Only Brilliant Birders Can Solve this Pun

 

Mind Blown - *Tufted Titmouse* graces Backyard Feeder!

 

I have heard and seen Tufted Titmouse over the last 5-7 years of living at my current house (within south cameron woodlot) --- but on Dec 27th, 2023 - I had seen - for the first time in my life - an unmistakable Tufted Titmouse feeding from my black sunflower seed feeder! A nice male Red bellied Woodpecker was enjoying the feeder as well. 

I'm quite certain that this is the first time I have photographed a Tufted Titmouse (2+) on my back-yard bird feeder!

Tufted Titmouse is a special bird to me as its one of my sparkbirds  --- a bird that got me into bird watching! Also, its the official bird of Windsor. 

So - now I am going to have to keep my feeder well stocked and have this wonderful bird visit more often! Especially over the Winter Season.

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Some other birds seen today:

2 Red tailed Hawks

4 Black capped Chickadees

4 Dark Eyed Juncos

4 American Goldfinch

2 Tufted Titmouse

1 Downy Woodpecker

1 Red bellied Woodpecker

4 European Starling

25 Turkeys

1 Dove Morning

2 Robins

4 Cardinals

10 Blue Jays

Northern Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse, Robins at Ojibway Park in Windsor

 

I went to Ojibway Park today to seek out the long staying Northern Mockingbird that has delighted and eluded birders over the last week or so. I had gone to see it yesterday and dipped on seeing the bird - although I was not willing to wait around too long due to time constraints.

Today though - I went again and saw it relatively quickly. I had walked to "the bridge" at Ojibway and had not seen it. On the way back to the parking lot, I stopped at a few points and finally say this bird - which was amazing to see. It is Robin-sized with a pretty long tail. 

This bird is common as you go south towards Florida but can be a rarity in Ontario. Although... its pretty common in Southwestern Ontario and breeds in a few locations along Lake Erie. A few years ago, one of these birds was at another location within the Ojibway Park complex and I had heard it singing while sitting in my car. I would say that a Northern Mockingbird singing its sounds of other birds singing might be one of the 'neatest' bird experiences I have had... It really is a treat!

A few other birds seen today were the common birds at Ojibway at this time: American Tree Sparrow, Red bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Black Capped Chickadee, as well as a small flock of about 5-6 American Robins!

One last note in this posting was that I had my camera on "auto white balance" for the first few shots of the NOMO and then I tried switching to "cloudy white balance". The "cloudy white balance" shots reveal more browns and warm tones while the auto white balance has the colder, greyer colours. 

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Ojibway Birding in February - Surprisingly good birding!

After this week's "polar vortex" of -25C weather - it was nice to go outside today in balmy +4C + sunny weather. My first target was Long tailed Ducks that were seen by many along the Detroit River. It was nice to see a Pied-billed Grebe along with some Golden-eye, merganser and Canvasback ducks. 

Then at Ojibway Park - just a few minutes from that spot several nice birds were seen. In particular - it was nice to see Fox Sparrow, a male and female Eastern Towhee, Song Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse and to my absolute amazement - Kit M. had found a Saw Whet Owl!

I am tempted to go up to Guelph to try my luck for the Bohemian Waxwings... That would be a long sought after life bird!

Good birding!

DM

Bonus story : Last week I was driving in Windsor on Dougal Ave and I noticed a raptor flying very agressively while I was waiting at a light. I soon drove by a hotel parking lot and noticed a raptor with a pigeon as prey. I pulled into the parking lot and was able to capture a few cell-phone photos as I flushed the bird. To my surprise --- it was a Peregrine Falcon!

Townsend's Solitaire at Point Pelee + Backyard Bald Eagle?

This morning as I was about to sit down and do some online course-work, I noted an email that said "Townsend's Solitaire". I almost hit delete on the email - assuming that it was a sighting near Toronto, Hamilton or Ottawa... but no - It was posted by a great local birder - Kory Renaud. I was in shock because well - I wasn't obligated to work while reading about a great local sighting!

Long story short - I twitched the bird at Pelee. It was super easy to find. A small group of birders (Kory, Rick and the Como Girls) were standing right in front of the Point Pelee visitor center entrance. It was almost too easy to see this bird! I soon left the VC (after warming up a little) and walked all the way down Shuster Trail to the East Beach. I needed the walk.

This is my first Townsend's Solitaire in Ontario -- but it is not a lifer. I had seen this bird in Sisters Oregon at the Dean Hale Woodpecker -- see this link if you care to see part 1 of 4 for that trip:  http://dwaynejava.blogspot.ca/2014/06/birding-sisters-oregon-trip-report.html

A recent sighting that I made for my backyard is this Bald Eagle below. I was sitting down two weeks ago to eat my breakfast when I saw this GIANT raptor land into the treeline behind my house (adjacent to South Cameron Woodlot in Windsor ON). There are typically at least a pair of Red tailed Hawks that breed locally around, but I could tell this bird was different. I tried to snap a few photos of it --- but the best views are of the bird as it took off 15 minutes later. I took this series of shots from my son's bedroom while wearing my pajamas.  Not a bad bird for the old yard list ! (pajamas list?)!

Winter will be gone in 1.5 months... We can do this....

Good birding!
Dwayne

More Late April Birding + Bonus Botany & Herp Observations

Yellow Warbler - A little bundle of sunshine and happiness :p

I've really made an effort to go birding every day after work for the last week or two and its been really neat seeing what "comes in" day by day. I've been mainly visiting Malden Park which is really close to my house.

Malden Park never has the variety of Pelee - but time after time I'm amazed at how consistently you will see Warblers at this time of year. This week, I've seen Yellow, Yellow Rumped, Palm, Nashville, Blue headed Vireo within 50m of where I parked my car. Last year, I picked out a Summer Tanager at Malden, so rarities can happen. A Yellow crowned Night Heron was found here as well a while ago.

I stopped by Oakwood Park a few weeks ago and while the birding was good, I kept noticing that there are some interesting flowers present. Trout Lily and White Trillium are present, along with several other flowers - but one caught my eye below and I took a photo of it in hopes of identifying it later. Patrick's Blog had featured a Sharp-lobed Hepatica recently, and oddly enough, it looked like my unidentified flower I had taken with my phone. Steve Pike even mentioned this species to me last weekend at Pelee and at the time I was unaware of this flower. Allen Woodliffe weighed in on the ID of this flower below- which is clearly a Hepatica Species. The Round lobed and Sharp lobed are not easily distinguished. The Ontario Wildflower website suggests that the differentiating factor is not in the flower, but the green clover-shaped leaves surrounding the flowers. If the green leaves have a point, its sharp lobed, and if they are rounded - you get rounded. The second photo of the hepatica shows a clover shaped leave lobe with a slight point - hinting at Sharp-lobed Hepatica.

http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=176 (Round-lobed Hepatica- Anemone americana)
http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=175 (Sharp-lobed Hepatica- Anemone acutiloba)

Oakwood had some great birds as well, pretty well the same that were seen at Malden. I had caught a glimpse at my FOY Least Flycatcher at Oakwood. Lastly- my son and I caught a glimpse of this Melanistic Garter Snake at Oakwood as well (let me know if I'm wrong on the ID).

I will be heading out to Pelee Island this weekend. Wish me luck! I've heard that the birding is always good on the Lake Erie archipelago... 

Good Birding!

Dwayne 

Point Pelee Piping Plover

This morning, I had heard my phone chime as new email had come in. Classically conditioned like Pavlov's dogs, I instinctively checked my email to see that Steve Pike and a Local Leamington Birder who goes by the name "afternoon shift" posted a Point Pelee peninsula Piping Plover! Much to the chagrin of my wife and two kids I kissed them adieu and fled to the southernmost point of Canada. Upon arriving to the tip, Jeremy Bensette hinted that I might best walk to East Tip (not East Beach!) through Sparrow Field. There it was, in perfectly front-lit perfection! At one point, we heard it singing or 'piping'! This little flufball of cuteness was for many years (and still is) "Endangered" because its preferred habitat is big wide sandy beaches. If you have a few minutes check out this amazing link documenting the life and habitat of the piping plover: http://www.audubon.org/plover

It soon fled from East Beach upon Kory's arrival to see the bird. But we agreed it probably flew back to the tip, and that guess was correct. At one point, a few birders were laying down on the sand to get better photos and I had noticed a lady with a dog was walking by - Did she think we were nuts? It just so happens that staying low to the ground lets you separate the bird from its background, making the bird jump out from its Gaussian-blurred background.

A couple of other cool birds seen today were four Tree Swallows (sitting on the sand!), an Eastern Phoebe, and a Long Eared Owl!

Last weekend, I tried to get a Purple Sandpiper at Pelee's Tip but dipped. I did get a breathtaking look at this Eastern Screech Owl... A dirt bird at Pelee but still amazing!

Tufted Titmice are easy to see at Ojibway Park during the late Fall and Winter months. Always fun to see these birds!

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

This is what a plover looks like at normal zoom range. Can you find it?

Note: At some point today on Sunday Nov 25, 2013 - My blog reached 100,000 hits!