Evening Grosbeak & Winter Finches at Rondeau

Boardwalk near vistor center

A recent blog posting from a Rondeau Area birder had Evening Grosbeaks and White-winged Crossbills coming to his feeders, so I thought I would go see them for myself. I've seen Evening Grosbeaks (at a great distance) in the Okanagan Valley BC but never in Ontario. White winged Crossbills would be a life bird though.

Upon arrival to Rondeau Park, I walked up to the beach and noticed three Horned Grebes close to the shore. Common Mergansers were very close to shore as well, but further south along the beach. Next was the visitor center feeders, but I soon realized that there was no bird seed there so, I decided to head over to south point trail where I ran into Blake and Steve.

Hermit Thrushes on South Point Trail

Next stop was Ric & Anne's Feeders. We saw many Pine Siskens, Red and White breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches but no Grosbeaks or Crossbills.

Siskins and Purple Finch

Blake and Steve decided to walk the campground and I followed, as I had never walked that part of the park. Lots of birds around, including: Eastern Bluebirds, Red bellied Woodpeckers, chickadees, both Kinglets and even a Nashville Warbler was seen foraging through dried-out goldenrod plants. Steve soon pointed out a flock of Crossbills that went right over our heads. I snapped a few photos in hopes of verifying them and sure enough...Lifer! White winged Crossbills #309.

White winged Crossbills in flight

Having limited time, I figured I would try out Ric's feeders one more time before I left Rondeau. Sure enough, as I was about to give up on waiting, Evening Grosbeaks showed up!

Red breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmouse and Red bellied Woodpeckers were hanging out!

As I was about to leave Rondeau Park, Blake stopped by Ric's Cottage to see the Grosbeaks and infomed me that he found another Saw-whet Owl!  Seeing this amazing owl was a great way to end off a great morning of birding!

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Rufous Owls and Sparrows at Ojibway

Just a quick post today .... I had some cool pics I wanted to post from over the last week or so. Highlights were several Fox Sparrows at Ojibway Park, and a Rufous Eastern Screech Owl. Also, Kelly M texted me this week about Pine Siskins at her feeders which is a pretty nice winter finch!

It was cool to see the Fox Sparrows scratch the ground looking for bugs and possibly remaining seeds. They would do this funny 'shuffle' keeping their feet beside each other and scratching back and forth. I also saw a Tufted Titmouse, which is generally easily seen in the fall and winter months near the feeders. Tufted Titmouse is one of my *sparkbirds*!
 

Only 10% of Eastern Screech Owls are Rufous

 

Thanks to Kelly for the invite to see her feeders. Siskins are like goldfinch wearing camo.

 I had a great morning at Rondeau. I got to see Blake, Steve and Ric... A few great birds are in store.

 Good birding!

Northern Saw Whet Owl at Point Pelee

Seeing a lifer owl to me is basically a religious experience. This owl absolutely blew my mind today. I was sitting in a 3.5 hour human resources seminar this morning, and at about 11am, I had two people text me, (with images) of this incredible owl. It was found by Paul Pratt and the Ojibway Birding Group on their fall birding walks. Upon arrival to Point Pelee, I met up with Rick & Dan and we found the area quickly as many Yellow rumped Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, and even a Caronlina Wren were very active (mobbing) in the surrounding trees. Even still, it took about 10 minutes for me to find this 'lump' in the trees before me.

 The song of Eastern Bluebirds was heard all morning, and this little beauty was perched over the west beach pathway. Overhead, thousands of Crows, Turkey Vultures and various hawks were seen. Out on the water, huge rafts of thousands of ducks, mainly scaup were seen.

 Of course, many Yellow-rumped warblers were seen, but this Cape May was a nice surprise to see in the tram loop woods. A Carolina Wren was singing his heart out just meters from the owl. He was singing 'breeet, breeet, breeeeeet'.

On friday after work, I went out to Holiday Beach to help observe at the Hawk Tower. Finally met Jeremy Hatt, a great birder and blogger that I've been reading for years. On the way to Holiday Beach, I saw hundreds of Swallows perched on a powerline, and several Horned Larks and American Pipits were hanging out on the road. I stopped to snap a few photos. Its been said that once you lifer a bird, its easy to find it after!

 Great birding!
Dwaynejava

Lifer summary: #308

Point Pelee Birding in Late October

A good birding friend mentioned to me this past Friday that Sturgeon Creek had incredible shorebirds so I figured I would try my luck on Sunday morning. It was gorgeous out, but my time at this pleasant pelee peninsula was brief.

Before entering the park, I stopped by the Hillman Bridge, which gave looks at Cormorants, Herons and Egrets but nothing too noteworthy. An Eastern Bluebird along with some yellow rumped warblers caught my eye at a residence near the marsh.

The promised shorebird show at Sturgeon Creek was decent, but difficult to take in with the eastern sunshine back-lighting the shorebirds. I did see a Sandhill Crane, as well as some Yellowlegs, Killdeer and groups of distant Plovers. Some Dunlin and one Semi-palmated plover were around but I left hoping to go back later during the afternoon sun.

Upon arrival to PPNP, I birded Delaurier trail. I did not see anything out of the ordinary. Lots of Juncos, Kinglets, Sparrows as would be expected. I think I may have even seen Pine Sisken but not too sure on that. I heard a Carolina Wren, but did not really see much. As I approached the Delaurier parking lot, I heard a bird singing its heart out, as I rounded the corner, I discovered that it was a female Purple Finch. It sounded like a red-eyed vireo!

I was thinking while driving home about how a birder could easily set up a chair at the Delaurier Trail on the south side of the parking lot (looking north) and just watch raptors and huge flocks of migrating birds stream by overhead. Buteos and Accipiter Raptors were constantly streaming by! Huge flocks of Crows were in the Onion fields as well as flying overhead.

Broad winged Hawk being mobbed by a Sharp Shinned Hawk

Singing Purple Finch... very cool! I always see females, almost never males of this species.

 Shuster trail was my next and last destination on this short trip. All the seasonal birds that one might expect to see were seen. A nice treat though, was a Winter Wren. Overhead, more raptors were flying overhead, including this nice, low Red-shouldered Hawk.

'Shoulda

Winter Wren scolded me on Shuster Trail

East beach, at the terminus of Shuster Trail gave nice views of a pair of distant Bald Eagles. 

Back at Sturgeon Creek, I tried to scope out any shorebirds that were hopefully front-lit, but nothing too noteworthy. A few plover species.

The Saturday prior  to this trip(Oct 13th), I had birded Pelee with the Ojibway Birding Group and had a chance to see some cool birds. Off the top of my head some birds seen were:

Tip:
Vega Gull
Lesser Black backed Gull
Greater Black Backed Gull
Sanderling
Red breasted Nuthatch (many)
Blackpoll Warblers
Yellow rumped Warblers (many)
Golden & Ruby crowned Kinglets
Carolina Wren (heard)
Brown Creeper
Rafts of Scaup
Horned Grebes
Purple Finch
Northern Flicker (8 or so perched in trees near the tram loop)

Sparrow Field:
Hundreds of Chipping Sparrows
Lincolns' Sparrow
American Pipit
Yellow bellied Sapsucker
Overhead Raptors (Sharp shinned hawks, Coopers Hawk, Merlin)
Perched  Turkey Vulture
Palm Warbler
Indigo Bunting (seen by some)

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava


PS: The latin name for Winter Wren is "Troglodytes Hiemalis"... Troglodyte being a Greek word meaning "Cave Dweller". Hiemalis is latin for Winter. Winter Wrens live in the underbrush in damp, rotting wood thickets. I've had some luck finding them at Shuster Trail in the Spring and Fall, as well as Holiday Beach near the Hawk Watching Tower.

Winter Wren is one of three images that Cornell University's Allaboutbirds.org website is using of mine.

It can be seen at this link:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Winter_Wren/id

Other images they are using include: Golden Eagle, Yellow bellied Sapsucker

I couldn't help but try to recall where I heard the word "troglodytes" before, and I recalled reading the word this summer and not really knowing what it meant. I found the cartoon I had read a while back using a quick google search. It was from a political cartoon in Windsor. So go ahead and incorporate the word "troglodyte" to your vocabulary!

Image Source:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/06/23/mike-grastons-cartoon-for-june-23-2012/