Cave Swallow hunt, day 1 results

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This is an official posting from the north shore of Lake Erie Cave Swallow watch.

Station: Erieau and surrounding area
Date: November 10, 2012
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Head counter: J. Vandermeulen
Other observers: none

Species:
Cave Swallow - 0

Other notable species: none

Weather predictions: 14 degrees Celcius with 25 km/h south winds. Could be great for the influx of Cavies to begin!

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So that just about sums it up. After a great night with friends in Guelph, I woke up a bit later than usual and prepared myself for the next 5 days being on the road. I arrived in the Rondeau area by early afternoon and began my search. I ran into Blake Mann who told me the news that he had seen both a Snowy Owl and Eurasian Wigeon in the Rondeau area with Steve Charbonneau and Jim Burk, but they had seen no Cave Swallows.

I did have a few interesting birds including 9 species of sparrows along the McGeachy Pond marsh trail. A few Fox Sparrows and a Field Sparrow were nice to see. There were thousands of ducks in Rondeau Bay including what I believed to be a leucistic Canvasback. It was pure white with a light brown/golden head, the only colour on it. No photos today - I didn't even take the camera out of the bag once! While I was at Erieau, I saw the posting about the Cave Swallows seen at Holiday Beach. If I had driven straight there, I would have arrived with plenty of time before sunset. But there would be no guarantee that the swallows would still be present, and it is also quite the drive. I am confident that there will be more Cave Swallows in southern Ontario soon!

I think that I will most likely head down to Pelee for a few days. Between Brandon and I scouring the area, we should be able to turn up something good!

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I have to say that my strategies have changed for my big year at this stage. With the record safely in the bag, I am being a little less frantic in my chase of rarities. It was nice to spend a few hours around Rondeau today without really birding too intensely! On one hand, at this stage of the year it is kind of nice to not have to push myself everyday to find new birds. There are also fewer new year birds in the province so I can make a concerted effort to search for one target species without having to worry about getting other rarities that are around. Contrast that to the beginning of the year where I had to prioritize when/where I should go to pick up all the rarities. It was a little bit stressful at times, and I was constantly analyzing my big year attempt! On the other hand, it was nice in the beginning of the year when there were year birds around every bend. If I missed a bird I chased, I would probably still pick up other common year birds, making the trip still seem worthwhile. Now, if I miss a target species, there is no consolation prize. I am also sure that there will be some frustrating times in the next 7 weeks when there are no possible year bird to chase.

Anyways, we will see how day two of the Cave Swallow watch goes tomorrow!

Cave Swallow hunt

It is Cave Swallow time! Cave Swallow, along with Pacific Loon and Glossy Ibis, are the only code-3 birds I haven't seen yet this year. I missed the big push of Cave Swallows in late October in which 148 were seen in Hamilton, but a few seem to be kicking around on the north shore of Lake Erie with recent sightings from Erieau and from Port Burwell.

Additionally, south or west winds are forcasted for the next few days in southern Ontario. This looks like classic Cave Swallow weather! More should theoretically show up in the next few days. This is also the type of weather that should bring in Cattle Egrets.

Cattle Egret from Keswick

And since the second week of November is one of the best weeks all autumn for rarities, there is a good potential that other rarities could be blown in. I am thinking along the lines of Ash-throated Flycatcher, or maybe Sage Thrasher.

What this means, is that I am going to have to hang out in southwestern Ontario for a bit! I will be leaving shortly for Erieau to search for Cave Swallows. I will be also checking out all of the little harbours between Port Stanley and Point Pelee in the next few days and I expect to do a tip watch or two at Pelee as well. It should be fun!

Netitishi days 8 and 9 - a new record!

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

October 28, 2012
Weather: -2 to 3 Celcius, moderate overcast with occasional sun, wind SE to NE 5-10 km/h.
Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11955568
44 species

We had the highest daily species count of the trip so far on this day. The winds finally shifted to the northeast by the afternoon, and as a result we had the largest duck flight in days. Included were 400 Brant, 140 Northern Pintail, 500 Long-tailed Duck, lots of scoters, and the first King Eider of the trip. One of the highlights for me was seeing a gorgeous white-morph Gyrfalcon just to the east of us, and getting some photos as well! This was my 298th "self-found" bird for the year.

Gyrfalcon - Netitishi Point

Excuse the terrible shots! I was just happy to get photos of a Gyrfalcon. Check out those feathery legs in the above photo - great for life in the Arctic.

Gyrfalcon - Netitishi Point

While these photos don't do the bird justice, it was an incredible animal. Gyrfalcons have always had a sort of mythical allure to me. The few sightings in southern Ontario were of brief looks at a flyby bird, and unfortunately I had never had the good fortune to cross paths with one. To see a few of these beauties in the flesh was undoubtedly a highlight of the trip for me!

Later on in the day, I was zoomed in all the way with my scope trying to identify a distant few scoters when two small white birds flushed from the water. I initially called out "Phalaropes!" but then corrected myself when I realized they were Black Guillemots! I had a tough time staying on the birds as they seemed to vanish into the waves. While not a year bird (I saw one in fine breeding plumage that Barb found this summer on James Bay), this was self-found bird #299 this year.

Sea-watching from the now defunct wind shelter

Like I said, today was an incredible day. We had more highlights - the continuing Baird's Sandpiper, good looks at Hoary Redpolls, an immaculate adult Glaucous Gull, and a Boreal Owl that I flushed near camp. Just a great day at the coast!

In the above photo, taken near sunset, you can see two boats traveling east. We didn't know it at the time, but these boats were part of a rescue mission to search for a man that had disappeared when out hunting. Unfortunately the man hadn't been found by the time we arrived back in Moosonee and it was almost certain that he perished.

That evening we heard on the radio about Hurricane Sandy, a massive cyclone that was moving inland from New York. We figured we were going to start feeling the effects, as the counter-clockwise movement of the massive low pressure cell would create northeast winds where we were. This could be the weather we were waiting for! I jokingly mentioned to Alan that night that October 29 was going to be named "The Day of the Fulmar".

October 29, 2012
Weather: -2 to 3 Celcius, overcast with wet snow at sunset, wind NE to WNW 20-40 km/h and picking up as the day went on.
Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11955633
47 species

We thought yesterday was good, but today was even better! The weather was similar to yesterday however the winds were moderate strength from the north all day long. All the ducks seemed to move on cue and we had some spectacular numbers.

The Brant flocks were certainly a highlight. Flocks streamed by all day long and when it was all said and done we had counted 24,100 of them! I think this is a record high for Ontario? Northern Pintails were also moving in ridiculous numbers. We had 6,600 of them! Perhaps also record high? Mixed in with the pintails were 63 American Wigeons (we had seen none prior to this) and 32 Northern Shoveler. Other duck numbers were crazy high - 280 Green-winged Teal, 8,000 Long-tailed Ducks, 300 Black Scoter, 350 White-winged Scoter, 600 American Black Duck, etc. Just incredible!

Brant

The highlight of the day, perhaps even the trip for me, occurred around 9:25 AM. It was low tide and I was scanning over to the west when I got on a gull-like bird right at the waterline. My heart jumped a bit but I tried to convince myself that it was a Ring-billed Gull. But it was shearing over the waves and I knew immediately what it was. I think the conversation went something like this:

"I've got a gull, its flying up and down over the waves like how shearwaters do"
No response from Alan.
"Actually, it might be a fulmar, yeah I think this might be a fulmar" I said calmly, though I'm sure my heart skipped a beat.
"Sure it is" was his sarcastic reply.
"Oh s*** I think it is a fulmar!" I now had a diagnostic look as it banked. "It is! A f****** fulmar! Its shearing over the waves, heading right!"
Alan got on the bird and mentioned that it was definitely a typical looking fulmar. At fairly close range too!!

At this point Alan and I grabbed our cameras and tried to get photos. We lost it though and despite taking some photos of the location where it was, I missed. Alan re-found the bird farther east a minute later and again I tried to photograph it unsuccessfully. Finally on the third try I got it, but the bird was more distant at this time. Check it out - the world's worst photo of a Northern Fulmar! Eventually the bird went back out to sea, but I was happy to finally get 339 in the bag after 5 days without a yearbird. It was my 300th self-found bird this year in Ontario as well.

Northern Fulmar

Wow, what a day! I immediately went back to the shelter and grabbed a celebratory beer even though it was only 10:00 AM. The rest of the day had more highlights though no more fulmars. We had a King Eider, Red-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe (both grebes are rare on James Bay), Iceland and Glaucous Gulls, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers, and more. We spent the entire day seawatching with only a few quick breaks to eat. This is what its all about!!!

Netitishi days 6 and 7

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

October 26, 2012
Weather: between 10 and 3 Celcius, rain in the morning but clearing by the afternoon, wind SW 40-50 km/h switching W 5 km/h late in the day.
ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11955435
39 species

Another day with winds with a southerly component! While not ideal for waterbirds including most of our target species, we did get some southern vagrants today. While I was down the beach looking for interesting things (with not much luck), Alan had 2 flyby Mourning Doves! Mourning Doves used to be very rare in southern James Bay, though now they are uncommon during the warm months. At any rate these were most certainly brought in with the warm south winds. Given the date and location, it seems just as likely that they could have been a rare dove species (White-winged or Eurasian Collared, maybe even Common Ground). And that would have been the highlight of the day, if it wasn't for a little duck.

At 9:40, Alan picked out a female Harlequin Duck in flight! We watched it until it disappeared to the east. Harlequins are rare (but probably regular) in southern James Bay. There are only 21 accepted records for Northern Ontario, and only 1 previous for Cochrane district, though I am sure the lack of coverage this time of year at James Bay has something to do with that.

We did have some other interesting birds throughout the day. Our only Snow Goose of the trip, a baby blue-morph, flew by close to shore heading west. Probably looking for his mama! (geese usually migrate in family groups). We had our first flock of Canada Geese as well, 13 of them. 2 of the geese looked significantly smaller, but the distance was so great that the birds were seemingly vanishing over the horizon and it was impossible to tell if the small geese were Cackling Geese or not. Alan still needs Cackling Geese for his southern James Bay list.

I photographed a Lapland Longspur near camp. While not a rare bird, and while this is a pretty bad photo of one, I was happy to get it since I hadn't photographed one yet this year. I don't have a requirement that I need to photograph the bird for it to count for my big year but just as an added challenge I am attempting to photograph 300 species this year. I added 11 more this trip, bringing me up to 293.

Lapland Longspur

With the winds finally switching to the west by the evening, we were hoping that they would continue switching and we would have a nice strong northwest wind the following day.

October 27, 2012
Weather: 1 to 10 Celcius, clear with some clouds at dusk, wind SW to W 5-10 km/h. 
ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11955475
35 species

Will the warm weather and southwest winds ever end??? At this point of the trip I could really empathize with the group last year who had similar conditions for most of their trip, preventing them from seeing big numbers of the rare northern birds. We did already have 2 code-4 rarities this trip, so I kept telling myself that even if we did not see anything else this trip, it would still be a success.

Feeling bored in the afternoon, Alan and I walked west to the lagoon that all the shorebirds seemed to fly to throughout the day. We were surprised to find a juvenile Baird's Sandpiper mixed in with the group! Since most Baird's appear to clear out of James Bay by September (there are no previous Oct records) this was a pretty cool record.

Baird's Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Since the lighting was nice I was glad to get some photos of some of the Sanderlings. For some reason I don't see very many Sanderlings in southern Ontario, especially in autumn. Up here we would see hundreds most days!

Sanderlings

True to their name, the Sanderlings never left the sandy areas. The Dunlins and White-rumped Sandpipers would sometimes work the shallow tidepools and mucky areas, but not the Sanderlings.

Sanderling

The above Sanderlings are juveniles that are molting into 1st winter plumage. Some of the black-and white juvenile feathers (coverts, tertials, etc) are still retained, while the new gray winter feathers are coming in on the scapulars and mantle. We never saw any adult Sanderlings - this is expected since adults migrate much sooner. However we did see some adult Dunlins up to and including the last day of the trip.

We were now one week into the trip. Hopefully the winds switch for the rest of the trip!

Netitishi Days 4 and 5

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

October 24, 2012
Weather: between 1 and 7 Celsius, overcast with some drizzle, winds SE switching E, 15-20 km/h
ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S11953101
37 species

Today was a fairly uneventful day with no real highlights. The winds from from a pretty bad direction and as a result very birds were flying. I had the first Green-winged Teal of the trip, more Rough-legged Hawks, and a Northern Shrike which briefly perched on the now-defunct "Gyrfalcon Pole".

Northern Shrike - Netitishi Point

Of course the local Gray Jays were looking for handouts around camp.

Gray Jay - Netitishi Point

I actually took my camera out for some scenery shots today.

coastline at  Netitishi Point

The sun came out late in the day for a bit, warming the surrounding landscape to an almost balmy 7 degrees. Even the occasional fly was out and about!

fly - Netitishi Point

The winds were light and by evening it was calm with a full moon. I went out again and got a few photos of the wind shelter near the coast.

early evening - Netitishi Point

early evening - Netitishi Point

moon - Netitishi Point

October 25, 2012
Weather: between 5 and 15 Celcius, overcast with showers and some thunder, wind E switching SW, 5 to 10 km/h
ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S11953194
35 species

Another poor day for weather with warm temperatures, rain, and light winds from the wrong direction. I guess we couldn't be too disappointed, given the good conditions and rare birds a few days earlier. Even still we were hoping that the southwest winds would bring us rare Passerines from the south.

At one point I was bored of seawatching since few waterfowl were migrating, so I wandered east down the coast a few miles. I found the only southern Passerine of the day, an American Robin. Exciting Stuff!

Other highlights for the day included a bunch of Lapland Longspurs, the first Red-breasted Nuthatch on the trip, and 2 seperate Three-toed Woodpeckers! They both proved to be alusive and we didn't get photos of either.

Hopefully the weather clears soon and the waterbirds pick up again!

Just when everything was going well...

...my car makes things "interesting" once again.

Alan and I had just got off the train at Fraserdale and after packing up all our gear, we each jumped in our own cars and headed south towards Smooth Rock Falls. We made sure to drive together in case one of our cars had issues. The road back to Smooth Rock Falls is long and devoid of any human habitation or cell phone service.

30 minutes later, the battery light came on. Not good. Then shortly after, I lost all power and my car came to a stop. Alan noticed that I wasn't behind him anymore and turned around to see my on the shoulder of the road with my 4-ways on.

Alan knows more about cars than I do and he thought it was probably the alternator which had gone. The alternator transfers mechanical energy from the engine to electrical energy to power the battery. With my car, the battery not only powers things like lights, heating/AC, radio, etc but also contributes to aspects of the engine, so with the alternator dead the battery died and my car subsequently died! We decided to leave my car on the shoulder (it was a very lightly traveled road, especially at night) and we ended up getting a motel in Smooth Rock Falls. Fortunately Alan has CAA and so he arranged a tow truck to pick me up in the morning, take me back to car, and have it towed all the way to Cochrane.

Currently I am sitting in a motel in Cochrane, waiting for the new alternator to arrive in the morning, and by noon I should be on my way. Unfortunately this is another setback to the year as I have to spend even more money on my car that I wasn't counting on, but such is life! I suppose its good that it is an easy repair and not something more major.

At any rate, I hope to continue birding hard for the rest of the year, but all these added costs are adding up so I am looking for work currently. If anyone knows of any environmental/consulting work, please let me know!

So yeah, that is the big update for today. Kind of a crappy situation, but it could have been much worse. Thanks a lot Alan for arranging everything with CAA and re-arranging your schedule to help me out - it is much appreciated!

I'll try to get another Netitishi update up soon.

New goal: 350 species!

The record may be broken, but I'm not done yet. The other two birders doing a big year - Stu and Andrew - are not far behind, both sitting around 330 species for the year. Additionally, a record of 342 isn't safe for someone who was doing a SERIOUS Ontario big year in the future.

While my attempt has been fairly serious so far, there is definitely the possibility that somebody could come along and go crazy with a big year in Ontario. I have had some limitations so far.

For one, I don't have unlimited funds. This has prevented me from seeing a few key birds. For instance, if I was on a bigger budget, I could have went on a trip to the Hudson's Bay coast in the mid summer specifically for Smith's Longspur, Pacific Loon and Willow Ptarmigan. Or I could have gone up twice - once in the summer for those birds, and once sometime in the winter for Rock Ptarmigan. Not easy trips to plan, but certainly possible if I had a bigger budget. As well, I have refrained from chasing several birds this year because the distance was far and the chances of seeing the birds were low. However with unlimited funds I may have chased them all and maybe been successful with one or more of them.

Additionally, I have been out of province for a total of 32 days, or almost 10% of the year. This was my choice to be gone for that time, since I had other priorities which were greater than the big year. :) I missed out on Black-throated Gray Warbler and potentially Kelp Gull because of that, but I'm OK with that since my time was well spent out of province!

I have also been in remote locations and unable to chase birds elsewhere in the province for another 40 some days (Rainy River and Thunder Bay for work, James Bay in August, Moosonee in late Sept, Netitishi Point in late Oct). Ultimately the only birds I "missed" because of being away were the rarities blown in from Hurricane Sandy, since I didn't really miss anything on the other trips! And besides, the bonus rarities I saw at Netitishi made up for the ones I missed from Sandy.

Arctic Tern from James Bay - my only one this year!

Finally, I had school commitments for the first 4 months of the year. While I can't recall this limiting my chasing of rarities in any way, with more free time I may have been able to find an additional bird for my year.

What my point is, is that someone with a larger budget and no other major commitments could theoretically bird virtually non stop all year. If I can reach 342 by November 1 with a number of major commitments, it seems very possible that someone without these limitations could pass that, especially if they got a year as incredible as this year has been for rarities.

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Anyways, my new goal is 350 species for the year. That's only 8 more, but when you look at my list of potential species remaining it is a tall task. I think 345 is much more likely. Here are the possible birds I could still get:

Code 1: none
Code 2: none

Code 3:
Cave Swallow:
They are still being sporadically seen from the major invasion last week. The earliest I could chase one is Tuesday, November 6. If someone knows of a "reliable" one by then, please let me know!

Pacific Loon:
Oshawa had its annual Pacific Loon sighting last week, a bird that hung around for a while. However it hasn't been reported in several days, and it appears that people have still been birding that area because of the Eurasian Wigeon and other birds nearby. If anyone has any word on this bird, good or bad, let me know! I have a feeling it is hanging around somewhere out on the water and perhaps more will show up this autumn.

Glossy Ibis:
A bird I was sure I was going to miss until one joined the Hudwit at Gosport almost two weeks ago! However, it hasn't been reported for two days and I am worried it has left. If so, I will certainly miss it for the year.

Code 4+:
Rufous Hummingbird:
There have been at least 3 seen in Ontario already this fall at feeders, but none have stuck around. November is a great month for them though, and recent reports outside of Ontario leave me hopeful.

Rare gull (Slaty-backed, Ivory, Ross's, etc)
Slaty-backed Gulls are near annual on the Niagara River in late autumn/early winter now, and there has already been a Ross's on Lake Erie, courtesy of Sandy. Hopefully one of these 3 winter specialties will make another appearance.

Razorbill
There is one on Lake Ontario, a bird that Glenn Coady had flying by. Maybe it will make another appearance? Niagara-on-the-lake seems like a good bet...

Tufted Duck
The one in Ottawa is no longer there, but abnormally large numbers for this early date have already shown up in Newfoundland. Maybe there will be more and it will be an invasian year.

Golden-crowned Sparrow
Another one that is showing up more often in recent years. Most sightings are of birds at feeders, a.k.a. very "twitchable" birds.

Barn Owl
My only Ontario sighting was of a migrant in Stoney Creek in mid November that David Bell and I found. They are resident in southern Ontario, just extremely scarce.

Black-throated Gray Warbler:
A "twitchable" one has shown up just about every autumn/winter for the last little bit - hopefully this year is no different.

Black-throated Gray Warbler - Hamilton

Remember the above graph? It's all the Ontario rarities which are potential year birds, graphed by week (excluding Cave Swallows). I made it in early October and have seen some more rarities since, but the graph is still relevant. Early November is prime time! There are bound to be a few new bonus birds around.

Netitishi Day 3 (day of the gannet)

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

October 23, 2012

Weather: between 4 and 7 Celcius, overcast with some light rain and occasional sun, winds NE 15-20 km/h switching NW 5-10 km/h.

41 species

Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S11952976

Today was the day of the gannet. While the temperature was typical for the trip, 4 or 5 degrees, the sun actually came out for most of the day. High tide was mid morning and we were fairly successful getting a Red-necked Grebe (very rare for southern James Bay) and Alan saw a Horned Grebe (also very rare). We heard the Three-toed Woodpecker again and I was extremely surprised when I heard a small gull calling. Hoping it was something rarer, I was a little disappointed when I got on the bird and could see it was an adult Bonaparte's. This was record late for southern James Bay so it almost seemed that Ross's or even kittiwake would be more likely!

Greater Yellinglegs keeping an eye out for raptors

At noon the birding was really slowing down so I walked out on the flats (it was getting closer to low tide). Because of the sun, several Ringed Seals were lounging on the rocks. They were still quite a ways from shore so these photos are heavily cropped.

Ringed Seal

Ringed Seal

Brant were flying all day in small groups and so it was nice to get some photos on this sunny day. This would be pretty much the last time we saw sun all trip!

Brant

That afternoon, we were sitting in the shelter scanning over the bay. There was a northeast wind, though it was pretty calm. However the birds were flying. Around 3:50 PM, I was scanning to the right when a huge white bird on the horizon caught my attention. Even at the distance, the solid black wingtips were evident. For the first split second, I quickly went through the possibilities in my head. What was it, a pelican? Snow Goose? Perhaps a Great Black-backed Gull? However it was flying up and down over the waves, almost shearwater like, and it was increasingly obvious that it was a gannet! I got Alan on the bird and we watched it lazily continue to the east for a few minutes. This was a bird I had not even considered we would get on the trip since there is only 1 record for northern Ontario, and gannets had an extremely poor breeding season. Almost every Ontario gannet record is of a young bird.

However, adult gannets have been dispersing widely this season so this record wasn't totally unprecedented. As well, the previous Ontario record was also at Netitishi Point in late October. Strangely, it was a similar day: Low tide, very calm, and sunny.

The gannet was year bird #338, and it officially tied the record. The trip was definitely a complete success at that point!

the sea-watching shelter (built by Brandon in 2010)

Netitishi Days 1 and 2

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

October 21, 2012

Weather: between 3 and 7 Celcius, overcast, winds WNW approx. 15 to 25 km/h

24 species

Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11952631

Our first day at Netitishi Point! Inclement weather grounded us on October 20, the day we were supposed to leave. The following morning the mist and fog was still all over so we were delayed yet again. That afternoon, our pilot picked us up since he had a window of opportunity between some bands of rain! As we took off the conditions looked pretty bad but we managed to keep flying and made it to Netitishi.

helicopter - Netitishi Point

Helicopter leaving  Netitishi Point

We cleaned up around the camp a bit and moved our stuff in. Alan picked the main cabin, closest to the coast, while I moved all my gear into the brand new cabin. It was actually really nice, clean, and with a brand new wood stove! By mid afternoon, we were looking at birds on the coast.

Literally the first bird I looked at when I started scanning with my scope was a Great Black-backed Gull - supposedly rare on the coast. We ended up seeing many throughout the trip.

I was scanning just before Alan arrived at the shelter when I picked up a Purple Sandpiper in flight with 3 Sanderlings, very close in front of me. Year bird #335, and the last of the code-2 birds I still needed! 

Not long after Alan arrived and before long he noticed a Gyrfalcon farther down the beach. I had very brief but definitive views of this lifer and year bird 336. Despite having my main "expected" target in the bag, the views were far from excellent and I really wanted to see another one throughout the trip. 

Other highlights on day 1 included an American Three-toed Woodpecker (heard only), and a few usual ducks including a single Surf Scoter and my first Long-tailed Ducks for southern James Bay. The Surf was record late for southern James Bay at the time, but we saw many more throughout the trip, until November 2. (Edit: The group last year had 2 Surf Scoters on November 9, thanks Ken for the correction)

record photo of the ATTW, taken the following day

October 22, 2012

Weather:  between 5 and 8 Celcius, overcast, winds WNW switching to the N, 10-15 km/h

37 species

Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S11952824

Our first full day on the coast! The weather was overcast and gloomy, a theme that would continue for the entire trip. While walking around the woods in the morning, Alan found a nice male Spruce Grouse "posing" on a log. I know I've posted a lot of photos of Spruce Grice to the blog lately, but here's two more! 

Spruce Grouse - Netitishi Point

This ended up being the only grouse we saw at Netitishi, though Ruffed Grouse are also in the area. 

Spruce Grouse - Netitishi Point

Shorebirds can be found on the flats until freeze-up in mid-late November. Its somewhat surprising the diversity that can be found here in the late autumn. We had about 10 species for the trip. Dunlin were the most numerous!

Dunlin - Netitishi Point

Alan making sure that no Curlew Sandpipers were mixed in...

Alan at Netitishi Point

The highlight of the day turned out to be species # 337 for my year list, one that I had listed as a code-4. 

While sitting in the shelter watching the ducks, I noticed a huge duck barrelling by very close to shore (it was close to high tide as well). It was obviously an eider, but it was waay larger than any King Eider, the "regular" species here! It had a more laboured flight, like a goose or cormorant and the sloped forehead was easy to see. Unlike all the King Eiders we would see later in the trip, this bird was by itself, traveling the wrong way (heading west), and very close to shore. It eventually landed offshore of the creek mouth to the west and we watched it for a few minutes in our scopes. Eventually it took off and disappeared farther west. What a great bird to kick off the trip!

Despite breeding along the shores of James Bay, this subspecies of Common Eider (sedentaria) is aptly named - it rarely wanders from its rocky breeding grounds to its wintering grounds in Hudson Bay. This was one of very few records for the southern James Bay region. Year bird #337 and a new one for my Ontario list and self-found Ontario list. Sweet!

Other highlights for the day included a very late Winter Wren around camp (record late actually), better looks at the Three-toed Woodpecker (see photo above), a juv Peregrine Falcon, some late American Tree Sparrows, and the first Northern Shrike of the trip. A very good day indeed!

So to recap, after two days we had seen most of the regular species as well as a few record late birds. I had already added 3 year birds in the Purple Sandpiper, Gyrfalcon, and Common Eider. 

Stay turned for the next few days' recaps!

Back from Netitishi: a new Ontario big year record!

Days 1 and 2 - October 21 - 22, 2012
Day 3 - October 23, 2012
Days 4 and 5 - October 24 - 25, 2012
Days 6 and 7 - October 26 - 27, 2012
Days 8 and 9 - October 28 - 29, 2012
Days 10 and 11 - October 30 - 31, 2012
Day 12 - November 1, 2012
Summary

We were supposed to be back from Netitishi on Thursday November 1, but the constant gale-force northwest winds combined with ice pellets and fog/mist delayed us a couple of days! Finally the chopper arrived this morning and I am now in a hotel in Moosonee.

The trip was absolutely incredible!! I almost don't know where to begin, so without further ado here are some brief details on the 8(!!!!!) year birds I saw on the trip. More details and photos to follow!

Purple Sandpiper

October 21

I spotted a single PUSA with a group of Sanderlings close along the shore less than an hour after we arrived! This was my last code-2 bird to get, and was year bird 335. The only PUSA we got all trip!

Gyrfalcon

October 21

Alan noticed this bird waaaaay down the beach not long after I had the PUSA. Shitty looks, but we ended up getting 2 more gyrs throughout the trip, including a white morph juvenile which I got some record photos of. A lifer! Year bird 336.

Common Eider

October 22

I noticed the eider heading the wrong way (east to west) very close to shore on our first full day of seawatching. Female-type. Year bird 337! It was also a new "southern James Bay" bird for Alan. We saw a bunch of King Eiders later in the trip (usually in small groups or with scoters); this was the only Common we had.

Northern Gannet

October 23

Very exciting bird! I first saw the bird heading east way out in the distance...got Alan on the bird and we watched it until it was out of sight. An adult bird too!! This tied the record, being yearbird #338. It was my 3rd new bird I added to my Ontario list this trip, along with Gyrfalcon and Common Eider. This is only the second record for Northern Ontario.

Northern Fulmar

October 29

The record breaking bird! I was scanning to the west and saw a gull like bird shearing over the waves like a jaeger (or like a fulmar). After a second I realized it actually was a fulmar! It was right along shore, and I actually managed a very poor record photo. This was also a new Ontario bird for me. Undoubtably the "Greenland Express", or the strong winds blowing straight into James Bay from the north Atlantic due to Hurricane Sandy, brought this bird to us. It was the only fulmar we got, even though the strong north/northwest winds continued for the next 3 days.

Black-legged Kittiwake

October 30

I found a juvenile low over the flats near where we were sitting in the shelter. 340! When Alan got on it, he noticed a second kittiwake flying with it, and they ended up following the shoreline to the west. This should have been the last year-bird for the trip, but the helicopter delay brought us a couple bonus birds!

Great Cormorant

November 1

MEGA! Maybe not Wilson's Storm-Petrel or Ross's Gull mega, but this is the first record for Northern Ontario. Actually, all previous 11 accepted records for Ontario pertain to birds on Lake Ontario. Year bird #341, and my 5th new Ontario bird on the trip. Alan originally spotted this large cormorant straight out from us and as we watched it, it didn't take long to realize this was no Double-crested! Very good views and I could have got a photo if my camera wasn't packed away.

Western Kingbird

November 1

Only the second record for the southern James Bay region, and I think this is the latest fall record for northern Ontario. It whipped by the shelter around 4:30 PM and we had very brief looks at the "yellow-breasted kingbird" until it vanished down the coastline. I refound it 30 minutes later and we spent the rest of the day getting incredibly close photos as it looked for insects in a sheltered spot along the tidal wrack. A code 3 bird, one that I thought I would miss for the year! Yearbird 342.

Obviously I missed some incredible birds while I was gone. Hurricane Sandy brought an incredible amount of rarities, including 2 kinds of storm-petrel, Ross's Gull, etc. In my very brief glances at ONTbirds I also saw reports of Glossy Ibis, Pacific Loon, Razorbill, lots of Cave Swallows, etc. So while I missed quite a few potential yearbirds, I picked up 8 and set the record. I now have my sights set on 350!

More details, photos, etc to follow.