I snooze, I lose

I had the green light to go to Pelee this morning, but decided to stay closer to home and wait a little longer for things to really get going in later April (I snoozed).  That was a bad idea, as it was a pretty good day at Pelee and my nemisis bird was there today, easily seen... Worm-eating Warbler.  (I losed).
 

I did have some nice birds in Windsor this weekend though. I had two distant Common Loons (rare for me) at Peche Island in East Windsor. Saturday at Ojibway Park was surprisingly good. Four warblers were seen including Yellow-rumped, Pine, Ovenbird and Yellow Warblers seen. Two male purple finches lounged at the feeders in nice sunlight... a real treat.  Just a few feet from the finches, an Ovenbird foraged on the ground giving face-melting views of this thrush-like warbler.

 

 

The Blue Grosbeak is still being seen at Ojibway now for the third day.  He is easily seen from the visitor center window, where he skulks around in the weedy grasses and brushpiles.

Some target birds that I would love to see during this season would be:

Kirtlands Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Golden winged Warbler
Henslows Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow

Any eight of these birds would be lifers, so if you see them... text me (maybe)!

Yours in birding,
Dwaynejava

Hawkfest Birding at Holiday Beach & Pelee

Saturday morning, the family and I headed out to the hawk festival at Holiday Beach.  A few Kestrels flew overhead as we arrived and some kettles of Turkey Vultures and Broad wings (at stratospheric levels) were seen. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation had some captive raptors on display including this Barn Owl above. I find it kinda sad to see any captive bird and was almost reluctant to post this gorgeous bird (he looks so sad!). This weekend was not too great for Hawkwatching. The winds were southerly and little was moving. I guess on Tuesday this week, a huge cold front will push lots of raptors south.

While leaving Holiday Beach, I walked along the scrubby area parallel to the beach with my son and saw a few warblers: Blackpoll, Blackburnian and Nashville Warblers were seen briefly. Nuthatches were heard but not seen. A few flycatchers were around but I did not really have time to really ID them. I think one was an Eastern Pewee, and the other (see below) may be another Olive sided?!?

Audubon Magazine recently had an article which listed out the ten best Hawk-watching places in North America, and Holiday Beach was third in the list!  Pretty cool. See the article here: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/birds/audubon-guide-hawk-watching

Another Olive sided Flycatcher?

Blackburnian Warbler... Non Cooperative...

Sachem on New England Aster Behind Pelee Inn

Point Pelee Tour with the Family 

A large tree in Sparrow Field always has Hackberry butterflies on it. It may be leaking sap.

Point Pelee was quiet bird-wise until my wife and two sons visited the tip. While leaving the beach and getting onto the west path back to the tram loop, I noticed many birds in the first few trees at the tip of Point Pelee. The trees were crawling with Red-breasted Nuthatches (10+?), Yellow rumped Warblers (6) and Blue grey Gnatcatchers (4).  A single southernmost-Sanderling was trying to avoid tourists walking the beach at the tip of Pelee... the only shorebird. Hundreds of gulls  (some black-backed) and Cormorants were on the three islands that extended out from the tip of Pelee.

Checkered Skipper on Short's Aster

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


PS: A little buzz in Windsor lately about a birding film being shot at various parts of Essex including Ojibway Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2cWzqjnaA&feature=related
http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/Cavanagh+soaring+Birder/7246574/story.html
http://www.ctvwindsor.ca/tag/the-birder/

Praying Mantis. On my son's play-house!

Checkered Skipper and Green Heron Fledglings at Ojibway v2

Common Checkered Skipper (Not Eastern :-)   )

The last two weeks have been super busy for me. Seeing the Rondeau Frigatebird was basically not an option for me. I was hoping it would stick around a little more but maybe it found its way back to the east coast, where it belongs. In March of 2011, I saw a Magnificent Frigatebird flying over my car on Sanibel Island during my lil' birding trip to Florida.

With all the butterfly counts in the last week, it was interesting to read about what was seen and I was reminded about how good Essex County has it with respect to butterfly diversity. A few bloggers mentioned Common Checkered Skipper Checkerspots and that really sparked my interest in finding them myself. A quick check of the Ontario Butterfly Group resulted in some good news: Common Checkered Skipper at Ojibway Park, just minutes from my house... Nice! This butterfly is so rare, that its not even featured in my butterfly guide for Southern Ontario (and it has a rarities section!). I'm not sure if the butterfly I photographed above is a male or female since my photo was not showing enough detail on the edges of the hindwing. According to butterfliesandmoths.org "Upperside of male is blue-gray; female is black. Both sexes have large white spots which form median bands across both wings. Fringes of male checkered but black checks often reach only halfway to edge of fringe." (Butterfliesandmoths.org) See this site for more info in ID'ing the gender of this butterfly.

Here are some others from the last week or two. I saw a Fiery Skipper and Hackberry Emperor recently at Holiday Beach but no photos. Another butterfly I would really like to see is an Olive Hairstreak!

 

 

Breeding birds at Ojibway park include Field Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds , Orchard Orioles, Tufted Titmouse, Indigo Buntings, and so many others. Two that I took note of this week though was this chance find of a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest and a Green Heron nest, complete with downy Green Heron Fledglings!

Love this photo. This is what its all about.

Green Heron is one of my *sparkbirds*!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


Sources:
butterfliesandmoths.org, "Common Checkered Skipper", ND, July 10, 2012, WEB, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Pyrgus-communis 

Bonus Bird Photos:

Found at Spring Garden area of Ojibway Park

Found at Brunet Park, LaSalle Ontario

Eared Grebe Treats Late April Birders

Super busy lately, but had a chance to bird Point Pelee on Sunday morning. Only the most common birds were present in the park. Hermit Thrushes, Rusty Blackbirds & Common Grackels were easily seen in the Woodland Nature Trail (WNT). On WNT, Kory and I spotted a Single Yellow Warbler and a pair of Blue Grey Gnatcatchers. I left the park at 11am to check out Hillman, and then go home for some yardwork!

Eared Grebe - Life bird!

The best bird, as the title of this posting hints, was a Grebe with Golden Tufts at its ears. The Eared Grebe (see above)  is a life bird for me (#296). Props to Josh for finding it and sharing it with the Ontbirds.

Garlic Mustard, an invasive species of plant carpets much of Point Pelee's understory. You probably know this though!

Rusty Blackbirds and Common Grackles were abundant today.

Hermit Thrushes were easily seen today, this one giving nice looks on the Post Woods Trail.

A little ray of sunshine, a little bit of song...

Migration should resume any time this week, due to both southerly winds and me being at work! :-)

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Lifer Summary:
Eared Grebe #296

Point Pelee - Post Woods Trail... Post-work Posting

After work on Friday, I went down to Point Pelee for a Post-work walk on the "Post woods" trail. Its incredible to say this but I've never walked the post-woods trail! I haven't really walked the west beach trail much either. If I birded the tip of Point Pelee, I would often just take the tram back to the visitor center and typically walk Tildens Woods and Woodland Nature Trail.

 I had face-melting views of this Yellow-Rumped Warbler on Tildens'

My first walk covered Tilden's Woods and I saw Rusty Blackbirds as well as Northern Waterthrushes foraging the sloughs. White throated Sparrows patriotically sang "oh sweet Canada" as the occasional paserine flew overhead. One Winter Wren bounced around the path but my camera was unable to get any focus on it. I walked from Tildens Trail to the beach, and all the way up the beach to Sparrow Field. That must have been about 1-2 Km? Along the beach though, I saw front-lit Horned Grebes at 10-20m off the shore, along with all kinds of Gulls, Cormorants, Ducks and Scoters. I photographed some close Terns and later ID'd them as Forster's Terns (lifer #236). I have not really taken much time to really ID terns... I have assumed they were Common or Caspian. I saw deer venture out the forest and drink water from the beach shoreline. Chipping and Field Sparrows hopped along the sand catching little bugs. Seeing the newly cleared Sparrow Field was pretty cool. True to its name, I saw 4 sparrow species (chipping, field, white crowned and white throated).

I then walked the "Post Woods" trail North towards the visitor center. Black throated Green, Black-and-White warblers, along with a tree-top Blue headed Vireo were seen.  A Brown Thrasher was spooked as I walked northward. Blue-Grey Gnatcathers and Cedar Waxwings were seen. None in great quantity, but it seemed like everything around made itself known. As post-woods trail became the Woodland Nature Trail I saw one Blue Headed Vireo and several Palm Warblers foraging the treetops as the sun was setting to the west.

 Forsters' Tern above, Surf Scoters below

Did you ever see a Field Sparrow in Sparrow Field?

Hillman Marsh had thousands of Dunlin, typical Gulls and Ducks. Noteworthy birds were about 4 Willets and 3 Black Bellied Plovers. A Thrush near the parking lot had huge buffy eyerings. I can't help but think its a Swainsons. Its probably a Hermit Thrush! 

Saturday, I spent the day with family and friends in Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan. We went on the "Thomas the Train" train ride. Good times! Tomorrow, (Sunday) I will try to be at PPNP to watch the sun rise!

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

Kayaking & Birding Peche Island

A friend of mine, (a non-birder) told me that he saw a Common Loon on the Detroit River yesterday (in front of the Casino) so I was hoping to run into it today by kayaking Peche Island. I took a simple 1.5 hour kayak tour of Peche Island, with some time for a walk on the island. I think this is truly a hidden gem in Windsor, limited to just a few people that are interested (and have the boating resources) in that forested island 200m North of Riverside Dr.

Some birds seen:

Mallard
American Black Duck
Wood Duck
Swan
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Grey Gnatcatcher
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Barn Swallows
Common Grackel
Robin
Eastern Wood Peewee
Great Crested Flycatcher (heard)
Northern Cardinal
Baltimore Oriole
House Wren
Grey Catbird
Spotted Sandpiper

It was just so birdy at one point, I couldn't figure out where to point my camera. There was so much movement in to upper branches of the trees, it was incredible. I also think I heard a Carolina Wren, but I may be mistaken on that.

Just an absolutely wonderful place to kayak!

Good Birding,
Dwayne