Cliff and Harry

Last thursday I had some field work with Nathan up in the Harriston and Clifford area, about an hour north of Waterloo. It was a pretty fun and easy day, basically just 'geeking' and looking for birds, herps, odes and butterflies. Nothing too unusual or anything. Highlights though were going to the Harriston and Clifford sewage lagoons.

Harriston is pretty high and doesn't have any shorebird habitat but we did come across a group of 3 very distant Hooded Mergansers.

Afterwards we checked out the Clifford lagoons. It was alittle better there in terms of shorebirds and habitat. If water levels drop, there could be some decent habitat. We had the following:

20 Lesser Yellowlegs

10 Spotted Sandpipers

1 Semipalmated Sandpiper

3 Least Sandpipers

2 Green-winged Teals

and most bizarre of all, a completely pure albino Red-tailed Hawk....I wish I could've gotten a picture of it, but it was too far away and then took off. Pretty cool, something I've never seen!

Finders, keepers....

Well not exactly, but whatever. This has been a pretty amazing year for birds and rarities alike. Weather throughout the province and the continent for that matter have been exceptionally hot and dry on average, acting as a catalyst for birds to travel and wander long distances.

Having spent practically an entire month on Pelee Island, plus all the 'normal' birding that I'm fortunate to be able to do, while going to school and working has allowed me to see and find some pretty cool birds. I've listed the noteworthy birds I've found in Ontario in 2011 to date. 

Eurasian Wigeon - April 3rd, Laurel Creek

Eared Grebe - April 27, Pelee Island
American White-Pelican - June 27, Thessalon (4 birds flying over)
Cattle Egret - July 23, Holiday Beach
Glossy Ibis - April 27, Pelee Island
Laughing Gull - April 28, Pelee Island

Laughing Gull - May 24, 2005 Long Point tip

Laughing Gull - July 28, Pelee Island
Parasitic Jaeger - May 14, Pelee Island
Acadian Flycatcher - April 26, Pelee Island - provincially record early

Acadian Flycatcher - May 2011 Fish Point, Pelee Island

Yellow-throated Warbler - April 27, Pelee Island
Kirtland's Warbler - May 10, Pelee Island

Kirtland's Warbler - May 2005 Point Pelee N.P.

Kentucky Warbler - May 7, Pelee Island

Kentucky Warbler - adult male May 2004 Long Point - Breakwater

Henslow's Sparrow - May 6, Pelee Island
Summer Tanager - April 28, Pelee Island (adult male)

Summer Tanager - adult male May 2005 Long Point - Old Cut

                           - April 30, Pelee Island (adult male)
                           - May 6, Pelee Island (first-alternate male)
                           - May 10, Pelee Island (first-alternate male)

Summer Tanager - first-alternate male May 2010 Fish Point, Pelee Island

                           - May 21, Pelee Island (female)
                           - May 22, Point Pelee (first-alternate male)
                           - May 23, Point Pelee (female and first-alternate male)
Western Tanager - May 22, Point Pelee (1 female)
Dickcissel - May 6, Pelee Island (3 birds reverse migrating)
                - May 13, Pelee Island (1 bird reversing)
                - May 22, Point Pelee (1-2 birds reversing)
                - June 16, Wheatley area (3 males on territory)
                - July 28, Point Pelee Onion Fields (1 male on territory)
Western Meadowlark - April 26, Pelee Island

With so with so many great birds seen/found in Ontario so far this year, the rest of the year will hopefully be just as interesting!

More sewage.....lagoons

Brandon picked me up after work last night and we motored over to Mitchell and then Grand Bend, with the intent to check the sewage lagoons. With the thunderstorms moving in, there was the chance of it dropping some shorebirds down at the lagoons.

Our first stop was Mitchell. We only checked the closest lagoon to the road, as the rain looked fairly imminent. It looks like habitat is getting better as there's a definite shore emerging, so hopefully it'll start to get better in a few weeks.

We didn't have too much here;
30 Lesser Yellowlegs
10 Pectoral Sandpipers
5 Least Sandpipers
3 Semipalmated Sandpipers

Continuing on, we headed straight for Grand Bend. Getting there we were alittle disappointed. The last time we had been there, the lagoons had looked amazing for shorebirds, but they appear to be pumping water into the lagoons with the exception of the 3rd cell, which was where there was some action.

Our highlights here included;
1 Short-billed Dowitcher
5 Semipalmated Plover's
1 female Northern Pintail

And.....these guys

Wilson's Phalarope

2 very fresh juvenal Wilson's Phalaropes were present with the other shorebirds. This is just a record shot from a pretty far distance.

30 to go????

With it being the first day of August I've been giving it some thought on whether or not I can realistically make it to 300 species for my Ontario year list. I'm sitting at 270, with some fairly easy species that I can still get. For me, keeping a year list is a fun way to compare years from one another and to keep motivated, even when there are more pressing things to do.....

I don't have too many 'special' birding trips lined up for the rest of the year, with the exception of 2 weeks on James Bay in November!!! I'm really pumped for it and have been looking forward to it for the entire year! Our plan (my brother Mike, Brandon Holden and Alan Wormington), is to drive up to Cochrane, take the train to Moosonee and then charter a helicopter to Netitishi Point. Last year Brandon and Alan went for roughly the same time period (they left a week later) and had 5 species that I've never seen in Ontario, along with several others that I've only seen once or twice before.

Along with this trip and the usual day outings, I think I have a fairly good chance to get 300 or darn close. I've listed 30 species that I think I have a reasonable chance to see in the remaining 5 months of 2011.

1. Trumpeter Swan
2. White-rumped Sandpiper
3. Red-throated Loon
4. Red-necked Grebe
5. Snowy Owl
6. Golden Eagle
7. Brant
8. Long-billed Dowitcher
9. Barred Owl
10. Short-eared Owl
11. Pine Grosbeak
12. King Eider

13. Whimbrel - Hamilton, May 2004

14. Hudsonian Godwit
15. Black-legged Kittiwake
16. Sabine's Gull
17. Pomarine Jaeger
18. Long-tailed Jaeger
19. Ross's Goose
20. Harlequin Duck

21. Gyrfalcon

22. Red Knot - Port Burwell, September 2008

23. Purple Sandpiper
24. Buff-breasted Sandpiper
25. Northern Hawk-Owl
26. Great Gray Owl
27. American Three-toed Woodpecker

28. Black Guillemot
29. Sharp-tailed Grouse

30. Northern Fulmar ---- I know what your thinking with this one, but you never know...Netitishi


Though its pretty much a given that I won't see all or maybe even too many of these species, there's still thed chance I'll add several species that I haven't listed....maybe something like a Gray-hooded Gull!

Or maybe something alittle more realistic, like these....
 

Western Kingbird - Rainy River, August 2006

American Avocet - Whitby, November 2008

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Luther Marsh, August 2010

Another Dickcissel.....

Did some random birding in the Pelee area today....and came up with another Dickcissel singing away in the Onion fields. This guy was singing in a field being restored by the Essex Region Conservation Authority at the corner of Mersea Road 19 and Road C. Pretty obvious guy, singing fairly persistently. As it turns out Alan Wormington had found this one as well as another male and female also at this spot a few weeks ago and has been checking fairly regularly on them.

Stopped in at Wheatley Harbour and had a first-year Lesser Black-backed Gull on the rocks.

Alittle later I checked the Tilbury Sewage Lagoons. All the rain we received down in the Windsor area overnight definitely 'dropped' some shoredbirds in the area. Some of the highlights there included:
9 Stilt Sandpipers
1 Semipalmated Plover - my first of the fall

Also checked the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons....walking into the lagoons, I checked the sightings board and saw that David Bell had a Willet there sometime today in the sprinkler cell. I quickly B-lined it there, but came up empty handed despite searching for a while. Didn't have too much there except 3 Green-winged Teals (perhaps I shouldn't have said that the lagoons don't look too promising? karma?).

Pelee Island....again

Well made it back to the island again. Had the day off, so Charlotte (whom I'm working with) and I decided we might as well head on over to the island, instead of kicking around the boring mainland!

On the ferry ride over, we had an adult Little Gull flying around, which was pretty cool. Definitely a good indication to the interesting gulls we would see throughout the day! Arriving on the island around 11:30, we went to Fish Point, where we met up with my friend Claire Sanders from the Pelee Island Bird Observatory (http://www.pibo.ca/01-home.html) and toured around there. Fish Points pretty nice and chill, there weren't too many people hanging around there or the island for that matter.

We had some neat birds here too; 1 first-year Lesser Black-backed Gull and an adult Ruddy Turnstone on the beach. 

We saw some more cool butterflies; 2 American Snouts, Tawny Emperors and tonnes of Giant Swallowtails.

While coming back to catch the ferry at the West Dock the real surprise of the day was on the dock waiting.....an adult Laughing Gull! Definitely pretty cool! Also present at the ferry dock was another Lesser Black-backed Gull (first-year).

I guess the lesson of the day in terms of birds is that "lifes like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get".

Point Pelee N.P.

A few of us ventured out to a few spots around Essex county on Sunday, including the well-known Point Pelee National Park. It was pretty hot, so there wasn't too many birds around. Had some Bonaparte's Gulls hanging around the tip as well as a few Sanderling (4).

Insects seemed to be the order of the day, with some interesting butterflies hanging around the park. Most interesting I suppose included an American Snout, Juniper Hairstreak, about a dozen Giant Swallowtails and a nice Red-spotted Purple....

A spanking Red-spotted Purple

I think this is called a Cicada killer???

 This thing is crazy big, I wish I had something to give a size reference to it.

Walking around Pelee.....

All in all a pretty enjoyable day.