Toronto Twitches...and Dips

Yesterday I went to Toronto to hopefully catch a few of the rarities that have been reported.

My first stop was Colonel Sam Smith park, where I met up with Jeremy and Tim, who were looking to add a reported Purple Sandpiper to their Ontario Big Years. I also was able to finally meet some young birders with whom I have been communicating with online. Unfortunately, the Purple Sandpiper never showed itself, but we did see this Snowy Owl!

I checked out Rotary Park after for the reported Tufted Duck, but saw that the raft of scaup were in fact the next park down the shoreline. I did see a few ducks around this park though.

Redhead

I went to the next park over, just to realize it was actually the NEXT park over...

I finally arrived at the right park, and carefully scanned the scaup, and guess what? I couldn't pick out the Tufted Duck! No doubt he is still there, but I just couldn't find him!

I went to Tommy Thompson Park to meet up with yet another young birder, Owen Strickland. We tried for Long-eared Owls, but couldn't find any! We did hear from another birder that he had what was most likely a PURPLE SANDPIPER!!! After a quick call to Jeremy, we spent the next two hours trying to locate the sucker along the shoreline. Unfortunately, we had to abandon the search due to a sudden snow squall, but at least we can say we tried! The Snowy Owls we saw along the way were a decent consolation prize.

I was almost out of the park, when I looked over and in the fading light, saw what appeared to be a Northern Shrike about 20 feet away from me. "Great", I thought, and snapped a few photos. Imagine my surprise when I checked the photos to see how they turned out, and realized that it was not a shrike, but my Ontario lifer Northern Mockingbird!

I managed to snap a few more photos before it flew away, which I though turned out pretty nice considering that there was very little light left. It was a pretty darn good ending to an otherwise "slow" day!

I can't believe that the year is almost over! Thanks to everyone who made this year super special, and I can't wait to have an even better (and bigger :p) year in 2018!!!

Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Toronto?!?!

Yesterday, on my way home from the Ontario Nature Youth Summit (more about that later), I stopped into Tommy Thompson Park to look for the reported Fork-tailed Flycatcher. I had first heard about the bird when I decided to check ONTBIRDS between workshops at the summit, and imagine my surprise when I saw that such a rare bird had been spotted in a location that was one my way home (with a minor detour).

For those who don't know, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher is a VERY rare bird to North America and the ABA area. Their normal range is from central Mexico to South America, so one showing up in Ontario, or really anywhere in Canada or the United States, is quite something!

Normal Range of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Source: Cornel Lab of Ornithology 

I arrived at Tommy Thompson Park about an hour before Sunset.

I didn't have a bike, so I began the 15 minute jog to the flycatcher spot...it was quite the warm evening so it wasn't too enjoyable!

I had a little bit of difficultly finding the right spot, but after calling my friend Owen, who had seen it earlier, I was able to sort it out, and before long we spotted the Fork-tailed high in a dead tree.

I had only my 250mm lens with me, so photos are not the best quality, but they turned out better than I thought they would!

It was seen sallying out for insects many times.

For some reason, the photos above make it look the sky was all grey and depressing. That was not the case, and there were many colours as the sunset.

Other than the flycatcher, there were also some Black-crowned Night-Herons, Trumpeter Swans, Caspian Terns, and a Sora.

Black-crowned Night-Herons

Trumpeter Swans

It was a successful day, and I thank Mom for going out of her way to let me see the bird.

More on the youth summit soon...there are many exciting things coming!