White-winged Dove (was) at Rondeau

He took a wrong turn at Albuquerque... Probably a male (hates to ask for directions)

February-March have always been a bad birding months for me. Its almost a time for me to back away from birding heavily so I can recharge my batteries while things are slow.  Its a good time to bank some time into work, night-school, family so that I can go full throttle as late April approaches.  Back on Feb 2nd though I couldn't help but twitch a long-staying White-winged Dove at Rondeau (It has moved on by now, it has not been seen for about a week at Rondeau). My story of how I saw this bird was anticlimactic... I pulled up to the visitor center, walked up to the feeder station and saw it sitting prominently on the main feeder post. Local birding phenom Jeremy Hatt has a brilliantly written writeup on his attempt to find this bird here.

An Ojibway Park Specialty, Tufted Titmouse perches for an instant before landing on a black sunflower seed feeder.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this bird/photo was that I almost lost my photos of the Dove. Somehow, my memory card became corrupted and neither my card-reader or camera could read my Compact Flash memory card. Luckily, I have a program called "Lexar: Image Rescue 3" and it salvaged all the files on my card. I was worried I had lost my White-winged Dove photos but luckily they were recovered.  Some recent photos from the Detroit River and Ojibway Park were salvaged as well. I even had some photos from two summers ago when I went out west to BC. One of my favorite moments from that trip was the 'accidental' discover of a small group of Lewis's Woodpeckers.

So, yes, I'm still birding, but in a much lighter fashion. I even (gasp) went birding without my camera a few times recently. Lakeview Marina in East Windsor is an excellent spot to see seasonal ducks, gulls, swans, eagles, Herons etc. My parents have excellent feeders at their house that have attracted a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches (three winters in a row now), which is a pretty rare bird in Essex, particularly in the middle of South Windsor.

Good birding!

Dwayne

Purple Sandpiper: #314
Glaucous Gull:  #315
Iceland Gull #316
White winged Dove #317


PS: Flashback!
July 2011... Trip to BC. Target bird was a Lewis's Woodpecker. Click here for full story.

Lewis's Woodpecker in Okanogan Valley

Informally Birding the Holiday Beach CBC

(Note:This is an old posting from Dec 27th that I never got around to publishing until today)

Holiday Beach (in Amherstburg) had its CBC on Dec 27, 2012. I had participated in last's year's CBC but this year, I couldn't commit to the full morning. I still wanted to get out there though in the early afternoon, even just to walk the area on my own and enjoy the nice weather. As I approached Holiday Beach, I noticed a several fields with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, and got a quick glimpse of at least two Lapland Longspurs (see photo above).

Here are some of the birds I saw while informally birding HBMO-CBC*:

Amherstburg side roads leading to HBMO
75 Snow Buntings
50 Horned Larks
2 Lapland Longspurs

Holiday Beach Memorial Forest
1 Northern Harrier
2 Red tailed Hawks
10 Black capped Chickadees
4 Red breasted Nuthatches
3 Tundra Swans (flyover)

HBMO Main Forest Pathway
6 White throated Sparrows
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Red bellied Woodpecker
3 Red breasted Nuthatches
1 Hermit Thrush
3 Northern Cardinals
3 American Goldfinches
1 Carolina Wren

On the way home, I took a detour through Harrow and found the following:

4 American Kestrels
2 Northern Shrikes
1 Short eared Owl
1 Rough legged Hawk
4 Red tailed Hawks
120 Snow Buntings
30 Morning Doves

Northern Shrike !

And another Northern Shrike !

I was really excited about seeing a Northern Shrike again today, and then, another shortly after! I totally missed seeing one in 2011... They are so rare in my opinion but this is my third this month! Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow** were pretty nice to see, not mega-rarities, but still good birds to see in the last week of December.

I plan on doing a 2012 year in review as my first posting in 2013.  I will also try to join the Detroit River (Ojibway Park) CBC on Jan 1 2013.  Happy New Year!

Good birding!
Dwayne

*PS:I am going to officially start using Ebird in 2013.

**PSS: On boxing day, we had a really nice snowstorm, so I figured I would head over to Ojibway Park to see if I could get some nice photos in the snow. The usual feeder birds were present, (House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals etc) but to my astonishment, a Fox Sparrow perched into a tree next to the feeders where I was standing!

White winged Crossbills & Wilson's Snipe at HBMO

I stopped by the Holiday Beach this afternoon to do a little hawk watching and enjoy the great weather. Not much was flying, perhaps 10 raptors were seen in the distance over the course of two hours. Flocks of American Goldfinch and Horned Larks streamed by. Three Wilson's Snipe were in the little pond next to the tower which is always nice to see.

Feeling that nothing was happening, I tried my luck at the Holiday Beach Memorial Forest across the road from Holiday Beach, and noticed many Red breasted Nuthatches, as well as Black capped Chickadees... Then, I hear a ruckus above from a flock of birds... Nice! White winged Crossbills, only a week or two after lifering them at Rondeau!

A wise birder once told me that as soon as you lifer a bird, you will see it easily after that... and its so true! I've had a few great lifers in the last two months: Virginia Rail, American Pipit, Saw-whet Owl and now White winged Crossbills!

It was cool to see these birds today and hear them and watch them feed on Spruce cones. At one point, the papery spruce cone seed-hulls were raining down from the treetops as I observed the crossbills feeding. They were falling like a ticker-tape in a ticker tape parade.

I wanted to get this posting up quickly, so I'm cutting it short here!

Good birding!

Dwaynejava

PS: These are the Spruce cone seeds that they are eating!

Evening Grosbeak & Winter Finches at Rondeau

Boardwalk near vistor center

A recent blog posting from a Rondeau Area birder had Evening Grosbeaks and White-winged Crossbills coming to his feeders, so I thought I would go see them for myself. I've seen Evening Grosbeaks (at a great distance) in the Okanagan Valley BC but never in Ontario. White winged Crossbills would be a life bird though.

Upon arrival to Rondeau Park, I walked up to the beach and noticed three Horned Grebes close to the shore. Common Mergansers were very close to shore as well, but further south along the beach. Next was the visitor center feeders, but I soon realized that there was no bird seed there so, I decided to head over to south point trail where I ran into Blake and Steve.

Hermit Thrushes on South Point Trail

Next stop was Ric & Anne's Feeders. We saw many Pine Siskens, Red and White breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches but no Grosbeaks or Crossbills.

Siskins and Purple Finch

Blake and Steve decided to walk the campground and I followed, as I had never walked that part of the park. Lots of birds around, including: Eastern Bluebirds, Red bellied Woodpeckers, chickadees, both Kinglets and even a Nashville Warbler was seen foraging through dried-out goldenrod plants. Steve soon pointed out a flock of Crossbills that went right over our heads. I snapped a few photos in hopes of verifying them and sure enough...Lifer! White winged Crossbills #309.

White winged Crossbills in flight

Having limited time, I figured I would try out Ric's feeders one more time before I left Rondeau. Sure enough, as I was about to give up on waiting, Evening Grosbeaks showed up!

Red breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmouse and Red bellied Woodpeckers were hanging out!

As I was about to leave Rondeau Park, Blake stopped by Ric's Cottage to see the Grosbeaks and infomed me that he found another Saw-whet Owl!  Seeing this amazing owl was a great way to end off a great morning of birding!

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Hawkfest Birding at Holiday Beach & Pelee

Saturday morning, the family and I headed out to the hawk festival at Holiday Beach.  A few Kestrels flew overhead as we arrived and some kettles of Turkey Vultures and Broad wings (at stratospheric levels) were seen. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation had some captive raptors on display including this Barn Owl above. I find it kinda sad to see any captive bird and was almost reluctant to post this gorgeous bird (he looks so sad!). This weekend was not too great for Hawkwatching. The winds were southerly and little was moving. I guess on Tuesday this week, a huge cold front will push lots of raptors south.

While leaving Holiday Beach, I walked along the scrubby area parallel to the beach with my son and saw a few warblers: Blackpoll, Blackburnian and Nashville Warblers were seen briefly. Nuthatches were heard but not seen. A few flycatchers were around but I did not really have time to really ID them. I think one was an Eastern Pewee, and the other (see below) may be another Olive sided?!?

Audubon Magazine recently had an article which listed out the ten best Hawk-watching places in North America, and Holiday Beach was third in the list!  Pretty cool. See the article here: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/birds/audubon-guide-hawk-watching

Another Olive sided Flycatcher?

Blackburnian Warbler... Non Cooperative...

Sachem on New England Aster Behind Pelee Inn

Point Pelee Tour with the Family 

A large tree in Sparrow Field always has Hackberry butterflies on it. It may be leaking sap.

Point Pelee was quiet bird-wise until my wife and two sons visited the tip. While leaving the beach and getting onto the west path back to the tram loop, I noticed many birds in the first few trees at the tip of Point Pelee. The trees were crawling with Red-breasted Nuthatches (10+?), Yellow rumped Warblers (6) and Blue grey Gnatcatchers (4).  A single southernmost-Sanderling was trying to avoid tourists walking the beach at the tip of Pelee... the only shorebird. Hundreds of gulls  (some black-backed) and Cormorants were on the three islands that extended out from the tip of Pelee.

Checkered Skipper on Short's Aster

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


PS: A little buzz in Windsor lately about a birding film being shot at various parts of Essex including Ojibway Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2cWzqjnaA&feature=related
http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/Cavanagh+soaring+Birder/7246574/story.html
http://www.ctvwindsor.ca/tag/the-birder/

Praying Mantis. On my son's play-house!

Labour Day Weekend Birding v2

Hackberry Emporer - On a Hackberry! There must have been 15 Emporers on this tree alone!

I got up early on Monday and headed out to Point Pelee. I briefly stopped at the northmost parking lot and found it to be quiet with the exception of an unidentified flycatcher (Acadian Perhaps?) perched on the powerlines. Moving on, a quick stop at Delaurier Trail was very birdy, but the hot, humid air had my camera optics all fogged up. Cedar Waxwings, Least Flycatcher and a mix of Warblers were fluttering around in the sun-lit tree tops. My next stop was the visitor center parking lot. The sunlit east side of the parking lot was crawling with birds. Sadly, my camera had an "Error 30" message, that indicated the shutter was jamming.

I spent more time fumbling with my camera than I wanted to, but some birds seen were Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Red breasted Nuthatch, Scarlet Tanager, and Yellow bellied Flycatcher! At one point, I gave up on my camera and just looked at a pair of Red breasted Nuthatches fluttering and skylarking over the parking lot through my binoculars. It was cool to see them flying with their stubby blunt tails. Very cool and exciting to see what everyone else is noticing on Ontbirds... There seems to be a Red breasted Nuthatch invasion!

Red breasted Nuthatch Invasion!

Yellow bellied Flycatcher

The beak of this bird hints at Scarlet Tanager... Thoughts?

A walk along west beach was a little bit of a letdown, with only a few butterflies and birds. Sharp shinned Hawks, Merlin and American Kestreal were abundant overhead. A Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Peewee, were seen along with a pair of noisy Kingfishers. Closer to the tip, American Redstarts and Blackpoll and possibly Cape May Warblers were seen.

Spicebush Swallowtail along West Beach

South end of NW Beach Parking Lot offered a Grey Hairstreak among many others...

At the tip of Point Pelee, a Merlin was perched at the top of a tree, giving nice close looks at this beautiful raptor. Overhead, Falcons and Accipiters flew at high altitudes. A Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo) flew over at a pretty low level.

 

After Pelee, I went to Hillman Marsh to see if there might be any shorebirds in the wetland cell. There were some good shorebirds behind the visitor center, due to very low water levels. Another Blackpoll warbler was seen in the scrubby area along the wetland cell. Some birds seen include:

10 + Yellowlegs
10 + White Rumped
1 Green Heron
1 Juv Black Crowned Night Heron
25 Great Egrets
5 Red Knots (?)
10 Semipalmated Plovers
5 American Black Ducks

Blackpoll Warbler

Cedar Creek in Kingsville was visited while driving between Leamington and Amherstburg.  An Osprey overhead caught my eye. But my time was limited so I continued on...

My last stop was Holiday Beach. Upon arrival I saw a birder at a picnic table photographing birds. I joined him and to my amazement, warblers just went by almost as if they were in a parade.  Black and white, Chestnut sided warbler, Magnolia, Black throated Blue, Eastern Pewee, Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos abundant as well. All the while, more Hackberry Emporers were abundant and even landing on me!

I stopped by the banding station at Holiday Beach and Paul Pratt invited me to watch how he recorded specs for a Swainson's Thrush. They were very busy so I continued on to the tower. Red-eyed Vireo and Magnolia were seen in the mist nets while exiting the banding area. At the hawk tower, I met the official counter (Todd Pepper), and Kory & Sarah again. A few seasonal raptors had gone by ... but I had to go. My time at Holiday Beach was short as I had to be home for 3pm... But overall a great day of birding!

Good birding!
Dwaynejava