At the beginning of the week we had some discussions about a final chase into Quebec to try for a Boreal Owl but family plans, weather and another illness just before Christmas made the decision not to go pretty easy. We celebrated with half the family on Christmas Eve leaving us free to bird on Christmas Day. We went out to one of our favourite spots – Brant Waterworks Park and had a nice 5 km hike that only involved me coughing some of the time. The inner paths were all ice so we opted for the safer asphalt path and did not see as many birds as we would have on the other paths. Still, it was nice to be out enjoying nature.
We still hoped to add the pesky White-winged Crossbill and on the 26th we got another chance. Two were seen in Oxford County just 30 minutes away. They had been reported in the same area five days before and I should have checked the area but we had family gatherings to prepare for and Christmas shopping to do so it didn’t happen. On the 26th freezing rain was starting just as we headed out. The birds had been seen only 30 mins before we got there. We carefully checked the tops of all the spruce trees along the road hoping to see movement but just had freezing rain in our faces. We walked up and down a few times carefully scanning and listening but had no joy. We opted to head home as the weather deteriorated and planned on going back the next morning. We were up and out early arriving just after 8 at the same spot. Dave was there already and had not seen anything. We walked, chatted, listened for the next couple of hours. No Crossbills. I finally saw some movement deep in a spruce off the road but could not find anything when I got my bins up. We waited. Eventually Dave and I saw parts of a bird as it quickly appeared and disappeared into the next spruce tree. We both had very good looks at a forked tail and a light underbelly and were pretty sure we had a Crossbill. Dave managed to get on it as it flew to another spruce and had nice views of the side of the bird – olive coloured. We had our White-winged Crossbill. Jerry only managed to see it without bins as it flew from one tree to the next and disappeared. Not very satisfactory views at all. Disappointing even. We waited despite the cold starting to creep into our hands and feet. And waited, no movement, no sounds. We had plans with family so we needed to leave. It was bird #431 and probably the last one to be added for the year. The Crossbill was the last of my 2nd ranked birds to see. There was little celebration because the three of us were carefully discussing the identification to make sure we did indeed see the Crossbill. The consensus was that we had but again the view was not great. The birds were seen again the next morning out clearly on a branch and Jerry headed back out again in another freezing rain storm to try and get pictures but was unsuccessful. We left it for a day and decided to try again on the 31st. One last chance for a nice view and picture. Our 4th trip out there.
Where is the Crossbill?Ending the year on another random road
We heard them this time, calling multiple times and I managed a few recordings on Merlin. I saw two birds fly up the driveway and into a tree closer to us but we could not trespass on the driveway so we could not get close enough to see the birds. So frustrating. Right to the end we are schooled in the lesson that “it is all about timing”. Just as we were leaving another birder, Scott, arrived, who was the finder of the birds, and the only one to get lovely pictures. We chatted and waited a bit more but had no luck with them coming closer. We were happy to have heard them well and seen them in flight to confirm that first crappy view. I’ve added the audio I recorded and a couple of pics from 2021 when we had them out our window so you can see what they look like.
White-winged Crossbill from February 2021 in our backyard
And so the Canada 400 year ends at 431 species. I’ll unpack all the stats and reflections in another blog tomorrow. For now we plan to enjoy our New Year’s Eve at home with a nice meal after 2 years spending it in cheap hotels with pizza. I think I will be sleeping in tomorrow as those numbers all reset back to 0 and we start counting again. I’ll be in no hurry to add birds next year but I will, of course, be birding…
Week 52 1 species added 431 species seen in Canada 2025 Jerry and Ellen
After more days on the couch we finally ventured out for a short hike at the end of Week 50. A wintering Virginia Rail was found at F.W. Dickson just 5 minutes from home. The boardwalk is a favourite spot in the winter to hand feed the chickadees and nuthatches and a family of Titmouse have been in residence for a number of years now. The Rail was coming to a very small opening of water just off the boardwalk allowing for great pictures and some videos.
We don’t always appreciate the common birds we see everyday so I’ve added this video of a Blue Jay .
On Sunday another Purple Sandpiper was reported on Gull Island at Presquile and so we made plans with Margaret to try for it on Tuesday. Monday is a duck hunting day so there is no access to the area. Would it still be there by Tuesday? We left at 4:30am, as per usual, and arrived just at 7:30. Normally, you have to use rubber boots or hipwaders to wade across a shallow channel on Lake Ontario between the mainland and Gull Island but with freezing temperatures in the last week the channel was completely frozen making the crossing a lot less treacherous and less anxiety-inducing. It was still very slippery but we crossed without mishap and I was very grateful I took my hiking stick.
Leaving the mainland to walk out to Gull IslandThe view from Gull Island back to the mainland
Can you believe that people would subject themselves to the conditions in the pictures? – cold, windy, slippery with the possibility of getting wet normally, to just see a bird? Ugggh! the things we do for this hobby!
Michelle from Ottawa had given us the location they had the bird (Thanks Michelle!) so we headed to that spot as soon as we got on the island. I checked along the rocks and ice along the edge and peeking out from behind a piece of ice was a lovely little Purple Sandpiper feeding voraciously on the icy rocks just at the waters edge. #430!!!!! Wow! Wow! Wow! I was convinced that we would not find the bird for some reason but there it was. We waited for Margaret to arrive 30 mins later and made sure she got the bird – #335 Ontario this year for her!
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper feeding in the freezing water
We also had some nice views of a Snowy Owl that was flying around the area.
Snowy Owl
Then we decided since we were out and suddenly at 299 for the year in Ontario we might as well hit the 300 so we stopped at Lakefront Promenade Park in Mississauga to see the Harlequin Ducks that have wintered there the last few years. It was another easy get with Jerry stepping out of the car along the canal and the ducks were right there. I didn’t even need to do my coat up or put on gloves.
Harlequin Ducks
On the way home we made another quick stop for a Dickcissel that was coming to a feeder in Harrisburg adding that species to our Life Brant County list. Not a bad day when you can get 3 for 3 in December and without too much effort. Ok, we did get up at 4:30am and walk out onto Lake Ontario but when I think back to all of the hours and things we endured for many birds this was a really easy, successful day.
Dickcissel
The next day we opted to head north a couple of hours to see if we could track down a White-winged Crossbill. We were still pumped after our 3 bird day and hitting 430 so you get silly forgetting that most birding days do not go that well. But we went anyway… The Crossbill is the only #2 ranked bird that we have missed this year and apparently it should have been more on my radar back at the beginning of the year. Because we were busy with Babi and the Condo our winter trips just did not happen and I really believed that we would not have a problem finding one somewhere in Canada but here we are with a week left and no White-winged Crossbill. It is an irruption year for finches meaning that there is little food in the Boreal forest for these pinecone eaters and so they move south to find food. Usually, Southern Ontario is far enough south but it would appear that our cone crop is not much better and there have not been the reports I expected in this area. I suspect that they travelled further into the States to find sufficient food. Anyway, there had been a large group of Pine Grosbeaks up at Earle Rowe Park and some White-winged Crossbills in that flock and so the chances were good that they might stick around. When we arrived around 10 there was Margaret walking the trail! We had not even discussed it at the Purple Sandpiper the day before but here we were searching for the same birds two days in a row. Another birder heard a Crossbill in the early morning so we were hopeful, but despite our best efforts we only managed to see Pine Grosbeaks at a distance that would not allow us to correctly ID a Crossbill in the flock. The Crossbills move around to forage a lot and so it is difficult to chase down reports that most often are just fly overs. Will we get lucky in the coming days? The clock is ticking…
So we now have 10 days left. One last blog coming for the year. Three years and it is almost over…crazy!
We started the week anticipating the possibility of Purple Sandpipers and decided to head to Niagara to catch up with the popular Black-throated Gray Warbler that had been hanging at Morgan’s Point for a number of weeks. We added this species in BC but we only heard them as they were high up in the trees. With nothing else to chase we figured we would see it and grab some pictures and take it off the heard only list. When we arrived a beautiful Cooper’s Hawk was hanging in the area and we hoped it had not just dined on a tiny gray bird. With a few other birders we kept moving around and checking its usual spots until it finally appeared in its favourite tree. We all had great looks and Jerry took some pictures. Target complete! We were really hoping that a Purple Sandpiper would be out on the point but a careful search turned up nothing.
Snow arrived for the next couple of days putting an end to our birding and then Babi ended up ill and being rushed to hospital at midnight. Jerry was back and forth to emergency until they admitted her and by Saturday Jerry had brought home the virus to end all viruses. By Monday we were both on the couch, coughing so hard we could dislocate ribs. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but IT WAS BAD! I don’t know if it is covid, RSV, or influenza but the two of us have never been sick like this. The first day or two we ate yummy soup but by day 3 I completely lost my sense of smell which made eating next to impossible. Everything became a ball of cardboard in my mouth. As I write this on Sunday a week later I can say that there is a glimmer that we are recovering but I’m not sure how long it will take to get my smell and taste back.
I spent lots of time watching the bird feeders out the window from the couch and was lucky to see the numerous hunting passes of our resident Cooper’s Hawk. He managed to catch a dove the one day and then was back hunting on the 3rd day after that. Many misses happened again before he successfully grabbed one right from below the feeder. I had just been thinking this Dove should not have been closing its eyes while it was out in the open like that and BAM! Another Dove gone. We have about 30-40 visiting our feeder this year so we have a fairly large supply for the Hawk. My views for the last week…
On Wednesday evening I managed to contain my coughing long enough to do a zoom presentation for OFO on our 3 consecutive big years and while it was a bit of a struggle to make it through, I did enjoy doing the presentation. Just wish I could have been feeling a bit better.
This was not the week to get sick. We ended up missing multiple Purple Sandpipers at Point Pelee the first weekend and then on Gull Island at Presquile and then at the Gull weekend in Niagara the second weekend. So disappointing that we were not able to chase any of them. We have been to every Gull Weekend since 2013 and were sad to miss a weekend with friends as well as the hunt for rare Gulls. I am so weak at this point that I am not sure I could walk down our driveway and back. I think it will take a bit to recover from this.
Robert Baumander interviewed me back in the spring about our Ontario Big Year for his Big Year Podcast show and he published it this week so take a listen when you get the chance. I talk really fast LOL! https://thebigyearpodcast.podbean.com
We birded locally a few times the first week hitting spots that we have had Redpolls at in previous years and finally on Friday we had 3 fly over the backyard calling with the chich-chich call. No pictures but we hope to still see this bird before the year end. Bird #428! On Saturday we headed to Dundas Conservation Area where we have had White-winged Crossbills in the past but while it was a beautiful hike we did not come up with anything new. We did see a large group of Cedar Waxwings that we carefully looked through in case a Bohemian was hidden amongst them. We estimated on our checklist that there were 30 in the group and when we got home Jerry checked the count against his photo and came up with a lot more. He dotted a few that were hard to tell if they were multiple birds so 62-66 was the final tally, double what our estimate was.
Cedar Waxwings
We had this beautiful Cooper’s Hawk visit our yard to check out the Dove/Junco Buffet! He sadly went home without anything.
Cooper’s Hawk
On Sunday we had a free day and the weather co-operated so we decided to head to Pinery Provincial Park and Ipperwash Beach where there have been a number of reports of Bohemian Waxwings. We arrived around 10 and drove Army Camp Road a few times and checked out the beach parking areas along Ipperwash Beach but there were few birds at all. We headed to the Pinery only to find out it was closing early for the annual deer cull so we had some quick hikes in a few areas but came up empty. We had a group of Cedar Waxwings flyover and I refound them on a back trail. I got bins on some of them and could not see a Bohemian among them and the calls were all Cedar Waxwing. We headed back to Ipperwash and drove slowly the same roads listening and looking. Nothing. Finally we decided to head home and up ahead we saw a number of cars pulled over! We pulled in and got out hoping to hear Bohemians but they were looking at Pine Siskins. So disappointing LOL. We drove down a bit further and just when I was going to put my window up and increase speed I heard what I thought was the Bohemian Waxwing call. Jerry got out and then Merlin confirmed Bohemian. I got out and we started scanning all the trees. Now we had to find them. They are grey and blend in wonderfully with the tree bark unless they are prominently sitting out in branches. After a few minutes I saw movement and got Jerry on them to start getting pictures. Whew! Bird #429! The Pine Siskin birders joined us and we had a good laugh about how they stopped actually for a Raven, then found the Siskins, we stopped to check and then the timing was perfect for me to hear them as we drove past. I love all the things that have to happen to set us on the path to getting a bird. And I met another “Ellen” birder. The 2nd one this year.
Bohemian Waxwings blending into the treesBohemian Waxwing
On the way home I saw a Northern Shrike on the side of the road so we did a quick u-turn to grab some pics in the late eveing sun.
Northern Shrike
So with 5 weeks to go we have Purple Sandpiper, White-winged Crossbill as really good possibilities. Sabine’s Gull was seen along the Niagara River so there is some potential for that. Boreal Owl and Gyrfalcon would be tougher birds but not impossible. And of course there is always the chance for something super rare to still show up.
Oh! and a huge shout out to Jude Szabo this week for hitting 350 in Ontario!!!! 15 more birds than we had last year! He has been relentless with chasing everything that is out there. Ahhh, the energy of youth. Congratulations! and he still has 5 weeks to go too.
The Cave Swallows arrived! If you recall last year we saw them at Fifty Point after a few days of strong Southwesterly winds coming up all the way from Texas. This is generally a yearly phenomenon, and it helps that they are now on birders radar in the first week of November to check any swallows carefully. Generally speaking our swallow species are long gone by this time which makes it easier to decide if it is a Cave or a late Cliff. The two species are very similar in colour and shape. On Tuesday the winds were good but I had promised to take my two granddaughters for an afternoon of shopping and then dinner to celebrate their birthdays. There were a few reports of Cave Swallows so Wednesday morning, with good winds again, we headed to Fifty Point first thing in the morning and spent a few hours watching the sky for small birds flying over. No luck.
Staring at the sky looking for a Cave Swallow
We then decided to drive the hour to Port Colborne as a Purple Sandpiper had been seen Tuesday. As you know, chasing as soon as the bird is reported is ideal but we seem to have a lot on our calendar so we are chasing things a day later. No Purple Sandpiper but crazy winds off the Lake made me wish for the summer again.
With a shift in winds again on Thursday if was suggested that they might be seen along the Erie and Ontario shoreline so Thursday we headed to Long Point after yoga to try and catch up with a few that had been reported over the last few days. No luck. It was a lovely sunny day, a bit cool but nice to be out and seeing a number of birds around Long Point.
Saturday there were two reports from Pelee of Cave Swallows around the Marsh Boardwalk first thing in the morning and they were roosting. Finally, a situation where they might be chaseable. Jerry had an ultrasound first thing so we were delayed leaving and would only get to Pelee in the afternoon. When we arrived just around 1:30 we headed out on the boardwalk and met up with a birder who let us know that they had flown from underneath the boardwalk at the pergola about 10 minutes ago and had flown to where we were at the Marsh Tower. They had been seen going back and forth between the two places. We had just looked at the tower and did not see anything so decided to continue to the pergola area. Nothing there after a few minutes so we headed back to the tower and spoke to another birder who had pulled into the parking after us and he saw two swallows by the Marsh tower minutes after we had walked down the boardwalk. Oh boy! Two misses. We decided it might be wise to cover all the bases. We had met up with Robert who saw them right at the parking an hour before us but he wanted to stay and get better pics so we each took a spot and then switched around after 10-15 mins. I sent Jerry out to the pergola where there was the best chance of pictures, I took the tower where I could see out to the pergola with bins and Robert took the parking and wharf area. After a bit I asked if he would check the beach across the road just in case they had headed there to feed. Jerry had wanted to go to the beach because he hates standing around waiting for a bird and I knew he would be pushing to do that but I thought we should stay where they had been seen. A few minutes later I see Jerry walking back towards me from the pergola. Sigh! It was barely 10 minutes! I phone him and tell him that Robert is checking the beach and he needs to stay out there. He says for how long, I tell him I am prepared to stay until dusk, it is 2pm. He tells me he thinks they have left and then wait I see a bird! I hang up and train my bins down at the pergola and there is a beautiful swallow just above the water swooping around. Then I see that Jerry is trying to get a picture in the sky and I quickly call Robert and then head to the pergola. Jerry had managed to get a few flight pics and indeed it is a Cave Swallow. I sat on the bench under the pergola and a minute later a swallow swooped down and disappeared under the boardwalk. Too fast to get a pic but enough to confirm the pale rusty rump of a Cave Swallow. A minute later another swallow, or the same one swooped in again! We all had a laugh after about all the things that lined up to us getting that Swallow. Splitting up the areas, me sending Robert to the beach, me phoning Jerry at that moment so he saw the swallow otherwise he would have walked back and we could have missed it completely. Of course, if he had been patient and just sat on the bench and stayed out there he would have had spectacular looks at the swallow above the water and perhaps a better picture. LOL
We stopped at Erieau on the way home to scan the harbour rocks for a Purple Sandpiper. Most years they can be seen at this spot and where we saw it last year but there was nothing climbing around the rocks. This is the next bird we need to track down.
There were two rarities this week that we did not chase. A Rufous Hummingbird is visiting a yard near Flesherton and inviting birders to visit. We, of course, saw many out in my brother’s yard this summer and we previously saw this species in Oakville one winter so we don’t need it for our Ontario Life list. A Northern Gannet had been seen sporadically along Lake Ontario and again, we saw many out East. We do not have this bird on our Ontario life list but I’m ok with that, it is a difficult bird to track down and I want to concentrate on what we do need.
