Author: Peter T

September 4 2012. Ruthven Park, Cayuga ON. Back early to the bird observatory today, they’re a little short handed and well, it’s interesting and always challenging.  The weather had deteriorated since the summer glories of the past week or so, rain threatened all morning today and even went so far as to dampen us with a mid morning shower; a nice warm one though.

I started the census at 08.45 but had to abandon it after half an hour or so when the shower struck.  The birds must have known something was up and left town because in that half an hour I only counted 11 species. Once the rain had passed over I restarted and turned up 29 species including a couple of Purple Finches, a small and agitated group of Philadelphia Vireos high in the treetops and a nice Eastern Kingbird sitting atop a dead tree watching over the world below.

Towards the end of the morning we found and banded a young male Hooded Warbler.  He was without doubt my Bird of the Day because absolutely nothing else today, not even a couple of Blackpoll Warblers, Common Yellowthroats or Wilson’s Warblers, came close to delivering the same OMG impact.  (Take a look at the observatory’s blog here) Hooded Warblers are uncommon in Ontario, there are small pocket populations around the west end of Lake Ontario and along the north shore of Lake Erie.  But in the central eastern states of the U.S.A it is a fairly common breeding bird.

Any human as striking and stunningly pretty as this bird would surely quickly make his way to become a preening and self-important celebrity.

September 3 2012. Ruthven Park, Cayuga ON. I had quite forgotten what a richness of bird species there is to enjoy on a good day at a good bird observatory.  Today was my first opportunity to return to my favourite bird observatory to lend a hand this the fall season.  Bird observatory activities including census taking, mist-netting and banding continues daily throughout September and October.

To refresh, the observatory is located in the grounds of a splendid 19^th Century neo-classical country house that would look quite National Trustish in England but is little short of jaw-dropping in 21^st Century Ontario. The grounds include several acres of wide alluvial river flats, a network of heavily wooded creek valleys, open farm fields and upland forests. This is perforce a very brief introduction; you can read lots more about it and get completely absorbed for hours by visiting its website here and nature blog here.

On my arrival early this morning it was already busy and I was put to work banding a young Scarlet Tanager.  Then a check of the nets turned up Red–eyed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Winter Wren, Yellow–billed Cuckoo, Magnolia Warbler and Ovenbird to name but a few of what I remember.

It sometimes/ often / usually /always falls to me to do the daily census.  A task that keeps me out of harm’s way for a couple of hours and fills a page or two with a list of all birds seen or heard on a walk around a prescribed route.  I am usually accompanied by visitors, sometimes they’re birders, sometimes not, but many eyes and ears are always helpful.

Today we had some great sightings; a single Yellow–billed Cuckoo (not the one banded just before we left the banding lab), many Eastern Wood Peewees singing.  A couple of Red–eyed Vireos were in the sparse branches of a dead spruce and close to about 20 Cedar Waxwings feeding on the abundant blue-grey fruit of a Red Cedar. Along the river a family of four, maybe five, Osprey were patrolling up and down, the parents looking for food to keep their insistent youngsters happy.  A pair of Wood Duck flew by and then shortly afterwards three Green-winged Teal.  On a gravel-bar in the river were 16 Killdeer, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs and a single Spotted Sandpiper.  Then, perhaps the event of the day, an adult Bald Eagle closely chased one of the Ospreys pressing home a point of proprietorship that I never did figure out.

My Birds of the Day were three Chimney Swifts seen circling above the banding lab. Swifts always make me stop and stare because they are irrefutably birds of summer, always flying in high-wheeling chase above us, twittering busily and living a perpetually airborne life.  If given the chance I think I’d like to be reincarnated as a swift.

August 31 2012. Lowville ON. We decided to see what early migrants we could find along a quiet, well wooded river valley.  And except for the rather brisk wind, it was really quiet; the trees and understory plants seemed to have had enough of summer and drought.  Still, there were some interesting birds around.  One of our first finds was a couple of Scarlet Tanagers, both dingy olive-green: an adult female in scruffy molt and an indeterminate youngster. Several Magnolia Warblers, distinct with their bright and faintly streaked yellow breasts, more-or-less eye ring and sharply black-and-white underside of the tail.  My companion with his sharp young eyes also found a Yellow–bellied Flycatcher, a Canada Warbler and a Ruby–throated Hummingbird.

At a break in the tree canopy we looked up to see a soaring hawk wheeling above us which we both immediately took as a Red-tailed Hawk, but as it turned and fanned its tail I could see horizontal bars across it.  Not  Red-tailed Hawk at all, this was a young albeit rather colourless, Red–shouldered Hawk.  Red-shoulders are not rare but they’re not common either; they breed in our general area but their preferred habitat of large expanses of wet woodlands has become increasingly scarce.  Our populations of Red-shouldered Hawks are seasonal migrants and winter in Texas and farther south into Mexico.  But perhaps they prefer to be around here as they are one of the first hawks to return in March while there’s snow on the ground, and the reflected illumination off the snow lights up their robin-red under-wings to dramatic effect.  It was my Bird of the Day even though we ended our hot walk with a close encounter with a Sharp–shinned Hawk and a fleeting glimpse of a stubby- bodied rounded-winged bird flying high and fast overhead, an American Woodcock I believe.

August 30 2012.  Long Point, ON. An on-again off-again family task took me to Lake Erie today and to one of Canada’s best birding hotspots.  Bird Studies Canada operates bird observatories at Long Point, one out on a tip of land in the middle of Lake Erie, another one close to a heavily used camping, cottage and party area.  We spent an hour or so at the latter observatory and watched the team of volunteers checking the mist nets, extracting trapped birds and banding them. While we watched they handled two or three of Black–throated Blue Warblers, a couple of American Redstarts, a young House Wren, a Magnolia Warbler and a Red–eyed Vireo.

At a marsh lookout platform we watched a female Marsh Hawk quartering the wide expanse of cattails and sloughs, and far in the distance a large group of Turkey Vultures was circling and playing in a column of rising warm air.

A stop at some sewage lagoons turned up some interesting groups of shorebirds, mostly Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers with a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers for variety.

Out in the deeper water a dozen or so Lesser Yellowlegs were swimming and behaving like phalaropes, which was at first rather confusing because three Red-necked Phalaropes were nearby, also swimming and also, quite properly, feeding like phalaropes.  The confusion was cleared when the yellowlegs rejoined their companions and I was then able to concentrate on the phalaropes and make out the rather fine distinctions between these Red-necked Phalaropes and the Wilson’s Phalaropeof a couple of days ago.  The adjective ‘Red-necked’ only truly applies during their brief courtship and breeding season of April, May and June, otherwise they are mostly grey and white, and strikingly similar to the Wilson’s.  A fairly bold smudge of black behind the eye marked these birds as Red-necked.

Just because I’d never knowingly seen them before, these fascinating Red-necked Phalaropes were my Birds of the Day.

August 28 2012.  Woodland Cemetery Hamilton ON.  The past 24 hours has seen a change in weather, which has given the birds a migratory push.  This afternoon after sitting through an indoor presentation about hiking in Peru I spent an hour or so in a nearby area of rock outcrops and scattered trees and shrubs; actually a cemetery.  It is strategically placed along the Lake Ontario shoreline so birds are sort of funneled through it, and the spacing and variety of trees makes for quite rich bird viewing in late summer and fall.

I sat for a while in a microburst of migrants and noted Black and White, Magnolia, Black-throated Green and Pine Warblers, a deliciously peachy-gold marked female American Redstart , a Blue–gray Gnatcatcher and a couple of Philadelphia Vireos.  They were all difficult to hold in my field of view because they were jumping and flitting around busily fuelling up on high protein insects.  Here’s a photo of a Black-throated Green Warbler taken in May.

I heard the clear song of a Black–throated Blue Warbler; “Zhrurr zhrurr zhree”, a sound I haven’t heard since May and it sure caught my attention. Moments later I was treated to a long look at a full-colour male, handsome with his blue back, white belly, black face and throat and the diagnostic little square of white on his primary wing feathers.  It was a pleasant hour or so anyway but this Bird of the Day made it extra special.