New Year, New List

When the clock struck 12 on New Year's Eve, we welcomed a new year, and with that, new lists. While I don't really have any intentions of a "big year", I thought it would be fun to try and tick off as many species as possible for my Middlesex year list in the first little bit of the year. I'm still riding the high of the exceptional birding in 2020, so we'll see how long my enthusiasm lasts. Probably until the sedges start to grow again.

I started off the day before sunrise in my neighborhood. I tried to get a screech-owl in one of the ravines, but no luck. I did have one here last March for a bit, but it was probably just a transient individual. My first bird of the new year was a Mallard. Better than how I started 2020, with a House Sparrow!

I picked up Northern Cardinal, Dark-eyed Junco, and Mourning Dove in short succession, then went to the wetland, where I had my first finch of the year, a Common Redpoll. It took a little bit of work to dig one up, but I eventually got my target, Swamp Sparrow. I picked up another 20 or so species as well.

Next, I went to Fanshawe Conservation Area, a favourite haunt in the last couple months of 2020. I was disappointed to find that the lake was largely frozen over, so there wasn't the large concentration of ducks as I had a couple days prior. I scoped the geese at the north end, and came up with three Cackling Geese, not a bad species to get in January. 

Overall, I found it to be much quieter than I had been expecting, but there were still a few quality birds to be had. While in the campground, I heard a couple soft "chuts", and was surprised to see a flock of 15 White-winged Crossbills fly over. These were the first crossbills I had seen since November 24th, so I thought they had all moved through. I guess we are getting the second wave.

I was told about a Fox Sparrow coming to some seed, but after waiting around for a bit, it was a no show, so I continued on my way. I checked another area which is a popular spot for feeding birds, and often gets some good wintering sparrows, and was rewarded with an immature White-crowned Sparrow, and a White-throated Sparrow. 

A bit later in the afternoon, I went to the very northern part of the lake, where the large numbers of Mallards that I had missed were apparently hanging out. Here I picked up Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, and Common Goldeneye. I also had another flock of White-winged Crossbills fly over, this one totaling 30 individuals! The previous high count for Middlesex this past season was eight, so that was pretty exciting! 

Down near Komoka, I tried for the reported Hoary Redpoll, but found no redpolls at all where they had been seen. I still have a couple months to try and find one I figure, so not a big deal! The quarry ponds in the area were frozen over, much to my disappointment, but at least the Mute Swans could be seen resting on the ice.

Out Strathroy way, we found three Snowy Owls, two of which were quite close on the hydro poles. They are always a highlight. A Northern Flicker flew by as well, which was a bit unexpected.

The weather was really turning at this point, but since I was in the area, I checked in at the sewage lagoons, and found the Common Yellowthroat that had been there since at least December. A bit of an odd wintering bird for this area. I also had a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which was my last new bird of the day.

My year list at the end of January 1st was a respectable 50 species.

Today, I went out in the morning in the neighbourhood in hopes of Carolina Wren and Cooper's Hawk, but came up empty handed. It was then back out to Fanshawe, where I found the lake to be largely ice free in the north end. I spent the better part of an hour counting the waterfowl, and came up with 1300 Canada Geese, 960 Mallards, 70 American Black Ducks, 34 Common Mergansers, a few Hooded Mergansers and goldeneye, as well as the wigeon. I also had an amazing 20 Cackling Geese. 

Just the usual suspects on the remainder of my walk, and I was getting worried I wouldn't see a single year bird that day! A fly over Rough-legged Hawk was a nice surprise, a new bird for my modest Fanshawe list. I stopped by the Fox Sparrow spot, and thankfully had it come right in to my pishing.

As I was crossing the dam, I spied a Merlin sitting in the distance, proving to be my only other year bird of the day. 

A fun couple days of birding, looking forward to what is still to come!

Happy New Year!

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!

Late January Along the River

Yesterday I went on the Nature London trip to Sarnia and the St. Clair River.

We headed out in the morning, and saw the Snowy Owls in the usual location.

Not too long after, we faced heavy snow squalls. The decision was made to cancel the trip and turn back. I of course, was determined to continue and see what we could see, so we my vehicle continued on towards Sarnia. Turned out to be a good decision because only five minutes later things cleared and it was blue skies and sun!

A highlight of the day was this beautiful Rough-legged Hawk on Michigan Line. 

Also saw another Snowy Owl further down the road.

We stopped briefly into Wawanosh Wetlands, though as usual not too much was there.

Next up was Canatara Park in Sarnia. There was a calling Carolina Wren, but not much else. I found this little fungi, Hysterobrevium mori, on the fence in the children's farm.

We went to eat lunch and watch the lake at the Point Edward Lighthouse afterwards, which proved fruitful. We found many Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneye, mergansers, and a couple White-winged Scoters.

Long-tailed Ducks

The ice was quite impressive!

The Sarnia Bay was completely frozen, so no gulls or ducks there! After that we began the trek down the St. Clair River. Our first stop was Guthrie Park, which was productive.

Canvasbacks

Great Black-backed Gull

Canvasback

Common Merganser

Just as we were leaving, I noticed two Coyotes out on the ice. One wonders what they were doing. Perhaps they were trying to cross from the island (Stag Island) to the mainland, or maybe they were trying to hunt waterfowl.

One last stop was Cathcart Park near Sombra, where there is often an assortment of waterfowl and other things.

Bald Eagle

Three species of swans were present. Mute, Tundra, and a single Trumpeter.

Mute Swan

Trumpeter Swan

Overall, a fun, but cold, day along the river. It is amazing how the accumulation of ice can make or break a day. Gulls were very limited today. I only saw Herring and a few Great Black-backs!

Rondeau Roundup

Yesterday I went to Rondeau with a group from Nature London. Despite it being a "slow" day, I don't think anybody was disappointed!

We started the day with a quick drive down Lakeshore Road, looking for the White-winged Dove, a bird that has somehow evaded me for the past four years. No luck!

We met up with the group, and then went and explored Tulip Tree Trail. Some highlights included Common Loon (flyover), Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Tufted Titmouse and Winter Wren.

Hermit Thrush

After about an hour on the trail, I took my group on a little walk down Lakeshore Road. There were plenty of Brown Thrashers.

I stopped to talk to the owner of the "pink house", who said the White-winged Dove had just taken off, but was likely at the "yellow house", a little bit down the road. I lost a lot of my group, as they didn't want to walk down the road all that way, but I kept treking (sprinting)...I had to see that bird!

Eventually I got to the "yellow house" and....nothing. Darn. But just as I was about to turn around I spotted a dove fly up from the ground behind the house. A dove with a rounded tail and white on the tip of the tail. Could it be? It all happened so fast, but it definitely warranted a closer look. It wasn't on the stovepipe, and it wasn't on the roof, so where did it go?

"WHO COOKS FOR YOU!"

Ahhh!!! It was the White-winged Dove!!! I quickly found it in a tree not too far from the house, where it offered great views. After a little while it flew north, where I refound it high in a tree.

After the dove excitement, the group went to South Point Trail (they tried and failed at seeing the White-winged...good thing I went when I did!). Plenty of small woodland birds were around.

Hermit Thrush

White-throated Sparrow

House Wren

Eastern Towhee

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Most of the group turned around where the path was really flooded, but three of us kept going, seeing what we could find. There were a few sparrows near the beacon.

Field Sparrow

We managed to find our first (!) warblers of the trip...a distant singing Yellow-rumped and at least three Pine Warblers.

Pine Warbler

Not too much of interest was out near the washout except for a Horned Grebe and an Eastern Bluebird.

After South Point, we went up to the campground to check out a Snowy Owl which my friend had texted about. It didn't take too long to find it up in a tree. Kind of a bizarre place for it!

Maintenance was fairly quiet, but we did see a Carolina Wren and my first Spring Azure of the year.

Carolina Wren

Spring Azure

Marsh Trail was the last stop for the group. Not much of note except for a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Blake notified me of a Wilson's Phalarope over at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, so I made a stop there after Rondeau.

It didn't take long to find her in the sprinkler cell. Female phalaropes are more brightly coloured than the males, and this female was no exception. Quite the bird!

There were some other shorebirds around, such as both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Lesser Yellowlegs

I found a group of Pectoral Sandpipers and a Wilson's Snipe in a wet spot to the north of the sprinkler cell.

Pectoral Sandpiper

A few other birds around the lagoons as well, including Purple Martins, Savannah Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks, gulls, ducks, and blackbirds.

Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gulls

Wood Ducks

Eastern Meadowlarks

All in all a super great day in the Rondeau area!

On a side note, I saw this stunner in London today. Not often we get a Prothonotary Warbler up this way! This is day three for this bird...I wonder how long he'll stay.

Country Road Birding

This afternoon my grandfather and I went for a little drive in the country looking for some countryside birds.

Plenty of Horned Larks were around.

Snow Buntings could be found as well.

The best birds of the day were a small group of Lapland Longspurs. I estimated about 15.

This Merlin was eyeing some Horned Larks.

The snow seems to be sticking around, and with it, some Snowy Owls. We came across four on our travels.

Pretty good little outing!