tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51278092356476548842024-03-06T19:34:25.617-08:00Ragin' cagin' birdingFollow my romps wherever they are; about birding, nature, the outdoors and whatever else.Ken Burrellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04053987690922864405noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-78578200956641659852020-02-11T16:39:00.000-08:002020-02-14T16:49:22.247-08:00Northern GetawayAfter all these years I decided to splurge a bit and do a northern Ontario winter birding trip, one that I had never done, but had always wanted to do.<br />
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Friday morning (February 7th) saw me get on the road dark and early (4:45am), supposedly beating Toronto traffic (didn't happen), and getting north of the City with sunrise. My first stop was a 'might as well stop', stopping in Bala to stretch my legs and look for the long-staying <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64201359" target="_blank">female Barrow's Goldeneye</a>. I managed to find her within minutes of checking the ducks below the falls. I didn't take any pics, but there are some good one's <a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S63840357" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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After a much needed bathroom break (#2) I kept on, with the Gogama burn from last year or 2018 (I can't remember) as the next stop. Tyler Hoar had tipped me off and this proved to be a great stop. Around lunch time I pulled into the happenin' metropolis of Gogama; the burn is easily accessible off Hwy. 144 and I was even able to drive in about 500m before stopping and getting my snowshoes on. I didn't really have a great plan of where to go and was just winging it. I managed some good luck though and within 200-300m of the car got my first Black-backed Woodpecker! I ended up only checking out a very small area of the burn (~3ha or so) and scored 13 Black-backed and a single American Three-toed Woodpecker!! Pretty damn sweet. Here's <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64210158" target="_blank">my eBird checklist</a>.<br />
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From here, I managed to make it to Cochrane just as the sun was setting. I stationed myself here for the next 3 nights, staying at the very nice and comfortable <a href="https://www.westwaymotel.ca/" target="_blank">Westway Motel</a>. This was actually a bit of a hidden jem (not sure how many things you can say this about in Cochrane!) and was reasonably priced and I'd recommend for anyone venturing up there.<br />
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Saturday I woke up and the temperature was a legitimate -35 degrees Celsius! <br />
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I think this is the coldest temperature that I've ever experienced, and I was actually concerned that it would limit my birding (in terms of birds being out), though this was short-lived.<br />
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After running my car for a few minutes I headed west, towards Smooth Rock Falls (SRF). About 20 minutes in, I spied a dark blob at the top of some trees in a small farm field. Getting a better look, revealed it to be my first Northern Hawk-Owl of the trip!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hunting in -35 degrees! That is one tough bird!</td></tr>
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Reaching SRF I headed north, towards Fraserdale and the <a href="https://www.moosecree.com/wetumroad/" target="_blank">Wetum Road</a>. It didn't take long to start getting huge flocks of finches along the road. It was a little staggering at how many Redpolls were present, along with lesser numbers of Pine Siskins, White-winged Crossbills and the odd Pine Grosbeaks. Finches were fairly skittish, but I managed to pick out several Hoary Redpolls too, including some Hornemann's!<br />
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Overall, I had the following numbers of finches: 26 Pine Grosbeak, 1,115 flammea C. Redpolls, 1 for sure rostrata C. Redpoll, 6 exilpes Hoary Redpolls, 4 hornemann's Hoary Redpolls, 79 White-winged Crossbill's, and 128 Pine Siskin's! Below are my checklists:<br />
<a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254828">https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254828</a><br />
<a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254844" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254844 </a><br />
<a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254860">https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254860</a><br />
<a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254882">https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64254882</a><br />
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I had initially planned to drive up to the start of the Wetum Road to check it out (I'll drive up to Attawapiskat some other year), but because of the numbers of finches, only decided to check the first 40 km, before turning around, having wanted to check areas to the west of SRF.<br />
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I didn't end up finding anything else of real note between SRF and Hearst, despite targeting essentially all of the open areas, where I thought I'd run into a Northern Hawk or Great Gray. I did come across lots of more finches, a Northern Goshawk (great views!), and several Northern Shrike's (they appear to all be up north...). That was it for Saturday, and I made my way back to Cochrane.<br />
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Sunday I got up and headed straight for Hwy. 652, that runs from Cochrane to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detour_Gold" target="_blank">Detour Lake Gold Mine</a> - a total of 182 kilometres! It's surprising, but the road is open year-round and it's sole purpose is to service the mine. I think this hwy. gets Willow Ptarmigan (take a look at eBird and see the sightings in Quebec) and this was my target. <br />
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Right off the bat the day started well, and I found the 2nd Northern Hawk Owl of the trip perched in an open area along Hwy. 652.<br />
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Again, finches stole the show and in epic fashion. While there are too many checklists to provide (I ran checklists over 20km for the 165km that I drove), the total number of finches was incredible:<br />
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Pine Grosbeak - 79<br />
flammea Common Redpoll - 5,245<br />
rostrata Common Redpoll - 40<br />
exilpes Hoary Redpoll - 16<br />
hornemann's Hoary Redpoll - 6<br />
White-winged Crossbill - 899<br />
Pine Siskin - 206<br />
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In addition to the finch fest (I think it's safe to say that I now know where all the redpolls in Ontario are...), I had several Canada Jay's, 2 Northern Shrike's and best of all, a group of 4 Sharp-tailed Grouse.<br />
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After getting back into Cochrane around 2pm, I decided to check the agricultural areas around town and lucked into a single Evening Grosbeak and 2 Purple Finches. Needing some gas I stopped by the Canadian Tire in town only to have a Northern Hawk Owl perched along the Trans-Canada in front of the gas station (talk about efficiency)!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This NHOW really started to make me wonder how many are up there, since I had driven by this spot several times and this was the first time seeing it!</td></tr>
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I ended up checking some more agricultural areas to the south of town and came across another(!) Northern Hawk Owl (#4 for the trip)! With the 4th Hawk Owl in the bag and sunlight fading fast, I called it and headed back into Cochrane for the night.<br />
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Monday I was up nice and early, eager to get back to Kitchener-Waterloo and to see Lill. I had another(!) Northern Hawk Owl just north of Englerhart, making it a 5 Northern Hawk Owl tour. I stopped in Earlton to look for the colony of Eurasian Collared-Dove's (no dice) and left after about 45 minutes.<br />
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All in all a nice little tour; luckily the weather (generally) cooperated, as did the birds!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-37134492031318912102020-02-04T08:30:00.003-08:002020-02-04T08:30:36.539-08:00Peterborough AdventureThis past weekend Lill and I visited with Mike and his family, just outside of Peterborough. While we weren't planning any major birding we were able to snag an hour or two on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.<br />
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Saturday Mike and I went to grab some groceries in town and stopped at Little Lake to check the gulls out. We were in luck, as a decent sized flock of gulls was present, with both Iceland (Kumlien's and Thayer's) and Glaucous present. Check our eBird checklist, <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S64000021" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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From here we checked out Millenium Park and almost immediately found the female Barrow's Goldeneye that has been present for about 10 days.<br />
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Later in the afternoon on Saturday, Lill, Erica and I did some skiing at the Kawartha Nordic Ski trails. It's a great spot and I'd highly recommend it. We didn't have too much since we were busy skiing, but did come across 3 Red Crossbills in the white pines. On the way home we came across a Barred Owl sitting on hydro lines besides the road!<br />
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Sunday morning saw Mike and I get up before the others and make a quick trip up to Bark Lake for the long-staying Varied Thrush. We pulled into the parking lot and after about 10 minutes had it coming in to feed.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-58542763178318819502020-01-22T18:40:00.001-08:002020-01-22T19:12:41.249-08:00Some thoughts on the OBRC (while serving on it)I'm currently serving on the first year of a 3 year term on the <a href="http://www.ofo.ca/site/Obrc" target="_blank">OBRC</a>; this is my 3rd term since 2011! I've always enjoyed serving on the Committee. I view it as a privilege and honour and don't take it for granted being nominated and serving.<br />
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One of the reason's I like serving on the Committee is you get a back stage pass to see what's happening behind the scene's in Ontario's rare bird community (so to speak). Having traveled here and there throughout Canada and the US, I can say that Ontario is 100% in the top 3-5 of states and provinces in terms of how active our birding population is and how good it is. Ontario is likely the top state/province that is land-locked (not counting Ontario as coastal, largely b/c I don't think there is a single hard-core birder who lives in the Hudson Bay Lowlands!).<br />
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Since the late 1990's, when I started birding I've seen some pretty huge changes in Ontario in our bird-life: I've literally seen some of the last wild Northern Bobwhite in Ontario, as well as some of the first breeding Kirtland's Warblers in Ontario, to name a few.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJynuCEAKBCOzmgVba2vX1rMVw2hOGrAJ2q-FVyPKGCUoMh4MNDXITAimshV7Vk_8bxzWbhyocOn-c7fLg4jZsGMmdAb8ysAJVhIr6_d0Jn_lNvDAcfmsEtL1Y8HhnX6TXxvbifguyFQtD/s1600/20180516_181906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1501" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJynuCEAKBCOzmgVba2vX1rMVw2hOGrAJ2q-FVyPKGCUoMh4MNDXITAimshV7Vk_8bxzWbhyocOn-c7fLg4jZsGMmdAb8ysAJVhIr6_d0Jn_lNvDAcfmsEtL1Y8HhnX6TXxvbifguyFQtD/s400/20180516_181906.jpg" width="375" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This gal was on her way to her breeding grounds in Ontario???</td></tr>
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One of the best examples in changes to the status of a species which was a MEGA back in the day is Fish Crow.<br />
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I saw my first Fish Crow at Point Pelee in May 2008. At that time there were only 7 previous records in the province. Fast forward to today and they breed at several locations throughout the GTHA-Niagara corridor and are even assigned a sub-national rank of S2 by the MNRF! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish Crow on their breeding grounds....Port Dalhousie.</td></tr>
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Over the last few years I've helped Mike in preparing packages as his duties as Secretary on the OBRC. Packages are essentially the files for all the records supporting a rare bird record. This requires a fair bit of information to be incorporated, such as finders, people submitting record details, dates, locations, not to mention filing photos and the reports, etc. Generally each record takes about 30-60 min. to prepare. The last few years have seen close to 200 records reviewed by the OBRC -- up to 200 hours of volunteer time by the Secretary, just in preparing records for the Committee to vote on. <br />
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Mike served as Secretary for 5 years and has now been replaced by the able hands of Dan Riley. With this being Dan's first year, I've been helping him out a little bit and have helped him with preparing a few packages, essentially the same as what I had done for Mike. The Secretary has a huge amount of work, that is not matched by anyone else on the Committee (or even close for that matter).<br />
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One of the things that I've been noticing over the last 5-10 years is that the number of rarities being reviewed by the OBRC has been steadily increasing, specifically in regards to the <a href="http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/checklist.south" target="_blank">southern review list</a>. Taking a larger look and going back to 1982, when the OBRC was formed, one can see that the number of records and information reviewed has increased by several factors (e.g., in 1982 there were something like 92 records reviewed, most of these records were of a single paper copy vs. today we get close to 200 records, most of which have several records, as well as dozens of eBird records to catalogue, along with numerous photos). <br />
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Guidelines set out by the OBRC in the early 1980s state that species "should be on the review list if they average 20 or less records over a 5 year period". Typically these are pretty rare species; species like Blue Grosbeak, Henslow's Sparrow's, and Little Blue Heron would make the cut.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkEW3WK5S0pBQJIPzT915Lbn3DY_pbu3Zi9wqnQLboaHwhOJ33Sg_R-V9mMl4vhjwa2o_qHBd1AYEM1xkOhoeF5T48vXkaCyRoiUthMBW6pEREoHhpnW-3-eX-h7aO6xrxLjhXt36c4pc/s1600/20190625_070802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1516" data-original-width="1600" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkEW3WK5S0pBQJIPzT915Lbn3DY_pbu3Zi9wqnQLboaHwhOJ33Sg_R-V9mMl4vhjwa2o_qHBd1AYEM1xkOhoeF5T48vXkaCyRoiUthMBW6pEREoHhpnW-3-eX-h7aO6xrxLjhXt36c4pc/s400/20190625_070802.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henslow's Sparrow on its breeding ground...</td></tr>
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Don't get me wrong -- I would be ecstatic if I found one of these species, <i>BUT</i> I think there needs to be a change in the OBRCs mandate and policies regarding rare birds that we keep track of. Specifically, with the advent of cell phones, eBird, OntBirds, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and now Discord, there has been a monumental increase in the number of rare birds that we are finding out about (and therefore documenting).<br />
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I think we need to restructure some key points in the OBRC going forward to ensure it is relevant today and in the next 20-30 years. I think we need to look at species, like Blue Grosbeak, Little Blue Heron, and Henslow's Sparrow, where we have close to, or more than 100 accepted records of these species and ask ourselves: "what are we going to learn by reviewing another Blue Grosbeak record?".<br />
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With eBird, and our team of regional reviewers in Ontario, there really isn't the same need to review every rarity as in 1982. I think revising the threshold for reviewing species in southern Ontario is warranted (and has been for some time). I think we should <u>drastically</u> revise the review list, making the criteria much lower, such as:<br />
- species that are observed on average more than 10 times in a 5 year period would NOT require documentation<br />
- where a species has a defined pattern of vagrancy in the province and there are more than 35 previously accepted records, that species would NOT be reviewed going forward.<br />
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Revising the review list would enable the OBRC to review the <i>really</i> rare species in the province. Think Swainson's Warbler. Rock Wren. Burrowing Owl. Feel me?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40aRQz_zrorcnqayDEEmePkxlS7jq293rFY7agnAoYxjvTJdPAH5Q47oMCU9Fxizj__LUdgqWIHXuiFpVziPFIHel61RzpqyvF4C8tLBN3WG3FwiG5XAOCA7HZhiMBO08r59isbH697SO/s1600/Kenny+Bird+Pics.+152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40aRQz_zrorcnqayDEEmePkxlS7jq293rFY7agnAoYxjvTJdPAH5Q47oMCU9Fxizj__LUdgqWIHXuiFpVziPFIHel61RzpqyvF4C8tLBN3WG3FwiG5XAOCA7HZhiMBO08r59isbH697SO/s400/Kenny+Bird+Pics.+152.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">May 9th: in addition to catching this SWWA, we also caught GWWA and a SUTA!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyq4DRiAi58VHLVZYtGCtKeTNZfN9UY9IrUkZSmpud0LIy4uWaK0cXl_WeFdhRwDK5FeIyME2UrRf91uDWqOYy0Jo-gwVMYTbdJ2fymq1JKkXZbTx3CTwxzzWwKJAevDp-NTq9JPhp1m1M/s1600/_EV05401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1027" data-original-width="1027" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyq4DRiAi58VHLVZYtGCtKeTNZfN9UY9IrUkZSmpud0LIy4uWaK0cXl_WeFdhRwDK5FeIyME2UrRf91uDWqOYy0Jo-gwVMYTbdJ2fymq1JKkXZbTx3CTwxzzWwKJAevDp-NTq9JPhp1m1M/s400/_EV05401.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You know how you know you've got a great wife? When she points out a weird bird on a boulder beach and its ROCK WREN!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-3LfekpdqboVXQlzFKeR9GOGy7s7_xVVePH29j9r5UZVzvSOcQq6iId8HdrZomJGmerNqMKqfwE3YTbPKPH2_1DQ61iThCWBjRAFmJmZ3F0GP-N7ypE6bA5euWXOi2QZcCYoHuqgSyC3/s1600/BUOW+Pelee+Island2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-3LfekpdqboVXQlzFKeR9GOGy7s7_xVVePH29j9r5UZVzvSOcQq6iId8HdrZomJGmerNqMKqfwE3YTbPKPH2_1DQ61iThCWBjRAFmJmZ3F0GP-N7ypE6bA5euWXOi2QZcCYoHuqgSyC3/s400/BUOW+Pelee+Island2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ahhh, the BUOW Mikey and I found on PI. Dayum.</td></tr>
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Species removed from the southern review list would still be reviewed by our stellar group of provincial eBird reviewers and would be documented via eBird and OntBirds.<br />
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This would essentially remove the following species: Mississippi Kite, Henslow's, Blue Grosbeak, Neotropic Corm, Western Grebe, Arctic Tern, Scissor-tail, YC Night-Heron, and a few more.<br />
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What do you think? Do you care?? Too much change? Too little change?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-11131490594532980642020-01-09T19:44:00.002-08:002020-01-09T19:46:46.887-08:00New year birdingWhile January is not necessarily the best month for birding, in terms of displacing large numbers of birds in addition to exciting species, the start to 2020 has been pretty good for anyone interested in doing a big year, with several continuing rarities.<br />
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I started the year at the cottage, just outside of Tobermory with Lill and her family. We had been at the cottage for a few days and were driving home on the 1st, with a few stops along the way.<br />
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First up was Lion's Head to look for the somewhat continuing Harlequin Duck, which unfortunately was a no-show on the 1st, as well as the previous 2 days I had checked. However, things were about to pick-up; on our way out of Lion's Head, heading towards Ferndale, I spotted a large bird at the top of some trees. Pulling over revealed it to be the gray Gyrfalcon found just before Christmas!!<br />
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I had in fact been searching for this bird, and managed to luck into it this time, after looking for close to 5 hours over the previous 2 mornings -- I guess that's why they call it three times a charm.<br />
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Needless to say I was pretty pumped. This was also a lifer for Lill, so that was pretty neat too.<br />
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Heading south from here, we drove through the flats and came across a lone male Common Grackle, seeming out of place.<br />
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From here we made a bee-line for the Owen Sound harbour, where we hoped to luck into the annually returning (2 years?) male Barrow's Goldeneye.<br />
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Sure enough, after getting to Kelso Beach Park, in Owen Sound, I managed to pick out the Goldeneye, as well as some other decent first of the year birds in the harbour, including Canvasback and Redhead.<br />
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All in all a good start to the year -- let's hope the rest of the year will continue to bring more goodies like on the 1st!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-81163711594472266532019-09-15T17:49:00.002-07:002019-09-15T17:56:57.844-07:00Dorian!! Day 1 (of 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back as Hurricane Dorian was wreaking havoc in the Bahamas and starting to make its way north towards the US, the track of Dorian started to come into focus a little better, revealing that it would potentially make landfall, somewhere in the Atlantic Maritimes.<br />
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On Wednesday (Sept. 4) and into Thursday, it looked increasingly like it would be eastern Nova Scotia that would see Dorian make landfall. On Thursday, I asked around and got bites from Barb Charlton and Ethan Gosnell to accompany me out east into the storm for a few days. We took the Friday evening flight from Hamilton to Halifax on WestJets discount airline - Swoop.<br />
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Friday evening saw us arrive in Halifax, where we picked up our rental car and get into our hotel in Dartmouth, while Dorian continued its determined track towards Atlantic Canada.<br />
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Saturday we were up dark and early, driving southwest of Halifax, where we checked out a number of interesting sites near Lunenburg. The weather became increasingly inhospitable to bird, with the wind and rain picking up throughout the day. We didn't see too much of interest, except for finding an imm. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.<br />
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Around lunch-time we were back in Halifax trying to figure out where to go ahead of Dorian (as well as to get something to eat before the McDonald's and Tim Horton's closed!). At this point Dorian's landfall was becoming locked in, with a hit, just on the east side of Halifax/Dartmouth. We started birding and scouting to the east of the city for birding on Sunday and Monday.<br />
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With Dorian's arrival nearing we had to call it early (~3pm), as the wind and rain was just too much, not too mention for our own safety, with sustained winds hitting close to 100km/hr. We managed to snag a room at the hotel we stayed at the night previous night (in Dartmouth) and luckily didn't lose any power!!<br />
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Around 7pm, as the eye was nearing land, I got a text that someone had seen several Bridled/Sooty Terns south of the city. With this in mind, I gathered Barb and Ethan up and quickly booked it to an area we had scouted earlier - Lawrencetown West beach. With sunset nearing, we got here at 19:25, with about 20 minutes of light.<br />
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Getting out of the car, we could see that there were hundreds (thousands?) of darners and other dragonflies around, as well as shorebirds flying by. Almost immediately we had Purple Martin (rare), Barn, Bank (rare), and Tree Swallows flying in off the ocean, with several hundred over our 30 minutes here. The real craziness started when I spotted an odd tern/gull-like bird land about 100m away on a rock almost immediately after getting out of the car. Thinking it was a Skimmer or something good, we quick ran over, watched a wave smash the bird and drag it into the surf. Ethan managed to get some pics, while we watched the bird drown! Looking at Ethan's pics on his camera revealed the bird to be a Sooty/Bridled Tern!!! [edit: after getting Ethan's pics on a computer, the bird was identifiable to Bridled Tern]<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZhNGphxvaS6-ZpsyW9IR9LcTnpfGjaCEh3lreNiacdx4JLL0A3k_DBXqK9WxhZqmlumuSE3FtgEriJ74rGhfTRPY2rePcZ_-BDuSZozXPiM7woAroMsIEU0XUwRbqE-jCiNpITSUIwYf/s1600/20190907_204450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZhNGphxvaS6-ZpsyW9IR9LcTnpfGjaCEh3lreNiacdx4JLL0A3k_DBXqK9WxhZqmlumuSE3FtgEriJ74rGhfTRPY2rePcZ_-BDuSZozXPiM7woAroMsIEU0XUwRbqE-jCiNpITSUIwYf/s400/20190907_204450.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Ethan Gosnell.</td></tr>
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After we lost the Bridled Tern, we watched as several gulls and terns flew in off the ocean, but we weren't able to ID them, as the lighting and light rain/mist was challenging for birding. After a few moments, more birds came into view, coming in from the ocean. Getting closer to us, we could see that all of the gulls were Laughing(!), as well as several Royal Terns(!), and a Black Skimmer!!! Shit was really hitting the fan!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-NRFq0Qqaj544btPdYr7AzzkPaTKlHZuVuXybCh80pON6F4ke98h-npEWp5MooVXSbdvD0-w44ExBv6mtAVcm49lKQZmufwsB0fZFAnPaPO9v0eVoKBqTk7arF9LQmCTvwGu3rE87dAK/s1600/20190907_205938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-NRFq0Qqaj544btPdYr7AzzkPaTKlHZuVuXybCh80pON6F4ke98h-npEWp5MooVXSbdvD0-w44ExBv6mtAVcm49lKQZmufwsB0fZFAnPaPO9v0eVoKBqTk7arF9LQmCTvwGu3rE87dAK/s400/20190907_205938.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Ethan Gosnell.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRa8v2Y1ieqqNZ5lPCK2im-urETmAk6vJ2LGoeUgacbBC1Hd3gVbkPLBp0YRDz4plSQRIk_21OdBuJ3CbKS2Gi4aAzIOKzHiZ6pNdNARJYuMOtbDdQe060RYG8urVtsRRpcaLfThhu83K/s1600/20190907_210010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRa8v2Y1ieqqNZ5lPCK2im-urETmAk6vJ2LGoeUgacbBC1Hd3gVbkPLBp0YRDz4plSQRIk_21OdBuJ3CbKS2Gi4aAzIOKzHiZ6pNdNARJYuMOtbDdQe060RYG8urVtsRRpcaLfThhu83K/s400/20190907_210010.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Ethan Gosnell.</td></tr>
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With sunset fast approaching, Ethan and I watched an interesting bird a few hundred metres away do a weird 'moth-like' flight, before landing on the ground. We both raced up the hill and encountered a wreaked Black Skimmer!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pFunLeKwE7FShYAwV5HAqZdz9U0a8fa_Onk4zgldrlKGAKZqFzYllJtloUfkSKrPCunvgmRJJTyjKLABEI6yiXtnzTuAawDlkgZ-zNOTn8AKiC8XnttHw8o8dKc7-CVP8kMDkZY0sPMB/s1600/20190907_210036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pFunLeKwE7FShYAwV5HAqZdz9U0a8fa_Onk4zgldrlKGAKZqFzYllJtloUfkSKrPCunvgmRJJTyjKLABEI6yiXtnzTuAawDlkgZ-zNOTn8AKiC8XnttHw8o8dKc7-CVP8kMDkZY0sPMB/s400/20190907_210036.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ethan Gosnell</td></tr>
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With light totally failing we new the next day (Sunday) would be fantastic!!<br />
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Our interesting eBird checklists, here:<br />
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Yellow-crowned Night-Heron: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S59572426">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S59572426</a><br />
Lawrencetown West: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S59593329">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S59593329</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-37320058370957443502018-12-17T15:44:00.001-08:002018-12-17T15:49:05.529-08:00Blenheim CBC -- Dec. 17We are now in the midst of the Christmas Bird Count season. This year I decided to switch the count that I do on the Sunday, dropping Cambridge, moving in favour of the more <i>exotic</i> Blenheim CBC, which covers all of Rondeau Provincial Park. I was lucky in getting a great area, with Mark Jennings retiring his area, I was tasked with covering the Shrewsbury/Erieau/McGeachy Pond area.<br />
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Looking ahead to Sunday late last week, the weather was still in flux, however, things turned out amazing, with strong NE winds occurring Saturday (theoretically pushing waterbirds closer to shore), before becoming calm and warm (8 degrees), and even lots of sunshine on Sunday!<br />
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Dark and early on Sunday, Rob <i>''the real deal''</i> Palin and I met along the 401 in Kitchener, before making our way to the Erieau pier for sunrise. We decided to do a lakewatch, taking advantage of the day's previous weather and the fact that waterbirds "move" during the first hour or two. Turned out to be a good call, with both loons (1 Common, 2 Red-throated), 6 Horned Grebe's, 7 Long-tailed Ducks, and all 3 scoters making appearances, making it seem more like Lake Ontario than Erie.<br />
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After an hour and a half we moved west to McGeachy Pond, where walked the dyke and back. Things were slightly quiet, but we had excellent quality, with our highlights being: 1 Marsh Wren, 3(!) Common Yellowthroats, 2 Hermit Thrushes, a flyover Common Redpoll, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and absolutely best of all, a Northern Waterthrush! The N. Waterthrush is almost certainly the same bird that had been seen off/on throughout late October and <a href="https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50252258" target="_blank">November</a>, and most recently on <a href="https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50444935" target="_blank">December 5th</a>. We had the bird at the extreme west end, deep in the scrub.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfWTBBZ5NhUOMFDt6oHY9y9NUwsLk04JCUHcOlIn_xgn7Fjn3s_diQM-RifZHASk_8KtyrowJnyuED_L0LF5iJQG4pC1DFHiTCPUIat_p-Uc3xgoS2zWZBQ-AWxiWp6skKuhhtthcYS8-/s1600/20181216_092945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1568" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfWTBBZ5NhUOMFDt6oHY9y9NUwsLk04JCUHcOlIn_xgn7Fjn3s_diQM-RifZHASk_8KtyrowJnyuED_L0LF5iJQG4pC1DFHiTCPUIat_p-Uc3xgoS2zWZBQ-AWxiWp6skKuhhtthcYS8-/s400/20181216_092945.jpg" width="391" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phone shot of the Common Yellowthroat at McGeachy Pond.</td></tr>
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From McGeachy we went across the road and walked the rail trail down and back. Another Ruby-crowned Kinglet, some Carolina's and a single Winter Wren, as well as the resident pair of Great Horned Owls made appearances.<br />
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From here we drove around to Shrewsbury, scoring some Snowy Owls along the way, before walking portions of the townsite. In town we had another Ruby-crowned Kinglet and best of all a Red-shouldered Hawk that we watched catch a snake! Shrewsbury seems pretty neat, with lots of interesting areas to check; I'll definitely want to revise my strategy for next year birding here on count day.<br />
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By this time it was 2pm; we decided to head back to Erieau to check the townsite proper for landbirds and to properly scan the bay, with the lighting proving excellent. In town we scored some random landbirds, incluing a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a Field Sparrow. Scanning the bay was productive too, with distant views of several new ducks for the day (Redhead, A. Wigeon, etc.).<br />
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By this time, daylight was fast closing (~4pm), we decided to drive all the roads in our area. We found another Snowy Owl by McGeachy Pond, and our 2nd American Kestrel of the day.<br />
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We ended up finishing with <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S50732711" target="_blank">70 species</a>; my personal high on a CBC -- the total species count ended up being 114 species! A great day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-83153899456502527112018-11-26T18:13:00.001-08:002018-11-26T18:13:08.317-08:00Bluff action - November 22ndWith the deep breeze rolling through southern Ontario on the night of the 21st/22nd (temps ranged as low as minus 18!) and the prospect of east winds, I thought I'd give the Bluff one last go and decided to take the day off.<br />
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As soon as I showed up (around 10am), I had an adult Northern Shrike flying south along the bluff edge. It ended up sticking around for the better part of an hour, allowing me to get some nice looks at it.<br />
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Shortly after the shrike I had a first-year Bald Eagle and an adult Red-shouldered Hawk migrating inland. With these two (moving south), I thought there was going to be a push of raptors moving; however, unfortunately this didn't really materialize. I say 'didn't really' because I did end up having two pretty good raptors after lunch, with a late Turkey Vulture and a classic first-year Golden Eagle, which was pretty nice!<br />
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As everyone has witnessed this fall there's been a pretty good finch irruption which has been occurring more or less since late August. I ended up with some decent numbers considering the late date, with close to 160 Common Redpolls, a single Evening Grosbeak (one of my favourites), a single Pine Siskin, and a few A. Goldfinches.<br />
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The highlight (for me), however, was a flock of 19 Bohemian Waxwings that flew south, just before 11am. I had another flock of waxwings (too far to ID to species) later that I think was a mixed species flock.<br />
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All in all I was pretty happy with my decision to play hookey. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-64534096976313389292018-09-03T16:14:00.001-07:002018-09-03T16:15:51.296-07:00Tobermory timeThe blog took a little break over the month of August, but things are starting to ramp back up again...<br />
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The first half of August saw Lillian and I spend at her family's cottage just outside of Tobermory. We had a great two weeks, and were able to have a good mix of relax time and checking out local hiking spots.<br />
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I was able to add in some herping and botanizing through the area, as this is a great area for both.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-o9CDTbghVxM_MPuS2xD6iMdcVV27lPNHX2JntugBl7H5rLrRzeS35QGGep-17SHDaEr3jY7ApZ2eMF60w-zp8P-7fuV4X6Xhzl7mq4Lb9e8f8bRFP4C2TqpKrl9HpLIXd0bI0k95HST/s1600/20180807_1535471743343802.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-o9CDTbghVxM_MPuS2xD6iMdcVV27lPNHX2JntugBl7H5rLrRzeS35QGGep-17SHDaEr3jY7ApZ2eMF60w-zp8P-7fuV4X6Xhzl7mq4Lb9e8f8bRFP4C2TqpKrl9HpLIXd0bI0k95HST/s400/20180807_1535471743343802.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got to be one of my favourites, Cardinal Flower (<i>Lobelia cardinalis</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiBEIhQ-c_tljARtH2N1bi3qsq6R3kwsJmvhTeIx3eexQWtZUayeKRly35vCEBntRYaDdDJ8DIHsgs7ROMS0HtBTJCPsuSh296lIEj0dI0_aA1alGcVeyJKzok2FepKumGCrqAcz8mo5GE/s1600/20180728_1040231750147492.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiBEIhQ-c_tljARtH2N1bi3qsq6R3kwsJmvhTeIx3eexQWtZUayeKRly35vCEBntRYaDdDJ8DIHsgs7ROMS0HtBTJCPsuSh296lIEj0dI0_aA1alGcVeyJKzok2FepKumGCrqAcz8mo5GE/s320/20180728_1040231750147492.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know...it's a crappy photo, but one of the few we saw, an Alaska Rein Orchid (<i>Piperia unalascensis</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9G_d8AM3gn8NB-WoCOnoAkW0OruwOliL_5b87blxVJ_HxJqREdry3NeqE9Hb4y6SgNbqUzL2v6vgo87jqqarPGLeZcIxOo_pqTnEgGE2nV738N7IDkqtSI-Dpmw0V7TTy1tlsMEa1n9rv/s1600/20180812_193447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9G_d8AM3gn8NB-WoCOnoAkW0OruwOliL_5b87blxVJ_HxJqREdry3NeqE9Hb4y6SgNbqUzL2v6vgo87jqqarPGLeZcIxOo_pqTnEgGE2nV738N7IDkqtSI-Dpmw0V7TTy1tlsMEa1n9rv/s400/20180812_193447.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highly recommended...we took an evening sunset cruise out of Tobermory on a pleasant evening and even had an adult Peregrine Falcon come and roost, close to Halfway Log Dump -- they must be breeding nearby?!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_T0WYAtiqLtHr2r7XUTwlG2Qq4C8TC02ToadC1QS4hJHi-YJ-KuoYpQ4VshyZJCH8BOB-orUrhG0Dyk5pKPZTTX1EhuoP2TB6Y1llMjS89JAsjOsvRQJHcAR5lFiY7fIej_GMjC_mS42Q/s1600/20180814_094056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_T0WYAtiqLtHr2r7XUTwlG2Qq4C8TC02ToadC1QS4hJHi-YJ-KuoYpQ4VshyZJCH8BOB-orUrhG0Dyk5pKPZTTX1EhuoP2TB6Y1llMjS89JAsjOsvRQJHcAR5lFiY7fIej_GMjC_mS42Q/s400/20180814_094056.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What trip to Tobermory would be complete without seeing Flowerpot Island -- be aware of the crowds!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFy1HAMWXVWbJF7gXQ1eoCpwHIm3I-DmuPZgd1YFO28EYupSZ0yXyPZHt3rxuKhcohPHNK7zYp5VXFesVsYbFwzG6V-BFCXtAw7Z6t1DxDFQ4JDmM1kVIDY6DoKCaK4SPhlW_EOTaa6oy7/s1600/20180814_1112172071822216.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFy1HAMWXVWbJF7gXQ1eoCpwHIm3I-DmuPZgd1YFO28EYupSZ0yXyPZHt3rxuKhcohPHNK7zYp5VXFesVsYbFwzG6V-BFCXtAw7Z6t1DxDFQ4JDmM1kVIDY6DoKCaK4SPhlW_EOTaa6oy7/s400/20180814_1112172071822216.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this was my favourtie plant from the trip: North Wind Bog Orchid (<i>Platanthera aquilonis</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3VuGeHueVGvAu6itPi_Dl3LTXO8jQnIfI9tRuLSHNOoAn2v3e9_LkBFn8qfpsdLZE8TETv1AMZaEKPG9jGmbU1koAMSh490SHJNP_ZRAPtgjd5U9nLLR2q_picr_4QeL9IzvSceisJaC/s1600/20180814_1112471752626231.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3VuGeHueVGvAu6itPi_Dl3LTXO8jQnIfI9tRuLSHNOoAn2v3e9_LkBFn8qfpsdLZE8TETv1AMZaEKPG9jGmbU1koAMSh490SHJNP_ZRAPtgjd5U9nLLR2q_picr_4QeL9IzvSceisJaC/s400/20180814_1112471752626231.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full view of it, on Flowerpot Island.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtYYGj95QNfjh89fkzLNPOeDxkU5EBOyeevHxCOb1gQz7x2AQIrLsY05OvXsY90b5k1kmZ8W1feiUgMkI7kgzlw9D40YIsvzgPQp50f99Co1IHElNIeAdVvuhpnZKkJA5n1e-BxOs-rqO/s1600/20180817_113610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtYYGj95QNfjh89fkzLNPOeDxkU5EBOyeevHxCOb1gQz7x2AQIrLsY05OvXsY90b5k1kmZ8W1feiUgMkI7kgzlw9D40YIsvzgPQp50f99Co1IHElNIeAdVvuhpnZKkJA5n1e-BxOs-rqO/s400/20180817_113610.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We made it to Singing Sands (two bays south of us) and had some nice Fen Grass of Parnassus (<i>Parnassia glauca</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1MoJpjXjQX8aHRz_pgPMaRozAlmt9-3_yTmQUB96F7bFzq6nFVpytZrjen4CHgnDJogJzs8zHyQetMQTqJ0PomkDPdezY3PMmAvvZGQQ7AbjSfK_IhOEgZo-0skHw8gulH1rN4zs6qV_/s1600/20180811_132930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1600" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1MoJpjXjQX8aHRz_pgPMaRozAlmt9-3_yTmQUB96F7bFzq6nFVpytZrjen4CHgnDJogJzs8zHyQetMQTqJ0PomkDPdezY3PMmAvvZGQQ7AbjSfK_IhOEgZo-0skHw8gulH1rN4zs6qV_/s400/20180811_132930.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halfway through our time at the cottage I left for the day...and got my Ontario lifer (long overdue!) Little Blue Heron!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLulNX6kOTEfyjtWqY2NgSMjnkNG4TUTDii7UjWiGW1R3Do0Zfnd5dHRX8hpby6QqMl73B7qjMenCpqBERsTYauxup0ISYJBWjon5cxFYnGSevB-ZaV49JAyTQ4y-uOImRwzBsMfn-Kjc/s1600/20180811_132942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1569" data-original-width="1600" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLulNX6kOTEfyjtWqY2NgSMjnkNG4TUTDii7UjWiGW1R3Do0Zfnd5dHRX8hpby6QqMl73B7qjMenCpqBERsTYauxup0ISYJBWjon5cxFYnGSevB-ZaV49JAyTQ4y-uOImRwzBsMfn-Kjc/s320/20180811_132942.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzp8hxTMBIsU9BskeIHO3Ng1IkEGH5ldgiFuNgySXbYwrBUS1adT2SWtiKEEjeE5uh3RwfDndRjfJlMeF9F5kc40n4rMvjjFHq8aA3vs3E9PIBCx4g4fk4Q_sPnUkIqY4uyQ5qHSCibvG/s1600/20180816_102829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1517" data-original-width="1600" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzp8hxTMBIsU9BskeIHO3Ng1IkEGH5ldgiFuNgySXbYwrBUS1adT2SWtiKEEjeE5uh3RwfDndRjfJlMeF9F5kc40n4rMvjjFHq8aA3vs3E9PIBCx4g4fk4Q_sPnUkIqY4uyQ5qHSCibvG/s400/20180816_102829.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was able to do some birding too, and had a large flock of Common Nighthawks at the Tobermory Sewage Lagoons and even managed a few pics of it with my phone through my bins!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNx7ZIH4l5T3XHYhuuJ5FoJx_EhgRoq4CcOxtoTguH0zmBQl3hmN6jUt6Cwa6LFSo1ii9HHhSnb247f_VBeXli6vct1nzKTccWHpxfI-DeEg3BDtX8k4dJWsdIB8tzTkr5J9eqa0hLtLb/s1600/20180810_091621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1147" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNx7ZIH4l5T3XHYhuuJ5FoJx_EhgRoq4CcOxtoTguH0zmBQl3hmN6jUt6Cwa6LFSo1ii9HHhSnb247f_VBeXli6vct1nzKTccWHpxfI-DeEg3BDtX8k4dJWsdIB8tzTkr5J9eqa0hLtLb/s400/20180810_091621.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Likely the coolest birds I saw up there was this adult Red-headed Woodpecker beside Hwy. 6, just south of Tobermory feeding its young!</td></tr>
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It's already been two weeks since we were up (couldn't go this past weekend), but we'll be back fro Thanksgiving!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com54tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-427189222307297332018-07-27T11:20:00.001-07:002018-07-27T11:25:17.563-07:00Kingbird thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Way back in June, Brandon and I met up for some birding on the 1st near Wheatley. The weather had set-up nicely, with a strong cold front, with cool temps. and a decent north/northeast wind.<br />
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We were hoping for Kites or whatever else might be in the area, as the previous few days had been hit by a large southwesterly system with high temps and strong SW winds. I wasn't able to get to the lake until closer to 9am, so missed a few Dickcissel's that Brandon had before me.<br />
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Arriving around 9am, decent numbers of landbirds were still passing through, particularly when you factor in the date. Within the first hour, we had 3 Dickcissel's, a pair of Pine Siskins, and a late Northern Parula.<br />
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Shortly after 11am a yellow-bellied-type Kingbird flew by, which Brandon was able to photograph. I called Mike shortly after to get some figures from Pyle, while my initial immediate thought to Mike was a Cassin's, we quickly concluded that Western was obviously way more likely and that we'd wait to look at the photos on the computer to confirm.<br />
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[Getting back to town I honestly don't know why we didn't look more into it but we didn't. (the only thing I can think of is I had just moved days earlier and was still getting unpacked, while Brandon was just starting a new job and in the process of selling/buying a house). Anyways, long story short, we are now getting back to the bird and were hoping for your thoughts on it. I've sent it out to quite a number of west coast and American birders who are familiar with both Western and Cassin's and I have my thoughts/suspicions.]<br />
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Here are the pics that Brandon was able to get of it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnBs6AvCgI_Y7DGCpNi-Efsf2E3bVcC8XY6CrurJzzpN-Ol7oWHrxgrs-T6K0DvCSm-yolHcOwUw0xh2A_8KoKP0SRN6eWGEj6SN_zbBQIb4yocuoN2yHBehqrVo1x6rb1yvnkmNRd9Dw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-06-01+at+7.19.36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="1600" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnBs6AvCgI_Y7DGCpNi-Efsf2E3bVcC8XY6CrurJzzpN-Ol7oWHrxgrs-T6K0DvCSm-yolHcOwUw0xh2A_8KoKP0SRN6eWGEj6SN_zbBQIb4yocuoN2yHBehqrVo1x6rb1yvnkmNRd9Dw/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-06-01+at+7.19.36+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0mYHkBPq3JoQNBTpmzzzCmnpa7pPsUaOuMZ82MVVqP7p6kuqAw2Axp2sGITpmzoKyVQ4fz-ZzzdXxKLOxWGSpaJcX7jdlxU8K8bTcL8X6M3iWnZjIwlHIWrdijy6PhUoRhTqfRD3h6hk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-06-01+at+7.20.34+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="1600" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0mYHkBPq3JoQNBTpmzzzCmnpa7pPsUaOuMZ82MVVqP7p6kuqAw2Axp2sGITpmzoKyVQ4fz-ZzzdXxKLOxWGSpaJcX7jdlxU8K8bTcL8X6M3iWnZjIwlHIWrdijy6PhUoRhTqfRD3h6hk/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-06-01+at+7.20.34+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Brandon and I kept birding and had a bunch more interesting birds, including Red-throated Loon and Pied-billed Grebe, while the hawk flight finally started, we ended up with a remarkable 11 Broad-winged Hawks and most bizarre of all a light morph Rough-legged Hawk!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8cS5YAFkKNA30XN2R1z9lJZ3Srv2gQaGyyvDj1YWEsRlELbIivjMcvoDuL8G9exeUnRjwP17RNgpf9MdNWQ3UATHNQRGh4DIQj-QEXsYQmJlfGFokR9XpDJJL1hYrl7QauZxFgDPQQ-w/s1600/rlha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8cS5YAFkKNA30XN2R1z9lJZ3Srv2gQaGyyvDj1YWEsRlELbIivjMcvoDuL8G9exeUnRjwP17RNgpf9MdNWQ3UATHNQRGh4DIQj-QEXsYQmJlfGFokR9XpDJJL1hYrl7QauZxFgDPQQ-w/s400/rlha.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting a MIKI or even STKI has got to be much more likely than a June Roughie...</td></tr>
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All in all a great day! Here's a link to my eBird checklist (note the checklist hasn't been updated since the day of): <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46221355" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46221355</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-61272289318372654002018-07-19T16:44:00.000-07:002018-07-19T16:44:25.630-07:00What's up with Henslow's???!!Things are undeniably slow, from a birding perspective, here in southern Ontario, however, you're probably wondering what I'm talking about....but, really, what's up with Henslow's Sparrow in Ontario?!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY77qCwtSEJh29syj4OG0eeQDjW3R9h3PAAcmsO1KAgKAitvsa9HfY0L1FD70VKwrctbc8iAmSeVBb3xxrOYYEMA9ERal3bIREk7rh3WN4vjL804Soq91TVIoDWDdWRYotYiGCA8TFmNnY/s1600/IMG_20170429_074410_edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1382" data-original-width="1214" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY77qCwtSEJh29syj4OG0eeQDjW3R9h3PAAcmsO1KAgKAitvsa9HfY0L1FD70VKwrctbc8iAmSeVBb3xxrOYYEMA9ERal3bIREk7rh3WN4vjL804Soq91TVIoDWDdWRYotYiGCA8TFmNnY/s400/IMG_20170429_074410_edit.jpg" width="351" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">April 29, 2017 -- PPNP</td></tr>
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Take a look at eBird and the last 10 years over the June/July period and it's <u>crazy</u> the difference between Ontario and the immediate surrounding breeding range. Take a look:<br />
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Literally a stone's throw into Michigan and there are birds. Throw a rock south, across Lake Erie and there are more birds. While I am being dramatic in saying this, the frequency of observations does warrant me in saying that we <u>must</u> be missing birds on the breeding grounds in extreme southwestern Ontario, specifically in Essex, western Chatham-Kent, and southern Lambton counties.<br />
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I do understand that the species is <u>very</u> difficult to pick out, while singing; how many birders could say that they are specifically looking for Henslow's as breeders in Ontario, and extreme southwestern Ontario?? I doubt any. Myself included.<br />
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It would be interesting if someone took it upon themselves to look for them. I think if I had the time, I'd try Essex, particularly SW Essex, as that area seems to have a bit more natural cover left, including some restored grasslands. Listening for them in the evening too, would be best.<br />
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One additional thing is that the species, from what I understand, isn't that picky in it's breeding habitat. Smaller fields (~5ha) could be good for the species. With that being said, maybe some will be found during the next breeding bird atlas (2021-2026). Time will tell!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henslow's -- PPNP May 3, 2015</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henslow's -- Pelee Island - May 5, 2011</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-16422999202536718182018-07-16T15:24:00.000-07:002018-07-16T15:24:50.843-07:002018 BBS BlitzAfter the excitement from the day previous (June 27th) with the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Nathan and I met up with my Dad on the 28th, just south of Sudbury. I bid farewell to Nathan and my Dad and I headed northeast to Cochrane to start our annual (6th year running...) Breeding Bird Survey blitz in northeastern Ontario.<br />
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After getting into Cochrane in good time (~5pm), and gassing up, we drove another hour and half towards the Detour Lake Gold Mine on Hwy. 652 - about 150km north. We proceeded to set up camp quickly with the bugs swarming, before making a quick dinner and a leisurely drive on the Chabbie Lake logging road. We scored some Common Nighthawks, our only Olive-sided Flycatcher of the weekend, and a few Rusty Blackbirds, including one bird carrying food, however, the Northern Hawk Owls from 2016 were a no-show. <br />
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The next morning, dark and early, had us starting the Lower Tweed Lake BBS at 04:44. For the next four hours we completed the standard 50, 3-minute point counts along a roughly 40km stretch. This year, we were pretty right on, in terms of species and individuals, with 52 species (ave. 53.25) and 633 individuals (ave. 693 individuals). We had 3 new species for the route: Canada Goose, Black-billed Cuckoo, and a somewhat over-due Connecticut Warbler. Asides from the Connecticut, we had some other good boreal highlights too: 1 Bonaparte's Gull, 4 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 7 Gray Jays, 3 Boreal Chickadees, 3 Fox Sparrows, 1 Rusty Blackbird, and 1 Orange-crowned Warbler. Check out our eBird list for a complete totals breakdown: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46876577" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46876577</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange-crowned from last year. Interestingly, we've had a bird at the same point count on the last 3 years.</td></tr>
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Based on what I know, Fox Sparrows and Orange-crowned Warbler are at pretty much the furthest south part of there range, which is pretty neat.<br />
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After finishing up the Lower Tweed route, we headed back to Cochrane and then west to Kapuskasing, where we'd spend the night, ahead of completing the Pearce Lake BBS (running at km 30 north of Kapuskasing towards the Ontario Hydro dam, about 90km north of Kap) route the next morning (June 30th). My Dad and I were really looking forward to running this route, as last year (our inaugural year) we had to cut the route short because of bad weather and still had a Connecticut Warbler and a Great Gray Owl.<br />
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Luckily on the morning of the 30th, the weather was quite good, and after quickly getting a coffee in Kapuskasing, we drove up the logging road 30km to our starting point. We had a great count, with 61 species and 650 individuals, with several excellent boreal species: 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Bonaparte's Gulls (including one bird on a nest), 1 Black-backed Woodpecker, 1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Boreal Chickadees, and our top highlights: 3(!) Connecticut's and 4 Pine Grosbeak's (!!). Check out our eBird list for a complete totals breakdown: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46901191" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46901191</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young male Pine Grosbeak singing away.</td></tr>
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We were really surprised by the Pine Grosbeaks -- the day previous, I had literally told my Dad that if we got a Pine Grosbeak or a Bohemian Waxwing that the trip would automatically be a great trip, not thinking that was really a possibility. With the Pine Grosbeaks (a single bird and a group of 3 birds), the 3 Connecticut's were an added bonus. Seeing one of the birds briefly was the icing on the cake.<br />
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Finishing up the Kapuskasing route, we decided that instead of driving back the way we came, we'd try to see if we could drive a few kilometres north and then over the Ontario hydro dams and then along the private hydro road to Fraserdale. No one was around, so we just drove on through, and is something I'd definitely recommend doing, if you can. The road was surprisingly great, with no issues and a bonus was a female Spruce Grouse along the way.<br />
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Once in Fraserdale, we continued south to Smooth Rock Falls to have lunch, before driving the 2.5hrs to Elk Lake, where our next BBS (Matachewan) awaited us on the 1st.<br />
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Again, dark and early, on the 1st we started our 3rd and last BBS of our northern Ontario adventure, just west of Matachewan. This is a uniquely different BBS from the previous 2 routes, as it follows the Montreal River, and is seemingly much more 'southern' in its bird diversity. Weather was not as conducive to doing the BBS as our previous two days (a bit windy), and as a result we had a bit lower species total and individual bird count of 56 species (ave. is 59.33) and 752 individuals (ave. is 885.5).<br />
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Nevertheless, we had some good highlights, including 5 Pileated Woodpecker, 11 Northern Parula's, 1 Black-throated Green Warbler, 1 Indigo Bunting, and 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We also had a single new species for the route: an American Woodcock. Check out our eBird list for a complete totals breakdown: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46939458" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46939458</a><br />
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Afterwards, we booked it home, and were back into Kitchener-Waterloo for 4pm! A great way to spend the long weekend!<br />
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**If interested in running a northern Ontario BBS route, Bird Studies Canada provides grants of a few hundred dollars per route for surveyors to complete them. In return, you must sign up to complete the route a minimum of 3 years in a row and be proficient in auditory songbird identification. <a href="https://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/bbs/" target="_blank">https://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/bbs/</a> <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-55632760033716631242018-07-14T10:35:00.002-07:002018-07-14T10:35:55.951-07:00Thunder Bay dreaming...After Nathan and did our best attempt at blitzing Rainy River (R and R...) in 30 degree heat, we motored east to Thunder Bay, where we met up with my brother, Mike and his colleague Colin Jones on June 24th.<br />
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The four of us were doing some surveys for Rapids Clubtail, an endangered species that Nathan and I (more like Nathan...) had just written the updated status report on for COSEWIC. Nathan and I had successfully applied for a species at risk stewardship grant with the MNRF and were completing a week of surveys just south of Thunder Bay.<br />
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We spent an awesome 4 days walking parts of the Arrow, Pine, Whitefish and Pigeon Rivers. No dice on Rapids Clubtail, but we did find a few interesting species, including Riffle Snaketail. While not an Ode and not a native species, we also saw a Sea Lamprey that Mike found. <br />
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Birding was mostly on the back-burner, but we managed to see A. White Pelican's every day, as well as a small group of Evening Grosbeaks and a territorial Vesper Sparrow (somewhat rare up there).<br />
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On the Wednesday (June 27th), Nathan, Mike and I dropped Colin at the airport and started making our way back to southern Ontario. We were making good time driving along the north shore, when just outside of Terrace Bay, I saw a bird perched on the hydro lines up ahead. My first thought was American Kestrel, but as we got closer the bird had an auspiciously long tail!! Fork-tailed Flycatcher immediately raced to mind. I quickly sat-up from the steering wheel and as we drove by, I could see the light back colouring -- HOLY FUCK! It was the real deal -- SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER!<br />
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I couldn't believe it! Without getting in an accident I pulled the truck over, pulled a U-turn and raced back. Nathan and I got great looks, and quickly called Mike to come back (he was just ahead of us). The three of us got some great looks from the side of the TransCanada hwy. before watching it fly over us, land in a spruce for a few moments, before disappearing to the northwest!!<br />
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From here, we kept continuing to Sault Ste. Marie, and then met up with my Dad outside of Sudbury, where I was to head up to do our annual Breeding Bird Survey routes in northeastern Ontario -- stay-tuned!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-71350734717334558212018-07-03T11:19:00.000-07:002018-07-03T11:20:57.196-07:00A little R and R is all that's needed...On the weekend I returned from a whirlwind northern Ontario adventure that saw me travel from Waterloo on June 20th up to Rainy River (R and R...) for a day and a bit with Nathan Miller ahead of some dragonfly work we had secured with the MNRF near Thunder Bay.<br />
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With not too much time, Nathan and I traveled through the US, making it to Marquette, Michigan on our first night (June 20th), before arriving into Rainy River (R and R...) around 2pm on the Thursday (June 21st).<br />
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We quickly set about driving the 'good' areas around the area and were able to net pretty much all the expected prairie species that are typical to this area over the afternoon of the 21st and morning of the 22nd. We had some really interesting highlights:<br />
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- exceptional numbers of LeConte's Sparrows and Sedge Wrens, with cumulative trip totals of 67 and 108 individuals, respectively!!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sedge Wren briefly along the fenceline.</td></tr>
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- good numbers of Clay-colored Sparrows (84) and Brewer's Blackbirds (88)<br />
- Franklin's Gulls (500+), Yellow-headed Blackbirds (3) and American White Pelican's (110+) were also around, primarily near Lake of the Woods, by Harris Hill<br />
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- 3 Marbled Godwits including one at a new location (per eBird)<br />
- 3 Sharp-tailed Grouse and 11 Western Meadowlarks throughout -- I love hearing these guys!<br />
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We also managed some decent rarities for the area too:<br />
- the first Meadowlark we heard was an Eastern! I couldn't believe it! I got a really crappy shot of it here: <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46703582" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46703582</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KkZqudTCDLs3jGnZ34gAUEZUKbgVxqpAD0hFKJQOl4reD16LoebVkyJoBv5TpfZjtYw96SWMHsyfu4FwRliteuuUeB1jm-_IFEXTAqkHtIVIkze-ZZkEQisdecRJX1kUs6_3kmmws6So/s1600/eame-rr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KkZqudTCDLs3jGnZ34gAUEZUKbgVxqpAD0hFKJQOl4reD16LoebVkyJoBv5TpfZjtYw96SWMHsyfu4FwRliteuuUeB1jm-_IFEXTAqkHtIVIkze-ZZkEQisdecRJX1kUs6_3kmmws6So/s400/eame-rr.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<br />
Best of all was a male Dickcissel that we found nearby! <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46709291" target="_blank">https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46709291</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGJZAxKBLxZMpjb_mXEEeuDLASQgJv7KLFfDO-TsrmirEIcFYk-Z-98duOSimSZTNMjQ8S5lnqU-OwQUFSiGMxARWKTsGteRI62KsO0zKeRxcbJaIfFfMBk9BahHFM5Ez4zfOVS-h5va3/s1600/dickcissel2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="1200" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGJZAxKBLxZMpjb_mXEEeuDLASQgJv7KLFfDO-TsrmirEIcFYk-Z-98duOSimSZTNMjQ8S5lnqU-OwQUFSiGMxARWKTsGteRI62KsO0zKeRxcbJaIfFfMBk9BahHFM5Ez4zfOVS-h5va3/s400/dickcissel2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3MDmPZl7afIvS_6TkegRwG19l02C6xK07RPkNXHWXaAGocozI2GBvt5kJegMbJDo4DF_JvCt9IU34jxzeWHluZeRDGPlLNDzi9td2UtsHAzpxo_YeZ_6Lrtjfp86BbKDG864Q_1pJHTq/s1600/dickcissel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="1200" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3MDmPZl7afIvS_6TkegRwG19l02C6xK07RPkNXHWXaAGocozI2GBvt5kJegMbJDo4DF_JvCt9IU34jxzeWHluZeRDGPlLNDzi9td2UtsHAzpxo_YeZ_6Lrtjfp86BbKDG864Q_1pJHTq/s400/dickcissel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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With our whirlwind trip to Rainy River (R and R...) we motored onto Thunder Bay for close to a week conducting dragonfly surveys (I'll post about this in a few days).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-81069629004587993522018-06-16T20:11:00.001-07:002018-06-16T20:11:10.793-07:00Extreme Southwestern Ontario birding - June 15-16Yesterday afternoon (Friday June 15) Rob Palin and I ventured down to the Lake St. Clair area after work hoping to meet up some of the specialties home to Walpole Island and extreme SW Ontario.<br />
<br />
We started our excursion at <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46570737" target="_blank">Angler's Line</a> where we picked up at least 3 Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a flyby Least Bittern, and a host of other marshbirds, including several flyover Black-crowned Night-Herons.<br />
<br />
From here, we headed over to <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46575461" target="_blank">Walpole Island</a>, where we did some scouting before an evening of marshbirding. Another flyby Least Bittern and Yellow-throated Vireo were our highlights, despite putting in a good effort to come up with a King Rail -- our main target.<br />
<br />
First thing today (June 16), we got up at 4:30, and were touring <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46579508" target="_blank">Walpole</a> by 5:00 am. We came up Ace's and had a King Rail at our first spot(!), in the south end of the island. The bird called twice, giving it's chaotic 'pig grunting' calls that are quite unique and loud.<br />
<br />
Coming up with a King was pretty damn sweet, so we thought we'd better try our luck looking for Northern Bobwhite, as the island was/is home to the last remaining native N. Bobwhite in the province. Despite our best efforts, checking the area's where I had had them about a decade ago, we didn't have any. Checking eBird, it looks like the last one's reported here were in 2014, though I know they were here as recently as 2016. The area where they used to be has some houses nearby, and a few feral dogs that could be the main culprit.We had a few more Yellow-throated Vireo's and a single T. Titmouse.<br />
<br />
From here, we headed to the <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46580493" target="_blank">Moraviantown First Nations</a> and just drove through the area. I've only birded this area once, but found a very hard to get White-eyed Vireo back in 2015. In a bit less than an hour we had a flagged Pine Warbler, 5 Blue-winged and a single Hooded Warbler before the rain hit.<br />
<br />
With <a href="https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S46584326" target="_blank">Skunk's Misery/Mosa Forest</a> only being 8 minutes we headed over here, while the rain came down. After about 45 minutes, it let up enough that we checked the trails and again had some great stuff, with our highlights being a singing male Cerulean and 3 Hooded Warblers as well as a singing male Acadian Flycatcher.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSd8hFpuOR9L-If2ZNcGlxIsTdAplnGwmKT0n5PZXTgD3xpHZr032tJUJo46RU2JBZiBaXaoiVsZ8pkVocOXOFdT6cV2XZm3U-rulc44yubNRCrYGZHoI8fY40b8HkOZMQClBIatmCV0zV/s1600/20180616_103856_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="997" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSd8hFpuOR9L-If2ZNcGlxIsTdAplnGwmKT0n5PZXTgD3xpHZr032tJUJo46RU2JBZiBaXaoiVsZ8pkVocOXOFdT6cV2XZm3U-rulc44yubNRCrYGZHoI8fY40b8HkOZMQClBIatmCV0zV/s640/20180616_103856_crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little distant, this Cerulean was quite obliging, before moving on.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With these locations being so far, and June being such a busy month, it was nice to get down here and come up with some good birds!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-24066661645787855892018-05-30T16:08:00.000-07:002018-05-30T16:08:10.684-07:00Missed species on the big day...With any big day you'll miss some easy species and our big day - May 19, 2018 - was no different.<br />
<br />
With 188 species under our belts there wasn't too many additional species we could've realistically added, given the Ontario record is 204 species. Below is a rundown o species we missed but could have realistically seen, in taxonomic order:<br />
<br />
189. Blue-winged Teal -- yep, one of our biggest misses. Ithought we'd luck into one.<br />
<br />
190. Spruce Grouse -- Algonquin failed us that was for sure...<br />
<br />
191. Great Egret -- Windermere had some literally only a few days later.<br />
<br />
192. Green Heron -- what the heck?? <br />
<br />
193. Sharp-shinned Hawk -- next time I'll need to lock one down.<br />
<br />
194. King Rail -- breeding down at LP we tried but missed out.<br />
<br />
195. Semipalmated Plover -- should've gone to 5th Road East, in Hamilton. Was present on the 20th...<br />
<br />
196. Black-bellied Plover -- ditto<br />
<br />
197. Solitary Sandpiper -- ditto<br />
<br />
198. Greater Yellowlegs -- ditto<br />
<br />
199. Yellow-billed Cuckoo -- I think we were abit early, but the forests in Norfolk should've had some.<br />
<br />
200. Black-backed Woodpecker -- Algonquin....<br />
<br />
201. Acadian Flycatcher -- abit early. Norfolk...<br />
<br />
202. Alder Flycatcher -- what the....too early.<br />
<br />
203. Philadelphia Vireo -- I still can't ID this guy by song...<br />
<br />
204. Boreal Chickadee -- Algonquin...<br />
<br />
205. Louisiana Waterthrush -- Norfolk...<br />
<br />
206. Blue-winged Warbler -- what the....<br />
<br />
207. Mourning Warbler -- too early...<br />
<br />
208. Orange-crowned/Palm/Wilson's Warbler -- migrants<br />
<br />
209. Clay-colored Sparrow -- Carden was pouring rain when we were there<br />
<br />
210. Evening Grosbeak/Red Crossbill/White-winged Crossbill -- Algonquin...<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Questionable species:</u><br />
<br />
Harlequin Duck - the long-staying female at the Burlington lift bridge was apparently still present on the 21st...this one stings abit, as we were literally right at the lift bridge.<br />
<br />
Iceland/Lesser Black-backed Gull -- there was an ICGU at Shell Park pier, but we decided it was too much time out of our way<br />
<br />
Red-shouldered Hawk - Minden's abit out of the way to get this guy...<br />
<br />
Northern Goshawk - who's got the lock on the next in LP?? <br />
<br />
Long-eared Owl - we stopped by a spot where they're nesting, had 2 weird/distant calls that were likely LEOW but we didn't pull the trigger<br />
<br />
White-eyed Vireo - there had been a pair at O/C two days before...<br />
<br />
Rusty Blackbird - Algonquin???<br />
<br />
<br />
With that being said, will next year bear fruit on breaking the record??? Who wants in??? Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-90703016089672889452018-05-26T10:47:00.001-07:002018-05-26T10:47:18.508-07:00Ontario Big Day - May 19, 2018<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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With some changes in our plans, we decided to run an Ontario
big day route on May 19<sup>th</sup>, a little earlier than originally planned
(we had planned originally May 26/27, but with Lill and I moving on the 25<sup>th</sup>
things were abit trickier), but nevertheless a great time of year to do an epic
amount of birding in a single day. </div>
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I met up with Adam and Matt Timpf in Norfolk on Friday
evening ready for our adventure up north. Shortly after meeting at Adam’s farm
we drove up north, ready to start our big day.</div>
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Starting right away, we picked up the nesting Piping Plovers
at Wasaga, before turning to Tiny Marsh, getting some marsh birds including
Virginia Rail and Sora.</div>
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After an hour spent between Wasaga and Tiny, we zipped up to
Algonquin, arriving early in the am. Before dawn arose, we picked up Northern
Saw-whet and Barred Owl, but missed Long-eared where they were nesting. We
definitely had one interesting bird, but just didn’t hear it well enough to
confirm. </div>
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Arriving in the east end of the park we birded a few of the
stalwart boreal locations, hoping to pick up the Algonquin grand slam.
Unfortunately the dawn chorus was severely limited due to the cold temperatures
(3 degrees) and the relatively early date. Many of the breeders had not
arrived, and we only picked up a Gray Jay (of the grand slam specialties). We
did, however, pick up a few goodies, including Common Merganser, Yellow-bellied
Flycatcher, lots of siskins and a few Purple Finches. Leaving Algonquin was a
little underwhelming, as I had thought a good target would be close to 100
species – our total was at 69 sp!</div>
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Anyways, we quickly motored down to Carden, where we
encountered heavy rain as we got within 20 minutes of Wylie Road! We were still
able to pick up most of the specialties, including Loggerhead Shrike,
Grashopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, Golden-winged Warbler, Black-billed
Cuckoo, and a surprise Northern Mockingbird! </div>
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We were able to spend a short amount of time here, before
jetting down to Lake Ontario.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arriving
on Lake Ontario we picked up the nesting Fish Crows, a few Red-necked Grebes, and
our only Bonaparte’s Gull before making it to Hamilton. Hamilton turned out
quite well, with Black Tern, Ruddy Turnstone, nesting Peregrine Falcon,
White-winged and Surf Scoters. </div>
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We were able to quickly move through Hamilton, setting our
sights on Townsend, which did not disappoint. Townsend was great, with
lingering Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Duck, and a good assortment
of shorebirds, including Wilson’s Phalarope, White-rumped Sandpiper,
Short-billed Dowitchers, and a somewhat, out of place Upland Sandpiper. With
Townsend under our belts, we were sitting at 130 species – definitely lower
than I had expected we would be at, but still quite a number of species that
were easy that we could get at Long Point.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnhgHleB55bbYInxLfVQ0It7TgxMLgcIeLUSI2xRr5UvNk1gul0dgcKIxsEFUZCafBAKl8oeomPQmwdWlgp7jF1U2QLHvt1UfWdhigksPsJourn1H7lqFAhHbzHiUEZ7piKlYdTNNsQCkE/s1600/20180519_153254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnhgHleB55bbYInxLfVQ0It7TgxMLgcIeLUSI2xRr5UvNk1gul0dgcKIxsEFUZCafBAKl8oeomPQmwdWlgp7jF1U2QLHvt1UfWdhigksPsJourn1H7lqFAhHbzHiUEZ7piKlYdTNNsQCkE/s400/20180519_153254.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We quickly booked it down to Long Point, where Adam and
Matt’s expert navigation of the area proved excellent. Tufted Titmouse,
Red-headed Woodpecker, Hooded Warbler, White-breasted Nuthatch all quickly fell,
before we made it Backus Woods. At Backus, we picked up both Prothonotary and
Cerulean Warblers, and a clutch Hooded Merganser, however, the Louisiana
Waterthrushes were a no-show. Acadian’s hadn’t shown up there quite yet.</div>
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Making our way to Long Point itself, we headed straight for
Old Cut and the Provincial Park, where a great number of migrants awaited us.
Bay-breasted, Blackpoll Warblers all quickly made appearances, as well as
Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrush, while a pair of Gadwall flew over! A Common
Nighthawk calling from its perch was an added bonus too.</div>
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From here we checked out Big Creek, coming out with Least
Bittern, American Coot, a late Green-winged Teal and the pair of Trumpeter
Swan’s. With sunset fading we had added 55 species in a little over 4 hours!
Long Point had definitely saved our bacon.</div>
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With only a few species left that we could realistically
add, we checked a key spot for Great Horned Owl, before packing it in at Adam’s
with Eastern Screech-Owl and a few Eastern Whip-poor-will’s. Our final total
was 188 species – a not too bad count for an interesting day of weather and our
first time running the route. </div>
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With our first Ontario big day under our belt, I can’t wait
till next year to hammer out our route!! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-20278538562670342552018-03-15T13:23:00.001-07:002018-03-15T13:23:40.662-07:00A Milestone....Barnacle Goose...no. 400!Well I had me a little birding milestone last night. Yesterday after work, I decided to head up to Schomberg where the Barnacle Goose has been the past 3 days, and with the hopes of seeing my 400th species in Ontario!<br />
<br />
I made good time driving up, getting to the lagoons around 6:35pm, and still had about an hour of light left in the day. Unfortunately the bird wasn't present when I arrived, and in fact only about 40 Canada's and the 2 Trumpeter Swans were present. Figuring that the lagoons must be where the geese are spending the night I stayed put and after about 15 minutes it paid off, when several large flocks of Canada's started coming in from the west. I was able to quickly pick the Barnacle among the flocks and it proceeded to land and show nicely for the next 25 minutes. I was pretty happy, my 400th species in Ontario.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKTST8d8UcAveMtuiDcyhiJO71aecqY5HkKCH-XH26ErkTXSpXbPBZjNCUP-5_Q9uO8NJKGW5XEYRgkJtaMxwxNtiOBETxCwLOw5yERcVHXL3UkZ5R7ePJpqbIi8rsopwYnG460_3uRwr/s1600/20180314_190110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="1041" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKTST8d8UcAveMtuiDcyhiJO71aecqY5HkKCH-XH26ErkTXSpXbPBZjNCUP-5_Q9uO8NJKGW5XEYRgkJtaMxwxNtiOBETxCwLOw5yERcVHXL3UkZ5R7ePJpqbIi8rsopwYnG460_3uRwr/s400/20180314_190110.jpg" width="333" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dnBfIdPt0ezZFqukLodtcflsqHOeJ26s8_voNuRpFdQGkje1PkKYXj3qI6bO5CaAYcCdwnuz5TzWNOASsL9wxBCK1RzUG3JVFkIEtIhja2-XEQnUHIlIChgvLlwTnk3lfruIKZGpmnpt/s1600/20180314_190353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1600" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dnBfIdPt0ezZFqukLodtcflsqHOeJ26s8_voNuRpFdQGkje1PkKYXj3qI6bO5CaAYcCdwnuz5TzWNOASsL9wxBCK1RzUG3JVFkIEtIhja2-XEQnUHIlIChgvLlwTnk3lfruIKZGpmnpt/s400/20180314_190353.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
I made all sorts of birding goals when I was teen; it's always nice to some of them.<br />
<br />
Next goal: find a new bird for Ontario!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com603tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-20929252780142754092018-02-19T07:57:00.000-08:002018-02-19T07:57:37.194-08:00Ontario Big Day???If you're sensing a theme you might be onto something...anyways, after all that planning for Huron that I've done I naturally started into thinking about an Ontario big day. With the record last set in 2012 at 204 species I started looking at the possibilities for date, route and associated possible speices.<br />
<br />
For the date, we'll want a date where we can maximize breeders and yet still have some migrants. Generally speaking the period of May 22-29 has stuck with us, and we'll pick something in between this.<br />
<br />
With some help from Mike, we took a look at the frequency of observation for species reported in Ontario, specifically in the Algonquin-Carden-Hamilton-Carolinian sphere of things. We ranked species into 6 codes, as follows:<br />
<br />
1. guarantee, don't need to target (e.g., House Sparrow)<br />
2. virtual guarantee, show up at location and will get it (e.g., Ruffed Grouse)<br />
3. should get by targeted effort but could miss it or a migrant that requires luck (e.g., Sedge Wren)<br />
4. will need a stakeout (e.g., Tundra Swan)<br />
5. shit luck required (e.g., King Eider)<br />
6. diamond encrusted horeshoe up your ass required (e.g., Pomarine Jaeger)<br />
<br />
With our codes figured out and the frequency of observation, we categorized each species reported and figured out that there are:<br />
84 code 1's<br />
88 code 2's<br />
49 code 3's<br />
20 code 4's<br />
174 code 5's and 6's<br />
<br />
With that being said, to break the record (204 sp), we'll need the following:<br />
all of the code 1s (84 sp)<br />
90% of code 2's (79 sp)<br />
71% of code 3s (35 sp)<br />
30% of code 4s (6 sp)<br />
1 sp. code 5 or 6<br />
<br />
As far as routes go, the previous and current big day records of 200 (2000) and 204 (2012) species, respectively, both have followed a roughly Algonquin to Pelee/Long Point route. I think the Long Point idea is better just because of the shorter distance, though you don't have a Hillman when you go the Pelee route, though Long Point has more guaranteed specifically for CERW and LOWA.<br />
<br />
What do you think? Think the record is beatable? Think an Algonquin-Carden-Hamilton-Long Point route is the route of champions or should it be Pelee/Hillman?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-10932926532871837302018-02-04T16:20:00.000-08:002018-02-04T16:20:41.686-08:00Huron County Big DayNot too much happening here with us this weekend. We have our big cross country ski marathon next weekend in Quebec, so just chilling out and psychologically preparing for >50km of skiing....!<br />
<br />
With all that thinking, I've decided that I'm going to do a big day in Huron County over the Victoria long weekend!! Why you might ask? Well, there are a few reasons:<br />
<br />
1. I haven't done a tonne of birding here,<br />
2. the county should be a pretty good place for birding, particularly given it's proximity to the shoreline, <br />
3. it has very birding litle coverage, and<br />
4. I think I can get 20-30 county ticks.<br />
<br />
I think a realistic count could be anywhere in the ballpark of 130 - 170 species, depending on the weather etc.<br />
<br />
I've got lots of time to prepare for it; I've made a rough map with some locations that I think are worth checking out: <a href="https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4577652,-81.5870533,41553m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!6m1!1s1DowkECFFb2sK74gAwbm1A8jUsU7d-0gy">https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4577652,-81.5870533,41553m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!6m1!1s1DowkECFFb2sK74gAwbm1A8jUsU7d-0gy</a><br />
<br />
A few things stand-out to me when looking at the county.<br />
1. the county is large (85km north-south, and up to 50km east-west), so I'll have to follow a fairly strict schedule/itinerary<br />
2. it's fairly agricultural, meaning I'll have to really focus on the areas that are 'worthwhile'<br />
3. the shoreline is approximately 82km, meaning I'll have my work cut-out for me to check<br />
4. there are at least 5 sewage lagoons (grand bend, exeter, seaforth, zurich, and wingham)<br />
<br />
What do you think???Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-81478337125297421352018-01-02T19:43:00.000-08:002018-01-02T19:43:07.148-08:00New Years day birdingI hadn't really ever done a solid day of birding on New Years day, so I decided I'd give it a try yesterday. I decided to do a winter favourite of mine: driving the Lake Erie shore from Long Point to Haldimand County. While I didn't do the full extent of the shoreline, I did do a major chunk of it.<br />
<br />
Starting at Adam Timpf's place, I checked his well-stocked feeders and came up with several overwintering birds, including a flock of blackbirds: 5 Red-winged, 2 Rusty and a group of 20 BH Cowbirds. In addition, my FOY Song and White-throated and a somewhat unexpected Field (I didn't think I'd get it).<br />
<br />
Making my way south to the lakeshore I came across a male N. Harrier and several large flocks of sparrows. In Port Royal, right at the birdge with Big Creek I had 2 excellent finds: a Hermit Thrush 'chucking' away and a curious Gray Catbird!<br />
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From here, heading east I had the large, wintering flock of Sandhill Cranes (~120), east of Port Royal. Near Fisher's Glen I came across more White-throat's and a nice Fox Sparrow along the road shoulder.<br />
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Continuing east, I didn't have too much else, especially with the wind picking up, but did come across a nice Northern Flicker (I like seeing these guys in winter) and several Rough-legged Hawks.</div>
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All in all, I had a decent total for January 1st of 49 species. </div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-73796966325648959092017-12-25T18:23:00.001-08:002017-12-25T18:23:23.196-08:00Big Year 2017Merry Christmas everyone! Ever since Josh's big year, in 2012, at the end of each year I've liked to figure out how I could've theoretically done, had I done a big year over the course of past year.<br />
<br />
To-date, I've seen 304 species in the province, one of my better totals, with several great overall rarities and self-found rares, including:<br />
<br />
Pacific Loon (self-found)<br />Wood Stork (lifer!)<br />
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (new county tick to my home county)<br />
Mississippi Kite (self-found)<br />
Swainson's Hawk (self-found)<br />
King Rail (self-found)<br />
Black-necked Stilt<br />
White-winged Dove<br />
Anna's Hummingbird (lifer!)<br />
Black-billed Magpie<br />
Violet-green Swallow (lifer!)<br />
Rock Wren (lifer! and self-found!) <br />
Mountain Bluebird (new county tick to my home county)<br />
Smith's Longspur<br />
Kirtland's Warbler<br />
Yellow-throated Warbler (new county tick to my home county)<br />
Black-throated Gray Warbler<br />
Townsend's Warbler <br />
Henslow's Sparrow (self-found)<br />
Lark Sparrow<br />
Blue Grosbeak (self-found)<br />
Western Meadowlark (self-found)<br />
Brambling (lifer!)<br />
<br />
Having listed the species I was fortunate enough to see, the following list is the species I could've/would've seen had I done a big year:<br />
<br />
305. Bohemian Waxwing <br />
306. Northern Saw-whet Owl<br />
307. Red Knot<br />
308. Hudsonian Godwit<br />
309. Piping Plover<br />
310. Parasitic Jaeger<br />
311. Buff-breasted Sandpiper<br />
312. Eurasian Wigeon<br />
313. Harris's Sparrow<br />
314. Yellow-headed Blackbird<br />
315. Yellow Rail - James Bay July <br />
316. Arctic Tern - James Bay July<br />
317. Northern Hawk-Owl<br />
318. Franklin's Gull - Rainy River<br />
319. Willow Ptarmigan - Hudson Bay June<br />
320. Gray Partridge - Ottawa<br />
321. Worm-eating Warbler - late May Port Franks<br />
322. Black-legged Kittiwake - October Van Wagner's<br />
323. Snowy Egret - June Windermere<br />
324. Boreal Owl<br />
325. Western Grebe (Mississauga)<br />
326. Townsend's Solitaire (several)<br />
327. Red Phalarope<br />
328. Pomarine Jager<br />
329. Glossy Ibis (August., Mitchell)<br />
330. Long-tailed Jaeger<br />
331. Chuck-will's Widow - June PRince Edward County<br />
332. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Sept., ROndeau)<br />
333. Cave Swallow (Ocober, Pelee)<br />
334. Black-headed Gull (Feb., Port Wellar)<br />
335. Neotropic Cormorant (Sept., Whitby)<br />
336. White-faced Ibis May, Lindsayu)<br />
337. Ruff (April, Bruce)<br />
338. Eurasian Tree-Sparrow (current, Wawa)<br />
339. Northern Gannet (November, Hamilton)<br />
340. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (June, Mississauga)<br />
341. Tricolored Heron (June/July Toronto)<br />
342. Tufted Duck (December Mississauga)<br />
343. Razorbill (October Ottawa)<br />
344. Western Tanager (May, Dwight)<br />
345. Painted Bunting (April, Denbigh)<br />
346. Magnificent Frigatebird (early July Pelee)<br />
347. Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Sept. Toronto)<br />
348. Little Blue Heron (April, St. Thomas)<br />
349. Brown Pelican (early June, Niagara)<br />
350. Slaty-backed Gull (January Niagara)<br />
351. Black Guilletmot (October - Netit)<br />
352. Barn Owl - Essex County December (sounds like a few ppl got to go...)<br />
353. Varied Thrush (Feb., Thunder Bay)<br />
354. Western Sandpiper (October, Hamilton)<br />
<br />
<br />
Northern Bobwhite - are there any wild birds in Ontario anymore????<br />
Western Kingbird - one in Pelee in October, and 1-2 in Rainy River<br />
Laughing Gull - there was a few hanging around Toronto in early June<br />
<br />
If you haven't come to the conclusion, 2017 was I believe THE best year ever, to-date in terms of species diversity in the province.<br />
<br />
I think a realistic number for a big year this year, blitzing the province the entire year, would be 350-355. This number is pretty nuts, but after looking at the list of rarities, the list just seems to go on and on and seems to serve as a bit of a benchmark for species numbers in the province. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-69231795273254306652017-12-06T15:57:00.000-08:002017-12-06T15:57:01.243-08:00Best Places to Bird in OntarioThis past year has been an exciting one, no reason other than <a href="http://mikeburrell.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Mike</a> and I are writing a book! Part of a Canadian series, we are writing the Ontario section to the Best Places to Bird [in Ontario]. Currently, only the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Best-Places-Bird-British-Columbia/dp/1771641665" target="_blank">British Columbia guide</a> is out, however, next spring the next book within the series will be out, covering the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Best-Places-Bird-Prairies-Acorn/dp/1771643269/" target="_blank">Prairie Provinces</a>. Our current date for publication is scheduled for spring 2019.<br />
<br />
What essentially the guide covers is the authors pick of the best locations to bird in the province. The guidelines are fairly broad, with really only one caveat: narrow the list of top birding sites in the province and narrow it down to 30 locations (easier said than done).<br />
<br />
We are currently half way done our first draft, and have a draft list of locations:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 436px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 13226; mso-width-source: userset; width: 279pt;" width="372"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">
<td align="right" height="37" style="height: 27.6pt; width: 48pt;" width="64">1</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Holiday Beach and Windsor (lower
Detroit River), Harrow</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">2</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Pelee Island</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">3</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Point Pelee NP</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">4</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Hillman Marsh and Wheatley
(harbour, PP)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">5</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Lake St. Clair NWR and
Mitchell's Bay</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">6</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Rondeau PP (Blenheim, Erieau)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">7</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Sarnia (Point Edward,
waterfront, River)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">8</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Kettle Point, Ipperwash, Pinery</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">9</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">MacGregor Point PP and Sauble
Beach/south Bruce</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">10</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Port Stanley -- Port Burwell</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">11</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Long Point</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">12</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Niagara River</td>
</tr>
<tr height="55" style="height: 41.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="55" style="height: 41.4pt;">13</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Hamilton (Van Wagners, Lift
bridge, windermere, Red Hill Creek, Toll Gate, Edgelake, Stoney Creek
shoreline, Fifty Point)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="55" style="height: 41.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="55" style="height: 41.4pt;">14</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Hamilton Harbour (RBG, Princess
Point, Lasalle, Bayfront Park) and Oakville/Burlington (Bronte Harbour,
Sedgewick, Paletta, Spencer Smith)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">
<td align="right" height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">15</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Mississauga (Rattray Marsh, Port
Credit, Lakefront Promenade Park, Col. Sam Smith)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">
<td align="right" height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">16</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Toronto waterfront (Leslie St.
Spit, Toronto Islands, Humber Bay, Ashbridge's Bay)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">
<td align="right" height="37" style="height: 27.6pt;">17</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Oshawa-Pickering waterfront
(Frenchman's Bay, Whitby Harbour, Thickson's Woods, Oshawa 2nd Marsh)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">18</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Carden Alvar</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">19</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Algonquin PP (Hwy. 60 corridor)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">20</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Presqu'ile PP</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">21</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Prince Edward County</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">22</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Napannee Plain IBA</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">23</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Amherst Island</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">24</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Wolfe Island and Kingston
mainland</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">25</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Opinicon Road and Canoe Lake
Road</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">26</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Ottawa (river and Rideau)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">27</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">St. Lawrence (Morrsiburg to
Quebec)</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">28</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Moosonee and Southern James Bay</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">29</td>
<td class="xl64" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Thunder Bay waterfront</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td align="right" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">30</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 279pt;" width="372">Rainy River and area</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Which leaves us wondering, are there any areas that we're missing???? It's been pretty difficult to narrow it down this much, leaving several areas that aren't covered as much as we'd like (Sault Ste. Marie, Manitoulin, more within the GTA).<br />
<br />
We also need to come up with 1-2 photos per chapter -- does anyone have any great photos of birds that they'd like included in the book???? Generally, we've been trying to pick appropriate species for specific areas (e.g., Loggerhead Shrike for Carden Alvar).<br />
<br />
Let us know your thoughts! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-27603965255528053522017-11-29T14:52:00.000-08:002017-11-29T14:54:30.691-08:00Another one for Waterloo -- YTWAJust when I figured I had seen all the good birds in Waterloo Region for the year, the Yellow-throated Warbler found by Darlene Lamarre on the 11th, was refound by Darlene yesterday am (Nov. 27th).<br />
<br />
At a site visit in Burlington, I headed back to work, where I was going to pick Nathan up and we'd try for it, since both of us didn't have too much going on at work. Walking down the trail, both Nathan and I commented that we didn't expect to see it, since there wasn't too much details provided, however, this was not to be, because after only a few minutes (<5) I picked it out with some Juncos and Kinglets!<br />
<br />
We were to able to get some good views of it over the next 20 or so minutes as it fed not too far away. I was even able to get some record shots with my phone through my binoculars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOZu3KYlIJdmUHhGKNIV8L2dL6e_C8MLThajEWf03LR9fyBUuLZEb492mf9ThDnnTAQ3uDikbNVdoKWPYTDIG_rPERBTFRZ8cMqa9fNxKmhONtGBRpLSA5x_Ccz91FCXUGm4U9FCudF0l/s1600/20171127_124553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1301" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOZu3KYlIJdmUHhGKNIV8L2dL6e_C8MLThajEWf03LR9fyBUuLZEb492mf9ThDnnTAQ3uDikbNVdoKWPYTDIG_rPERBTFRZ8cMqa9fNxKmhONtGBRpLSA5x_Ccz91FCXUGm4U9FCudF0l/s400/20171127_124553.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zvmSb4ronB1IVf2RjUnHqHjkYIjFP940LVsRy_BWCF2F7BpWVQsvs6CSftvEPuNu-CswoXRTsb2LS7rHGW_84VYjVKuh8JC8XmOt0zaYvHzFyJraCviZuntcoV7RPmULAC2eFX6n230d/s1600/20171127_124555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1189" data-original-width="1109" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zvmSb4ronB1IVf2RjUnHqHjkYIjFP940LVsRy_BWCF2F7BpWVQsvs6CSftvEPuNu-CswoXRTsb2LS7rHGW_84VYjVKuh8JC8XmOt0zaYvHzFyJraCviZuntcoV7RPmULAC2eFX6n230d/s400/20171127_124555.jpg" width="372" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcG1MuQRLMwwv1iZ0bWpgJYU9q1WydWwAz0mATU-GMdZmnEgCoGMDxoVRRI1-TFKEqwclQV-4Nd6of4aE_toM33fLqrUpGNKw2Wszn6CrJuK8jxamGbnLee2msCxXX_PynxQw70wMFxMi/s1600/20171127_124556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="1161" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcG1MuQRLMwwv1iZ0bWpgJYU9q1WydWwAz0mATU-GMdZmnEgCoGMDxoVRRI1-TFKEqwclQV-4Nd6of4aE_toM33fLqrUpGNKw2Wszn6CrJuK8jxamGbnLee2msCxXX_PynxQw70wMFxMi/s400/20171127_124556.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuy0FpumoLEobsWQXbFA4OsVn5DN46FyxEN8NOlYYEM1Bd-0rYBpB-znm3DM8P89Ob18HgZx5fqzoYg7xTLENlmRWUYa9LjFIXT7WML9Cj1HN9KjFNpfZnQj9gQMpsYP_lguE3yMGpzRO/s1600/20171127_124557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1293" data-original-width="1429" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuy0FpumoLEobsWQXbFA4OsVn5DN46FyxEN8NOlYYEM1Bd-0rYBpB-znm3DM8P89Ob18HgZx5fqzoYg7xTLENlmRWUYa9LjFIXT7WML9Cj1HN9KjFNpfZnQj9gQMpsYP_lguE3yMGpzRO/s400/20171127_124557.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I was pretty happy with my shots; I've been finding it alot of fun trying to get 'digi' shots with my phone through my bins and scope.<br />
<br />
Anyways, as I'm sure many of you know, Yellow-throated Warbler is exceptionally rare in Waterloo Region, with only 1 previous record: April 30, 2010 (Kitchener). And needless to say, was another new county tick for myself.<br />
<br />
Given the date that it was found, it'll be interesting to see how long it sticks around. Another interesting note, is that the location is 500m from the Linwood CBC circle...!! Oh well. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-63716292336362671872017-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:002017-11-26T16:21:38.715-08:00A new bird for Waterloo RegionBirding in Waterloo Region has its ups and downs. Generally speaking there aren't too many reasons for birders to visit the region, with the exception of the exciting discovery by Anthony Vanderheyden of a female Mountain Bluebird at Snyder's Flats on Saturday (Nov. 18th).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3hAUwvuWgIDlvMp9-b6rWa5i-gr4r6tX5f1FkAeL_glJCH6dAOGr13fA3cnjtYb42DnXf3uszvWjCSWOantpbSqd2ZAvlst1R6TPbwsL7O4AQN34CHhPUrG80W6c9icTubL1exMYbGpY/s1600/20171119_144010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1141" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3hAUwvuWgIDlvMp9-b6rWa5i-gr4r6tX5f1FkAeL_glJCH6dAOGr13fA3cnjtYb42DnXf3uszvWjCSWOantpbSqd2ZAvlst1R6TPbwsL7O4AQN34CHhPUrG80W6c9icTubL1exMYbGpY/s400/20171119_144010.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While not the expert photographer that others may be, I've been having a
lot of fun with my (relatively) new phone and my phoneskope adapter. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mountain Bluebird was somewhat overdue(ish) for Waterloo Region, bringing the cumulative species list to 304 - not too bad, considering the region is land-locked, with some Hamilton birders affectionately referring to Waterloo Region as the 'Dead Zone'! In all seriousness though I don't blame them for this label, however, it's definitely satisfying having out of town birders visit.<br />
<br />
This past year has also seen some other good birds found nearby, with a juv. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron stationed in the town of St. Jacobs, representing another first for the region (along with a Laughing Gull in Cambridge).<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCx_VGnH5t4VKXv8Q1XZRaTemuzlmAt-BV79Cxxwzup9r1pQ97ScTeX-21D88rvSCMgQTMqbhE1qZgdWv1ucjt_Zp9PZZpot0gUDx3z-qTN-cA5Ny35vx8HKojUglzI_UXHyXqXz57LzAG/s1600/IMG_20170904_095020_edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="760" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCx_VGnH5t4VKXv8Q1XZRaTemuzlmAt-BV79Cxxwzup9r1pQ97ScTeX-21D88rvSCMgQTMqbhE1qZgdWv1ucjt_Zp9PZZpot0gUDx3z-qTN-cA5Ny35vx8HKojUglzI_UXHyXqXz57LzAG/s400/IMG_20170904_095020_edit.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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All in all, it's been a great year in Waterloo Region.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127809235647654884.post-5608767889158497282017-11-23T17:27:00.002-08:002017-11-23T17:27:15.200-08:00Almost there...I'm almost there...Ontario's third, and my first Anna's Hummingbird in Ontario I'm sitting one shy of the elusive 400 species mark. This has had me speculating what will be my next Ontario lifer. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Record shot of the Anna's Hummingbird</td></tr>
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2017 has been another great year for myself in terms of rarities and new Ontario birds. In March a Brambling showed up to feeders in Brockville that I was fortunate to see.<br />
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Following a rather uneventful spring, a female Violet-green Swallow showed up in Thunder Bay. While I don't really get up to Thunder Bay too often, my colleague and good friend, Nathan Miller and I were well positioned to twitch it while we were up in Sault Ste. Marie for work with a partial day off.<br />
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Following this great rarity, one of my early years nemesis showed up in mid-August at Point Pelee - a Wood Stork. Lillian and I didn't have any plans that weekend and spent the afternoon chasing it, before camping at Wheatley Provincial Park.<br />
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Back on Thanksgiving, Lill and I were up at her family's cottage near Tobermory when we amazingly stumbled upon this Rock Wren - the first in southern Ontario since 1991 and only 5th record for the province!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Needless to say I was pretty ecstatic to find this!</td></tr>
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With the Anna's Hummingbird my 399th species that I've seen in Ontario, my top 10 targets are as follows:<br />
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1. Fork-tailed Flycatcher<br />
2. Little Blue Heron(!)<br />
3. Thick-billed Murre<br />
4. Bell's Vireo<br />
5. Wilson's Plover (I've missed 2!)<br />
6. Northern Wheatear<br />
7. Ivory Gull<br />
8. Cinnamon Teal<br />
9. Ash-throated Flycatcher<br />
10. Variegated Flycatcher (....)<br />
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My bet is on something like a Black-headed Grosbeak, but who knows. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8