Not much news + winter birding list

No new birding news since the last update! I haven't gotten out since Thursday since I have a midterm on Monday and another on Wednesday. I've also spent this snowy weekend catching up on rare bird reports for the Ontario Bird Records Committee...done six and counting. I would encourage anyone else to submit written reports and photos to the OBRC when they get a chance...link to the website is http://www.ofo.ca/obrc/reportform.php.

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At the beginning of the month I posted to the listserv about the 2011-2012 Ontario winter list.  In the month of January an additional 9 species were added, and 1 removed (Blue-winged Teal), to bring the total to 215 species. This is easily the highest total we have had since the winter list has been compiled. Edit - 5 more species have been added since! See the end of the post

Among the major highlights were: 

-A total of 4 Gray-crowned Rosy-finches have been seen in Ontario in the last few months including 3 since the start of the winter birding period. One of the Hepburn's race at Geraldton from January 4 to January 5, one at Rocky Bay (east of Lake Nipigon) January 10 to present, and one at Rossport (north Lake Superior coast) January 24 to 25.
-Two female Mountain Bluebirds have been seen in Ontario this winter. The first was found south of Guelph on January 1 and the second was found January 16 north of Thamesville.
-The other major highlight has been Fish Crow, the first winter record for Ontario. A probable bird was seen January 1 along the Niagara River and another probable bird was photographed in Hamilton on January 4. A single bird was found and its call recorded on January 15 and since then up to 5 birds have been seen daily in Fort Erie before continuing over the Niagara River to roost in Buffalo.

The other new birds are:
-Pectoral Sandpiper (January 1): Wheatley harbour
-Black-headed Gull (January 15): Fort Erie. This bird has been present along the Niagara River since December but first found in Ontario waters on January 15
-Ovenbird (December 26): Peterborough
-Vesper Sparrow (January 5): Beachville, southwest of Woodstock
-Lincoln's Sparrow (January 9): Perth
-Indigo Bunting (January 8): Cambridge

The total list is posted on Blake's webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm

Edit - 5 species added since
Virginia Rail (January 25):found dead near St. Williams
Gyrfalcon (January 25): Northwest of Crysler which is southeast of Ottawa
Band-tailed Pigeon (February 4): Bracebridge. Was seen at a feeder for 3 days, consequently many birders were able to see and photograph it. Thanks to the Sinclairs for being such gracious hosts.
White-winged Dove: coming to a private residence in North Bay, no longer being seen. Still working on finding out the first date it was seen.
Yellow-throated Warbler (February 1): Windsor

January 2nd and winter bird list update #4

*Edit. Breaking news - A female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD was found and photographed yesterday just south of Guelph. It is still being seen today. Of course, I am still away in Nova Scotia visiting Laura. While I definitely am not regretting spending this time with her, it is a little frustrating that the Mountain Bluebird couldn't have waited a few days before showing up/being found...at any rate I hope it hangs around! What a bird and a great find by Paul Kron, Brian Husband, and John Garreth.*

At the end of the year I made the 4th post about the Ontario winter bird list. We had already recorded 200 species at that point, just short of the all time high (201 species) that was actually set last winter. The Ontario winter bird list has only been "officially" kept track of for several years, but still, this year we were off to a blazing start. My latest post detailed the 7 species that have been brought to my attention since. Since that post, I have heard of a Pectoral Sandpiper seen at Wheatley harbour on January 1 (Dean Ware and Adam Pinch).  Brett Fried and Erika Hentsch also had a probable Fish Crow at the Niagara River on January 1. Brett is a top notch birder and fairly confident in his sighting, but since it would be the first winter record for Ontario, perhaps the first record not during the spring migration, I am going to hold off adding it to the winter list unless it is seen again.

From my ONTbirds post:

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There were two major highlights this past week - the Bobolink in the Hamilton Study area (second winter record in over 100 years - the only other was December 5, 1971), and what will be Ontario's third record of Smew, if the Whitby harbour bird is accepted by the OBRC. This Eurasian species is a mega rarity anywhere in North America outside of the Aleutian islands in Alaska so that fact that Ontario already has 2 accepted records is incredible. An additional bird was seen at Mountsberg Reservoir on April 15, 1982 but that record hasn't been submitted to the OBRC for review yet.

I have send the list to Blake Maybank and he has posted a link to his webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm

The new species to the 2011-2012 Ontario winter list are as follows:

Smew (December 26) - Whitby harbour
Gray Partridge (December 18) - Woodhouse CBC
Barn Owl (December 23) - Durham Region
Townsend's Solitaire (December 17) - Manitoulin Island and Aurora CBC
Pine Warbler (December 24) - Hamilton area
Bobolink (December 24) - Stoney Creek
Brewer's Blackbird (December 18) - Port Burwell (correction - one was seen by Bill Lamond on December 17 at Long Point)

Out of the missing species to the winter list, the most likely to be added include:
Eurasian Wigeon
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
Vesper Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird

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So there you have it. 209 species so far on the winter list, and its only January 2nd! 210 if the Fish Crow can be confirmed.

I'll be back in Ontario on the 6th and I'm itching to do some birding! The Black-throated Gray Warbler is still being seen and if I'm really lucky it will hold until I arrive. The -15 degree C temperatures that Ontario is getting soon is not looking too good...

Winter bird list update #3

A few days ago, I posted to ONTbirds again about the Ontario winter bird list. Since then, I have received word of several new species to the list which I will mention first. These 3 species bring the winter list up to 203. I have also removed Willow Ptarmigan from the list since the last confirmed sighting of the Darlington bird was November 30. There were rumours of a sighting in December and someone is looking into this.

Gray Partridge: 3 birds seen on the Woodhouse CBC (December 18)
Townsend's Solitaire: 2 birds. One on the Manitoulin CBC (December 17) and one on the Aurora CBC (December 17)
Brewer's Blackbird: seen on the Port Burwell CBC (December 18)


And, the email I sent to the listserv:

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In the past week an additional 12 species have been seen in Ontario and brought to my attention, bringing the 2011-2012 winter list up to an even 200. I am not sure what the all time high for one winter was, but last year's 201 will almost certainly be passed! How high will the winter list get? Undoubtedly the highlight from last week came from Bayfront Park in Hamilton where up to 5 species of warblers have been seen along with several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a Blue-headed Vireo. I will send the list to Blake Maybank and hopefully he will post the results on the website soon. A link to the webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm

The new species to the 2011-2012 Ontario winter list are as follows:
Blue-winged Teal
American Woodcock
Boreal Owl
White-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Palm Warbler
Baltimore Oriole

Out of the missing species to the winter list, the most likely to be added include:

Eurasian Wigeon
Gray Partridge
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
Barn Owl
Townsend's Solitaire
Pine Warbler
Vesper Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird

If anyone has heard of sightings of the missing species, just shoot me an email.

Winter bird list update after two weeks

Yesterday I sent out an email to ONTbirds about updates to the winter bird list - instead of retyping it, I just copied the email with a couple of small changes (see below). Since the email, which brought the 2011-2012 winter bird list up to 189 species, a few more have been brought to my attention. They are:

House Wren - December 6 (Fonthill)
Willow Ptarmigan!!!????!!???!?!?!?! - apparently the Darlington bird is still around. As far as I am aware there is not going to be a "second viewing" for this bird. They are hoping to confirm its presence on the CBC coming up.
Black-throated Green Warbler - December 14 (Hamilton)
Black-throated Gray Warbler - December 14 (Hamilton)
Black-throated Blue Warbler - December 10 (Huntsville)
Wilson's Warbler - December 15 (Hamilton)
American Woodcock - December 15 (Toronto)

That brings the winter list up to 195, and we are only 2 weeks in. 200 seems extremely likely now. Mild weather has amazingly continued, and for people like me doing a big year next year, hopefully it will continue for another few weeks so some of these rarities (namely Rufous Hummingbird and Black-throated Gray Warbler) will hold .How high will the list get this winter? Anyways, the aforementioned post:

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In the past week an additional 28 species have been seen in Ontario and brought to my attention, bringing the 2011-2012 winter list up to 189. 200 is certainly in sight. Some highlights in the past week include Pacific Loon at Prince Edward Point, Rufous Hummingbird in Eganville, Spotted Towhee in Longlac, Magnolia Warbler at Presqu'ille Provincial Park, and Clay-colored Sparrow near Kingston (1st winter record?). I have sent the list to Blake Maybank and he will post the results on the website soon. A link to the webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm

The new species to the 2011-2012 Ontario winter list are as follows:

Brant
Barrow's Goldeneye
Great Egret
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson's Snipe
Pacific Loon
Dunlin
Northern Hawk Owl
Great Gray Owl
Long-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Rufous Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Black-billed Magpie
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
Varied Thrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Red Crossbill
Hoary Redpoll

Of course there are several species which we are missing that are seen most winters. Some possible species are:
Gray Partridge
both Ptarmigans (anyone going up north soon?) now only Rock Ptarmigan, but how likely is it that someone is going to Hudson's Bay....
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
Boreal Owl
House Wren
Townsend's Solitaire
Pine Warbler (check your suet feeders....)
Vesper Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird

If anyone has heard of sightings of the missing species, just shoot me an email.

Winter bird list update

*****To those who don't care at all about the "Ontario winter list", or listing in general, I apologize for this post. More interesting content (actual birding, etc) will be posted soon enough!*****

Since my post on Ontbirds about the Ontario winter bird list a few days ago, my inbox has been flooded with additional reports. As well, some people have asked me where some select species have been found, so I thought I would quickly highlight the recent additions to the list over the last 2 days here, as opposed to spamming Ontbirds with an additional report. I'll send another report to the listserv in a week.

I sent Blake an email with 11 additional species, and he has already posted the update onto his site (http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm). The 11 new species are:

Brant : December 5 - present (Trenton)
Barrow's Goldeneye : late November to present (Oshawa)
Dunlin : December 3 (Erieau harbour)
Northern Hawk Ow l: December 7 (waaaay up north near Attawapiskat)
Great Gray Owl : December 5 to present (waaaay up north near Attawapiskat)
Red-headed Woodpecker : December 6 (the Pinery). Most likely a wintering family
Varied Thrush : November 29 to present (west of Thunder Bay)
Orange-crowned Warbler : December 2 to December 3 (Highland Woods, London)
Chipping Sparrow : several reports
Field Sparrow : several reports
Red Crossbill : several reports.


There have been an additional 13 species which I have heard about recently, and thus their presence isn't indicated on Blake's site yet. They are:
Pacific Loon : December 3 (Prince Edward Point)
Great Egret : December 3 (Luther Marsh)
Spotted Sandpiper : December 7 (Long Sault Parkway)
Wilson's Snipe : December 10 (Rondeau area)
Long-eared Owl : December 10 (Bronte)
Northern Saw-whet Owl : December 2 (near Ottawa)
Eastern Phoebe : December 8 (Ayr, near Cambridge)
Black-billed Magpie : December 4 (Thunder Bay area)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet : December 1 (Oshawa's Second Marsh)
Eastern Towhee : seen in December, photo taken, but haven't verified dates yet
Spotted Towhee : November 13 to present (Longlac)
Clay-colored Sparrow : December 3 (Kingston area)
Hoary Redpoll : December 4 (Rainy River area)

This brings us to 185 species for the winter birding season so far, with lots of time left to break 200! Some possible species which I haven't heard any reports of so far, include:

Eurasian Wigeon (though there was one in the Ottawa area on the Quebec side)
Blue-winged Teal
either Ptarmigan (who wants to go to Hudson's Bay?)
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
many shorebirds, including Black-bellied Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, American Woodcock etc
Boreal Owl
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Townsend's Solitaire
Pine Warbler
Vesper Sparrow
Brewer's Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole

Another run around the county

With no exams for over a week, I thought I would waste another day driving around the county looking for birds. As I was leaving my driveway, I got an email from the WELLbirds listserv about a Snowy Owl 5 minutes from my house. 4 minutes later I arrived, with the owl sitting on the hydro wire in plain site!

It appeared to be an adult male, but I didn't linger long so that I wouldn't scare it off.

Snowy Owl in natural habitat - Guelph

I headed up north, hoping to get a few new species. Sandhill Cranes were hanging around and I was hoping to run into them somewhere near Luther Marsh.

On the way up north, I stopped by the Arthur lagoons and had my first Horned Larks of the winter, as well as many gulls (all Herring and Ring-billed, unfortunately).

Horny Lark

Needless to say, I didn't get any Sandhill Cranes. However, there were a few highlights, such as a beautiful light morph Rough-legged Hawk that flew right over my car! I also had a flyover White-winged Crossbill while walking some random trails near Luther, and a Common Raven which was hanging out in a farm field.

Common Raven - southwest of Luther Marsh

showing off that wedge-shaped tail

Oh yeah almost forgot - I stopped at Guelph lake during the morning and found a rare for the county (and even rarer in winter) Red-necked Grebe. Cool! It was the only bird in that section of the lake.

Red-necked Grebe - Guelph Lake

"Winter" birding in Guelph

I guess since we had our first snow fall of the season last night, it is starting to feel a little like winter. However, almost every body of water in the county is still wide open, and quite a few good birds for Wellington county in the winter are still around. With an urge to add a few lingering species to my Wellington winter list, yesterday Dave Bell, Emily Rooks, and I headed north to Guelph Lake to chase a Black-legged Kittiwake found 2 hours early by Mike Cadman. We didn't have any luck, and really didn't see anything of note!

Today I booked it to some spots in the southern part of the county. From my post to the WELLBIRDS listserv:

(Also, I'm really starting to learn that a 300 mm lens isn't conducive to photographing waterfowl a mile away)

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Corner of Forestell Road and Wellington Road 32:
-1 Rusty Blackbird
-3 Brown-headed Cowbird
They were mixed in with about 500 starlings

Neibaur's marsh:
-1 female Ring-necked Duck
no luck with the Belted Kingfisher I had here the other day

Puslinch Lake (as viewed from the marina restaurant)
-2 female Red-breasted Merganser
-many Common Mergs, Hooded Mergs, and Common Goldeneye
-1 male Ring-necked Duck (in the small pond to the northeast of the main lake)
-6 Ruddy Duck
-1 Double-crested Cormorant (in the usual spot near the island)
-1 1st basic Lesser Black-backed Gull (presumably the same bird that I had December 2)
-1 2nd basic Glaucous Gull
-2 Great Black-backed Gull

2nd cycle Glaucous Gull with other gulls and waterfowl - Puslinch Lake

Double-crested Cormorant in the gloom - Puslinch Lake

Ring-necked Duck  - Puslinch Lake

McMillan Pit
-Eastern Meadowlark
-several C. Goldeneye, Bufflehead, A. Black Ducks etc


Quarry to the northeast of McMillan - not sure its name
-1 Double-crested Cormorant
-several Coots, Bufflehead, C. Goldeneye, A. Black Duck, etc
-no luck with the Bonaparte's Gull I had here on Dec 2

North end of Mountsberg:
-1 male Wood Duck
-1 Great Blue Heron
-1 White-throated Sparrow (at the feeder of the first house west of the little bridge)
-35 Cedar Waxwings in a tree (no Bohemians, unfortunately)
-no luck with the E. Bluebirds

backlit Cedar Waxwings - Mountsberg

Pond at the northeast corner of HWY 401 and the Hanlon
-2 female Greater Scaup
-1 adult wing-tagged Trumpeter Swan (it was hard reading the tag due to the distance/lighting, but I believe it said "334". Hopefully someone can confirm this)

Greater Scaup and Bufflehead - pond at corner of HWY 6 and HWY 401

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So yeah, that about sums it up! I think I am close to 60 species for the county this month. Kind of a fun thing to do, though I'm sure it will really drop off once the real winter weather hits.

In other news, due to a few recent additions the Ontario winter list is 160 species. We are still missing a bunch of easy ones! Barrow's Goldeneye, Gyrfalcon, Dunlin, W. Snipe,  most of the owls, Red-headed Woodpecker, E. Towhee, Chipping, Field and Vesper Sparrows, Red Crossbill, etc!

Winter birding

This year, there seems to be a pretty big competition within the Wellington Co. birding community to compile a winter list of birds seen in Wellington County. I thought I would join in just for fun - really just an excuse to get outside during December while I am busy studying for exams! If you live in Wellington and would like to join in on this endeavor, check out the link to the post:
http://naturesbestcreations.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6669&p=34663&sid=46108a53bb7eace490f050eaf7a9f96a#p34663

Obviously with winter listing, the first few weeks are crucial and most species are seen then. I doubt I will get out much in the county next year so this month of December is critical for me to have a decent list. Yesterday I made it out to the southern part of the county hoping to add a few lingering species of waterfowl. Mountsburg was fairly slow, but eventually I added a few decent birds such as Canvasback (female), Horned Grebe (2, of which one was in Wellington Co. waters), Lesser Scaup, many Hooded and Common Mergansers, etc. I met several other local birders and chatted with Bryan Wyatt for a bit. He gave me some tips of other good winter birds in the area, but I couldn't located the Eastern Bluebirds that were seen near the north end of Mountsburg that day. David Bell visited Mountsburg earlier in the day and had a Pine Grosbeak fly over.

I checked out the quarries just south of the 401 on the west side of HWY 6. One of them had a nice little flock of gulls which contained, among many Herring Gulls, 1 ad. Kumliens (Iceland) Gull, 10+ Ring-billed Gulls, and a surprise ad. Bonaparte's Gull. Bonaparte's Gulls are extremely rare in the county any time of year. A few American Coots were nice, since the ones at Mountsburg weren't within the boundaries of the county. I added a few more birds at McMillan Pit (Green-winged Teal, A. Robin, etc), and several more at Puslinch (Double-crested Cormorant, Lesser Black-backed Gull (1st cycle), Redhead, Ruddy Duck) before heading home. A beautiful light morph Rough-legged Hawk was a good way to finish the day!

By the way, this year I'm coordinating the winter list for Ontario. Blake Maybank will be hosting the results on his website, http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm. The winter birding season includes the months of December, January and February. A cumulative total of 336 species have been recorded during the winter in Ontario, with around 196 species recorded annually. Last year, 203 species were recorded; highlights including Slaty-backed Gull, Black Vulture, Wilson's Phalarope, Summer Tanager, and "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll. With the unseasonably warm temperatures we had in November, perhaps enough fall migrants will hang on into December and we will break the 200 species mark again. It's been a bit of a slow start, and I have compiled 149 species seen so far this month in Ontario. We are still missing a number of easy ones, such as Brant, Eurasian Wigeon, King Eider, Barrow's Goldeneye (I'm sure the Ottawa birds are still present though), Black-crowned Night-Heron, Dunlin, Wilson's Snipe, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl, Eastern Phoebe, Black-billed Magpie, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Field, and Chipping Sparrows, Brewer's Blackbird, Red Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll. Additionally only two species of warblers have been reported. If anyone has heard any reports of those listed species (or other rare species that haven't yet been reported to Ontbirds or Ebird), I'd really appreciate it you send me an email.