Month: April 2014

16 April 2014. Hamilton ON. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who’s a fan of cormorants. Well maybe in China and Japan where tethered cormorants are used to catch fish for their masters. But in North America anyway, cormorants are variously seen as: ugly, dirty, destructive of fish stocks and a population out of control. While any of these may be true to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the subjectivity of your opinion, they are a bird (which is good) and supremely adapted to their environment. Sitting in my kayak, I’ve watched them dive and then followed the trail of fine bubbles that betrays their underwater course. Although I could never develop a warm feeling for them, I did admire them.

Today, taking my car to get an oil-change, I had a great opportunity to watch Double-crested Cormorants at close quarters when I stopped at a cluster of harbour-side trees which has been home to a large breeding colony for many years. This is a particularly active time of the year because the cormorants are forming pair bonds, claiming nest sites and making sure that everyone within pecking range understands exactly where he or she belongs in the colony’s societal structure. I also wanted to get a closer look at the so-called crest that makes up part of their name, a feature that is rarely easy to see.

I didn’t have a lot of time and the passing traffic was a little disconcerting, but it was quite fascinating to watch flamboyant nest-site displays. Lots of bill-clacking, neck-stretching and wing-arching. There were also birds sitting quietly, some adding twigs to nest platforms and others apparently already incubating eggs – or maybe just resting.

 

They were easy to photograph and it wasn’t until I downloaded the photos that I realized just what terrific birds these are. The cascading plumage of its back ending in a tense fan of a tail, the hooked fish-gripping beak, the orange and yellow of the gular pouch and supraloral skin are all quite arresting. As Pete Dunne in his excellent reference book, Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion (click here for more) says, “The body language more than the face seems sinister. (At close range the shocking blue eyes of the adults are more arresting than sinister.) The “double crests”, suggestive of shaggy horns, are present only in the breeding season and are difficult to see.”

In anticipation that you can get past the bad rap these birds have, I hope you enjoy my photos.

This post contains photos in galleries visible only on the website, not if you’re reading this as an email.

 

 

14 April 2014. Cayuga ON. I spent the morning at the bird observatory where a blustery south wind kept bird life a little quieter than it might otherwise be. It was probably an average sort of early-April morning, which means that aside from the weather, there were noticeable changes to the bird mix and, for the sharp-eyed, a few early ephemeral woodland plants emerging through the leaf litter.

My census round turned up several interesting sightings. I spotted four Common Loons flying hard against the buffeting winds.  Because they’re very light-coloured, almost white below, my first impression was that of Common Mergansers, but Loons are distinctive in flight and I quickly changed my mind. In flight, loons’ necks, heads, legs and feet appear to sag lower than their body, as if a single thread suspends the bird.  It’s more of an illusion than reality, probably caused by the contrast between the light underparts and dark upper body and wings.  There’s a couple of very nice photos illustrating this here: Common Loon | NorthNW | Lake Erie birding

A flight of perhaps thirty Bonaparte’s Gulls passed by.  We sometimes see them in spring when farm fields are flooded (as they are now) where they congregate to feed at the water’s edge.  Bonaparte’s Gulls are rather dainty fliers; they’re quite a bit smaller than our familiar Ring-billed Gull (plenty of them around the flooded fields too) and have a black head that makes them look rather classy. The Black-headed Gull of Europe and the Laughing Gull of the Atlantic coast have black heads too, it’s a designer touch for gulls. Here’s a bunch of Laughing Gulls, see if you agree.

As the morning was drawing to an end with the first spots of rain spoiling our fun, we started closing the mist nets.  It was then that I came across my Bird of the Day, a newly arrived Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a stylish bird at any time, but this one, a male in breeding plumage, is really chic. On the photos below you can see quite clearly the black forehead/eyebrow line that gives it a rather Latin rakishness I think. It’s just a wee mite of a bird, weighing in at a mere six grams, the same as a kinglet, less than a dollar coin.  Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are not common, but they’re not rare either; more unseen and easily overlooked as they seem to favour treetops, particularly near water.  An early mentor of mine described them as reminiscent of a miniature mockingbird with the same grayish tones, long tailed proportions and the way they flash their white outer tail feathers.  In the hand though, its adjectival name, Blue-gray  is very apparent. And they have a real tongue-twister of a scientific name, Polioptila caerulea, apparently constructed from the Greek: polios “gray” and ptilon “feather” ,as the primaries are edged in grey – and Latin caerula “blue” for the blue back.  Lots about this bird to enjoy, an easy Bird of the Day.

 

11 April 2014. Cayuga ON. I’ll get straight to the point.  Bird of the Day today was a Louisiana Waterthrush; a REALLY big deal – particularly to those who pay close attention to rarities and early arrivals.  I’m quick to admit that what follows won’t excite everyone but for those of us at the bird observatory today it was (I repeat) a REALLY big deal.  Here’s why.

Waterthrushes, there are two species Northern and Louisiana, are warblers, not very colourful and a little oddball when it comes to behaviour and appearance. Warblers, or so I believed, arrive in May and late April, not early April.   I’m well acquainted with the  Northern Waterthrush, it’s a fairly common summer resident around here, choosing wet woodlands as its habitat.  Unless you’re quite at ease with mosquito country you’re not going to run into many of them.  The Louisiana Waterthrush is a bit of a stranger to me, it’s a much sought after bird, a species of special concern, rarely seen in Ontario and known to breed in just a handful of locations. It too inhabits wet woodlands; I saw my first one ever last May, far from home, and only by joining a keen group led by an even keener local specialist.

Well, I found the Louisiana Waterthrush along the flooded banks of a forest creek while conducting the daily census and thought at first that I’d found the more familiar (to me)  Northern Waterthrush.  An understandable mistake as the two species are very similar and well, what, I thought, are the chances of finding a Louisiana Waterthrush anyway?   Based on a long-shot photo by colleague Renata, Matt began to suspect that today’s bird might just be a Louisiana and, on further investigation, re-found it and took the photo above. Louisiana Waterthrush it is! To put a bit of perspective on it, below is a picture of a Northern Waterthrush, taken (by me) last year.  Not a lot of difference for sure but, on the Louisiana, the pale eyebrow line becomes wider behind the eye and the breast streaking is less dense.

We had several new-for-this-year birds:  A Horned Grebe on the river (rarely seen at the bird observatory); A high fly-over by a Sandhill Crane heard gurgling like a turkey long before being spotted, and; an American Kestrel that zipped past looking for lunch.  And that was the excitement for today, most of it anyway. Spring and sunshine produced some nice photo ops and these: two of a Tree Swallow confirming possession of a nest box and one of a male Eastern Bluebird, just speak of spring.

 

10 April 2014. Badenoch ON. I tried for more Rusty Blackbirds this afternoon but once again came up empty.  There were few small birds to be seen anywhere, it could well have been the howling force five westerly wind that did it.  The sky held many Turkey Vultures tossed around like loose garbage bags and in a quiet wooded pond I found two anxious looking pairs of Hooded Mergansers.

My search for Rusty Blackbirds took me past a dusty soccer pitch where, for many years, a pair of Ospreys has nested atop a floodlight structure.  Their overbuilt straggly nest survives from year to year and today, with the winter’s snow cover barely gone, both birds had returned and were crouching on it, facing into the wind and holding on. I watched for a while until one stood up, opened its wings and lifted off, in control despite the wind, going fishing.

A little further down the road as I scanned a wide marshy area I noticed a distant Northern Harrier rocking and sliding in the buffeting gale.  Sometimes it just works out that the bird I’m watching, instead of becoming more distant, draws closer and somehow holds a pose long enough for a decent photograph.  I’m not really talking about the easy shots like waterfowl or birds lured by ready food, but birds on the wing.  This Northern Harrier did it right for me, despite the pitching and bucking westerly; it came closer until, to my disbelief, it gave me time to arm the camera and get off a hopeful shot.

And so My Bird of the Day came to me on a platter, a glorious female Northern Harrier, here she is.

7 April 2014. Cayuga ON. On my daily census round at the bird observatory, I was pleased to spot a male Eastern Bluebird picking up food from the dry, flattened grass.  From among a list of thirty census species, the bluebird was, by a narrow margin, my Bird of the Day.  Dozens of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a couple of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were strong contenders, but I must have been in a greeting card, or maybe Walt Disney frame of mind to pick the birds that have become synonymous with sweethearts.

Bluebirds are rather difficult to approach; I’ve managed a couple of decent photos over the years but not today, unless you count this one, which is perhaps more artsy than anything.  Shooting against a bright sky is always problematic, and trying to persuade the camera to focus on the bird rather than a branch is another challenge. I wouldn’t say I was particularly successful but well, it has its appeal.

Other nice, but not necessarily notable, species included: Eastern Tufted Titmouse, three of them staking out territory; four Tree Swallows, five Northern Flickers (four of them heard but not seen); and a pair of Wood Ducks flying up river.

And then there were the Red-winged Blackbirds, male Red-wings arrive on our doorsteps almost as soon as winter’s ice starts to let go; they are one of the first signs of spring.  The females arrive a little later allowing the males a couple of weeks to sort out their territorial claims.  It’s an interesting process watching the males establish territories; the first to arrive will noisily claim ownership over an expanse of suitable habitat.  As more males arrive they squabble amongst themselves, flashing their red wing patches, chasing and repelling each other, all to loud musical pronouncements.  In time they divide up the whole area into territories defined like a jig-saw puzzle.

This one was so busy trying to shout down another male that he hardly noticed me as I took a couple of shots of him in full voice.