A Loonie Loon and the Hunt for Varied Thrush

A recent Cedar Creek CBC had in interesting result - A long staying loon at Kingsville Harbour was identified as a Red-throated Loon. I had seen a loon (this loon) back on Nov 29th, --- the date of my last blog posting --- when I was observing the Little Gull in Kingsville Harbour. Funny thing was that later on that afternoon, I joked with Blake that I thought it was a Red throated Loon! So, its a hindsight lifer! Its my 390th bird.

I spent several days last week at Two Creeks Conservation Area looking for a Varied Thrush. I'm 90% sure I spotted it at one point on the 3rd of 4 consecutive days of searching for it. At one point, I was walking along the south end of McIntosh Trail, when a tawny bird flushed from the ground from the east side of the trail to the west, then instantly disappeared into a grove of Red Cedar trees. After trying my best to follow where it went, I looked in the same area to see a nice Hermit Thrush just sitting in the same thicket the other bird had just flushed from. Again, I'm 90% sure it was the Varied Thrush, but I'm going to hold off on "lifering" it. Oddly enough, I heard Varied Thrush back in Banff Alberta two years ago... but try as I might, I could not lay eyes on this bird. I guess its just not my time to see this beautiful Thrush.

I did really enjoy walking Two Creeks Conservation Area though. You may recall, this is the website that is using one of my photos without permission. (I still don't know how I should feel about that... Upset or Flattered?) Anyway I had a great time walking around this natural area. There are 12 bridges so its fun in a way to traverse them all. My son actually loves walking on elevated pathways and bridges so I brought him along one day. This park gave good looks at some decent birds such as: Hairy Woodpeckers, Winter Wren, Common Grackel, Yellow rumped Warbler, Brown Creeper and White breasted Nuthatches.

During my walk at Two Creeks, I couldn't help but notice a diverse assortment of trees. As I learn more about birding, butterfly watching and just nature in general, I can help but notice and appreciate Botany and incorporate it into the discussion. I think any serious birdwatcher should know and appreciate the habitats in which they are birding --- and thus, the botany and in this case, the Arboriculture of the area in which you are birding. Some trees included Shagbark Hickory, Chinquapin Oaks, White Pines, Red Cedars among others.

Feel free to share any thoughts on the plumage of the Loonie Loon  --- Is it a Red throated Loon? It seems that the little v-shaped or x-shaped marks on its back might be the strongest field mark in its identification. The bill shape may hint at being slightly upturned as well, but I must admit to having young eyes when it comes to loons. I rarely see them!

Good birding, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Dwaynejava

New Year's Eve Birding & New Year's Greetings

Resident Bald Eagles at Pelee

Happy New Year!  I finally got a chance to get out to Point Pelee to do some birding over my Christmas break. I feel bad about not attending the local CBC's as ambitiously as I have in the past, but my health has been lackluster. I made an attempt to go birding on New Years Eve morning with Jeremy Bensette, with the intention of finding some reported Brewers Blackbirds. This posting is a report on that outing from Yesterday.

Out in the Onion Fields, we got good looks at large flocks of Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. One flock at the east end of "Road C" must have had well over 150 Lapland Longspurs! At one point, a small gravel parking lot adjacent to the Onion Fields was covered in Longsurs. As we drove up , the majority of them flushed but a few remained. Large mixed flocks of Snow Buntings were nice to see, as I did not see any about 1.5 weeks ago when I participated in the Lakeshore CBC.

 Another highlight from this outing was to finally see a nice (first of season) dark-morph Rough legged Hawk! I have attempted to see some in the Pleasent Valley area near Kingsville/Harrow but have dipped so far in seeing one (this season). The cloudy/windy cold conditions made photography difficult but at one point, this bird was kiting almost directly above our car! I see so many hawks that end up being Red-tailed Hawks, that I really get excited seeing a rough legged hawk!

On Dec 28th, I was going to Colasanti's in Kingsville and stopped by to see the reported Ross's Goose at Jack Miners Bird Sactuary. It seems like they really made some nice habitat in that field across the road!  I found a Cackling Goose while looking for the Ross's Goose. 

Convincing Cackler?

My ebird checklist can be found here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16176366

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Northern Shrike at Ojibway & Ridgetown Geese Diversity V2

Ross's Geese

Happy 12/12/12! Due to an exam I wrote this morning, I took a personal day from work and was lucky enough to enjoy a gorgeous, sunny day today. I figured I would try my luck at Ridgetown Lagoons and wow... three lifers today! Upon arrival to the lagoon, I saw a friendly birder with a scope and he pointed out some of the highlights. Ross's Goose and Great White-fronted Goose made for two lifers in the span of 10 or so minutes. Ken Burrell arrived on the scene a few minutes later and pointed out a few Cackling Geese amongst the Canada Geese (Lifer 311, 312 & 313).

Greater White-fronted was a really nice surprise!

Ridgetown Lagoons is where I saw Snow Geese back in March of this year.
http://dwaynejava.blogspot.ca/2012/03/snow-geese-in-ridgetown.html

Do you see the Cackling Goose in comparison to Canada Geese?

I think the middle goose is a Cackling Goose. Thanks to Ken Burrell for pointing them out to me. 

On the way home, I drove by Ojibway Park and found this Northern Shrike sitting on a telephone wire! This was reported earlier this week, so hopefully it stays around. The last time I saw one was Nov 2010! Read more about this awesome bird here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shrike/id

Northern Shrike - Lanius excubitor ... Literally means Butcher Watchman!

Cackling Geese were only 'recognized' in 2004 ... Prior to that, they were thought of as a sub-species of Canada Geese. Genetic differences were big enough to warrant a new species! Pretty cool!

Oddly enough, at the time I posted this posting, David Sibley's blog had an entry on indentifying Cackling Geese. Check it out here: http://www.sibleyguides.com/2012/11/can-you-find-the-cackling-goose/ .

Alternative titles for this blog posting could have been:

"What's Good for the Goose is Good For My Life List"
"I'm Grinnin' Like a Snow Goose - Three Lifers at Ridgetown"
"Duck... Duck... Ross's Goose, White Fronted Goose, Cackling Goose"

The birding gods smiled upon me today.

Goose Birding,
Dwaynejava

Lifer Summary:
311 - Ross's Goose,
312 - Great White-fronted Goose
313 - Cackling Geese