Townsend Twitch: Episode III - Solitaire Redemption

As many (Ontario) birders know, Dan MacNeal, a well known known birder from Wellington County, found a Townsend's Solitaire last November, which many went out to see. Others may also know, that I was not one of these people, although I tried to be. So hence the title, when Dan refound the same Solitaire in the same location as before, I tried at a shot for redemption. Amazing that it has been around for so long! Interestingly Dan found what was very likely a different bird at Guelph Lake in  December. But it didn't stay long and I dipped on it as well... So my first chase of the year, second time chasing this individual, and third time trying for this species, I felt determined.
          I had ski practice in the morning first, which worked out well as it was known to become more reliable in the evening. On the way up I tried for Longspurs, but as seems to be a very strong recent trend with me- I came up empty.
          I was meeting up with my friend Logan Baldwin, whom I'd never actually met in real life, but we'd corresponded and had planned to try and meet up. He was already there, and told me that it hadn't been seen since the morning. Great I thought, Not again. But just as I thought this, me and Logan almost simultaneously called out a medium sized bird flitting away into the bush- with orange wingbars. We quickly searched the bush we thought it might have landed in, but had no luck. We decided to walk up the hedgerow, and inform the other people looking. They had disappeared into the bush, but just as we were about to change direction, Todd Hagedorn, an old employee of my mom appeared from the bush, and said that he had the bird in forest! We quickly followed him, but they had lost it. I noticed something flit, got my bins up, and it was indeed the bird! It was pretty obscured, and hard for everyone to get on it. Eventually it moved to a slightly more open spot, and I got some pretty decent pictures:

The first thing I noticed on this bird was the long tail, then the eyering, than the 'burnt' orange wingbars... A very very distinct bird!

Solitaire's wingbars can range from a dull, barely noticeable tint, to a bright, burnt orange. I would say that this bird is quite bright!

Quite content with my brief, yet high quality sighting, we trekked back out the opening. I called my friend Nathan Hood, who had left only a few minutes earlier- empty handed! It was a bit awkward when he showed up, and we didn't have the bird anymore... But we walked a small section of the road and saw it fly over again, in similar fashion to the first time! Feeling good, we decided to keep on heading up to our chalet, where we made a short stop at an art store in Flesherton called Local Colour, where a Carolina Wren had been coming to a feeder there. Although the bird wasn't there, the shop owner, David Turner was. He's a great birder in Grey County, and I've been wanting to meet up with him for some time! As a success present, I bought myself a wooden Piping Plover, my favourite bird! I collect bird art, and I really like shorebirds, so this was a great addition!

I did a little bit of birding on Sunday in Collingwood, where I got my FOY (first of year) Iceland Gull, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe and others. A great addition to January, and it isn't over yet!

Blob- AKA an Iceland Gull

Female Red-breasted Merganser, maybe I should do a post on Common vs. Red-breasted females. Or maybe I should just do a general post on common similar species (that are in season), like Downy vs. Hairy, and other stuff like that

Well there's that post... Not sure what my next one(s) will be on, but I know that I will do one on my upcoming trip to Celebration, Florida! It's barely going to be a birding trip, as it's only three days after exams, and my parents don't seem willing to drive me anywhere, they say that a vacation is being able to sleep in, relax, and not drive anywhere... Ha! 

One day...

The End of 2017

I have been insanely busy lately, with (un)important thing like exams, school, blah blah blah. I started writing this post almost, but I figured I'd put it out sooner rather than later. And I used to be putting out one a week... Oh well.
2017 was a great year to be a birder, 364 species were observed in the province, the highest ever in one year! After my Tufted Duck twitch, I had pretty much only one more opportunity for birding, the Meaford CBC. Last minute, my section got changed, but the new one still had quite a bit of shoreline and other interesting features. The day was pretty good, my section got 29 species, highlights including a Snowy Owl, several (Common) Redpolls, and a single flyover Snow Bunting. I finished off by having some Cider at the section leaders house. While waiting for the official wrap-up to start, my mom spotted a Northern Shrike out the window, putting the end to a poor House Finch's life. Then it flew up into a bush only a few meters from the window!

This blows away some of my previous shrike pictures:

You get the point... 

         The next few days leading up to the new year I mainly spent feeder watching, and some local birding. There's always a big flock of Goldfinches that cycles through our property at around the same time each day, and in past years I've had Purple Finches, Pine Siskins and Redpolls mixed in. There wasn't anything too exciting, but a few siskins did turn up, as well as a photogenic Downy Woodpecker.

I've since managed to get some ok shots of Hairy Woodpeckers on the same tree, so maybe I'll do a post comparing the two similar species. What do you think?

Goldfinch's streakier counterpart

Me and my family went for a walk not too far away from our chalet, and I found some Ruffed Grouse eating the buds out of a tree:

And then when I came back, I noticed a grey lump out on a tree limb over the feeder. An Eastern-screech Owl! Although not a yardbird, I think it's the first one I've ever actually seen in my yard, or maybe even county. A great way to end the year!

Not wanting to disturb him or her too much, I quickly retreated back inside. I went back out that night, and heard what was probably the same one doing it's monotonic trill. But of course in the new year when I went out (very) early that morning, it was nowhere to be seen or heard. Figures...

I birded my subdivision pretty hard the next morning, and turned up some Purple Finches, some heard only Redpolls, a flyover Common Merganser at my patch (the first!), and a leucistic Goldfinch at my feeder! Pretty good first day I think!

I think I'll turn out a few more posts this week, summarizing the rest of my new year, a chase, and a (still) upcoming trip to Florida!

Good birding!