2021 Yearly Summary and Highlights

This past year did not have too many new sightings. I did not really even have any new life birds except for a pair of Hoary Redpolls that were at Point Pelee back in January. I didn't even make too much of an effort to chase down some local rarities - such as the Sage Thrasher or the Rufous Hummingbird both of which were an easy 1 hour drive from Windsor. 

I didn't even go to Point Pelee too much this year either. I tried to bird closer to home to save time, gas money as well as reducing my carbon footprint. Black Oak Heritage Park can have some great migrants show up- such as Golden winged Warblers and Red headed Woodpeckers. 

Butterflies, Plants and Astronomy held almost an equal place in my interests to birding this year. My two best butterfly sightings were a Compton's Tortoiseshell at Skunks Misery, as well as my first Green Comma in New Brunswick this summer. 

In the botany department - a few highlights this year include finding:

• Whorled Milkweed
• Tall Green Milkweed
• Willowleaf Aster
• Bastard Toadflax
• Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid

Willowleaf Aster - Windsor ON

Astronomy and astrophotography really captured my interests this year. I did not realize that my 400mm telephoto lens could reveal the rings of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter, as well as the faintest hints of the two outermost planets in our solar system - Neptune and Uranus. A fun activity in astronomy is to seek out the 100 or so "M Objects" - named after Charles Messier's list of celestial items that he was trying to rule out as being comets. This year I was able to find almost all 100 of the objects. Unfortunately, Windsor -Essex County have pretty bad light pollution, and its hard to make out many of these celestial objects, especially with my modest gear.

Finding Comet Leonard on Dec 4th and 7th was nice. I had to wake up at 5am to get a look at this green, dim comet. 

Simply photographing the milky way was a fun accomplishment. In mid-summer, and nice view of the southern horizon, along with a long exposure / high ISO will reveal the bright core of our own milky way galaxy. 

Another highlight for me was simply seeing more birds in my own backyard. Some decent birds seen were: Vesper Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Savanah Sparrow and long-staying Orange Crowned Sparrows - all new yard birds. Two other species which are not particularly rare were Screech Owls (heard while astronomizing) and an obliging male Eastern Towhee. 

I realized this fall that did not have any binoculars - perhaps a pair had been stolen from my  car (again) ... so I ended up ordering a pair (Vortex Diamondback 8x40). I found a pair in my garage (Nikon Monarch 5s) after cleaning it, and I also found a pair of Nikon Monarch 5's for ~$200 online which was a deal I couldn't refuse. I love both brands equally, but I find the Nikons to be much lighter, so I take them out in the field, and leave my Vortex in my living room to look out at the nature in my backyard.

Best sighting for me this year?   Compton's Tortoiseshell at  Skunks Misery.

There are only 6 weeks left of Winter... 

Good Birding,

Dwayne

Comet Leonard - Dec 4 2021 + other recent astronomy observations

Astronomy has caught my interest - and of course, after seeing Comet Neowise in 2020 [Link] --- I make an effort to witness and photograph most astronomy events.

If one does a youtube search for Comet Leonard - you can learn about where to look for it and when you can see it.  It will be visible between this weekend and Mid-December. 

This morning, I had set my alarm at 4am to check if it would be cloudless - and I was happy to see the star "arctures" from constellates Bootes over the eastern horizon. This comet was not at the brightness factor needed to make it a naked-eye visible comet. So, using my stelllarium android app, and "star-hopping" with my camera - I was finally able to find this fleeting comet.  One of the coolest observations I made upon seeing this in my cameras image preview screen was that it had a greenish tinge to it. 

Asrophotography notes:  I set my camera to 3200 ISO and took several shots at +1-->+3 exposure, then repeated the process at ISO 6400. My Canon 7D is getting old - its 12 years old I think, and the shutter speed at the above settings was 2seconds to 8 seconds. With those longer exposures, you get a trailing effect with the starts from the rotation of the earth. Ideally, it would be nice to mount my camera on a star tracking device, which aligns with the north star, polaris, then rotates slowly to counter-act the rotation of the earth, allowing for long exposures without the trailing star effect. Many professional photos of this comet include star tracking long exposures, and stacked image processing which combines the data obtained from many photographs.  

Ultra-Fast Comet!

"An amazing feature of this celestial visitor is that it’s an ultrafast comet. It’s traveling at 158,084 miles per hour (254,412 km/h or 70.67 km/second) relative to Earth." (earthsky.org)

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/comet-leonard-might-become-2021s-brightest-2022/

Time cycle for its Orbit

~80,000 years. We will probably not be alive in 80,000 years, so --- this is your only chance to see this one. 

Wide Angle View

This photo is from Dec 7th:

Here are some orbit screenshots and visualizations from this youtube video. 

I've included a few more photos of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus (crescent ) and Mercury.

Good astronomizing!

Dwayne

Backyard Towhee, Mercury at Sunrise + Nov 7th Comet???

 

On Halloween, I had been in my back yard and I heard an Eastern Towhee nearby. I went for a walk along the hedgerow - which was not noteworthy, but eventually the Towhee stopped by and perched for a while. Another sparrow species in October!

On the previous weekend, I had photographed a few more Orange crowned Warblers, as well as a nice Lincoln's Sparrow with a Song Sparrow. 

It has been cloudy and rainy for the last two weeks, so I was amazed to see a clear sky this morning as I prepared for work. I had checked my "Stellarium App" and noted that Mercury was just above the sunset. Its took a moment or two, but yes, It was slighly visible with binoculars. My cell phone camera was able to pick it up as well. I then took a few photos with my telephoto lens. A neat thing about Mercury is that since it closely orbits the sun, you can only observe it right before sunset or right before sunrise and certain times of the year. Venus has that property as well, but its much brighter to see and is present for longer times at sunrise and sunset. 

This was another stunning sunrise recently:

Here are some closeups of Mercury:

Good Birding and Good Astronomizing!

Dwayne

PS: TWO Comets will be visible before the end of the year:

1-Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Brightest on Nov 7th, Closest on Nov 11th)

2-Comet Leonard ("The Christmas Comet") - More details in December.

For Comet 67P/CG --- It will be brightest on Nov7th, and it will be close to "Pollux" of constellation Gemini. Look for the "twins" above the Eastern Horizon at around midnight on Nov 7th with binoculars, scopes etc. I will be trying to use astrophotography skills to capture it myself. Hoping for clear skies that night. 

Consider viewing this video below for more Nov 2021 astronomy highlights. 

Backyard Orange Crowned Warblers, Fox Sparrows, Phoebe Oct 23rd Birding

I was sitting in my kitchen at around 3:30PM today, and noticed a little bird foraging between my back fence and some goldenrod which had gone to seed. I glassed the bird with my binoculars and was amazed... I'm quite certain I saw Orange Crowned Warbler!!! After 20 minutes went by, I had to go for a walk behind my house... there is a weedy hedgerow that is quite birdy! [Editor's Note: The date that is watermarked at the bottom of these images is wrong. These are taken on Oct 23rd, 2021]

Walking behind my house was a nice treat. I had seen a few Hermit Thrushes (and Wood Thrush?) Downy Woodpeckeres, Eastern Phoebe,  Ruby Crowned Kinglet, and Orange Crowned Kinglets. I saw some Song Sparrows, White throated, White Crowned, Dark eyed Juncos, a Swamp Sparrow and a FOX SPARROW! I think I might even had a Savannah Sparrow. 

I feel that I had seen 4-6 different Orange crowned Warblers back there. Between those and a Fox Sparrow - I am just blown away at the diversity of birds behind my house. I should be keeping a list, or at least posting to E-bird and perhaps listing that way.  

Anyhow - with Gas being at 1.50/L and an expired Pelee Pass - I've been content birding at South Cameron Woodlot. 

BONUS Photos-