Broad winged Hawk Migration at Holiday Beach

A few days ago, (Thursday Sept 18th, 2014) I went to Holiday Beach after work because there was a nice north wind blowing and I had a hunch that it might be a good hawk-watching day. Sure enough, as I was birding and casually walking around at Holiday Beach, I looked up into the sky with my binoculars and saw huge kettles of Broad Winged Hawks (the scene above is barely visible to the naked eye - you need optics and a good zoom lens to appreciate such kettles - especially later in the day when the flight elevation rises). It was a great afternoon - 22, 600 raptors has flown over the hawkwatching tower - a huge day for Broad winged Hawks and a great diversity of raptors as well.

A pair of Snowy Egrets that have been ongoing gave nice views and posed nicely next to Great Egrets in the pond below the tower. Several Common Nighthawks flew overhead as well. Several American Kestrels flew by the tower eating Green Darner Dragonflies.

Nom Nom Nom - Kestrel munching on freshly caught dragonfly

This Peregrine falcon knows he's at the top of the food chain. This bird took a few swoops at other raptors nearby.

More kettles some with 50 to 100, some the 500+ birds went by for the next 2 hours. Amazing to witness. I think every birder should witness this Broad winged Hawk migration ... the problem is timing though. I would suggest keeping an eye out on hawkwatching reports during mid-September, and go within 1-2 days of an increased surge of Broad wings. Another thing to consider is that North / Northwest winds always make for a good day of hawkwatching in Mid-September as well.

More Kettles - I only had my 250mm lens... Not my 400mm

Saturday morning, I went to Point Pelee and it was surprisingly quiet - at least for me. I ended up walking Delaurier/Cactus Trail and noticed a few warblers, my first southbound Ruby crowned Kinglet and a few of the more common warblers.  I took the tram to the tip and met Jeremy Bensette on the way. Josh Vandermeulen, Dave Szmyr, Jeremy Hatt and Blake Mann were doing a lake watch with great results on SE winds. I must admit, I don't have too much patience for lake watching... and I didn't have a scope like the rest of the group but Josh soon called out a nice Parasitic Jaeger that was surprisingly close to the west beach path that we were standing on.

Nice find Josh! My second Parasitic Jaeger and first at Point Pelee

I left Pelee at about noon. I tried to bird the new Juniper Savanah near the parking lot but it was quiet. Lots of Sharped Shinned Hawks flying overhead.  I ended up just looking at some very common butterflies. A single Monarch was present. They had a pretty big flight... earlier in the week.

I've never really confidently identified an Orange Sulphur from a Clouded... Two very common butterflies - But this one seems to be an easy ID - if you have a net or a camera with a fast shutter rate.

Cabbage White on Sky blue Aster?

Good birding!
Dwaynejava


PS:

Did you know that September 6th was World Shorebird Day? Check out this video that Cornell Ornithology posted about Bar tailed Godwit migration research.

Labour Day Weekend Birding - Pelee Birding & Snowy Egrets at Holiday Beach

This could be a  is a Least Flycatcher  (ignore the image label)

Labour Day weekend is usually such a great weekend for birding. Southbound migration is in full swing and its the last long weekend of Summer.  I decided to go birding at Point Pelee and my first stop in the park was at Delaurier Trail. I found a really nice pocket of flycatchers and warblers just north of the parking lot. This recently managed area has lots of open cedar savannah with lots of brush piles. Blue grey Gnatcatchers, Nashville, Bay-Poll warblers were seen here as well as Eastern Phoebe, Yellow bellied Flycatcher (could have been a Least to be honest) and Eastern Wood Pewee were seen and heard. Overhead, three or four Common Nighthawks were foraging with spectacular arial maneuvers and showing there nicely marked white bars on their long wings. The octagon area of the Delaurier trail was nice as well with a few more warbler species (black and white), Hummingbirds and more Flycatchers.

Later at Cactus Field - I noted that it was birdy as well. Its really grown in since its grand opening this spring. Its hard to find the trail under all the Goldenrod. Lots of Blue Jays, Carolina and House Wrens, Common Grackels, Goldfinch, Cardinals were around. A Least Flycatcher posed nicely for me but my camera was at a +1 exposure, overexposing this beautiful little avian gem.

Hackberry Emperor in the White Pine Parking Lot.

 

 

 



I saw many birders at the park today including Steve Pike, Blake, Alan, Jeremy B & Josh. Josh and Jeremy invited me to go out to Holiday Beach with them so I joined, because I wanted to get better looks at Snowy Egrets than I had gotten in the last week or two.  On the way, I stopped in Kingsville to see a Common Checkered Skipper colony that is behind the McDonalds lot.

Sure enough at Holiday Beach - Trumpeter Swans were a highlight as well as a Solitary Sandpiper, Green Heron, Kingfishers ... but no Snowy Egrets in sight.  Until we were leaving... Josh called the Snowy in flight - as it landed in the pond adjacent to the hawk watching tower.

I only saw one Snowy Egret, but Kory, Josh and Jeremy had seen two as they left the park.

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Shorebirding Point Pelee's Marsh

I've started a tradition over the last two or three years to kayak Point Pelee's Marsh in August. This is a nice way to witness the fall migration of shorebirds very close-up. I was hoping to see a rarity, such as a Phalarope or Avocet, but no such luck. Pretty much what I've seen in previous years was seen this week:

Pectoral Sandpiper 5
Semi Plover 4
Semi Sandpiper 6
Least Sandpiper 4
Black Bellied Plover 3
Killdeer 6
Short Billed Dowitcher 2

 

 Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper. Its funny to think that as recent as last summer, I had some minor confusion with this species and Sanderling. Rest assured, I've ironed out the differences and will no longer be confused!

Pectoral Sandpiper

More Butterfly Watching

I've walked alot at Spring Garden (as mentioned in my last posting) but butterflies diversity has not really changed, or seems to be tapering off (between broods?). I did see a pair of Variegated Fritillaries though, which was exciting to see... I don't think any former butterfly counts for Ojibway had that species, so that's pretty significant to see so many there! Other butterflies there are Pecks, Fiery, Dainty Sulphur, Common Buckeye, Eastern Tailed Blue, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Least skippers, Crossline Skipper and Checkered Skipper.

Two Variegated Fritillaries, chasing each other in a whirlabout!

Its surprisingly difficult to photograph an Orange Sulphur in a dorsal perspective!

The photo below shows a pair of Skippers that I noticed at Wheatley Beach this week. When I was at the beach, I had noticed some Common Sootywings and a few skippers,  and figured I would ID the skippers when I got home. They turned out to be Sachem Skippers! Pretty rare... In my opinion at least! I would have taken more care in photographing them, but I figured I was looking at something common! Other butterflies included Common Sootywing and many Sulphurs.

Sachem Butterflies - Wheatley Beach. Note the huge stigma marking on the male.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Rough Blazingstar - Spring Garden Area

 

First time seeing a Walking Stick Insect in the wild... Crazy!