Lake-watching season!

Autumn migration has been in full swing for the past month and it has really ratcheted up in recent days. With each passing cold front a new pulse of migrant birds appear, keeping us birders busy. Now that I am based in Niagara for a few months I have been trying to take advantage of the excellent local birding. Sea-watching is a favourite pastime of mine and while Lakes Erie and Ontario hardly count as "sea", they are the closest we have got in southern Ontario! 

September 7th looked like the perfect setup for some decent sea-watching...er....lake-watching at the source of the Niagara River in Fort Erie. Strong southwest winds blew out of the lake, something that in theory would congregate all the interesting birds into the northeast corner of the lake and thus, visible from Fort Erie. The previous couple of days had been good for migration, leading me to be hopeful that there were at least a few jaegers or interesting gulls out there. And with quite a few rarities being found in recent days, the chance was there that something really unusual would come by.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

The lake-watching started off slow and over the first two hours I did not see too much of interest. There was, however, a good Common Tern and Bonaparte's Gull movement occurring. By mid-morning I walked back to my car and ran into a few local birders - Marcie Jacklin, Tim Seburn and the Farnans. While chatting and scoping the birds with them, Marcie received a call from Joe Fell on the New York side about a Black Tern by the Peace Bridge. Since the action was pretty slow where we were located, we all drove over there to have a peek. 

This ended up being a very good choice! When we arrived there were three Black Terns in sight, each of them mirroring the behaviour of the Bonaparte's Gulls. They would fly upriver, straight into the wind, hover over the water looking for morsels, and eventually loop back to the rear of the group. 

Black Tern and Bonaparte's Gulls - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Black Terns - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Three turned to four, then five, and then six. I noticed a small group of three shorebirds flying together with the gulls. Suspecting phalaropes, I ran back for my scope and confirmed that they were indeed Red-necked Phalaropes! The three individuals continued in the same area for well over an hour, allowing some local birders to "twitch" them. 

Red-necked Phalarope - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Red-necked Phalaropes - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

The Black Tern numbers kept increasing and a couple of Little Gulls also joined the fray. It was popping off!

Black Terns, Bonaparte's Gulls and Little Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Black Tern - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

I pulled myself away around noon as I had other things to attend to. It was one of the more memorable mornings of birding that I have had in Niagara.

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Today I made the ten minute drive to the Port Weller east pier for a bit of lakewatching. Again, the conditions had been excellent for migration overnight and a wave of songbirds had arrived. The moderately strong northeast winds gave me hope that jaegers, Sabine's Gulls, or phalaropes would be on the agenda. 

I was in luck as I enjoyed a few nice birds. First up was an adult Long-tailed Jaeger that gracefully headed past, heading west. It was only the second one that I had seen in Niagara, and the first at Port Weller so I was pretty stoked. 

Next up was a Black Tern, flying with a large group of Common Terns that were feeding offshore. I later spotted a different individual, and during the entire lake-watch at least one of the birds was always in view (though sometimes quite distant). 

The most unexpected bird of the morning was a young Pomarine Jaeger that flew past the end of the pier at pretty close range, allowing me to have face-melting views in the scope! The photos, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired....

Pomarine Jaeger - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region

Pomarine Jaegers are normally later migrants so I was a bit surprised to see one today. It was another one that I had never seen at Port Weller before. 

Pomarine Jaeger - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region

I had just returned home when I saw a message from Phil Downey about a Red Knot that he had found on Jones Beach, which is just beside the Port Weller east pier. I had checked the beach about an hour earlier and had seen all the other shorebirds he had reported, but there was no Knot! It must have arrived just after I had checked the beach. Darn! Since it too was a bird I needed for Port Weller, I drove down and easily re-found it among the mats of rotting vegetation that the northeast winds had brought in to shore.

Red Knot - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

A dozen or so Sanderlings were taking advantage of the buffet as well. Some were quite territorial, chasing each other from, presumably, ideal patches of rotting vegetation. Sanderlings are a riot to watch sometimes!

Sanderling - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

Sanderling - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

Sanderling - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

Four crisp juvenile Semipalmated Plovers were photogenic as well. Definitely one of the cutest shorebirds!

Semipalmated Plover - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

The knot tolerated my presence, enabling me to snap a few photos that I was happy with. The rufa subspecies of Red Knot, of which this belongs, is Endangered and undergoing drastic population declines. It is always special to be able to share a few moments with this species. 

Red Knot - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

Spotted Sandpipers can still be seen for now but they will vacate the Great Lakes region during the next couple of weeks. The crisp feathering on this individual means that it is a juvenile. 

Spotted Sandpiper - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

And one more shot of the knot. 

Red Knot - Jones Beach, St. Catharines, Niagara Region

Before signing off, I suppose I should mention the celebrity bird at the moment that is gracing the Hamilton shoreline. An adult Brown Booby was first detected on Lake Ontario by Brendan Boyd on August 24 in Durham Region and it was seen by a few other lucky observers later that day. On September 8, an adult Brown Booby was detected as it flew into and landed on the wave tower offshore Van Wagner's Beach in Hamilton, first being spotted by Nathan Hood. Presumably this is the same bird as the one from Durham on August 24, but who knows! Several Brown Boobies have been seen this summer well north of their normal range in the Atlantic, and others have been found inland as well. 

There is only one accepted record of Brown Booby for Ontario - an individual that was seen at the east end of Lake Erie in 2013 for a few weeks. This is obviously the first record for the GTA, and the first record for Hamilton. I drove out and saw the bird on Tuesday shortly after it was discovered, and again yesterday with Laura. The views in the scope were alright, but taking photos at that distance was practically hopeless. In the photo below it is sitting on the upper yellow railing, the second bird left of the yellow pole.

Brown Booby - Van Wagner's Beach, Hamilton

It will be interesting to see how long an ocean-going bird like a Brown Booby can eke out a living on Lake Ontario. An awesome bird to see here, nonetheless!