May Day

The first of May is always a celebrated day for birders (or at least, it is for me!). I like to get out and start the month off right!

This morning, somehow I slept through my alarm, but nevertheless, I was out and about in the neighbourhood by shortly after 7:00. The last couple days haven't been really conducive for migrants, but on my walk over, I heard a couple House Wrens, new arrivals, so my hopes were up. 

At the Northbrook Park/Wetland storm pond, I found a Solitary Sandpiper. I had heard one here the day prior, but it was nice to get a visual.

At one point I looked over and was shocked to see this staring back at me from the dried up wetland!

A Coyote! Although I have heard them on occasion in the neighbourhood, and commonly come across their scat, I very rarely actually see them (this is actually only my second time seeing one around here). It appeared to be quite mangey, and walked with a limp, so unfortunately I fear it was not well. 

It went and laid down on some phragmites, and was napping (I hope) when I passed by it again an hour later.

As for birds, the Blue Jays were moving, and I counted well over one hundred. 

A Brown Thrasher was making the rounds as well.

There wasn't really much else in the way of migrants other than a Blue-headed Vireo, my first this year. Not a single warbler at this location! 

My next stop at the north wetland yielded the warblers, and I found Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and Palm. There were several Tree Swallows around, including this one, which was collecting nesting material off the path. There is a pair building a nest in a snag—will keep an eye on it for the breeding bird atlas. 

Speaking of breeding birds, there was a House Finch sitting on the nest I spotted a few days back, and I saw my first brood of Mallard ducklings of the spring!

There was a small movement of Broad-winged Hawks, and I saw four go over. 

Next up was to check the Uplands Trail. I flushed a Wilson's Snipe while walking through the field, probably the most interesting thing there. There was also a Pine Warbler singing.

I got distracted by the sedges. I saw my first "getting there" Graceful Sedge (Carex gracillima) of the year. The perigynia (fruits) on this species are short and plump without a "beak". 

The terminal spikelets of this species are also what we call "gynecandrous", meaning that there are female flowers above the male flowers. You can kind of see that here (although it may not be super obvious if you don't know what you're looking for!). The gynecandrous tendency of Graceful Sedge is a distinguishing feature, separating it from most of the other similar species in Carex sect. Hymenlochaenae (this is a trait only shared by C. prasina, C. davisii, and C. formosa, all of which are not commonly encountered in Ontario).

Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) is a species I have portrayed on this blog before. It's colony forming habits make it a pretty distinctive and easy to identify species once you are familiar with it. 

Another species I saw was Fibrous-rooted Sedge (Carex communis). This can appear similar to Pennsylvania Sedge, although it is more clump forming and not colonial. The leaves are also wider, and the bracts (specialized leaf below the flowering part) are longer.

 A feature I don't see discussed too much is that the bract sheath has reddish margins were it meets the culm (sort of like the 'stem' in grasses and sedges). I believe that is is fairly diagnostic of Fibrous-rooted Sedge, at least in species that it looks similar to (Carex sect. Acrocystis). 

I'll finish off with this Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) with a "leaf necklace".

It was a great way to kick off May, and things can only look up from here!

It is Slowly Starting...

The last few days have seen us starting to get some of our most anticipated spring migrants in Southern Ontario. I have gotten out as often as I can, and as the weather allows.

Up until yesterday, first of year (FOY) birds were becoming hard to come by. One bird I finally was able to cross paths with was a Rusty Blackbird in my neighbourhood. They definitely seem to be much more uncommon in the spring as opposed to the fall, but I had half expected to come across several by that point! 

Stakes were looking high going into yesterday (Tuesday). A good south wind with very limited to no precipitation overnight—it was shaping up to be a good looking day!

My game plan for the morning was to walk around Fanshawe CA, which is what I did for five hours. Ultimately, it seemed that all the birds that showed up on the radar were White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers! I only managed to see two FOYs: Purple Finch (my first since November) and a Chimney Swift. I managed to rack up 69 species at Fanshawe—I just couldn't find a 70th! Find the morning's eBird checklist here.

Broad-winged Hawk

Today, my original plan was to go to the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons first thing in the morning, as I had hoped the forecasted thunderstorms would push down some good shorebirds. When I woke up, however, I found that there was no rain in the immediate forecast! Since I had limited time, I just opted to go birding in the neighbourhood.

It was fairly slow, but I can't complain too much considering it is April 28th! By any means, it seemed clear that today had more potential than the day prior! My first stop was Northbrook Park.

I flushed a Wilson's Snipe in the wetland, a first for this location. I was unable to turn up any rails. Virginia Rails had been present here for over a month last spring, but the habitat had been changed dramatically since last year due to phragmites management. 

I made my way through the ravine, and came across a few warblers, most notably my first Black-and-white Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler of the year.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata) is starting to flower.

Next up I went up to the Uplands North Wetland, always a good stop. My most notable bird was a Baltimore Oriole, which was of course a first for this year. There were also a couple Green Herons flying around, and some Common Loons and Double-crested Cormorants were migrating overhead.

As I was leaving the wetland and walking back home, I saw that I had a text from Reuven Martin. He had found an Eastern Whip-poor-will (a would be county bird for me) in Kilally Meadows ESA. It was 8:30. I had class at 9:00. 

I weighed my options, and decided that it would have to wait, so I told Reuven I would pop out after class. He told me that it was being mobbed by robins, and might not stick around. I reconsidered my choices. I had to go. So at 8:35, I was pulling out of my driveway.

I arrived at Kilally at 8:42, and found that I had gone to the wrong access point, which added another half kilometer of unnecessary running. By the time I had found the right spot and met up with Reuven it was 8:45. 

Reuven took me to the spot and pointed it out. Good thing he did, I probably would have had one heck of a time trying to find it otherwise! I snapped a few photos.

It was now 8:50. 

I pulled back into my driveway at 8:59, and managed to sprint up stairs in time to log into class at 9am. Not a minute to spare. 

It is a good thing I took the chance, because it seemingly disappeared later that morning! 

After class, there was rain in the forecast, so I opted to go to the Strathroy lagoons. Unfortunately, the rain was short lived, and it cleared up pretty fast :(  No rare shorebirds today.

I still had an okay shorebird count, with around 25 Pectorals, both yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, and a slightly early Least Sandpiper (although not too unexpected). 

Pectoral Sandpipers

There were several warblers along the edges of the cells as well, the best being a Northern Parula. The first time I have seen this species in April.

I also found my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the year.

I had a pretty good species count at the lagoons, which included several species of ducks, a Caspian Tern, and both the rails: Virginia Rails and Sora. 

It was a splendid day of late April birding, and I ended up with 80 species, not too shabby since I wasn't trying for a high species count. Looking forward to the days ahead (although I don't think we'll see a ton of movement until next week)! 

Backyard Broad-wingeds

 Today was a pretty good day to be around home.

I started off the day on a short shorebird tour. The first stop was a random storm water pond near the airport. Here I quickly found the reported Sanderling, a new one for me in Middlesex County.

Next up was the sod farms. Not much has been seen here as of late, other than a couple of Black-bellied Plovers, which I saw today.

When I got home I intended to sit out and watch for hawks, however I quickly noted that the winds were from the southeast. I figured this wasn't ideal so I went back inside. Then the notifications of numbers of Broad-winged Hawks began to come through. I figured I may as well take a peek. I went out around 10:30 and after a few minutes I saw one. Not very exciting. I went inside to make some breakfast, and when I came back out I was greeted by a whole kettle of over 20 circling overhead, as well as a Cooper's Hawk and a Northern Harrier. Something was happening.

For the next 15 or so minutes, the hawks were almost constant, and I ended up with well over 300, which included several large kettles, one tallying about 130.

I spent the next five or so hours sitting outside and watching the sky, and managed to tally a total of 657 Broad-winged Hawks, as well as some Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, harriers, a couple Red-tailed, and of course Turkey Vultures. Things really got slow near the end, but I was happy with my result.

The London Airshow is this weekend, and as usual, I occasionally see planes over my house. I snapped a couple photos (they didn't really turn out, but they're better than nothing). Not pictured is the CF-18s. Apparently the airshow had some F-22 Raptors as well, which are quite cool. I thought I may have seen one, but I didn't get a great look.

A-10 Thunderbolt

F-16 Viper

KC-10 Extender

Totally overexposed C-17 Globemaster (I think)

Homebound Northbound

Migrants have been slow to trickle through, but when they are moving, we don't have to go far to see them!

I have much enjoyed spending time around home looking for birds. On clear mornings, I like to sit in my backyard and count birds as they fly over. The highlight is always Common Loons. In the past week I have counted a total of over 180 loons migrating over my house, 124 in one day!

All the loons have been northbound, except one, which was in basic (non-breeding) plumage. That one was heading south. A bit odd if I do say so myself!

Loon going the wrong way

With the loons, there are occasionally small flocks of Double-crested Cormorants that go by.

I've even mananged to get a couple yard birds out of it! The most surprising was probably Eastern Meadowlark (I live in a subdivsion), which was also a new neighbourhood bird.  I also had a couple American Wigeons this evening.

Broad-winged Hawks are moving through in small numbers. I have had a few over my yard.

As well as in one of the local woodlots.

After the morning watches are over, I try to go on a walk around the neighbourhood. A few days ago an American Bittern was found at a wetland near me. This is the second bittern I have seen there, the first being one I found in 2018. American Bitterns are surprisingly rare in the county! I saw it again today.

The Virginia Rail I found last weekend now has a friend. The habitat isn't great, but is sufficent, so one has to wonder just how long they'll stick around. Other wetland birds are moving in, such as this Green Heron.

Odds and ends include my first of year Northern Rough-winged, Barn and Bank Swallows, as well as my first Fox Sparrow of the year. Funny enough I has just been thinking about Fox Sparrows when this one popped up!

Word is on the street that tomorrow is looking good for birds...we shall see.