Common Gallinule | The Ovenbird Blog

Week 16 – Half-way!

by Ellen Horak | Apr 20, 2025 | Canada 400

Monday we were out birding locally and then heading to Hamilton to meet with our tenants. After our usual checks at Grass Lake and Paris Plains Road we stopped into Pinehurst CA. We had not been in this year and it is often very good for spring birding. While Jerry was taking a picture of a migrating Common Loon I saw a tern heading across the lake. I yelled to Jerry to take pictures as I knew that we do not often get small terns in Brant County. I got my bins on it and watched it for all of 10-15 seconds until it was out of sight. We discussed what tern we thought it was. We had two choices, Common or Forster’s. We had just added Forster’s on Friday and Common do not show up for another week or so. Based on what we had seen and the date we put it in our ebird report as Forster’s Tern and how we entered it on Discord in the Brant chat. Within minutes I had some texts about it being a great bird and a first for the County. Wow, that would be fantastic if we had seen the first record for the county. But now I was a bit worried. Forster’s and Common are difficult to tell apart at the best of time and I am not proficient but I do have some knowledge of the two species. I felt it was Forster’s but would the pics Jerry took be able to confirm it? By this time we needed to be heading into Hamilton and we had decided to stop and try for a Loggerhead Shrike that had been found the night before. This is a species we will get out west quite easily but it would be a new bird for our Hamilton Study Area Life List. So we went. There were lots of birders and the bird had been seen but not currently and when it was seen it was quite a ways back. We scoped for a bit and socialized with the other birders all lined up along the road but the bird did not reappear. We opted to leave for a bit and drove down to Grimsby Wetlands and walked around there for a bit. No new species. We went back up as the Shrike had been seen again but when we arrived it had only been seen by one person for seconds. We talked to some different birders and then had to meet with our tenants.

Tuesday we were both awake at 5am and out birding before 8. We took the usual local route and then headed to the Paris Stormpond. We both quickly saw Northern Rough-winged Swallows mixed in with the Tree Swallows fighting the wind. We knew these birds were with the swallows the other day but did not manage to see them. Now they are added to our year list.

A report came in of a rare Neotropic Cormorant in Toronto at Tommy Thompson Park and one that we really need to have on our list. We discussed it briefly and decided that we would go for it in the morning thinking it would more likely be sitting rather than off feeding. We birded Brant Park for a short bit, walking 5km before rains forced us to our car but managed to add our first Pine Warbler of the year and I finally saw a Hairy Woodpecker in Brant County to bring me even with Jerry again in our County lists.

We headed home for some lunch and then decided to head to Toronto for the Cormorant rather than wait till the morning. We got there by 2:30 and started the trek in. This is the park we went to in the winter for the King Eider and it is a 4 km walk in to where the bird was. The Neotropic was also at the 4km spot. Jean Iron had posted just before we arrived that is was still being seen so once we got to the area I gave her a call to get better directions and she guided us to a spot where we could see the bird. Whew! we had our rarity. We spent some time scoping, watching, chatting and taking pictures of the bird that was content to sit and sit.

Back in the winter, if you remember, we tried for the King Eider twice and vowed not to try again. The Eider was still there! We added an Eider from Stoney Creek to our year list but have a horrible picture that shows no detail so we thought, “we are here, might as well try to get a pic”. The thing was the last location was 2 km further into the park and off the main pathway but we were elated after getting the cormorant so off we went. The wind was picking up and once we turned off the main path and got close to the lake it was very chilly, reminiscent of the January treks we had made. Well maybe not THAT cold! We scoped the area it had been seen yesterday and ….nothing! Uggggh! We started walking back and checked in at all the embankments on the way back down. Nothing! The King Eider once again beat us and we came away without a picture. We did find an early Cliff Swallow though for our 4th new bird of the day so that helped the sting of the Eider no show. With our walk that morning and the hike in and out at TommyThompson we managed to clock 19.3 km, 26,000 steps for the day. A Pelee kind of day. We arrived home at 8:15, with sore legs and feet. A looong day but totally satisfying.

Wednesday was Jerry’s 68th birthday and his present was a beautiful Brown Thrasher at our feeders! I pull out all the stops for his gifts I tell ya!

Brown Thrasher ( Jerry’s Birthday Bird!)

We took some pictures and video and then headed towards Hamilton to do a few more things at the condo. We stopped on the way to see if we could hear a Louisiana Waterthrush that had been reported in Dundas. This species is present in small numbers in Dundas Conservation Area and returns to the same area most years. We have seen it a few times but mostly you just hear their song. We walked the trail a bit but with limited time we had to move on without hearing it.

Thursday we had yoga in the morning and then headed back to Hamilton because the keys we picked up for the Condo yesterday did not work so we had to have them redone and picked up before the holiday weekend. We are so close to finishing with the condo and will be moving the last couple of things on Friday and handing keys to our tenants. Just in time for the onslaught of spring birding…we hope! On the way home we stopped again for the Louisiana Waterthrush but still did not hear the bird singing. It was finally warm and sunny and we had a lovely walk through the ravines.

Friday morning we were up early and out of the house before 6:30am. Our destination was Safari Road and an area that has marshland on both sides of the road. In years past, birders had to cautiously walk a narrow edge along the road to hear and see birds in the marsh but a few years back something changed in the lay of the land and now every year the road floods completely and has to be closed through the spring. It has become a birder’s paradise! With rubber boots of course.

As soon as we stepped out of the car we heard the oong-KA-chunk of an American Bittern and it continued for much of the time we were there. We also added Common Gallinule and a Marsh Wren. The Wren became our 200th bird species so we are half-way to our goal of 400! Exciting times people! Unfortunately, all those were heard only birds so pictures will have to wait. We had the last moving of furniture to and from the condo and then happily handed over keys to our tenants around 4 and with an hour or so before a dinner at Craig and Sue’s we headed up the escarpment to 8th road in Saltfleet where we added Pectoral Sandpiper and some Dunlin for the Ontario list.

Saturday and Sunday morning were social days and we sadly watched as Yellow-throated Warbler showed up in Durham, a Kentucky Warbler at Pelee, a Glossy Ibis in Grimsby, a possible Laughing Gull that was later determined to be Franklin’s in Ottawa. Ugggggh, but I’m being zen and chill about it. I learned last year that there are usually multiple chances at most rarities and its all playing the odds. There will be more Glossy, we don’t need the Franklin’s, the Yellow-throated Warbler would be the one to chase and that is the plan for Sunday afternoon if it is refound.

Sunday Jerry took some friends of Babi’s to see her and have lunch so I walked the rail trail and some friends property on my own. I had hoped to see a Broad-winged Hawk migrating over or a Towhee but I just got lots of great views of the species I have already seen. I tested myself on bird song with Merlin and was happy that I am getting almost every one now. Next week we have to start testing ourselves on warbler songs. I also spent some time trying to get video and pictures of Ruby-crowned Kinglets who are notorious for being quick.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (a photo by Ellen!)

Jerry picked me up after lunch with plans to head for the Yellow-throated Warbler but it had not been seen since early morning and traffic was backed up so we opted to head to Niagara in hopes of getting our Black Vulture for the year. On the way to Niagara I saw a large kettle of Broad-winged Hawks off of Burlington Street and Jerry managed to pull off and jump out to see them as well. Another bird for the year and our last Ontario hawk needed.

We have tried twice before for Black Vulture on visits down for other things but this time we were going to spend all our time at Locust Grove which is where most sightings are.Two and a half hours, warm weather, blue sky, and 9 Turkey Vultures flying around but not one Black Vulture! Have I not been putting out enough good birding Karma? Sheesh! On the way home we decided to stop in at Grimsby Wetlands, we were going right by it, and see if we could pick up anything else and hoping the Glossy Ibis from yesterday would drop in again. No joy there, although Jerry managed to get some nice pictures of a Common Gallinule showing it’s lovely huge green feet!

Week 16 10 new species added 202 for J&E

Week 24 No new birds added!

by Ellen Horak | Jun 16, 2024 | Ontario Birds 2024

On Monday it was very cool out and we just birded locally with no agenda of birds needing to be seen. It was nice to enjoy watching nesting/breeding activity and Jerry managed to get a few nice pics of birds.

Many of the birds were only heard as the leaves are fully out and it is next to impossible to see the bird that was singing. When we first started seriously birding in 2013 we did not know bird songs or calls and we would see ebird reports for a birding spot and go to that spot and only see a tiny number of the birds that good birders saw. We kept thinking, “how do they see all these birds?” We finally realized that many of the reports were “heard only” reports and that good birders knew bird songs and didn’t need to see the bird to know it was there. We tried to learn, Jerry was more successful than I was. The sound all jumbled together for me and I could not tell one bird song from the next in the early years. We had some discs that came with our book and tried with that again with limited success. I slowly learned the common bird songs and managed to remember a few of the common warbler species.

The Merlin Sound ID App launched in 2021 changed everything. It is not 100% accurate, it can make mistakes BUT it can hear bird song and pretty reliably suggest to you what bird is making that sound. You have to use Merlin properly. When it alerts us to a bird song we stop and listen until we hear the song from the bird, then we keep listening, in the beginning we then took the time to find the bird to confirm that it was indeed the bird Merlin had suggested or we would confirm the song using another App Ibird Pro. Only then would the bird be added to our ebird list. Now if we recognize the song and know that it is the song we will add the bird to our list without sight confirmation, but only if we are absolutely confident that we know the bird making the song or call. If Merlin suggests a bird is singing and we do not hear the song or see the bird then it does not go on our list. Over the last few years we have birded with Merlin and stopped to check songs and calls over and over and then I started testing myself by saying what the song was I was hearing before looking at what Merlin reported and slowly I have been adding more and more songs and calls to my knowledge bank. I am impressed with how fast and far I have come with it particularly this year with warbler songs. If used properly, Merlin can help new birders learn the songs and calls a lot faster than discs or tapes ever could. The end result will be better birders IF birders use it as a learning tool. The problem is if birders just run Merlin and add everything that Merlin suggests without trying to learn the songs or see the birds, the ebird data base can be compromised and reports go out for rare birds that are clearly wrong. Some education is necessary so that Merlin is used as a helpful tool and not a “birding buddy”.

Tuesday we did caregiving again and then on Wednesday we headed down to Erieau and Rondeau. There was a Laughing Gull that hung out for three days last week I was hoping might return but that was not the case as we checked all the local fields and marina for gulls. We walked through some of the trails at Rondeau and had wonderful views of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher allowing Jerry to get our first photos of this bird.

On the way home we stopped at Komoka PP to see if Jerry could get better pictures of the Blue Grosbeak but it was only singing and not co-operating for photos.

My needs alert emails and Discord continued to be quiet all week with no rarities showing up that I needed or any other birds needed on the list except for a Brant still hanging in Ottawa. I found myself with a bit of “withdrawal” from the constant thoughts of birding. No adrenaline rushes from the chase to find a bird. I had time to have friends over for dinner, to plant some pots with flowers and to set up our little garden ponds complete with goldfish. There has to be more to life than birding LOL. I also managed to get back to the planning for the Canada Big Year and put together a framework of where we will be going and when. The coming heatwave will allow me to complete that planning I hope.

The strategy now is to still bird but bird areas/places that might perhaps yield a rarity or a bird that did not migrate that we need. We will also be concentrating on better pictures of birds we have already seen or trying to “see” birds that we have listed as “heard only”. There are a couple of birds we can try to get on their breeding grounds. Day trips every few days will be the norm for the next few weeks.

On Friday we made a quick stop at the Glen Morris Pond on our way home from Hamilton and there were chicks swimming about! Seven Pied-billed Grebe chicks with an adult and then ten Common Gallinule chicks with two adults…perhaps two family groups? Soooo cute!

We had Killdeers nest beside our driveway in past years but the last 2 they have chosen other spots. This year they were back and picked the gravel at the side of our driveway. She laid 4 eggs and started sitting on them May 24. The adults have been out there through the storms, winds and sun since then with no protection, calmly switching with each other every few hours. The incubation is between 22-28 days so we started paying close attention on June 14. We have been lucky enough to witness the hatching in previous years so hope to catch it again this year. No hatching yet…hopefully next week I’ll have Killdeer baby pics!

On Sunday we took a short walk at a local birding spot hoping to see a Black-billed Cuckoo. We have it as a heard only bird at the moment but we always see one, if not in our backyard, at least somewhere in Brant County. We joked that as we were over there looking for one another was probably sitting in our backyard. I did hear one in the evening out further in the forest behind us so hopefully we see one in the next few days.

This is the first week of the year that we have not added a new bird! There will likely be a few more weeks like this ahead. I will endeavour to keep you entertained with all things birding…

Week 24 No new birds added Still #1 ebirders in Ontario 309 species seen J&E