The Birder Movie

This past Friday April 4th 2014 was the opening night for the newly released "The Birder" movie that was filmed right here in Windsor Ontario. It was neat to watch this movie and see scenes from around Windsor such as Ojibway Park & Nature Center, Malden Park, and the Old St Annes High School.

The movie was pretty good. It had a pretty simple 'revenge comedy' theme and a happy ending. It had its ornithological inaccuracies that would make some birders cringe. At one point, a Prairie Falcon was seen in an Eastern Deciduous Forest Habitat (ornithological cringe) but just like other birding movies, you have to look past these small inaccuracies and just enjoy the movie.

The movie might have several other Canadian City releases, perhaps Toronto and maybe some Western Canadian Cities. It should be playing in Leamington in May, so if you want to see this but can't be in Windsor this week, follow the links below for alternative viewing locations/times:

http://www.thebirdermovie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thebirdermovie

If you are from Windsor and you enjoy birding, I recommend that you support these guys. I've posted the showings for the remainder of this week below, as well as a map to the movie theater that is hosting the film.

Lakeshore Cinemas Birder Showings -  WWW.IMAGINECINEMAS.COM 
Fri, Apr 04: 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Sat, Apr 05: 1:20pm 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Sun, Apr 06: 1:20pm 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Mon, Apr 07: 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Tue, Apr 08: 1:20pm 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Wed, Apr 09: 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm
Thu, Apr 10: 4:15pm 7:05pm 9:15pm


View Larger Map

After the movie, the producers (and one or two actors) answered questions about the movie. Movie swag was offered out in the main lobby after the movie, and several birding-themed t-shirts were available, movie posters etc were available for purchase. I picked up this "Pelee Region Provincial Park" T-shirt. I think its a pretty cool T-shirt and I don't mind paying $20 for it to help the producers out. These producers from Windsor followed their heart, wanting to become movie makers so I'm happy to help support their efforts. They went out on a limb to make a movie about birding. Note that there is no such thing as Pelee Region Provincial Park - The movie makers made a modified name for the Point Pelee National Park for legal reasons.

Recent Birding, Leps and Herps
I've only done some local birding this past week or so, and have seen some seasonal birds. Today at the Ojibway Prairie Reserve and Forest, I saw: Fox Sparrows, Lots of Downy Woodpeckers (some were drumming), Eastern Phoebe (FOS), Eastern Bluebirds, Song and Field Sparrows as well. No YBSS yet!

Fox Sparrow

First of season butterflies today were: Eastern Comma, Mourning Cloak (two of each). I was looking back at last year's first of season for these two butterflies [link], and it was April 15th!

Western Chorus Frog [link] have been calling for a week or so, and over the last few days, I've made an attempt to see them and photograph them. I was able to take a few photos the other day and some video today, so I figured I would share. They can be difficult to spot because they submerge under water when people come near. I was able to not spook them this afternoon and got some footage of them singing. I usually would not feature frogs on this blog, but I am getting more interested in herps after reading great blogs like Josh's, Blakes or Allen Woodliffe's blog. I want to see a Spring Peeper now!

Western Chorus Frogs (AKA Striped Chorus Frogs)

I feel lucky to have seen these frogs so easily over this last week. I think they are generally hard to see or photograph, and this is my first time really identifying this species. OntarioNature.org has a nice writeup on these frogs here:
http://www.ontarionature.org/protect/species/reptiles_and_amphibians/western_chorus_frog.php .

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Birds and Butterflies of Devonwood Forest

 

This last week or two has been a little quieter bird-wise for me. Since my last major birding trip to Col Sam Smith park, I have tried to bird closer to home. I haven't even been to Pelee! After work, I would go to local parks like Ojibway's Black Oak Heritage Park or Malden Park.  Jeremy Bensette had done a tour at Devonwood ERCA forest in mid-Windsor and mentioned it had tonnes of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and other seasonal migrants. This forest is in the middle of Windsor, and is a major magnet during migration (oasis effect). One local birder birded this forest last May in peak migration season after a midnight rain storm to find one of the best passerine fallouts he had experienced. Devonwood boasts the highest Oak species count of any woodlot in Canada (8 species).

View Larger Map ***

A few days ago at Devonwood, I had 4 or so different Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, but probably many more were present, it seems like I had heard 10 or so while walking. While walking with my family at one point, I was blasted by the song of a Winter Wren... I had never heard it so clearly in my short birding career. I didn't have my camera that day, so I did not bother to try to pish it into view.

Devonwood has many of the seasonal migrants such as Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, both Kinglets and more.

Today, after work, I went to Devonwood again, and was greeted not to far from the parking lot with an Eastern Comma (first of season) and then moments later, a Mourning Cloak butterfly... Harbingers of Spring! (A butterfly flew by me on April 7th at Turkey Point, but I did not really get a chance to ID it... Probably a Mourning Cloak as it was 'dark'). I didn't see or hear YBSS today, but I did see several breeding plumaged Yellow-rumped Warblers! It would have been nice to see Louisiana Waterthrush (there is lots of wet mossy flooded areas in this forest).

I actually E-birded a recent walk (http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13734034)... and the weird thing about this posting is that if I look up Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in Essex for this year, this posting does not come up on the map, but a query for Ruby-crowned Kinglets does.

I think if one was to record a species list in a notebook, entering a trip's list into ebird would be less painful. I generally don't keep notes, and really on memory which is probably a bad idea. Any thoughts on improving one's ebird workflow?


Good birding,
Dwaynejava

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PS: I had a little writeup this week that discussed a recent oil spill in the US and the lack of coverage in the media.  Its a little off topic but I've added it in the Post Script of this posting.


{Start rant} While watching Nightly News with Brian Williams a few days ago, there was a brief mention of an oil spill in Arkansas. I've heard nothing about it since, so tonight I googled "Arkansas oil spill" and was amazed at the lack of media coverage. None of the major media outlets covered this story... The websites that have articles on this story are like: alternet.org, treehugger.com, rt.com ??? CNN.com has a story (one paragraph?!?!) posted one day ago here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/08/us/arkansas-oil-spill/?hpt=us_c2

Where is the media attention on this? One commenter wrote in the CNN comment stream:

---------------------------------------------------------------

smokinbluebear • a day ago

THREE OIL LEAKS in the U.S. last week and CNN finally squeaks out a PARAGRAPH...Pulitzer-worthy material--deep, probing...asking the questions that need to be answered...thanks for NOTHING, cnn!!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not against oil, but it makes one curious about the lack of media coverage on the matter. These companies make billions in profits yet can't seem to afford to maintain their infrastructure. Fewer and fewer media outlets are corporate owned and may have a conflict of interest in reporting environmental catastrophes, because that may sway the voter base and popular opinions on topics related to say, building a giant oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas.

I came across this video documentary about the BP Oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago. It seems to be well-made and delves into the topic of how these oil corporations are 'influencing' American politics and media. It could be biased or factually incorrect, but its still very interesting. Its a long video, but I recommend skimming through it at least.

Two final thoughts in closing...

1- On occasion, I read in the Canadian media about how "Canada's Keystone XL Pipeline" is being debated in the US etc... Its funny how the media frames this project as "Canada's"...I personally think its a horrible idea to develop this pipeline, and it bothers me that the media tells me that its 'my' project.

2- If gas in Canada costs $1.30/L and in the US, it costs $3.50/Gallon (1gal = 3.785L) ... That would imply (assuming parity of the dollar) that the US would pay $4.92/Gallon of gas. But... I doubt the price of gas would go up in the US as supply is increased, so wouldn't it be ironic selling a natural resource to another country for less than we pay? Its a complicated topic, because Canadian and US governments have different tax policies to help pay for social initiatives like health care  or defense spending and the like. 

... So did the media cover this oil spill as good as it could have? Probably not. Could it have anything to do with the politics and public view of the Keystone XL pipeline that is being pushed on us by big oil? Probably.

{end rant}

Ojibway Prarie Reserve Bluebirds

Ruby Crowned Kinglet in a Pussywillow Tree

The last two days have been so beautiful out weather-wise, I couldn't help but get out there and take some photos. I have a new camera body and I'm still trying to learn its ways before May arrives. There will come a day where I will go birding without my camera but I guess for now, lots of pictures will be taken! :-) I think the reason I take photos was because when I started birding almost 2 years ago, I did not know one bird from another, so I would take photos then post-identify. I didn't even have binoculars or a field guide till about 1 year into the hobby. It started off with just a Camera and www.allaboutbirds.org. Blake Mann's blog as well as Paul Pratt's blog and nature tours really spawned my interest in nature. I thought about this question: "when did I start birding?" recently and the answer is the day I saw a Green Heron at Ojibway on May 2nd, 2009.

Birder or Photographer?
One or two people have told me that I'm a photographer, not a birder! One woman at Pointe Mouillee told me that without even knowing me! I found it odd that she said that because she had a white-bodied Canon "L" lens, and I was rockin' a Sigma! I think I'm a birder that loves to photograph nature. A photo-naturalist? But, I concede, I'm not an ornithologist. I would like to take the Ornithology course at the University of Windsor with Dr Mennill but I don't know if people working 9-5s can have the luxury of taking such courses.

 Tufted Titmouse just singing his heart out. This is one of my favorite birds. Rare in most of Canada but common at Ojibway. Many Carolinian species are slowly having there northern bounds creep further north.

 I really hit a nice pocket of birds in the Ojibway forest on Tuesday. I saw Kinglets, Yellow Rumps, Thrushes, Tufted Titmouse in the span of 20 minutes.

 My first Mourning Cloak butterfly. I did not feel like venturing far off the path. They are easily seen at Black Oak Heritage Park at this time of year. I've also seen many Eastern Comma butterflies this week as well. These two species are the first to appear in early spring, so its easy to ID them. It's funny, I've learn so much about butterflies as well from the many excellent blogs in the area. In mid summer when the breeding birds of May have left for the Boreal Forests, the butterflies get more attention. This spring and summer, I will also make more of an effort to identify trees and plants.

Today I saw three separate pairs of Bluebirds in the park. I typically find them by first hearing them.Listen for a depressing sounding mur-mur like warble.

 

See the above photo in full size!

I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing these wonderful birds. Today, I just leaned against a giant Oak tree for 10 or so minutes watching the above pair sallying and flycatching in a beautiful meadow. I put the camera away and just quietly watched from a safe distance of 30-40m. Very cool!

In the Tallgrass Praire park of Ojibway, I saw/heard some really strange mating behaviors from three treetop Northern Flickers. The photo below shows the Flickers with their tails spread out and they were barking up a storm.(This photo reminds me of John James Audubon's drawings of them). I tried to take video of them, but of course, they were quiet by the time I started recording.

 

 

This was a beautiful Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker but it was foraging Aspen Catkins and difficult to photograph.

 Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen several times on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I had my first Ruby Crowned Kinglet as well (see first photo in this posting).

 Lastly, I finally saw an Eastern Towhee, although he was being shy in a thicket and refused to entertain my vocalizations. I also found a Winter Wren near the Milk Ponds of the Tallgrass area. Almost not worth posting. Almost! The Winter Wren holds a special place in my birding memoirs. I would almost say it is a better bird to see than say, a Painted Bunting. Sure the Painted Bunting is colorful and mind-blowing. But the Winter Wren is understated and tiny. It's local. Canadian. Hard to find unless you understand its habitat.

 

Winter Wren...

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Bonus Video: (sorry, its shaky... its at 500mm x1.6 magnification, handheld)