Pandemic Birding - Early April 2020

At the expense of stating the obvious - we are in the midst of a (once in a century) pandemic and governments around the world are issuing social distancing and stay at home orders.

Over the last two weeks - I have been quarantined and working from home. My Wife, two boys and myself have practiced social distancing - but we also like to do daily physical activity - which sometimes involves walking around one of Ojibway's parks here in Windsor.

Black Oak Heritage Park is one of my favorites, as well as Spring-garden.

Over the last week or two, I have seen several new birds migrate into Essex County - such as Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Towees, Winter Wren, Tree Swallows, Fox Sparrows, Field Sparrows and Yellow rumped Warbler.

April is a great month to find Yellow bellied sapsucker, and Blue headed Vireos will be seen as April moves on. If one is lucky, you might even see Louisiana Waterthrush in mid April.

There has been a great horned owl nest in Amherstburg, I couldn't help but go see it this weekend.  It was on the way to Holiday Beach so its always nice to see this famous raptor out in nature.

Interestingly, today - I found a Great Horned Owl perched in a tree at Ojibway, and it hopped into a nearby nest with a baby owl present!

Finally, this last week revealed my first-of-season butterflies. I had seen two commonly early species - Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma.

It will be interesting to see how birding during this migration will be. Many of the federal and provincial parks are not open - so it will be interesting to see if access to these parks can be granted in May.

Stay safe, stay healthy,
Good birding & naturalizing,

Dwayne

Its always nice  (and hear!) to see new species  during springtime!

This Phoebe might have a tick in its mouth - maybe...

A Quiet Week in Windsor

Not much happening over the last two weeks for me bird-wise. I've been busy studying for my night class and just totally amazed at what has been showing up in Hamilton/Toronto as well as Lake Erie's North Shore.  By the way, congrats to Josh Vandermeulen on his big year in Ontario. He not only beat the old record of 335 species but has blown past it! Jeremy Hatt and Kory Renaud are having brilliant years as well.

Anyway, my personal highlight (since my last posting) was a female Evening Grosbeak at Ojibway on Nov 6th. At the time, I did not think much about the bird, having seen a nice flock at Rondeau a few days prior. Its funny though, I have not really heard much about them lately on Ontbirds. Was it just a thin wave of birds that came through for this irruption or are people not really posting their sightings anymore? Actually, a quick look at E-bird hints that they are seen a little more in Jan/Feb... mid to late winter.

Tufted Titmouse - Easily seen in the Winter Months at Ojibway

Obligatory Eagle Photo at Holiday Beach

I took the family out to Holiday Beach on Sunday. Very quiet over the last few days. Two mature Bald Eagles were perched in the open which was nice to see. I also saw my first-of-season (fos) Rough legged Hawk near Amherstburg. I was hoping to see a Cave Swallow as they were seen the previous and current day that I was visiting the park. But no dice. Also, shortly after I left, a Gyrfalcon buzzed the tower! I can't win!!

Heavily cropped photo taken in crappy, cloudy cold weather ...not bad though!

A new birding friend pointed this Great horned Owl to me after work today. Its actually one of my first adult Great Horned Owl photos that is not near its nest.  Jeremy Bensette and I will be looking for Northern Shrikes for the next two weeks at Malden Park or elsewhere in Essex. 

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Owls of Ojibway

Just a short posting. I'm happy to say that my birding hiatus ends tomorrow at 7pm. I have not birded too much lately, but still have been able to take the occasional walk at Ojibway Park in Windsor.  A friendly birder (yes, they exist!) graciously shared the location of these two gorgeous owls with me, under the condition that I not disclose the location to others. The owl fledgling below is only about 5-6 days old!

The baby owl looked distraught so we left immediately. We stayed back at least 100m, so this photo is heavily cropped and taken with a 500mm lens on a cropped sensor. Please use the highest standard of birding ethics when viewing owls.

Related News:
Four Peregrine Falcon Eggs at the bridge site!
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/04/10/four-eggs-for-peregrine-falcons/

Point Pelee Birding Report for 2011 
http://www.ojibway.ca/pointpeleebirds2011.pdf

I'm selling my kayak (maybe)
http://windsor.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-sporting-goods-exercise-water-sports-Kayak-Wilderness-systems-tsunami-165-Updated-with-Photos-W0QQAdIdZ370102176

New Scope?
I'm in the market for a new scope. Some considerations are the Bushnell Elite Scopes, Vortex Razor 85mm, Kowa 88mm...Any suggestions?

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Birding Hiatus Birding

Having a little time to spare this morning, I figured I would try my luck at finding the Black Scoters that were so abundantly* reported as of late at Point Pelee. On the way to PPNP, I stopped by Hillman Marsh  and checked out the shorebird cell & wetland cells. Upon arrival at the shorebird cell, Kelly and Sylvain greeted me and gave a run-down at what was being seen (no Common Teal). Kelly mentioned a Northern Bobwhite calling about 20m to the right and mentioned how they were common back in her home state. She attempted to whistle the call but curiosity forced me to play the call on my Ibird App. A few moments later, the Bobwhite called with its very distinct and obvious call, fresh in my memory from having just played it. Northern Bobwhite was lifered about a year ago in Florida at the Cecil B. Webb WMA near Fort Myers. One crossed the road while I was driving... but its one of the few birds on my life list that I never got a photo of. 

The wetland cell was pretty quiet but had two Yellowlegs and about 20 Dunlin.

At Pelee, the tip's west beach was today's main destination.  While waiting for the tram to the tip, I re-united with Kelly and Sylvain along with Kory who had an incredible new 85mm Vortex scope. The four of us scanned the rafts of ducks from the tip parking lot, looking for Black Scoters.  Amongst thousands of Scaup,  (I think) I saw a Common Loon along with smatterings of Rudy Ducks, Bufflehead, and Surf Scoter. After walking North from the West Beach tip parking lot, we had a great vantage point on thousands of Ducks and Kory spotted the Black Scoter after considerable effort. Kory then spotted a pair of Horned Grebes that were right in front of us!

Where's Waldo? Where is Black Scoter?

*About four Black Scoter were amongst thousands other ducks. I can't beleive how hard it was to find them. A good scope, a little luck and patience were needed to see this rare coastal and salt water dwelling scoter!

 

A quick walk along Shuster Trail turned up several Winter Wrens, a Hermit Thrush and a few sparrows. A small Kinglet was seen next to the visitor center. I left the park at about noon as I had church and family plans.  Overall, it was a 'Good Friday'.

Good birding!

Dwaynejava

PS: Check out this photo that Raymond Barlow took of a Peregrine Falcon at Niagara Falls...

http://www.pbase.com/raymondjbarlow/image/142337407

 

PSS: Did you hear that there is a Cougar roaming around in Amherstburg right now?

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/04/02/second-cougar-sighting-in-amherstburg/ 

Lifer Summary:

Black Scoter - 296

Birding Point Pelee and Hillman Marsh

 

I headed out to Point Pelee this morning with the intention of being home in 5 hours. 2 hours of commuting to and from Windsor and one hour each for Delaurier Trail & the tip of Point Pelee and one hour at Hillman. I was hoping to see some early spring migrants such as Eastern Meadowlarks or Eastern Bluebirds but no such luck today. I did see the great horned owls near the Park entrance (no big surprise .... it lives there).

I started at Delaurier Trail, which is one of my favorite paths to walk at Point Pelee. I just love walking on the wooden pathways that cross over the flooded sloughs and channels. It was generally quiet though when I walked it though. Ander's Footpath was a little quiet as well, with the exeption of an Eastern Phoebe and some common blackbirds. The tip of Point Pelee did not seem very birdy to me today either. Just a few gulls and common birds around. East beach had some nice looks at Red breasted Mergansers and distant flotillas of ducks that I did not have the time nor optics to scan :-).

Some birds seen out at Point Pelee today include:
Great Horned Owl
Eastern Phoebe
Swamp Sparrow
Common Merganser
Red Breasted Merganser
Common Grackles
Northern Flicker
... as well as the typical regulars one would normally see.

After Point Pelee, I then proceeded to Hillman Marsh for about an hour. I ran into an excellent birder, Richard C. who had a fantastic scope that gave breathtaking views at some of the great birds at Hillman Marsh. I would almost say Hillman Marsh was a little better bird-wise today than Point Pelee.

My first looks at male Green Winged Teals.  This was a target species for me today.

Only the second time I've seen Wilson's Snipe. Many (7-9) were around Hillman today.

Hillman Marsh Birds Include:

Wilson's Snipe (several... 7 at one point)
Greater Yellowlegs (one)
Green winged Teal
Gadwal
Northern Shoveler
Bufflehead
Mallards
American Coot
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring billed Gulls

Tree Swallows
Killdeer

One G-Yellowlegs, a Killdeer, and 7 Snipe in the background!

Lots of gulls (Bonapartes Gulls) on the Hillman Shorebird Cell

There are three Wilson's Snipe on the left and one on the right

Tree Swallows were flying over the shorebird cell at Hillman this morning

I hope to bird these areas every weekend from April to May this year. Good times!

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Great Horned Owl & Short Billed Dowitcher

I had a great day at Point Pelee National Park (PPNP) today! I met up with Rick from Leamington and he expertly showed me the location of two Great Horned Owls (along with Kevin, the Owl whisperer).

Rick and I later did some Butterflying on the west beach area, where we saw Giant Swallowtail, Yellow Sulpher, Painted Lady, Pearl Crescent, Monarch and Common Buckeye (thanks to Blake for the heads up on the Buckeye). We also saw Snout butterflies while talking to a butterfly researcher at the researcher's lodge.

Later in the afternoon, I kayaked the PPNP marsh ... which was pretty quiet, but I did see some roosts of Terns, Black Terns, Short Billed Dowitcher (lifer), Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, G/L Yellowlegs, Sanderling. At one point, a young Black Crowned Night Heron flew from the reeds and landed on a nearby peat island.

Good day overall, but I think I need to invest in a wide brimmed hat! I think I'm aging myself with so much sun exposure lately.

Good Birding & Butterflying,
Dwayne