Jan. 5/6 - Pelee and Surrounding Area Owling

Whenever you decide to sleep in instead of going to the Tip, you always risk missing a rarity. Well, that's exactly what happened last week when an Eared Grebe and a Black-legged Kittiwake were seen at the southernmost point of mainland Canada on one of my days staying home (I'm also at home this morning so let's see what happens down there.....). Fortunately, I got to the Tip on both Saturday and Sunday morning and although I didn't get anything really rare, I wasn't disappointed.


On the 5th, I met Kory and Sarah Renaud and stood in the cold until my toes had had enough. There have been a number of interesting gulls at the Tip lately w/ hybrids, rarities, and winter visitors settling on the peninsula. Waterfowl are also present in huge numbers. On the morning of the 5th, we looked northeast and saw a swarm of ducks fly up from the water. It looked like a cloud of distant midges there were so many! We estimated 50,000 ducks in the group (likely a mix of mergansers, scaups, and scoters).

When I first arrived by myself at the Tip my heart started racing when a shorebird flew from the east beach. I thought, 'What a great way to start my 2013 year list for Essex County! Purple Sandpiper! Ya!' Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Killdeer, which is still a nice bird for this time of year, but I was hopeful for a species that I might miss out on during the rest of the year. Later in the morning, a juvenile Great Blue Heron flew out onto the Tip and rested there briefly before taking flight southwest. Each morning, there are a couple or few American Pipits feeding w/ European Starlings on the beach as well as an assortment of sparrows (Savannah Sparrows on Dec. 31, 2012, Song Sparrow Jan. 5). Later in the morning I saw my first Yellow-rumped Warblers for the year.

After the Tip, we headed to the Onion Fields to try for Snowy Owl and Long-eared Owl. Kory knew of a good spot for Long-eareds that I hadn't been checking and it did not disappoint. I ended up seeing 2 of them in flight and one perched. Great looks.

Jan. 6, Marianne and I started our day out at the Tip as well. See her blog post for the morning here: http://peleechickadee.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mystery-gull-time.html

Similar morning to the day before but a juvenile Glaucous Gull right on the beach in front of us was one of the highlights (I love this gull species). I also spotted a mystery gull, which I first tried to ID as a GBBG x HERG but something didn't feel right. The bird was HUGE and didn't seem as dark-mantled as the other hybrids of this type we've had at the Tip recently (although I'm sure there's much variation in these hybrids). It was essentially equal in size to the surrounding Great Black-backed Gulls and the Glaucous Gull. That got us wondering if it could be a GBBG x GLGU hybrid. I'll pose the same question as Marianne on here blog. Anyone have any ideas?!

Here are a couple of my own iScoped photos (quality is not great...my scope has fogged in the inside....EEEEEAAAGHHHHH!!! @#$*!!) but it at least gives an idea of the size/shape/mantle colour.

 W/ Glaucous Gull (bottom right):

This afternoon I'm going to try for Short-eared Owl again south of Essex and see if I can find a Northern Shrike out there as well. Yesterday afternoon, I found a Red-headed Woodpecker, which I was quite pleased w/ (have never had one in the winter). It was a transition bird from juvenile to adult plumage. Kory came to see it as well and we ended up hearing a second bird in the same woodlot.

3 (should have been 4) owl day

Decided to head out into the Onion Fields once again this afternoon after a text from Marianne that Bob Cermak had a reliable spot for a Long-eared Owl. Although I was in the middle of watching a small claims court show while eating pretzels (I can do what I want on my days off, thank you bery buch!), I thought...ah heck, I better not miss this one now when I've got the chance. So I hopped into the ol' Ford Windstar (Silver Bullet by nickname after speeding 130km/hr in it to get a Ruff once) and headed out (but was able to pick up a DVD copy of The Big Year along the way...multi-tasking).

Sure enough, after running into Bob and having him show me the tree the bird was in, as well as showing me the bird itself, I saw the bird! Long-eared 2012 - tick. They are such neat birds, described by me as having a permanent shocked expression. They're really just a miniature version of a Great Horned Owl if you had to simplify. We tried around for redpolls (possible Hoary redpoll had been reported the week before) but w/ no luck. However, I did get an interesting mixed flock of blackbirds and starlings. There were hundreds of Brown-headed Cowbirds, hundreds of European Starlings, a handful of Rusty Blackbirds and Common Grackles, and only a few Red-winged Blackbirds.

Later I met up w/ Sarah Rupert to go owling again in the fields for Snowy Owl. I had got a couple in 2011 when I was down for the holidays but I hadn't got one for my 2012 year list and I knew this was my best chance. So after a short drive, we ended up seeing a solitary bird next to Killdeer Rd. To finish off the night, we headed into Pelee with the sun falling fast and looked for Great Horned Owl. Sure enough, near the stump where the species nests each spring, we had a single bird (pretty much just its silhouette by that point). Didn't catch up to any Eastern Screech Owls today but seeing as I got two yesterday, I can't complain.

A decent afternoon. Wish I could stay in Pelee for longer but I return to Toronto tomorrow, where I'm sure some good birds will be showing up soon.

Once I get out a few more times and get enough species as to not be embarrassed by my current list, I'll put an update on here on my 2012 year list progress.