Fanshawe Findings

Today I went for a little outing at Fanshawe Conservation Area in London. I was most interested in the Evening Grosbeak that has been around, but that was not to be. This was my third attempt!

Nevertheless, still a few things lurking around the feeding area.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Cardinal

A few of the more uncommon winter sparrows as well.

Fox Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

There were plenty of Dark-eyed Juncos. Many were even starting to sing a little bit!

A Brown-headed Cowbird stopped in. My first one in awhile.

On another note, a few days ago I was happy to find a couple flocks of Common Redpolls. Species #166 for my modest neighborhood!

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.

Pits to the Park

Today I did a little bit of birding locally.

This morning I checked out the "Komoka Pits", a series of old quarry ponds. These ponds often attract many types of water birds.

I checked out a little park with a couple small ponds. I was pleased to find a pair of Blue-winged Teals in one of the ponds.

There was also some Lesser Scaup, Canada Geese, and a Cooper's Hawk made a fly by.

Canada Goose

I checked out the main big pond, where I found an assortment of ducks such as Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Buffleheads, Common Goldeneye, and Common Mergansers.

I also found my first Common Loons of the year. Loons are one of my favourites.

Later in the afternoon I went to Fanshawe Park, in search of anything I could find.

I scoped out the lake for any waterfowl, but all I was able to find were a few Pied-billed Grebes.

I had more luck in a smaller pond, where I found, much to my delight, all three species of mergansers! Red-breasted Mergansers are uncommon in Middlesex, so I was happy to see them.

It wasn't long after I heard the very distinct call of the Eastern Meadowlark, my first of the year. It didn't take long to find two at the top of a tree. In all, there were four.

It was also a treat to see about eight Tree Swallows, my first "big" group of the year.

I also took a little bit of time to enjoy some of the more common woodland birds, still coming to feed on bird seed left at a trail head (but no Fox Sparrow today!)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

American Tree Spa

Black-capped Chickadee

London CBC4Kids 2017

This past Saturday was the 4th annual Christmas Bird Count for Kids here in London. This is my third year participating, and my second year as a group leader.

I didn't take any pictures this time around, so I will be digging some out of the archive!

The group met at the Civic Garden Complex in Springbank Park for a quick presentation on the common birds of Springbank Park. Soon after, we were divided into groups, and headed out to find some birds!

Almost immediately, we found a group of Black-capped Chickadees and Golden-crowned Kinglets. The younger participants tried to hand feed them, but I guess the chickadees weren't hungry!

Flashback to when they were hungry!

Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Blue Jays kept us entertained with their non-stop calling and caching of food in the trees.

Waterfowl were hard to find, that is until we got to the duck pond! One of the participants took the time to count 134 Mallards!

On the way back, a highlight for the group was 5 singing Carolina Wrens.

Once we got back to the complex, we tallied up the group totals.

1. Canada Goose: 534
2. American Black Duck: 4
3. Mallard: 223
4. Common Merganser: 2
5. Red-tailed Hawk: 2
6. Bald Eagle: 0 (!)
7. Ring-billed Gull: 3
8. Downy Woodpecker: 2
9. Red-bellied Woodpecker: 8
10. Belted Kingfisher: 1
11. Blue Jay: 27
12. American Crow: 6
13. Black-capped Chickadee: 31
14. Red-breasted Nuthatch: 5
15. White-breasted Nuthatch: 2
16. Carolina Wren: 8
17. Golden-crowned Kinglet: 8
18. European Starling: 33
19. Northern Cardinal: 14
20. Song Sparrow: 1
21. American Tree Sparrow: 1
22. House Sparrow: 42
23. Dark-eyed Junco: 10
24. American Goldfinch: 18

TOTAL:

24 species

1040 individuals

My Group saw 18 species of the 24 species, which was one of the higher group tallies!

Overall, it was a "slow day", but I think that the participants really enjoyed it.

The "real" CBC season starts on the 16th! Let the madness begin!

 

To find a count near you, please check out this link!

London CBC4Kids 2016

Today was the Christmas Bird Count for Kids here in London. I volunteered as a group leader, and by 9:30 am, after the introduction, we broke up into our groups and went to our respectable areas along Springbank Park and Greenway Park.

As soon as we arrived we looked up in time to see a Common Loon flyover. Loons at this time of year in Middlesex is quite a good sighting. Ring-billed Gulls, Chickadees, and Goldfinches flew over here as well.

A little bit down the path we found the highlight of the entire bird count....a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker! This bird is fairly rare at any time of year in the county, so this bird is very exciting. 2016 seems to be a good year for RHWO in Middlesex, as there was a presumed breeding pair in the Strathroy area. Maybe this bird is one of the fledglings!

This isn't a B&W filter...the lighting sucked!

I have labeled the area of the observation for anyone who wants to try to find the bird.

red x marks the spot

highlighted area is the spot of the RHWO

I saw it storing food of some kind, so maybe it will try to overwinter.

Other birds seen along the route included Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Kinglets, Common Goldeneye, Canada Geese, and Juncos.

We met back an hour and half later to share our sightings. A bird that rivaled the RHWO was Sandhill Crane....28 of them flew over Greenway Park! Unlike some friends in counties such as Chatham-Kent or Lambton, who see dozens more of these birds, here in Middlesex it is hard enough to come about one or two cranes, let alone 28....flying over downtown!

Together we had a total of over 600 individuals, down from 1000+ the last two years, and 32 species, which is a new record on this count.

In a couple weeks I'll be down in Rondeau doing the CBC there. Hopefully I can get in some birding before then!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Over the past couple days it has gotten quite cooler, and on Saturday night it started to snow. By yesterday morning, the ground was covered in a carpet of white.

Photo from last year

I'm amazed that just three days ago it was a record high setting temperature and I was observing Cattle Egrets and Monarchs. I'm sure the Cattle Egret is regretting it's choice to come back to the lagoons.

Yesterday there was a Nature London outing at Weldon Park in Arva, so that's where I went for an hour and a half. The leader wasn't expecting many bird species to be around due to the wind, but we managed to spot an impressive 20 species, such as Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, Mallard, and House Finch. Other birds included the following:

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

See the Red Belly?

Hairy Woodpecker

Cedar Waxwing

Canada Geese

American Goldfinch

This tree has been used by a White-tailed Deer to rub the velvet off it's antlers.

Trees were covered with snow, creating a very pretty woodland sight.

I wonder how much longer the snow will stick around?

(Update November 22) On a side note, the "Semipalmated Sandpiper" I saw in Blenheim on Friday turned out to be in fact a first winter Western Sandpiper.  This sighting is exciting as this bird is quite rare in Ontario, and only a few, if any, show up each year. I didn't take any photos, but you can view some nice shots here and here (note: on this page you can find photos of the WESA, however they are listed as a Semi. These photos will likely soon go over to the WESA page).