Blenheim White-rumped Sandpipers & Some Vitamin N

White rumped Sandpiper at Blenheim

White rumped Sandpiper at Blenheim

Huge numbers of  White rumped Sandpipers have been showing up in Ontario during their southbound migration this year. Their main migratory path is through the central provinces and states. Ontario's blogosphere (See Mike Burrell's White Rumped Sandpiper Posting) and Ebird hinted unprecedented numbers --- flocks as 100-300 were seen throughout Ontario over the last month (sightings of 1-10 birds are normally expected). I wanted to witness this specticle over the last two or three weeks, but couldn't make it out to any good shorebird habitat till this weekend. I thought I had missed the boat - but a recent e-bird posting from just this past Wednesday hinted that many were still around, as many as 60 at Blenheim SL. So after work on Friday, I checked out Blenheim and was happy to see that there were still some good shorebirds to be seen. It was very windy and very cold. It almost felt like it was going to snow actually.

White rumped Sandpipers in flight - Their long primaries extend past their tails when at rest.

Birds seen include Willet, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral, Dunlin, and of course --- White rumped Sandpipers. Several American Pipits were very present as well. Savannah Sparrows were seen as well as hundreds of Rudy Ducks and Northern Shovelers in the deeper ponds.

Blenheim Shorebirds - Labeled!

American Pipit

Img Src: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-rumped_Sandpiper/lifehistory

White rumped Sandpipers have one of the farthest migrations imaginable - They breed in Canada's Arctic and they fly all the way to the southern reaches of South America during the winter.  Some cool things that these birds might observe in the Arctic Circle is the Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights. They might also witness the "midnight sun" which the arctic circle experiences - Several months of daylight - uninterrupted by a sunset and night time due to the tilt of the earth's axis.  It seems cool to think about how they chase the sun --- they are always in a constant Spring-Summer-Fall-Migrate cycle.  They arrive late in the springtime - as late as June and migrate south a little later as well. Its amazing to think that these birds , weighing only 1.4–2.1 oz (allaboutbirds) make all this effort to avoid winter and to have access to food. Its just part of their nature. Amazing.

Img Src: http://www.astro.washington.edu/courses/astro270/On-LineLectures/astro101s03_whereonearth.html

Img Src: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora

The local Essex County Field Naturalists group forwarded this video about "Vitamin N" (N for nature). Its a 10 minute presentation from an MBA grad student about nature. Its pretty good, and if you are reading this page... I'm sure you would agree whole heartedly with his message. One of the nature scenes that he provides looks to be Nova Scotia's Cabot trail if I'm not mistaken.

Click here for the link to the video: http://www.slideshare.net/StanfordBusiness/unplug-recharge-how-spending-time-in-nature-can-change-your-life

This article in the Windsor Star was about students planting Dense Blazing star in a small tallgrass prairie behind St Clair College.
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/threatened-prairie-plant-gets-boost-at-st-clair-college


Good birding!
Dwayne

Yellowlegs

Shorebirding at Pointe Mouillee in Late August

Buff breasted Sandpiper

Just a quick post for tonight. I birded Pointe Mouillee State Gaming Area on Saturday morning. Pointe Moo-yay[link][map] is a 4000 Acre wetland habitat along Lake Erie's Western Shore. It is a wetland nestled between the Huron River and the Fermi Nuclear Power plant... Just across the river from Holiday Beach in Amherstburg. I had about 50 species but some highlights were:

Buff breasted Sandpiper
Willet
Yellow headed Blackbird
Marbled Godwit
White rumped Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper

Many birders I had met had also seen: American Avocet, Whimbrel and Red Knot but I did not see these excellent species. In fairness, there is alot of ground to cover when you are at a 4000 acre wetland!

How to get there from Windsor

Willet

Marbled Godwit

Yellow Sweet Clover

The mudflat in Cell 3 could be measured in square miles... Its contaminated river bottom dredgings from the Rouge River and local shipping channels.

Stilt Sandpipers and Short billed Dowitchers

I've attempted to make an annual trip to this great site and look forward to visiting again next summer. Just a note that it is closed to the public on Sept 1 - Nov 15 for duck hunting.

Good Birding!

Clay coloured Nemisis Bird

Distant Western Grebe

With much effort this week, I stopped by the Pelee area after work to try to get some birding in between work and dinner. I did get a brief glimpse of a Western Grebe, but not quite the "soul satisfying views" I had of one a while back at Sam Smith park near Toronto.

Lapland Longspur in breeding plumage!?!? Pretty Cool!

Smith's Longspur just didn't really happen for me this week but I did see some cool stuff instead. I saw a flock of 15 Black bellied Plovers, a Sharp shinned Hawk trying to kill some blackbirds, and a breeding plumage Lapland Longspur that started singing immediately after Tuesday's massive rain/hail/thunderstorm that interrupted my birding efforts.

This Water Snake was sunning itself on West Tip Pathway

Some other highlights from the week include Marbled Godwit & Willets at Hillman Marsh. A flock of 15 Black bellied Plovers and a nice close Purple Martin were nice to see tonight as well.

After spending some time around Hillman Marsh tonight, I found myself with 30 minutes left to bird at Pelee so I went for a brief walk along the Northwest Beach footpath. It is a path I rarely walk - I figured I would try something different, and something close to the front gate of the park. It was birdless but I did notice three little sparrows along the path and noticed one I had never seen before. Clay coloured Sparrow!

Field & Clay coloured Sparrows on Northwest Beach Footpath

I've been trying to find this bird for at least two spring migrations and could never seem to catch up to it until tonight. What a beautiful, distinctive Sparrow! A life bird!

Clay coloured Sparrow

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

LLS: Clay coloured Sparrow #345

Birding Bunche Beach in Fort Myers Florida

Long Billed Curlew at Bunche Beach

I spent the last week vacationing in Fort Myers Florida. The first few hours of my trip to Florida started with an early morning visit to Bunche Beach in Fort Myers. This little municipal preserve hosts 718 acres of natural tidal wetlands and beach [link]. I knew Bunche Beach was good, but I did not anticipate getting 3 lifers in the upcoming hour!

Great Southern White

Mangrove Buckeye - Distinguished by the orange bordering of the forewing eye

Upon arrival, I  had stopped along the road and photographed a few butterfly species. Mangrove Buckeye and Great Southern White were seen. At the beach I noted many many shorebirds particularily as you walk a 100m from the main beach access point. Mainly, shorebirds seen were:

100 Dunlin
70 Western Sandpipers (lifer!)
10 Piping Plovers
2 Black Bellied Plover
7 Semipalmated Plover
25 Willets
150 Sanderlings
1 Long billed Curlew (lifer!)

[2 Marbled Godwits *Second walk]
[2 American Oystercatchers *Second walk]

1 Redish Egret
1 Snowy Egret
1 Little Blue Heron
1 Tricoloured Heron

50 Black Skimmers
50 Royal Terns
15 Laughing Gulls
2 Brown Pelicans

1 Prairie Warbler (Life bird!)
3 Palm Warbler
1 Yellow Rumped Warbler
X Fish Crow

Western Sandpiper - Not the best photo, but I had only taken my 55-250mm lens. Not my 400mm!!!

I had read on a local birding listserve that Mangrove Cuckoo's were present but I did not hear or see any. I had met a few birders on the beach and asked them if Western Sandpipers were present, and they were like - Yes, they are the most abundant shorebird out there! I was all too happy to lifer that species!  I started talking to another man about Bunche Beach and he mentioned some other highlights from the beach such as an overwintering Long Billed Curlew! He mentioned it was on the other end of the beach, perhaps 1km from where we were standing. Just as was about to leave, I heard the ascending call of a warbler I missed last summer in the Georgian Bay Islands.... Prairie Warbler! I pished for a minute only to realize the bird was right above me in a tree along the beach's edge!

Prairie Warbler at Bunche Beach

Finding this Prairie Warbler was particularly exciting because honest to goodness, I heard it singing and recognized its song. I knew its song because it was one of my target birds last summer at Georgian Bay Islands National Park. Readers may remember that I never made it to the North end of the island, and only got to 'hear' them as the ferry driver drove by the north dock but did not have time to dock and explore.

A surprise find at Bunche Beach - A small trail from the beach edge lead me to this small pond full of Fiddler Crabs!

Black Skimmers & Royal Terns

So, three life birds in the first hour of my trip. The birding gods were good to me on my first morning, but my luck would not be so great as the rest of the week continued.


Another visit later in the week to Bunche Beach resulted in views of two Marbled Godwits and two American Oystercatchers! I also had an amazing walk with my son in the low tide waters of Bunche Beach...

Marbled Godwits

American Oystercatchers

Willets - attempting to mate

I will try to limit the remainder of my trip to one more posting. Stay tuned for part two.
Good birding!

Lifer summary:
Western Sandpiper 339
Prairie Warbler 340
Long billed Curlew 341

Ebird Checklist
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17429458