More Point Pelee Birding

Happy Easter & Earth Day!

I just thought I would give a really great link to a Youtube video that Jenna (100 birds in a year blog) posted and I can't help but re-post it:

It's only 6 minutes long but very well worth the time. It was produced by the Cornell University Ornithology department on  the one-year anniversary of the BP Gulf Oil spill. Right click link (open in new tab)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLVCr9-ZFQw&feature=feedu

Ruddy Ducks

Well, today (Saturday) was a pretty great day out. The weather forecast for this long holiday weekend was initially really glum, but Saturday just really opened up for us at the last minute! I'm a little sun-burnt from today's walk! Today I did my typical Hillman Marsh/ Point Pelee trip with an added stop off at Kopegaron Woods.

This is the very first photo and blog lifer for a Horned Grebe. I was approaching the Shorebird Cell at Hillman Marsh and noticed many Rudy Ducks fly away as I approached the edge of the cell. I was thinking... "I wish they would install some blinds so birder could enjoy some birds without the use of a scope... Every time I walk up to this field, everything within 100m flushes. Perhaps a local greenhouse can take some scrap polyethylene sheeting and some posts and create a cheap, makeshift blind". Just as I finished with that thought, I notice a single lone duck (Grebe) just 20-30m from me. Awesome! (I ended up seeing another Grebe 20m off shore at the West Beach... very cool!).

Hillman Marsh:
Horned Grebe
American Coots,
Great Blue Herons
Blue Winged Teal
Ruddy Ducks
Spotted Sandpiper
Northern Shoveler
Northern Harrier

I spotted this "lump" driving through the onion fields. It is a lifer... #235

Looking for loons in all the wrong places....

This Common Loon was spotted in a ditch near the Lakeside Dr road where the Hillman Marsh sign is. Its funny how I spotted it. I noticed about 8 Great Egrets on a ditch to the right, and two Great Blue Herons in the drainage ditch to the left about 15ft away from me. One GBH was about to "spear" his dinner, so I was setting up my camera to take video, (from my car) when in my peripheral vision, I see a strange, Black object. It was so surreal, it must have taken 10 seconds for me to realize what I was looking at. The first time I saw a Common Loon, it was from about 50m off the west beach of Point Pelee and it was pointed out to me by someone else. It was also in non-breeding plumage. Seeing this today blew my mind!!!

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Onion Fields:
Great Egret
Common Loon
Great Blue Herons
Ring necked Pheasant (Lifer #235)

Surf Scoter -... I had confused these with Black Scoter

Point Pelee:
Surf Scoter 
Great horned Owl
Northern Watherthrush
Yellow bellied Sapsucker
Blue grey Gnatcatcher
Rusty Blackbird (or Possible Brewer's?)
Horned Grebe
Lesser Scaup
Hermit Thrush
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Golden Crowned Kinglet
Red Breasted Merganser
Brown Creeper
Northern Flicker
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Sharp Shinned Hawk
Double Crested Cormorant
Various Terns & Gulls
Tree Swallow
Field Sparrows

One great thing about today's PPNP visit was meeting up with Rick, my good birding friend from Leamington. It was also nice to see John, one of the park employees, who informed me about the short-lived flowering of the Bloodroot plant found on Woodland Nature Trail. John informed me that this plant only flowers for about 3 days then the flower petals fall off.

~~~Frustrating Birding Observation~~~
Have you ever spotted a bird skulking in a thicket, and spent great amounts of time and effort to pish it into view and then realize that its a Darked Eyed Junco? I've come to almost dislike this bird at this point in the year. Its like ... migrate north already!!!
~~~End of rant~~~

This thrush has strong spotting, all the way down its belly. I don't quite think its a Wood Thrush (too early?), but seems too heavily spotted for a Hermit Thrush. Does not seem to be a Swainsons... Does it default to being just a Hermit thrush?

~~~Final thought for the day~~~
I think many people this year at Point Pelee are going to take the 100 species challenge. This naturally will involve birders keeping lists... But is there a list of local birds that should be assumed? For example, did see Red winged Blackbirds today but did not mention them above. Hence, I propose the base assumed list for your 100 count:

1. American Robin
2. House Finch
3. American Crow
4. Blue Jay
5. Northern Cardinal
6. European Starling
7. House Sparrow
8. Dark Eyed Junco
9. Field Sparrow
10. Song Sparrow
11. American Goldfinch
12. Ring billed Gull
13. Red winged Blackbird
14. Brown headed Cowbird
15. Common Grackle
16. Black Capped Chickadee
17. Red Tailed Hawk (hwy 3)
18. Turkey Vulture
19. Downy Woodpecker
20. Tufted Titmouse (If you start at ojibway)
21. Red Bellied Woodpecker (If you start at ojibway)
22. Mallard
23. Killdeer
24. Morning Dove
25. Rock Pigeon

There... now you only need to find another 75 bird species!

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

You gotta love Redheads... Woodpeckers that is...

Driving through Leamington was sobering today. Seacliff drive was like something out of a movie! My heart goes out to the people of that wonderful little town. Leamington was hit by a tornado about 1 week ago, and driving down Lakeside drive... the damage, in particular (or most obvious) to the trees is breathtaking. All you see as you drive are 1-meter in diameter tree stumps. You see chainsawed tree trunks stacked along the roads. With the lack of trees, you can actually see Lake Erie between the houses, which I think is a new phenomenon. You could not really see the lake before because of all the trees that were present.

This posting is about Red-Headed Woodpeckers though. A recent Ontbirds posting from the Point Pelee staff mentioned the survival of a Red Headed Woodpecker nest, so I made an effort to stop by this picturesque little town and check it out. How did this wonderful pair of birds survive an F1 tornado??? 

This was about as good as I could do from the public walkway... 40 meters away. Of course, cloudy crappy weather in the background.

I saw these birds enter a larger hole in this tree, it looked more like an owl hole than a woodpecker hole.I was hoping to see baby woodpeckers sticking out from a nest hole, but no such luck. In the above photo, you can see a former hole outline. I hope this was not their original home!

These trees are about 10 meters to the north of the RHW nest. Any tree over 10 meters tall seemed to have been torn apart. It looks like a giant weed whipper crudely chopped all the tree-tops over 10 m. Incredible. Luckily, nobody died.

Other birds seen were:
Common Tern
Ruddy Duck Mated pair (sleeping and floating)
Red Winged Blackbird
Northern Mockingbird

Various Swifts & Swallows

These two Northern Mockingbirds appeared to be either mating or fighting for territory. They would squabble up in the air about 1 m off the ground then land back on the ground like shown above.

Good birding to the blog-o-sphere!
Dwayne