More Algonquin April Birding

Last Thursday, there was a little bit of rain in the forecast, but with the south winds, I figured I should head out birding at the Old Airfield in Algonquin Park anyways. Lucky for me, the rain subsided early in the day, and I ended up having my best day of birding of the year thus far.

Not a ton of new arrivals per se, but certainly a good number of species on the move. The day started off well with an Eastern Phoebe soon after the rain stopped, the first of the year. 

In late morning, an Eastern Meadowlark dropped in, which was great to see. I believe this is a different bird than the one from a couple of days prior. 

I saw two Sandhill Cranes fly over, which are pretty scarce migrants and breeders in the Park.

A short while later, a lone Double-crested Cormorant flew by, far away and high up. I think this ties the early record.

And just five minutes after that, I spied an immature Golden Eagle migrating in the distance. No (conclusive) photos of that one though! 

A nice male American Kestrel also visited in the early afternoon.

The headliner for the day were Common Redpolls. I counted an incredible 3740 individuals migrating southbound. Why they were headed that way, is beyond me. Here is a portion of a flock of 500+ that I saw.

Here is my eBird checklist.

In some other Algonquin birding odds and ends, Winter Wren was a new one for the year on April 8. April 9 brought two new birds: Northern Flicker and Blue-winged Teal. The teal are of particular excitement, as they are a very uncommon spring migrant and were a new species for my park list.

Yesterday yielded no new year birds, despite spending most of the day birding on good winds. Perhaps driving from London and getting back at 3am was not the best idea after all! That's just how it goes sometimes! This morning I found a little bit of movement had occurred, as I found Hermit Thrush, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, and Wilson's Snipe in the Old Airfield. 

I've been quite happy with what I've been seeing so far (it somewhat offsets my sour feelings about missing a Black-necked Stilt back home), and am quite excited to see what else is to come. The beauty of Algonquin Park birding...it doesn't take much to make us happy! 

Weekend Birding

 My birding around Middlesex County has continued. This past weekend I put in some more time picking up year birds. First thing on Saturday, I went to the Fanshawe Conservation Area (where else?)

The large number of geese continued, but I could only spot two Cackling Geese. Hopefully more goose species will be found here in the coming weeks. I also spotted one of the Northern Pintails.

As for the passerines, I found my first bluebirds of the year, which was nice. A big surprise was a Chipping Sparrow coming to one of the areas people feed birds. Despite almost daily coverage of this area by birders, new wintering birds continue to be found!

Eastern Bluebird

My aunt and I went down to southwest Middlesex in the afternoon in search of raptors, in particular Golden Eagle and Red-shouldered Hawk. First was Shield Siding Road, where the hawk had been seen a couple weeks prior. No luck here however.

Argyll Drive was also pretty quiet. We spotted a suspicious eagle in the distance, but it disappeared before being identified.

We were driving down Watterworth Road, my tire pressure warning went off. I pulled over to investigate and found exactly what I was hoping it wasn't: my front tire was quickly losing air. I put my finger over the hole to try and save what I could (turned out we didn't have a tire plug kit, so it didn't end up mattering!) Funny enough, as I had my finger on the tire, an immature Golden Eagle flew over! At least we got our target bird!

Thanks to the assistance of a passing motorist, we managed to change the tire, but not without difficulty! The soft shoulder was certainly not kind to us. By any means, the birding was over for the day, and it was time to head back home.

The next day, I went for a long walk.(~11km) along the Thames River, starting at Springbank Park.

I spent nearly an hour sorting through a redpoll flock, but all I could find were Commons and a few tweener polls.

One of my intriguing redpolls. I left it as Hoary/Common. Who knows, they're probably the same species anyways (or at least, Acanthis flammea flammea and Acanthis hornemanni exilipes are). It would probably be easy to dismiss it as a regular old Common, but it stood out to me as a bit different. I'm always looking for those more "cryptic" Hoaries.

There haven't been a ton of ducks along the river this winter. My three year birds from the walk were all ducks, Bufflehead (basically absent from Middlesex this winter so far), Ring-necked Duck (unusual wintering bird), and a surprise Red-breasted Merganser.

On Monday morning, I got a text that a Harlequin Duck had been found on the Thames on the 9th. The finder was concerned for the wellbeing of the bird, so a location was not given. After some detective work, myself and a few other area birders were reasonably confident where the bird was, so on Tuesday morning, I went out to try and find it.

After searching for a couple hours, I finally managed to locate it. 

It eventually got up and went to feed and swim in the rapids.

Great looking bird, my second for Middlesex. The last one was 2016, and the last Harlequin I had seen period back back in 2018 in Hamilton. It was nice to catch up with one again.

That's all for now. Stay safe out there.

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!

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!)

Escape to the North

A few weeks ago, some friends and I planned a short trip to Northern Ontario to try and see some of the birds that like to inhabit such region during the winter. "Northern" is not a term I take lightly - we would be spending the majority of the trip in the Arctic watershed!

On Friday the 13th (!), I met up with none other than Nathan Hood in Waterloo. After loading up my gear, we picked up Ezra Campanelli and Riley Walsh, and began our trip northward. The traffic was moving quite well, so we made good time to our first pit stop, Bala, to look for the reported female Barrow's Goldeneye. Unfortunately, we struck out on the duck, but it was still nice to be able to take a short break.

Afterwards, we continued up to Sudbury, where we had a minor scare when the car's range (how far it can get with the fuel in the tank) hit zero, but somehow we were able to roll into a gas station in the nick of time. After stopping for dinner, we booked it for Gogama, where we were going to be staying the first night. Other parties who have been coming up have had luck with Boreal Owls and other owl species on the road leading into town, so we tried our luck. However, after two hours, we turned up nothing more than a single distress call of some sort after the speakers accidentally played rock music instead of owl calls.

The next morning, we went to the recent burn in the area. This is the same burn that Tyler Hoar and I visited last summer on our way up to James Bay. Having met up with a couple more friends ( including Owen Ridgen) of ours, we put on our snowshoes, and split up into three groups. We went in different directions, with plans to text each other if we found something good (American Three-toed Woodpecker).

So, with Riley, I headed down the main road. It didn't take us too long to find our first Black-backed Woodpecker.

Soon after spotting this beauty, it became clear it was going to be a long and frustrating day for me, as my snowshoes kept coming loose and falling off. It was also warming up, causing the snow to become softer, making snowshoeing quite difficult, with some steps causing us to sink up to our waists in snow. There was even a point where my snowshoe came off in one of those instances, and I had to put my full upper body down a hole to dig it out!

Riley and I continued on for another two or so kilometres of walking. During this time, we came up with thirteen more Black-backeds, for a total of fourteen along our route. Other birds we had included a Ruffed Grouse, some Gray Canada Jays, White-winged Crossbills, Red Crossbill, and a Common Redpoll. Riley also had a Pine Grosbeak fly over as I was bent down fixing my shoe. Also found a stand of a few Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra).

As we were walking back, we got a message that the other groups had found a male three-toed woodpecker. We were still a fair distance away, but we hightailed it to their position (along the way hitting a spot which I sunk and left me more or less stuck in one place for ten minutes...thanks snowshoes). However, by the time we got there, they had lost the bird. We spent the better part of the next four hours and five kilometres trying to search for the bird, but had no luck. At least the view was nice.

I have walked in many different terrains, but I can honestly say the hike we did on that day is one of the hardest I have ever done (my snowshoe falling off every ten minutes didn't help either). Riley and I accepted defeat. On a positive note though, we tallied an excellent 38 Black-backed Woodpeckers!

After the burn, we kept heading north for Cochrane. We figured we'd have a bit of time to essentially kill, so we decided to drive to Hearst along Highway 11, and watch for Northern Hawk Owls along the road. It turned out to be a quiet drive, with no hawk owls seen. We didn't even make it to Hearst. Five minutes outside of the town, we hit this wall of trucks.

Nathan went and asked one of the drivers what was up, and they believe it was some sort of accident. We saw no better option but to turn around and make the two and a half-hour drive to Cochrane, so that's what we did. We stopped once along the way to try for Boreal Owl, but came up empty.

The next morning (-25c), we met up with Jeff Skevington and his group (Angela Skevington, Alexander Skevington, Paul Lagasi, and Jeff's parents), as well as Kiah Jasper (his blog), Judy Jasper, and Dana Latour. for a day of birding along the Detour Lake Road (Highway 652). It didn't take long to find the first Northern Hawk Owl of the trip, a lifer for both Nathan and me.

A couple of stops later, we were awarded with yet another Hawk Owl, along with Ezra's, Riley's, and my lifer Hoary Redpoll.

Finch numbers weren't insane, but there certainly were a lot. The most numerous species was either Pine Siskin or White-winged Crossbill, followed by Common Redpoll (we saw hundreds of each). We also saw a few Pine Grosbeaks here and there. We also happened across a Merlin (unusual for this time of year), a couple Northern Shrikes, and several Ruffed Grouse.

Common Redpoll

A bit later in the morning, we happened across our third Hawk Owl of the trip.

It was shaping up to be a really awesome day! (who am I kidding, it already was!)

A couple more hours passed, and then we spotted some Sharp-tailed Grouse! Another lifer for me. We pulled over and began to observe these beautiful birds.

Then, Dana spotted a Hawk Owl on a pole just to the right of the grouse. Awesome!

One of the grouse seemed to perk up and become agitated. Why would that be?

The answer came mere seconds later. A GYRFALCON flew over!!!

The falcon circled overhead for a couple minutes, providing great views. Then, just as we thought it wouldn't get any better...

...the Gyr took a dive at the Sharp-taileds, which sent them scattering. It missed the birds, then went up and perched on the same pole the Hawk Owl (which has fled) had been sitting on. Wow!!! And this all happened within a couple minutes, and we hadn't even moved!!

I think I can stop birding now, I have peaked.

After that little excitement (understatement), we figured we were near the end of the road (182km), so we kept going. Not too much more happened, aside from one more Sharp-tailed Grouse.

Common Redpoll

With our car in the lead, we started the long trek back to Cochrane. It took us a bit, but I did eventually spot a Hawk Owl, our fifth.

Soon, Riley spotted a sixth. Not too long after, I found the seventh. Incredible!

One of the highlights of the day was finally seeing my lifer Bohemian Waxwings! Terrible photo, but well seen and heard.

We pulled into Cochrane a couple hours later, without any other major highlights. After dinner, we went back out in search of owls along Highway 652. While many of our stops came up empty, we finally got lucky with a Boreal Owl (lifer) about an hour and a half outside of Cochrane. We were even able to call it in for some great looks through binoculars! It was a great end to a great day. I can't remember the last time I saw five new birds in a day!

The next morning, we started a but later (on account of not getting back to Cochrane until 1:30am), with plans to head up to Fraserdale, and perhaps a bit beyond.

Just outside of Cochrane, we got out only Hawk Owl of the day, and the last one for the trip. Number eight!

It soon became apparent that the day would be quite a bit slower than the previous day. The only things of note along the whole 70+ km road to Fraserdale were a couple Ruffed Grouse and some Pine Grosbeaks.

Having reached Fraserdale, we decided to keep pushing northward. We stopped to take a look at the Abitibi Canyon generating station. Quite impressive!

Continuing on, there were birds scattered here and there. We came across a couple small flocks of finches, Bohemian Waxwings, and even flushed a couple of Sharp-tailed Grouse. A pair of Red Crossbills was unusual for this far north.

Soon, we made it to the start of the We-Tum road, the winter road that goes up to Moose Factory. It is something I have heard about for a while and was quite happy to get the opportunity to see. One day I'll make the drive...

Since it wasn't too much further, we went to see the Otter Rapids dam.

Those who have ridden the Polar Bear Express will recognize this place.

As Riley said, all of a sudden, Northern Ontario doesn't seem so inaccessible!

We went about as far as we could before having to turn back, and with the snow starting to get heavier, we were eager to get back to Cochrane. There were a few large redpoll flocks along the way, one of which included a "Rostrata" Common Redpoll.

After a hearty dinner of Subway and Apple Pie, we quickly fell asleep. It had been an exhausting couple of days.

We awoke early the next morning, packed the car, and then, after saying our good-byes to Jeff and his family, went south, with intentions of stopping in at the burn in Gogama for American Three-toed Woodpecker again. There were plenty of crossbills and siskins out on the road this morning (though admittedly a couple less, they weren't exactly all able fly off the road in time).

By 11am, we had reached the burn, strapped on our snowshoes (mine cooperated on this day), and began to search the burn once more. One thing we noticed is that there definitely seemed to be a lot less woodpecker and bird activity, which did worry us a bit. However, we trekked on, determined to give it our best shot.

It took a while, but eventually, we did find where there was considerable woodpecker action (15 Black-backed Woodpeckers in total).

After some more aimless wandering, our group got spread out a bit. The snow and wind was also picking up, and I admit I was starting to feel as though our luck had run out. But then, just as I was about to give up, a small woodpecker flew in and landed on a tree not too far away. Could it be? I raised my binoculars, and there, staring back at me was a lovely lady American Three-toed Woodpecker!

I yelled at Ezra, who was a little bit ahead of me on the trail, who called Nathan and Riley over. Unfortunately, the bird didn't stick around long, but at least it stayed around long enough for them to get a quick look at. It was a great way to end the trip!

All in all, the trip was nothing short of spectacular. Aside from maybe Great Grey Owl (which we didn't expect), we didn't miss any of our northern targets, and even managed to score a couple bonuses! I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love Northern Ontario.