Backtrack Birding: Golden winged Warbler at Pelee --- May 13th Birding

*Editor's Note - This was a draft posting that I wrote back in Mid May. This posting represents just the fourth time that I've seen a Golden-winged Warbler.*

Well, its Mother's Day today as I write this. (Happy Mother's Day to any mothers that happen to be reading this). I really value the work that mothers do ... but seriously... who decided to put mothers day on the second weekend in May? Obviously, that person was not a birder!

I was sitting around all Sunday afternoon in Windsor looking at Ontbird reports about the "fallout" that was happening along the Lake Erie Shoreline. Kirtlands Warbler? Easy at Pelee but ... I was at home in Windsor.

I did make it out on Saturday May 13th with some decent results. Again, I car-pooled with Kit as we wanted to reduce our gas costs and environmental cost, not to mention general camaraderie. Luckily, Kit informed me that Mike Austin was going to join us.

In the early morning, one of our first birds was a Blackpoll Warbler which I finally have come to "understand and know" its song. Its distinct enough that it is easily learned after hearing it a few times. Northern Waterthursh was heard as well and I picked it out on the northern end of the tildens trail slough. I made an effort to get many people nearby on these birds.

This year, lots of singing Wood Thrushes were heard, but of course, few were seen. (*Side note: I hear the song of woodthrush every late afternoon ... South Cameron Woodlot is large enough to attract these beautiful songsters*) This particular wood thrush was spotted on the Tildens Trail footpath... Sadly, PPNP's management built many YURTS in alarmingly close proximity to the interior forest / flooded wetland forest habitat that is so endangered in Southwestern Ontario. One must ask... What were they thinking? Was an environmental assessment done? Bird survey? I will leave further comment for another blog posting.

Later near the Serengeti tree, Mike picked out this Lincoln's Sparrow  --- I wanted to make it a LeContes.... (Photoshop?) ... but hey, I'll take it. I think I've missed this species entirely last year so I was really happy to catch up with one again.

Finally, a Golden-winged and Hooded Warbler capped off the afternoon.

Lots of Red-eyed Vireos were finally present. Nice to see these beautiful birds again. ...

Kit and I stopped by the shorebird cell of Hillman Marsh afterwards. No mega rarity shorebirds were present, but we had nice looks at Black bellied Plovers, a Dowitcher, Caspian and Forester's Terns, Dunlin and of course, Killdeer Plovers. I recognized Quinten from Birds, Bugs and Botany Blog and congratulated him on his birding and blogging efforts.

PS: I was happy to see some decent migrants in my back yard this May. I did see a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and this week, I noted Orioles on my Humingbird feeder. I quickly remembered that my wife gave me an Oriole Feeder at Christmas and quickly set that up for my visitors. I am happy to say that a pair have been sticking around all week and at one point, I saw the female with nesting material in her mouth. She might be weaving a basket-style nest. This would be a new breeding species along the edge of South Cameron woodlot... I've only been here for less than two years and I'm still tallying new birds!

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Blackburnian Warblers and other Neotropical Migrants at Point Pelee

Had a great afternoon at Pelee today. The footpaths along the east side of the tip gave amazing views of warblers this afternoon. Magnolia, Blackburnian, and Chestnut sided along with others were foraging at eye level along the pathways. At times, you might have two Blackburnian warblers, and a Magnolia in the same small tree... amazing.

Happy Mother's Day to all those mama's out there...
Good birding!

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14079734

Owl Mobbing Warblers!

 

This past Saturday at Point Pelee, I noticed about 6 orioles on a branch 30 meters east of Tildens trail. All of a sudden birds came out of nowhere and started going crazy. At the time, a few of us just watched the show in amazement. One viewer stated that the birds were probably mobbing an owl! I've seen crows mob larger owls (even the great grey owl attracted protest from the odd crow) but never warblers protesting Eastern Screech Owls. Northern Saw Whet Owls get protested by Black-capped Chickadees. How Cool!

For some strange reason, things died down and I continued walking. I did not think much about looking for the owl that the warblers were protesting. Later that day, my friend Rick from Leamington had mentioned that a Red-Morph Eastern Screech Owl was found on a branch off Tildens. I think that must have been the culprit!

 West Beach Habitat & Birds

 

These three landscape shots were taken with my new phone.

Variegated Fritillary... life butterfly

 

 

 

Can't wait to get back out next Saturday...
Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Birding in Revelstoke BC

We stopped in Revelstoke BC which is about an hour or two West of Banff National Park in BC. If the Okanagan Valley is in the middle of BC, Revelstoke is about 3/4 over from the left if that makes any sense. Revelstoke was the only two days of our trip where we had bad weather.

Multi-coloured roadside wild-flowers are easily enjoyed in Revelstoke BC

Again, birding was not the primary function on this trip, but I had a "Hello BC" tourism booklet that promised beatuful mountain-top meadows with a sea of colour in mid July. So when I pulled up to Mt Revelstoke National Park entrance booth, the lady told me: "There's a meter of snow up there. You'll have to come back in mid August to walk the "Meadows in the sky boardwalk". So I figured I would go into the park anyway, but at the 10K mark, our visibility was like 20m so we turned around and walked the first trail in the park which was not foggy. The trailhead sign featured beautiful colour photos of Varied Thrushes and Stellars Jay's so I was excited to go. The bird list for mid-summer in Revelstoke was incredible. I could of had 20 lifers if I had some time to bird the park, but that wasn't happening today. Long story short, not a single bird chirp after hiking 10 minutes so we turned around and went to the next birding destination in the park: the Skunk Cabbage Trail.

Skunk cabbage trail was really beautiful. It had many types of vegetation which ranged from grassland, then forest habitat, along with a major rushing stream, then scrubby bushes and wetland. Birds seen while hiking this trail were not overly exciting. Cedar Waxwings, Red eyed Vireo, Fox Sparrows along with some Mountain Chickadees was about all I saw. I was really hoping to get a chance to see a Stellar's Jay on this trip. Not seeing that bird may be my most painful miss.

 

Revelstoke is a nice little town. We had a great dinner on the main street and the Best Western Hotel we stayed at was brand new. I think we were the first people to sleep in our room. The weather was cloudy but not raining, so if this was the only bad weather on our trip, that was still a good deal in terms of luck.

No lifers in Revelstoke even though there should have been! On to Banff National Park.

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

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