With recent ontbirds postings about Northern Bobwhite at the Dow Wetlands in Sarnia, I had been wanting to drive out there to see it, but couldn't work up the motivation to drive out there (ozone action days). Luckily, an ontbirds posting mentioned Northern Bobwhites at Malden Park, of the Ojibway Complex in west Windsor. Since Malden Park is just minutes from my home, I stopped by Malden Park to see if I could find this awesome bird myself.
With very little effort, I found it this morning on the north end of the park, where the bike path runs along the backyard fences of a row of about 15 or so homes. The bird was seen about near the fourth house from the west-most home. I heard it calling before I saw it. It was calling "White!" without the "Bob-ba" preceding it. Northern Bobwhite is not a lifer for me as I did see it in Florida at the Babcock web reserve. This is my first photo of this bird though!
Note:Northern Bobwhite is a species at risk in Ontario. The link below mentions that harsh winters with lots of snowfall seem to kill off any natural popluations of this bird. Natural populations are basically limited to areas around Walpole Island where Lake Huron flows into Lake St Clair. This is probably a captive released bird http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.php?doc_type=fact&id=110&lang=en
The Green Heron fledglings seem to be doing very well as they were foraging for food this morning. Belted Kingfishers and Spotted Sandpipers were seen as well.
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| I spotted a Spotted Sandpiper... |
My first Android Application- Tickle Tufted Titmouse!
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| Actual Screenshot from my HTC Sensations 4G phone. I'm running Android 403 (AKA Ice-cream Sandwich) |
One app I would like to create is one that might take verbal dictation out in the field, convert it to text and then possibly create a text file (.CSV) that could be uploaded directly to E-bird. That might be too ambitious but its something to shot for.
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| Visual IDE environtment of AppInventor. Expereimenting with Speech Recognition |
Good Birding!
Dwaynejava
PS: The wildflower show is about to begin!
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| Turks-Cap Lily or Carolina Lily ... Ojibway Park Tallgrass Prairie |
Nice captures of the Bobwhite! I came across a pair of them last week as well. They were speaking to one another across the path I was on. They are such lovely birds! I like the photo of the juvi Green Heron with the turtles as well:)
ReplyDeleteI am interested in knowing if eBird would validate this Bobwhite. The one I heard at Hillman was considered to be an escape or release.
ReplyDeleteGood photo of the Northern Bobwhite. There have been many releases/escapes of Bobwhite this year, hence the numerous reports on eBird. Walpole Island is the only place you are guaranteed a wild bird if you can find it. Even there they are hanging on by a thread! Some at the south end of Sarnia may have wild origins since they have been there for decades.
ReplyDeleteA cool bird none-the-less!
Kikipotamus,
ReplyDeleteBobwhites have been extirpated from Essex County for a number of years. Like Dwayne mentioned, the only ones that most people consider wild are the ones in the Walpole area. Almost certainly the Windsor bobwhites did not get there themselves. As far as Ebird goes, those records would be placed into a category called "Not valid - species introduced/exotic". The data would still be there, they just would not be accepted into the public database.