Aberrant Azure

Last weekend, I went out to Pelee in an effort to meet up a few friends that were birding the park. I was late getting there and ended up walking west beach footpath on my own. I found this aberrant Summer Azure along west beach, oddly enough, on the same plant that hosted the Olive Hairstreak a few days before!  I later showed the image to 'A-Worm' and he quickly shattered my hopes of this being perhaps a silvery blue or maybe a cherry gall azure. He simply described it as being an aberrant Summer Azure. This blog [link] seems to have found the same aberrant version of this summer azure. The blog mentions that its not uncommon to have smearing or stretching in the ventral wing maculations of coppers, blues and hairstreaks.

Tawny Emporer on the Pelee Tram. I often see at least one good butterfly on the roof of the tram...

Giant Swallowtail

Later, I kayaked the Pelee Marsh. I've done this now for the last three summers in August, and  get a great chance to see some shorebirds up close. No major rarities this time around, although I guess a nice look at Wilson's Snipe is always nice.

Black Tern - Juvenile

Pectoral Sandpipers

Wilson's Snipe

Late August is a great time to get out and see shorebirds, or to visit a natural area and see the late summer wildflower show!

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Cylindrical Rough Blazingstar at Ojibway

Wilson's Phalarope whilst kayaking...

A recent kayak trip to PPNP had most of the easily seen peeps... Not much different than last week, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Least and Spotted Sandpipers were easily seen. Several hundred Black Terns were out in the main marsh area. The highlight of the trip was a first summer Wilson's Phalarope, which completely ignored me and my bright red 16.5' kayak as it foraged the small muddy islands in PPNP's marsh (see video). This WP was so close at one point, it was closer than the minimal focus distance on my lens! Very cool!

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

Dickcissels in Wheatley

Click photo for larger view

A very observant birder (Ken Burrell) made an Ontbirds Posting recently about several Dickcissel (Spiza Americana) in Wheatley and I figured that I would go and try my luck at finding them. I found them quite easily. I had an Ipod on me but found I did not need it, because there were three birds in that area singing: Red winged Blackbird, Dickcissel, and Indigo Buntings!

A drive out in Essex County along Cabots Trail will give views of many Oil Derriks Pumpjacks (aka Thirstybird). I wonder what the stats are on Ontario's oil production?  It really smelt like oil next to these strange machines...

I also coupled my trip out to Wheatley with a quick visit to Hillman Marsh and Point Pelee. Hillman Marsh was surprisingly quiet, although I only spent about 10 minutes there. Belted Kingfisher, a single fly-over Great Blue Heron and some Terns were about all that was noted.

I kayaked the marsh at Point Pelee today and did not see much. Black Terns were abundant though! They don't mind you so much if you are in a kayak (the photo below was shot while kayaking) but... if you walk on the boardwalk, they pretty well dive bomb you. They literally would hover 2ft over my head!

One of my favorite birds, the Red headed Woodpecker returned to the docks in Leamington.  I can't help but wonder if someone should come in and consult with the local landowners about making life more hospitable for this bird. Its  a "Special Concern Provincially, Threatened Nationally" (ROM) . There were all kinds of feeders around which seems to be attracting House Sparrows, Brown headed Cowbirds and the like. It would be cool if someone suggested planting various fruit bearing trees, remove the cheap feeders etc... or is it better to just leave these woodpeckers in the environment they've chosen?

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

This (Banded?) Hairstreak butterfly was on the roof of my car as I was about to remove my kayak at Point Pelee Marsh Boarwalk. I think my car needs a wash!!!

Sources:
 ROM, "Red-headed Woodpecker ", Royal Ontario Museum, Web, Obtained June 27th, 2011,
 http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.php?doc_type=fact&id=120

Deja vue... Kayaking Point Pelee's Marsh

I took two of my pre-teen nephews out for a canoe rideto Point Pelee today. On the way there, I figured I would stop by the Leamington Docks to see if we could see the Red Headed Woodpecker. Its been a while since I've seen it. One of my nephews was looking at the tree through binoculars and informed me that he sees a woodpecker! I was really happy that these two young guys shared in the joy of birding.

These two photos are about the best I can do without tresspassing private property, the bird is probably about 50m away, and these are cropped images taken with a 500mm lens on a 1.6x crop factor sensor.

The same field that this tree is in hosts a few Northern Mockingbirds and we got some really close looks at them again. Hence... dejavue.

We then headed to Point Pelee marsh for a two hour canoe ride with a mid-way stop at the East Beach just past the East Cranberry Pond. We saw some small Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Common Terns, Black Terns, and again, Short Billed Dowitchers.

 As we headed back to the windsock marsh landmark, we saw many, many terns flying iradically in large flocks and I had taken a photo to possibly identify them later... are they Black Terns? Anyway, moments later, I noticed that a larger bird was causing all the excitment, yes... A Hungry Peregrine Falcon!...

Overall, a good day! Good birding!
Dwayne

Least Bittern at St Clair NWA

Wow, I finally got a chance to see a Least Bittern! It only took 14 months of birding to see this guy! I'm pretty excited, because Cornell's Site (all about birds.org) declares "Least Bittern is one of the most difficult North American marsh birds to spot". Whats great about today's sighting is that I spotted it within 10 minutes of arriving at St Clair NWA. I spent another hour there, but did not see too much else, as is expected when birding in July. 14 months of birding and I get 5 seconds of viewing time of this guy. Incredible!

I'm being optimistic here, but I think the photo below may be a Yellow Headed Blackbird, possibly a female. This photo hints that it could be a female.  (post script: or... it could be a red-winged blackbird!)

I also think I spotted a Lincoln's sparrow... it might also be a Swamp Sparrow, it would make more sense actually...

I also saw:
RWB
Black Terns
Great Blue Herons
Mallard Ducks
Common Yellowthroat
Least Bittern (lifer, #178)
Yellow Headed Blackbird? ( lifer #179)

I was also getting eaten alive by bugs, so I did not stay long. It was really bad out there. Worse than Skunks Misery!

I was about to drop by PPNP, but decided to bird Tremblay Beach and Ruscom Shores. I figured, Lake St Clair has been good to me so far, why not check out the ERCA hotspots along Lake St Clair as I drove home? Both made for great walks, but not nothing too special showed up.

Tremblay Beach: Awesome spot... but will someone please post a sign of its whereabouts?   Tremblay Beach produced a gorgeous Red-spotted Purple Butterfly in the parking lot. I don't get this butterfly. Wild Flowers blooming everywhere... he prefers to lick gravel! With the power of Photoshop, I put two successive photos in one. I also saw a Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer and Mallard Ducks. Its my first time there. 

Ruscom Shores was a really nice walk as well. I did not see much, at one point, I swear I was hearing a Brown Thrasher make its round of 30 sounds, in pairs. Later, I was pishing and really seemed to anger a Grey Catbird (I think he was pished off). They also cut down the 14' tall Phragmites there. I was hoping I would see something interesting (with respect to Avifauna) , particularly because of yesterdays storm, but no such luck. One cool thing I witnessed was a flycatcher chasing a moth, and the flycatcher was almost hovering in air, darting its neck to get the moth, but I think the moth escaped!

Seeing the Least Bittern today was... a great birding moment for me. I've really wanted to see it, and today, as I stood there and watched a small heron like bird take off from a patch of reeds, and my camera coming in and out of focus on its beautiful plumage... it was delightful! I would say its my third favorite lifer this year, after The Pileated and Red Headed Woodpeckers.

Good Birding!
Dwayne