Southern Adventure Part 1

Well, this'll be a long one, so here goes:

May 21 I packed up the truck and headed out, stopping in Sudbury to do some yard work with my grandpa and then have supper and a night at my grandparents' house.

May 22 I headed out in the morning for Guelph, and made a stop at Carden Alvar near Orillia for some birding. Had an interesting hour there, adding three new birds to my Ontario list (Grasshopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, Loggerhead Shrike), and a few new birds to the year list such as Golden-winged Warbler and Sedge Wren. Then it was time to move on so I could make it to Guelph for supper.

May 23 I hung out in Guelph with my friends before departing to spend the night in Watford. It was a fairly uneventful drive, but I had some Common Nighthawks along the highway which was nice.

May 24 I did my first two plots, and managed to lose my cell phone in the dark on the first one. Luckily, it was right where I thought it would be, and I went back after finishing up the plot to get it. After that excitement I headed down to Rondeau via Erieau to check into my campsite and figure out the park layout.

May 25-27 I did my Rondeau plots, birded, went to the Blenheim sewage lagoons, and hung out on the beach, all the while failing to find internet anywhere. It was a fairly enjoyable few days, with good birds such as Acadian and Willow Flycatchers, Yellow-throated Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, Red-headed Woodpecker, Kentucky and Prothonotary Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat and Whimbrel, and I also met many nice people, a special thanks to Bob and Sandra for feeding me dinner one night!

May 28-31 I did quite a few plots in Skunk's Misery, an area of Carolinian forest near Newbury. Turns out it was my misery as well, with many swamps and mosquitos combined with raspberry thickets. A few good birds were to be had though, including Cerulean, Blue-winged and Hooded Warblers, and Acadian Flycatcher. The upside was that the Strathroy public library is only a half-hour drive away, so I could have air-conditioning and internet every day. May 30 I drove up to Guelph as the Strathroy library was closed and I was in need of a shower and a visit with friends.

June 1-2 I did plots around Port Stanley, checked out the beach, and hung out at the St. Thomas library before heading back to Guelph for two nights with friends and then it was back home to try to catch up on sleep and food.

My trip list is below, followed by some pics from the two weeks. I'm currently back in the south for round 2 of plots, so I'll make another (shorter) post upon my return!

Bold = year bird, * = Ontario bird, ** = Canada bird, *** = lifer

Canada Goose - many
Mute Swan - 2
Wood Duck - 100+ (incl. 50 at the bruce mines lagoons on the way down)
Gadwall - 10+
American Wigeon - 1
American Black Duck - 2
Mallard - many
Blue-winged Teal - 15+
Northern Shoveler - 3
Green-winged Teal - 10+
Ring-necked Duck - 2
Lesser Scaup - 3
Common Goldeneye - 2
Hooded Merganser - 1
Common Merganser - 10+
Red-breasted Merganser - 20+
Ruddy Duck - 9
Wild Turkey - 100+
Common Loon - 20+
Pied-billed Grebe - 10+
Double-crested Cormorant - 500+
American Bittern - 10+
Great Blue Heron - 100+
Great Egret - 2
Turkey Vulture - 300+
Osprey - 15+
Bald Eagle - 10+
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 5+
Broad-winged Hawk - 10+
Red-tailed Hawk - 100+
American Kestrel - 50+
Merlin - 10+
Virginia Rail - 2
American Coot - 10+
Sandhill Crane - 5+
Black-bellied Plover - 300+
Killdeer - 100+
Spotted Sandpiper - 30+
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
Whimbrel - 10
Ruddy Turnstone* - 15+
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 10+
Least Sandpiper - 3
Dunlin - 3
Wilson's Snipe - 5+
American Woodcock - 10+
Wilson's Phalarope* - 1 very pale male unfortunately
Bonaparte's Gull - 20+
Ring-billed Gull - many
Herring Gull - many
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1
Great Black-backed Gull - 30+
Caspian Tern - 10+
Black Tern - 5+
Common Tern - 5+
Forster's Tern - 5+
Rock Pigeon - many
Mourning Dove - many
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 5+
Black-billed Cuckoo - 2
Eastern Screech-Owl - 3
Common Nighthawk - 15+
Whip-poor-will - 2
Chimney Swift - 100+
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 20+
Belted Kingfisher - 20+
Red-headed Woodpecker** - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 50+
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 10+
Downy Woodpecker - 100+
Hairy Woodpecker - 60+
Northern Flicker - 100+
Pileated Woodpecker - 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 60+
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 20+
Acadian Flycatcher** - 5+
Alder Flycatcher - 30+
Willow Flycatcher* - 50+
Least Flycatcher - 15+
Eastern Phoebe - 20+
Great Crested Flycatcher - 100+
Eastern Kingbird - 100+
Loggerhead Shrike* - 1
Yellow-throated Vireo - 6
Warbling Vireo - 40+
Philadelphia Vireo - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 250+
Blue Jay - 500+
American Crow - many
Common Raven - many, some down in the south too
Horned Lark - 50+
Purple Martin - 150+
Tree Swallow - 500+
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 100+
Bank Swallow - 500+
Cliff Swallow - 100+
Barn Swallow - 250+
Black-capped Chickadee - many
Tufted Titmouse - 10+
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 10+
White-breasted Nuthatch - 50+
Brown Creeper - 2
Carolina Wren - 1
House Wren - 50+
Sedge Wren - 2
Marsh Wren - 10+
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 50+
Eastern Bluebird - 30+
Veery - 100+
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 30+
Hermit Thrush - 2
Wood Thrush - 100+
American Robin - many
Gray Catbird - 150+
Brown Thrasher - 50+
European Starling - many
American Pipit - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 250+
Blue-winged Warbler - 1
Golden-winged Warbler - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 10+
Nashville Warbler - 20+
Northern Parula - 5+
Yellow Warbler - 1000+
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 100+
Magnolia Warbler - 50+
Cape May Warbler - 5+
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 10+
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 30+
Black-throated Green Warbler - 50+
Blackburnian Warbler - 20+
Pine Warbler - 10+
Blackpoll Warbler - 20+
Cerulean Warbler** - 6
Black-and-white Warbler - 100+
American Redstart - 500+
Prothonotary Warbler** - 2
Ovenbird - 200+
Northern Waterthrush - 2
Kentucky Warbler*** - 1
Mourning Warbler - 30+
Common Yellowthroat - 300+
Hooded Warbler - 5+
Wilson's Warbler - 2
Canada Warbler - 5+
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 100+
Eastern Towhee - 50+
Chipping Sparrow - 500+
Clay-colored Sparrow - 50+
Field Sparrow - 100+
Vesper Sparrow - 10+
Savannah Sparrow - 500+
Grasshopper Sparrow* - 10+
Song Sparrow - 500+
Swamp Sparrow - 100+
White-throated Sparrow - 10+
Northern Cardinal - 250+
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 100+
Indigo Bunting - 250+
Bobolink - 100+
Red-winged Blackbird - many
Eastern Meadowlark - 50+
Brewer's Blackbird - 10+
Common Grackle - many
Brown-headed Cowbird - 500+
Orchard Oriole - 5+
Baltimore Oriole - 250+
Purple Finch - 2
House Finch - 100+
Pine Siskin - 10+
American Goldfinch - 1000+
House Sparrow - 1000+

Number of Species: 176

Blue-winged Teal at Carden Alvar

An Eastern Kingbird that perched right beside the road

Tree Swallow

The Bobolinks never came very close

Purple Martins in Erieau

Eastern Wood-Pewee at Rondeau

A Mourning Warbler that came right in at the Visitor Centre

Northern Cardinal in my campsite

A baby Grackle in the campsite across from mine

Mourning Dove on the campground road

Baltimore Oriole picking bugs in the campground

A chipmunk hoping for food

House Wren on South Point trail

A Red-headed Woodpecker family on South Point trail

Killdeer at South Point

Spotted Sandpiper

Driftwood at South Point

Northern Shoveler at the Blenheim Lagoons

Part of a flight that included 300+ Black-bellied Plovers and some Ruddy Turnstones at the Blenheim Lagoons - these were the only ones that stopped in

I made a small puddle in a dusty parking lot at Rondeau and these were the results:

Yellow Warbler

Orchard Oriole

Barn Swallows gathering nesting material

Yellow Warblers

I didn't have a wide-angle lens with me, so this is a composite of my campsite (92MP original resolution!)

A raccoon with an injured paw in Rondeau

The Yellow-throated Vireo nest I found near my campsite - turns out it's the first confirmed nesting record for Rondeau!

Yellow-throated Vireos

Willow Flycatcher in Rondeau

Afternoon at the Blenheim Lagoons - this is in the back of the truck with the vents open!

Ebony Jewelwing in Strathroy

If you've seen the movie "300", you'll understand

A mural in Port Stanley

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Dunlin, and an unID'd shorebird in Port Stanley

The Dunlin was still there the next day

Caspian Tern

Some of the many Bank Swallows on the beach

Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2nd summer

An interesting shot I got out of the truck window at 90km/h without looking!

Field Sparrow near Port Rowan (was looking for a Lark Sparrow without luck)

Pileated Woodpecker

Vesper Sparrow

May Pictures

Ok, so here are my pics from just after Pelee until just before I headed south, hope you enjoy! I decided my southern adventure is worthy of its own post.

Tree Swallows at Guelph Lake

'Herman' the tame Wood Duck at the Locks

Lincoln's Sparrow at WPBO

Turkey Vulture at WPBO

Sharp-shinned Hawk at WPBO

Spruce Grouse on Vermillion Rd.

Turkey Vulture at Vermillion

Willets on the TahquamenonLong-billed Dowitcher in Bruce Mines

Bald Eagle pair at Pumpkin point

American White Pelicans with the International Bridge

Mallard babies at the Locks

American Coot at the Locks

Solitary Sandpiper at the Locks

Great Egret at the Locks

My first-ever shot of an American Crow - and yes I have pics of Fish and Northwestern already which makes this very sad...

Canadian Common Tern at Bellevue

Canada Goose babies at Bellevue

Green-winged Teal at Bellevue

Black Bear near Bruce Mines on my Big Day

Common Terns at Pumpkin Point

Broad-winged Hawk at the Locks

Herman and his mate

Recently...

Alright, so I decided it's been far too long since my last post, and I have quite a bit to catch up on so here goes.

May 15 I led my now annual Sault Naturalists outing to the Locks for a pretty good morning of birding. We managed almost 70 species in the few hours, compared to around 50 in the past 2 years. The highlights were my first American Coot for the Locks, and a Clay-colored Sparrow along with 15 species of warblers and a few other year birds. Gray Catbird finally showed up, only 3 weeks later than usual. Afterwards I went down to Bellevue and found a pair of Forster's Terns.

May 18 I did my 10th annual Big Day, ended up with 139 species (9 less than last year) due mostly to a lack of migration. My alarm clock managed to break, so I ended up starting at 4am instead of the planned 2. Out the door and the first bird of the day was a Robin in full song. I got in some owling despite the late start, managing to get Barred and Saw-whet Owl, along with several Whip-poor-wills. Then I ran my usual route around town, ending up with over 100 species by noon, almost all on breeding territory. Out east of town I filled in some spots, but missed out on a few ducks, shorebirds and hawks that I was counting on. Then it was back for a quick look around the waterfront and then home, and for the first time I made it past 10pm, probably because it wasn't raining and I'd had a bit of a sleep-in. So, I decided to sit out on the back deck until my day was up, adding Long-tailed Duck to the list as the last bird of the day. Some other highlights of the day were Forster's Tern, Eastern Towhee, Northern Goshawk and House Finch, along with 20 species of warblers and quite a few year birds.

May 21 I started the journey south, to start work doing Forest Bird Monitoring plots for the CFS, stopping in Sudbury and Guelph before doing my first plot on the 24th. This job took me from Watford - Rondeau area - Newbury area - Port Stanley, and everywhere in between. Lots of cool birds, and lots of pictures, I'll put up a more detailed post in a bit.

June 6th I did my Kirtland's Warbler survey in Chippewa County, after getting home on the 4th from Southern Ontario. Evan Timusk, another birder in the area, came with me and we had a pretty good day despite a lot of rain at the start, managing to get killer views of a Kirtland's at around 4 feet away! Unfortunately no pics due to rain. Also got Olive-sided Flycatcher, Connecticut Warbler, Red Crossbill, Piping Plover, LeConte's Sparrow, and several other good birds. Kirtland's was #275 for my SSM area list!

Now I am just working on photos, blog, my website, and visiting with friends before I have to head back to southern Ontario for the second part of my job on the 11th. My next post will contain a more detailed summary of my southern excursion along with pics from late April until now.

More Migration!

Well, if you're a birder, you have to love the month of May. All the birds coming back through on their way north, as well as a few rarities here and there make it the most birdy month of the year. Since I have most of the month off, I've been out birding as much as possible! Since my last post, I have added 23 birds to the year list, and should add many more before I head off to work. Some highlights:

May 5 I went to WPBO and birded the whole day with Jason Bojczyk. On the way over, I found 9 Willets at the Tahquamenon Rivermouth, which we went back for later in the day so Jason could get them as a lifer! The point was fairly productive, with my year Red-throated Loon, White-winged Scoter, Lincoln's Sparrow and a few others. A little after noon we decided to head out and bird some other areas. At the WPBO staff house we got the Lark Sparrow that had been hanging out since the previous day, and we found a nice male Spruce Grouse on Vermillion Rd. that allowed close approach. Out at Vermillion Beach, Jason spotted a Northern Mockingbird that wasn't very cooperative. We also found quite a few shorebirds, mostly Yellowlegs but with one Least Sandpiper. After that and the rivermouth, it was pretty late in the day so I had to head home. I finished the day with 90 species - fairly good for this early in the season!

After that, I biked around town once or twice, once to chase a Summer Tanager and once just to see what was around. Didn't end up seeing the Tanager, and didn't find anything else of interest really - the arrival of Common Terns was the highlight.

May 8 I went down to the locks in the middle of a snowstorm, and had 6 species of warbler along with several other birds that I think should be added to the winter list (there was snow on the ground!). Not as many shorebirds as I'd hoped for, but did have the first Spotted Sandpipers for the area this year. After that, I headed to Bellevue and met up with Ken, where there were 9 Lesser Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper on one of the mudflats, not much else of note. After that, we went on the Sault Naturalists hike to the Desbarats bat cave, and birded out east of town after. Highlights of the trip were an extremely early Great Crested Flycatcher, some lingering Tundra Swans that I added to the yearlist, 20 species of waterfowl including a Ruddy Duck that Ken found, and a Long-billed Dowitcher that I found at the Bruce Mines lagoons. It was pretty skittish, but allowed good scope views and was heard calling. There are only two records from the Sault area that I know of, both at WPBO, however this species should be close to annual - who knows.

Yesterday I got an email about some Pelicans down on the river, so naturally I hopped on the bike and spent a couple hours birding the Locks. The local Wood Duck was still there, along with 8 species of warblers and the two American White Pelicans that Bob found.

So, my year list currently stands at 210 species, and my bigby list is somewhere around 80-85. Lots of work yet to do... Pictures to come soon.

Migration

Migration is well under way here in the Sault, and so far about 10 of the 25 regular warblers have been reported, although not in any sort of numbers yet. White-throated Sparrows had a major push the other day, with around 600 birds down at the Locks. Other passerines are slowly moving in, and the south winds the last few days have helped quite a bit. I'll hopefully be out birding quite a bit in the next two and a half weeks before I head off to Southern Ontario to do bird censusing plots.

With the warm weather and strong south winds yesterday there was a massive movement of Hawks across the U.P., and I got an email from Skye Haas partway through the day that said he'd had a Swainson's Hawk fly over his house, along with a ton of Broad-wings and other hawks. I decided it'd be a good idea to do some hawkwatching of my own, so I went and sat out on the back deck with my binocs. I looked up to the sky, and....HOLY *$#& AN ANHINGA!!!!!! was my only thought as I raced to grab my camera. My brother's only comment was "Rare bird?" Rare bird indeed. It didn't stick around for any pics, but I'd had a good look through the binoculars as it went by about 500 feet overhead. I immediately called around and sent a few emails, along with making a sketch of the bird with field marks. Ken and Kirk went down to scan the waterfront for it on the slim chance that it may have turned around. Kirk eventually gave up and spent a while photographing Herman, an extremely tame Wood Duck that has taken a Mallard as its mate and set up shop at the Locks. He then went to look for the Harlequin Duck that's been hanging around, and amazingly had the Anhinga fly back across the river into the States! This would represent the second Michigan record if accepted. As for the Canadian side, I'm not sure, but Ontario is the only province with Anhinga on its list, so this may have been only the third or fourth record for Canada! I will post an update if I find anything out regarding the record status. Oh, and I submitted the record, as did Kirk, for anyone who was wondering.

Ken, Bob and I spent the morning this morning scanning up and down the river without any luck to see if the Anhinga stuck around. There are so many wetlands in this area that if it did stick around, it'd be pretty hard to find.

Other than that, I added a couple year birds with Black-and-White Warbler and Brewer's Blackbird out at the airport. My two-day hawkwatching tally stands at 39 Broad-wings, 4 Sharp-shinneds, and a Merlin. And an Anhinga. Which was new for the Sault checklist. In my backyard. Woot.

It's always nice finding rare birds!

Point Pelee

As I mentioned in the previous post, my dad took me down to Pelee for the April 24/25 weekend. Despite crappy weather (rain, wind, cold) both days, we managed to find 100 species in the day and a half that we were there, with 77 on April 24 and 85 on April 25 (the half day). 53 of these were year birds for me, showing you how much I've been out this spring. The definite highlight was my lifer Louisiana Waterthrush that provided decent looks at the Tip before disappearing. We also had a Northern Waterthrush along with Black-throated Green, Nashville, Palm, and Myrtle Warblers. Other highlights were some southern birds that we don't get very often up here such as Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Purple Martin, Forster's Tern and Ruddy Duck. Some shorebirds were nice to see, with 28 Pectoral Sandpipers and 24 Dunlin at Hillman Marsh along with a few Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers. Other than that, there wasn't much going on (although things have picked up a lot in the last week there!). On the drive back to the Sault, I added 5 more year birds, being Broad-winged, Red-shouldered, and Sharp-shinned Hawk, Osprey, and Pine Siskin.

Red-winged Blackbird at the Marsh Boardwalk

Forster's Tern at Hillman

Pectoral Sandpipers at Hillman

Common Tern at the Tip

Bonaparte's Gulls at the Tip

Field Sparrow at the Tip

Hermit Thrush

Downy Woodpecker

Chipping Sparrow at the Tip

Some Stuff

Alright, so it's been too long since my last real post, and I have some things to tell you.

First of all, I successfully finished first-year physics, with a fairly decent average no less! It was a fun year, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting out of residence and living in a house next year. Secondly, I bought a Nikon D2Xs off Kirk, and got the 70-300VR lens to go with it, and have already gotten some great results. Still have a lot of experimenting to do though. Thirdly, my dad took me down to Point Pelee for April 24/25 as we had the weekend to kill between my last exam and his meetings on Monday in Guelph. Fourthly (is that a word?), I am back in the Sault, catching up with friends, playing with my new camera, and getting a whole year's worth of birding done, all while trying to catch up on sleep.

Couple more posts to go, stay tuned.

Shameless Plug

I have some other things to post soon, but thought I would take a moment to promote myself!

First, I will be offering guide services in the Sault area, and have posted the info on my site http://ontariobirds.webs.com/guiding.htm. If you have any other questions, please email me using the link on that page!

Second, for those of you who haven't yet, check out David Bell Photography on Facebook (and become a fan!). I will be posting new stuff there regularly over the summer, so keep tabs!

Thirdly, anything on there is for sale! I will try to update my other website to include the pictures and some pricing info, but if you're interested in anything in the meantime, just let me know and we can work something out.