Another Twitch

I've been really lucky twitching wise this year, and I know that I'm going to jinx myself by saying it.
          But recently I was hit with a streak of bad luck, missing the Solitaire in Shelburne, than being unsuccessful with Greater White-fronted Geese in Owen Sound, and then this morning with the Mountain Bluebird in Waterloo.
          This morning me, my mom and (weirdly) my sister decided to take on the exhausting (16 min) drive to Snyder's Flats, to try and relocate the Bluebird. About an hour and a half later, we were already leaving the flats with nothing to show except for a slightly out of range Raven. But I was determined to get this first county record, so convinced my mom to (again) drive my up to the flats. As soon as we got there, I noticed two people off on the flats with massive cameras pointed in the same direction, always a good sign. We hurried across the field to find the Bluebird perched on top of a bush. It sat there for a few seconds, eyeing us up with it's ringed little eye, before flying to the ground, catching an insect than flying a few yards away to the top of a tree. It repeated this pattern, and I managed a decent shot:

Pretty little thing! Too bad it's not a male... Ah well, I can't complain!

It continued it's little flight routine, and worked it's way in an arc across the flat. I guessed where it was going to perch next, and lucked out when it landed in the top of a tree only a few metres from me!

A very grey individual I thought, although the sunset colours don't make it appear that way!

We followed it around a little more, until it settled in top of a tree on the opposite side of the road, and preened. We crept up closer and closer until we were right underneath the tree! It barely seemed bothered by our presence and continued preening.

Preening it's wing

Too bad this picture doesn't bring out the blue more in it's wing and tail!

And there we left it with the quickly dying light... And I might go again tomorrow in better lighting!

Duck Dynasty

Totally stole this blog post title from my friend, but it's accurate! This weekend I went up my family's chalet in Grey County, very close to Kimberley. I had a PD day on Friday, so we headed up earlier in the day. I convinced my parents to make a quick detour to Shelburne, which had been housing a Townsend's Solitaire for the past few days. I would have called this post Townsend's Twitch Part II, but unfortunately there was no Part II to be seen. Nonetheless, I still saw a lone male Northern Harrier cruising around the fields. Hopefully it's last meal hadn't been the Solitaire!

The 'Grey Ghost' of winter

So on to the ducks. I started off the weekend by checking on my patch. There was a good number of Buffleheads (48), a single female Goldeneye, my first ever actually on the ponds, and a couple mallards. As I was scanning, I noticed a larger duck popping in and out of view at the back. I got my scope on it, and it turned out to be a female wood duck! Wood Ducks are really common here in the summer and spring, my highest count ever 96 birds! But this female was quite late.

A low quality picture indeed, but at least it's identifiable!

Amazingly there was only one male in the mix of Buffleheads! Lucky guy...

Goldeneye n' Goose

Later we went to the Collingwood Harbour, and my parents left me there with my sister, before going off to look at X-Country skis. 

          The main part of the harbour was quite productive. There was a few white-winged scoters, the first I'd seen here in a while, as well as high numbers of Goldeneye and Bufflehead. There was also a few Long-tailed Ducks and Horned Grebes.

Horned Grebe - So different in their non-breeding plumage

Long-tailed Duck

Another scan of the East side of the harbour turned up all three Merganser species - Common, Hooded and Red-breasted. There was also a lone American Coot hanging around on the West side. Occasionally these birds stay the winter, in fact last year on the Meaford Christmas Bird Count we had one at the harbour there!

Female Red-breasted Merganser - Nothing like their male counterpart

Lighting was already pretty low, so I did a quick scan through the gulls, turning up 3 Great Black-black Gulls, as well as the usual Herring and Ring-bills. Satisfied, I headed home with 12 waterfowl species, plus Coot!

          The next day I got a ride with Lynne Richardson to Owen Sound, where we unsuccessfully looked for some continuing (60 some) Greater White-fronted Geese. There was a few Goldeneye and Bufflehead around however, and we even saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker climbing up a dead tree by the lakeshore. Red-bellied Woodpecker is one of a handful of species that would have been impossible to find this far North 20 years ago.

          Back to Kimberley we went, and I checked the ponds one more time, turning up even more Bufflehead, but no Wood Duck. 

All in all, a great weekend (as usual!), and tomorrow I'm skipping first period for 'good reason' to see a continuing Mountain Bluebird in my own county!

Good birding, Ethan.

Townsend Twitch

Not a twitch to Townsend Sewage Lagoons, but a twitch to see a Townsend's Warbler!
          Yesterday (Saturday) James Burk found a Townsend's Warbler near Rondeau Provincial Park, specifically at Center Street and 2nd Avenue. I was assuming that I wasn't going to be able to go, but I found a ride for Sunday with my friend Isabel Apkarian and Nathan Hood.
          My alarm woke me up an hour early because I forgot to change it to daylight savings time, so I went back to asleep and woke up at the correct 6:05 am. My dad drove me out to meet Isabel, who picked me up, and then Nathan, and then we headed to Rondeau. As we were driving, Nathan checked and found the that the Townsend's had been seen only ten minutes prior. A really good sign!
          We arrived and quickly located the small group of birders, strung out across the road. We got out and found out that it hadn't been seen for almost half an hour. They reassured us that it would come back, as it had been doing a loop around the block with the neighbourhood Chickadees. We walked the road when Barbara Charlton got a text from Steve Charbonneau that he had the bird just a few blocks up the road. We sped walked as fast as we could, turned the last corner and voila! The bird appeared at the top of a Juniper tree, which this bird had been favouring. It flitted around for a few moments before flying off with it's Chickadee pals in the direction of where we had come from. I managed two frames, but neither were very good. We headed back in the direction we had come, and relocated it briefly again, before it flew off in the opposite direction again. We spent a while trying to find it again, and eventually another group found it, and it stayed in one spot for long enough to get decent photos.

The bright yellow on the face and body and bold dark facial marking mean that this bird is a hatch year bird - meaning that it was hatched this year

This little warbler is normally found on the western side of North America, but they do occasionally stray over to Ontario. There is a total of 9 records on eBird for Townsend's although there is a few that aren't on there. I was surprised to find that 4 of the 9 records were all in Rondeau!

Here's a range map that I stole from What Bird, but it showcases how lost this poor guy is!

I managed to get a few more decent photos, and I was very satisfied with my lifer! Interestingly, this is the first fall record of Townsend's Warbler for the province! At least on eBird...

After satisfying ourselves with the warbler, we decided to check out the beach. We scanned the water and found good numbers Ruddy Ducks, as well as some Greater Scaups, Horned Grebes, and Long-tailed Ducks mixed in. 

There was also some photogenic Ring-bills flying around

We noticed some shorebirds moving up the shoreline, and found them to be 6 Dunlin, and a Sanderling.

Dunlin and Sanderling are our two latest small shorebird migrants, and are often found in small groups. The Sanderling is on the right in this photo, it's pale white plumage contrasts to the Dunlin's smudgy grey

A female Common Goldeneye also made a quick flyby

All in all, avery successful trip well worth the drive! I've been having some really good luck recently birding wise, so I'll try my luck agin next weekend birding around in Grey County, and see what I can turn up!

Early November Birding

Weather is an incredibly important factor for birding. A drop in temperature will hurry along southbound migrants, and an increase in temperature will sometimes slow them down. A slight shift in wind direction can mean the difference between tons of birds, and no birds at all. And that's what happened yesterday on Lake Ontario.

          Wind directions have been consistently coming from the West for a quite some time, except for a few odd days, but those days were fairly week East winds. Yesterday the wind shifted to the Northwest, and on the west shore of Lake Ontario wind speeds were going to be up to 50 kilometres an hour at times. This, combined with some good luck, was the perfect recipe for pelagic species and Jaegers. The strong easterly winds would sweep all the birds along the St. Lawrence River, into Lake Ontario, and then straight for Hamilton, where I would be waiting for them...

This map shows the wind direction and speed across Lake Ontario, I got this from WINDY, a great wind app

In the morning I decided to go bird banding at Ruthven Park, to tie up a loose end for my Ontario year list, Fox Sparrow. Sure enough, on the second net round a re-trap bird turned up! 

You can tell where Fox Sparrows get their name from, from this picture - the brilliant red tones!

Birding was fairly good, and there was lots of South bound migrants going over. Mostly Red-winged Blackbirds, and Robins, but there was also some Pipits and Bluebirds mixed in, and I also heard a Rusty Blackbird flyover! Feeling good so far, I hitched a ride with my friend Nathan to Van Wagner's, where we planned to spend the next four hours or so scanning the horizon for birds blown into the Hamilton end of the lake from the gale force winds.

          When we got there, they told us that they had already a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake, and a few Jaegers. After about an hour of scanning, I noticed a dark gull like bird shooting across the water. Everyone got on it and it was determined to be a Parasitic Jaeger! My first Jaeger species ever! Nothing happened for a while, but then a lone Brant was spotted flying Northwards. After that, I decided to go back to the car and get some warmer clothes. On the way back, I noticed a small gull making it's way up the shoreline towards the barricade of scopes. I got my bins on it and found that it was the Kittiwake! I called to the group, and everyone got on it! It continued it's way of the shoreline and disappeared. Kittiwakes are a small species of gull from the far east and west coasts of Canada. These birds turn up several times a year in the province, normally around Lake Ontario and the Niagara Region. So not totally unexpected, but my first for the province! After that, a few more unidentified Jaegers showed up on the horizon for a few seconds, and this disappeared again, in true Jaeger fashion. 

          After another hour or so, things picked up again, and another Jaeger came in fairly close, at least close enough to identified as a Pomarine Jaeger! My second lifer of the day! It even came close enough for (poor) pictures!

Jaegers are known to always be far out on the horizon, but when winds are this strong, they can get pushed super close!

More Jaeger spuhs were seen way far out, but not close enough to be identified. Thankfully there was some ducks closer in, mostly Long-tailed Ducks and White-winged Scoters, but I also saw a few Black Scoters fly by, another year bird! A Red-throated Loon also made an appearance as it migrated South with some Common Loons.

White-winged Scoters

Long-tailed Duck

Some surfers were taking advantage of the super strong waves, and braved the cold waters in wetsuits!

Brrr!

A large flock of Snow Geese was spotted South over the lake, and I estimated 80 of them! A really high count for the Hamilton Area! The flock was comprised of about 70% white morphs and 30% blue morphs! Another Jaeger made an appearance quick appearance, and flew within 80 meters of the viewing area, and was originally identified as a Pomarine, then switched to Parasitic, then changed to Pomarine again, and then again back to Parasitic where it will stay! The white line next to the white primaries is normally a characteristic trait of Pomarines, but apparently a small portion of Parasitics also show it. The thinner body structure and warmer caramel tones are also good indicators of this bird being a Parasitic.

Parasitic Jaeger - Such cool birds!

This photo shows the bill size and shape fairly well, a Long-tailed Jaeger would have a much shorter and stubby bill, where the black covers about of it, and a Pomarine would have a slightly thicker bill. The bulge at the end of the bill, also called the Gonydeal Angle, isn't overly noticeable, but whereas on a Pomarine, it would be fairly conspicuous

The longer tail and tipping on the tail are also good field marks for Parasitic

The white bar is more noticeable in this picture. If you can see this feature, then you know that the bird is close to you!

And that wraps up my weekend, pretty successful! In total two lifers (Pomarine and Parasitic Jaeger), and seven Ontario yearbird, one being completely new to Ontario for me! They were Brant, Red-throated Loon, White-rumped Sandpiper, Snow Goose (almost missed it!) Fox Sparrow (whew, also a close one!), Black Scoter and the new Ontario bird was Kittiwake. My best November birding ever!

Lists: Ruthven List, Van Wagner's List

          Next week I won't be doing much birding, because I have a kung-fu black-belt grading, but the weekend after I'm going up to North to do some patch birding!

Until next time... Good birding!