5,000 Franklin's Gulls

Another work week at Rainy River has come and gone again. We finish up our fieldwork tomorrow morning before catching a plane back to Toronto. I wasn't able to get out and look around as much this week as on our trip two weeks ago, but nonetheless there were still many good birds, butterflies, mammals, and herps to be seen!

My main target for this trip was Western Kingbird. A few days before our first trip to Rainy River, Michael Dawber found a Western Kingbird hanging out just southeast of the town of Rainy River. We struck out, though we did see the Dickcissels that were there. A few days prior to this trip, Tyler Hoar found a Western Kingbird at the Rainy River cemetery. We checked it out three times, but unfortunately couldn't find it! We were hoping to bump into one somewhere in our travels but that was not to be. While Rainy River was my best chance at this species I still have a chance at it in the autumn. Just about every year one or more of them show up in southern Ontario, usually in October or November.

One highlight for us this trip was seeing a Marbled Godwit on territory. As soon as we stopped the truck it started flying around and yelling at us, so we didn't hang around too long! I've only ever seen a small handful of this species in Ontario previously, usually a bird on migration at a sewage lagoon, so to get one where they breed was awesome!

Marbled Godwit

This was a new Ontario bird for Dominic as well.

Marbled Godwit

Yesterday afternoon Jon, Dominic and I did a trip to Windy Point to look for Franklin's Gulls, Piping Plovers, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Windy Point is only accessible by boat so we paid the owner of the Harris Hill Resort our 8$ each and he took us across, agreeing to pick us up in a few hours.

birding Windy Point

In no time at all we were viewing hundreds of Franklin's Gulls as they rested on the sandspits and flew around above us. This one almost got us...

Franklin's Gull - Windy Point

As we waded through some phragmites and came out at the north end, we were surprised to see thousands of Franklin's Gulls on the north sandspit! For a southern Ontario guy who had seen a total of 3 Franklin's Gulls prior to this year, it was an experience I won't forget anytime soon!

Franklin's Gulls - Windy Point

Franklin's Gulls - Windy Point

Our estimate of 5,000 birds was conservative and it was likely that closer to 10,000 were present. These birds don't breed in Ontario. Rather, they breed in the prairies to the south and west of Rainy River and show up in Ontario after the breeding season. The numbers build throughout the summer but I wasn't aware that there would be this many of them.

Franklin's Gull - Windy Point

Many of the birds, such as the above one, were experiencing heavy wing molt. With all the birds flying around I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the experience and photographing them.

Franklin's Gull - Windy Point

Despite walking around the entire island, we were unable to turn up the Piping Plovers which sometimes nest here. Maybe the thousands of gulls had something to do with that.

Franklin's Gulls - Windy Point

For the remaining hour or so we jumped in the lake and enjoyed the first beach day of the season while American White Pelicans wheeled by, Franklin's Gulls circled, and the occasional Yellow-headed Blackbird flew by. Living the life!

birding Windy Point

Common Terns- Windy Point

The afternoon came to an end much too quickly and we headed back to the mainland. While I didn't get Western Kingbirds in Rainy River, we did get almost all of the other target birds. Out of the 158 species I have seen between these two trips, some of the highlight species are:

Marbled Godwit
Upland Sandpiper
Dickcissel
Green Heron
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Spruce Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Franklin's Gull
White-winged Crossbill
Clay-colored Sparrow
Brewer's Blackbird
Northern Hawk-owl
Western Meadowlark
Black-billed Magpie
Le Conte's Sparrow
Sedge Wren
21 species of warblers including Connecticut and many Golden-winged
Gray Jay
Boreal Chickadee
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Evening Grosbeak
Three-toed Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker

The only Rainy River specialties we missed were Yellow Rail, Nelson's Sparrow, Piping Plover, and Western Kingbird. You can't get em all I suppose.