James Bay 2018: Part Seven

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

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August 24, 2018

After all the excitement from the day prior, we were excited to head out and see what may have changed in the high winds. The day's survey was West Bay. It was to be our last survey of West Bay during our time at Longridge. 

The Wood Frogs look a bit different up on the coast than they do further south. One of the big differences is that the northern frogs have much more spotting on their sides.

We spotted this bear feeding near the start of the West Bay survey route.

Over the past few days, Snow Geese became a regular sight in West Bay, as they hung out with the large (usually 80-120 individuals) flock of Canada Geese. Most of the birds we saw where "blue morphs", but on this day we saw a decent number of the regular "white morphs" mixed in.

There was a little bit of Marsh Felwort growing around the grassy areas of the flats.

Grey Wolf tracks are a common sight on the mudflats.

I usual shorebirds were seen on survey. Highlights include both phalaropes and a couple of Short-billed Dowitchers. 

Least Sandpiper

The really big highlight was another (or the same?) Parasitic Jaeger seemingly hunting shorebirds over the mudflats. I managed a digiscoped photo (somehow). 

We got back late in the afternoon, and pretty much just hung around the rest of the day. I took a few photos of the camp.

The view from our porch

Main/kitchen cabin on the left

Our water filtration system. We would haul water from the creek, then hand filter it through coffee filters, before putting it in this device to filter it again. We couldn't afford to get sick!

Our bear defense, powered by a car battery. I never volunteered to test it, but I am told it was a "good shock".

August 25, 2018

We spent days hoping that James Bay would give us a "good bird". Today was that day.

We started our day at Paskwatchi, where we planned to spend a little bit of time before starting the survey. Off in the distance, a Parasitic Jaeger (another!) was found.

Looking at a jaeger!

It was my turn to be primary observer (basically the person that calls the species name, age, activity (flying, loafing, feeding, or a combo of any of those three) and the number of individuals.) Not too long after I started my survey, we heard the crackling over the radio from one of our crew mates who had stayed back at the point. 

"Sabine's Gull flying out over the north point over the Bonaparte's"

We were close to 500 meters away from the described location. We all turned our scopes to the area and scanned frantically. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I saw the very distinct wing patterning of a juvenile Sabine's Gull come into view! Awesome!

The guys ended up turning around and staying at Paskwatchi, but we had a survey to complete so myself and one other continued on our way. When we were about three kilometers the radio came to life again.

"We have a Black Tern as well"

We tried to finish up the survey as fast (and efficiently) as we could, before making the long dash back (about four kilometers) back to Paskwatchi, in hopes of getting better looks at the Sabine's, and to see the Black Tern. Unfortunately, the tern had left by the time we got there (the tern and Stilt Sandpiper, seen the next day, are my only two "painful" misses of the trip). The Sabine's, however, was still there, and giving great looks. I could only digiscope, as my DSLR was sitting on my bed several kilometers away, but at least I managed identifiable photos...

Sabine's Gull - the dark on in the middle

This photo, although you can't really "tell", has three species in it: Sabine's Gull, Little Gull, and Bonaparte's Gull. Not a trio you'd typically expect to be sitting all next to each other!

Speaking of Little Gulls, I saw my first juvenile pluamged Little Gull that day. Sticks out like a sore thumb!

I think that the Sabine's Gull wing we found a few days earlier brought us good luck!

It was very nice evening, and our last evening all out together as a crew. This young Whimbrel put on a good show on the walk back.

All of us went to bed happy that night.

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!