We headed to Grimsby Wetlands early Monday morning hoping the Cinnamon Teal remained and after 30 mins or so of scanning the bulrushes it was re-found! Finally our #320! The duck remained partially obscured for quite a while but eventually moved closer so that pictures could be taken. This is a Western species commonly seen in Alberta or British Columbia and it is quite rare to have them in Ontario so many birders will make the trip to see this duck.
There are over 200 checklists from that hotspot this week and it still remains there and birders keep arriving. There will likely be a few hundred more that will attempt to see this duck. Robert Baumander and Dave Archbell sent me these group shots from our visit. Jerry is shooting from up on a bench for a clearer picture.
Tuesday we birded Hamilton again mainly because we have had to visit Jerry’s mom almost daily as her dementia symptoms increase. We took another look at Princess Point for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron but again only saw Black-crowned. The winds were right for lake watching but we had our community Lions dinner meeting (we are both members) so we reluctantly headed home. Just past 5:00 a few birders at the lake had 3 Common Eiders fly past! That would be a great bird to add to my list and I was super sad that I missed them. They may be on the lake for a while so we will be looking for these ducks over the next few weeks.
Wednesday we headed to Jerry’s mom’s again and then on to lake watch. Just before we arrived Cheryl and Rob had seen a Pomarine Jaeger, the only Jaeger I have left to see, and shortly after we arrived we had it flying with a Parasitic Jaeger for bird #321. I had to rely on the expert birders to confirm that sighting as I am still learning about Jaegers and the subtle differences between them. This is the first year where I am actually able to tell them apart from the gulls and other birds flying around out on the lake. The day got better as we had a Juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger cruise right by the viewing deck and then an adult with streamers fly past later as well as watching 5-7 Parasitic Jaegers chasing down gulls trying to get food. We also saw distant views of Sabine’s Gulls. A great day on the lake to get all 3 Jaeger species and the Gull as well. I only need Black-legged Kittiwake now but there is always the chance for rarities, like the Eiders, so we will get down there as often as we can with NE winds.
The new viewing deck is finally finished at Van Wagners Beach and while it does not meet all our birding needs it is an improvement on the old deck.
We celebrated the weeks new birds with some yummy appetizers at Oh Bombay in Burlington.
Thursday the winds were again from the NE so we headed down to the lake again, this time we brought his Mom with us and it was nice to see her happy to spend some time outside and watching the goings on at the lake. It was a quiet day for birds, but we had the usual questions from passers-by about what we were looking for. I am happy to explain as long as I am not missing something flying by and there is always the hope that I turn someone new onto birding. We almost always have good conversations and experiences with the people who stop and I am happy to be one of the faces of birding at Van Wagners beach. I even met someone who knows someone from our tiny village of Glen Morris.
Friday morning with NE winds yet again we decided to drive and bird along the lake from Grimsby back to Van Wagners. We were hoping to run across the Common Eiders that had been briefly seen and that area of the lake is a hangout for ducks in the winter months so we thought we would check it out. There were few birds along the lake and we ended up at Van Wagners by 1:30. There were more birders than the previous day including a couple from California that were trying to see their first Jaegers. They ended up seeing a Parasitic and also lifer Sabines Gulls so we were happy to have helped them a bit. We had more activity than the previous day and got onto jaegers fairly quickly then had a lull for a few hours and then things picked up between 4 and 5 with chances to watch a number of jaegers going after gulls and each other. I am getting much better at picking them out even far out in the lake. The amount of time on lake watches has been well worth it.
The winds changed a bit on Saturday and we welcomed a day off to catch up on laundry and household chores. We had 8 cords of firewood delivered this week and we got all that stacked and ready for winter. I started putting some of the porch furniture away as we are not likely to be needing it in the next few weeks. People were still down at the Lake Watch and had Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers and at some point they saw some ducks way off in the distance and took some camera shots that look to be Eiders. The two days I did not do lake watches and eiders were seen! Why is this sooooo hard! LOL!
Sunday we headed back into Hamilton and scoped the lake from all the spots in Burlington where the Eiders had been seen and then back to Van Wagners for the afternoon Lake Watch. The winds were not really good but we saw Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers. I was hoping for Eiders. None were seen even though we hung in there until after 6 when it started to rain a bit. Rain and south winds are in the forecast for the next few days so there might be a bit of a lull in lake watching while we turn our attention to a sparrow – Nelson’s Sparrows should start arriving next week in Southern Ontario. We also have the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) conference next weekend and we will be heading to the northern one instead of Pelee.
Week 38 2 new species added 321 J&E