I almost canned my plans to check out some of the lagoons nearby after napping much longer than planned. In the end, I made the one hour drive to Blenheim, arriving with about an hour of light left. Due to my rushed schedule I didn't check out any of the lagoons and headed straight for the sprinkler system. The first bird that caught my eye was a huge shorebird with an upturned bill - an American Avocet. This avocet was much more advanced in its prebasic molt than the one I found at Tilbury, leading me to think that its a different individual. I watched it in the scope for about a minute before the shorebirds got spooked by something and took off. Last I saw of the avocet, it was heading south. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of this one because I left my camera in the car, and frankly, its a long walk back! Most of the shorebirds returned (minus the avocet), and they included:
30 Lesser Yellowlegs
20 Least Sandpipers
3 Solitary Sandpipers
1 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Pectoral Sandpipers
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper (first of fall for me)
X Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers.
As I was scanning the birds I could hear two Dickcissels calling, one on either side of me. Sweet! It appears that the late spring/early summer droughts in the southern states may have pushed quite a few into southwestern Ontario.
Also, when I entered the avocet in the book at Blenheim, there was a mysterious sighting for an avocet on July 18 at noon. Is it a typo or is it a prediction? Hmmm.....
I rushed over to Tilbury just before sunset to see what was around. And guess what I saw???
Not much, really. A few Black-crowned Night-Herons, a Short-billed Dowitcher, and a smattering of Least Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs among the usuals. I had a female Hooded Merganser with the ducks, which is a new Tilbury bird for me. As night fell, ~10 Chimney Swifts were hawking insects with the swallows. The duck flock is now growing, with now over 100 mallards and a few other things mixed in. Last fall quite a few teal used this place, so I'm going to predict a Cinnamon Teal this fall!
Showing posts with label Dickcissel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dickcissel. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Fall shorebird blitz - kicks off with a rarity
Shorebirds are probably my favorite group of birds for a few reasons. First, there is a wide variety of species that migrate through in large numbers. Second, many of the shorebirds can be difficult to identify, making it more of a challenge. And third, the chance of vagrancy is high with this group, making the search for rarities quite enticing.
Seeing as it is now early July, a few species are already on the move southbound. For the next few months, I am going to spend as much time as I can searching some of my favorite haunts for these migrants. Today was my first chance to go out and check my two regular spots that are relative close to where I work in Windsor - the Blenheim sewage lagoons, and the Tilbury lagoons.
After checking Hillman Marsh (it is pretty dead this time of year), I headed east to Blenheim, making a quick stop near Wheatley where a few Dickcissels have been hanging out for a while. Ken Burrell found a male here on June 16 and since then 2-3 males have been seen regularly. The birds did not disappoint and I had excellent scope views of one singing, with 2 others also singing off in the distance.
The Blenheim lagoons had a nice selection of early southbound migrants. Among 40+ Killdeer and 34 Spotted Sandpipers, I also found 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 17 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 8 Least Sandpipers. They were all hanging out in the irrigation cells as the water levels were still quite high in all 5 lagoons. The back lagoon (number 5) also held a few families of Wood Ducks, a female Ringneck Duck, a male Green-winged Teal, some Ruddy Ducks, and 4 American Wigeons.
Tilbury was my next stop and it did not disappoint. I noticed a few ducks and shorebirds on a small exposed mudflat, and after looking with my scope, a nice American Avocet stood out. This is only my second sighting of this species in Ontario and my first for a few years. A few photos of the beast (please excuse the image quality - I was digiscoping with my 18-55 kit lens):
Also at Tilbury were 1 Black-crowned Night-heron (new for the year, surprisingly), 1 Great Egret, a few ducks of various species, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, and about 10 Least Sandpipers.
So there you go. A nice start to the fall shorebird blitz! Last year I didn't get any rarities among the ~25 species of shorebirds I saw during the months of July, August, and September.
Seeing as it is now early July, a few species are already on the move southbound. For the next few months, I am going to spend as much time as I can searching some of my favorite haunts for these migrants. Today was my first chance to go out and check my two regular spots that are relative close to where I work in Windsor - the Blenheim sewage lagoons, and the Tilbury lagoons.
After checking Hillman Marsh (it is pretty dead this time of year), I headed east to Blenheim, making a quick stop near Wheatley where a few Dickcissels have been hanging out for a while. Ken Burrell found a male here on June 16 and since then 2-3 males have been seen regularly. The birds did not disappoint and I had excellent scope views of one singing, with 2 others also singing off in the distance.
The Blenheim lagoons had a nice selection of early southbound migrants. Among 40+ Killdeer and 34 Spotted Sandpipers, I also found 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 17 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 8 Least Sandpipers. They were all hanging out in the irrigation cells as the water levels were still quite high in all 5 lagoons. The back lagoon (number 5) also held a few families of Wood Ducks, a female Ringneck Duck, a male Green-winged Teal, some Ruddy Ducks, and 4 American Wigeons.
Tilbury was my next stop and it did not disappoint. I noticed a few ducks and shorebirds on a small exposed mudflat, and after looking with my scope, a nice American Avocet stood out. This is only my second sighting of this species in Ontario and my first for a few years. A few photos of the beast (please excuse the image quality - I was digiscoping with my 18-55 kit lens):
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| American Avocet with Mallards - Tilbury lagoons |
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| American Avocet - Tilbury lagoons |
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| American Avocet - Tilbury lagoons |
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| American Avocet - Tilbury lagoons |
Also at Tilbury were 1 Black-crowned Night-heron (new for the year, surprisingly), 1 Great Egret, a few ducks of various species, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, and about 10 Least Sandpipers.
So there you go. A nice start to the fall shorebird blitz! Last year I didn't get any rarities among the ~25 species of shorebirds I saw during the months of July, August, and September.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Pelee - May 21
I finally had a chance to head over to Pelee for the first time in a few weeks. So far I had missed out on a number of interesting birds that had been seen there recently, such as Bell's Vireo, Swainson's Hawk, Fish Crow, 37 species of warblers, etc.
Checked out DeLaurier for a change first thing in the morning. This was probably by best location all day. No real highlights, but I did see/hear about 15 species of warblers.
I headed down the West Beach footpath towards the tip. This has always been my favorite trail at Pelee - fewer birders, a clean view of the sky, and always a chance for rarities. A few of my better Pelee finds last year (Henslow's Sparrow and Kirtland's Warbler) came from here. On Thursday, a Dickcissel flew over me along this path as well.
Today was really slow, though a few singing Mourning Warblers were nice.
At the tip I ran into Brandon Holden and Ken Burrell who had just returned from a month of birding on Pelee Island. Ken and Brandon had a probable female Western Tanager reverse-migrate not long before I arrived. While walking near the tip with them, Ken's sharp ears picked out the distinctive song of a Prothonotary warbler. I took a look at the "Yellow-legged" gull at the tip as well. I'm not convinced that's what it is!
Hillman Marsh wasn't bad later that evening and I did see a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers which were new for the year. Apparently others had seen Baird's (REALLY good spring record) and Western Sandpipers there that evening as well. Finished the day with about 120 species.
Checked out DeLaurier for a change first thing in the morning. This was probably by best location all day. No real highlights, but I did see/hear about 15 species of warblers.
I headed down the West Beach footpath towards the tip. This has always been my favorite trail at Pelee - fewer birders, a clean view of the sky, and always a chance for rarities. A few of my better Pelee finds last year (Henslow's Sparrow and Kirtland's Warbler) came from here. On Thursday, a Dickcissel flew over me along this path as well.
Today was really slow, though a few singing Mourning Warblers were nice.
At the tip I ran into Brandon Holden and Ken Burrell who had just returned from a month of birding on Pelee Island. Ken and Brandon had a probable female Western Tanager reverse-migrate not long before I arrived. While walking near the tip with them, Ken's sharp ears picked out the distinctive song of a Prothonotary warbler. I took a look at the "Yellow-legged" gull at the tip as well. I'm not convinced that's what it is!
Hillman Marsh wasn't bad later that evening and I did see a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers which were new for the year. Apparently others had seen Baird's (REALLY good spring record) and Western Sandpipers there that evening as well. Finished the day with about 120 species.
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