Van Wagner's Beach lakewatch

Life has been busy since my return from Borneo and Bali and I haven't had much of a chance to do any birding in the two weeks since my return. This week was particularly heavy, work-wise, but I managed to push a few big reports out the door and have a bit of a lighter schedule coming up, so hopefully I will be able to devote more time to birding in southwestern Ontario! I made sure that my schedule for Saturday remained clear, and given the forecast for moderate east winds picking up through the day, a visit to Van Wagner's Beach was in order.

Van Wagner's Beach is a well known location to pretty much any birder in southern Ontario. Due to its location on the far western end of Lake Ontario, migrant species present on the lake sometimes fly past during ideal weather conditions, such as during north, northeast or east winds in the autumn. Sometimes the various waterbird species migrating between James Bay and the Atlantic coast make a stopover on Lake Ontario; these are the birds that we are hoping to see at Van Wagner's! Given the time of year, I was hoping for Parasitic and Pomarine Jaeger, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-throated Loons and maybe some Brant.

Only a few other birders were there upon my arrival at 9:00 AM including some familiar faces. The first few hours of the morning were quite productive though no rarities showed. I was really enjoying getting back into waterbird identification as I was a little out of practice! Lots of birds were on the move, namely scoters, Common Goldeneye, and Long-tailed Ducks, along with mixed flocks of dabbling ducks. It was a great day for loon migration and at any given point a loon was visible, somewhere over the water. A handful of distant Red-throated Loons were also seen, the harbingers of many more slated to come through this month.

Around 10:00 AM I spotted a Black-legged Kittiwake that was nearly upon us, only a few meters offshore and coming in hot and heavy from the west. Fortunately I had stepped back from my scope or else I surely would have missed this bird too! We all enjoyed the fantastic views as it cruised past, continuing down the beach.I was a little slow to the draw with my camera but eventually fired off a few photos as it flew directly away.

The next great bird came only a few minutes after the kittiwake. A small jaeger also flew down the beach, so close that we all could have easily missed it as well if we were looking through our scopes. Upon seeing the jaeger a few things were apparent - it lacked the warm tones associated with Parasitic Jaeger, exhibited a heavily barred undertail and uppertail coverts, and flew with the typical bouncy flight of Long-tailed Jaeger. Fortunately my camera was resting on the bench in front of me and after the kittiwake fly-by I was a little more prepared. It helped that the jaeger flew slowly down the beach, allowing Jeremy Bensette and I to snap a handful of photos as it drifted past, mere meters away. Looking at the photos the consensus among the group was that it was a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger. Long-tailed is generally thought of as an earlier migrant, and each autumn a handful of individuals are seen from late August through September, with occasional records from October as well. There are only a couple of previous November records for Ontario, and this may be one of the latest for the province.

juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger - Van Wagner's Beach, City of Hamilton (November 4, 2017)

Some of the features that identify this bird as a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger include the following:

-small slim jaeger appearing more front-heavy with attenuated rear
-bouncy, tern-like flight
-apparent small size
-"cold" tones throughout plumage, lacking rufous tones often seen in Parasitic Jaeger
-extensive white barring on upper and under tail coverts
-only a couple of white primary shafts on upper side of wings, lacking the extensive white flash
-short, relatively thick bill with black distal half and pale proximal half
-white barring on under wing coverts
-blunt-tipped central rectrices

juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger - Van Wagner's Beach, City of Hamilton (November 4, 2017)

The rest of the day was awesome - more Black-legged Kittiwake sightings, a Brant, decent numbers of ducks and other waterbirds and even some shorebirds. A flock of 12 Dunlins went by during the mid-morning, while a single White-rumped Sandpiper and two Sanderlings were also seen during my watch.

Sanderlings - Van Wagner's Beach, City of Hamilton (November 4, 2017)

Sanderlings - Van Wagner's Beach, City of Hamilton (November 4, 2017)

These two birds are both juvenile birds undergoing their first pre-basic molt. The dark brown and white juvenile feathers on the wings are being replaced with plain gray feathers. These new gray feathers are easily seen on the scapular (back) feathers, while a few have also come in on the wing coverts.

Sanderlings - Van Wagner's Beach, City of Hamilton (November 4, 2017)

By early afternoon I left to drive back to Niagara as I was hoping to catch up with a Franklin's Gull that had been found by Marcie Jacklin along the Niagara River in Fort Erie. She had observed the bird for three days in a row, including earlier in the morning. Unfortunately I couldn't dig it up, but I did enjoy taking some photos of some Bonaparte's Gulls that were actively feeding. Speaking of which - they have recently invaded the Niagara River in big numbers. My last stop at the Control Gates above the Falls was productive, as thousands were present. An adult Little Gull was mixed in with them, as was an individual that still showed a complete hood. We often get one or two of these each winter on the river.

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

Bonaparte's Gull - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

One of the locations that I checked in my attempt to find the Franklin's Gull was the Catherine Street parking lot along the Niagara River in Fort Erie. Migrant Horned Grebes have also appeared on the river, and just from one location I counted 24 here - no doubt several others were underwater when I scanned their portion of the river. This individual was one of two that popped up in the shallows a few meters from where I was standing on the bank. After two quick photos they both slipped underwater, reappearing a minute later, but now 30 meters away.

Horned Grebe - Fort Erie, Niagara Region

I'll finish with a few photos of some Bonaparte's Gulls, a Little Gull and a Common Tern, both seen two days ago from the end of the Port Weller east pier. Common Terns are still sticking around - I've seen three in the past two days. While most clear out of the province in Sept/Oct, we often see a few hanging around on the Niagara River until mid November.

Bonaparte's Gull - Port Weller East, Niagara Region

Common Tern - Port Weller East, Niagara Region

Little Gull - Port Weller East, Niagara Region

Little Gull - Port Weller East, Niagara Region

Bonaparte's Gull and Common Tern - Port Weller East, Niagara Region

Scenes of Borneo

Kinabatangan River

Canopy walkway through dipterocarp primary forest - Danum Valley 

Man of the forest: male Bornean Orangutan - Danum Valley

Blue-eared Kingfisher - Kinabatangan River

Red Giant Flying Squirrel - Sepilok

Paradise Flying Tree Snake - Danum Valley

Bornean Anglehead  Lizard (Gonocephalus bornensis) - Danum Valley

Blue Jay (Graphium evemon) - Mount Kinabalu

Rhinoceros Hornbills in the mist - Danum Valley

Storm's Stork - Kinabatangan River

Bornean Pygmy (Asian) Elephants - Kinabatangan River

Borneo!

I've been a little M.I.A. over the last month or so, but for good reasons. On September 9th Laura and I got married, and a few weekends later we flew to Nova Scotia for the "second wedding"; really just a big party for everyone from Laura's side who couldn't make it to Ontario. And then to top it off I have been madly planning and studying for my trip to Borneo.

Fast forward a few weeks, and here I am, in Borneo - a place I've always dreamed of visiting! I landed on the evening of October 2 in Kota Kinabalu, located in the western part of Sabah Province, on the Malaysian side of Borneo. I picked up my rental car and drove straight to the famous Mt. Kinabalu which is where I have been stationed for the last three nights.

Borneo has been absolutely incredible to say the least and I've enjoyed marveling at the magnificent trees, searching out many of the rare and unusual bird species, and coming upon unexpected surprises around each and every bend (today I found a Rafflesia flower! Not in bloom though...). Driving on the left has been a lot of fun, especially when jostling with trucks up windy mountain roads!

I don't have a lot of time to write many details, as bedtime beckons - those 4:30 wakeup calls come quickly - so I'll leave with one highlight from today.

My plan for today was to park at the Poring Hot Springs and hike up to the Langanan waterfall, one of the largest in Sabah province. This trail is well known among visiting birders due to its large bird list, including several highly sought after species such as Hose's Broadbill, Bornean Banded Pitta and Blue-banded Pitta. The Blue-banded was one of my most wanted birds of the trip; perhaps because its stunning beauty adorns the cover of one of my Borneo field guides, so it was one of the first Borneo birds I became familiar with when researching the island. This scarce endemic is occasionally found on the Langanan waterfall trail but I was not holding my breath, especially since the two semi-reliable locations along the trail proved fruitless to me on my walk to the waterfall.

I completed the long and arduous hike up to the waterfall, stopping frequently to scan for birds, of which there were many vocalizing from the cathedral like trees, but few low enough to identify visually. At one point I stopped at a particularly scenic bend in the trail, and paused for 10 or 15 minutes to scan the treetops and record the vocalizations of some of the barbets that were calling incessantly. Not expecting much, I played a snippet of the song of Blue-banded Pitta - a moderately long, mournful whistle - and as expected, there was no response. I resumed recording the birdsong, focusing on a Black-and-yellow Broadbill that had fired up. Suddenly I heard a peculiar whistle, not far off the trail...it was a Blue-banded Pitta! I kept the recording going as the pitta sang two or three other times - I couldn't believe my luck.

Blue-banded Pittas can be quite shy so I was not expecting to see this bird. Just in case, I set my camera to "pitta mode", cranking the ISO up to 4000 and setting the aperture to be wide open, to let in as much light as possible in the dark understorey. Suddenly, there it was - a fiery red blob hopped into view, staring right at me! I slowly brought up my camera, cracking off a few dozen frames through the foliage, before lowering it and bringing my binoculars up to take in its beauty. For the next 30 seconds or so I stared at the pitta as he began flipping over some leaves, presumably looking for some morsel underneath. A few hops later and he was out of sight, while I stood there with my jaw open (probably). I couldn't believe the sequence of events!

Tomorrow I will be heading back into Kinabalu Park with a dwindling "hit list" as it has been a successful few days. I have yet to catch up with an Everett's Thrush, Mountain Wren-Babbler, Whitehead's Trogon or Bare-headed Laughingthrush; maybe with a bit of luck I will stumble upon one or two of those tomorrow! From there I will be spending a day in the Crocker Range to the south, followed by a night near the Klias Peatswamp reserve, before returning my rental car to the airport and flying across Sabah to meet up with my group.

Late summer rattlesnakes in the Muskokas

A few weekends back, several of my closest friends and I spent three nights up at Dan Riley's family cottage, located on the west shore of Lake Simcoe. It was a bachelor weekend of sorts for us, but instead of strippers and casinos, we had hiking and rattlesnake-ing on the agenda.

During two of our days at the cottage several of us decided we would go for a drive to check out a favourite herping spot, a location where among ten species of snakes, Eastern Massasaugas are regularly encountered. Todd Hagedorn, Dan Riley, my brother Isaac and I composed the intrepid herping crew on both days. I was really hoping that we would luck into finding a few Eastern Massasaugas - not only because it is my favorite species of reptile in Ontario but because it would be a first for my brother, who was my original herping buddy during our formative years.

Todd (foreground) and Dan looking for snakes - Muskoka District, Ontario

Isaac looking for snakes - Muskoka District, Ontario

We could not have asked for better weather conditions for both days. While the afternoons were warm, the heat was far from oppressive, and a light breeze whisked away any perspiration quickly and efficiently. Due to the time of year the majority of the biting insects were nowhere to be found, exponentially increasing our collective levels of comfort.

Birds were eerily silent out in the rock barrens. Since the breeding season is essentially finished, most species were staying quiet (no need to draw undue attention), while other species were absent, having already departed for warmer climes further south. But we were not here to look for birds - the snakes were the object of our searching and we were not disappointed with our haul.

I was fortunate to spot a couple of Smooth Greensnakes out and about during our first day as we herped a familiar location, a place where I have visited on at least 20 occasions. Smooth Greensnakes are a common but inconspicuous species found in this part of Ontario; when crossing an open rock barren they are much easier to spot!

Smooth Greensnake photoshoot - Muskoka District, Ontario

Todd and Smooth Greensnake - Muskoka District, Ontario

Since I did not have my camera and lens with me on Day 1 I did not focus on photographing the smaller snakes as much, though I took a couple of quick snaps with my phone. Nothern Ring-necked Snakes are probably the most abundant species of snake in this habitat (open rock barrens, oak/maple woodland, and scattered wetlands).

Northern Ring-necked Snake - Muskoka District, Ontario

Within an hour of our arrival on Day 1 we hit the jackpot. A yell from Dan got the attention of Isaac, Todd and I. Dan had discovered a "nest" of baby Eastern Massasaugas, all coiled up, under the edge of a massive rock that was propped up, creating a large cavity underneath. This turned out to be one of two "nests" we would find on the day, totaling 14 rattlesnakes! This photo below is of the second nest which Todd first spotted. My picture is of fairly poor quality (the iPhone doesn't handle contrast-y scenes too well), but hopefully you can make out a couple of the baby rattlesnakes tucked in against the rock.

Eastern Massasaugas - Muskoka District, Ontario

We were ecstatic with our finds and soaked up the views of the baby rattlesnakes. Like all rattlesnakes Eastern Massasaugas are ovoviviparous; meaning that they give birth to live young, though the developing young are fed by egg yolk (vs being fed through the placenta, as what happens in humans and other viviparous species). The young rattlesnakes often remain in the same birthing area, sometimes with the mother nearby, for a period of several weeks before dispersing throughout the surrounding landscape. I can count on one hand the number of Eastern Massasauga nests I have stumbled across; it's always cause for celebration!

Below is a photo of a neonate Eastern Massasauga that I took several years ago. This photo illustrates not only the neonate's excellent camouflage on the open bedrock, but also the single "button" it possesses, compared to the multi-segmented rattle that older snakes have. I have to admit, these snakes are as cute as a button!

Towards the end of our hike on Day 1 I spotted this gorgeous Eastern Massasauga in a rock pile where I have seen them in the past. Dan and I were both kicking ourselves for having left our cameras behind, forcing us to resort to our phones for photographs.

Eastern Massasauga - Muskoka District, Ontario

On our second day, Todd, Isaac, Dan and I decided to check out a new area, something that I don't do as much as I should. In the past when I was much more involved in the herping "scene" I would frequently widen my search radius to explore new areas; nowadays, I tend to return to the same tried and true locations that I have been visiting for years. Our gamble paid off handsomely this time as we found quite a variety of reptiles and amphibians; I believe we totaled seven snake species on Day 2, giving us eight species for the weekend. I even remembered to bring my camera this time, giving me a chance to test out the new D7500 and 300 mm lens.

Dekay's Brownsnake is well known to most naturalist-types in southern Ontario, in part due to the species' ubiquity, but here on the barrens they are much more difficult to come across. I certainly see more Eastern Massasaugas than I do Dekay's Brownsnakes up here, for some reason! This individual was the only one of the weekend; it was found under a rock in some barrens that look very similar to the above photo.

Dekay's Brownsnake - Muskoka District, Ontario

We came across this interesting scene as we hiked along. The wet summer that we have been experiencing likely contributed to high water levels which presumably burst through a beaver dam, almost completely draining this wetland. The water level had diminished by well over a meter. Needless to say there is a beaver out there that has had its engineering degree revoked.

I don't usually see shorebirds when in Muskoka District (apart from occasional individuals at the Bracebridge sewage lagoons), but we were happy to see that several shorebirds were making use of the recently exposed mud caused by the draining of the wetland. Among those present were Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Plover.

Solitary Sandpiper - Muskoka District, Ontario

For much of our hike on the second day we explored the periphery of a large wetland complex; as a result we encountered numerous Northern Watersnakes and Northern Ribbonsnakes moving through the sedge meadows surrounding the wetland, or basking higher up on the lichen-encrusted bedrock that circled the wetland.

Northern Watersnake - Muskoka District, Ontario

Northern Ribbonsnake - Muskoka District, Ontario

Todd (left) and Dan - Muskoka District, Ontario

Snakes are not the only reptiles that frequent the barrens; Ontario's only lizard species can also be found, if one knows where to look. This little gaffer is a young Five-lined Skink, as told by its bright turquoise tail. As they age they lose the blue colouration while the stripes will fade as well. 

Five-lined Skink - Muskoka District, Ontario

Dan made a great spot with this adult Eastern Massasauga, representing the highlight of the day (for me, at least!). While every encounter with this species is worth remembering, this one was made extra special because the snake was found in a new location for us.

Eastern Massasauga - Muskoka District, Ontario

Eastern Massasauga - Muskoka District, Ontario

Our last snake of the day was a little Red-bellied that Todd found alongside the trail. There are two common colour morphs of this species that we see in Ontario - this individual was of the gray morph, which is my favourite of the two morphs, while they also come in brown. Both morphs show the striking red ventrum. 

It was a great weekend with the guys, in one of my favorite parts of Ontario. I'm already looking forward to visiting again; unfortunately it won't be until next spring.