Northern Shrike & Winter Raptorfest in Melbourne ON

 

Happy New Year!  I had driven afar to pick up a new lens on Jan 5th and on the way home, I figured I would try my luck with Northern Shrike and sure enough, I was able to find one. I was a little surprised at how nice the Melbourne Ontario (Mayfair?) area was - It has lots of side roads to traverse through and has some nice pasture, nature, waterway and farmers field habitat. 

The lens I had picked up was a little bit of a treat - a 200-600mm telephoto, which in cropped sensor mode offers a breathtaking, frame-filling, 900mm of zoom strength. I have a big learning curve with this lens but I figured between birdwatching and astronomy - I can enjoy this lens and get some value out of it for a few years. 

 

This Shrike was my personal highlight on this trip. I was able to get a few shots while sitting in my car with this bird 30-40m away from me. My goal when photographing birds is to appreciate the bird from a distance, get some photos without disturbing the bird, then quietly moving on. I was photographing this Merlin through a crack in my car's sunroof!

Soon after seeing the Shrike, I had noted many raptors - Mainly Red-tailed Hawks - but also seeing the following, all taken from my car: Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawk, Eastern Bluebirds, another Merlin, and a Coopers Hawk.

Overall - this was a nice stop and not too far away from home. Melbourne is just south of London ON. A beautiful place with some nice winter raptors. 

Good Birding,

Dwayne

Boreal Chickadee & End of Year Review

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and Happy New Year!

I have not birded too much in the last several months. Actually, I have a little but its been not too eventful.

I have a little bit of time off at this time of year, and I attempted to drive out towards Harrow/Pleasant Valley which is always a nice, relaxing drive. Today, I did not see much while driving out in that area, but I did actually get a wonderful look at at  nice Red-Shouldered Hawk perched 15 meters from the road. Around the hawk was also a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds which was nice to see.

I was in Essex and had a notification that a Boreal Chickadee was found earlier this morning - and I figured I would try my luck in going to see it. This bird is not a lifer for me as I have seen some in Banff Alberta, as well as Algonquin Park here in Ontario. Luckily there were some birdwatchers there already when I had arrived and not long after getting there, two friendly birds, Kit M and Paul G called me over to see the bird. Boreal Chickadees are notoriously shy and difficult to photograph - hence the diagnostic photo above. 

Usually at this time of year, I try to reflect on how my birding efforts were this past year --- and for the most part they have been good. 

I have really made an effort not to drive out too far, too often, opting to stay closer to home. My own backyard and back field behind my house offer some decent habitat to see migrants such as Blue-headed Vireo, Orange Crowned Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow --- I simply need to spend time on my back porch looking for the birds!

Some Highlights for me this year are:

Bell's Vireo - Lifer (point pelee)

Harris's Sparrow - Lifer (Holiday Beach)

Kentucky Warbler (Point Pelee)

Tropical Kingbird (West Windsor)

Boreal Chickadee (Holiday Beach)

Blue Grosbeak (Illinois)

Henslow's Sparrow (Illinois)

Butterfly watching was not too eventful this year but I did see my first Harvester Butterfly at the Pinery.

So - its been a good year. I have slowed down a little but I'm still birding and getting out to enjoy nature.

Wishing you all a great new year for 2023!

Dwayne

Tropicana - Tropical Kingbird in Windsor + some Orange Crowned Warblers Return

 

Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed birding, just in my back yard - watching the fall migration take place.

On weekends in September - I had observed a few large kettles of hawks fly overhead.

Over the last two weekends, I was able to find at least one Orange Crowned Warbler in the hedgerow behind my house.

I was sitting in my living room this past weekend, and heard a "bang" sound on my window. I was amazed to see a small warbler on the ground below the window. I was sad to see that an Ovenbird struck my window.  I gently placed it on a small structure off the ground, just in case maybe it would recover, and perhaps avoid being eaten by a cat or some other predator while it recovered. It was gone the following morning - so it either recovered or was predated by another animal. 

I have seen Lincoln's Sparrows in my back yard

Back in August, even had a new lifer butterfly - a Zabulon Skipper - which I have never seen until this year.

But over the last day or two --- a level 5 rarity showed up just minutes away from my home in Windsor. I could almost ride my bike to see this bird -- a Tropical Kingbird!  I feel I have seen these birds during my trip to South East Arizona - so its not a lifer for me - but still-  its a great bird to behold - especially if one lives in Windsor.

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Birding Midewin Tallgrass Prairie

I took a short three day trip with my family to Michigan and Illinois and made an effort to visit a natural area called Midewin Tallgrass Prairie --- which is about 30-40 minutes south of Chicago.

Midewin has an interesting story - it was historically a large tall grass prairie, which was turned into farmland, then the military used the land for making and testing bombs. And most recently, it was turned back into a national tall grass prairie. The name Midewin is derived from a native word meaning "healing" or "recovering". Yes, the ecosystem could be recovering, but also the people that get to visit this wonderful habitat could be recovering and healing as well.  Read more at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/midewin

PLANTS

My visit was essentially limited to a 1 hour walk at the iron bridge trailhead pathway. Lots of great plants were seen - Rattlesnake Master, Royal Catchfly, Prairie Blazingstar as well as countless yellow flowering plants such as cup plant, compass plant, and countless varieties of dark eyed susan type plants.

BUTTERFLIES

I was hoping for better butterfly diversity - and better luck with perching butterrlies: some seen were:

Buckeye

Northern Cresent

Silver Spotted Skipper

Red Spotted Purple

Cabbage Whites

Clouded Sulphur (or Southern Dogface?)

Birds

Dickcissel

Indigo Bunting

American Goldfinch

Barn / Rough Winged Swallow

Blue Grosbeak

Song Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Henslows Sparrow

Buteo Hawk

Chimney Swift

Overall - it was a brief visit to this park - but very nice. I was surprised to see Blue Grosbeaks. I was not expecting to see them there. I was also happy to find Henslows Sparrows- which I have only seen a handful of times at Point Pelee. I dipped on a few area specialties such as Eastern Meadowlark, Upland Sandpiper, Loggerhead Shrike and Bells Vireo. 

Good Birding,

Dwayne