in the same area!).
The day did start off well, though. Some new migrants came in that we got to see like Hooded Warbler (gave great views!), a beautiful Yellow-throated Vireo, an incredibly dull first-year female Pine Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a nice male Blue-winged Warbler as well. I missed the following: Scarlet Tanager, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, and Lesser Black-backed Gull, all of which would have been additions to my May list.
Later in the day, Marianne and I decided to check out the cemetery area and picked up a late Junco (might be my last one of the spring). We also got a Great-crested Flycatcher nearby, also new for my May list, which continues to grow slowly. Later, at the Delaurier house, we got our first Gray-cheeked Thrush and two sunning Five-lined Skinks, Ontario's only native lizard. One dissappointment was that we couldn't find the reported Great Horned Owl nest. I'm going to have to get better directions for this as I'd like to see the nest.
I'm sure I'm forgetting various highlights from the day but my brain is slightly fried while I type this. I'm also getting distracted by The Young and the Restless, which my mom is watching right behind me. Oh Phillis, what have you gotten yourself into now?!
The day's list (lacking due to no Hillman Marsh visit):
Canada Goose
Mallard
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Black Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco yesssssss :D
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 79
For these reasons, we called it a day a bit early. The plus side to this? Relaxing in Marianne's house after lunch (a great spinach salad and squash soup) while looking through her pictures from her trip to Florida (there was no limit to my jealosy, particularly while gawking at a picture that shows Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, White Ibises, Wood Storks, Little Blue Herons, and Great Egrets all wading in the same area!).
The day did start off well, though. Some new migrants came in that we got to see like Hooded Warbler (gave great views!), a beautiful Yellow-throated Vireo, an incredibly dull first-year female Pine Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a nice male Blue-winged Warbler as well. I missed the following: Scarlet Tanager, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, and Lesser Black-backed Gull, all of which would have been additions to my May list.
Later in the day, Marianne and I decided to check out the cemetery area and picked up a late Junco (might be my last one of the spring). We also got a Great-crested Flycatcher nearby, also new for my May list, which continues to grow slowly. Later, at the Delaurier house, we got our first Gray-cheeked Thrush and two sunning Five-lined Skinks, Ontario's only native lizard. One dissappointment was that we couldn't find the reported Great Horned Owl nest. I'm going to have to get better directions for this as I'd like to see the nest.
I'm sure I'm forgetting various highlights from the day but my brain is slightly fried while I type this. I'm also getting distracted by The Young and the Restless, which my mom is watching right behind me. Oh Phillis, what have you gotten yourself into now?!
The day's list (lacking due to no Hillman Marsh visit):
Canada Goose
Mallard
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Black Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco yesssssss :D
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 79
Sunday, May 03, 2009
May 3, 2009 - DAY ONE
The alarm goes off at 4:45am. It's dark outside and there's a chill in the room as I get out from under the warmth of my comforter. It's day one and I'm more excited than any other day of the year. Two full weeks of extensive birding and days full of excitement, nervousness, exhaustion, and a great group of people sharing the same passion together.
Marianne and I arrived at Pelee just before the 6am train to the tip. Things weren't especially happening on my first day but since every migrant was new for me, I had a great time. The list has begun. I figure I'll go for 175 species to tie my record of last year...as always, I have my doubts but once I start to get close, I'll put in all the effort necessary to achieve the goal.
The weather was pretty gorgeous today but not many new migrants came through apparently. However, there were still some warbler pockets here and there, it was a 3-Scoter day, which was a nice touch, and of course, it provided a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for a year in some cases.
Some highlights:
Last year, Marianne and I heard a Yellow Warbler who had an addition to its regular song. The standard bird will give a quick, high-pitched, bursting sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet!!!. This pompous male gave a sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. So this year, we're at the tip and I turn to Marianne and say, you know what I hope we hear this year? That extra-sweet Yellow Warbler. Within A SECOND (we're talking like right after I said it), we hear sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. We nearly died on the spot. The chances of this occurring are millions to one.
Some bird highlights include a female Prothonotary Warbler on the Woodland Trail, all three Scoter species, a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers in the Onion Fields and Shorebird Cell, a Philadelphia Warbler near the park entrance, and an unexpected surprise when Marianne dropped me off at home.
We pulled in and Marianne suddenly pointed and asked what happened to this House Sparrow. It was hanging by a string that it had wrapped around its leg and couldn't fly up to a branch or break free. Next thing we knew, a Common Grackle, an omnivorous species that is known to kill baby birds right in the nest, showed up and started to stab the sparrow with its beak!! I've never seen behaviour like this and it was so interesting to see a Grackle take on a dying sparrow like that. The Grackle eventually left when my Dad got sentimental and saved the sparrow, but nonetheless, it was really interesting behaviour.
Oh, and the other highlight? We got to over 100 species! Around 4:30, we were eating supper and realized we were at 85 birds for the day so we toughed it out and kept birding at Hillman Marsh to get to 100. Later that night, in Wheatley, I got a couple more birds for the day including Chimney Swift and a Red-tailed Hawk just outside of town.
The list:
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-necked Pheasant
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Chimney Swift
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Northern Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 105
Marianne and I arrived at Pelee just before the 6am train to the tip. Things weren't especially happening on my first day but since every migrant was new for me, I had a great time. The list has begun. I figure I'll go for 175 species to tie my record of last year...as always, I have my doubts but once I start to get close, I'll put in all the effort necessary to achieve the goal.
The weather was pretty gorgeous today but not many new migrants came through apparently. However, there were still some warbler pockets here and there, it was a 3-Scoter day, which was a nice touch, and of course, it provided a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for a year in some cases.
Some highlights:
Last year, Marianne and I heard a Yellow Warbler who had an addition to its regular song. The standard bird will give a quick, high-pitched, bursting sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet!!!. This pompous male gave a sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. So this year, we're at the tip and I turn to Marianne and say, you know what I hope we hear this year? That extra-sweet Yellow Warbler. Within A SECOND (we're talking like right after I said it), we hear sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. We nearly died on the spot. The chances of this occurring are millions to one.
Some bird highlights include a female Prothonotary Warbler on the Woodland Trail, all three Scoter species, a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers in the Onion Fields and Shorebird Cell, a Philadelphia Warbler near the park entrance, and an unexpected surprise when Marianne dropped me off at home.
We pulled in and Marianne suddenly pointed and asked what happened to this House Sparrow. It was hanging by a string that it had wrapped around its leg and couldn't fly up to a branch or break free. Next thing we knew, a Common Grackle, an omnivorous species that is known to kill baby birds right in the nest, showed up and started to stab the sparrow with its beak!! I've never seen behaviour like this and it was so interesting to see a Grackle take on a dying sparrow like that. The Grackle eventually left when my Dad got sentimental and saved the sparrow, but nonetheless, it was really interesting behaviour.
Oh, and the other highlight? We got to over 100 species! Around 4:30, we were eating supper and realized we were at 85 birds for the day so we toughed it out and kept birding at Hillman Marsh to get to 100. Later that night, in Wheatley, I got a couple more birds for the day including Chimney Swift and a Red-tailed Hawk just outside of town.
The list:
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-necked Pheasant
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Chimney Swift
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Northern Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 105
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Gazing into the Crystal Ball - New Species for Pelee Will Be.....
Each year, Marianne and I, along with our top-ten most wanted list (see earlier post), also make predictions on what species will show up during Spring Migration that will be a new bird for the Pelee birding circle. Last year, Mottled Duck, which I never would have predicted was new. Other relatively recent inclusions are Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Black-necked Stilt, and back in 2005, the infamous Neotropic Cormorant (please remind me of other recent additions post-2000 if you can think of any).
For years, I have always predicted a similar series of birds. Black-necked Stilt was forever my pick (until the year it was seen and then I didn't predict it). Black-headed Grosbeak has also almost always been a top pick (why hasn't one shown up yet?!). I have patiently awaited the arrival of our first Painted Redstart or MacGillivray's Warbler but they will not be my pick this year.
Instead I am going to go with a species that has been on my mind. Call it a hunch. My prediction for the new species of Spring 2009 is Band-tailed Pigeon. Of course, there would likely be concern over the wild status of the bird but that's the species I'm going with.
For years, I have always predicted a similar series of birds. Black-necked Stilt was forever my pick (until the year it was seen and then I didn't predict it). Black-headed Grosbeak has also almost always been a top pick (why hasn't one shown up yet?!). I have patiently awaited the arrival of our first Painted Redstart or MacGillivray's Warbler but they will not be my pick this year.
Instead I am going to go with a species that has been on my mind. Call it a hunch. My prediction for the new species of Spring 2009 is Band-tailed Pigeon. Of course, there would likely be concern over the wild status of the bird but that's the species I'm going with.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Jeremy vs. Western Grebe Round III
No words can begin to describe the pure, utter stupidity of my decision to leave my house on Sunday to vainly go look for the Western Grebe at Ashbridges Bay. Waking up to rain pelting my window should have been the first deterrent. For any sane human being, no force in Heaven and Earth could have made one traipse and slosh through the mud, rain, and wind along the waterfront squinting into distant white-capped swells in the lake through fogged binoculars to look for a diving species that is consistently reported as "requiring a spotting scope to see."
And yet, there I was, standing on the rocks by the shore, my shoes soaked to the ankle, cold wind gnawing its way into every last warm nook and cranny my increasingly wet non-water-proof spring jacket had to offer, my jeans weighed down by so much moisture that I had to tighten my belt an extra notch, my umbrella slipping out of my water-logged gloves and getting caught on branches, and my backpack dropped into a large puddle and subsequently adding "character" to the novel I'm currently reading. To add insult to injury, there were hardly any birds on the lake besides a small spattering of Long-tailed Ducks. At some point I gave up and stopped avoiding puddles of water, splashing along, grinding my teeth and cursing Environment Canada for telling me the rain would stop by noon.
A first- or second-year Iceland Gull flew by. That was the highlight of day and the bird that kept my nerves from snapping beyond repair. Another moment that made me feel a bit better about my situation was when the only other human mentally unstable enough to be in the park with me let his dog off its leash and the little beast jumped right into the lake as the owner frantically tried to get it to swim back to the beach.
As I was leaving the park, the rain stopped and I got on the streetcar, defeated. As the puddle under my feet expanded on the floor and I air-dried my water-damaged novel, I became determined to get this bird. My nemesis bird. The bird I will go look for again next weekend. The Western Grebe.
And yet, there I was, standing on the rocks by the shore, my shoes soaked to the ankle, cold wind gnawing its way into every last warm nook and cranny my increasingly wet non-water-proof spring jacket had to offer, my jeans weighed down by so much moisture that I had to tighten my belt an extra notch, my umbrella slipping out of my water-logged gloves and getting caught on branches, and my backpack dropped into a large puddle and subsequently adding "character" to the novel I'm currently reading. To add insult to injury, there were hardly any birds on the lake besides a small spattering of Long-tailed Ducks. At some point I gave up and stopped avoiding puddles of water, splashing along, grinding my teeth and cursing Environment Canada for telling me the rain would stop by noon.
A first- or second-year Iceland Gull flew by. That was the highlight of day and the bird that kept my nerves from snapping beyond repair. Another moment that made me feel a bit better about my situation was when the only other human mentally unstable enough to be in the park with me let his dog off its leash and the little beast jumped right into the lake as the owner frantically tried to get it to swim back to the beach.
As I was leaving the park, the rain stopped and I got on the streetcar, defeated. As the puddle under my feet expanded on the floor and I air-dried my water-damaged novel, I became determined to get this bird. My nemesis bird. The bird I will go look for again next weekend. The Western Grebe.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Missed! Western Grebe
My second attempt at getting the Western Grebe that has been hanging out in Lake Ontario off of the southeastern tip of Ashbridges Bay Park ended in what can only be described as an epic fail.
O.K., it wasn't that bad but still...I was disappointed. The bird has been hanging out for a couple of months now and I had went to look for it earlier when it was originally sighted but to no avail. It takes some planning to get to Ashbridges Bay, though. Sometimes (at all times?), it sucks birding without wheels. The park is in the east end of Toronto and takes a good hour and a half to get to by transit. It requires a subway ride followed by a transfer onto the longest Streetcar route in Toronto, the 501. Admittedly, it's a relaxing ride, but it's LONG. By the time you get out to Coxswell where you need to get off, you're feeling the pressure of time. Most of the parks I visit for birding require similar planning (besides High Park, which is basically my backyard!).
Ashbridges Bay is a nice walk. It's quite similar in size and shape to Humber Bay East but without the marshy areas (at Ashbridges, there is a marina for small boats instead). From the park, you get a beautiful view of downtown Toronto as well as a full view of the Leslie Street Spit, closed through the week due to construction. I made my second visit to Ashbridges on Monday, March 23 in hopes that by some chance, the Western Grebe would be close enough to shore to see with my binoculars. The bird was either gone or too far out for me to see. Most posts on Ontbirds suggest bringing a scope but my loaned scope (thanks, Marianne!) is still in my room back home in Leamington. It's not easy to transport it on the Greyhound! So, I went hoping there would be another birder there with a scope but no luck.
I'll try again, or at least visit the park again. Other birds seen on Monday included a good number of Long-tailed Ducks, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, a sing White-winged Scoter, and Lesser Scaup. Red-winged Blackbirds are out along with many robins, and a few Killdeer in an open field just north of the park.
O.K., it wasn't that bad but still...I was disappointed. The bird has been hanging out for a couple of months now and I had went to look for it earlier when it was originally sighted but to no avail. It takes some planning to get to Ashbridges Bay, though. Sometimes (at all times?), it sucks birding without wheels. The park is in the east end of Toronto and takes a good hour and a half to get to by transit. It requires a subway ride followed by a transfer onto the longest Streetcar route in Toronto, the 501. Admittedly, it's a relaxing ride, but it's LONG. By the time you get out to Coxswell where you need to get off, you're feeling the pressure of time. Most of the parks I visit for birding require similar planning (besides High Park, which is basically my backyard!).
Ashbridges Bay is a nice walk. It's quite similar in size and shape to Humber Bay East but without the marshy areas (at Ashbridges, there is a marina for small boats instead). From the park, you get a beautiful view of downtown Toronto as well as a full view of the Leslie Street Spit, closed through the week due to construction. I made my second visit to Ashbridges on Monday, March 23 in hopes that by some chance, the Western Grebe would be close enough to shore to see with my binoculars. The bird was either gone or too far out for me to see. Most posts on Ontbirds suggest bringing a scope but my loaned scope (thanks, Marianne!) is still in my room back home in Leamington. It's not easy to transport it on the Greyhound! So, I went hoping there would be another birder there with a scope but no luck.
I'll try again, or at least visit the park again. Other birds seen on Monday included a good number of Long-tailed Ducks, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, a sing White-winged Scoter, and Lesser Scaup. Red-winged Blackbirds are out along with many robins, and a few Killdeer in an open field just north of the park.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
TOP TEN MOST-WANTED LIST - May 2009
1.
Red-throated Loon
L 25" ws 36" wt 3.1 lb
Last seen wearing: a brick red scarf and dark-brown coat with a grey hood.
Wanted for: Its mocking up-turned bill as well as being an annual species that every Ontario bird has seen except one Jeremy Hatt.
2.
Blue Grosbeak
L 6.75" ws 11" wt 28g
Last seen wearing: Suspect was female, wearing a pale brown coat, accented with blue stitching and chestnut shoulder patches.
Wanted for: Not appearing in court, May, 2008, and for working with Indigo Buntings to consistently fool amateur birders who issue false reports.
- Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this species should contact Jeremy Hatt immediately. $10,000 reward.
3.
King Rail
L 15" ws 20" wt 360g
Last seen wearing: unknown. Witness reports are hazy and the suspect is rarely seen so as to get an accurate description.
Wanted for: Hiding in private property, noise complaints, and evading birdwatchers wanting another check on their life-lists.
4.
Black-necked Stilt
L 14" ws 29" wt 160g
Last seen wearing: Suspect was on stilts and wearing a black coat and white vest.
Wanted for: Being one of the newest additions to the Pelee Birding Circle list but not staying around long enough for one Jeremy Hatt to purchase a Greyhound ticket and see the bird.
5.
Franklin's Gull
L 14.5" ws 36" wt 280g
Last seen wearing: black hood to conceal identity, black gloves, and a grey and white shirt stained with a touch of pink; possibly blood from its latest victim.
Wanted for: The murder of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and stealing his identity.
6.
Hermit Warbler
L 5” ws 8” wt 9.2g
Last seen wearing: much duller colours than usual, attempting to blend in with the common Black-throated Green Warbler.
Wanted for: Various criminal activity and illegal border crossing (alleged video taken of suspect never surfaced. Please report to OBRC with any further documentation).
7.
Townsend’s Warbler
L 5” ws 8” wt 8.8g
Last seen wearing: Black and yellow bee costume.
Wanted for: Aiding and abetting in fraudulent reports in 2008 to confuse and anger birders.
8.
Swainson’s Warbler
L 5.5” ws 9” wt 19g
Last seen wearing: Non-descript brown jumpsuit with rufous ball-cap.
Wanted for: Tax evasion and fraud.
9.
Swallow-tailed Kite
L 22” ws 51” wt 420g
Last seen wearing:
Wanted for: Arriving hours after the Mississippi Kite in May of 2000, causing extreme disappointment among dedicated birders who had already waited 3 hours for the first bird and had to leave to avoid sun stroke.
10.
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
L 10” ws 14” wt 29g
Last seen wearning: Black and white tuxedo with exceedingly long tails in the back.
Wanted for: Crimes relating to the death of a fellow family member and subsequent return to the crime-scene years later but still missed by one Jeremy Hatt.
- $1,000,000 Reward
Red-throated Loon
L 25" ws 36" wt 3.1 lb
Last seen wearing: a brick red scarf and dark-brown coat with a grey hood.
Wanted for: Its mocking up-turned bill as well as being an annual species that every Ontario bird has seen except one Jeremy Hatt.
2.
Blue Grosbeak
L 6.75" ws 11" wt 28g
Last seen wearing: Suspect was female, wearing a pale brown coat, accented with blue stitching and chestnut shoulder patches.
Wanted for: Not appearing in court, May, 2008, and for working with Indigo Buntings to consistently fool amateur birders who issue false reports.
- Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this species should contact Jeremy Hatt immediately. $10,000 reward.
3.
King Rail
L 15" ws 20" wt 360g
Last seen wearing: unknown. Witness reports are hazy and the suspect is rarely seen so as to get an accurate description.
Wanted for: Hiding in private property, noise complaints, and evading birdwatchers wanting another check on their life-lists.
4.
Black-necked Stilt
L 14" ws 29" wt 160g
Last seen wearing: Suspect was on stilts and wearing a black coat and white vest.
Wanted for: Being one of the newest additions to the Pelee Birding Circle list but not staying around long enough for one Jeremy Hatt to purchase a Greyhound ticket and see the bird.
5.
Franklin's Gull
L 14.5" ws 36" wt 280g
Last seen wearing: black hood to conceal identity, black gloves, and a grey and white shirt stained with a touch of pink; possibly blood from its latest victim.
Wanted for: The murder of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and stealing his identity.
6.
Hermit Warbler
L 5” ws 8” wt 9.2g
Last seen wearing: much duller colours than usual, attempting to blend in with the common Black-throated Green Warbler.
Wanted for: Various criminal activity and illegal border crossing (alleged video taken of suspect never surfaced. Please report to OBRC with any further documentation).
7.
Townsend’s Warbler
L 5” ws 8” wt 8.8g
Last seen wearing: Black and yellow bee costume.
Wanted for: Aiding and abetting in fraudulent reports in 2008 to confuse and anger birders.
8.
Swainson’s Warbler
L 5.5” ws 9” wt 19g
Last seen wearing: Non-descript brown jumpsuit with rufous ball-cap.
Wanted for: Tax evasion and fraud.
9.
Swallow-tailed Kite
L 22” ws 51” wt 420g
Last seen wearing:
Wanted for: Arriving hours after the Mississippi Kite in May of 2000, causing extreme disappointment among dedicated birders who had already waited 3 hours for the first bird and had to leave to avoid sun stroke.
10.
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
L 10” ws 14” wt 29g
Last seen wearning: Black and white tuxedo with exceedingly long tails in the back.
Wanted for: Crimes relating to the death of a fellow family member and subsequent return to the crime-scene years later but still missed by one Jeremy Hatt.
- $1,000,000 Reward
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Important Message of Bridget Stutchbury
On Sunday afternoon, I attended a lecture by Bridget Stutchbury, author of Silence of the Songbirds, an important environmental book you need to read if you have any interest in or concern for our North American songbirds. The lecture was part of a series put on at the University of Toronto covering a wide range of topics/issues. Next week is a talk on predicting natural disasters, which I also intend to attend.
Stutchbury's lecture was straightforward and relaxed but also eye-opening and profound. I got the sense that she was holding back her passion, ready to boil over but she had to stick to her PowerPoint presentation (a one-on-one would no doubt be fascinating). A lot of the talk was an overview of the main points of her novel and yet I still found myself surprised by the amazing journey our songbirds take every year during migration, disheartened by the statistics on dwindling bird populations, and at times (admittedly) ashamed of being a part of the problem: mainly bad consumer choices and not using my (modest) knowledge to better spread the word.
Much of the problem has to do with habitat destruction and indeed, this was the focus of her presentation. Forest fragments are far from the ideal nesting grounds for birds where they become an easy target for predators like Raccoons, Possums, Skunks, snakes, and even other birds. The nests are simply easier to access for predators since the fragments are often surrounded by open fields or, in the case of Toronto, cityscape. This disrupts territorial species and forces many to settle for sub-par nesting locations. The energy demands and stress on the parents (building the nest, feeding the young, and for the female, laying the eggs) prove to be even more difficult when faced with these poorer habitats. The protection of the Boreal Forest is imperative.
She also explained the problems in the south. Tropical forests, the overwintering habitats for most of our species, is being cut down alarmingly fast. The satellite imagery she showed us of the destruction of the forests in Brazil is pathetic. Another danger? Coffee plantations. Shade-grown is the best choice, where plants are grown under the canopy of natural rain forest, leaving pristine areas intact. On the other hand, sun-grown coffee (many of the cheaper brands we buy in bulk tin cans or many coffee shop chains) require clear-cutting of forests to make way for fields that are now uninhabitable to overwintering songbirds. Pesticides present another huge problem where regulations differ in N. America and S. America. Although there are pesticides banned for being too dangerous in N. America, there are less stringent regulations in S. America so many of the fruits we buy have been sprayed heavily with pesticides we have banned here! This is backwards. Images of piles of Swainson's Hawks killed by the toxins used in the pesticides are indicative of the extreme effect we can have on bird populations based on the chemicals we use.
I have already written much more than I intended in this post. Read Stutchbury's book and get the overall picture (she gets more into climate change, high-rise collisions, stray cats, and a laundry list of other issues). It's grim but hopeful. I certainly respect all the research she has done into North American songbirds and the message she sends out to the public.
I'll end with a couple of links to one of her newest research discoveries, a huge breakthrough that will change the way we view migration (who knew it could be more astonishing?!). She brought up some of her studies during the lecture and it's amazing how much more we can learn with the new technologies we have at our disposal. It's ongoing work like this that will bring better understanding of how we can stop the serious decline of our songbirds. For my part, I will continue to study and appreciate Class Aves and make changes in my life that will lessen my own impact on their decline.
Birder's World article featuring the new research
York University release of the study
Do try to give both a read, even if it's just a quick skim.
Stutchbury's lecture was straightforward and relaxed but also eye-opening and profound. I got the sense that she was holding back her passion, ready to boil over but she had to stick to her PowerPoint presentation (a one-on-one would no doubt be fascinating). A lot of the talk was an overview of the main points of her novel and yet I still found myself surprised by the amazing journey our songbirds take every year during migration, disheartened by the statistics on dwindling bird populations, and at times (admittedly) ashamed of being a part of the problem: mainly bad consumer choices and not using my (modest) knowledge to better spread the word.
Much of the problem has to do with habitat destruction and indeed, this was the focus of her presentation. Forest fragments are far from the ideal nesting grounds for birds where they become an easy target for predators like Raccoons, Possums, Skunks, snakes, and even other birds. The nests are simply easier to access for predators since the fragments are often surrounded by open fields or, in the case of Toronto, cityscape. This disrupts territorial species and forces many to settle for sub-par nesting locations. The energy demands and stress on the parents (building the nest, feeding the young, and for the female, laying the eggs) prove to be even more difficult when faced with these poorer habitats. The protection of the Boreal Forest is imperative.
She also explained the problems in the south. Tropical forests, the overwintering habitats for most of our species, is being cut down alarmingly fast. The satellite imagery she showed us of the destruction of the forests in Brazil is pathetic. Another danger? Coffee plantations. Shade-grown is the best choice, where plants are grown under the canopy of natural rain forest, leaving pristine areas intact. On the other hand, sun-grown coffee (many of the cheaper brands we buy in bulk tin cans or many coffee shop chains) require clear-cutting of forests to make way for fields that are now uninhabitable to overwintering songbirds. Pesticides present another huge problem where regulations differ in N. America and S. America. Although there are pesticides banned for being too dangerous in N. America, there are less stringent regulations in S. America so many of the fruits we buy have been sprayed heavily with pesticides we have banned here! This is backwards. Images of piles of Swainson's Hawks killed by the toxins used in the pesticides are indicative of the extreme effect we can have on bird populations based on the chemicals we use.
I have already written much more than I intended in this post. Read Stutchbury's book and get the overall picture (she gets more into climate change, high-rise collisions, stray cats, and a laundry list of other issues). It's grim but hopeful. I certainly respect all the research she has done into North American songbirds and the message she sends out to the public.
I'll end with a couple of links to one of her newest research discoveries, a huge breakthrough that will change the way we view migration (who knew it could be more astonishing?!). She brought up some of her studies during the lecture and it's amazing how much more we can learn with the new technologies we have at our disposal. It's ongoing work like this that will bring better understanding of how we can stop the serious decline of our songbirds. For my part, I will continue to study and appreciate Class Aves and make changes in my life that will lessen my own impact on their decline.
Birder's World article featuring the new research
York University release of the study
Do try to give both a read, even if it's just a quick skim.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Pileated Woodpecker - a collection of memories
One of my favourite birds to see while birdwatching has got to be the Pileated Woodpecker, a species that stops me in my tracks and reminds me why I birdwatch in the first place. This is one attractive species. With a length of 16.5" and a wingspan of 29" (thanks, Sibley), this is one large woodpecker (the largest in North America if you categorize The Grail Bird as extinct). It is found across North America but is most widespread in the southeast corner of the continent.
What inspires this post is my 4rth experience with the Pileated Woodpecker, which happened just this afternoon at High Park (February 21). After meeting some friends for lunch in the High Park restaurant, I was walking back to my apartment when I noticed a large black bird flying high over my head. I immediately recognized it as a Pileated Woodpecker as the species is virtually unmistakable in flight. I had to stop and run back a few paces to follow its flight path through the woods. Like every other instance where I've seen this bird, I was mesmerized.
My first encounter of the species was, surprisingly, quite a disappointment. It happened at the tip area of Point Pelee (for the life of me, I cannot remember the year but Marianne can help me on this). A group of us were walking and I remember a stir as we heard through the grapevine that Sarah Rupert had seen a Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead near the vicinity of where we were birding. For whatever reason, Pileated Woodpeckers are hardly ever seen in the Pelee area (likely due to the fact that the species inhabits old-growth forests, which Pelee is definitely not. Rondeau Provincial Park is a fairly reliable, nearby area to see them I hear). So, when the species was seen flying over the tip, a search party was started, which I was a part of. We searched for a couple of hours, starting at the tip and working our way northward through Post Woods on the east side of the park. The most frustrating part of the expedition was that the bird was heard by the group but never relocated! This was a new Pelee bird for me (and a new species at the time) so the overall experience, though exciting, was a bit of a let down as well.
Fast forward to Jully 11, 2001, my first Pileated Woodpecker sighting. This time around, I saw the bird but it was a flyby only and I was in the backseat of a rental car!! We were driving along the highway in Nova Scotia on a trip to the East Coast. During these trips, I'm constantly watching out the window since you never know when you'll spot a good trip bird. It paid off when I saw a large, black bird flying overhead (at a distance) with the telltale undulating flight of the woodpecker...and that was it. Before I knew it, the bird was out of site, I was yelling at my dad to stop the car, and he gave me an incredulous look that reminded me we were in the middle of a highway (car accidents caused by birding may be more frequent than we know. If a police officer ever asked you why you slammed on the breaks on the road and caused a fender-bender, would you ever actually reply, "There's a very good reason, officer. Didn't you see that Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead?!). Anyway, it was my first sighting of this majestic species and I wouldn't see the bird again until 2007 in the Florida Panhandle.
My best looks of the Pileated Woodpecker were in Apalachicola National Forest. Although I was primarily searching for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, in the process, I picked up a group of three Pileated Woodpeckers during the search. Let me tell you, it was a wonderful experience. Every time I heard drumming on a tree, I crazily stalked the sound as if I was desperately looking for a lost pet dog. My parents started to get impatient after about the third knock where I would then race away from them towards the sound. I really needed to see Red-cockaded. But first, I was treated with this trio. It was the first time I saw the species up close (we're talking a few trees away) and actually on a tree rather than a brief flyby. I won't soon forget it. This is truly one of our most beautiful birds. With their red crest, white-and-black patterned face, jet-black body feathers, and mighty bill, they are one heck of a species.
Now comes my fourth sighting, another flyby. This species remains elusive for me in Ontario with sightings separated by years, but in reality, this makes the experience of seeing one all the better. In fact, I don't want to see it again for a long time so that one day I'll look up and gasp when that large, black shape flies overhead. That is, unless one just happens to show up soon at Pelee to add to my May list...but that's a whole other ballgame.
What inspires this post is my 4rth experience with the Pileated Woodpecker, which happened just this afternoon at High Park (February 21). After meeting some friends for lunch in the High Park restaurant, I was walking back to my apartment when I noticed a large black bird flying high over my head. I immediately recognized it as a Pileated Woodpecker as the species is virtually unmistakable in flight. I had to stop and run back a few paces to follow its flight path through the woods. Like every other instance where I've seen this bird, I was mesmerized.
My first encounter of the species was, surprisingly, quite a disappointment. It happened at the tip area of Point Pelee (for the life of me, I cannot remember the year but Marianne can help me on this). A group of us were walking and I remember a stir as we heard through the grapevine that Sarah Rupert had seen a Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead near the vicinity of where we were birding. For whatever reason, Pileated Woodpeckers are hardly ever seen in the Pelee area (likely due to the fact that the species inhabits old-growth forests, which Pelee is definitely not. Rondeau Provincial Park is a fairly reliable, nearby area to see them I hear). So, when the species was seen flying over the tip, a search party was started, which I was a part of. We searched for a couple of hours, starting at the tip and working our way northward through Post Woods on the east side of the park. The most frustrating part of the expedition was that the bird was heard by the group but never relocated! This was a new Pelee bird for me (and a new species at the time) so the overall experience, though exciting, was a bit of a let down as well.
Fast forward to Jully 11, 2001, my first Pileated Woodpecker sighting. This time around, I saw the bird but it was a flyby only and I was in the backseat of a rental car!! We were driving along the highway in Nova Scotia on a trip to the East Coast. During these trips, I'm constantly watching out the window since you never know when you'll spot a good trip bird. It paid off when I saw a large, black bird flying overhead (at a distance) with the telltale undulating flight of the woodpecker...and that was it. Before I knew it, the bird was out of site, I was yelling at my dad to stop the car, and he gave me an incredulous look that reminded me we were in the middle of a highway (car accidents caused by birding may be more frequent than we know. If a police officer ever asked you why you slammed on the breaks on the road and caused a fender-bender, would you ever actually reply, "There's a very good reason, officer. Didn't you see that Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead?!). Anyway, it was my first sighting of this majestic species and I wouldn't see the bird again until 2007 in the Florida Panhandle.
My best looks of the Pileated Woodpecker were in Apalachicola National Forest. Although I was primarily searching for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, in the process, I picked up a group of three Pileated Woodpeckers during the search. Let me tell you, it was a wonderful experience. Every time I heard drumming on a tree, I crazily stalked the sound as if I was desperately looking for a lost pet dog. My parents started to get impatient after about the third knock where I would then race away from them towards the sound. I really needed to see Red-cockaded. But first, I was treated with this trio. It was the first time I saw the species up close (we're talking a few trees away) and actually on a tree rather than a brief flyby. I won't soon forget it. This is truly one of our most beautiful birds. With their red crest, white-and-black patterned face, jet-black body feathers, and mighty bill, they are one heck of a species.
Now comes my fourth sighting, another flyby. This species remains elusive for me in Ontario with sightings separated by years, but in reality, this makes the experience of seeing one all the better. In fact, I don't want to see it again for a long time so that one day I'll look up and gasp when that large, black shape flies overhead. That is, unless one just happens to show up soon at Pelee to add to my May list...but that's a whole other ballgame.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Best Birding Moments
I've been playing around with the idea of getting more posts going on Cerulean Sky by starting a new feature titled Best Birding Moments. Every birder has fond memories of their experiences. It can be something as simple as finally seeing your nemesis bird of 7 years or something more profound like being moved by the beauty of your natural surroundings.
When I think of my best birding moments, a few immediately come to mind: my first Prothonotary Warbler on the Tilden Trail, finding the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers of Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, a rainy day in May when a fallout occurred in Kopegaron Woods and the warblers were so abundant I couldn't keep up with identifying each individual.
In other cases, my best birding moments are simply cherished memories. Something that immediately comes to mind is when I was younger and I could call Marianne to go for a walk to the bridge and we'd talk for hours on end about birds. Or the carefree days in spring when the two of us would lay side by side in a field, watching the sky as male Horned Larks performed their displays above our heads, and try to pick which one we thought the female would select as her mate.
There are other fond moments I look forward to sharing. With my current work schedule and the hustle and bustle of Toronto, it's often easy to forget how truly passionate I am about birding. I hope these posts will spark a reminder of just how important it is for me to get out there more often and appreciate it.
When I think of my best birding moments, a few immediately come to mind: my first Prothonotary Warbler on the Tilden Trail, finding the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers of Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, a rainy day in May when a fallout occurred in Kopegaron Woods and the warblers were so abundant I couldn't keep up with identifying each individual.
In other cases, my best birding moments are simply cherished memories. Something that immediately comes to mind is when I was younger and I could call Marianne to go for a walk to the bridge and we'd talk for hours on end about birds. Or the carefree days in spring when the two of us would lay side by side in a field, watching the sky as male Horned Larks performed their displays above our heads, and try to pick which one we thought the female would select as her mate.
There are other fond moments I look forward to sharing. With my current work schedule and the hustle and bustle of Toronto, it's often easy to forget how truly passionate I am about birding. I hope these posts will spark a reminder of just how important it is for me to get out there more often and appreciate it.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Waterfowl Inventory 2009
Some members of the Toronto Ornithological Club who were kind enough to offer me a ride to the waterfront this morning picked me up at 8am to start our group's section of the waterfowl inventory. It's a count done each winter to get an estimate of waterfowl populations on Lake Ontario along the GTA waterfront from the east to west end.
We had a great section to cover from Humber Bay East all the way to the Keating Channel (east of Ontario Place) and including High Park (for Mallards that overwinter on Grenadier Pond where it doesn't freeze over in the north end). I used to live within walking distance of this section of the Toronto waterfront and it's a wonderful place to birdwatch. There are good numbers of duck rafts, many Mute Swans, and a chance for a some uncommon gull species (Glaucous, Iceland in particular). A breakwall along the shore creates shifting ice patches that almost always have good numbers of gulls to look at.
Weather: the temperature, though frigid, was not as bad as it could have been due to very low winds. Had there been winds, it would have been a miserable day. Fortunately, the sun shone bright, there was no fog and little haze, and visibility was high.
Our team consisted of Margaret Kelch, Doug Woods, Celia Harte, Mark Field, Harvey, Josh, and Zoe (I didn't get the last 3 members' last names). What we would often do when we encountered a large group of ducks (the Keating Channel proved the most difficult), would be to assign a species to each birder to count. It made the task much quicker and much easier. I was the official Redhead counter, which was fun but also a challenge...of all the waterfowl we tallied, Redhead had the highest numbers! There was also the issue of distant birds looking superficially similar to Scaups, which were also present in fair numbers. We had one scope in the group so Doug would often be our official distant-raft tallier and just count each species himself while we tallied the closer birds.
Obviously, as birders do, we also looked for other species as well. Some species of note include 3 Common Redpoll at Sunnyside Park, a single Iceland Gull at Keating Channel (LIFER), and an adult Bald Eagle that flew directly over our heads at Ontario Place. Yes, yes, I know...it took me this long to see an Iceland Gull?! Interesting, too, that I got Thayer's before Iceland. It was one of those species that always just seemed to be out of reach for me. I tried hard last year but was unsuccessful (got 2 Glaucous though) so it was a pleasure to get one so close and easily identifiable on this trip (it flew next to a Herring Gull for size comparison and Glaucous Gull was immediately eliminated).
Our numbers for the day were as follows:
Mallard .................. 229
American Black Duck ...... 2
Redhead .................. 1017
Gadwall .................. 16
American Widgeon ......... 8
Greater scaup ............ 576
Lesser scaup ............. 11
Ring-necked Duck ......... 1
Common Goldeneye ......... 128
Bufflehead ............... 49
LongTail ................. 932
Common Merganser ......... 40
Red-breasted Merganser ... 37
Hooded Merganser ......... 11
Mute Swan ................ 23
Tundra Swan .............. 4
Canada Goose ............. 115
The count for American Black Duck is an error. We had more than 2 birds at our first location so I don't know what happened to the final tally. We had closer to 10 birds for the day. Four species that were expected but missed include Trumpeter Swan, Harlequin Duck, Northern Shoveler, and American Coot (more likely in the interior of Humber Bay where we didn't cover).
Day list:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Bald Eagle
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull *lifer
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Redpoll - 3
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 33
Duration: 8:30am-12:30pm
We had a great section to cover from Humber Bay East all the way to the Keating Channel (east of Ontario Place) and including High Park (for Mallards that overwinter on Grenadier Pond where it doesn't freeze over in the north end). I used to live within walking distance of this section of the Toronto waterfront and it's a wonderful place to birdwatch. There are good numbers of duck rafts, many Mute Swans, and a chance for a some uncommon gull species (Glaucous, Iceland in particular). A breakwall along the shore creates shifting ice patches that almost always have good numbers of gulls to look at.
Weather: the temperature, though frigid, was not as bad as it could have been due to very low winds. Had there been winds, it would have been a miserable day. Fortunately, the sun shone bright, there was no fog and little haze, and visibility was high.
Our team consisted of Margaret Kelch, Doug Woods, Celia Harte, Mark Field, Harvey, Josh, and Zoe (I didn't get the last 3 members' last names). What we would often do when we encountered a large group of ducks (the Keating Channel proved the most difficult), would be to assign a species to each birder to count. It made the task much quicker and much easier. I was the official Redhead counter, which was fun but also a challenge...of all the waterfowl we tallied, Redhead had the highest numbers! There was also the issue of distant birds looking superficially similar to Scaups, which were also present in fair numbers. We had one scope in the group so Doug would often be our official distant-raft tallier and just count each species himself while we tallied the closer birds.
Obviously, as birders do, we also looked for other species as well. Some species of note include 3 Common Redpoll at Sunnyside Park, a single Iceland Gull at Keating Channel (LIFER), and an adult Bald Eagle that flew directly over our heads at Ontario Place. Yes, yes, I know...it took me this long to see an Iceland Gull?! Interesting, too, that I got Thayer's before Iceland. It was one of those species that always just seemed to be out of reach for me. I tried hard last year but was unsuccessful (got 2 Glaucous though) so it was a pleasure to get one so close and easily identifiable on this trip (it flew next to a Herring Gull for size comparison and Glaucous Gull was immediately eliminated).
Our numbers for the day were as follows:
Mallard .................. 229
American Black Duck ...... 2
Redhead .................. 1017
Gadwall .................. 16
American Widgeon ......... 8
Greater scaup ............ 576
Lesser scaup ............. 11
Ring-necked Duck ......... 1
Common Goldeneye ......... 128
Bufflehead ............... 49
LongTail ................. 932
Common Merganser ......... 40
Red-breasted Merganser ... 37
Hooded Merganser ......... 11
Mute Swan ................ 23
Tundra Swan .............. 4
Canada Goose ............. 115
The count for American Black Duck is an error. We had more than 2 birds at our first location so I don't know what happened to the final tally. We had closer to 10 birds for the day. Four species that were expected but missed include Trumpeter Swan, Harlequin Duck, Northern Shoveler, and American Coot (more likely in the interior of Humber Bay where we didn't cover).
Day list:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Bald Eagle
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull *lifer
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Redpoll - 3
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species: 33
Duration: 8:30am-12:30pm
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