A Wild Smew Chase

This morning while I was contemplating what to, an ONTbirds post immediately made the decision easy for me. A Smew was reported in Whitby harbour, presumably the same bird that was present last December (see here). I immediately booked it down there with Reuven and we showed up around 11:00 AM. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be seen, and all the birders had missed it as well, including some that had shown up right after it was posted to the listserv. Reuven and I still spent several hours around the harbour area searching for it, but no luck. With several other birders we did view an adult Thayer's Gull and an adult Kumlien's Gull next to each other on the breakwall! There were several more Kumlien's around as well as a 2nd/3rd cycle Glaucous Gull.

We decided to check out nearby Lynde shores to see if there were any interesting waterfowl there. No rare geese among the hundreds of Canada Geese, but we did see a nice Red-shouldered Hawk overhead and several migrant ducks (Ringneck Duck, Gadwall, etc) at Lynde Shores.

We saw on the WELLbirds listservs that Fred Urie had found a Snow Goose in Aberfoyle. This would be a life bird for Reuven (his biggest hole on his Ontario list) so we stopped there on the way back. Fortunately it was there when we arrived and we were able to view it from quite close. It appeared to have an injured leg but was still active and wary.

Snow Goose - Aberfoyle, Wellington Co.

The Snow Goose was year bird 141 for me. Since arriving in Canada, I picked up Common Grackle on March 4 and Rusty Blackbird with a mixed flock of blackbirds near Cambridge last night. The Red-shouldered Hawk was #140.

Snow Goose - Aberfoyle, Wellington Co.

No Smew, but that's how it goes sometimes! It was cold and windy for much of the day and very few blackbirds were around compared to yesterday. The forecast is improving, fortunately!

Great day along the bay

Today, Laura had plans to meet up with some friends in Hamilton for the day. I was more than willing to drive her down, spend the full day birding around the lakeshore, then picking her up and driving back home.

I met up with the one and only Barb Charlton this morning to look for rare Passerines at Bayfront Park in Hamilton. Barb was "stuck" on 320 species for the year in Ontario, and with no new rarities around for her to try for, we decided our best bet to find something interesting was to check out the Waterfront Trail. If you can recall a number of really rare December birds had shown up in recent weeks including Black-throated Green, Black-throated Gray, Wilson's, and Orange-crowned Warblers; a Blue-headed Vireo, and multiple Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers (check out Brandon's photos of some of the goodies here: http://www.blog.peregrineprints.com/2011/12/black-throated-gray-warb.html).

Barb and I didn't have much success though we briefly heard a gnatcatcher. A few Mockingbirds kept a close eye on us, however.

"Mocker" mocking us

She left to do some Christmas shopping and I would have been wise to follow her lead and get started on mine. Instead, I headed back down the waterfront trail, determined to find some of these birds. I made it all the way to Princess Point before turning back. There was not much to show for it except for this extremely RARE morph of a Double-crested Cormorant. The only field mark to distinguish it from a normal "cormie" is that it only has one wing.

Double-crested Cormorant, one-winged variant

Eventually I saw some of the birds as the Black-throated Gray put in an encore performance. I ran into Ross Wood here, and he was pleased to add this bird to his Ontario list.

Black-throated Gray Warbler - Bayfront Park, Hamilton

Heading back to my car, I found not one, but two gnatcatchers! The second was crawling around near my feet, gleaning insects. This photo is about 90% full frame, and I was shooting with a 300 mm lens. Gives you an idea how close I was!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Bayfront Park, Hamilton

Around this time, I had an interesting conversation:

Random passerby: "Hello."
Me: "Hello." (just being friendly, ya know)
R.P.: "Are you with a school group or anything? There's all these young guys walking around and taking pictures."
Me: "Nope, not with a school group. Just looking for birds!"
R.P: "You're a birdwatcher? I thought all birdwatchers were old and wore floppy hats!"
Me: "Actually the demographics are changing- you'd be surprised how many of us young guys and gals there are."

It's a conversation I have all the time! Lets break that stereotype (except for the Tilly hats -they're pretty awesome).

Just then, Tim King posted a nearby Snow Goose to the listserv, so I hustled over and watched it for a while. Nice bird!

Snow Goose - Bayfront Park, Hamilton

And a CANG, cause no one gives them any love.

Canada Goose - Bayfront Park, Hamilton

With a few hours to spare I headed over to Bronte Provincial Park for no particular reason. I walked around for a few hours, enjoying the crisp air and seeing a few birds (Pileated Woodpecker, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird,etc). Twas a great day in the field, but I think now I better get started on whittling down that Christmas list!

Eastern Bluebird - Bronte Creek Provincial Park