#304 Cave Swallow!

This morning I arrived at the Tip at about 8:30 hoping that the change in temperature would perhaps get a Cave Swallow on the move. I wasn't disappointed. It ended up being one of the first birds I saw!

As I was walking past the Solar Panel Display on my way to the Tip, I was watching a flock of American Robins flying by and then thought, wait, what is that small thing? I brought my bins up. A SWALLOW! I watched it bank and saw its rump, then its throat, and that's when my heart skipped. Pale, Pale, Pale. Though I certainly wish I would have had a better look (like the one that was within 5 feet of birders at the Tip a week before!), I saw it well enough (LIFER!) and I continued to watch it as it flew against strong west winds almost over the lake, then turned and headed southeast. I hurried to the Tip thinking it might have been hanging around down there out of the wind but never relocated it. This species was my 304th in Ontario this year. Although my Big Year definitely slowed down once I hit 300, I was always hoping to reach 305 so that should be attainable w/ one more month to go (Purple Sandpiper...?). 

I was later joined by Alan Wormington and Richard Carr but none of us stuck around long as there wasn't much activity on the lake. Large numbers of scaups and Redhead off the east side, a couple of Common Loon flyovers, about a dozen distant Tundra Swans, a handful of Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye, 4 Horned Grebes, only 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, and of course, lots of Red-breasted Mergansers.

My view of the Tip this morning.

There was a decent number of raptors flying today on account of the winds including Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Sharp-shinned, and Cooper's Hawks, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, and Merlin. Reminded me of my time helping out w/ the hawk watch at Holiday Beach Conservation Area this fall. Looking forward to reading the results of the count from there today. Thanks to my good friend, Vee, for somehow managing to memify my love of hawks w/ Jeremy Renner:

I also finally checked out the new sculpture near the entrance of Point Pelee where the old admin building used to be. The artist is Teresa Altiman and the sculpture is of a turtle, symbolizing the Ojibwe legend of Turtle Island. There are four feathers hanging around the turtle that represent the four directions that people travel from to visit Point Pelee.

The sculpture stands upon a rock w/ this inscription:

Pelee Birding Circle - still no Snow Bunting!

Originally I had planned to get out birding early today but after waking up very early to do chores around the farm I went back to sleep for a bit and didn't get out until 11am. Oh well.

I started the day behind Pelee Days Inn. Not much changed overnight though there seemed to be less of everything. Fewer Lesser Yellowlegs, only 2 Least Sandpipers found out of the group of 6 that's been hanging out, and definitely fewer Canada Geese. Still a few Pectorals around and Killdeer but I didn't see any Semipalmated Plover this time around. American Golden-Plover outnumbered Black-bellied there today.

Next was lunch. Anyone visiting the Pelee area MUST go to Birdies Perch, located right across from Pelee Wings Nature Shop. They make the best darn vegetarian wrap you could ask for, called the Green Goddess. I've had about 20 of them since moving back to Essex County. The restaurant is currently rated #1 on Trip Advisor: Birdies Perch Trip Advisor.Unfortunately, I believe it's closing at the end of October so we'll have to wait until next spring to enjoy it again but they are going to do wonderful during the month of May. I'm excited to see what business is like there when so many birders are around.

The Onion Fields didn't produce anything of note for me this afternoon unfortunately but things picked up when I visited Hillman Marsh. I had got a text from Marianne saying she had more Snow Buntings flying over her house so I thought Hillman might give me a good clear open sky to see/hear one flying by. No such luck but I did get migrating raptors including 2 Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harrier, Sharpies, Turkey Vultures, and a single American Kestrel. A few Tree Swallows are still around the area and I had a late Nashville Warbler near the visitor centre.

Another highlight along the edge of the Shorebird Cell was a large # of Common Checkered Skipper. My count got up to 67 being as accurate as possible. I didn't continue along the trail past the Shorebird Cell so there may have been more. They were flying up from the ground every few steps I took. I saw more Checkered Skippers today than the combined total in my whole life. I also had a single Gray Hairstreak along this trail, Orange Sulphurs, Common Buckeyes, and one Monarch.

I finished up the day at Wheatley Harbour (after driving around the fields adjacent to Hillman trying to flush up a Snow Bunting from the side of the road...). Not much going on there besides a good number of migrating Bonaparte's Gulls, 7 Great Black-backed Gulls, and a Palm Warbler. I tried for the Nelson's Sparrow reported by Andrew Keaveney a few days ago but couldn't pish out anything interesting from the bushes at the harbour's edge.

Tomorrow, I plan to grab a lawn chair and park my keester on our back porch and wait for a Snow Bunting to fly over to get to 301. I just want that species out of the way!

And on that note, my Big Year has definitely slowed down after hitting 300. I can't do the same level of chasing I was doing earlier in the year to reach my goal so I'm relying on local rarities to bump my # up at this point. I'd love to go to Ottawa to get Barrow's Goldeneye, Western Grebe, and Tufted Duck but that's so implausible right now it's laughable.

Our Big Little Sit at Delaurier

On Thursday evening, Marianne suggested we do a Big Sit at Delaurier parking lot in Point Pelee on Friday morning. The weather report called for north winds, useless for jaegars or Sabine's Gulls at the tip, so Marianne thought it'd be cool to do something completely different. I'm glad she did.

A Big Sit is where you park your keister onto a Muskoka (or lawn) chair and let the hours pass by, recording every bird you see or hear. You'll want good company, a notebook or the eBird BirdLog app for keeping track (+ a cell charger cause the app sucks the battery life from your phone like a starved lamprey on a succulent Yellow Perch), sunscreen/hat, etc., food, bins/scope/camera, and a cooler of beer to really get some interesting sightings (we of course could not have an obvious cooler of beer sitting there since we were in a national park...we brought flasks*).


*we did not actually consume alcohol.

We began our Big Sit at 8am, enough sleeping in to recover from my hangover (ok, I promise that's my last joke about alcohol...I'm 10 characters away from an intervention here). We sat until 12:30pm, a total of 4.5 hours. Big Sits are usually a day-long affair but we decided to go for just a morning Sit. The day started off pretty well with flyover flocks of Pine Siskins, American Goldfinch, and House and Purple Finch. (Totals: PISI - 29, AMGO - 30, HOFI - 5, PUFI - 8).

Lots of blackbirds flying over with 3 Red-wings identified and 2 Brown-headed cowbirds w/ flocks of unidentifieds totaling 150 (conservative). The highest count for the day was European Starlings w/ a total of 1,495 birds. Next highest was of course Blue Jays, which are in full-force migration right now. We counted 690 birds but there were likely more. One thing that is difficult about doing a Big Sit at Point Pelee is that the peninsula funnels migrants (hawks and passerines) toward the lake and many turn around and fly back north, complicating counts to a degree since you don't always know if you're counting the same flocks over and over again! Our general rule was we counted birds flying south but not north.

As the morning went on, raptor flights started to pick up. Highest count was Turkey Vulture w/ 35 birds followed by Sharp-shinned Hawks - 28. Other raptor totals: Bald Eagle - 6, Red-tailed Hawk - 16, Northern Harrier - 10, Broad-winged Hawk - 4, Cooper's Hawk - 2, and American Kestrel - 2.

iScoped Instagram of a Sharp-shinned Hawk perched near Delaurier parking lot. This individual had a Northern Flicker and Blue Jays really riled up.

Close to our Sit end, Marianne stood up from her chair as a corvid approached. It was large, soaring, had a wedge-shaped tail...this was looking good for raven, a difficult bird to get for the Pelee Birding Circle. There are few records in Pelee since the 70's so we were excited when the bird flew directly overhead confirming Common Raven. This was a new species for my Pelee list so I was excited at the sighting. It flew over us heading south and not long after flew back north, calling. 

I was quite pleased w/ our count of Chimney Swifts, which were migrating south in good numbers. We counted a total of 59 birds just in the morning. We ended up w/ 29 Tree Swallows and a single late migrating Barn Swallow though I see from eBird that they are still being seen throughout southwestern Ontario. I wonder who will have the late date for BARS in Pelee?

Other #'s: 

Canada Goose - 15

Mallard - 2

Wild Turkey - 3

Double-crested Cormorant - 12

Great Blue Heron - 1

Sandhill Crane - 2

Killdeer - 10

Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs - 1

Ring-billed Gull - 8

Herring Gull - 1

Belted Kingfisher - 1

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2

Northern Flicker - 4

Downy Woodpecker - 2

Eastern Phoebe - 2

Horned Lark - 1

Black-capped Chickadee - 1

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2

American Robin - 4

Gray Catbird - 1

Brown Thrasher - 1

Cedar Waxwing - 17

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3

Song Sparrow - 1

White-throated Sparrow - 1

Dark-eyed Junco - 11

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1

iScoped Instagram of an Eastern Phoebe perched on a dead tree in the fields just south of the Delaurier parking lot.

Someday I'd like to do a Big Sit right at the end of Point Pelee and see what the day brings.

Later in the afternoon, we headed back to Marianne's place for lunch where we found a lifer for me, an "Eastern" or "Yellow" Palm Warbler. It had a bright yellow wash down its front, especially around its belly. Its throat was yellow and the supercilium was yellow as well. We found it w/ 2 other "Western" Palms so had a good comparison of the extent of yellow. This was my favourite bird of the day and one of many new lifers for my year. 

Lifer! Golden Eagle

After 12 years, I can finally say I've seen a Golden Eagle. 2 in fact. This marks my 306th species for my life list, which seems to be growing fast this year (most likely due to graduating and actually having time to go birding again!). Today at High Park, north winds and a clear sky brought 75 birds total through the area. The highlights included 2 Golden Eagles, 1 immature Bald Eagle, a few Red-shouldered Hawks, a couple of Sharpies and Cooper's Hawks, and a huge number of Red-tails.

The Golden Eagle, my target bird for this fall, is a stunning species. Its large size is palpable, even at a distance. The second bird was initially called out as a Turkey Vulture due to a noticeable dihedral but once it got closer, the group realized it was an eagle. On the first bird, the bulging primaries was quite obvious.

Other highlights at the count included a number of American Tree Sparrows, both species of nuthatches, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and a drab Eastern Bluebird that was catching grasshoppers from the same perch for most of the day. Near the entrance to the park, I had a Blue-headed Vireo and I was told by other birders at the count that I'll probably have to fill out a report for the bird because it might be record late. All in all a great day of birding.

Back from Panama City Beach!

After a week of warmth, sandy beaches, and palm trees, I'm back to the cold, drab days of November in Canada. Although I'm currently rushed because of work and getting everything back to normal in Toronto, updates are on their way. I ended up getting 4 lifers in the Panhandle, not bad considering the time of year and this trip being my third time to Florida. Obviously a ton of detail will follow each of my sightings. The highlight of the trip? Red-cockaded Woodpecker, which I will describe in great detail!

As with any trip, it's good to be back in Ontario and although it may not be everyone's favourite time of year, there are still a lot of good birds moving through the province. This includes Golden Eagle, my target species for November. There have been 13 birds tallied so far this fall at High Park so I can't wait to get back there. Before I forget, I also got the White-faced Ibis at Hillman Marsh! I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to get it almost a week after its initial finder. Blake and I had some good looks at it together and I'll be adding a post for that sighting as well.

Potpourri

Just a quick update as to what will be happening around here for the next couple weeks. As I've been writing, my trip to Florida has arrived and I'm leaving soon to the Panhandle for a week. Obviously, many posts with many lists will follow. I wanted to get around updating the High Park hawk counts from this week but it's been another slow week for migrants (at least at this particular counts...according to reports from Holiday Beach and a few other locations, huge numbers are still going through; especially Turkey Vultures). Hopefully when I get back from Florida (November 7), there will still be some good hawk movement and I can get Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Golden Eagle, and Red-shouldered Hawk (at least the first and last should be easy).

I'm also VERY MUCH hoping that the White-faced Ibis is still in the vicinity of Hillman Marsh. Marianne just sent me an email telling me there are a lot of migrants of all kinds flying through the Pelee area right now so hopefully we can get a good day of birding in there before I hit the road to Florida.

A few highlights from my week: a great show from 2 Cooper's Hawks at High Park, chasing squirrels and pigeons. They were an adult (probably male by the size) and an immature bird. Another great sighting was on a rainy day when I watched a relatively late Osprey hunting in Grenadier Pond at High Park. I also had a domesticated Greylag Goose there, which was a first for the park (not that it's countable, just interesting). Grenadier Pond is very reliable for decent numbers of Northern Shovelers right now with 20 birds present the last day I visited. I have also seen at least 1 or 2 Pied-billed Grebes each time I've visited this week. Not much in terms of passerines, but good numbers flying over the hawk count including migrating Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins, Goldfinches, and Cedar Waxwings. A few Eastern Bluebirds and Purple Finches have been flying through as well. On Thursday, we had a flock of White-winged Scoter fly over, many migrating Canada Geese (no Cackling), large numbers of Mergansers (probably Red-breasted), and Double-crested Cormorant. Definitely worth it to take a visit to High Park this time of year.

Lastly, the Cormorant Cull meeting regarding Middle Island was very interesting, a bit frustrating, but very informative. It really sounds like they're going through with the cull no matter what. The meetings may just be part of the environmental impact assessment so management can at least say they consulted the public. A lot of strong words about the cull were stated and my final thought is that there is too little strong scientific evidence to back up a management decision of this capacity, time-scale, and cost.

Well, I guess I'll sign off until I get back from my Florida trip.
Happy birding!

Slow days for Hawks at Hawk Hill / Cormorant cull

Probably due to the stormy weather that Toronto had all week, or the strong southwest winds that blew on days when it wasn't raining, not many hawks flew through the area of High Park at all. Those of us at the hawk count envisage that a large number of Turkey Vultures probably fly through the area daily, but new tree growth on Hawk Hill has obstructed the view of the northern horizon where many birds likely fly by unnoticed. I was told that the weekend of OFO brought good hawk numbers including a single Golden Eagle (on this year's wish list) and a handful of Red-shouldered Hawks (which I have yet to see this year as well). So far, out of the annual raptors, I'm still missing Red-shouldered and Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Goshawk, and Golden Eagle. Fortunately, these are all late-season migratory species and I have a good chance to get every one of them. Of course, I'll have no trouble finding Rough-legged Hawks along highways in southern Ontario throughout the winter but I'd like to see a few in migration and study the fine details of their flight.

I was able to make it out Saturday and Sunday of this week and very little flew over; A moderate number of Sharp-shinned Hawks, a few Kestrels, and a handful of Red-tails (migrants and locals). Only a few Turkey Vultures are being reported even though other hawk counts along Lake Erie are getting huge numbers currently.

Tonight I'm attending a meeting on the proposed Double-crested Cormorant cull on Middle Island which should be very interesting. I am mostly against the proposal thinking there is too little evidence to support a cull of this size but I'll certainly be making a post soon to discuss this topic in more detail and also give my opinion. I can say that I worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2006 and never did another employee discuss Cormorant populations as a factor in the amount of fish stock in Lake Erie. I also think there are too many factors involved in the management of the population that haven't been investigated enough to allow such drastic decisions. My guess is that the proposal coincides with Canada's decision to buy the island and is an issue of economics and based on the concerns of specific stakeholders rather than an issue of conservation. If the ownership of the small land mass was still in dispute, would there be nearly as much heat over whether the Cormorant population is a problem at all? Apparently, slides demonstrating the damage done to 1/3 of the tree population on the island are to be shown as well as a presentation on why the cull has been deemed appropriate.

The following document is very informative and should be read by anyone concerned with the cull or looking for more information on the proposed plans. It is the AOU's full report on the proposed Cormorant cull including criticism, recommendations, and alternative solutions. You'll need Adobe Acrobat:

Review of the Double-crested Cormorant Management Plan, 2003: Final Report of the AOU Conservation Committee's Panel

Hawk Hill - October 10

Another relatively slow day for hawks today at High Park with only a handful of birds showing up including Sharp-shinned Hawks (most abundant hawk right now), a few local and migrant Red-tails, a local Cooper's, a Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, and a reported Merlin that I missed (flew behind Hawk Hill and was gone by the time I turned around). Winds were out of the SSW today and scattered showers also hindered migration (but did make for some beautiful cloud formations). However, at least the temperature is finally dropping. Saturday's record high temperature was awful and worrisome and I welcome some cooler temperatures over the next few weeks.

Other interesting sightings during the day include 2 Loon flyovers, a migrating Great Blue Heron, a large, scattered flock of Cormorants, migrating Blue Jays, Robins, and Blackbirds, a decent number of Monarchs fighting the wind, and as I was leaving the park, a flock of 6 White-winged Scoters flying south towards Lake Ontario.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get out birding tomorrow because I have to pack for my trip home for the Ontario Field Ornithologists convention (25th) at Point Pelee. I can't wait to go birding this weekend with Marianne, and also visit with a large number of birders that I didn't see in the spring because of my move to Toronto.

High Park Hawk Count - October 8

Another productive day at High Park, this time for hawks (I realize this is starting to turn into a High Park blog, but the place is just so conveniently located that I can get there everyday to bird...yep, I'll likely be there again Monday). I didn't waste any time with passerines today because I was late arriving and quickly walked straight to hawk hill; the result of sleeping in after staying up till 2am the night before watching Some Like it Hot. Anyway, the winds started out of WSW but ended up switching and coming out of the NW by noon and migration really picked up.

There was a good number of counters out today and we had large numbers of Sharpies, sometimes 5 or more in the sky at once. There were a decent number of Coop's mixed in as well as local and migrant Tails. Only one Harrier made an appearance and 2 Peregrine Falcons but Kestrel numbers were up. 2 Bald eagles gave a spectacular show by flying quite low over the hill and its so great how excited people get over the majestic species. A good amount of Turkey Vultures also made an appearance with one kettle containing 20 individual birds.

Here is the official count for October 8 as posted on Ontbirds. For some reason, the Harrier from today didn't get counted but this isn't too surprising as oftentimes, many different birds were being called out at once. The list also gives numbers from the week (October 1-8) as well as for the year.
_______________________________________________________________
Species Oct8 Oct 1-8 Year to Date
Turkey Vulture...........82...........130..............394
Osprey....................-.............1...............32
Bald Eagle................2.............3...............29
Northern Harrier..........-.............3...............82
Sharp-shinned Hawk......230...........369.............1541
Cooper's Hawk.............4............13...............98
Northern Goshawk..........-.............-................-
Red-shouldered Hawk.......-.............-................1
Broad-winged Hawk.........-.............1.............3757
Red-tailed Hawk..........25............35..............225
Rough-legged Hawk.........-.............-................-
Golden Eagle..............-.............-................-
American Kestrel.........20............28..............206
Merlin....................-.............-...............11
Peregrine Falcon..........2.............7...............19
-Unidentified.............-.............4...............45

Total...................365...........594.............6440*

Hawk Migration: peak numbers and migration times

I decided to start re-reading archived issues of the Ontario Field Onithologists Newsletter and the first issue I picked up, dated October of 1999 has an in-depth article on hawk migration. Perfect supplement for my last post. The article is written by Ron Pittaway and contains much important information.

Here's a list summarizing the migration periods of each species as well as peak numbers (late dates in brackets following migration periods) taken from the article:

Turkey Vulture

Migration periods: mid-September to mid-November (rare winter)
Peak numbers: early to mid-October

Osprey

Migration: mid-August to late October (early December)
Peak: early to mid-September

Bald Eagle

Migration: September to December (rare winter)
Peak: September (numbers always low)

Northern Harrier

Migration: late August to late November (winters)
Peak: September

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Migration: late August to late November (winters)
Peak: September

Cooper's Hawk

Migration: mid-September to early November (rare winter)
Peak: early to mid-October

Northern Goshawk

Migration: early October to late November (winters)
Peak: late October to early November

Red-shouldered Hawk

Migration: early October to mid-November (rare winter)
Peak: mid to late October

Broad-winged Hawk

Migration: late August to early October (early November)
Peak: mid-September

Swainson's Hawk

Migration: early September to late October
Peak: mid-September to mid October (very rare migrant)

Red-tailed Hawk

Migration: mid-September to early December (winters)
Peak: mid-October to early November

Rough-legged Hawk

Migration: early October to early December (winters)
Peak: late October to early November

Golden Eagle

Migration: late September to December (rare winter)
Peak: late October to early November

American Kestrel

Migration: late August to mid-November (winters)
Peak: September

Merlin

Migration: late August to early November (rare winter)
Peak: September

Peregrine Falcon

Migration: early September to late October (rare winter)
Peak: late September to early October

Here's what he has to say about High Park:

"This fabulous site in Toronto's famed High Park is in the city's west end between the Gardiner Expressway and Bloor Street. Go to parking lot of Grenadier Restaurant from Bloor Street via West Road or take the east entrance off Parkside. Note: On Sundays and holidays from 1 May to 1 October, vehicle entrance to High Park is from Bloor only. Hawks are viewed from the small knoll known as Hawk Hill just to the north of the restaurant. High Park offers excellent birding throughout the year."

I have been there a few times now and I agree with the last statement. I'm looking forward to attending one of their hawk counts soon.

Fall Hawk Migration

We have entered a thrilling time for raptors and now is the time to get out to a hawk count or a site along lake Ontario or Lake Erie to witness the event. As I am now living in Toronto, a few wonderful sites from the Essex County area are off limits to me for now including Holiday Beach Conservation Area (the 2007 Festival of Hawks is currently on there), Sea Cliff Park, Leamington, and Point Pelee National Park (hawks tend to filter into the peninsula and can often be seen migrating off the tip, only to return as there are no warm thermals over the lake). Another hotspot is Hawk Cliff, Port Stanley, which is located northeast of Rondeau Provincial Park.

Raptors need warm thermals to migrate, which are large ascending masses of warm air that form after being heated by the sun. These columns of warm air lift particles and water vapour and often form cumulus clouds (beneficial for hawk migration as finding a hawk on a white backdrop is much easier than finding them in a clear blue sky). This form of migration is evident when you see raptors 'kettling'; a group of hawks spiraling and rising in the air. Since warm air will not form over the cooler surfaces of lakes and bodies of water, raptors have to find land-routes during migration so the northern shores of the Great Lakes are great spots for witnessing raptor migration. Winds are also important. Intuitively, northern winds give that extra push that hawks need so that they expend as little energy as possible during migration (it's a long way for some, all the way to the tropics in fact).

Yet another current besides thermals are important to hawk migration, deflective currents. This occurs when air runs into a large surface area like a cliff or woodlands and is deflected upwards, providing a chance for hawks to soar on the rising air.

Hawk migration starts as early as August, with the last hawks trickling through in November (excluding those that can stay well into December like Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, and American Kestrel). Peak numbers often occur in September due to the huge number of Broad-wings while peak species diversity occurs in October. On the Hawk Cliff website, there is a species status chart that describes the best times to see each species. There are pamphlets and books available at Holiday Beach detailing identification and status of each raptor species.

In Toronto, I plan to visit Hawk Hill in High Park for the first time this weekend. There have been some good reports coming from the area and mid-late September is peak migration for Broad-winged Hawks. Marianne and I witnessed this first-hand near Pelee where large kettles of Broad-winged Hawks were migrating. Full updates of my trip will be posted. In other news, I am going to have to purchase a metro pass for my new job, which will provide me the opportunity to increase my birding expeditions significantly. My shift also starts at 3:30pm, meaning all of my mornings are free. This will be great to shake off the rust of my fall migration knowledge.

Another trip home. Highlight? Broad-winged Hawk migration

So, many updates along the way after another trip home to Essex County, which means a few more posts this week. The first bit of business I have to attend to my weekend list, which ended up being quite decent after birding Hillman Marsh, Two Creeks Conservation Area, and Marianne’s backyard (more on this little known birding spot in a bit). Give me a second while I throw in The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack…

O.K. Ready. I always love a trip home as it allows me to bird within the Pelee birding circle. There’s just something special to me about my hometown and birding, a feeling I have trouble finding anywhere else I travel (nothing will ever beat the Shire right?). Yes, I have found 2 wonderful birding spots in Toronto already but there’s just something about your home turf that ignites your passion to its fullest. Especially when that home turf is the Pelee birding circle. That being said, I wasn’t able to bird as much as I would have liked but when you’re only home once a month or less, there’s also a lot of visiting relatives you have to fit into that precious time. However, on with lists!

Marianne and I decided to meet at Hillman Marsh at 9:30 on Sunday morning to check out if there were any mudflats for shorebirds. When I arrived, I immediately heard a Greater Yellowlegs so I knew there had to be a spot appropriate for feeding somewhere nearby (we got a tip earlier from another birding buddy of ours, Steve Pike, that there were a decent number of shorebirds at the bridge at the northwest corner of the conservation area). But first, we checked out the secret hiding place of the ducks (a glaringly long name, but one that we have always used to describe the area beyond the boardwalk where they throw down feed for waterfowl). There we picked up Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, and a few other common species. We also quickly noticed that there were no shorebirds. So, we looked to the skies. There was a nice Northwest wind in the morning so a good hawk migration was underway. We scanned a few kettles and figured there must have been hundreds of Broad-winged Hawks migrating. We also picked up Sharp-shinned Hawk riding the warm thermals, and two Cooper’s Hawks flying lower to the ground giving great views. A few Harriers were scouting the area for food.

Broad-winged Hawk - things to note: broad, white band on an otherwise black tail, the dark border around the trailing edge of the wing, and the white feathers of the leading edge (juveniles share the dark border on wings, but paler).

We then checked out the bridge and located where at least some of the shorebirds were feeding. There we got Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, juveniles and adults. There was also a group of Northern Shovelers as well as a pair of one of my favourites, Blue-winged Teal (in eclipse plumage).

Hunger and hope for more hawks led us to Marianne’s house near Kingsville. There, we set up camp in a bean field behind her house and watched the hawk migration (there were more clouds at this point providing better views but the birds were much farther away…some only black specks in the sky). I was having trouble telling apart birds from those annoying black spots that appear in your eyes when you’ve been in the sun too long and the winds changed to West Southwest so we gave up. Most of the raptors were Broad-winged Hawks but we also saw an American Kestrel. In fact, at my house, which is about half an hour north of Point Pelee, there are many kestrels present right now, perched on hydro wires and hunting in the fields. On Monday, I actually witnessed a female kestrel chasing a goldfinch but to no avail. I saw the full pursuit, including the kestrel give up and fly back to its post: a dead poplar. I took the chance to actually sketch the bird, taking note of shape, posture, flight, and plumage details. This is actually extremely effective as a learning tool (even if it is such a familiar species) and I wish I would have sketched more in the field when I was younger. Now I just get lazy.

Also, Monday morning I went to Two Creeks with my brother who’s training for Ironman Florida in November. He wanted to get some trail runs because it focuses attention on leg muscles you don’t normally use when running on flat ground. I took the opportunity to check out an area I rarely go to. It was slightly disappointing (very quiet) but still a nice area to hike even if the bird life isn’t abundant.

Here’s my list for the weekend:

Double-crested Cormorant (I hope to make a blog post shortly to give my thoughts on the planned Cormorant cull that’s supposed to take place soon).
Great Blue Heron (many including both adults and juveniles)
Great Egret ( 10+ at the northwest bridge of Hillman Marsh. I bet there were a lot at Muddy Creek just north of Wheatley Harbour, often a great place for shorebirds, waders, and waterfowl…not to mention rarities: I’ve seen Am. White Pelican and Ruff in this location).
Canada Goose (some migrating)
Mallard
Northern Shoveler (made up of females and eclipse-plumages males)
Blue-winged Teal (pair)
Turkey Vulture (a few)
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk (a few migrating)
Cooper’s Hawk (2 at Hillman)
Broad-winged Hawk (150+ over weekend)
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle (1 adult flying low over a field while I was driving to Windsor)
American Kestrel (many – migrating as well as hunting in the fields around my house; males and females)
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs (many)
Lesser Yellowlegs (a few)
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay (many migrating – Hillman, Sea Cliff, Two Creeks, as well as over my house)
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1 at Hillman Marsh entrance)
Marsh Wren (1 singing at Hillman)
American Robin (many migrating – huge numbers at Two Creeks)
European Starling (many migrating – enormous flocks on the way to Chatham to the Greyhound station)
American Pipit (1 at Hillman)
Common Yellowthroat (5+)
Northern Cardinal
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird (many migrating, especially on Sunday over Hillman Marsh)
America Goldfinch (many migrating, large numbers over my house)
House Sparrow

Total Species: 37 (low because I didn’t get a chance to do much woodland birding, thereby missing countless vireos, warblers, flycatchers, etc.).