Are you sick of the Barred Owl yet?

If so, well too bad! My dad was interested in taking some photos of it, so we headed up to Guelph Lake today. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to find (just look for photographers pointing their lenses up a tree) and we were both happy to get some decent photos.

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Current birding plans....
With no pressing rarities in the province, I have taken it easy a bit the last couple of days and done schoolwork. I have a pretty busy couple of weeks before I go to Scotland but I do have some plans in the works.

Tomorrow morning I am going all the way to Brampton to hopefully see the Ross's Goose that is present every morning and evening. Thursday I don't have class, so if I can catch up on all my schoolwork by then, I am hoping to go to Niagara for the day. Recent sightings of birds I still need include Black-legged Kittiwake, California Gull, possible Mew Gull, etc. Finally, I am hoping to go to Sault Ste. Marie on the weekend (if the Varied Thrush is still around). Should be fun.

Northern trip stuff and another owl for the list

I had a number of target species to get on the northern trip. The following is that list and how successful I was at seeing them.

Varied Thrush

Spotted Towhee

Harris’s Sparrow

Gray-crowned Rosy-finch

These were the four rarities that we hoped to see and the Gray-crowned Rosy-finch (code 5) and Spotted Towhee (code 4) were the main reason for this trip! Fortunately we saw both of them, immediately making the trip worthwhile. The Harris's Sparrow (code 3) was nice to get early on. I will probably see Harris's Sparrows when I go north in the fall (they migrate through in small numbers), but even still I don't want to have to worry about this bird later in the year! We missed the Varied Thrush (code 3) in Ottawa which was really depressing since it was my second unsuccessful try for that individual. Two days after passing through Sault Ste. Marie we heard about a Varied Thrush near the Soo that had been present for several weeks....that's how it goes I guess. 

Ruffed Grouse

Spruce Grouse

Sharp-tailed Grouse

The grouse weren't major targets on the trip, simply because I will pick them all up at various points throughout the year. We were hoping that we would stumble upon them at some point on the trip but didn't have really high expectations. We did see Ruffed Grouse (code 1) in a number of locations, but missed the other two species.

Great Gray Owl

Boreal Owl

Northern Hawk-Owl

Barred Owl

There were extremely few small mammals up north and that would explain the paucity of owls. We missed all three of the northern species! I already had seen Great Gray Owl (code 3) in Kingsville and was really hoping to get the other species. We tried several times for calling Boreal Owls (code 3) in suitable habitat, but it was perhaps too early in their breeding season and we were unsuccessful. Northern Hawk-owl (code 3) was one that I thought we would stumble across as we drove backroads in the north, but that was not to be. We had a probable Barred Owl fly over the road in the north but didn't get a great look. Fortunately, I picked up Barred Owl yesterday in Guelph (scroll down the post).

N. Three-toed Woodpecker

Black-backed Woodpecker

We did get Black-backed Woodpecker in Sault Ste. Marie, but struck out on Three-toeds in several locations. Weather definitely played a factor. 

Gray Jay

Bohemian Waxwing

Boreal Chickadee

We got Gray Jays in several locations and a big flock of Bohemian Waxwings in Sault Ste. Marie. Surprisingly we didn't get any Boreal Chickadees in the boreal forest, but I did see a single bird in Algonquin on the way back. 

Pine Grosbeak

Hoary Redpoll

Evening Grosbeak

These were the remaining 3 regular finches I needed to see and we saw many individuals of all three species (all were code 2 birds). Getting the northern subspecies of Hoary Redpoll (Hornemann's Hoary Redpoll) was a great bird, even if it doesn't count as a year bird.

So when it all comes down to it, I got 3 of my 4 main targets, and 8 of my 15 secondary targets. Not great, but at least I saw the birds that mattered the most for my big year! I should get multiple opportunities to see all the secondary targets I missed.

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Yesterday I spend a couple hours in the morning doing some local birding around Guelph. The Barred Owl which had been hanging out at Guelph Lake all winter wasn't too hard to find and Matt Strimas-Mackey and I spent some time watching it hunt in the early morning sun. Very cool bird! 

Barred Owl - Guelph Lake

Barred Owl - Guelph Lake

I tried unsuccesfully for a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Guelph (not a bird I'll miss this year, but a cool bird to get in the winter), and successfully saw my first Northern Pintail of the year, a drake. Brings the list up to 127.

Northern Pintail - Guelph

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You may recall at the beginning of the year that I made a goal of seeing all 10 regular finches and 10 regular owls early in the year. I have now seen all the finches (plus the bonus rosy-finch) and 8 of the 10 owls. I'll probably head north in April to get Boreal Owls calling on territory as well as trying for Three-toed Woodpeckers again.

There are several other birds that I hope to see before I leave for Scotland on February 16. They are:

Northern Hawk-owl

Black-legged Kittiwake (Fort Erie bird still being seen)

California Gull (one was seen on the weekend at the Niagara River - could very well be around)

Varied Thrush (might have to drive to the Soo for this one)

Tufted Titmouse (not really rare, but I should get them in Niagara)

Harlequin Duck (female bird occasionally being seen in Niagara)

Snow Goose (several birds are in the province, hopefully I can see the one in Hamilton)

Sharp-tailed Grouse (would be a life bird for me. Will try for them when I am back in the Soo)

I have to keep forcing myself to stay focused and only look for winter specialties and rarities. I could easily go to Long Point and get 5 or more year birds, but they would be all common birds that I will pick up later. If I spend time doing that I may miss a great rarity because of that.

This post is getting fairly long-winded so I think I'll end it here.

An 'owl'right day of birding in Guelph

Between yesterday and today I spent about 12 hours doing some serious birding in Guelph. The weather for both days was supposed to be excellent and I happened to luck out and see some really awesome birds, including one that is at the bottom of the post and who's identity inspired that "clever" title for this post. But first, yesterday.

I started out by skipping Puslinch and Mountsberg and only hitting up the quarries in the southern part of the county. Several cool birds seen here so far this winter - Harlequin Duck, Bonaparte's Gull, Iceland Gull, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Long-tailed Duck. However there is also a high turnover of waterfowl, and needless to say the Common Loon that Mike Cadman had found here a few days previous was no longer present.

Undeterred, I pressed on and ended up at the Heritage Ponds (intersection of the Hanlon and the 401). Getting out of my car I was surprised to see a flock of Snow Buntings wheeling around - my first for the Guelph area this season. I picked out two darker birds in flight, and by approaching the flock, managed to obtain reasonable views of a Lapland Longspur. The other dark bird was most likely a "lappie" as well. There was a nice selection of waterfowl present including 15 Greater Scaup (rare in Wellington County in winter) and 6 Redhead (also rare in Wellington in the winter).

Driving north, I stopped at a little marsh to see if I could turn up a Swamp Sparrow that was found on the Christmas Bird Count by Val Wyatt and co. No luck with that, but a Common Raven croaked as it flew overhead. They seem to be getting more and more common in the county all the time!

I spent much of the afternoon thoroughly checking out Guelph Lake. Along the southeast side of the "island", viewed from the bottom of the hill along Wellington Road 124, were 1 Ring-necked Duck, a group of 3 richardsonii Cackling Geese with some Canadas, and a swan which was most likely a Trumpeter. The distance was far so it was hard to be 100% certain, but it was a young bird and was retaining a lot of brown coloration. 1st year Mute and Tundra should both be mostly/completely white by now.

The previous day, a Greater White-fronted Goose was reported to the WELLbirds listserv by Rohan Van Twest at Guelph lake. While walking out to the island off of Conservation Road in search of Rohan's Greater White-fronted Goose I came across a nice flock of birds which contained mostly robins but also a few Northern Flickers and other things.

By 4:00 in the afternoon I still had no white-fronted goose despite looking at every single bird in the area at least 5 times! Geese had just started to leave the lake so I parked myself up on top of the dam and watched the flocks lift off.

waterfowl taking off - Guelph Lake

While scanning, I noticed a flock of about 15 birds coming in, and one on the far right looked to have a white "front" as the flock flew head-on towards me. I suddenly released that my camera was still in the car so figuring that I had enough time, I sprinted back (actually) and grabbed the camera from my front seat. Much to my dismay I realized not only that I was still very much out of shape, but that the flock had flown quicker than I had anticipated and was over the dam, flying away. I fired off a few shots, not knowing if I captured the goose or not. Fortunately by cropping the photo I can see the goose in the lower part of the frame!

Greater White-fronted Goose - Guelph Lake

When I got back to my car I noticed a flash of gray and white and saw a shrike dive into some nearby bushes in hot pursuit of a junco. It emerged, unsuccessfully I should add, and perched on a nearby wire. Northern Shrikes are the badasses of the songbird world. They readily catch birds or rodents that weight almost as much as them and impale the unfortunate prey on hawthorns and even barbed wire.

Northern Shrike - Guelph Lake

Today I ventured back out to the Guelph area. I didn't see a whole lot throughout the late morning and early afternoon but it was nice to be out in the sun, especially since there was very little wind. Around noon I checked my email and saw that a Barred Owl was seen at Guelph Lake, so off I went!

Upon arriving the bird was nowhere to be found. I walked around a little bit and turned up a few kinglets and chickadees, had a House Finch fly over me calling, and finally found my first Hairy Woodpecker for Wellington county this winter.

Hairy Woodpecker - Guelph Lake

Eventually I ran into several of Guelph's finest birders - Mike Cadman, Brian Wyatt, and Larry Staniforth, and we decided that we should split up to find the sucker. After about 20 minutes, I turned around to greet some dog walkers who were walking past and looked up, right at the beautiful Barred Owl that I must have walked right past! The boys came by and we were all happy to have great views of this amazing bird. Wow! Almost as cool as the Great Gray Owl that showed up in Essex County recently. A great early Christmas present for us Guelphites.

Barred Owl - Guelph Lake

Barred Owl - Guelph Lake