Hawks and Finches, Oh My!

As many birders in the northeast, and beyond, there is an irruption of some winter finches going on right now. It started back at the end of August, when we began to get daily Purple Finches, soon followed by Pine Siskins. More recently, Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and both crossbills have been on the move. I anxiously awaited a change in the weather that would bring them to the London area, and Saturday looked like the day things would begin to show up!

But before going into that, throwback to last Tuesday. The winds (NW) weren't bad, so I figured I would give a backyard hawkwatch a shot. I was hoping to nail down a Red-shouldered Hawk. Finally, after about two and a half hours, and only five minutes before I was going to go inside, I spotted this young bird going over. Nice to not have to worry about it anymore! A solid 158th bird for my neighbourhood year list! I haven't really had the opportunity to do much in the way of hawkwatching in ideal locations during the right time of year, so this just so happens to only be the second time I have ever seen this species! My other sighting was of a couple adults migrating over my yard last March.

I did a short hawkwatch yesterday too. I only had a very short flight (over the course of 15 minutes) of five Red-tailed Hawks. The highlight was when a group of small shorebirds flew over, either Pectoral Sandpipers or Dunlin. They never vocalized, and I couldn't get on them in time in order to get an identification. Very frustrating! Either species would be new for my neighbourhood, #178.

Back to this past Saturday. I arrived at Fanshawe Conservation Area early, and set up at the lookout. My first duck of the day happened to be a Red-breasted Merganser. This isn't an unexpected species, but is certainly uncommon in the county. I have only seen them on a handful of other occasions. Other than the merg, the lake was quiet. There were many migrant crows as well, and I tallied over 1500. After a couple hours, I heard an Evening Grosbeak go over! My predictions were right (though I later found out 15 had been seen the day prior!). Several other individuals were also seen that day in the county. I called Bill Lindley, and he told me he had also just seen some up near Parkhill. We figure we had observed ours at about the same time!

Evening Grosbeaks (Algonquin Park, 2017)

I continued to walk down the length of the reservoir, much not much to report. I had a couple of late birds, like a Black-throated Green Warbler (my first in October), and a couple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. I ended up with 68 species, a good count for late October. eBird checklist here.

I spent yesterday morning running around hoping to come across an Evening Grosbeak in the neighbourhood, but it was not to be. Bill called me to say he had found 12 Common Redpolls at the conservation area, so they are coming!

I went back out this morning to Fanshawe CA, with thoughts of rare ducks (scoters) and finches on my mind. I struck out with the ducks (though I did see a Horned Grebe). Things were too quiet for my liking, so I packed up my watch early and began to walk. I didn't get too far before I heard something I hadn't heard in awhile. Red Crossbills! A flock of seven flew over in short order. A call to Bill was in order, and he later arrived and had four, along with two Evening Grosbeaks!

Red Crossbill (Algonquin Park, 2018)

It seemed a lot of birds had cleared out. Not much else of interest, other than Pine Siskins. eBird checklist here

Bill and I ended up birding around in the afternoon, going to Strathroy and Parkhill. We were hoping for scoters, but unfortunately we had no luck. We did have our first Tundra Swans of the fall at the sewage lagoons, as well as a Cackling Goose among hundreds of Canada Geese. A good day!

The next few weeks should prove interesting!

A Quick Walk

This afternoon I went for a quick hike at Fanshawe Conservation Area. I had a hunch that something of note would be there.

It was actually pretty quiet, much quieter than I expected. One surprise was had when I came across this moth. Despite the cold and snow, it was active and flying around!

Bruce Spanworm Moth

One of the birds I as hoping to come across was Evening Grosbeak. My hard work paid off when I heard one call twice. Despite looking, I was unable to find it. It was likely a flyover.

I couldn't find my other target, Common Redpoll, but no doubt there will be more to come.

There always seems to be birds hanging around this one trail head, as they get fed there.

Downy Woodpecker

Blue Jay

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

There was also a Gray Catbird, which was a but of a surprise as it is getting a bit late. They are a hardy species, so it will be interesting to see if this bird attempts to overwinter.

The Wilds of Algonquin: Part One

This past weekend I visited Algonquin Park with a group of other young birders with the Ontario Field Ornithologists (including Ethan). It was quite a lot if fun and we saw some great birds!

I arrived early Saturday morning to the Wildlife Research Station (I was late getting up, so we stayed in Dwight Friday night), and was immediately overwhelmed by the number of finches! Finches turned out to be pretty common throughout the park, and I don't think we ever really went a moment without hearing at least a siskin or a crossbill!

We birded around the Wildlife Research Station for a few hours, and we were treated to awesome sightings such as a White-winged Crossbill, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, and a Merlin, which is good winter bird up there.

White-winged Crossbill

Afterwards we went to Opeongo Road to look for some Gray Jay nests with the researchers. Again, crossbills were numerous, as were Pine Siskins.

Red Crossbill

Pine Siskin

It wasn't long until we found some Gray Jays, including one on a nest.

There were some curious Red Squirrels as well.

We visited the Visitor Centre next, where the feeders were quite active. We saw Blue Jays, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Evening Grosbeaks among other things.

Evening Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Pine Siskin

White-winged Crossbill

Red Crossbill

I was quite excited to see my first American Marten.

There were a couple Wild Turkeys in the parking lot, overwintering birds.

We checked out Spruce Bog quickly after the Visitor Centre, which revealed to be more or less quiet. At least there were a couple cooperative Gray Jays and a Purple Finch.

We checked out Bat Lake and a little bit of the Old Airfield before dinner, but were unable to find anything that we hadn't already seen.

Certainly a great first day in Algonquin!

Birding Below Zero (Algonquin Park)

To see winter birding at its best, you have to visit Algonquin Park…that is, if you don’t mind the cold.

Algonquin is well-known in the birding world to be one of the best and most accessible places in Ontario to regularly find winter finches and other “Northern Specialties”.  I made a list of targets for the weekend:

1.       Gray Jay

2.       Evening Grosbeak

3.       White-winged Crossbill

4.       Red Crossbill

5.       Pine Grosbeak

6.       Common Redpoll

Well, I’m glad to say that I saw all of them…which is the first time in quite a while where all the birds I was hoping to see were all observed.

The weekend started off at the West Gate with Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, Common Redpoll, and the first of many Blue Jays.  A couple of Crossbills, probably Red, were noted along the highway, but other than that it was pretty quiet.

The fun began when we reached the Visitor Centre.

Well over a hundred Evening Grosbeaks dominated the feeders, along with dozens of American Goldfinches and Blue Jays. Many of them perched just mere meters away from us, and their calls filled the air.

The Wild Turkey that’s been hanging around also allowed its presence to be known.

Spruce Bog Boardwalk is the one stop shop when it comes to winter birding. While I didn’t see a Spruce Grouse this time around, I did  (finally) see a Gray Jay.

Three more soon followed.

I managed to hand feed two different birds here as well, which was pretty awesome. By the end of the weekend, I had hand fed four different Gray Jays.

There was even one with a radio tracking device (which is one of the ones I fed...see above).

The Boreal Chickadee seems to be getting bolder, as the first time I noticed it, the bird was taking a peanut from my hand!  It soon took a nut from my mother as well.

Opeongo Road was next, where there were numerous “friendly” birds. I use “friendly” lightly as there were about a dozen chickadees swarming me and a battle between a chickadee and a nuthatch over who gets to perch on my head.

A Black-backed Woodpecker flew overhead, but I fell over in the 3+ feet of snow as I attempted to see where it landed and get a photo.

There was a pair of Gray Jays as well.  I must say, they make the weirdest sounds!

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The next day was a much better day in regards to winter finches.  We started right off with a pair of Red Crossbills, then a bit further down a whole group of mixed crossbills (White-winged and Red).

White-winged Crossbills

Red Crossbill

Both Crossbills

A large number of Pine Siskins were gritting on the road.

Sadly, I counted nine fatalities, which will be the topic of a post coming soon.

The rocks along the highway had some pretty neat ice formations on them.

It truly is a different place here in the wintertime.

We passed  a Ruffed Grouse on the way to the Logging Museum, but it flew away before any photos. We passed it later, but it pulled the same trick.

At the Logging Museum, we hand fed dozens of Chickadees and I got one Gray Jay.

The Visitor Centre was not as active as the previous day, but still quite a few birds. A Pileated Woodpecker flew by as well.

A Red Squirrel too.

Here's a picture to give you an idea of how deep the snow was...nothing like SW Ontario!

Last stop of the trip…Spruce Bog. Quite a few Black-capped Chickadees and the Boreal Chickadee was back as well. Nuthatches, Blue Jays, and Hairy Woodpeckers were common.

Boreal Chickadee

I was freezing my butt off so I decided to head back to the car, ready to accept that I had missed a Pine Grosbeak.

 But I didn’t get too far.

A fellow birder told me he and his wife had just found a PINE GROSBEAK!!!

The bird sat high in a tree for the longest time.

You can only truly appreciate this incredible bird’s beauty when it’s at eye level, so imagine my delight when it flew down to the trail map about 15 feet away from me!

By the time I finished taking photos, my fingers were so cold I couldn’t bend them, but it was worth it.

We were done with the park, and it was time to head back to London (Bonus Knowledge: as I write this I’m on Highway 11 with at least three hours still to go). I’m sure we’ll be driving through the gates of Algonquin Provincial Park again soon!

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My life list now stands at 249…..what will be my 250^th species!?!?!