Mothing with Moe ... in May? + Wheatley Harbour Shorebird Run

For the last few years, I have been fortunate to join a local moth expert in his mothing efforts. This particular outing was much earlier than any I had been on in the past.  There was not a huge amount of diversity, although I did see a few new species that I've never seen -- Such as this beautiful Harnessed Tiger Moth (similar to the Virgin Tiger Moth), Abbott Sphinx Moth as well as a Twin spotted Sphinx moth.  A couple other interesting species were photographed and will most likely go unidentified.


I had also wanted to go out to Wheatley Harbour in hopes of seeing Whimbrel and/or Red Knots, which are generally passing though at this time of year. Upon arrival, I was disappointed that there were none of the desired shorebirds although a single Whimbrel on the breakwall gave me some satisfaction. Ruddy Turnstones were plentiful and were both easy to see in flight as well as foraging on the beach.

On the way home, I drove by Two Creeks Conservation Area and noted a Monarch Butterfly (FOY) which was very nice to see.

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Backtrack Birding: May 22nd - Wonderful Wheatley Wimbrels

 

Life's been a little busy over the last few months. I had gone out to Wheatley back on May 22nd, and was lucky enough to see some gorgeous shorebirds nice and close. I was hoping to see a Red Knot and perhaps a White-rumped Sandpiper - but this group of about 60 Whimbrels had to suffice for this particular trip. If I recall correctly, I had a Jeremy Bensette sighting as well.

Semi-Palmated Sandpiper - Getting blasted by sand.

I did a hawk-watching trip to Holiday Beach this weekend but I missed the "Good Day" which was Friday. I think Friday had 12 Golden Eagles, 3 Northern Goshawks, as well as some of the late fall raptors such as Red-shouldered and Rough-legged hawks. I did get a chance to see some Red-shouldered though. Also, I saw a baby snapping turtle on the road at holiday beach. See video below.




Good birding!
Dwayne

Wheatley Sedge Skippers and Grassland birds

One of my butterfly watching goals this summer was to see a Dion Skipper - a sedge skipper that looks like a Dukes Skipper but with only one, not two "rays" on its lower hindwing. Alan Wormington suggested that I visit some good sedge habitat - and informed me of this small area on the north end of Wheatley Provincial Park. I arrived at the prescribed location, an unassuming country road in Wheatley, the road dipped downward as the land had a little valley where a small river was passing under the road. I pulled over and found this scene above, beautiful in itself. Chickory and Red Clover along with Common Milkweed were found along the roadside. Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Willow Flycatcher and Accipiter raptors were noted.  Its hard to tell, but at the back of the Sedge floodplain, a small waterway meanders by. To the left of this photo, a large swath of Phragmites is choking out the vegetation and the view. One has to wonder if this sedge floodplain will be consumed by Phragmites in the next few years?

After walking around for a few minutes, I did note skippers flying above the sedges but too distant for photos. I took some photos of the sedge habitat with my cell phone with "HDR" (High Dynamic Resolution) enabled --- with some cool results.

Sure enough, I found some sedge skippers around a nice roadside patch of Common Milkweed. I don't think I found a Dion Skipper (Or Mulberry Winged) - but Dukes Skippers were pretty common. I took some photos of the Dukes Skipper tapping into some Common Milkweed.

Being in Wheatley, I stopped by the Campers Cove area - a birder is obliged to visit here when passing through Wheatley.

At campers cover area, I almost immediately heard a Grasshopper Sparrow, (perhaps two) singing.  Some other expected birds present were Dickcissels, Bobolinks, Indigo Buntings, Song Sparrow, Northern Flicker, not to mention other common birds.  Some nice grassland / old field habitat here includes lots of Dark eyed Susans, Showy Tick Trefoil along with other weeds such as Milkweeds and Goldenrods which havent yet flowered. 

Good Birding and Naturalizing!
Dwayne

PS: Some local media has been talking about the increased traffic that the new "Mini Mall" plaza will bring to Ojibway Park. Talk of Closing the main bisecting road (Matchette Road), roadkill, natual corridors and Fragmentation are being thrown around, which is nice to see.  The artist for the paper Mike Graston made this cartoon recently which I couldn't help but share. An opinion piece was written in support of Ojibway and in closing Matchette --- which I will give a link to and  paste below.

Image Source: http://windsorstar.com/gallery/mike-grastons-editorial-cartoons-for-july-2016

The Windsor Star Editorial can be found here: http://windsorstar.com/opinion/columnists/jarvis-windsor-can-cut-the-death-toll-at-ojibway-and-make-it-truly-great  or (Evernote Backup)

Grasshopper Sparrows at Wheatley

 

About two weeks ago, I was informed that Grasshopper Sparrows were at a field in Wheatley. Of course, I wanted to go and see them myself but couldn't really make it out there until the last couple of days. Sure enough, from the roadside you can hear their buzzy call! I was lucky enough to find (lifer) this bird in Ottawa in late June, but seeing it so close to home (this weekend) was a real treat. Over the last two or so years, I had been trying to find this bird at Pelee during spring migration but could never seem to catch up with it!

I did not even think Essex was in its breeding range [map], but yes, its well in this birds breeding range. Its just that the lack of ideal habitat (large grassy/weedy fields) that this bird requires renders this bird to the vast list of Essex & Chatam-Kent's extirpated birds. From my understanding, one would generally need to drive from Windsor to Glencoe (1.5 hours north of Windsor) to see one [See ebird map for grasshopper sparrows in Southwestern Ontario in 2013]. Lots of Dickcissels still singing and chasing each other around as well at this site. I can't help but wonder why this 50-acre field at Talbot Trail and Campers Cove Road has been spared from agriculture? I'm thankful to whoever it is that owns this field.  I've had amazing birding moments here seeing Dickcissels, Eastern Meadowlarks, Bobolinks and now Grasshopper Sparrows.

Couture Dyke at Hillman
I walked Couture Dyke at Hillman Marsh [map] to see if there was much butterfly action going on, but not much really happening. Its still a great walk, just brimming with wildlife. Leopard Frogs scatter as you take each step, Osprey and Great Blue Herons flying overhead... Lots of biting flies as well! Some personal highlights were Bronze Copper Butterflies, Least Skippers and Question Mark butterflies!

Bronze Copper 

This image shows the sexual dimorphism of Male and Female Bronze Copper. The female has a solid bronze colour on its upper forewing.

Dorsal and Ventral view of the Question Mark butterfly. Do you see the Question Mark on the underside of its wing?

I only had two hours on this particular afternoon, so I walked the main Hillman shorebird circuit quickly. I saw a Common Buckey butterfly but not much of note other than that. Another Willow Flycatcher was seen. It was singing actually!





Out of time, I swung by the grassy meadow at the south end of Pelee's Northwest Beach for a final 20 or so minutes of butterfly watching. Some butterflies seen include two Viceroys, two fresh Question Mark butterflies and this dopey looking Tawny Emperor butterfly.

Tawny Emperor - Dorsal & Ventral

Good birding!
Dwayne

I dislike deer, because they are vectors for ticks... but, I rarely see an 8-pt buck!

Dickcissels in Wheatley

A recent discussion with Jeremy Bensette informed me that some cool birds were back on location in Wheatley. I had some time off work today and was able to swing out to Wheatley to see these beauties myself. The huge weedy field near Campers Cove Road hosts some Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows and 4-5 Dickcissels, just in the most accessible quadrant of this field.

Males were singing and chasing each other as a few female/juveniles looked on. They are easily observed as they seem to like using last year's Dense Blazing Star plants as perches.  Nice to see them back again!

The harsh mid-day sun made photography difficult, but these were a few that I managed to capture before heading back to Windsor.  The photo below was taken from a path mowed into this weedy field which had some cylindrical black oil containers creating a perfect black gradient behind the subject.

Quick note: Not to sound preachy --- but I wanted to state that these photos are not "staged". No ipods or tripods used here. These photos are heavily cropped from a handheld telephoto lens - using ambient light, and taken from a safe distance. I know most people reading this blog know this already, but (as ROM Field Guide Author Janice M. Hughes puts it): Ontario's native birds are "clinging to their ancestral breeding grounds" which have  (south of Toronto) been almost completely disseminated. Particularly during breeding season, we need to simply put the bird's interests first. See this excellent OFO article on birding ethics: http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/aboutus.ethics  .

Good birding!
Dwayne 

Late May Birding - Whimbrel at Hillman Marsh

 

The last week or two have been busy with work and life, so its been a while since my last posting. I've enjoyed watching a Robin's Nest outside my front window, and watching humingbirds visit my hummingbird feeder in my back yard. Occasionally while I'm outside, (perhaps BBQ'ing) I am sometimes blasted by the song of a chipping sparrow on my neighbor's roof!

Three new Peregrine Falcons at the bridge...

I've also looked for some local breeders at Ojibway Park but things seem to be a little late this year. I only saw (and heard) my first Indigo Bunting on Wednesday this week. The falcons at the bridge have nested again and have three fledglings. Always neat to stop by and see them. 

I was informed that there was a Black-headed Gull at Wheatley this week, so I tried on Thursday to go find it. I figured if I missed the target bird, I should find something interesting at the Hillman Shorebird Cell.

While driving into Wheatly from the 401, I drove past Two Creeks Conservation Area and noticed a Bluebird Perched on a wire. I'm still amazed by bluebirds. They are rare to me... I might only see them a few times in a year. (Note: I just noticed on the link to Two Creeks Conservation Area... they used one of my warbler photos without asking me! I recognize that Bay-Breasted Warbler!)

At Wheatley Marina, I arrived to find hundreds of gulls and shorebirds on the beach, and just as I was walking around a sand dune to get better looks, a woman with a dog flushed every single gull... I saw many black headed gulls, but did not convincingly see a Black-headed Gull.  I found myself confused looking at the various gulls. I was assuming the Black-headed Gull would be a breeding-plumaged male, with a dark-red bill and a crescent-shaped white eye-ring. No such luck, but I did get breathtaking looks at Ruddy Turnstones and breeding plumaged Semipalmated Sandpipers.
  

I figured I would try the Hillman Marsh Shorebird Cell to see if anything good was around, and to my amazement, there were 23 Whimbrel! I had just done a very brief count and quickly ontbirded my finding with a conservative count of 15 birds. Jeremy Bensette and Rick had just arrived as I was leaving, and they did a better study than I did. (I only had 20 minutes there). Another cool bird seen was a treetop flycatcher, probably a Willow or Alder Flycatcher. I found myself on that path to the shorebird viewing platform, hearing a raspy flycatcher call, but being unable to find the tree it was perched on. I must have spent a minute trying to find the bird, and just when I found it, I bolted! Alder Flycatcher would still be a lifer for me.

I just can't seem to get a good photo of Whimbrel!

DESIRED OFO & SUMMER TRIPS

I wanted to go to the Carden Alvar Trip this year, but I screwed up the dates!?!?! Reading the trip report by Jean Iron was painful, as they had three potential lifers (Golden-winged Warbler, Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows)... but I guess I will try again for next year.  Even Ivana (my wife) felt bad ... She has encouraged me to go to Skunk's Misery OFO Trip this weekend. Perhaps seeing an Acadian Flycatcher will be a consolation. I also wanted to go to the Napanee Trip, but getting there is almost logistically impossible from Windsor if one is unable to take time off work.

Two other trips that I'm thinking about are a Sisters Oregon Woodpecker festival in mid June. This weekend features almost every Western Woodpecker (11 species), including Williamson's Sapsucker and Lewis's and White-headed Woodpeckers. One blogger had 70 species on a scouting tour of the area, 20 of which would be lifers.  ... I think I would die of happiness attending this festival. Another dream trip would be the Gulf-Coast States... Where Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are common summer breeders.

Good birding!
Dwayne

A local radio-tower field often has Bobolinks, Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows