A Blue Grosbeak in London!

 Backtracking a bit with this post...

Last Tuesday evening  (May 4) I was just settling down to get a start on some schoolwork when I got an eBird alert about Purple Finches. With the return of the finches happening now (I got an Evening Grosbeak early last week by the way, in my patch to boot!), I knew that I would need to change the eBird filter for them. So I opened up the eBird review queue to do so and my eyes just about bulged out of my head when I saw "Blue Grosbeak" sitting there! It had just been submitted five minutes prior, and hadn't even made it out into the alerts yet. It was about 6:00pm at this time, and the report was from a few hours prior. I made a couple calls, and within 20 minutes I was out at Kilally Meadows ESA in the company of a couple others looking.

To make a long story short, after a couple hours, we were unsuccessful in locating the bird. We marked this one down as a loss, and then headed back home.

The next morning, after a morning of excellent loon migration (I counted over 350), I was going through some iNaturalist sightings for Middlesex, and saw that a photo of the Blue Grosbeak had been uploaded, a spanking first year male. I'd be lying if seeing those photos didn't sour my mood a bit. My sadness was quickly replaced by excitement however when I got an alert that the bird had just been refound! I was out the door and on site within 15 minutes.

Others had arrived on site just mere minutes after it was posted, but it hadn't been seen since the original refinding earlier that morning. We all combed the area it was last seen, but came up empty. Things weren't looking too good.

A consolation prize for some was an Eastern Whip-poor-will that had been flushed by a hawk, and then perched nicely. This particular bird ended up staying on the same spot for four days! 

A couple hours went by, and the birders began to dissipate as hope was diminishing for seeing the grosbeak. As I was wandering around, Gord Payne showed up on his lunch break. I mentioned then whip-poor-will, and he wanted to see it, so I took him to the spot and pointed it out. As we were chatting afterwards, I happened to glance off in the distance and notice a songbird fly in, perch briefly on a goldenrod stalk, and then drop down to the ground. I didn't get any colour or features off of it, but it looked mildly intriguing, so we went over to investigate. As we approached where it dropped down, it flew up and perched. It was the Blue Grosbeak!!!!

I snapped a couple photos, and then it flew off and we lost it in some shrubs. We called over the other birders, and then began our search for it again. 

It took a bit, but once again, when everyone else was looking for it where it was last seen, I walked a bit further down the trail, and was pleasantly surprised to see it sitting out in the open! I called everyone over, and thankfully this time pretty much everyone there was able to see it! 

In the last 50 years or so, I believe there are only two other records of Blue Grosbeak for Middlesex County, the last being in 2007 at Pete Chapman's feeder in Hungry Hollow near Arkona. What an exciting bird for the county, and only 5 minutes from home. As of time of writing, the bird was still being seen. One has to wonder how long it will stick around!  I will admit, I am a bit annoyed, because earlier in the day on Tuesday I had actually walked right by where it was seen a few times! Our evening search was my third time at Kilally Meadows that day.

Who needs Pelee? ;-)

eBird Global Big Day 2021

Yesterday was eBird's annual Global Big Day, which coincides with World Migratory Bird Day. As per usual, I like to do what I can and see how many species I can see. While in a normal year I would have likely gone down to Rondeau or Pelee, in this day and age, I decided to stick right around Middlesex County, like I did last year. Throughout this pandemic I have had an increasing interest in Middlesex birding, so I figured it would be fun! My camera was acting up unfortunately, so not many photos today. 

I threw together a rough plan for the day before I went to bed on Friday, and went to sleep dreaming of the success I was hoping to find. 

I woke up around 5:00am, and after throwing some stuff in the car, was on my way. My first stop was Fanshawe Lake to get Common Merganser. I only stayed for a few minutes, but was successful with my quarry! 

By 6:00am, I arrived at Kilally Meadows in North London, which has been in the birding news as of late for a rare visitor! It has also been one of the best birding locations in the city this spring, likely in part because of its proximity to the river. 

As soon as I got out of the car, I heard a Northern Waterthrush, an excellent bird to start the day. It was one of three I found here. Several other species of birds were vocalizing, and my day list was growing by the minute!

I stopped to check a tree in which a Whip-poor-will had been hanging out for a few days, and was pleased to find it in the same spot! Day tick.

I continued on my way hiking the trails, picking up many of the typical spring birds, although it seemed much quieter than previous days. It wasn't until a couple hours in did I get my first Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers! In all, I ended up with 15 species of warblers here, a respectable count, with highlights including Magnolia, Tennessee, Blue-winged, Black-throated Green, and American Redstart.

As for some other miscellaneous highlights, there were several Least and Great Crested Flycatchers, Warbling and Blue-headed Vireos, Veery, Hermit Thrush, Tufted Titmouse (I've had at least four in London this year so far, pretty crazy), Merlin, Common Loon, and Purple Finch. 

On my way back, I came across a group of birders, and they had the Blue Grosbeak which has been around since at least Tuesday (I'll get around to writing a post about that soon). This bird has been pretty tricky to nail down because of its secretive habits, so I was quite happy to see it on this day! I got a couple record shots, nothing to write home about.

I stuck around a bit longer to help others see the grosbeak (some of which this was their fourth attempt trying to see it—that's how elusive it is!), but was eager to carry on my way. Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot, with my sights set on heading up Thorndale way to check out some ponds, I got a call from Pete Read...he had a Black Tern at the ponds at Komoka Provincial Park! This a rare species in Middlesex County nowadays, although a few decades ago it was a bit more expected. Needless to say, plans changed, and I zipped over there about as fast as I could go without getting pulled over. 

I pulled into the parking lot at Komoka, and made my way to the back pond, where it was last seen. On the way, a pair of Trumpeter Swans flew over. This pair has been seen with some regularity in the Komoka area for the past couple months, and they appear to be attempting to breed. This may be the first breeding record for Middlesex, but don't quote me on that.

I met up with Pete, and the two of us scanned the ponds, but were unable to come up with the tern. Darn. He mentioned that perhaps it has gone over to one of the other gravel pits in the area. I didn't really feel like driving around searching them all, so out of desperation, I pointed my spotting scope towards the nearest pit, which you could just barely see from where we were standing. There was a Bonaparte's Gull flying around. Nice. Then, a couple seconds later, I saw the Black Tern! Pretty sweet county bird! It ended up sticking around all day for everyone else to enjoy.

I took a more leisurely walk back to the car, and picked up such birds like Eastern Bluebird, Grasshopper Sparrow, Mute Swan, Double-crested Cormorant, and Eastern Meadowlark. By the time I finished up in Komoka, I was sitting around 90 species for my day list. 

My next stop was Skunk's Misery. Along the way I picked up Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, and a Bobolink. I took a drive down Centreville Drive, but overall it was pretty quiet. I did come across a group of warblers, which included my first Pine, Black-throated Blue (actually a FOY), and Chestnut-sided Warblers of the day, as well as a couple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. I didn't get any Hooded Warblers, but it was midday and overcast/cool, so perhaps they just weren't singing. 

I saw a lot of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida). The "petals" aren't actually petals at all, but are bracts! The genus Cornus has undergone a taxonomic shift, so perhaps the more proper name for this species is Benthamidia florida. 

I began my way back towards Strathroy along some of the backroads. I had originally intended to take highway 80 up to Calvert Drive, but opted last minute to take Old Airport Road. Glad I did! As I stopped at the stop sign at Carolinian Drive, I noticed a sparrow-like bird fly into a dead tree. I snapped a few (terrible) photos, and was shocked to see it looked like a Dickcissel! After a moment, it flew down towards the abandoned house, and I couldn't find it again. Shame that pesky branch was in the way.

Not a bad bird for #100.

I stopped into the Sydenham River Nature Reserve for a brief moment. Not too many birds, but I did hear a Yellow-throated Vireo. 

Lots of Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) in bloom. I'd be lying if I denied that part of the reason I made this detour was to see these plants. 

I made a quick stop at a spot for Upland Sandpiper (which I didn't see), before continuing onto the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons. Here I added such birds like Sora and Virginia Rail, American Coot, Common Gallinule (stuck around!), Cliff Swallow, Purple Martin (a FOY), and a variety of ducks and shorebirds. Seems I missed a Dunlin and Semipalmated Plover, but can't get them all I guess. 

It was time to head up to the northern part of the county. Along Sylvan Road, I found the pair of nesting Common Ravens, a nice addition to the day list. I then went to the Ausable River Valley Trail, which proved to be rather quiet, although I did get Eastern Phoebe, Pileated Woodpecker, and my main target here, Vesper Sparrows. They weren't new for the day list, but I also had a pair of Yellow-throated Vireos It was a nice walk anyways, and I saw a great variety of plants. Hopefully I can try to get my camera back in working order and come back to properly photograph them. 

I opted to skip out on Parkhill CA to try for Ruffed Grouse (partially because of running out of time, and partially because my phone battery died), so I made a beeline for Thorndale to check out those ponds I had not gotten a chance to go to earlier in the day. 

Birds were getting harder and harder to add, and when I arrived at one of the ponds, I saw they were doing work with heavy machinery on one of the hedgerows in which I had a variety of would be new birds for the day list the night before. All I managed to add at that one spot was Hooded Merganser. 

At the next spot, a gravel pit, I scoped for ducks, but was only able to find a single new bird, a lingering black duck. As I tried to find a place to turn around, I had my first and only White-crowned Sparrow of the day fly across the road. I let out a whoop when I saw that one. 

I stopped briefly at a spot where I had a singing Golden-crowned Kinglet earlier in the week, but I didn't find it. I then went out of my way to get an Osprey by scoping a known nest. A bit later one would fly over me, so I guess that was for naught...

I finished my diurnal birding by hitting a spot in the neighbourhood, which is where I got Green Heron, Cooper's Hawk, and Swamp Sparrow (good thing I know that spot well, I had to go to a pretty out of the way place to get that sparrow!). 

A couple hours later, I went out for woodcocks, but for the first time in pretty much all of my spring big days, I couldn't for the life of me find one! Over the course of an hour I checked five or six locations, each one of them coming up empty. Very strange, perhaps all the new development in the area made them move on. As a consolation, I still added two last birds to the day list: Great Horned Owl and an Eastern Screech-Owl.

At the end of the very tiring day, I ended up with 128 species all within the borders of Middlesex County. Sure beats last year's total of 94, and my total of 101 from earlier in the week. Had it been a bit later in May, and we were seeing more migrants move through (overall it was a pretty cold, windy, overcast day, and it hadn't been great for migration in the days leading up), I probably could have even tallied a few more! Of course, there were some quite notable misses, excluding woodcock, such as Eastern Kingbird, Brown Thrasher, Chimney Swift, Indigo Bunting, Northern Parula, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Cedar Waxwing, and Herring Gull.

It was a really fun day, and I saw some great birds. I live for this kind of stuff! 

Middlesex Biggish Year: April Update

Four months into my Middlesex Biggish Year! April is always an exiting time of year, and this past one was no exception. This past month I have added 42 species to my year list, which now stands at 154, or about 85% of the birds recorded in Middlesex this year. Nothing immediately sticks out as a "major miss", although Red-shouldered Hawk still evaded me—it might have to wait until the fall now! I also managed to see one of my outstanding targets, basically my only remaining one from the first few months of the year...Lapland Longspur! Finches still haven't really come through yet, so still holding out for some Evening Grosbeaks. 

The breakdown:

Code 1: 103 species (27 new)

Code 2: 34 species (13 new)

Code 3: 12 species (2 new)

Code 4: 3 species

Code 5: 2 species

Plenty of code 1 species were recorded this month, most of them typical April migrants with several warbler species, a few shorebirds, all of the swallows (other than Purple Martin), and some sparrows

Black-throated Green Warbler

Field Sparrow

As for the code 2 species, Lapland Longspur was a highlight, as well as a couple of the more uncommon shorebirds such as Wilson's Snipe and Least Sandpiper, as well as a Bonaparte's Gulls and a Caspian Tern. Some nice birds! 

Lapland Longspur

Code 3 additions were comprised of two species: American Bittern and Eastern Whip-poor-will. The bittern was a bit of a relief, it was in the same spot I had one in 2018 and 2020. Unlike last year however, it only seemed to stick around for a day—or its just good at hiding! The whip-poor-will was another great addition, a new Middlesex bird for me. 

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Well, that's all she wrote for April. Time for the most exciting and most anticipated month of the year— May! Should be plenty of year birds to come. I'm having a lot of fun birding around the county, and that's why I'm doing this! 

It is Slowly Starting...

The last few days have seen us starting to get some of our most anticipated spring migrants in Southern Ontario. I have gotten out as often as I can, and as the weather allows.

Up until yesterday, first of year (FOY) birds were becoming hard to come by. One bird I finally was able to cross paths with was a Rusty Blackbird in my neighbourhood. They definitely seem to be much more uncommon in the spring as opposed to the fall, but I had half expected to come across several by that point! 

Stakes were looking high going into yesterday (Tuesday). A good south wind with very limited to no precipitation overnight—it was shaping up to be a good looking day!

My game plan for the morning was to walk around Fanshawe CA, which is what I did for five hours. Ultimately, it seemed that all the birds that showed up on the radar were White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers! I only managed to see two FOYs: Purple Finch (my first since November) and a Chimney Swift. I managed to rack up 69 species at Fanshawe—I just couldn't find a 70th! Find the morning's eBird checklist here.

Broad-winged Hawk

Today, my original plan was to go to the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons first thing in the morning, as I had hoped the forecasted thunderstorms would push down some good shorebirds. When I woke up, however, I found that there was no rain in the immediate forecast! Since I had limited time, I just opted to go birding in the neighbourhood.

It was fairly slow, but I can't complain too much considering it is April 28th! By any means, it seemed clear that today had more potential than the day prior! My first stop was Northbrook Park.

I flushed a Wilson's Snipe in the wetland, a first for this location. I was unable to turn up any rails. Virginia Rails had been present here for over a month last spring, but the habitat had been changed dramatically since last year due to phragmites management. 

I made my way through the ravine, and came across a few warblers, most notably my first Black-and-white Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler of the year.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata) is starting to flower.

Next up I went up to the Uplands North Wetland, always a good stop. My most notable bird was a Baltimore Oriole, which was of course a first for this year. There were also a couple Green Herons flying around, and some Common Loons and Double-crested Cormorants were migrating overhead.

As I was leaving the wetland and walking back home, I saw that I had a text from Reuven Martin. He had found an Eastern Whip-poor-will (a would be county bird for me) in Kilally Meadows ESA. It was 8:30. I had class at 9:00. 

I weighed my options, and decided that it would have to wait, so I told Reuven I would pop out after class. He told me that it was being mobbed by robins, and might not stick around. I reconsidered my choices. I had to go. So at 8:35, I was pulling out of my driveway.

I arrived at Kilally at 8:42, and found that I had gone to the wrong access point, which added another half kilometer of unnecessary running. By the time I had found the right spot and met up with Reuven it was 8:45. 

Reuven took me to the spot and pointed it out. Good thing he did, I probably would have had one heck of a time trying to find it otherwise! I snapped a few photos.

It was now 8:50. 

I pulled back into my driveway at 8:59, and managed to sprint up stairs in time to log into class at 9am. Not a minute to spare. 

It is a good thing I took the chance, because it seemingly disappeared later that morning! 

After class, there was rain in the forecast, so I opted to go to the Strathroy lagoons. Unfortunately, the rain was short lived, and it cleared up pretty fast :(  No rare shorebirds today.

I still had an okay shorebird count, with around 25 Pectorals, both yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, and a slightly early Least Sandpiper (although not too unexpected). 

Pectoral Sandpipers

There were several warblers along the edges of the cells as well, the best being a Northern Parula. The first time I have seen this species in April.

I also found my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the year.

I had a pretty good species count at the lagoons, which included several species of ducks, a Caspian Tern, and both the rails: Virginia Rails and Sora. 

It was a splendid day of late April birding, and I ended up with 80 species, not too shabby since I wasn't trying for a high species count. Looking forward to the days ahead (although I don't think we'll see a ton of movement until next week)! 

A Day at Pelee

This past Saturday, I did my annual trip down to Point Pelee, the southernmost tip in mainland Canada. Pelee is a well-known haunt for many birders in May, and low and behold, I am one of those birders.

The day started early. I arrived in the park about 5:15, and was at the VC and began the walk to the Tip at around 5:30. I planned to walk the road in hopes of finding a nightjar, in particular, Chuck-wills-widow. Thoughts of this species had been circling in my mind in the days leading up to the trip, and the day before I was to go, one had been found on the road. Perhaps my fantasy was to come true!

Alas, no nightjars were found on the road, but at least I was the second one at the Tip! I even got to see the Tip Tower for the first time. It is a sight to behold...but it wasn't open. Apparently it didn't pass its safety inspection. I'm sure there is a whole story behind that!

Upon arrival at the Tip, I was greeted by a number of Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, a Sanderling, and a nice Red Knot.

Black-bellied Plovers

Nice bird, knot a nice photo

Soon, birds started "reverse migrating", in which birds will fly off the Tip towards the lake, and then they may circle back around to the mainland. It wasn't super intense, however there were a couple highlights, such as a Brown Thrasher flying in off the lake, and some Tennessee Warblers flying around people's feet. This is when my camera started acting up, so photos are limited.

Baltimore Oriole

After birding the Tip a bit, we walked up the West Beach trail. We flushed a Sora of all things while walking through a wooded part of the footpath, which was quite odd! A few non-birds too...

Ebony Sedge (Carex ebenea)

Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia cespitosa)

Orchard Oriole

Next was Tilden's Woods trail. A few warblers here and there, most notably Canada Warbler and a few Northern Waterthrushes.

Canada Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

American Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana) was found here and there throughout.

We went next to Cactus Field, but no luck there. Though I must say, Common Yellowthroats can do a mean Sedge Wren impression! We did a tad more birding north of Cactus Field, but didn't get too far as an alert came through for a Worm-eating Warbler (pretty rare in Ontario) on Redbud trail!

We bee-lined it for the trail, but had to make a quick stop for a Blackburnian Warbler on the lawn near the VC parking lot. It came quite close, and even perched on my foot at one point!

We rode the tram to the halfway stop, then got off and began the search for the Worm-eating Warbler. Nobody had seen it in about 30 minutes, but we were determined. Lucky us happened to be standing in the right place at the right time, and it flew in right in front of us! It was quite elusive, but I managed a couple of usable pictures before I got out of the way so others could see the bird (I am a bit on the tall side).

The Worm-eating was actually a lifer for me, so I was quite happy. It was probably the bird that I wanted to see the most this spring, especially after missing a couple prior here and there.

After success with the Worm, we headed to take a peek for Prothonotary Warblers. We were successful right away. I actually missed Prothons at Pelee last year, and the only one I saw all year was in London (so I guess I can't complain).

There were a couple plants of interest.

Large-flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)

Walking back down Redbud, I was tapped on the shoulder, and told about another rare bird...a roosting Chuck-wills-widow!

I joined the convey of birders as we made our way through Post Woods to where the Chuck was roosting. Took me a bit to actually spot it, but once I did...woohoo! Another lifer, and the bird I had hoped for going into the day.

A Blue-headed Vireo stopped by for a visit.

After the Chuck, I walked around a bit more, before catching the tram back to the VC, where I hopped off and went and saw the reported Cerulean Warbler. It was right on the ground at our feet!

After the Cerulean, we went to the Marsh Boardwalk. A few non-birds were seen.

Midland Painted Turtle

Golden Shiners

Next, we wanted to go to Hillman, but first we checked out Orientation on our way out of the park. Bay-breasted Warbler was my 100th species of the day.

Hillman was pretty quiet. A few more ducks, and some shorebirds.

Short-billed Dowitchers

We went back to the park, as we had word on two more roosting nightjar species in the park, and we wanted to go for the nightjar trifecta. in addition to the Chuck, our second nightjar of the day was Common Nighthawk at Sleepy Hollow.

The third species of the day was Eastern Whip-poor-will, which was sitting on a log not too far from the side of the road! Hands down my best look at the species.

We heard rumours of a Golden-winged Warbler on Redbud. We had been trying to find a Golden-winged all day, and had even followed up on a couple of reports. It was a bit of deja vu for us, as last year, we did the same thing with Mourning Warbler. To add to it, the Golden-winged Warbler was under the same exact same log as the Mourning Warbler, which we had finally managed to catch up with late in the day!

After receiving word of a Kentucky Warbler in Post Woods, we decided to go and try to find it. We searched in the area where it had been seen, but with no luck. At this point my friends I had been birding with all day decided to call it a day. After saying goodbye, I continued up the path. After another 100 meters up the trail, I came across a small group of birders looking at the underbrush. I pointed my binoculars in the direction they were pointing, and low and behold, it was the Kentucky Warbler! No photos, as I only got a couple glimpses before it disappeared.

Since I was walking by the Chuck again, I grabbed a few more photos. Three nightjars on one eBird checklist, not what I was expecting to do on this day!

I made one last trip to the Tip. A couple bluebirds were on the east side.

The Tip is the longest I have seen it in years. As such, four species of gulls were seen.

Ring-billed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

A few warblers were on the rocks along the west side of the Tip.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

After missing it all day, I finally saw the Least Bittern that had been hanging out all day at the Tip, thanks to my mom pointing it out. It didn't look too good.

One last loop of Woodland Nature Trail resulted in a couple new birds for the day, such as Hermit Thrush, Blue-winged Warbler, and Great Egret. By this time it was getting dark, and such pretty much marked the end of my day. Appendage Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum) is an endangered species in Ontario, but it was seen along the paths.

It was a great day, with something like 125 or so species seen. Not too bad given the day and the amount of effort I put in. And heck, two lifers in one day is pretty great too!

Looking forward to see what the remainder of spring brings!