Yellow headed Blackbirds at Mitchell's Bay

 Yellow Headed Blackbird - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

Its been well known and documented that Yellow headed Blackbirds have been breeding in Southwestern Ontario this spring at a Lake St Clair wetland near Mitchell's Bay.  I have been wanting to go out and see them and this past weekend May 24th),  I was able to finally get out and see them. It was nice to find them so easily along the road. Bright yellow heads, bold white wing patches visible in flight. Amazing birds! I did not stay long to see them (just 5-10minutes) but I must say, it took a moment for them to vocalize and when they did... wow. What a crazy song! It is described a loud rusty farm gate closing!

In my short 4-5 years of birding, I've only seen this bird once at Pointe Mouillee in Michigan, so its not a life bird, although, its my first Canadian look at them and my first photo and blog reference to them. Check out the range map from AllAboutBirds.org below. The E-bird range map for this bird (set for this year only) hints that this year, it is increasingly present on the eastern half of the continent.

Image Source: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-headed_blackbird/id

Allen Woodliffe [Link], Blake Mann [link], and Josh Vandermeulen [link] all have excellent postings and photos on these birds. Check them out! Jean Iron also took some excellent video footage where you hear the incredibly unique call of these birds [click here for Jean's Yellow headed Blackbird footage] .


Family Rondeau Park Visit (Sunday May 25th)
I took the family out for some nature hiking at Rondeau this past Sunday. We walked Spicebush trail first. Some birds seen include:
Red-eyed Vireos
Red breasted Grosbeak
Thrush
Canada Warbler (its been a good year for me seeing this bird!)
American Redstart
Yellow Warbler

Tulip Tree Trail
Starting at the Beach, I had noted:
Eastern Bluebird,
Baltimore Oriole,
Spotted Sandpiper
(no whimbrels)
Wilson's Warbler
Bay breasted Warbler
Wood thrush
Acadian Flycatcher (90% sure - didn't hear it calling but did note quick, darty flight, eye-rings, mid-forest)
Eastern Wood Peewee
Yellow Warbler
Brown headed Cowbird (mid-forest???)
Scarlet Tanager
Prothontary Warblers (male and female)

Acadian Flycatcher? 90% sure!

Female Prothontary Warbler at Rondeau - Note the white undertail coverts

I was amazed as I drove around Rondeau how many Brown-headed Cowbirds were perched roadside and in and along the forest pathways. I'm not a biologist, but I wonder if culling these birds will ever be considered? Especially considering how much some of our rarer breeding species are declining. They had great results with a program in Michigan's Huron-Manistee forest where the Kirtlands Warbler breeds.

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Olive Hairstreak at Point Pelee

Juniper Hairstreak at Point Pelee 

A recent posting on the Ontario Butterfly Watchers Google Group mentioned that an Olive Hairstreak was seen near the Point Pelee Visitor Center and it really got me wanting to try for it myself. I figured my chances of finding this butterfly, this late in the season was very small...Trying for it was basically a Lepidopterist's Leap of Faith. Another amazing thing about me finding this today was that I had my 1-year old son with me, so I was walking down the west beach path rockin' a stroller! Amazingly, my son simply fell asleep and did not get a single mosquito or fly bite. I think it was just too windy for either today! Upon leaving the trail, I did a quick tick check on my son, and noticed that he was covered in grass seeds. If you shook him off over some tilled dirt, you would have gotten a tall-grass prairie! Needless to say, it was very exciting to find this beautiful butterfly today. Thanks to Blake and Sarah (from PPNP) for advice on seeing this butterfly. I was looking at Junipers along West Beach but simply found this nectaring on a trail-side wildflower. I might have not seen it unless it alighted from one stem to another as I walked by.

Juniper Hairstreaks are basically restricted to two sites in all of Ontario. Point Pelee and an area near Kingston in Eastern Ontario.  This source rates the Juniper Hairstreak as S2- (Imperilled) in Ontario... So its pretty rare!

More reading:
http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/JuniperHairstreak_e.php
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Callophrys-gryneus
http://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/factsheets/11726.pdf

Verde Ventral View

Other butterflies seen along west beach trail were 4-5 or so fresh, dark-form Easter Eastern Commas. Eastern Commas can be distinguished from Grey Commas by the nice mix of reddish brown colours on the underside of the wing, plus a very crisp C-shaped silver marking. Giant Swallowtails were very present as well along West Beach with about 10-12 in the first 300m south of the west beach parking lot.

Eastern Comma at Point Pelee - Dorsal and Ventral looks

A few days ago, I was butterfly watching at Ojibway and noticed two or three birds zooming by me. I was standing at the edge of a meadow, and I noticed an Eastern Wood Pewee perched. When I got home, I was happy to see another one behind it. I think this is a fledgling with its mother! Very cool to see, as I have heard that Eastern Wood Peewees, (although pretty common in eastern deciduous forests) are declining. It was nice to see a bird not feeding a brown headed cowbird as well. I've seen several such occurrences lately, particularly with chipping sparrows.

Eastern Wood Peewee - Always nice to see

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

PS: Anyone know what flower the Juniper Hairstreak is nectaring on? Is it nodding ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes cernua)?(*** I realized later that it was nectaring on White Sweet Clover***)

Cicada killer

Peregrine Falcons at the Bridge V2

 

 Today's paper had an article about two new baby falcons that have hatched at the bridge in Windsor (Lady Gaga and Spitfire). I couldn't help but stop by tonight while going for a riverside walk with the family.  I'm thinking CPF stands for Canadian Peregrine Foundation?

 Could the photo below be a Peregrine Falcon with a baby Owl? I wish the falcons would eat some of the abundant Starlings around... but who am I to tell these raptors what to eat? Any guesses on what he/she has?

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

 More photos from Wednesday...

 

 The sexual dimorphism of raptors usually has the female as the larger of the two. That hints that the one on the right side is the male. This is on the steeple of Assumption Church next to the bridge. The fledgling above is probably 'Lady Gaga' as the sibling seemed to be smaller and weaker in behind her.

 

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.

Point Pelee walk with the Ojibway Birding Group

The southern-most Racoon in Canada? This is how I feel when I have to get up early!

This morning I joined the excellent Ojibway Birders Group (OBG?) led by Paul Pratt.  The morning consisted of a great group of people, keen birders along with fantastic weather .... mix these things together and you're having a great morning. My morning started out late, I did not meet the group at the 8:00am meeting time, but  luckily I met up with them later at the tip of Point Pelee. At the tip, Tom Preney kindly pointed out the controversial Yellow-legged Gull / Herring Gull and I was able to snap a photo of it ... check it out ... (outrageous, isn't it?).  Along with great birds today, I saw Rick, Kelly, Sil, and Fitcetera (Karen) at Point Pelee... Great People!

Is this a Yellow Legged Gull? A new lifer?

After hanging out near the tip, we had moved northward towards the tram loop when we noticed a Scarlet Tanager. We followed it southward back towards the tip. One group member likened our reversal in direction as "reverse migration" LOL!!!

 At one point, Paul, our group leader mentioned Indigo Buntings and Prothonotary Warblers near the tip... I thought he was joking but no... This P.W. was foraging along branches and in the undergrowth. One usually expects this bird near a bug-infested slough.

Red eyed Vireos are a beautiful bird, very common, but rarely seen. On any summertime walk, if you hear this song: "Here I am.... (pause) Where are you?.... Here I am....Where are you?". This bird is often a victim of cowbird parasitism. Read more here....   Red Eyed Vireos were very numerous today.

Today was a wonderful day at PPNP, and there were some nice birds out, but one had to work. There wasn't a great density but overall a nice mix for the later end of the migration season. The OBG (Ojibway Birding Group) later went into the visitor center, where the park interpreter Sarah generously doled out "100 Species" pins to some of the OBG members that had a "+100 Big Day" earlier in the week. I just couldn't take one... I've never even come close to 100 species in a day... I'm just not there yet. My senses aren't sharp enough yet. Every Empidonax Flycatcher is a least flycatcher to me.... Every Gull is a Ring-billed... I'm just not there yet! :^)

Northern Parula had been heard on several occasions throughout May but not seen until today. I actually had several views but this one was the best. He was just perched on a branch, not moving, about 7m up in the air... not bad... but he was in the shade.

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

The Warbler and the Vireo

I took a quick walk this morning in the Ojibway Prairie. Today was much more quiet than yesterday, but I was only there for a 1/2 hour. I basically saw nothing until I heard an Eastern Towhee off the beaten path, so I walked in its direction and I could not help but notice the looping flight of an Eastern Peewee Flycatcher. I snapped a few photos of it.

Then, in the same oak tree I noticed a Black Capped Chickadee, so I tried 'pishing' it to bring it closer into view. Then suddenly, a few tiny birds started flying around very actively and I took a few shots. I think I've photographed a female Blackburnian Warbler along with a Philadelphia Vireo (lifer). According to Tom Hince's book on birding this area, Vireos start returning in Mid August to Mid September. I think these two birds are jumping the gun a little!

***Update: This is a Warbling Vireo! Thanks Blake!

As usual, I might be mistaken on the identification so please let me know what you think (It could be a Warbling Vireo as well). Please excuse the lackluster photos. I should use flash more often, and whenever I point my lens up beyond parallel to the ground skyward, I get these grossly underexposed photos.

Good Birding! And Save Ojibway!
Dwayne