I try to go for a walk every day after work - and I have seen some neat birds. Hearing a Winter Wren singing while walking at Black Oak last week was pretty exciting.
I've had good luck with Yellow bellied Sapsuckers. I'm quite tuned into their calls and even their tree tapping sounds which are quick distinct from other woodpeckers.
I even heard, then saw a Northern Mockingbird at Black Oak. A lady from PPNP was already looking at it and got me on it. I had assumed (by ear) that it was a brown thrasher but was mistaken.
Lastly, my local habitat has yeilded daily looks at YBSS, towees, Ruby crowned Kinglets and for the last few days, Brown Thrashers! I have to give credit to the rasperry pi computer running bird-pi audio software for reporting the bird to me. I heard it briefly today but was unable to find it. I love the song of a Brown Thrasher. Always makes me smile
Northern Mockingbird was a nice find on March 1st - Seen at Ojibway Park in Windsor !
In SW Ontario - Jan and Feb are the coldest, dreariest months to live through. Cold, lack of sunlight make birding (and living/working) a little bit challenging. But some decent birds have been around (few and far between).
The listing below shows some of the nicer (seasonal) birds that I was able to see over the last month or two ...
Rough Legged Hawk - Mike S noted this bird out near Harrow and I made an effort to go see it. The bird was flushed by a snowplow driving by. On the way home, I found a raptor perched on a thin branch (see second photo) but I'm not 100% sure it was a Rough Legged. Still always nice to see one.
Northern Shrike - Seen in a lot adjacent to Black Oak Herritage Park. Found by Ian Woodfield.
Eastern Screech Owl - This was interesting --- my brother told me that a warehouse worker at a local car factory had an Owl Sitting on a hood of a car in a warehouse. The warehouse is called "the barn" --- so I was tempted to call this a barn owl. The doors to this warehouse open and close all day so I'm sure it can leave when it feels it needs to do so. I was granted private access to see the bird.
Saw Whet Owl - I recently was able to see two of these birds within meters of each other. Its always amazing to see this species.
Fox Sparrows - Always nice to see in the winter at Ojibway.
Eastern Towhee - I feel I have seen a female (early feb) and now a male Towhee at Ojibway Park in Windsor this Feb. Really nice to see this bird with a snowy backdrop.
Northern Mockingbird - Self found at Ojibway this weekend. A pleasant surprise. It flew by me and its white-black wing flashes were diagnostic.
Spring is just around the corner. The onslaught of migrants will be trickling in soon enough!
I went to Ojibway Park today to seek out the long staying Northern Mockingbird that has delighted and eluded birders over the last week or so. I had gone to see it yesterday and dipped on seeing the bird - although I was not willing to wait around too long due to time constraints.
Today though - I went again and saw it relatively quickly. I had walked to "the bridge" at Ojibway and had not seen it. On the way back to the parking lot, I stopped at a few points and finally say this bird - which was amazing to see. It is Robin-sized with a pretty long tail.
This bird is common as you go south towards Florida but can be a rarity in Ontario. Although... its pretty common in Southwestern Ontario and breeds in a few locations along Lake Erie. A few years ago, one of these birds was at another location within the Ojibway Park complex and I had heard it singing while sitting in my car. I would say that a Northern Mockingbird singing its sounds of other birds singing might be one of the 'neatest' bird experiences I have had... It really is a treat!
A few other birds seen today were the common birds at Ojibway at this time: American Tree Sparrow, Red bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Black Capped Chickadee, as well as a small flock of about 5-6 American Robins!
One last note in this posting was that I had my camera on "auto white balance" for the first few shots of the NOMO and then I tried switching to "cloudy white balance". The "cloudy white balance" shots reveal more browns and warm tones while the auto white balance has the colder, greyer colours.
This weekend was a surprisingly excellent weekend of birding in Essex County. The weather was fantastic and the birding was excellent as well. On Saturday, I went to Point Pelee and it just so happened that it was the OFO (Ontario Field Ornithologists) bird weekend there. At about noon, after I had birded Delaurier and Cactus Field, someone pointed out a pair of white pelicans that were soaring over west beach of point pelee.
West beach footpath was a nice walk as usual. Black Saddlebags and Carolina Saddlebags were abundant. Monarchs constantly fluttered overhead. Singles of Eastern Comma and Question Mark butterflies, as well as a worn Spicebush Swallowtail were noted. A few warblers were seen as well as some Southbound Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers.
Sparrow field had some of the best warbler birding for the day, and some trees in the field had Cape May, Wilsons, Nashville, Blackpoll, Bay Breasted warblers easily seen. Eastern Wood Pewee, and a sleeping Common Nighthawk delighted birders as well. I had seen my first southbound blue headed vireo as well in Sparrow Field. It was actually singing/vocalizing in a deciduous tree on the outer edge of the field. On the shore next to Sparrow field, a group of 5 Sanderlings noted but soon flushed by beach walkers.
Of course, raptors were constantly flying overhead. We had nice looks at Eagles, Red Tailed and Broadwing Hawks, Coopers and Sharp Shinned hawks, Peregrine and Merlin Falcons flew overhead as well. At one point, a Merlin flew clumsily over a group of OFO birders with a fluttering woodpecker in its talons.
See below for a writeup on my walk at Ojibway today...
Turbulent Phospila - a Pinstriped Caterpillar crossing the road at PPNP
Today at Ojibway - I walked at Black Oak Heritage Park in West Windsor. I walked for a while without seeing many birds but eventually hit nice pockets of birds. At one point, I had seen about 20-30 Cedar Waxwings with about 10 or so Purple Finches! I then saw about 10 or so warblers and vireos. Some warblers go unidentified at times as I just cant figure out what they are! I had stunning views of Blue Headed Vireo and Scarlet Tanager ... which was a huge highlight. Red breasted Nuthatches were surprisingly abundant as well. Later on at the main Ojibway Park forest - where I had met up with my wife and two kids, we ended up seeing two separate groups of warblers as well. There could have been 30-40 birds in total. Some birds seen were bay-poll warblers, American Redstart, Black throated Green, Nashville, Tennessee, and some Ruby crowned Kinglets.
I feel like I've seen many Philadelphia Vireos this year, both north and south bound.
Good birding!
PS: I was out on my back porch today looking out at the hedgerow behind my house. Blue Jays, European Starlings and Crows were making a rucous. At one point today, I had my binoculars and noted a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD on my back fence. I did not have my camera nearby so I attempted to digiscope the sighting with my cellphone and binoculars! I took video with my phone's camera - hoping it would increase my chances of documenting the bird. I've included a 6 second video of my sighting!
