They Come in Threes

My last horrah of my Christmas vacation took place last Friday with a trip out to Point Pelee in search of White Winged Crossbills. Where are they??? :-)  I did see a three pack of Owls (Great Grey, Snowy and Screech) along with a three-pack of Falcons (Merlin, American Kestrel and the resident Bridge Peregrines) in my futile search for the Crossbills.

It was 50 degrees (F) out (Jan 6th) and sunny. Not much was seen at Point Pelee bird wise with the exception of some Red Breasted Mergansers at the tip. The tip of Point Pelee is really eroded!!! Its really up to the PPNP staff to figure this out, but I think foot-traffic along the 3'-4' erosion wall near the tip is a bad idea. As people approach this ledge, the wall seems to crumble due to the predominate sand content in the soil there.

I reluctantly stopped for 5 minutes at the GGOW site on the way to PPNP and got a chance to see Rick, my birding friend from Leamington. Check out this photo below of the GGOW. It crossed the road on McCain side road at one point, just 1'-2'  above the roadway. The GGOW has evolved its senses to hear lemmings under snow, but not to deal with a Chevy barreling down the road at 60km. Lets hope he makes it!

 

I met some birders today looking for Short-eared Owls out in the county. These guys from Virginia knew about birding hotspots in the county that took me almost three years to find out about. They told me that Northern Shrikes were seen yesterday in a location not far from the GGOW. My search for them today netted some Eastern Bluebirds and an obliging Merlin. American Kestrels were seen in a few places, but this one near the Onion Fields was not as shy as the others. The Snowy Owl above was also seen in the Onion Fields near Rd 19 and Rd D. Point Pelee was very quiet... a few Red Breasted Mergansers near the tip, a few Horned Larks in the onion fields but not much else was seen.

 

Merlin is really the star of this posting. I rarely see them. Kestrels are easy enough to find out in the county, although they can be very camera shy. I got home thinking it would be cool to see a Peregrine Falcon to make a "Falcon Hat-trick" (for the day) but I was thinking that the few people who read this blog would not really care if I did or not. Then it dawned on me that I needed to go to Canadian Tire (near the bridge) to pick something up anyway... So there you go... Falcon Three-Pack.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Great Grey Owl Still in Kingsville

***Update: To my knowledge, the owl has not been seen in Kingsville since Jan 8, 2012***

Not satisfied with last night's views of the Great Grey Owl, I drove up to Kingsville again this morning and tried my luck at finding the owl again. As I was driving to yesterday's location, I noted a Snowy Owl on top of a telephone post. I pulled over and took some photos. Nobody was around and it dawned on me that I had discovered my first snowy owl! I've seen others, but they were pointed out to me by other birders.

Anyway, I quickly left, in hopes of finding the Great Grey Owl. I drove around for 30 or so minutes and then gave up. I had to go out this morning for breakfast with some friends so as I drove away, I noticed a mob of birders (& mobbing crows!) on Concession Rd 2 and knew something special was happening.

Check out this magnificent owl species below!

Incredible Camouflage!!!

Please treat owls ethically. Do not disturb them or play calls or use baits for them.  View them from a distance and respect their space as well as private property. Check out this excellent article (regarding owl ethics) from Ebird.org entitled: Got Snowies?

Good birding, and Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all that celebrate!
Dwaynejava

Almost forgot: My first self discovered Snowy Owl!

Got Lemmings?

Update:

See these great blogs for more amazing photos of this boreal beauty.

http://burgbirder.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-of-owls.html

http://kenburrell.blogspot.com/2011/12/twas-2-nights-before-xmas-and-i-was.html

Great Grey Owl...

 

I was talking to Blake earlier this week about the possibility of having a 5 owl species day in Essex County, and he suggested 6 is possible and has been done! (Great Horned, Eastern Screech, Long Eared, Short Eared, Snowy, Saw-Whet)... So could you imagine 7 species???? This is my third lifer this month, and all three have been owls: Snowy (1), Short eared (2) and now Great Grey (3).

Upon arrival to the site, many familiar nature lovers were present (and were leaving) as the sun had just set at 5:15pm. Paul Pratt shared his scoped views of this magnificent boreal species and informed me that this is the first record for  a Great grey Owl in Essex! Kory and Sarah from Leamington also shared some photos that they had taken during the daylight hours of this incredible bird which had me drooling with jealousy.

Even though it was futile, I took photos of the owl in the dark, at 80-100 meters. To get the shot above, I needed to use a tripod, and set a 2-second auto-timer so that I was not even touching the camera during the exposure, shut off IS, ISO1600, Ap 1/6.3, exposure time 1/10sec, and I held my breath... This photo even had the exposure increased by +1. Flash is never used on an owl.

An exciting lifer at #290.

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Read more about the Great Grey Owl...
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id/ac

PS: Other birds seen this week include, Rough-legged Hawk, Sandhill Cranes (100 flying overhead), Bald Eagle, Northern Mockingbird, and 40 or so Wild Turkeys!