Finally! It has begun…The goal for the first week was to chase any and all rarities. For the last month I have been following rarities in the province and hoping that some of them would remain into the new year. Most rarities at this time of year end up perishing when snow and cold arrive but the milder weather has meant a few have managed to stick around. We ended up deciding to start our year in Ottawa trying for a Western Tanager that has been there since December 15. Then try for 4 other rarities on the route home. The best twitching strategy is to be at the spot at first light. We were, the bird was not. After standing in -10 cold for 2 1/2 hours we made the decision to try for the rest of the rarities. The bird showed up 40 minutes later! Lesson learned – leave more time and stick it out until the bird shows or it is dark. LOL. We also dipped (missed) our second rarity but knew of a second bird at Pelee so didn’t waste too much time but by then we only had time to stop for one more before dark. At 4:30, with light fading and a run/walk down a 2km beach on Lake Ontario I saw a Barrow’s Goldeneye in the scope. There was much frivolity! Well, a high five and a frozen smile. Did I mention it was cold?
While it was not the stellar start to the New Year, we took away some lessons and things got better on our second day as we headed to Pelee National Park for a Townsend’s Solitaire. A birder re-found the bird and a small group of us enjoyed watching it feed on the blue berries on cedar bushes. After spending some time at the Tip in gale force winds we headed to Erieau for a Harlequin Duck. The wind was even stronger and the waves were crashing along the pier but Jerry braved the elements to get as close as he could to get pics of the tiny duck diving beside the concrete pier. Did I mention it was cold?
Day 2 – 2 rarities and one semi-rare and 56 species seen. We next headed to Brampton for a Ross’s Goose and then Colonel Sam Smith Park in Etobicoke for a King Eider and an Eared Grebe. Got 2 of the 3 as the Eared Grebe had not been seen for a few days. It was a female King Eider so just a brown duck but google the male and check out his colouring.
The following day found us at the London Landfill (yes, birders spend lots of time at landfills and sewage lagoons) where we played one of these things is not like the other 2,000 and really thought we had found the one Slaty-backed Gull among all those gulls. Maybe lack of sleep, covid, or just our inexperience led us to celebrate instead of grabbing the scope and really looking at the distant gull because once the reviewer looked at our pics he gave us the thumbs down. UGGGGGGG! Classic newbie mistake! We have promised each other that going forward when we think we have a rarity one of us will say the code word “Slaty” to remind ourselves to check and double-check and check again.
We tried for the Pacific Loon and Western Grebe in Hamilton twice more this week and did I mention it was cold? LOL. Both of us felt we saw the loon in very rough water for seconds but just not good enough looks for us to be 100% confident that is what we saw. There is also a Red-throated Loon being seen and they are similar enough at long distances to us that we want to be sure of what we have seen. We even had some time to spend a few hours with our grandkids feeding the birds at LaSalle.
Saturday we decided after 6 days of driving and birding we needed a day off. We still added 2 common species, one at our feeder and the other, a Tufted Titmouse ( a bird not a mouse) at a boardwalk nearby. The last day of the week we headed into Hamilton again, ever hopeful for calm water and IT WAS! LIKE GLASS! Within minutes we had great looks at what was definitely a Western Grebe and close enough to get pictures. We managed to see a Red-throated Loon but quite a distance out and then on the advice of another birder we headed into Hamilton to look for the Loon further along the bay. The Pacific Loon was THERE! We have tried multiple times for this bird so it was great to finally catch up with it and still had a couple of hours before Benson’s hockey game so we chased down a very out of season Orange-crowned Warbler at Princess Point. Both Jerry and I saw it at different times as it flew across the tops of the grass but did not get great views. Oh, and Jerry saw a Brown Creeper that I did not so we end the week with HIM AHEAD OF ME BY ONE BIRD!!! I’ll get a Creeper in the next day or so but SHEESH! LOL. Still, a triumphant end to a long, very cold, windy week.
Week 1 3 rarities, 8 semi-rare and a total of 77(E) 78(J) species seen.
BREAKING NEWS!!!! The Limpkin (a Florida bird) was refound at 4:00. We will be there at first light to try and re-find it!