Chuck Wills Widow, Mississippi Kite and some #PeleeProblems

Chuck wills Widow

Common Nighthawk

Twas' a good year for the Eastern  Nightjar / Goatsuckers at Pelee

Nightjars are awesome. I was lucky this year to have a chance to see all three Eastern Nightjars at Point Pelee and its great to have a birding network (friends & ontbirds) that will share in these fantastic sightings. The nice thing about nightjars is that they sleep all day and they don't seem to be bothered by people's presence. As I was leaving work last Friday, I had read that a Chuck Wills Widow was resting along Post Woods trail and I figured I would try to go see it. I called my wife as I was driving to Pelee and told her: "I probably won't make it home for dinner tonight sweety, I'm twitching a goatsucker". 

A Mississippi Kite was spotted along Fox Run road so I joined a few birders in trying to find it. At one point (no pun intended) S-Pike pointed out this perched raptor to a few birders who were nearby. I had a hard time getting my camera to focus on this bird which was probably over 75m away from where we were on the road, but as it flew, I think I obtained a somewhat diagnostic photo below.

Its been an interesting migration season this year. It seems that I've seen alot of rarities but I've missed a bunch of birds that should be common. For example:

• I've seen 2 separate Summer Tanagers --- but no Scarlet Tanagers (#PeleeProblems)
• I've seen 2 separate Prairie Warblers --- but no Wilsons Warblers (#Pelee Problems)
• I've seen all three eastern nightjar/goatsucker species but didn't see the two rarer Vireo Species (#Pelee Problems)
• I saw a Golden winged warbler --- but no blue winged! (#PeleeProblems)

This is what makes birding so interesting. Every year, the few chances that I get to witness the spring migration fall on different days, with different weather patterns so the mix of birds is always different. 

On several occasions this month, I tried to bird Ojibway Park, Malden Park or Black Oak Herritage park in Windsor. I had some pretty good birds --- not quite the diversity of birds that you might get at Point Pelee but still a good mix at times.  I recently mis-reported a Sedge Wren to our local WEPBIRDS group but I had been informed later - by Blake & by the E-bird Co-ordinator that I had confused a Sedge Wren call for a Tennessee Warbler call! The funny thing is, I swear the call I recorded was coming a low-lying ditch. Can you hear it?

I would like to go to Rondeau this weekend, and perhaps Clear Creek Forest! Maybe even Skunks Misery at the end of the month.

Good Birding!
-DM

Lifer summary:
390-Red throated loon (Kingsville Marina)
391-Worm eating warbler (shawnee state forest)
392-Kentucky warbler (shawnee state forest)
393-Carolina chickadee (shawnee state forest)
394- Mississippi Kite (hillman marsh)

Birding Ojibway Park in Late October

 

The photo above was taken with my cell phone in the tallgrass prairie section of the park. (See this link to read more about Ontario's Tallgrass habitat).

 This past Saturday Oct 20th, was a pretty good day to bird Ojibway Park. My wife, two kids and I went for a 1 hour walk at Ojibway. We walked the main path through the main forested area, and of course, I brought my camera. It was pretty quiet until I was blasted with "tea kettle tea kettle tea kettle" from a nearby Carolina Wren. I pished for a few moments (to the chagrin of my wife and son) and was able to coax a great photo of this awesome Carolinian species. Amazingly, I hear this bird alot when I'm out birding but only see this bird 5-10 times in a year.

Just moments later, I turned a corner, and was on a path that another family was traversing (with portrait photographer in tow) and five or so birds were flushed, I didn't know where to look but incredibly, a blue headed vireo was directly above me about 10-15ft over my head. I managed a crappy shot, this was actually after I adjust the exposure on my camera to +1.5 stops.

Some other birds seen during this walk included: Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker as well as three White-breasted Nuthatches.

A late Wilson's Warbler

 I stopped by the feeders with my wife and son, but not a single bird around... Except for a black-capped yellow warbler...Wilson's Warbler. Crappy photo but still a cool bird for late October.

I just realized that I've never tagged a photo of an American Crow, so I figure I will have my first Crow shot on my blog as this nice shot I took in the Tallgrass Prairie of Ojibway. Thousands of Crows are moving through Essex County this week.

An Eastern Towhee, or possibly several were singing their "Cheweet" song and called my attention to them. For a brief moment, I thought this may be a Spotted Towhee, but no... Its an Eastern.

This birding walk had some great birds, especially considering I was pushing a stroller for most of this walk! The Blue headed Vireo was really nice, its actually my first self-found fall BHV. The Wilson's Warbler was a nice surprise as well. Hairy Woodpecker and Carolina Wren are residents at Ojibway but not often seen.

 This week after work, I had a Black Capped Chickadee eat some sunflower seeds out of my hand. I have video of it, but will post some other time... I can't find it on my youtube account!


Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Holiday Beach Hawkwatch on Sept 11th 2011

Birding in the Neighborhood

 

 A quick walk to the end of my street this morning (there is a small 2-acre forest there) netted a Warbling Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo (I think), Swainsons Thrush, Black Capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmouse.  I typically don't see Tufted Titmice too much over the summer as they seem to avoid bird feeders and are more secluded in the woods (IMHO). Also, I have not really seen Tufted Titmouse in Windsor outside of Ojibway Park, so to see them residing in the small forest near my house is pretty exciting. The feather molt on Tufted Titmice seems to really clean up nicely for the winter, so these birds will probably look a little nicer in November. They're probably juvi's as they don't have too much rust colour in their flanks.

Buffy spectacles and olive coloured flanks hint that this is a Swainson's Thrush. He's on his way to Central or South America for the Winter.

 

Tufted Titmouse... one of my favorite birds, and a Windsor specialty

Holiday Beach Hawkwatch
A mid-afternoon family trip to Holiday Beach had some nice looks at some raptors that are in-season in early September such as Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrel and Osprey. Resident Bald Eagles were there as well.

Even though the forested beach  area was pretty well birdless, some of the trees next to the observation tower were pretty active with passerines. The trees had singles of Warbling and Philly Vireos along with Yellow, Magnolia, Nashville and Cape May Warblers.

I'm quite confident this is a Philadelphia Vireo, a lifer incredibly... at 281. I thought I had seen a Philly last fall, but many keen blog readers quickly pointed out the lack of yellow on the throat and chest (it was really a warbling vireo). One must ID a Philadelphia Vireo carefully as they are very similar in appearance to Warbling Vireos and (to a lesser extent) Red eyed Vireos. Philadelphia's are much more rare than Warbling Vireos as well... indeed, its taken me three years to finally see this bird!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Lifer summary:  Philadelphia Vireo #281

PS: Common Nighthawks flying over the house tonight along with Swallows.

St Clair NWA and Rondeau Birding Pt 1 of 3

As mid-May rolled around, I figured I would spend a day at Rondeau to change things up a little from the normal Pelee routine. I woke up super early and headed out to Rondeau... but at the last minute, I tried to see if my new GPS knew where St Clair NWA was. My query was quickly answered with both good and bad news. Yes, it new the spot, but a surprise was that it took alot of time to get there and then get back to Rondeau. Almost doubling the trip time. I did not see too many noteworthy birds at St Clair NWA... but I was only there for 30-40 minutes. I saw American Coot, but did not even see a single Great Blue Heron ... I did see a Black Crowned Night Heron outside the Nature Reserve in an irrigation ditch.

One nice thing about the trip was the discovery of a new observation tower. One has been missing for over two years.

I later made my way to Rondeau and paid a good part of $20 to simply enter the park. Is it me or is that a little expensive??? Rondeau was extremely quiet on the morning that I visited. Spicebush trail netted almost nothing other than RB Grosbecks and yellow warblers. Tulip Tree trail produced a single Swainsons Thursh and distant sounds of what must have been Pileated drumming.

 This Purple Finch was with a few females. Sadly, his other eye seemed to be impaled/diseased.

 Pine Siskin have been refered to as American Goldfinch in Camoflage.

A Mourning Warbler was spotted, and later a Black Billed Cuckoo thanks to some photographers that caught my attention as I was leaving the park.

I left Rondeau before noon to maybe try my luck at Hillman/Pelee.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Decent birds but terrible weather!

Do the birding gods hate me? It rained all morning on the one morning I had to bird one one of the best weekends of the year. This May 1st pales in comparison to last years May 1st 2010 outing.

On  a more positive note, I got some good looks at Vireos today. If one excludes the weather as a factor, it wasn't that bad a day considering the fact that I had to leave at 11:30 am.

Blue headed Vireo
Yellow throated Vireo (Lifer #237)
Warbling Vireo
Least Flycatcher
Grey Catbird
Wood Thrush (I took shaky video as well)
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Swainson's Thrush (Friday)
Northern Flicker
Red belllied Woodpecker

Ok, is this a Swainson's Thrush? It has huge buffy eyerings, olive flanks, drab grey-brown back... Not a lifer though. I believe I saw one two years ago in Florida, although I didn't study its features as I did today. Hillman Marsh always seems to have good birds...

Other Passerines included:

Black and White
Yellow rumped
Black throated Blue
Black throated Green
Palm
Blue Grey Gnatcatcher
Even a Red Breasted Nuthatch was seen!

I missed a Worm-eating Warbler today at the tram loop... (&)(^%!!!
...

and the 25 other common birds mentioned on the last posting!

It was nice to see some great views of Blue headed Vireo today... that was the highlight for me :^)

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

PS:  May 2nd is my official 2-year birding anniversary.
PSS: Incredible birds are showing up at Point Pelee, YB Chats, Prothnotary Warblers and Worm Eating. Of course, I have not seen them.