Hudsonian Whimbrel ... at Black Oak Heritage Park?

 

One less butterfly... can anyone id the caterpillar?

I birded Black Oak Herritage park with 2-3 target species today:

Yellow Bellied Flycatcher

Olive sided Flycatcher

Whimbrel

I had been speaking to another birder (black oak) recently saying that hudsonian godwits are common at Pointe Mouillee in late may - which is in Michigan about 20km south of detroit. So ... if whimbrell are 20 km due south of Black oak (which borders the detroit river corridor) could some whimbrel go through the detroit river - up towards lake st clair then up towards lake huron? My birding friend suggested no - they go towards point pelee to lake erie and lake ontario.

 So I was birding at black oak today and it was pretty birdy. Lots of bird song... and lots of leaves! I had a generous look at a mourning warbler, as well as a mid forest butteo hawk which was a broad winged hawk!

Willow Flycatcher

Well - I stood along the detroit river and attempted to do a 10 minute shorebird sit. Nothing of much interest. Then a Willow Flycatcher caught my ear. I was photographing it when I noticed a flock of migrants streaming overhead. After waiting what felt like an eternity, my focus kicked in and I snapped as many photos of this flock of birds as I could. Photograph first - id later!

Well low and behold... your blogger's whimbrel wishes came true. His hypothesis was correct. Whimbrel at pointe mouillee can go towards point pelee as well as use the detroit river corridor to continue migrating north.

I was pretty amazed. Nobody in all the years of ebird had seen whimbrel here until my sighting today.  I feel like I made some onitholgical history. I guess every dog has his day. 

Good birding!

Dwayne

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

Whimbrel & Godwits in Flight - Shorebirding at Wheatley Harbour

After hearing about a Ruff at the Hillman Shorebirding cell, I headed out the the Hillman shorebird cell after work to see if could partake in some good shorebirding. Upon arriving at the site, I walked briskly to the shorebird cell because I had limited time on my hands. Just as I arrived, hundreds, if not thousands of birds took to the air ... and left! The shorebird cell was birdless! All that remained was a Peregrine falcon. One lady suggested checking out Wheatley Harbour - the Whimbrel might have stopped by there... And so I went. Sure enough, this flock of about 13 Whimbrel, and one Marbled Godwit circled around the harbour several times. It seems like they were trying to land on the beach where are large group of gulls were sitting, but they would abort their landing attempt and recircle the harbour again and again. Eventually, they seemed to head back toward Hillman.

Going back to last Saturday, I walked around at Point Pelee with hopes of finding a Worm Eating Warbler and Perhaps a Prothonotary Warbler.  I missed out on both of those target birds but instead saw Canada Warbler, and finally caught up with the long staying female Praire Warbler. I think I've only seen Prairie Warblers on three other occasions - and all three of those were male so it was nice to see a female. 

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Bonus Botany - Sharp Blue eyed Grass at Ojibway - This particular species graces the cover of the Audubon field guide for (Eastern) North American Flowers

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

Three Days ... Three Lifers

Chimney Swift over a Chimney!

Were you expecting something more rare? :-p

Saturday: Chimney Swift (#298)

Don't laugh, but this spring, someone had posted to Ontbirds that Chimney Swifts had arrived, and I thought to myself, do I have those on my life list?... The answer is NO! This Saturday, a birding friend from Kingsville (after chuckling at my desire to see a Chimney Swift) said to go to Kingsville and look up! lol... Thanks Kory! Now that I have officially acknowledged them, its interesting to read a little about them. They are at risk in Ontario due to the change in design of Chimneys (open brick design vs covered natural gas style). Also, they spend all their time in the air, eating and even bathing by dipping into water in flight. You never see them perched (like you see tree swallows) because their feet are not designed to perch. They have small claws that allow them to hang against the inner wall of a tree or chimney. So thats it, they are either in the air or in a chimney... pretty cool!

Friday: Whimbrel (#297)

As you may have read already, I lifered Whimbrel on Friday after work this week by twitching this bird at Hillman Marsh. Click here to read more on this bird.

Ten or so Whimbrel at Hillman... Did you know that a group of shorebirds is sometimes called a contradiction of shorebirds? I read this on my IBird App and thought to myself,... only a group of Solitary Sandpipers should be called a contradiction!!!

Sunday: Lark Sparrow (#299)

This weekend, my wife and I decided we would make a day trip out to the Toledo Zoo. Toledo is about an hour south of the Windsor so it made for a good trip. But since we were going to be in Toledo, I figured I would try to sneak in a little pre-zoo birding walk at Oak Openings Metropark. Oak Openings is known for some cool breeding birds such as Summer Tanager, Acadian Flycatcher, Lark Sparrow, Blue Grosbeck, Pileated Woodpecker (see here for more).  Since the zoo trip was the days' focus, we only had about 30 or so minutes to bird this park, so I decided on the Girdham Road Sand Dunes area. Lark Sparrow was easily found (conspicuous), and I took a few photos of these beautiful birds and headed off to the zoo with the family.

Two Lark Sparrows, one banded and the other not.

This is an amazing sparrow. Very distinct plumage in the face, and a very nice song. I was really happy to see this bird today.

Regarding butterflies, I also saw an American Copper as well as many Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies during my brief walk at OOMP. I was hoping to see a Karner Blue Butterfly, but dipped. Here is a link to a Butterfly Checklist for Oak Openings in Ohio.

Oak Openings Habitat @ Girdham Road Dunes

Wild Lupine

I would really like to make it out to Carden Alvar for the OFO Field Trip in early June. I am going to try my best to make that happen. That amazing trip would probably give me a few lifers (Upland Sandpiper and Sedge Wren to name a few)... The logistics of getting there and back are killing me though... We'll see.... Virginia Rail or American Bittern would be really nice to see as well.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Life List Summary:
Chimney Swift #298
Lark Sparrow #299