Another day at the Point

Jason and I headed over to WPBO yesterday for my last visit until maybe October. Ended up being a kind of slow day, but we did have a little bit of everything, which was nice. Jason's highlights were his lifer Whimbrel, Northern Goshawk as a year bird, and a nice juvenile Least Sandpiper around 4 feet away! In addition to those, we had a few shorebirds, nothing new for me, some warblers, and quite a few raptors including all 3 summer falcons and a darkish juvenile Broad-winged Hawk. Other than that, the strong northwest winds and sunny conditions didn't produce a whole lot - other than a jaeger species that may have made 3 passes (or maybe it was 3 different birds?). Either way, it was too far out in the distortion to ID.

Sanderling in the early morning light

juv. Least Sandpiper (this pic at about 8 feet or so)

Panorama shot from the Tip

HDR pic of the sunrise over the waterbird shack

WPBO yesterday

Yesterday I took two new birders (Lynn and Betty) over to WPBO to see what was around. It was a great day for shorebirds, and a not-so-great day for landbirds due to the weather. A cold front overnight followed by strong north winds dropped a lot of shorebirds at the Point, we ended up with 9 species for the day being: Semipalmated Plover (10+), Piping Plover (1), Greater Yellowlegs (1), Whimbrel (2), Sanderling (30+), Semipalmated Sandpiper (20+), Least Sandpiper (15+), Baird's Sandpiper (10+), and Pectoral Sandpiper (1). 4 of those were new for my year list, putting me at 223. 90+ shorebirds is an amazing day in the Sault, and that doesn't include the flock of 50+ birds that took off before we could get an ID on them. There wasn't much else of note for the day, but the shorebirds and great company made it worth it.

Whimbrel looking for bugs

Piping Plover juvenile

2 Baird's and a Sanderling in flight

Whimbrel tracks in the sand

Juvenile Sanderling

It's been a while...

Ok, so I know I haven't posted anything birding-related for a while, so here it is, a summary of my month and a week since the last post. First off, I've added 55 species to the year list, bringing it up to 122 - a reasonable total for this time of year although I'm still missing a ton of birds that are around. There hasn't been much out of the ordinary - last ski day was April 4, on which I found my FOS Red-shouldered Hawk - always a nice bird up here. I went to Sudbury for Easter, and on the way there managed to find 2 Ross's Geese and a Cackling Goose, both of which used to be super rare in the area but are annual now. The day after my return I went out and found another Ross's Goose, along with a lot of waterfowl. The first shorebirds have returned, with Greater Yellowlegs and Woodcock on the list. I managed to shatter my record numbers of Pintails and Green-winged Teal in a field, with 120+ and 60+, respectively. On April 19, saw 11 breeding-plumaged male Lapland Longspurs, something you don't see too often. Yesterday I went to Whitefish Point for the first time this year, and we had a good day despite the rain and constant NW wind - basically the worst conditions for spring birding. We managed 76 species by the end, with 16 year birds and 2 new for my SSM list! The new ones were American Avocet (2nd point record) and Spruce Grouse (FINALLY!!!!). I also added Short-eared Owl to my WPBO list, one that has been missing for too long. Went out today to look for a yellow-throated warbler, with no success. It probably took off with the cold front yesterday. Managed to add Brewer's Blackbird though. That's it for now - we should be seeing a massive influx of migrants over the next week if the weather cooperates, there are a ton of new species coming in to southern ontario!

Ross's Goose - Desbarats

Mallard - Sudbury

Trumpeter Swan - Sudbury

Hoary Redpoll - Sudbury

Common Redpoll - Sudbury

Short-eared Owl - WPBO

American Avocet - WPBO

Spruce Grouse - Vermillion Rd.

WPBO Thanksgiving

On Canadian Thanksgiving day, my dad and I headed over to WPBO to see what was around. Not a whole lot as it turned out, but we did see my first Long-tailed Ducks for SSM this year, along with decent numbers of the regular waterfowl. Not many passerines around, and no owls unfortunately.

Birding this weekend - CARW!

I spent most of this weekend out birding or sleeping instead of working on school projects (as I probably should have been...). The highlight by far was a Carolina Wren just across the river in the other Sault. We got good looks and heard it singing. A nice bonus - #266 for my SSM list. Other than that, I added Red-throated Loon, White-winged Scoter, and American Golden-Plover at WPBO today, bringing me up to 220 for the Sault this year...only 19 more to go to beat last year :P. Some other nice birds were 15 species of warblers including Blackpoll, Wilson's, Orange-crowned and Parula, Black-backed Woodpecker, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Peregrine Falcon among a total of 95 species for the weekend.

A Slow Day at the Point

On Saturday, Kirk, his dad, and I headed over to WPBO. On the way we cruised by 10-mile Rd. and found the Sharp-tailed Grouse still on the lek, and added Bobolink to the yearlist.

WPBO was pretty slow, due to the cold temps and strong west winds. I did add Evening Grosbeak, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Eastern Bluebird to the yearlist though. When 10 am. came around and only 3 species of warblers (5 individuals) had come out to eat, we figured we'd be better off heading inland. Our suspicions proved correct, and at the Tahquamenon Rivermouth campground we had quite a few warblers, including Blackburnian, Orange-crowned, Magnolia, Pine, and Canada. Blue-headed Vireos were also around, and we found 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a rarity in this part of the state. Then we headed off to Trout Lake to try our luck at finding Spruce Grouse (my nemesis bird, although I have seen a pair back in 1999). Of course, we didn't find any. People say there are reliable sites, I've been to them at least 10 times each and never seen a SPGR. Maybe sometime... Anyway, we found some other good birds, and added Cape May Warbler and Vesper Sparrow to the yearlist. Then it was back home via 10-mile Rd. again (found Eastern Kingbird), and the Locks (added Chestnut-sided Warbler and Clay-colored Sparrow). We finished the day with 99 species, and I added 12 year birds.

Photos from yesterday

Weather isn't great today, so no bigbying. Here are the better shots from yesterday at WPBO.

Sandhill Crane

Fox Sparrow (with song sparrow and junco)

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Sharp-shinned Hawk x2

Northern Goshawk immature

Rough-legged Hawk (intermediate phase)

WPBO - Hawks and Migrants

Went over to the point today with Kirk Zufelt. Despite being fairly warm in the parking lot, the hawk tower proved yet again that it is the coldest place on the point. The winds were pretty strong from the SE, which stopped most hawks from crossing, so they bottled up near the point. There were some decent numbers, plus I added a couple new ones for the year and got a few decent shots. My first-of-season (FOS) Yellow-rumped Warbler (about 10 days early!), Eastern Phoebe, American Tree Sparrow and Fox Sparrow (about a week late) were also at the point, and the phoebe turned out to be a new bird for my WPBO list! #195, only 5 more to go to the 200 mark! After the hawks stopped coming through the point, we headed out and cruised the back roads south of the Sault, adding Eastern Meadowlark among others, but mainly boosting the numbers of individuals for the day. As always, the day list is below, with my SSM year birds in bold. Numbers of species are picking up, maybe I'll beat last year's April total?

Cackling Goose - 2
Canada Goose - 20+
American Black Duck - 10+
Mallard - 60+
Bufflehead - 4
Common Goldeneye - 10+
Common Merganser - 15+
Sharp-tailed Grouse - 17
Great Blue Heron - 1
Turkey Vulture - 12
Bald Eagle - 7
Northern Harrier - 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 50+
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 20+
Rough-legged Hawk - 60+
American Kestrel - 8
Merlin - 3
Sandhill Crane - 150+
Killdeer - 5
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
American Robin - 200+ easily - some groups of up to 30 birds
European Starling
Bohemian Waxwing - 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 10+
Fox Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 10+
Dark-eyed Junco - 20+
Snow Bunting - 40+
Red-winged Blackbird - 15+
Eastern Meadowlark - 2
Common Grackle - 30+
Brown-headed Cowbird - 40+
Red Crossbill - 3
Common Redpoll - 100+
Hoary Redpoll - 1
American Goldfinch - 2 at my feeders

Number of Species: 49

WPBO - Golden Eagles+ !

As the title suggests, there were Golden Eagles involved in today's birding, but more on that later. Kirk Zufelt, Stan Phippen, and I left around 8 (a late start by our standards) to head over to Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO). We first stopped at Forrest Rd. off the M-28 to look for the Sharp-tailed Grouse on their lek, and found 17 dancing in the morning light. When we got to the point, it was reasonably cold (-8ºC) for this time of year, with a little bit of a windchill, and more ice than normal. It was nice and sunny the whole day, to make up for this though. The feeders were dead when we got there, but we found some Boreal Owl wingprints (see image) in the snow, where it had picked off an unsuspecting rodent. We searched the banders' route, but with no luck. When we got back, the feeders were active, with a flock of 25+ Bohemian Waxwings sitting in the tree, a Robin in a nearby shrub (first for the year), and 200+ Redpolls, mostly Commons but with at least 3 Hoary in the mix. By now it was warming up, so we grabbed our stuff and headed for the hawk platform. Calvin Brennan is the hawk counter for this year, and Ken Mety Jr. was there to tell more of his stories and jokes. The day was fairly productive for this time of year, with 7 species of raptor, most of them new for my yearlist. It eventually warmed up to 0ºC, but the windchill was still uncomfortable when you're sitting mostly still for so long. At least the sun was warm, and I even got a bit of a sunburn (another first for the year!) with the sun reflecting off the snow. Two Golden Eagles came by, one a nice adult bird with an amazingly golden head in the sun - almost looked white it was so bright. The other was a subadult bird, again in nice plumage. On the way back to the Sault, we spotted another Robin on the side of the road, foraging in what little grass was showing on the shoulder.

Our day list came out to only 24 species, but since most of it was spent at the hawk watch, that's not too bad a total. My Sault year birds are in bold.

Mallard - 10
Sharp-tailed Grouse - 17 on lek
Bald Eagle - 17
Northern Harrier - 1
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 13
Golden Eagle - 2
Merlin - 1

Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin - 2
European Starling
Bohemian Waxwing - 25+
Pine Grosbeak - 10+
Red Crossbill - 12
Common Redpoll - 200+
Hoary Redpoll - 3