Ups and downs

I hinted last night that a huge wrench could be thrown into my big year, depending on what the prognosis of my car was. As it turns out, that wrench has been thrown in my big year. As I suspected the head gasket was blown and it would cost 1200$ and 3/4 days to fix. Really shitty, but what can you do? Fortunately there are a lot of people who have been really helpful so far this year. Rick Mayos in particular has been incredible, offering a place to stay for quite a few nights as well as driving me around while I was carless. Ken Burrell also arranged for me to pick up his car and use it while mine is in the shop. Andrew Keaveney offered to do my reverse migration survey this morning (while not accepting payment from me), while I dealt with the car. And Sarah Rupert has offered to make me dinner and a place to stay for Sunday night. So while this is a major setback, it just shows how many great people are out there, willing to help of which I couldn't be more thankful.

Anyways, today I got out for a bit with Rick and ended up walking with Dan Salisbury and John Black. It was pretty quiet, but we did see several interesting birds including first of the year (for me) Black-billed Cuckoo and Swainson's Thrush. We unsuccessfully searched for 2 Worm-eating Warblers, plus a possible Hermit Warbler which was reported but never seen again.

Swainson's Thrush - Point Pelee NP

 After Rick drove me to Wheatley to pick up Ken's car, I went back into the park and birded/butterflied in Northwest Beach before meeting up with Andrew and checking out the West Beach footpath south of the VC. I was happy to see a good variety of butterflies in only about 1/2 an hour near northwest beach, including 1 Gray Hairstreak, 30+ Little Sulphur (Little Yellow), 40+ Variegated Fritillary, both species of Lady, and the highlight, a Common-Checkered Skipper. Last night, Alan reported that his Common Checkered-Skipper yesterday was the first May record for Point Pelee.

Variegated Fritillary - Point Pelee NP

Little Yellow - Northwest Beach, Point Pelee NP

Common Checkered-skipper - Northwest Beach, Point Pelee NP

 We checked out West Beach, but just as we were starting the clouds rolled in and the butterflies stopped flying. However, we were lucky to see a Dainty Sulphur! Prior to yesterday, there were just 2 Point Pelee records for this southern species. Michael Tate reported 4 today and I'm sure there were more throughout the park. So while I only added two year birds (both common ones), I added a new butterfly to my Ontario list and got my first photos of several others. It was a great day in the field, just what I needed after all my car troubles.

Dainty Sulphur - West Beach, Point Pelee NP

melanistic Eastern Gartersnake - West Beach, Point Pelee NP

 Now that we are 5 days into May migration will continue to pick up! There are several code 3 and 4 species I really am hoping to pick up at Point Pelee in the next two weeks. If I don't get them here, I most likely will miss them for the year. They include:

Laughing Gull
American Avocet
Kirtland's Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Henslow's Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Dickcissel
Blue Grosbeak

In addition, I really need to start picking up more rarities. I was hoping to have 10-15 code 4+ species during the spring migration of late April to late May. So far I have 5: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Western Tanager, Western Grebe, and Chuck-will's Widow. Hopefully migration continues to pick up!

Recent birds and setbacks

Sorry for the short post tonight...its late, I'm tired, and frustrated so I don't feel like writing a whole lot. I've had some trouble with my car today and it may possibly be a blown gasket. I don't know much about cars, but apparently that can be quite expensive to fix. Hopefully when I take it in to the mechanic tomorrow that isn't the prognosis. Needless to say, this could throw a huge wrench in my big year but I won't really know until I find out how much this will cost. Oh, and the birds. Its been really good the last 3 days and I am now sitting at 262 for the year. The highlight today was a Chuck-will's-Widow which was found early this morning calling from just north of the visitor centre parking lot. At 8:40 PM, it started up calling again, much to the delight of the 50+ birders who came out to listen for it! Earlier in the day I saw a Yellow-breasted Chat at Blue Heron which was entertaining local birders for several hours. This morning the reverse migration was quite good and I had about 2000 birds in the 2.5 hours. The highlight for me was a Prothonotary Warbler, bright and early! A possible Dickcissel flew over as well, but we weren't able to confirm its identification. Year birds since my last update include: Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eastern Kingbird Tennessee Warbler Cerulean Warbler Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Clay-colored Sparrow Scarlet Tanager Western Meadowlark (a new Ontario bird for me, found by Steve Pike and Andrew Keaveney) Semipalmated Plover Prothonotary Warbler American Redstart Black-throated Blue Warbler Olive-sided Flycatcher Chuck-wills-widow

May 1 highlights

Another short mobile blog post... As I walked down to the tip before dawn, I had about 10 species of warblers and I knew it would be a good day! A highlight for me was an Upland Sandpiper that flew over Alan and I as we walked the west beach trail. While not a year bird, it was a new Pelee bird for me and a great spring Pelee record. We had our first of year Grasshopper Sparrow here as well. Other highlights: -6 Blue-winged, 2 Orange-crowned, 1 Bay-breasted, 1 Cape May, 1 Golden-winged and 1 female Hooded Warbler -lots of dowitchers and 7 Willets at Hillman -4 Yellow-throated and 1 White-eyed Vireo -the continuing Eared Grebe at the tip I finished with about 120 species for the day, while missing some easy ones like Rock Pigeon, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, etc. 16 of them were year birds, bringing me up to 247. I'm really hoping to hit 300 by the time I leave Pelee. The forecast for tomorrow looks great! Maybe a rarity or two will be around...

Welcome to May

It was the last day of April today, and finally some new birds moved into the park! As usual I started out at the tip first thing to do my survey. It was pretty windy and quiet, but the Eared Grebe was still swimming around at the edge of the merganser flock and a recently arrived Marsh Wren was seen at the tram stop. I thought I heard another one rattling away right at the very tip!

It was a little quiet in the park and then the rains came. I made it back just in time and contemplated my options. 1) Have a nap, 2) Get soaked and walk around in the park, and 3) Check for grounded shorebirds. I did the latter, and despite some extensive searching in the fields/shorelines/Hillman Marsh, I couldn't turn anything up that was too interesting. Warbling Vireo at Hillman as well as White-crowned Sparrows were new birds for the year.

I went back in the park and had fun watching some sparrows (2 late American Tree Sparrows were the highlight). Soon after I received a text from Sarah that Dan Salisbury had found a Le Conte's Sparrow near Sanctuary. I met up with Dan, and after about 20 minutes of waiting unsuccessfully, I decided to walk up the beach a bit. It didn't take long until I flushed a streaky sparrow with an orange rump from the grasses! I got a few glimpses of it skulking around, confirming my suspicions that it was a Le Conte's. This was a lifer! They weren't the greatest looks but I'm sure I'll get better ones at Rainy River this summer. Dan and I spent a bit of time birding in the area, and I picked up my first Baltimore Oriole and Orange-crowned Warbler of the year. Later that afternoon I heard and saw a male Orchard Oriole at the visitor centre, yet another year bird. This brings me up to 231 after the end of April.

Orange-crowned Warbler - April 30, 2012

I thought I would take the time to post a few more photos from the last few days, now that I have the time/internet access at Rick's place. :)

Yellow-rumped Warbler - April 28, 2012

I kinda like this shot of a Blue-headed Vireo.

Blue-headed Vireo - April 28, 2012

Great Horned Owl - April 27, 2012

2nd Point Pelee record of Common Raven since 1970 - April 27, 2012

Really tired - time for bed. These 5 AM mornings are starting to catch up with me...

Eared Grebe and a few others from Pelee

Last night was quite cold, dampening the migration a bit, but a few new birds had blown in. I think that more birds moved out than in, since it was extremely quiet as I walked to the tip this morning!

As I was counting the blackbirds and Blue Jays reverse-migrating, the sun slowly warmed and I watched a young raccoon scrounging around the tip. The previous day I had found a raccoon which had fatally injured a Northern Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi) but made no attempt to eat it. That kind of pissed me off and I declared a personal vendetta against all raccoons.

Raccoon - Point Pelee National Park

Despite the fact that this guy would grow up to be a snake-maiming terror, I thought it was kind of cute. In the nice morning light I took a moment to grab a few photos.

Raccoon - Point Pelee National Park

And one more. I couldn't resist...

Raccoon - Point Pelee National Park

Friends from Guelph - Chris, Chris, and Pauline - as well as Pete and Sue Read soon joined me at the tip. Pete and I saw a small dark grebe diving near the tip at the same time, and upon binocular views, we realized it was an adult Eared Grebe in alternate plumage! What a stunning bird.

Eared Grebe - Point Pelee National Park

This was my 8th (!) Eared Grebe I've found in the past 4 springs. I don't know why I always come across them! It wasn't a year bird however - as  I found one at Long Point earlier in the spring.

Eared Grebe - Point Pelee National Park

There had been a large concentration of scoters off of the west beach so I checked them out later in the morning. It was truly impressive to see over 400 Surf Scoters and 50+ Black Scoters. Many of them were displaying and calling, something I had never seen or heard before.

Surf Scoters - Point Pelee National Park

Steve Pike had mentioned a male Long-tailed Duck that was attempting to court a female scaup, much to the chagrin of the male scaup. I came across the Long-tailed Duck (new for my Point Pelee list), but it was much too far for photos. Its not often I see them in this plumage.

I realized at this point that I was a bit dehydrated and really tired (apparently its not wise to drink only coffee and beer for 3 days straight), so I ended up taking it easy and napping. Fortunately there wasn't much to see in the park! Tonight, Rick was gracious in offering up his place for me to stay again (thanks, Rick!) so I'm looking forward to not sleeping in my car. The forecast is improving and its about to get crazy in Ontario! Hopefully the inevitable rarities that show up aren't too far from Pelee...

Cold and windy times at Pelee

It's been a while since I've made a post or gone through the backlog of emails piling up since I haven't had a chance! I've been birding pretty much nonstop since my last post, with little to show for it. Late April birding at Point Pelee can be really hit and miss. When the weather conditions line up we often get a major pulse of neotropical migrants and a healthy dose of rarities this time of year. But when the weather is cool with strong north winds, as has been the case for close to a week, the number of birds is really meager! Very little migration occurred since the last pulse on April 17-20. This brought rarities like Say's Phoebe, Fork-tailed Flycatcher,Western Grebe, Bells's Vireo, and Western Tanager to southern Ontario. Most of the birds at Pelee have left and nothing has arrived. For instance, I have had 3 days straight where I've seen less than 15 warblers! I mean individuals, not species!! There have still been some year birds in the last few days, however. They include: -Sedge Wren and Upland Sandpiper while unsuccessfully chasing the latest report of Say's Phoebe from Carden -Chimney Swift -Common Tern -Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow Warbler -Lincoln's Sparrow It's not all bad news, however. Yesterday I was able to photograph only the second park record of Common Raven since 1970. It was first seen on Tuesday by Alan. It was really beat up..who knows, maybe it was a Chihuahuan Raven... Additionally, there was a new 'flood' of birds that came in last night. I was greeted at the tip by a singing Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and later, came across a flock of perhaps 100 Yellow-rumped Warblers at Sanctuary. Mixed in were Pine, Nashville, Palm, Black-and-white, and Black-throated Green Warblers as well as White-eyed Vireo and a few other odds and ends. Finally, the weather forecast is starting to line up and next week could be fantastic. With the warm, southerly air and the increase in birders out looking, the craziness should begin in earnest. Gettin excited!!

Birthday grebe

This morning I headed to Van Wagner's Beach first thing to look for the reported Western Grebe, found yesterday around noon by Rob Dobos. I arrived shortly after 7 and it was easily visible between Hutch's and Baranga's on the Beach. I walked out to the lake and grabbed a number of photos as it dove, about 100 feet offshore.

Western Grebe - Hamilton

It kept heading east towards me, giving me great scope views. My parents had gotten me a Nikon TC 1.4x teleconverter for my birthday, effectively changing my 300 mm lens to a 420 mm. The first photos I took with it on my camera were of the grebe! It was still a little distant, but the extra 120 mm sure helped!

Western Grebe - Hamilton

The Western Grebe was yet another rarity to add to the list for the year. As of the end of the 2009 OBRC report, there were 27 accepted records in Ontario, with 10 of these records coming in the spring period of early April to mid-May. An additional 5 records were accepted of Clark's/Western Grebe that couldn't be assigned to a species.

On the way back to Cambridge, I stopped at the Safari Road wetland just east of Kirkwall Road in Flamborough. Despite traffic, wind, and loud squawking Canada Geese, I managed to hear 2 American Bitterns as well as a Virginia Rail grunting.

These 3 year-birds bring me up to 217 for the year. I am planning on spending the rest of the day relaxing in Cambridge, then heading back to Pelee later this afternoon.

Recent updates (Western Tanager, Chat, etc)

Back in the south with internet access so I thought I would post a few photos from yesterday. After a long drive, I finally arrived at the location of the Western Tanager in the late afternoon. As I rang the doorbell, I could see the tanager sitting in on the feeder through the window in the house!

Western Tanager - lower Bruce Peninsula

It appeared to be in good shape, feeding regularly (on sunflower seeds) and scaring away the sparrows who were also trying to feed.

Western Tanager - lower Bruce Peninsula

The only time it left the feeder (and when I took the photos) was when a Red Squirrel stole its spot. The  tanager "patiently" waited, eventually returning once the squirrel was done.

Western Tanager - lower Bruce Peninsula

Like the Bell's Vireo the day before, this was a lifer! Additionally, and more importantly, it was a code-4 rarity, the 12th one I have seen so far this year. The homeowners wish to keep the location quiet so unfortunately I can't tell anyone the location.

Western Tanager - lower Bruce Peninsula

Since I had driven 5.5 hours to see this bird, I wasn't about to just turn around and go back to Pelee, so I spent the rest of the evening on the Bruce. The scenery was absolutely stunning against the setting sun and there were a fair amount of birds active despite the wind. I came up with about a dozen species of ducks, both species of yellowlegs, and a number of other early migrants such as Fox Sparrow, Blue-winged Teal, Eastern Meadowlark, Yellow-rumped Warbler, etc.

Greater, Lesser, Greater

Bald Eagle - Bruce Peninsula

That evening I fell asleep to the sounds of Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, and courting American Wigeons in the darkness.

The plan for today was to drive down to Pelee, stopping at various locations along the way. I had planned to meet up with Ken Burrell later to go over some stuff for the work I'll be doing for him this May. A Say's Phoebe had also shown up at the Carden Alvar as well. I debated driving to Carden, being there for first light, seeing it, then booking it to Pelee, but I decided against that. It was probably a good thing, since it didn't show today! Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. Can't get them all!

The drive down was fairly uneventful. I stopped at every lagoon between the Bruce and Point Pelee, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything rare mixed in! Probably the most interesting thing was the heavy wind, up to 70 km/h, sustained all day. Much of the topsoil from the fields was being blown away...

Anyways, I met up with Ken and we birded Hillman and a couple trails in the park briefly that evening. A Black-bellied Plover at Hillman was nice (and was a year bird, along with Cliff Swallow), as was the flock of 200+ Forster's Terns.

The highlight, though, was in the park. Migrants were incredibly scarce (only ~3 kinglets, 3 individual warblers, etc) though we did have a few phoebes and Blue-headed Vireos to keep us on our toes. Just as we finished on the redbud trail and started heading back to the VC, we flushed a medium sized bird from the brambles along the path. It acted quite skulky and was tough to get a good look at, but it appeared to be a Yellow-breasted Chat! We played the call, and it promptly responded from deep in the brambles. Sweet!

The winds are supposed to stay strong from the north overnight, so likely there won't be many migrants in the park in the morning, but Ken and I are going to try anyways. If a chat can stay hidden for 3+ days, who knows what else is out there just waiting to be found...

Really quick post today because I'm using my phone... Today was really cool and windy, and very few birds were in the park. Marianne Reid found a Yellow-throated warb, and I think that was it for really good birds! No sign of the Bell's Vireo today. I birded for a few hours with Kory Renaud and we were happy to turn up a Prairie Warbler near Sparrow Field, presumably the same one that was present yesterday. That was my only year bird in the park. I received news around 11:00 that a Western Tanager was coming to a feeder on the Bruce Peninsula! Thanks to Ethan Meleg it was arranged for me to visit the homeowners and see the bird. I arrived around 6 PM and immediately had it on the feeder! I managed some shots which I will post eventually. This was my second lifer in 2 days and a code-4 rarity. I also picked up another year bird in Brewers Blackbird, giving me 210 so far. A Say's Phoebe is currently in Carden Plains, found by Maris Apse today. Unfortunately I have prior commitments tomorrow and can't chase it, but if it is still around I'll go Tuesday! The crazyness has begun...

Rarity to kick off my time at Pelee!

This morning was cold and windy, so it took me a bit of effort to get out of bed (ie my front seat of my car) and make my way to Pelee. I had just pulled up when Brett, David, and Barb showed up, so I joined them in birding the park today!

As we started walking towards the tip, we saw that a Bell's Vireo had just been found by Steve Pike at the tip! Michael Tate, Alan Wormington, and others managed a few brief glimpses of it before it seemingly vanished. We spent the next three hours trying to relocate this bird, unfortunately to no avail. It was good to be reacquainted with some familiar faces and be introduced to others, though.

The vireo was traveling with a small flock of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, a Prairie Warbler, and a Blue-winged Warbler. While we saw many of these species, the vireo was nowhere to be seen! I did get a few new year birds while searching...Blue-headed Vireo; Wood Thrush; Nashville, Palm, Black-throated Green, and Blue-winged Warblers; and Red-headed Woodpecker.

Red-headed Woodpeckers - Point Pelee National Park

Finally, around 11:00, Barb received a phone call that the Bell's Vireo had been refound near the start of the West Beach footpath! Kory Renaud was the finder, and lucky for us the bird co-operated! Brett and I had fleeting glimpses of it in the trees, then Barb got it, and finally David got on it and managed some pretty sweet photos. Bell's Vireo is a code 5 bird, and as of the end of the 2009 OBRC report there were only 12 accepted records. This is the first April Bell's Vireo for Ontario.

Bell's Vireo - Point Pelee National Park

This was a bird I really wanted to get this year, as I missed the one at Pelee last year! It gave the impression of a large vireo, but flitted around a fair bit unlike some vireos. It was fairly drab with one obvious wingbar, a grayish head, and muted yellow/green/brown colours. It actually gave the impression of a fall-plumaged Tennessee Warbler to me. Unfortunately it was hardly ever in view and the above photo is the best that I could manage!

After that success, anything else would be just bonus. Turns out there wasn't much else in the park, and eventually we decided to head over to Rondeau to look for the Yellow-throated Warbler!

We made a number of stops along the way (I picked up Spotted Sandpiper for the year) and eventually made it to Rondeau. Unfortunately the Yellow-throated Warbler was a no-show in the time we were there. Just as we were leaving, Dave the machine somehow picked out a tiny warbler backlit at the top of a very tall tree off in the distance..I don't know how the guy does it. We spent the next 20 minutes enjoying the VERRRY territorial little guy as he made his presence known by chattering at us.

Yellow-throated Warbler - Rondeau Provincial Park

I added Rose-breasted Grosbeak as a year-bird here as well. Another highlight was this mischievous little guy..stealing seed from the bird feeders with those nimble fingers!

Raccoon - Rondeau Provincial Park

And one of several Red-bellied Woodpeckers in the park.

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Rondeau Provincial Park

So there you have it. It was a great day in the field, and I am now up to 207 species for the year. Most importantly, I added another code-5 rarity as well as a code-3. Its the most wonderful time of the year!

PS what's this about extreme weather coming in? From what I hear we are expected to get some precipitation and crazy north-ish winds the next few days. It won't be much fun birding, and who knows what rarities this system will blow in, but any ridiculous storm has high vagrant potential! Especially if it happens in late April. Especially since we have just had a few warm fronts coming up from Texas, bringing birds farther north than they had planned. All these birds will want to head back south, and Pelee is like a funnel....keep your eyes open, as things could get interesting.