Touring Southwest Middlesex

Today my aunt and I went for a tour of Southwest Middlesex. I had a goal of trying to find the Western Meadowlark within Middlesex County bounds, but it was not to be. I even made several passes of where it was in Lambton with no success! I think that the melting of the snow exposed a lot more open ground for which the meadowlark to feed, so it was no longer restricted to right beside the road.

Lots of driving today (we spent about three hours going up and down roads!) with few photos. A couple highlights which were not photographed include several Rough-legged Hawks (seemed weirdly abundant), as well as my first Killdeer and Tundra Swans of the year. I was hoping to cross paths with a Lapland Longspur, but it was not to be.

Down near Glencoe, we came across an adult Golden Eagle while cruising down Watterworth Road. Not great photos, but my best ones of the species. No flat tires today!

A little bit later, we came across a Northern Shrike, also my best photos of the species. I have enjoyed seeing shrikes this past winter (this was my fourth individual, usually I am lucky to see one!)

After spending nearly three hours going in circles, we called it quits and headed back to London. We stopped into Strathroy, where we saw the Snow Goose which has been around for a few days. I managed to see it a few days ago, but it had been back in a field, so was nice to see it close. I didn't feel like getting out of the car, so no photos :)

My aunt hadn't seen the famous Harlequin Duck in London yet, so we went to visit him. His molt is progressing nicely. I wonder how long he'll stay around. 

Afterwards we went to go check out the Spotted Towhee. I heard it call once, but it never came out into the open. Oh well, it'll probably be around for awhile yet.

MODO hanging out

A good day! 

A Golden Day

I have been trying to see a Golden Eagle in Middlesex County for the past few months now. I struck out on getting them in migration (somewhat understandable, as we aren't really located in a good area for raptor migration), and then I missed them every time Bill and I had gone down to Newbury, where they are known to winter. You'd think four times would be more than enough! Anyways, today I decided to take another shot at it, and went down again. Perhaps fifth time would be a charm.

I started out on Argyll Drive, but couldn't turn up really anything of note except Snow Buntings. As I was driving down Watterworth Drive, I spied a couple eagles in the distance. I hit the gas, and turned down Oilfield Drive. My actions were rewarded by two adult Golden Eagles, which were soon joined by a subadult! It was my 223rd year bird for Middlesex, and probably my last. Not that bad, all things considered. 

Satisfied, it was time to head back home. On the way, we spotted two more adult Golden Eagles just south of Glencoe. Perhaps different birds. 

A quick check of the Snowy Owl area revealed one owl, my first this month!

Good to end the year with a bang. 

A Good Week of Birding

 This past week has been quite good for birding here in Middlesex County. Although the pretty much non-stop action of late October and early November has slowed down, still plenty to be seen.

The week started off with a bang. Late Sunday evening, I saw a Summer Tanager posted to iNaturalist from London. I was able to get in contact with the homeowner, and arrange for myself and Bill Lindley to go see it the next day. So on Monday morning, Bill and I staked out the feeder. It had been seen five minutes before we got there, but was a no show for the next three hours we stood there. We decided to go home to warm up, then come back a couple hours later. Not 20 minutes after being home, I got a call from the homeowner that said the bird was back! About 25 minutes later, we were on it!

 Certainly makes up for missing all the ones in the spring!

Later that night, a White-winged Dove was reported in Lambton, about 500 meters from the Middlesex county line. Bill and I made plans to head out and try to see if we could find it within the county the next day.

On Tuesday afternoon, we went out, but were ultimately unsuccessful in finding the dove. Since we were nearby, we opted to head down to Newbury. Although there were no Golden Eagles to be seen, we did end up having some great birding along Argyll Drive, highlighted by a couple White-crowned Sparrows, a Northern Shrike, and nearly 300 Common Redpolls.

Wednesday was a washout (literally), and Thursday wasn't much better. I just did some local birding. One thing that has been pretty good is the duck diversity in the neighbourhood. This week I have had the usual Mallards, as well as American Black Ducks (and a hybrid), American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Hooded Merganser, and Green-winged Teal. 

On Friday, Bill and I were out again, looking for Hoary Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks. 

We drove through the Strathroy area, and ended up finding a couple Snowy Owls, the first of the season. This is the first time I have seen this species in November.

Our first stop was Argyll Drive in Newbury. It was not quite as birdy as it was on Tuesday, but we did see a pair of Common Ravens, quite the oddity.

Next up, we tried going up Oilfield Drive. It was pretty quiet at first, but we pulled over at one point after seeing a couple sparrows flitting around the bushes. As we were stopped a single redpoll flew over, not really unexpected anymore. I pointed my binoculars out to the field and saw a few more flitting around the corn stubble, still not unexpected. Then, a few hundred lifted up! We scrambled to get our scopes, and set them up, scanning for a whiter redpoll. After a few "oh that's a white one", but nothing definitive, we noticed three redpolls sitting on the hydro wire, and wouldn't you know it, one of them was a Hoary! We got brief, but satisfactory, scope views. Splendid! I still need one for my neighbourhood (flushed a good candidate from underfoot today, but I lost it!), but at least I can stop worrying about it for Middlesex! Just need a Pine Grosbeak (and Bohemian Waxwing) now!

We traversed a few more concessions, but nothing more to report. We stopped into the landfill for a bit to look for gulls, but it was mostly just Herrings and Ring-billeds. We did manage to find a couple Great Black-backs and a single Lesser Black-backed though.

It was a very fun week! Onward to December, hopefully we can end the year with a bang!