Tuesday Tuft and Other Stuff

Yesterday my Dad and I went to the Burlington/Hamilton area in search of waterfowl, namely the rare waterfowl that had been seen in the area recently.

I noticed a couple interesting birds on the way to Hamilton, including a Common Raven (uncommon this far south) and my first Turkey Vulture of the year! The vulture caught me off guard, but it is no doubt one of the ones that overwinter in the Hamilton area.

We first visited Spencer Smith Park, where a Ross's Goose had been found the day before. Within 30 seconds, I had found this tiny white goose snoozing with some Mallards.

Eventually the goose got up, walked around a little bit, then went back to sleep.

Next stop was the lift bridge and canal on the Hamilton/Halton county border. I found the resident Peregrine Falcons right away.

There were also a number of ducks such as scaup, Long-tailed Ducks, White-winged Scoters, and Common Goldeneyes present in the canal.

White-winged Scoter

I walked to where the canal opens up into the bay and decided to do a little bit of scoping to see what was out there. Within five minutes of looking, a scaup caught my eye. When the scaup turned broadside I realized that it was no scaup...it was a TUFTED DUCK.

Needless to say, I sort of lost my mind because I wasn't expecting to see the Tufted, as it it hadn't been reported since Saturday. I called my friend Owen right away to get the word out. After I got Owen and my other friend Ethan (who has a blog by the way) to post the sighting, I went back to my scope and tried to find it again....turns out ducks can swim.

After all that excitement I realized something...I didn't photograph the bird. Dang it!

Next, I went over to the Halton side of the canal in search of the female Harlequin Duck that has been hanging around. I found a few other things such as more scoters and a Mute Swan along the way.

Mute Swan

It wasn't long before I found the Harlequin Duck beside the pier. I hadn't seen a Harlequin since 2016, so this was a treat!

I stopped in quickly to Windermere basin just to scope out the ducks there. There were plenty of Mallards, along with lesser numbers of Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Gadwall, and Ruddy Duck.

flyover Gadwall

Northern Shoveler

Plenty of Double-crested Cormorants were also around.

Green Road was the last stop, and I was in search of King Eiders. I found a female shortly after being there, later ending up with two females and two first winter males. All the ducks were very far away, so this is my best pic (highly cropped).

All three species of scoters were also present, including my first ever adult male Black Scoter.

Surf Scoter

It's not often I see all my target species, and then some! A very good day, and I can't wait until I get back out!

The Rarities of 2016

2016 was an amazing year for rarities (check out my post on a 2016 Ontario Big Year for a list of rare birds). I didn't get to see all of them (Common Ringed Plover and Crested Caracara being the most painful not to see), but I caught up with a few of them.

The first rarity I was successful in seeing was a Greater White-fronted Goose in London.

This is typically more a "western goose", however large numbers showed throughout 2016. This individual was somewhat tame, and many birders got close enough to take decent photos. The bird that showed up in London appeared to be a "Greenland" type.

Nearly a month later a Gyrfalcon showed up in Warwick, Lambton.

The bird stayed for at least a month, and offered great views. This Gyrfalcon was a gray morph, and appeared to be male. Great bird for Southern Ontario!

A week after the Gyr, an Eurasian Wigeon showed up in Lambton as well. I didn't get a picture, nor did I get a good look at the bird, but it was a Euro Wigeon nonetheless, so it was a great find.

The next rare bird I was able to lay my eyes on were Loggerhead Shrikes.

While a regular breeder in Ontario, they are only about a dozen pairs in the province. Carden Alvar boasts over half of these pairs, and this is where I found the Shrikes.

Piping Plovers aren't really "rarities" in Ontario, but finding a successful nesting pair sure is!

Darlington Provincial Park hosted two successful broods in 2016, the first in over 80 years! I'm not alone in hoping for their return this year.

An Eurasian Collared-Dove the next week was a great bird in Guelph.

The Eurasian Collared-Dove is making it's way northward, and I'm sure it won't be long before they regularly breed  in the province.

Marbled Godwit was next almost a month later in Hamilton.

Marbled Godwits are hard to come across in Ontario, with only a few records, if any, each year.

I saw a Red Knot the same evening as the Marbled Godwit in Hamilton.

The light was fading fast, but I managed to find the bird and get a some record shots. Red Knots migrate in the thousands through Ontario way up north along Hudson and James bay, but we usually only find around a dozen down here in southern Ontario.

Two months later I catch up with another rarity...Cattle Egret in Blenheim.

Like the Greater White-fronted Goose, 2016 was a great year for Cattle Egrets in the province as well, and there could have been as many as two dozen, maybe even more.

November was highlighted by a Western Sandpiper at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. This bird sure made people confused. Originally identified as a Semipalmated Sandpiper, It wasn't until a couple weeks into it's visit that the possibility of it being a Western really got going. After a few days of debate and examining pictures, we reached the conclusion of it being a WESA. I would have attempted for a photo if I knew it was a WESA, but I figured that I've seen lots of Semis, so I don't need any photos. I'm kicking myself now!

A Red-headed Woodpecker was a great local rarity that I found (with the assistance of some companions) on the London CBC4Kids.

RHWO are hard to come across during the breeding season, and even harder to find in the Winter. The bird this past December was a juvenile.

A female King Eider in Hamilton was a great bird.

King Eiders are regular but usually hard to find. So far this winter has been a good one for this duck. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before an adult male is found.

Black Vultures are a Niagara specialty.

Black Vultures are becoming increasingly more common in Ontario, especially along the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. They can be separated from Turkey Vultures by the silvery spot on the tips of their wings.

My last rarity of 2016 was a Little Gull.

I've been searching for Little Gulls since I first learned about this species in July, 2015 (not all that far back, but I started birding in March, 2015). 2016 wasn't the best year for this rare gull species, but those who do a little birding in Niagara  are usually successful. They can be separated from a Bonaparte's Gull by their dark underwing.

Well their you have it. All the rare birds I saw in 2016. Hopefully 2017 will be even better, and I'm already off to a great start!

Big December Day

Yesterday in an effort to brighten up the last few days of December, I did a "Big Day" in Hamilton and along the Niagara river. I set a goal of 50 species, and I ended with 52. We started with looking at the Burlington Bay area, where 19 Greater Black-backed Gulls were found.

Next was the canal under the lift bridge that crosses the Halton/Hamilton county line. Hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks inhabited the area.

From Front to Back: Adult Male, First-winter Male, Adult Female

A few scoters and mergansers were with them.

White-winged Scoter

Then came the real prize...a female King Eider.

Windermere Basin yielded some puddle ducks such as American Wigeon and Northern Shovelers. This was also the only place where I found a few Ruddy Ducks among the Buffleheads.

We searched for Black Vultures at Queenston Heights next. Nothing at first but this Red-tail.

But then I noticed some dark blobs on the church...a kilometer and a half away!

I took pictures, but the blobs appeared to be Turkey Vultures, which also winter in the area. But I figured that where there are Turkeys there could be Blacks hidden among them. I ran back to the car to get my scope, and set up. It took 10, maybe 15 minutes before I saw three smaller-than-TV black birds flying at least another 500 meters behind the church. They then sharply dropped beneath the tree line but in the split second before disappearing, I saw the silvery wing tips of the Black Vulture...at two kilometers! We soon re-found at least one on the church.

The Queenston sand docks revealed this funny Long-tailed Duck. She swam quite far down river in this position.

At the whirlpool I found a Thayer's Gull, but no Black-headed! Four Canvasbacks as well.

I got my first real taste of gull-watching (gulling?) above the falls. Thousands of gulls were perched and flying around.

This barge known as "The Old Scow" broke loose from the tug boat up stream while dredging the sand banks almost a century ago on August 6, 1918.  There were two men on board when it got marooned on the rocks just up stream from the Horseshoe falls.  It took the US Army to help with the rescue, and 17 hours later the two men once again stood on solid ground.

We met a group of birders who were just leaving. They told us that there were a few Little Gulls flying around. Little Gulls are quite rare in the ABA area (code 3), but can be reliably found in Ontario. You just need to know where to look.

If Little Gulls didn't have a dark underwing, it would be nearly impossible to pick them out.  I had to be quick to get this shot.  He was hard to keep track of.

It was an awesome day, and I'm four species closer to 250. Eight more to go!