Mid-May Birding Highlights

What a week it has been! I have had some pretty great birding, and here are some of the highlights. 

Last Friday finally saw some movement (coincidentally, last year the 'drought' ended on May 14th as well), so I made a point of going to Kilally Meadows ESA first thing in the morning. Although it was not crazy, I still manged to tally 80 species in the five hours I was there (see the eBird checklist here). Highlights included Evening Grosbeak, Broad-winged Hawk (seemed a bit late), FOY Blackpoll Warbler, and my county lifer Golden-winged Warbler. 

Just as I was leaving, I got a call from Bill Lindley who had White-rumped Sandpipers at the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons, so that's where I headed next. Although I struck out on the White-rumpeds, I did end up finding a small flock of Short-billed Dowitchers. Not a species I was exactly expecting to see this year in the county! I also saw my FOY Dunlin and Semipalmated Plovers. 

As soon as I had gotten home, I got another call from Bill, letting me know a Wilson's Phalarope had been reported at Dingman Wetland, on the south side of the city. I was off again...

I arrived and immediately saw the female Wilson's Phalarope. What a gorgeous bird, the photo does it no justice. 

The next morning I went back to Kilally. It was a bit slower than the previous day (eBird checklist here), and I tallied a few less species. Nevertheless, it was nice to see my FOY Scarlet Tanager and Bay-breasted Warblers, as well as getting some decent looks at another Blackpoll. At one point, I was surprised to find a Savannah Sparrow in the tree right above my head! Odd place for such a bird. 

Savannah Sparrow

Blackpoll Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Later that afternoon, I saw that a Prairie Warbler, a species not seen in Middlesex since 2002, had been found at Cavendish Woods earlier that morning in the middle of London. A couple phone calls later, and Bill, Gord, and I were on scene. 

To make a long story short, we spent a couple hours (with a short intermission to go see a White-rumped Sandpiper at Dingman) looking, but came up empty. We went back the next morning and found out from the guy who found it that the bird had stopped singing by early afternoon anyways. 

What we did find however, was a Hooded Warbler! I got some pretty bad photos of it, but you can tell what it is. Patagonia Picnic Table effect anyone?

I did my usual Kilally route on Sunday morning, followed by that return trip to Cavendish Woods, but nothing really of note.

I saw there was a chance of rain in the afternoon (spoiler alert: it didn't happen), so I went out to look for shorebirds. My first stop was Strathroy, which in addition to my FOY Black-billed Cuckoo, I saw some more dowitchers. Spent some time photographing shorebirds.

Short-billed Dowitchers

Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Dowitchers in flight

Afterwards I went to Dingman. There were many shorebirds to sort through, and I had 45 or so Semipalmated Plovers, which was my personal high count for southern Ontario (have had flocks of over 100 up on James Bay though), as well as my FOY Semipalmated Sandpiper. I was also pleased to get some better looks at the White-rumped Sandpiper. 

Digiscoped White-rumped with many Leasts

The next morning I went back out to Kilally, and was pleased to find a bunch of birds had come in, including my FOY Mourning, Canada, and Wilson's Warblers, Eastern Wood-pewees, Red-eyed Vireos (finally), and best of all, a Red-headed Woodpecker. Not a picture taking morning! See the eBird checklist here.

Later in the evening, I caught wind of Ruddy Turnstones down at Dingman (which is so inconveniently far away), and I was out the door before you could say "Arenaria interpres".

After some frantic scoping in the evening light, I managed to find them. A county bird for me, and one I was really hoping to cross paths with this spring. First Middlesex record in five years I believe. 

Another digiscope

A couple other birders showed up, and we stayed until dark. Paid off, since a Black-bellied Plover flew in!

The next morning I stuck to my neighbourhood (I wanted to be able to get home in time for the opening of vaccine registrations!), but I still managed to find my FOY Philadelphia Vireo and Alder Flycatcher. Compared to Kilally, not much going on though! 

I finally set up my moth sheet on this night as well, since it was warm out. Not much in the way of moths, but I did add a new neighbourhood bird when I heard a couple Long-tailed Ducks calling as they flew over. 

Kilally the next morning didn't yield much other than a few more Canada Warblers, and a lateish Common Loon. Still found nearly 70 species though. In the evening, I had my FOY Common Nighthawks flying above my yard.

The next morning once again started with Kilally (lol). FOY Yellow-billed Cuckoo was nice, but other than that no more year birds. I did have four Canada Warblers and three Mourning Warblers though, so hard not to be pleased with that I guess! 

After I got home, I got an alert for Red-necked Phalarope and some Wilson's Phalaropes at the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons, so I bet you can guess where I ended up in the afternoon! It took a loop of the north lagoon, but I finally spotted both species of phalaropes (one Red-necked and four Wilson's). This was my first time seeing a breeding plumaged Red-necked.

Wilson's, Red-necked, and a Mallard

And so that brings us to today, and of course I went to Kilally. Overall, it was pretty uneventful, although there was one highlight. As I was walking along the paved path, I heard a flycatcher vocalization deep in the woods that caught my ear. I suspected Acadian Flycatcher, so I investigated. Sure enough, I managed to get a better listen and a visual, and it was indeed an Acadian! The first one I have seen in four years. The species breeds regularly in a few woodlots in Middlesex, although there are very few records for right in London. It is no mega rarity, but it was nice to find something.

I have some audio recordings on my eBird checklist.

It was a fantastic week, and there should still be more to come! Still have a few species to catch up with, maybe tomorrow...

James Bay 2018: Part Four

This past summer I was given the opportunity to volunteer for the James Bay Shorebird Project on the coast of James Bay, north of Moosonee. For two weeks from August 13th to August 27th, I was stationed at Longridge Point, the most northern of the three survey sites in the project.

James Bay 2018:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight

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

August 18, 2018

We had a morning survey on this day, and since my foot was feeling better, I went along. I decided to head out a bit early and wait for the rest of the crew at "the wrack". As soon as I arrived, I spotted a flock of eight geese flying south not too far off shore. The sun was at their backs, so I wasn't able to see any detail on them. They seemed to be flying "odd" so I put my scope on them, and was pleased to see they were Snow Geese, the first flock of the season! I radioed back to camp, and everyone got to see them. A nice start to the day!

We started the survey about half a kilometer north of "the wrack" and then made our way to the tip of Longridge Point, where we'd finish the survey. We stopped in at the "forested island", (which we later dubbed "fantasy island") to see what songbirds were around. This spot isn't really an "island" but it is a stand of trees on the ridge about a kilometer away from the nearest forest. It seems like the perfect vagrant trap, hence our name for it :-)

We saw the usual suspects, including large numbers of Palm Warblers. The real excitement happened when a large-ish finch was spotted briefly before disappearing into a bush. It was very red, so Purple Finch was considered, but something seemed off. We were about to move on when the culprit jumped out of the bush. It was a Common Redpoll!  The bird was perfectly content feeding on strawberries only mere feet from us. It was certainly a time where I wish I had my camera, but I think my digiscopes turned out okay!

It was a pretty average survey (especially compared to what our NEXT Longridge Point Survey was going to be...). Lots of Black Scoters, with a few White-winged and Surf Scoters, were found at the tip. James Bay is a major staging site for Black Scoters. While the females are on their nests, all the males congregate to molt. There were probably between 1000-1300 Black Scoters at the tip of Longridge.

White Birch logs, along with White Cedar, are a common sight on the beaches. Those two species don't grow in the area, meaning they would have had to floated a long way.

I tried to document the moment.

Just me and the bay...

Back around camp, I continued to explore the marsh. I caught a couple more meadowhawks.

Black Meadowhawk

Cherry-faced Meadowhawk

I also went back to the creek to see what else I could catch. Just the same species as the day before.

Northern Pearl Dace

Brook Stickleback

August 19, 2018

It was sort of a cool and dreary day...very nice as it kept the mosquitoes away! We did the West Bay Survey on this day. There were tons of shorebirds on the mudflats. I believe we tallied somewhere around 2000 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 1500 White-rumped Sandpipers. Many of the Semis were juveniles, so it was obvious that there was some turnover as it was our highest juvenile count to date! We succeeded in finding a Red-necked Phalarope and a couple Wilson's Phalaropes on the survey as well. 

After a long trek across the mudflats, we finished our survey. Just before turning around to head back, we had this Rusty Tussock Moth caterpillar, certainly eye-catching!

Also right before turning back, we had a Tree Swallow go over with either a Cliff or Bank Swallow (sorry, it was over a month ago and I can't remember! I do think it was Cliff though). Interestingly, we had a Barn Swallow fly over later while back at camp. Swallows are uncommon up along the coast, and we only saw 4 individuals over the course of our stay.

Halfway back across the mudflats, I heard an odd shorebird call. By this point, I had been exposed to enough calls to pretty much recognize any of the shorebirds that we encountered, so I knew that whatever it was, it was going to be interesting. Soon after, I got on the bird, as was pleased to see it was a Red-necked Phalarope. Sure, not super rare, and we had already seen one today, but they are always fun! It landed not too far away, and put on a good show.

Also on the way back, I managed to hand catch this little fish, the Three-spined Stickleback. It has wonderful blue eyes. 

The rarest sighting of the day came soon after...

A couple hours later, back at camp, I spotted a white butterfly flying around. I assumed it was just another Cabbage White, which we had seen many of, but I decided to catch it just to be sure. I was pleased to see it was in fact a Mustard White, a (perhaps overdue) lifer for me!

Spent the rest of the day around camp...and if I remember correctly, I took another nap!

Evening Eared

This evening I decided to check out the Eared Grebe (first in Middlesex since 2013) that had been reported at the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons. The lagoons have proven to be a hotspot lately, as on Sunday there was a trio of Red-necked Phalaropes found. I was lucky to catch up with a pair of them later that night. Only two days later I was back for another rarity and a potential lifer.

The Eared Grebe wasn't easy to find. It took close to 30 minutes before I found it with some of the many Wood Ducks. It was quite far off and hard to get a good look at.

Eventually, it came in relatively close (still 100m plus away!) for easy viewing and the occasional decent photograph. These are some of the better record photos that I've attained!

The Red-necked Phalaropes were equally hard to photograph.

But at least the photos were better than on Sunday, when I attempted taking photos using my phone and a cheap pair of binoculars! I was without any of my good equipment as I came straight from my grandmother's house after I got the news of Middlesex's first Red-necks since 2014.

Cell Pic from Sunday

I think that getting both the grebe and the phalaropes in the same shot is the icing on the cake.

Strathroy definitely deserves another visit in the near future!

Arctic, the Plains, and the...Everglades?

(This post was written and originally published on Monday, August 14th, however due to a weird system glitch, it re-posted on August 19th)

No, I did not travel extensively. Yesterday we found birds from all three in one place...Point Pelee and area!

Some of you may know about the juvenile Wood Stork that was found on Saturday on the Tip of Point Pelee. This is a first record ever for the park, and for most of the birders going to see it, a first for their Ontario list. As soon as I found out about this bird, I ditched the plans to go to Rondeau and instead to make a beeline to Point Pelee for this MEGA bird.

We arrived at the park around 10:45 and I went right into the VC to get some Wi-Fi and check the ONTBIRDS alert. What I saw nearly gave me gave me a heart attack....Jeremy had posted that the Wood Stork was at the Tip!!!

It's fair to say that Jeremy got a little excited...but then again, who wouldn't be!

I ran from the VC and was considering running to the Tip, but then I saw that the Tram was just about to leave so I hopped on that. I swear the Tram has never gone slower!!!

I passed the slow Tram ride by texting my mom and aunt, who I had left behind in the parking lot. I warned them that if I got word that the bird was at the Tip I would hop on the first Tram with or without them!

I quickly joined up with the only other two birders on the Tram and we made our way to the Tip. When we arrived, only one birder was there (I guess the rest hadn't gotten the memo yet!). He told us to look up as the stork had just taken off.

Not 5 minutes into the search it flies perhaps 20-25 feet off the ground off the Tip then back again right over top of me! It was absolutely incredible.

Later, while heading back down the West Beach trail, we see it again circling above the trees.

It was awesome!

The stork continued to be seen off and on again throughout the day, but not after around 2:15. I am very happy that I was one of the lucky few today that got to see it more than once and closer than half a kilometer away!

I explored the West Beach trail and a little but of Shuster in the afternoon.

While I didn't really pay all to much attention to butterflies, I still did find a few.

American Snout

Red-spotted Purple

Giant Swallowtail

I was happy to be able to finally find some Cicada Killers.

I found an Eastern Garter Snake.

Eastern Garter Snake

West Beach had the two most interesting birds (other than Wood Stork). A Canada Warbler was heard singing and an Olive-sided Flycatcher was seen sallying for insects.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

A few other birds could be found throughout.

Orchard Oriole

Eastern Kingbird

Bonaparte's Gull

After the park, we went and checked out the Essex Sewage Lagoons. The targets here were birds from the Plains and from the Arctic...Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes!

Phalarope have always been a nemesis of mine. I have tried numerous times to try and find them, yet all of my attempts yielded nothing. My luck turned around yesterday!

There were 2 Wilson's and 4 Red-necked Phalaropes to be found.

Wilson's Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalaropes

Of course a few other shorebirds were around as well.

Least Sandpiper

The final stop for the day was to be Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. While nothing here would be a lifer, I wanted to see if I could add a few things to my Chatham-Kent list.

Lesser Yellowlegs were abundant.

Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral

There were a couple Short-billed Dowitchers in one of the cells.

The real highlight were 8 Wilson's Phalaropes! Considering I had never seen a Phalarope in my life prior to yesterday, 14 in one day plus a Wood Stork is really cool!

Wilson's Phalaropes and Stilt Sandpiper

Many Bobolinks were found in the grasses along the dikes and on the road.

There were a few species of ducks around, including the summering Ring-necked.

Blue-winged Teal and Mallard

Redhead

Surprisingly, this is my first Great Blue Heron for the lagoons.

As the sun set, and the peeps became impossible to identify in the deteriorating light, I knew it was time to finish for the day.

Going into the day, I thought that finding the Wood Stork would be a very slim chance. I definitely didn't think finding it within 20 minutes of arriving at the VC was even possible!

This is just the beginning of what I believe will be an amazing fall!