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23 April 2014. Vinemount ON. Any month of the year is capable of delivering a surprise bird, especially around here at the west end of Lake Ontario where a number of factors combine to deliver an extraordinary richness of bird life. April of course is thick with spring migrants anyway so a rewarding afternoon of birding was perhaps predictable. Not that the numbers of species was remarkable, it was more the “Oh my goodness” factor.

First (and foremost, and Bird of the Day) was a trio of Upland Sandpipers stalking around a dry pasture field. Visually Upland Sandpipers aren’t all that much, brown and mottled like many an easy-to-confuse shorebird, except that they don’t go anywhere near shores or water. Perhaps it’s their dainty appearance (scrawny neck and undersized head) and beady eye that gives them a certain appeal. Or maybe it’s their outrageously languid wolf-whistle of a call that makes birders cherish them. Really, it’s an exorbitantly drawn out and ascending “Wheeeeeeeeeet; pause; then followed by an equally long, descending exhalation “Wheeeeooooooo”. No ogling construction worker could possibly match it, however captivating the object of his desires.

But there’s something else about Upland Sandpipers that intrigues me. They arrive in mid-late April (today’s are right on time) to breed across a fairly narrow swath of the north and centre of the continent. They come here after spending our winter in Argentina, they stop around for barely four months, produce young and then fly back to Argentina. I’m not sure how long it takes to fly from Argentina to Ontario, but it’s got to be one or two months, which leaves very nearly half the year spent in Argentina where incidentally they don’t breed again. Now I know that what I’m going to say rather trivializes the matter, but wouldn’t you think they’d be better off staying in Argentina, where there’s plenty of grassland, and forgoing two almost back-to-back long-haul flights?

Well these three were a treat to see and I struggled to get some decent long-shot photos, but I’ve included a couple.

While I sat in my car watching the sandpipers, a Savannah Sparrow stopped atop a fence post in front of me and obligingly posed. He even squeaked out a few phrases of Savannah Sparrow song, “Tsit tsit tsit tsit tsit tseeeeeiii ur.”

Later on my way home I pulled to the side of a road to look over an expanse of flooded field and was, well kind of thrilled to find upwards of fifteen Wilsons Snipes lurking there, most of them biding their time and resting. Again I struggled for photos but was moderately pleased with these.

17 April 2014. Cayuga ON. It took some debate to decide on Bird of the Day. I thought Barn Swallow because it was, for me, the first this year of these handsome summer aristocrats. My companion though, favoured a male American Kestrel seen (and photographed) carrying a writhing snake to its Waterloo; that was my second choice. But then there was a handful of maybes to consider too: A shy, first of the year Hermit Thrush; A high, almost out of sight, Broad-winged Hawk; A single Bank Swallow skimming the river and tangled up with dozens of Tree Swallows; A pretty little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher or even a handsome leaf-tossing Eastern Towhee. All tough competitors and certain to make the cut another day, but in the end I opted for the Barn Swallow because it made me say Wow!

We found the Barn Swallow in the course of doing the daily census at the bird observatory. It was a full morning with bird songs (or in some cases bare utterances) all around, including Eastern Tufted Titmouse, Field Sparrows, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals and Slate Coloured Juncos.

The river has been very high for the past couple of weeks, two days ago its flood-plain was just that, flooded. Now as the levels are receding, the birds are finding lots of insect meals. We watched as thirty or so Tree Swallows zipped around picking at the river’s surface and it was in this almost impossible to follow multitude, that I picked out the Bank Swallow, and to my clear delight, my Bird of the Day a female Barn Swallow.

Here are a couple of photos (courtesy of Renata Sadowska) of the American Kestrel with its still-writhing lunch.

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.