Some Local Stuff

For obvious reasons, I haven't gone too far. But I have gotten out a couple times just around the neighborhood. There is still a noticeable lack of migrants, but hopefully things will pick up!

Last Sunday, it was quite nice, so I went out for a brief walk. I was pleased to find Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), a native spring wildflower, new for my neighborhood plant list (425 species and growing!).

I was also very happy to stumble across a fox den, with five kits.

With a shrew (Sorex sp)

A couple days later, I went out and found some more plants.

Goblet Moss (Physcomitrium pyriforme)

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

Family Bryceae (tentatively thinking Ptyschostomum)

Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica)

Yesterday, I went out hoping for some new birds. It was pretty quiet, but I did come across a few things. One highlight was a Lesser Scaup, a new bird for my neighborhood list (#171).

I came across a banded Canada Goose. I managed to get the band number and reported it.

There was a goose on a nest as well. The beavers have once again done a good job at damming up the place. There used to be a grassy field where this bird was nesting!

My efforts of a Virginia Rail finally paid off (I tried in five different spots today!). This is my second record for the neighborhood, and the first visual. I wasn't toting around my big lens today, so he came in quite close!

Stay safe out there, hopefully there are local areas for you to explore!

Charitable Big Day: Toronto Report

This is the second part to the Charitable Big Day report (You can read part one here). Thanks to Owen for writing this report!

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On Sunday, September 10th, I participated in the charitable big day in a joint effort with my good friend Quinten Wiegersma and my father. We had a great time and ended up seeing 103 species, a pretty impressive total! I myself was stuck in one place all day, the Tommy Thompson Bird Banding Station (I was volunteering to assist with banding) but this was no problem, as the migrants were out in full force there. One of the first birds I saw was this Canada Warbler. What a great start to the day!

Other Warblers, such as Black-Throated Blue and Green, Cape May, Nashville and Palm were also numerous.

Tennessee Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Cape May Warbler

As the day went on, I managed to nab a few of my target birds in between net rounds. I found a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher along the fish gate road, and saw several Caspian Terns.

Caspian Tern

Great Egret and Lincoln's Sparrow were also nice surprises, as was a close-proximity Great Blue Heron flyby.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Great Blue Heron

On the non-bird side of things, I managed to see one Tiny Dekay's Brownsnake sheltering under a rock and several Mink, one of which was leucistic. In addition, I was able to see my first Leopard Slugs!

The biggest surprise of the day was seen on a net round. While approaching one of the mist nets, I spotted a small sparrow fly in and get itself caught. Upon approaching, I realized that it was a Clay-Coloured Sparrow! This was to be the first banded at the TTP station.

Other interesting finds followed. An Olive-Sided Flycatcher, an Eastern Wood-Pewee and a few Lincoln's Sparrows were seen passing through, and a House Wren was heard chattering.

A few shorebird and waterbird species were added to the list around the same time, as I continually checked the shoreline. There was little diversity, unfortunately, but I could hardly complain with the huge assortment of Passerines around! Soon the nets were closing and, tired, I headed home. But as I was leaving, I had one last parting gift: crippling views of a beautiful nonbreeding plumage Scarlet Tanager (Perhaps better called Sulfur Tanager?). I met up with my dad and combined my list with his, adding several species such as American Coot, Northern Harrier and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.

Rose-breasted Gosbeak

Black-Crowned Night-Heron

Northern Harrier

American Coot

Overall, we saw 78 species, with most of these being passerines. 

Definitely a successful day! A huge thank you to Quinten for getting me involved in this!

Photos: Owen Ridgen, David Ridgen, Tommy Thompson Park (Clay-colored Sparrow)

Cumulative day list. Bold means that it was recorded only on the Toronto list:

1. Canada Goose
2. Mute Swan
3. Trumpeter Swan
4. Hooded Merganser
5. Wood Duck
6. Gadwall
7. Blue-winged Teal
8. Northern Shoveler  
9. Mallard  
10. Green-winged Teal  
11. Canvasback
12. Redhead
13. Common Merganser  
14. Pied-billed Grebe  
15. Double-crested Cormorant   
16. Great Blue Heron
17. Great Egret  
18. Green Heron
19. Black-crowned Night-Heron
20. Cooper’s Hawk
21. Northern Harrier  
22. Turkey Vulture  
23. Osprey
24. Bald Eagle  
25. Broad-winged Hawk  
26. Red-tailed Hawk
27. American Coot
28. Killdeer
29. Spotted Sandpiper
30. Solitary Sandpiper
31. Semipalmated Sandpiper  
32. Greater Yellowlegs   
33. Lesser Yellowlegs  
34. Ring-billed Gull   
35. Herring Gull  
36. Caspian Tern  
37. Rock Pigeon  
38. Mourning Dove  
39. Common Nighthawk  
40. Ruby-throated Hummingbird  
41. Belted Kingfisher
42. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
43. Red-bellied Woodpecker
44. Downy Woodpecker
45. Hairy Woodpecker  
46. Northern Flicker  
47. Pileated Woodpecker  
48. Olive-sided Flycatcher  
49. Eastern Wood-Pewee
50. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
51. Least Flycatcher
52. Eastern Phoebe
53. Philadelphia Vireo  
54. Warbling Vireo  
55. Red-eyed Vireo  
56. Blue Jay   
57. American Crow
58. Common Raven  
59. Barn Swallow  
60. Black-capped Chickadee  
61. Red-breasted Nuthatch  
62. House Wren
63. Winter Wren
64. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
65. Swainson's Thrush
66. American Robin
67. Gray Catbird
68. European Starling  
69. Cedar Waxwing  
70. Yellow-Rumped Warbler
71. Black-And-White Warbler
72. Nashville Warbler
73. Common Yellowthroat
74. American Redstart
75. Cape May Warbler
76. Northern Parula
77. Tennessee Warbler
78. Magnolia Warbler
79. Bay-Breasted Warbler
80. Blackburnian Warbler
81. Yellow Warbler
82. Chestnut-Sided Warbler
83. Blackpoll Warbler
84. Black-Throated Blue Warbler
85. Palm Warbler
86. Pine Warbler
87. Black-Throated Green Warbler
88. Canada Warbler
89. Wilson's Warbler
90. Clay-colored Sparrow
91. Lincoln’s Sparrow
92. Chipping Sparrow  
93. Song Sparrow  
94. Scarlet Tanager  
95. Northern Cardinal   
96. Rose-breasted Grosbeak  
97. Indigo Bunting
98. Red-winged Blackbird  
99. Brown-headed Cowbird
100. Common Grackle
101. House Finch
102. American Goldfinch  
103. House Sparrow  

Long Point Adventure

Yesterday I took a little trip down to the Long Point area. We started in Old Cut, where it was apparently a slow day for banding. The only birds I saw banded were Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird, Veery, and an American Redstart. Bird life around the station was present, but not abundant. A Cape May was the only warbler other than the redstart.

Cape May

There was a family of Green Herons in a Blue Spruce near the Old Cut marsh.

Olive-sided Flycatcher was one of the better birds.

I caught and tagged my first Monarch of the season...although she looks a bit weathered, I am being optimistic. It was great to practice the procedure of tagging.

We spent a couple hours at Old Cut, then went to Big Creek NWA where we found a vocal Virginia Rail.

After lunch, we went to the Port Rowan Wetlands. The target here was Common Gallinule (formally known as Common Moorhen), which called as soon as we got there. Pied-billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal were also present.

Pied-billed Grebe

After about an hour of searching I finally found a group of about 10 gallinules. Many juveniles were with them.

A Least Bittern caught me off guard when it flushed from the side of the wetland. I managed to get one blurry photo as it disappeared into the reeds.

Hahn Marsh was somewhat of a disappointment, however I still managed to find 17 Sandhill Cranes.

I caught this little Eastern Gartersnake at Hahn Marsh as well...quite feisty!

Another visit to Old Cut was due to try for the King Rail. Despite waiting (and waiting, and waiting), it never did vocalize. The 15,000+ swallows made up for it, however. The majority were Bank Swallows, but Barn, Tree, Northern Rough-winged, and Purple Martin were mixed in as well.

At one point a fairly large group of Great Egrets flew over. On eBird, anything over 6 is flagged!

The Green Heron nestlings were equally entertaining.

Despite missing the King Rail, I was still happy with what I saw. It was a great trip (despite being bitten by a Dog Tick)!