Jan - Feb 2025 - Birding Highlights

 

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!

Good birding,

Dwayne

Northern Shrike & Winter Raptorfest in Melbourne ON

 

Happy New Year!  I had driven afar to pick up a new lens on Jan 5th and on the way home, I figured I would try my luck with Northern Shrike and sure enough, I was able to find one. I was a little surprised at how nice the Melbourne Ontario (Mayfair?) area was - It has lots of side roads to traverse through and has some nice pasture, nature, waterway and farmers field habitat. 

The lens I had picked up was a little bit of a treat - a 200-600mm telephoto, which in cropped sensor mode offers a breathtaking, frame-filling, 900mm of zoom strength. I have a big learning curve with this lens but I figured between birdwatching and astronomy - I can enjoy this lens and get some value out of it for a few years. 

 

This Shrike was my personal highlight on this trip. I was able to get a few shots while sitting in my car with this bird 30-40m away from me. My goal when photographing birds is to appreciate the bird from a distance, get some photos without disturbing the bird, then quietly moving on. I was photographing this Merlin through a crack in my car's sunroof!

Soon after seeing the Shrike, I had noted many raptors - Mainly Red-tailed Hawks - but also seeing the following, all taken from my car: Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawk, Eastern Bluebirds, another Merlin, and a Coopers Hawk.

Overall - this was a nice stop and not too far away from home. Melbourne is just south of London ON. A beautiful place with some nice winter raptors. 

Good Birding,

Dwayne

Northern Shrike, Red Shouldered Hawk + Bonus Astronomizing in February

 

Its really a beautiful time of year. The angle of the sun, the length of the day is slowly giving us a little taste of spring!  Red-winged blackbirds, Cardinals and House Sparrows have been singing their hearts out. Killdeer have returned to local fields - enlivening our soundscape. Turkey Vulture. I saw a Robin perched in a front-yard tree this week. I feel I have even seen a moth while night driving a few days ago.

Yesterday morning, I had heard that there was a Northern Shrike nearby and I made an effort to go see it. My sedentary lifestyle of sitting for most of the day is not doing any favours to my middle-aged body - so I take the effort to go for a walk on a nice weekend morning. The birds motivate me to get out there!

I had originally dipped on seeing the shrike (But I did see it later - *thanks Rick*) - but I did get a brief view of a Red-shouldered Hawk. Later I photographed a bird that I assumed was a red tailed hawk --- but after looking at it a little more ... I realized it might be a Juv Red Shouldered Hawk! (See collage  below). 

Here are three somewhat noteworthy astronomy sightings from the last week or so... Again --- I'm just starting out with Astronomy. All I am using is (https://stellarium-web.org/ ) stellariumweb app, my binoculars, my scope, and my Canon 7D 400mm Camera on a tripod.  In each of the three scenes below, I show the stellarium app view and the photograph I was able to take. 

Cancer (Crab Constellation)  - Beehive Star Cluster 

Triangulum Constellation - C28 - Starcluster 

Gemini Constellation - M35 Star Cluster in foot of Gemini

Good Birding, Good Astronomizing!

Dwayne 

Northern Shrike Hunting at Ojibway Park in Windsor

A few days ago, someone had posted (ebird) seeing a Northern Shrike at Malden Park in Windsor ON.  After work, I went for a walk there with my binoculars and camera hoping to see this "butcher bird" from the north!

I did not see my target bird --- but still enjoyed the brisk walk at Malden. I figured I would drive down Matchette Road and try my luck near the Provincial Tallgrass Prairie area. The provincial tallgrass prairie is bordered by Matchette Road, and accross the road, you have the Coco Paving Mini mall with will be built on the former "Windsor Raceway Grounds". 

Sure enough, upon arriving to the area, I had seen a robin-sized bird perched at the top of a small tree at great distance. I could not tell from that distance what it was but sure enough ... I found my target bird! 

Sadly, I was only able to get about 50m from the bird, and the lighting and weather were crap. The photos are diagnostic at best... but its just nice to find a great bird once in a while. 

Good birding!

-Dwayne

 

Point Pelee's Conundrum + Hillman Northern Shrike

Pelee Tip - June 1952 ... there was sand on the west side!

I think one of my best blog postings out of the 400 or so that I've written was this one here: http://dwaynejava.blogspot.ca/2012/06/thoughts-on-book-mans-impact-on-point.html  (back in 2012!). This posting was about the history of Point Pelee which I had started to understand as I become a more serious birder.

One of the main points of that posting was that human development in Southwestern Ontario completely ravaged the natural spaces that covered Essex County, and that all that was left was some delicate fragments of habitat. Pelee's management had to make a decision as to whether the parks purpose or essence was as a place for leisure or a place for preservation. It seemed that back in the 1900's, the "preservation" side of things was taking hold as many of the private cottages and businesses were bought out the Point Pelee was turned into a National Park.

Even roads were removed and returned back to nature, which be dramatically seen if you walk along the west side of the Tilden's Woods Path.

But it seems that Point Pelee's management (who is continually changing) seems to be continually faced with the same challenge that earlier visionaries had: which is: "Should Point Pelee be used as a leisure destination or as a nature preserve?"

July 15th, 2015: (Pelee gets $11 Million for infrastructure)
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/point-pelee-park-getting-11m-for-infrastructure-projects-1.2470510

March 26, 2018 (Pelee gets $5.5 Million)
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/point-pelee-national-park-to-get-5-5m-makeover-including-new-tip-tower

One of my biggest problems with the recent developments was the fact that they built a little cottage village in the deepest part of the flooded forest habitat near Tilden's Trail. Interior forest habitat with distances of 100m from the edge to the center are very rare in southern ontario and of course, management decided to build a bunch of cottages in the middle of this ultra rare habitat. It seems the decision makers didn't really consider the ecological impact of that particular location.

A woman that I know named Ellen also ranted to me last year about the giant parking lot they built at Northwest Beach. It could easily be seen from space. It paved over loads of Cedar Scrub habitat that is another beautiful habitat that is so rare in Essex. I also recall walking with the late Alan Wormington along West Beach and he was infuriated with the development projects the park was implementing.

Last year, Parks Canada made admission into Point Pelee free - which of course has many positive benefits (getting more people to appreciate nature) but of course - the park got "beat up" with footprints from tens of thousands of tourists. I recall one day that some visitors were walking up to the tram with plastic bags filled with plants they had pulled out along east beach. Dog Walkers littered the trails with plastic dog-poop bags, motorcycle gangs, locals you name it... they visited.

Two years ago, I went to Ohio's version of Pelee Island called "Put-in Bay". They built a giant cement tower in the middle of the island to commemorate the battle of lake erie that took place near that island. I guess during migration, hundreds of birds crash into that tower and are found dead on the ground below. Will a tip tower near the tip parking lot have a similar effect to migrating birds?

Anyway, I guess I am stunned by a recent headline that states $5.5 million for Point Pelee. In a way, one might accuse me of being hypocritical since I will clearly benifit from some of the infrastructure improvements at the park.

It must be said though...  $16.5 MILLION over the last 3 years? The park is only 10 km long! The park is awash with cash. Management is clearly needing to do something with this windfall of cash!!!! So here in-lies the conundrum they face... Is Point Pelee a place that is meant for environmental preservation or a place for leisure activities? (My suggestion to put that money to good use would be for land buy back between Point Pelee and Wheatly Provincial Park.) Perhaps some of that money could buy land slotted for development at west Windsor's Ojibway Complex... But that would never happen.


On a lighter note, I had relatives visitign this weekend and we took the kids to Colasanties in Leamington. I insisted to my wife that we stop by Hillman for 15 minutes to see if I could see some shorebirds that have been reported as of late.

To my amazement I picked up the long staying Northern Shrike showing generously along the path as you exit the Fred Cada. Memorial Forest on your way to the shorebird cell. Amazingly, there was just a prescribed burn which one might assume would scare this northbound bird away!

Good birding!
Dwayne

American Kestrel with Prey

Just a mini-posting for this week. Not much going on this week bird-wise in Windsor. Some White-fronted Geese are still at Hillman Marsh... I want to go see them, but just don't have the time resources at present.

I'm in absolute awe of the birds in the Toronto/Hamilton area. A Western Grebe, Harlequin Duck and Snowy Owl are visible at one park along Lake Ontario. Can you sense my jealousy??? I want to twitch these, but I just can't afford the 8-hour round trip car drive. :-(   Another excellent blogger from Ottawa was blogging about the wonderful birds up there such as Pine Grosebeaks, Black backed Woodpeckers, and Bohemian Waxwings, again, I want to twitch these but can't afford the 18 hour round-trip car ride. :-(

A little closer to home, a local Northern Shrike is still doing the rounds in the Ojibway Prairie. Jeremy Bensette and myself were birding recently and scoped this bird from the Titcombe turnaround circle off Matchette. This Northern Shrike was 200m away, and Jeremy noted that it was probably only 20m from the road off Matchette. Incredibly, Matchette Road is closed at EC Row, (the road has no traffic), so I just drove up along Matchette and pulled over. The car made an excellent blind, and we just watched the bird at very close range.  This was my absolute best look at a Northern Shrike ever, and it was extra cool because it was oblivious to my presence, in fact, I drove away from it after watching it jump from treetop to treetop to fallen snag branch (see below). Generally, if I see this bird on foot, and it is very skittish, keeping a 100m distance.

Moments later, just 400m down the road, we saw an American Kestrel with a huge mouse (or vole). It struggled to take flight with such a large dinner in its talons. Its good to see these birds are eating well in Windsor!


Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Informally Birding the Holiday Beach CBC

(Note:This is an old posting from Dec 27th that I never got around to publishing until today)

Holiday Beach (in Amherstburg) had its CBC on Dec 27, 2012. I had participated in last's year's CBC but this year, I couldn't commit to the full morning. I still wanted to get out there though in the early afternoon, even just to walk the area on my own and enjoy the nice weather. As I approached Holiday Beach, I noticed a several fields with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, and got a quick glimpse of at least two Lapland Longspurs (see photo above).

Here are some of the birds I saw while informally birding HBMO-CBC*:

Amherstburg side roads leading to HBMO
75 Snow Buntings
50 Horned Larks
2 Lapland Longspurs

Holiday Beach Memorial Forest
1 Northern Harrier
2 Red tailed Hawks
10 Black capped Chickadees
4 Red breasted Nuthatches
3 Tundra Swans (flyover)

HBMO Main Forest Pathway
6 White throated Sparrows
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Red bellied Woodpecker
3 Red breasted Nuthatches
1 Hermit Thrush
3 Northern Cardinals
3 American Goldfinches
1 Carolina Wren

On the way home, I took a detour through Harrow and found the following:

4 American Kestrels
2 Northern Shrikes
1 Short eared Owl
1 Rough legged Hawk
4 Red tailed Hawks
120 Snow Buntings
30 Morning Doves

Northern Shrike !

And another Northern Shrike !

I was really excited about seeing a Northern Shrike again today, and then, another shortly after! I totally missed seeing one in 2011... They are so rare in my opinion but this is my third this month! Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow** were pretty nice to see, not mega-rarities, but still good birds to see in the last week of December.

I plan on doing a 2012 year in review as my first posting in 2013.  I will also try to join the Detroit River (Ojibway Park) CBC on Jan 1 2013.  Happy New Year!

Good birding!
Dwayne

*PS:I am going to officially start using Ebird in 2013.

**PSS: On boxing day, we had a really nice snowstorm, so I figured I would head over to Ojibway Park to see if I could get some nice photos in the snow. The usual feeder birds were present, (House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals etc) but to my astonishment, a Fox Sparrow perched into a tree next to the feeders where I was standing!