Long Point Adventure

Yesterday I took a little trip down to the Long Point area. We started in Old Cut, where it was apparently a slow day for banding. The only birds I saw banded were Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird, Veery, and an American Redstart. Bird life around the station was present, but not abundant. A Cape May was the only warbler other than the redstart.

Cape May

There was a family of Green Herons in a Blue Spruce near the Old Cut marsh.

Olive-sided Flycatcher was one of the better birds.

I caught and tagged my first Monarch of the season...although she looks a bit weathered, I am being optimistic. It was great to practice the procedure of tagging.

We spent a couple hours at Old Cut, then went to Big Creek NWA where we found a vocal Virginia Rail.

After lunch, we went to the Port Rowan Wetlands. The target here was Common Gallinule (formally known as Common Moorhen), which called as soon as we got there. Pied-billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal were also present.

Pied-billed Grebe

After about an hour of searching I finally found a group of about 10 gallinules. Many juveniles were with them.

A Least Bittern caught me off guard when it flushed from the side of the wetland. I managed to get one blurry photo as it disappeared into the reeds.

Hahn Marsh was somewhat of a disappointment, however I still managed to find 17 Sandhill Cranes.

I caught this little Eastern Gartersnake at Hahn Marsh as well...quite feisty!

Another visit to Old Cut was due to try for the King Rail. Despite waiting (and waiting, and waiting), it never did vocalize. The 15,000+ swallows made up for it, however. The majority were Bank Swallows, but Barn, Tree, Northern Rough-winged, and Purple Martin were mixed in as well.

At one point a fairly large group of Great Egrets flew over. On eBird, anything over 6 is flagged!

The Green Heron nestlings were equally entertaining.

Despite missing the King Rail, I was still happy with what I saw. It was a great trip (despite being bitten by a Dog Tick)!

Smith's and Sandhills: New Year's Birding

I wanted to start 2017 off with a bang, so I decided to skip the Nature London hike and try for the recently re-found Smith's Longspur down in Norfolk county. Smith's Longspur is a species that regularly breeds in northern Ontario (Hudson Bay), but is rarely found on migration in the province. Here is the range map:

Red Dot is the Bird's Location

As you can see, this bird is a big deal! It was the first record in Ontario for December, and I'm guessing the story's the same for January. We had no trouble finding the spot as many other birders were already at the side of the road. It took a few minutes to find the bird, but it soon showed itself and took a bath in the creek.

She was hard to keep track of due to her excellent camouflage, and her small size meant most of my photos turned out blurry as auto focus seemed to like the grass more than the rarity.

After 20 or 25 minutes we lost the bird in a clump of grass.

There were plenty of Sandhill Cranes, totaling about 495 individuals. At one point they all flushed, and the sound of their calls were deafening. Quite an amazing sight.

They also flew over in smaller groups as well.

We went to the Old Cut station next to see what it was about. Plenty of action at the feeder.

We noticed some Sandhill action out along Lakeshore Road. There were tons of cranes coming and going.

I estimated about 420 in the field.

I saw a few new year birds on the way home, the best being a Sharp-shinned Hawk. It was a great way to start off the New Year. 2017 here I come!

-----------------------------

Here's a Snowy Owl from yesterday :)