Week 34 The “F” Word
Yes, I’m talking about Fall, and this week started with a taste of it – cold, rainy and windy. We started the week heading into Eastern Ontario to get checklists in two more Counties and hoping that a Little Blue Heron that had been seen 3 days previously might miraculously be re-found. The Heron was confirmed with a photo and had been near the Thousand Islands last Thursday but not added to ebird until Sunday night. It was likely a non-birder that had to ask someone what kind of bird it was and most likely an American as the ebird list was summited by an American birder but not the person who had seen the bird. Confusing right? and frustrating that another great rarity was not chaseable. I consoled myself with the fact that had it been reported on Thursday I was looking after 4 grandkids and would not have been able to chase it anyway. We started at Presquile Provincial Park, a fantastic birding hotspot for migrating species. There were some warblers and a few shorebirds around but it was pretty quiet and windy! It is in Northumberland County though so it was another County completed. We drove a a bit further east into Hastings County and added another checklist there to leave us with only four more counties to bird in. Two up north and one at each end of the province. There was nothing about the Heron on Discord but we had never birded in that area before so we continued to drive and stop along the Thousand Islands Parkway. Very few birds were around and we had a decision to make. We had originally thought of heading north and staying overnight to drive through Algonquin in hopes of a Goshawk but with the weather it seemed hawks would not be likely. The other choice would be to just head home. We chose home and as always ended up crossing Toronto at the dinner hour and so the trip was 2 hours longer than usual because of a series of accidents. We got home tired and discouraged, a lot of driving with little to show for it.
Tuesday we were not getting back into our car for hours so we birded 10 minutes from home to get back our “zen”. We found some early fall warblers at Cavan Flats and spent a lot of time trying to figure them out from seeing small pieces of the birds high up in the trees and hidden by the full leaves. Fall is a difficult time to bird. Most birds are no longer singing, the leaves are still on the trees, the birds are in their fall plumage which is duller and more difficult to figure out. But, we love trying to decipher the clues, that is, until the neck pain gets too intense! There are lots of curses as you just about get the bird and it is gone, as well as delight when you figure out one of them. One of the things we rely on especially in the fall is the under tail pattern of warblers. Each are unique to the species and combined with the amount of colour on the under view often is all you need for an identification. While the birds below show more than the tail there are instances where we make the ID based on just seeing that tail and underside. Cool huh?
Warblers also change their plumage dramatically between the spring and fall with some seeming like totally different birds. I’ve posted a few below with their spring plumage and fall plumage. These first few weeks of seeing the fall plumaged warblers causes us some grief as we get used to their updated looks.
Margaret, a birding friend, had been kind enough to check the Beeton Sod Farms a couple of times for Buff-breasted Sandpipers but still none had arrived. With winds coming from the south and more heat arriving it may be a few more days before those birds arrive. Ideally, I would like to get the Buff-breasted before I have to start lake watches but the birds do not care about my plans.
Wednesday and Thursday we had appointments, meetings and caregiving and so our next birding was Friday when we went out again locally because there were still no reports of Buff-breasted Sandpiper or any other rarities. We birded at the Brantford Waterworks Park, one of our favourite places, and saw 55 species over 4 hours of walking almost 8kms. We had ten species of warblers including a Canada and a Wilson’s Warbler. It did not feel like Fall with temperatures back up at 30C but migration is taking place.
Saturday we headed into Hamilton for caregiving but stopped at the Desjardins Canal first and took a short walk along the canal where we had super close encounters with Black-crowned Night Heron and Green Herons. We took Jerry’s mom to Woodland Cemetery as she likes to visit the family grave and we birded the area for a bit, met Mourad who was out birding too and had a nice group of warblers in the trees there, including a Yellow-throated Vireo. Mourad saw a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher too but we didn’t get on it.
I got a nice video of a Green Heron catching an afternoon snack.
We were going to head to the Sod Farms on Sunday but Dorlisa checked on Saturday and there were still no birds so we headed back out to Brant Waterworks Park and met Jason and Jenny so we joined them for a lovely walk along the river stopping at the pockets of warblers and identifying what we could. Sunday afternoon there were a few reports of American Golden Plovers being seen in some sod fields so fingers crossed that darn Buff-breasted will be here this week! I don’t want to rush the end of summer but I am more than ready to move on and get some fall birds added to my list!
WEEK 34 no species added 314 E&J