Author: Peter T

October 26 2012. Ruthven Park Cayuga ON.   There’s something otherworldly about high flying ducks at this time of year.  Here we are stuck on the ground in the company of picnic tables, coffee cups and half eaten bagels, while up there it’s, well anyone’s guess.  Where have they come from? Where are they headed to, and why? And quite often, what kind of ducks are they anyway?

This morning at the bird observatory we were doing all the usual earth-bound things, checking nets, musing about the warm weather and taking note of birds around us, when the call went up: ” Look up! Loons. Two of them heading our way.  No, three of them!’   And so it was, three Common Loons flying fast and direct, heading south, they could probably see Lake Erie from where they were; and if not see it, then feel it.

As they disappeared I said: “They’re probably the Bird of the Day.”  The others seemed to agree.

That was just the start of the excitement, for moments later an Osprey and a Bald Eagle flew by just above treetop level, both illuminated so that their white heads showed a touch of salmon pink in the early sun.  Then a squadron of 11 ducks in a tight V formation followed the same line as the loons, high, fast and direct.  We debated the identity of them, I fancied Canvasbacks but based only on general shape, Rick thought Widgeon, so I rebutted with Unidentified Duck; we’ll never know for sure.

October 24 2012. RBG. Burlington ON. Yesterday it rained all day, but today the rain has moved on, leaving in its wake perhaps the most incredible migration surge in many weeks.  There’s nothing like bad weather to supercharge the fall migration.

I walked around a circuit of woodland, pond margins, riverside and old cemetery this morning and the sheer numbers of White-throated Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings and Golden-crowned Kinglets on the move was amazing. On my two kilometers walk (one and a bit miles) I estimate that I saw perhaps 300 Cedar Waxwings, they’re easy enough to spot, but less conspicuous although just about everywhere I looked for them were White-throated Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

The best of the day, and Bird of the Day, came towards noon when I happened upon a seemingly endless stream of Golden-crowned Kinglets working through some low weeds beside a pond.  They showed no fear of a big-lens photographer or me as we moved close for a good picture.  They’re constant movers, always flitting, hovering and hopping, and from 60 or so shots I think only one or two do them justice.

There was other good stuff around too. I found a single Fox Sparrow among a group of White-throats and mused that Fox Sparrows may be the Pavarotti of sparrows; good singers and a little on the heavy side.  And while we’re on show business, as I gazed at a group of ducks, I was prompted to wonder if Walt Disney’s inspiration for Donald Duck came from the funny spatulate bill of the Northern Shoveler.

Back to Cedar Waxwings though, I spent a while photographing large flocks of them in the tops of some nearly bare trees.  They were feeding on Tartarian Honeysuckle berries, which partially explains how this invasive non-native shrub has spread so successfully.  Not that I blame the waxwings, they have to eat.  And It was interesting to see that some juvenile waxwings were still begging food and were obligingly attended to by adults.  Then just as I framed a tree-top group of waxwings for a photo, a Coopers Hawk swept by causing the panic captured in this photo.

October 23 2012. It’s pouring rain as I write this.  Outside my office/den window I’ve hung a bird feeder, one of those Nyger seed feeders with the tiny holes for the small black seeds that are favoured by goldfinches and other small finches.  It works like a charm, we get American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and House Sparrows on the feeder itself and White-throated Sparrows and Slate–coloured Juncos cleaning up on the ground below. No squirrels though.

Most White-throated Sparrowsgo farther south for the winter, they still have some migration to do and need to fuel up, so they’re feeding despite the rain.  For that they have my admiration and are my Bird of the Rainy Day. Some days you don’t even have to leave home.

October 22 2012. Ruthven Park Cayuga ON.   Everyone loves Bluebirds; don’t they?  The 1981-85 Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario noted that the winters of 1957-58, 1976-77 and 1977-78 had caused an estimated 60 – 90% decline in the bluebird population. The species was accordingly declared to be ‘rare’.  Then the 2001-2005 atlas reported significant increases in the province as a whole and that the species had been de-listed, it is no longer considered rare.  Much of this rebound is attributable to people putting up nest boxes, the Eastern Bluebird seems to be out of danger and around the bird observatory it is almost commonplace.

Over the past few days my daily census efforts have turned up lots of bluebirds, last Friday we recorded 47 and today 31.

Today was a beauty, we had a brush with frost first thing, but a clear blue sky and warm breezes pushed the temperature up, it was almost a summer day.  The banding lab was seeing lots of White–throated and White–crowned Sparrows, Golden–crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, Yellow–rumped Warblers and even Orange–crowned Warblers.  Doing the census was a challenge, we could hear a lot of little-bird-noises: chips, squeaks and tics.  We suspected kinglets, sparrows and creepers but had a devil of a time confirming our suspicions.  We watched an Osprey plunge for and grab a fish, then take it wriggling and flapping to a riverbank branch.  A Hermit Thrush seemed annoyed by Slate–coloured Juncos invading its woodlands and started to sing an uncertain, watered down version of its fluting stop-you-in-your-tracks territorial song. There were Blue Jays screeching everywhere, so many that it was really hard to keep count but we recorded a conservative 28 anyway. And the background to all of this was the constant soft calling of Eastern Bluebirds, they were flying overhead, calling ‘tu-loo’from hedgerows, tall trees, short trees, and I even encountered a small group grumbling about something indeterminate quite deep within the maple hickory forest.  They carried the day for me just for being survivors and endlessly charming.

October 19 2012. Ruthven Park Cayuga ON.  A nearly-wow moment came today at the bird observatory when I caught a glimpse of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Memorable because I don’t see them very often, they tend to be rather quiet loners (unlike flickers), they breed somewhat north and west of here and most of them (but certainly not all) pass through over a brief three week period in April and again later over two weeks at the end of September and early October.  They are the Cinderella among our woodpeckers, a bit on the dowdy side and apparently they don’t get invited to parties.

There were other more-or-less wow moments too: flocks of Eastern Bluebirds flying around aimlessly and calling quietly; A couple of Eastern Phoebes, one of them on my census round; An Osprey sitting quietly watching over the river looking contented and presumably well fed; Several Purple Finches and maybe best of all, a midday flight of Red-tailed Hawks.  This one was photographed silhouetted against the sun as it circled  and cast its shadow on us.