Townsend's Twitch

This morning my alarm went off at 5:45 am, I woke up my dad, and then we were on the road towards Dufferin county. Our target today was the Townsend's Solitaire (TOSO) that has been frequenting the area. TOSO are birds of the western half of North America, however they are regular vagrants to the east. In the past few years, TOSO sightings have been increasing in Ontario, and they were recently removed from the Ontario review list (They still are quite rare though!)

The first bird of the day came shortly after the sun starting rising. It was a Snowy Owl! Soon after, I spotted another one. Ten minutes later we spotted four more! By the end of the day, we tallied seven Snowy Owls.

We arrived at the location around twenty to nine, and was surprised to find that my friend and fellow young birder Owen and his father were already there. It wasn't long until we spotted something in a fruit tree...could it be?

Nope! It was a Cedar Waxwing, Owen's first for the year.

After about another 40 minutes of searching, we heard what we thought was the solitaire calling, however we couldn't be certain. The possibility of the bird being in the immediate area gave us hope!

Some Red Squirrels gave us a scare whenever they moved in the tops of trees!

Owen and I went down to explore a creek further down the road, and we found numerous Pine Siskins, which was exciting. However, we didn't get too far as Owen's dad called him saying they had eyes on the Townsend's!!!

We ran back to the road (we had been bushwhacking), then sprinted to the others. By the time we got there however, we were told the solitaire had flown off...darn!

A few minutes later, both Owen and I caught a one second glimpse of the bird when it flew across the road, however we lost it after that. We were determined to get photos and a better look at the bird, so we stuck around hoping it would pop out. Owen had a hunch that the bird was along the tree line, so he went to check it out, while I stayed with the rest of the group and waited to see if it would come back. I don't know what possessed me to turn around, but I'm sure glad I did, because I found the solitaire on a fence post behind one of the houses!

In the excitement, I somehow set my camera to a 10 second delay, so I only was able to fire off one horrible shot of the bird's rear end before it flew away. I was actually so excited, I forgot how to use the camera, and it took me a solid minute to remember how to get it back to taking continuous shots!

Thankfully, we found the solitaire on another part of the fence further down, where I was able to get some "better" shots. It's a miracle I got any photos at all, as I was shaking so much from excitement I was unable to focus half the time!

We were all very happy with seeing that bird, my first lifer and provincial rarity of 2018!

Just as we were about to leave, this group of Cedar Waxwings flew in.

Owen and I went an checked out 8th Line, which has had some decent sightings as of late. The only "good" thing we could find were three Ring-necked Pheasants. Also of note was an adult male American Goldfinch in what appeared to be breeding plumage. Spring is coming ;-)

All in all, a very good day! It was certainly worth the two hour drive!

Point Pelee on Sunday

This past Sunday I travelled down to Point Pelee to try for the 150 species challenge. To do so, I would have to find 43 new species, but I was up for it.

The day started around 5:25 am, when we arrived in the park. Just driving along the road produced Swainson's Thrush, which was 108.

I chose to go to the tip first thing, hoping that I would maybe catch a "fallout". It was a mistake, as there was no tip, and the only way to really go anywhere past the washout was by hopping over a couple rocks and logs to stand on a small patch of sand.

I added a few new birds to the list, including Wilson's Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Surf Scoter, Willow Flycatcher, and, surprisingly, Rock Pigeon.

Others observed include orioles, mergansers, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided Warblers, and a Blue-winged Warbler.

Tilden's was next. It was pretty slow, but we still turned up a few birds. FOY Magnolia Warblers were nice, as were some great looks at Wilson's Warbler, Canada Warbler, and a Yellow Warbler on a nest. A Great-crested Flycatcher was my first visual of the year.

Magnolia Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

By this point it was raining steadily, so we decided to get out of the park and explore the areas to the north, stopping by the Marsh Boardwalk first. The target in the marsh were the Black Terns, which I did end up seeing and getting some great photos of.

We headed through the Onion Fields, where we picked up a Ring-necked Pheasant.

Heading into Hillman, the rain was pretty bad, and by this point I had given up on keeping my equipment dry.

The shorebird cell was productive with a number of Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Lesser Yellowlegs and Whimbrel.

Whimbrel

Woodland birds included Alder Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

After Hillman, we went to the Wheatley harbour. Here we found numerous shorebirds such as Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Dunlin.

Dunlin

Least Sandpiper

Sanderling

Ruddy Turnstone

There were a couple gulls and terns too.

Herring Gull

By the time we headed back into the park, it had stopped raining. We decided to check out Woodland Nature Trail next. Here we were greeted by birds like Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes.

Swainson's Thrush

Also seen was a single male Prothonotary Warbler.

A hike down Redbud produced a FOY Monarch Butterfly.

Many other birds were seen, including a Black-billed Cuckoo that was calling somewhere off to the side of the trail. Baltimore Orioles were abundant.

I decided to walk to Sparrow Field, and as soon as I got there, a small brown bird flew up from the brush out into the open on a branch. Here is what I saw:

My heart was pumping, I had just seen a Henslow's Sparrow, and had gotten some great photos to boot. I high-tailed it back to the VC to alert everyone of my find. It wasn't until I was half way there that I finally clued in...

It was a female Bobolink. Still a decent bird that many birders miss while down in Pelee, but it's not a Henslow's Sparrow.

There were a couple nice flowers along the pathways.

Wild Columbine

Mayapple

Cactus Field didn't produce the Eastern Bluebirds I was hoping for, but we did get some great looks at some Indigo Buntings and nesting Yellow Warblers.

Since the sun had come out, I wanted to have another go at photographing the Black Terns. Unfortunately, there were just too many tourists, and the Marsh Boardwalk was very busy, so the terns weren't coming to close. I did get a couple shots that I'm happy with.

The last stop of the day was Hillman Marsh. It was much drier now, so scoping out the shorebird cell was a bit more enjoyable than earlier. It's a good thing that I took the time to scope, because I soon found two White-rumped Sandpipers. It seems to be a good year for them. I attempted photos, but I'm not sure how they turned out. I'm thinking this is one of the WRSA, but I could very well be one of the SESA.

There were a few White-tailed Deer hanging around.

I headed out toward the marsh, and began to listen for rails and herons. It wasn't long before I found about five or so Marsh Wrens.

Soon, I saw a Least Bittern, which was a lifer, flying over the cattails, then started calling. Not long after that another one came in and perched where is was visible.

An immature Black-crowned Night-heron joined in too.

It wasn't long before an American Bittern was found as well. A great ending to a great day.


While I never did reach 150 species (I still had 9 species to go), I surprisingly did better species wise this trip than last trip, as I finished with 108 species. Considering the conditions, and that almost all of my 141 species were "self found" I'm proud of my accomplishment.

I'll be heading up to the Bruce Saturday evening for the night, so hopefully I can at least get my month list up to 150 species. More on that, and part two of my Pelee Big Day, later.

Good birding!