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RBG. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. September 28^th. 2020. I scheduled myself to complete one of our regular transects in the valley this morning. These late September days hold many surprises and delights most of which are milestones in the seasonal shift. Today dealt many delights and at least four surprises.

First delightful surprise and Bird of the Day, was this Indigo Bunting, a female. Indigo Buntings are not rare but somehow are much more often heard than seen. Following the distinctive song of a male in summer will lead you to a small, almost electric-blue bird, but almost never will you see the female. She does her job best staying out of sight after all, and she is every bit as plain as the male is gaudy, indeed plainness is her defining characteristic.

Presence or absence of field marks is what makes bird identification the challenge it is. In the case of a female Indigo Bunting the plot thickens: Head stripes? No; Facial markings? No;  Eye ring? No; streaking, spots or blotches? Nothing.  Wing bars? Yes but faintly.  Above is today’s bird and, for contrast, a male (below) in all his glory, photographed last May.

Spotting an Eastern Screech Owl was a nearly-surprise. We know this bird and that it favours a particular tree cavity but rarely do we actually see it. Whether it is always there but usually hunkered down, or whether it has several daytime refuges I don’t know. But it was photo-worthy out sunning itself today to the delight of many passers-by.  

Surprise number three was to watch a Sharp-shinned Hawk being drawn reluctantly into a catch-me-if-you-can game with a group of Blue Jays.  Although the jays seemed to want to play, the Sharp-shinned Hawk wasn’t very interested and preferred to sail around in wide circles warmed by the September sun.

As we wrapped up our circuit we stopped to watch a Red-eyed Vireo feasting on the berries of a Spindle Tree. We commented on how unusually motionless and obscure it had become and then the answer sailed overhead and perched just a few metres away: this Cooper’s Hawk. The presence of predators will often make potential victims freeze and I’m sure that’s what was on the vireo’s mind.

RBG. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. September 28^th. 2020. I scheduled myself to complete one of our regular transects in the valley this morning. But wait! Before I go any further, it’s perhaps time to expand a little on what I mean by ‘completing one of our transects’.

It’s a longish story, but in brief I am one of a team of capable birders who gather data on bird populations on the natural lands of Canada’s Royal Botanical Gardens, (RBG). Our task, in April, May, September and October, is to walk the length of any of three defined routes recording all birds seen and heard; that’s it, that’s a transect. 

Today’s route, Cherry Hill, takes us along trails in a loop through hardwood forest, across a wide river valley, skirts three woodland-enclosed ponds and follows a lightly-treed river bank. It is a very beautiful walk any day of the year and the habitat is so varied that the birding is about as good as it gets in this part of Ontario. 

Cherry Hill is one of three defined routes, the others are different but just as interesting in their variety.  We count and record all birds seen and heard, then upload a report to a compiler. We are gathering very raw data for the use of RBG with the goal of accumulating many years and decades of such data. The more we gather the greater its value. (We call our project the Longwatch and this website has a lot more background information.)

Royal Botanical Gardens’ lands ON. September 19^th & 20^th 2020. I write this after (and about) two consecutive birding mornings. Cool, almost cold, nights gave way to brilliant blue days. Both mornings I walked transect routes in what felt like the peak of the fall migration. There were many familiars, many happy returnees, several surprises and a few challenges that required after-the-fact photo scrutiny. 

My Birds of Both Days were Vireos. They kept stopping me in my tracks, they have that power: Red-eyed Vireos appearing on strategic branches ; Bright yellow, acrobatic Philadelphia Vireos, flitting and staying just a few yards ahead of me; And Blue–headed Vireos slinking through leafy clusters.

The familiars, some just passing through, others probably here for the winter included Blue Jays in small groups swooping and screeching as they passed overhead; Rose–breasted Grosbeaks now dressed in olive-brown, black and buff; groups of Cedar Waxwings; a pair of Trumpeter Swans here for the winter from points not too far north; and many just-passing-through White–throated Sparrows.

My surprises were: a Black-billed Cuckoo, two early Ruby–crowned Kinglets, a Yellow–bellied sapsucker, two Green–winged Teal and four Northern Pintails.

And of course in the sparkling delights category some warblers: Nashville and Tennessee Warblers, American Redstarts, Common Yellowthroats, and a Northern Parula.

The Green–winged Teals challenged me for a while, I could make them out only as silhouettes against bright reflections, in silhouette they look like mini-Mallards. But I knew, by their size, they had to be Green-wings; they are small, one step smaller than Wood Ducks and two big steps smaller than Mallards. I felt I needed to see a little bit more, enough to clinch the identification, so I watched for a long time and the longer I looked the more I could see behavioural differences. One or two of my photos are persuasive, but it was experience that convinced me.

The Northern Pintails presented another duck challenge. Looking down on them from afar, I saw at once that they were not Mallards, they were longer, greyer and just somehow different. I took many photos and it was only when I could examine the photos in comfort that I realised they were pintails.

Neither the Green–winged Teal nor the Northern Pintails breed around here, not in any numbers anyway, so I think they must have just arrived, they may linger for a very few days.

Hamilton Beach Strip, Hamilton ON. September 17^th. 2020. I took a moment this afternoon to look for a tropical rarity, the gannet-like Brown Booby. It belongs in the southern oceans of the world but one has been around here for a week or so.  Making special trips to see oddball rarities is not usually my kind of birding, but today I had some spare time and well, I went.… I didn’t see it.

Returning to my car, I spotted a flitting bird movement that seemed to be out of place. I paused and made a few soft ‘tsst’ sounds, moments later a small, rather plain warbler appeared from the folds of an ornamental cypress to see what the fuss was all about.  Now, here was something worth investing my time on, a migrant warbler, a spark of lightness in an otherwise rather drab and dusty semi-industrial neighbourhood.

I told it to stay put while I took a minute to fetch my camera, mystery birds are very often best analysed later with photos. It moved on a little, though not too far, and with a bit of work I was able to get its fleeting attention again. It showed the sort of field marks: olive-green above, indeterminately pale below and conspicuous white wing-bars, that help narrow down the choices to a small handful of species, while still leaving lots of room for conjecture and guesses.  This is where photos can make or break an identification, and my camera was now warmed up and ready. The bird appeared a couple of times, posed briefly and promptly flew across the road, leaving for good; still, I’d got some photos, not necessarily crisp and clean, some of them are here.

On-the-run photos like these often miss key features but, if you’re lucky, provide just enough. The bird turned out to be a Bay-breasted Warbler, a young female. Being young and female took it about as far from the classic look of a Bay-breasted Warbler in May as is possible. I have to acknowledge the help of one of our newest and probably youngest birders on the scene. I sent him my photos and asked for his opinion. Liam replied, “I would say Bay-breasted Warbler. There’s very faint notes of warm brown on the flanks, and no yellow/orange feet mean it’s not Blackpoll Warbler.” I think he nailed it.

Despite a morning of transect birding that had produced a few memorable species: Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Traills Flycatcher, Merlins and Sharp–shinned Hawks, this little warbler was a genuine My Bird of the Day. It was a bit improbable, a quiet wow!, and a challenge.

RBG. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. September 14^th. 2020. I was a bit tight for time this morning and would have benefitted from another hour on the valley transect route. But never mind, it was an interesting, surprising, and delightful hour and forty-five minutes.

Most interesting was a group of three Cooper’s Hawks engaged in some kind of wide-ranging flight play, although play may not be quite the right choice of word.  A more realistic interpretation might be that they were engaged in non-combative, high-speed chases to develop the flight skills needed to capture prey. Whatever the reason, it was quite exciting to watch. Many a photograph was missed as a bird launched away just as I focussed – although as any bird photographer knows, that happens more often than not.

I think the trio may have been a parent and two young, certainly one was a mature adult showing pale brownish-pink barring across the breast and belly and the other two were brown-streaked youngsters. We’ve known of the presence of Cooper’s Hawks in the valley over the years and it is almost a certainty that breeding has occurred and that youngsters would become apparent sooner or later.

Most surprising today was a glimpse of a White–throated Sparrow. It will be the first of thousands to come, but being first is being noticed, being last is usually recalled retrospectively.

The morning produced several pretty migrants, a Common Yellowthroat, a shy Swainson’s Thrush, two or three American Redstarts and a quickly vanishing Magnolia Warbler.

Best and most delightful was a Philadelphia Vireo. I like all vireos a lot, I’ve gushed about then on these pages many times. The much-to-be-admired Red-eyed Vireo is, for me, the standard from which I compare others in the family. Here’s how I get from a Red-eyed to a Philadelphia Vireo: Scale down the size by about 15%; tone-down the iris colour from crimson to a warm hazel brown; and add a wash of delicious yellow its underparts; and there – a perfect Philadelphia Vireo.

Philadelphia Vireos, especially today’s can be rather flitty and active, certainly today’s was but this one was photographed just about three years ago to the day. Philadelphia Vireo – My Bird of the day.