Sunday 1 June 2014

May 23 birding - blackbird photoshoot!

It has been a busy week and I have not had any time at all to crank out blog posts. My work schedule is about to get even more hectic and it is possible that I won't have more than two or three days off until August - exactly what I want for the summer, but it leaves little time for things like photo editing and blog posts!. Hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to finish all my posts from the spring in southern Ontario, as well as start making posts about the Panama trip way back in March, but no guarantees.

Last Thursday evening I made the long drive back down to Point Pelee for my sixth consecutive weekend. The usual crowds of birders that I had been used to seeing were no longer around on the Friday morning - a bit of a welcome change, as us "locals" had our park back!

I walked down the Woodland Nature Trail through Post Woods, Sparrow Field, Loop Woods, and down to the tip. It was pretty quiet for bird song and many of the early and middle migrants had all but disappeared. However, songs of migrant Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Canada, Wilson's, and Mourning Warblers rang out throughout the woods, against a steady backdrop of the vocalizations of the locals - Yellow Warblers, both orioles, American Redstarts, Eastern Towhees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Warbling Vireos. Migrant flycatchers and cuckoos were actively calling and feeding.

Birding in late May at Point Pelee is a whole different experience than during the earlier portion of the month. On this visit the trees were fully leafed out and swarms of gnats filled the understorey. Many migrant birds were around, but they were harder to see, hidden among the foliage. Non-vocal females, which tend to migrate later than males, dominate the migration scene. The sun warms the park quickly and by 11:00 AM activity really quiets down, picking back up again late in the afternoon, but only leaving half the day for productive birding. Rarities seem to be just as likely this time of the year as earlier in the month, but there are fewer people looking and, for me in particular, the motivation just isn't there like it is earlier in the spring!

Yellow Warbler nest - Point Pelee

 I only lasted until 10:30 AM or so in the park before the heat of the day and my restlessness set in, so I cruised around the onion fields and towards Hillman Marsh. The best bird for me in the park was a singing male Cerulean Warbler - pretty late for a migrant - and an Olive-sided Flycatcher flycatching from the tallest dead tree along the seasonal trail just north of the Pioneer parking lot.

At Hillman Marsh I ran into Ross and Graham Wood who had just finished scoping all the shorebirds. Quite a few peeps were in - I counted at least 8 White-rumped Sandpipers - and Black-bellied Plovers numbered around 3600. Diversity wasn't high but it was a lot of fun picking through all the shorebirds and gulls resting on the mud; one of my favorite types of birding.

At this point, not sure with how to spend the rest of my day, I made the quick decision to photograph Yellow-headed Blackbirds at an easily accessible location on the east side of Lake St. Clair - Angler Line. I had never taken any decent photos of this species before so it was worth a try.

After a brief and futile search for a pair of Cattle Egrets that Ross and Graham had found the previous day, I drove up to Angler Line and immediately noticed the first few Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I used my car as a blind and it seemed to work as the birds quickly became accustomed to my presence. Photography was challenging since the lighting was still harsh, and Phragmites and other vegetation along the roadside prevented any chance of a clean shot at the birds, but I got a few that were usable!

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

Yellow-headed Blackbirds - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

Eventually one of the males dropped out of the Phragmites and onto the shoulder of the road, where I photographed it without any obstruction from the vegetation.

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Angler Line, Lake St. Clair

The day was still young and so I booted it up to Walpole Island to search for King Rails and Northern Bobwhites. It was an evening well spent - bobwhites were calling at a location where I had heard them in the past, but King Rails were a no-show (though I did not stick around until nightfall). This may be the only place left in Canada with wild Northern Bobwhites so I plan to keep the location quiet, for those wondering.  I also came across a singing Sedge Wren on the island plus a nice mix of of other interesting breeding species and late migrants.

I headed back to Lake St. Clair NWA just before dusk and went for a nice walk out on the dyke with my camera. It was a beautiful sunny evening and Black Terns were fishing in the pools adjacent to the dyke; easily one of my favorite birds. I ended up just watching them fish for the majority of the evening.

Black Tern - Lake St. Clair NWA

Black Tern (with fish) - Lake St. Clair NWA

I nearly smoked this photo - unfortunately I clipped the wingtip...Note the water droplets (it had just unsuccessfully plunged after a fish).

Black Tern - Lake St. Clair NWA

I also came across a tame male Red-winged Blackbird in nice lighting so I worked on cracking off a few photos. A common and gregarious species, perhaps, but still a fun species to photograph. All the while, Least Bitterns and Pied-billed Grebes called unseen from somewhere in the marsh. A great finish to the day!

Red-winged Blackbird - Lake St. Clair NWA

Red-winged Blackbird - Lake St. Clair NWA

Red-winged Blackbird - Lake St. Clair NWA

1 comment:

Allen Woodliffe said...

Nice summary of action, Josh.....and I'm glad you got up to see the Yellow-headeds. They are just so accessible and used to people that a blind isn't necessary! It makes them almost too easy to photograph :-)