Middlesex Biggish Year: January Update

We have survived the first month of 2021! It was quite an exceptional month for birding, with many highlights. After month #1 in my "Middlesex Biggish Year", I have amassed 82 species, almost 80% of the species reported from the county so far this year. This past month, my only "critical misses" were Pine Grosbeak and Barred Owl, and to a lesser degree, Red-shouldered Hawk and Lapland Longspur.

The breakdown:

Code 1: 60 species

Code 2: 14 species

Code 3: 4 species

Code 4: 3 species

Code 5: 1 species

Although code 1 species are pretty much guaranteed, there were several that I saw that are usually quite rare in the winter. These species include Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, Chipping Sparrow, and Common Yellowthroat. These winter abnormalities are always fun to come across.

Hermit Thrush

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Green-winged Teal

Code 2 species were well represented, and I managed to see pretty much all the expected January ones. Highlights included Cackling Geese, three species of owls (Snowy, screech, and Great Horned), all the gulls, and a wintering Fox Sparrow.

Fox Sparrow

Although numbers were low for the code 3 species, that is to be expected for January. Golden Eagle and Short-eared Owl, two uncommon overwintering species, were ticked off, as was Common Redpoll, a common species this winter. An unusual winter Red-breasted Merganser on the Thames River was also found.

Red-breasted Merganser

Code 4 species were made up entirely of irruptive finches. Although I had scored White-winged Crossbill early on January 1st, it wasn't until a couple weeks in I finally found a Hoary Redpoll, as well as some Red Crossbills, the first of that species to be seen in the county for over a month. The mega flight of finches is certainly being kind to us...only three more species of finches to go!

Red Crossbills

A singular code 5 was seen, a Harlequin Duck first seen on January 9th, and refound on the 12th. I believe this may be the 5th record of the species for Middlesex County, and the first in a few years. An excellent bird to start off the year!

One month down, eleven to go. Although the next month will probably be pretty slow going, it will soon pick up! I can't wait to see what else is waiting to be found.

Fanshawe Finches n' Stuff

I had been aiming to put out a post detailing the mothing in my yard this past summer, but given the great sightings I have had since my last birding post, seems that will have to hold off! 

Fanshawe Conservation Area is a spectacular birding location only about 10 minutes from where I live. I am looking forward to the breeding bird atlas, starting next year, as my London area square encompassed the conservation area. Should be good!

On Halloween, I started at "The Lookout", as I normally do. I find it can be a great spot to see a variety of waterfowl and other flyover birds. After about 40 minutes, I was quite delighted to see a Red-necked Grebe fly by and land in the north end of the lake! This was my first observation of one in Middlesex, and a species I had been hoping to see every time I had gone out to the reservoir. 

Also on the 31st, I had nine Evening Grosbeaks and another Red Crossbill. Certainly a nice finch year! eBird checklist (Oct 31)

The next few times I went out to Fanshawe (November 3, 4, and 7) weren't too eventful, other than adding Common Redpoll and White-winged Crossbill to my winter finch list for the location. I am not up to eight finch species there this fall, with hopefully still some Pine Grosbeaks and Hoary Redpolls on the way. I also continued to see Red Crossbills, with the largest group being 11 on the 4th. I still have not seen both crossbill species in one day though!

eBird checklist (Nov 3)

eBird checklist (Nov 4)

eBird checklist (Nov 7)

Today was certainly an exciting day as well. Not two minutes after getting out of the car, I found a Northern Mockingbird. Mockingbirds sightings are rare, but increasing slightly, in Middlesex. It was a new year bird for me. I thought for sure I had missed it!

I was a little disappointed that the rowing teams (Fanshawe is where they train) had beat me to the north end of the lake where all the waterfowl were. They flushed basically everything in sight! As such, I wasn't really expecting to see too much on the lake. Finches and other birds kept me entertained, and I had 25 Common Redpolls, as well as a Red Crossbill (type 10). At one point, I noticed a lone duck. I raised my binoculars and, could it be? I got my scope on it, and it sure was! A Black Scoter! A new Middlesex bird for me. I called Bill Lindley, who needed it for his big year, and he came and saw it shortly before it disappeared.

It hadn't been looking great for the county getting all three scoter species this year, even with all the effort put in. I believe that this is the 253rd species recorded in the county this year, incredible! The last record for Black Scoter in the county I can find is 2012, so it has been awhile!

eBird checklist (Nov 8)

Hopefully, we are just getting started! I am expecting some good things on the next cold front (but will it be bean goose good? Who knows)

(Another plug for Ezra's site, it's ready now!)

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!

The Wilds of Algonquin: Part Two

Read part one here

After a few hours rest, we awoke to the songs and calls of many winter finches. These Red Crossbills came down for grit not too far away...lighting was not the best however!

We went to the visitor centre next, where we watched the action at the feeders for a bit. I was happy to be able to see my first European Starling for my park list :-)

Pine Siskin

Red Crossbill

Purple Finch

We searched for Spruce Grouse at the Spruce Bog boardwalk, unfortunately to no avail. We did however find a Ruffed Grouse and a Purple Finch.

Purple Finch (rear end)

Opeongo Road was next, where we found many Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills.

Red Crossbills

White-winged Crossbill

White-winged Crossbill

Gray Jays found us pretty quickly. We found some more as we walked up the road.

Soon it was time to get picked up and start heading home, but not before I found a Canada Goose near Cache Lake, an early migrant.

We also saw an Otter at the same location.

Overall it was a great weekend to be up in Algonquin! I think spring is finally upon us!

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!

Algonquin Adventures

This past weekend, my family made the trip up to Algonquin Provincial Park for a weekend of exploring one of my favourite places. Due to the recent weather, bird life was at a minimum, but I still managed to find over 45 species, which is decent given the time of year.

We drove up on Friday, so Saturday morning I awoke in Dwight at the hotel (Mom doesn't like it when there is no running water readily available!) I did a little bit of birding around the property, and I came up with a decent list.

Rusty Blackbird

Once in the park, we stopped by the Old Railway Bed first. We didn't bother to walk very far as there were just too many people using the trail!

There was a tame Common Raven near the parking lot (if you can call it that!) One would wonder if it is the same bird as the one hanging around the Art Centre in July.

There was also a tame Red Fox along the road. Apparently he is over 12 years old!

The ONLY Gray Jay of the weekend was seen along the road near the fox. It was the only Algonquin speciality I saw all weekend. Quite ironic actually, as last fall it was the only one I DIDN'T see!

We stopped by the Visitor Centre after the railway bed. It was packed! The line for the restroom was out the front door, there was a 30 minute wait time for the restaurant, and the observation deck was shoulder to shoulder if you even wanted to attempt to look off of it. It certainly was not fun!

The only good things reported in the sightings log was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker seen by Blake, and a Red Squirrel seen at someone's campsite.

Birds were far and few between at the VC, but I did see a late Eastern Phoebe and some Pine Siskins.

Beaver Pond Trail was perhaps the most eventful trail walked.

Although it started out slow, it wasn't long until birds starting popping up, including Red-breasted Nuthatches and my first Rusty Blackbirds for the park.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

American Pipits covered the exposed mud, and I counted over 50.

A single Green-winged Teal caused some confusion, but I was eventually able to ID it from photos.

Crossbills weren't as plentiful as I thought they would be, but they were present. There was a pair of Red Crossbills that allowed for close study. White-winged Crossbills flew over at one point as well.

Red Crossbill

Later in the evening, I went to the Old Airfield. It was quite quiet except for an American Woodcock.

Wolf Track

I birded the hotel property again the next morning. I found a few more species than the previous day.

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Driving in the park to our next location, there was a Great Blue Heron on a rock in Lake of Two Rivers. It was quite a spectacular sight.

Opeongo Road was more or less disappointing. I hiked back into a spruce bog along the road hoping for a Spruce Grouse, but one never materialized. I did however find a trio of late Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. They were the only birds here that would pose for a photo!

After Opeongo, we visited the Spruce Bog trail. Red-breasted Nuthatches were common.

I gave up on finding grouse, and decided to focus on finding sparrows in the grass. I walked to the edge of the open bog, and then started slowly making my way through the grass, stopping to pish every so often. Swamp Sparrows responded immediately.

I heard some insect-like chips, and my mind instantly went to Le Conte's Sparrow. So for about 15 minutes I stood shin deep in water and mud, pishing and wading through the grass hoping to flush something. That I did...a grasshopper!

I guess I must have disturbed this Great Blue Heron.

After Spruce Bog, it was time to head home, but not before spotted my only Common Loon of the weekend!

It is always a thrill and an adventure to visit Algonquin. I hopefully will be back soon!