Melospiza Melodia

 

I was planting tomatoes in my back yard this week and I heard baby birds chirping from a thicket in the back corner of my yard. As I approached, a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) popped out! Its been an interesting Spring/Early summer. I have not seen a single Hummingbird in my backyard, but I have a Song Sparrow singing its heart out every half hour or so. I think the Latin name for the sparrow is pretty cool as well... Melospiza melodia. Melospiza is a native Sparrow category and Melodia hints at melody ... Song Sparrow! If you do not know the sound of a Song Sparrows song, you owe it to yourself to listen to it from the allaboutbirds.org site.  I can see a certain pleasure in knowing the latin names of bird species but that would be a slow go. Props to Stuart (Citta Canadianis) for the keeping those scientific names on the forefront!

I've been walking Ojibway Park alot lately. Nothing really new or out of the ordinary to talk about. I still really enjoy just walking and seeing an Eastern Bluebird or Indigo Bunting. I seem to see them and hear them easily now.

 I would love to get a breathtaking photo of an eastern bluebird, but I can't seem to get much closer than 30m to this bird. To get better shots, I will either have to get really lucky or consider using a blind. These photos here are hand-held at 500mm, and heavily cropped. Any other suggestions?

I photographed what I think is a recently fledged Eastern Bluebird. Its colours are not so bright, and it has spots on its belly. 

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Some birds seen today include House Wren (feeding its babies), Eastern wood Pewee, and a Pied billed Grebe.

I'm not the world's biggest hockey fan, but I have to support Vancouver on their quest for the cup.

Birding Black Oak Herritage Park in West Windsor

This park is quite incredible. I walked it on Thursday as it was one of the few sunny afternoons we've had in a while. With respect to birding, first half of my walk though was pretty quiet with the exception of a few Goldfinches, Drumming Downy Woodpeckers, and a Golden Crowned Kinglet. The beauty of this forest is really just incredible. Wet sloughs everywhere, creeping vines, old dead trees, rolling hills with several different habitats from open grassland to dense forest to slightly more open savanah. Even without seeing any birds, this forest is incredible. I was amazed at the beautiful green carpet of moss and small flowering plants covering the black, uncompacted soil. Just awesome. Click here for a little more about the park.

The birding ended up picking up in the later part of my walk. It started with seeing a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, then hearing a Carolina Wren, which I later found! A male/female pair of Yellow Rumped Warblers were seen, then a fallout of Bluebirds.  The walk ended up with a cool list of birds that are listed below. Just the typical expected birds.

I think Caronlina Wren might be one of my top 5 favorite birds. I rarely see them though. Even at Point Pelee this year, I have heard them on occasion, but from a great distance. I heard two Carolina Wrens at Black Oak Heritage Park today

Bluebird Fallout? I saw about 4 pairs of Bluebirds in the grassy area behind the Dainty Rice Building. I also flushed many Chipping Sparrows as I walked back to the parking lot.

I've never tagged a Chipping Sparrow on this blog until today. They are pretty little Sparrows. I was watching them recently from "Moms House" from a close range of about 8' through a bay window.

This must be the 30th YBSS that I've seen this spring. I've just been lucky seeing them. To bad they don't really stick around through the summer!

My field trip list: (I need to post this info to ebird.ca!!!)
Golden Crowned Kinglet 1
American Goldfinch 6
Robins 6
Blue Jay 1
Hermit Thrushes 10
Northern Flicker 1
White Breasted Nuthatch 1
Eastern Bluebirds 8
Chipping Sparrows 10
Downy Woodpeckers 5
Yellow bellied Sapsucker 1
Carolina Wren 2
Yellow Rumped Warbler 2
Eastern Phoebe 1

A great walk on a beautiful night. I must say, I rarely walk this park, but it has given me many lifers! I recall seeing my first Blue-grey Gnatcatcher here. If fact, I found a nest for this cool little bird in this park last summer.   It is interesting to see how the new DRIC project will effect the Ojibway Complex. The Bridge may cut off the river access to the Ojibway Complex. This Citizens Environmental Alliance article proposes that the access to the river, be kept and strengthened for future. The propose a pretty cool idea... "The Real Green Link" -->http://www.citizensenvironmentalliance.org/cea_news/cea_news_005.html .


***

More Birding Books...

This week,  I actually looked up a book I'd been interested in reading at windsorpubliclibary's website. I dropped in after work  and skimmed through the contents of "Birding at Point Pelee" by H. O'Neil and "Sibley's Birding Basics" by DA Sibley in one evening!

Both books have been really interesting. I was a little shocked at how "difficult" the "Birding Basics" book was. I guess my eyes gloss over when I read about primaries, secondaries and tertiaries, as well as H-P Plumage Cycles. But, with each exposure to such concepts, they become a little more engrained. This book goes into Identification techniques, Taxonomy, Behavior, Feathers, Mot, Aging, and Ethics ... gosh ... so much to know.

Birding at Point Pelee has been an interesting read/scan but I guess I was looking for more information or information from a slightly different context. The story I want to know about Point Pelee is more about what happened with the Onion fields. At Point Pelee, there are some signs on the Delaurier Trail path near the sloughs/octagon that delve into this story (complete with actual newspaper clippings). I was hoping this book delved into that story more but it doesn't seem to. Its still a good book overall. Its funny how many common names continue to resurface in the birding world.

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Long Tailed Ducks on the Detroit River

This is about as clear a photo I could get with my point-and-shoot camera

I've made three local birding trips since my Florida vacation last week and racked up two more lifers in the process. The problem is, I hate birding without my SLR camera. Today, I shot some photos with a little simple point-and-shot camera. I can't help but think how much more detail I would have had with my normal camera.

Last weekend, I brought the family out to Colasanti's in Leamington, then drove out to Point Pelee and surrounding area. We drove to the tip of Point Pelee and checked out the beaches. Lots of sand... or the water is lower. Anyway as I was leaving, I met Tom Preney in the tip parking lot and he pointed out a Horned Grebe (in non-breeding winter plumage lifer-#232) just 20m out from the shore. Of course, no camera to document it!

Monday this week was a beautiful and warm day, and I made an attempt to search for American Woodcock at the Ojibway Prairie Reserve. I went a little too early and did not hear or see any of the target species so I will try again with our next burst of warm weather. American Woodcock would be a potential lifer (#234) and I hope to see them in the next week or two.

Today, after work, I went out to the Riverside Marina, only to find very little to look at out on the water. There were several small pockets of ducks/birds closer to Peche Island. Some included Common Merganser, and what appeared to be American Coot, or some other predominantly black ducks. As I drove down Riverside Drive, I noticed a flooded parking lot and what appeared to be swans behind the famous Abars bar. The swans turned out to be an overturned white plastic patio chair. But I looked out onto the river and saw many ducks and gulls about. As I scanned the ducks, I noticed Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Hooded Merganser and ... Long tailed Ducks! (Lifer #233) I was really excited to see them because this species has eluded me for almost two years of birding. There is a park about 200m west of Abars with a water pumping facility that offered even better views of ducks in this area. (Click here for google map. See green arrow for exact location). It was cold out there!

I also stopped by the Ambassador Bridge and saw the Perigrine Falcons in limited fashion. One falcon flew off the bridge as I approached and perched on top of Assumption Church. I will try to take some photos as the spring season progresses.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Mom's House had a few cooperative Song Sparrow hanging out