Week 22 -Migration wind down
Early Monday morning we were out at Grass Lake again to see if we could here the tic-tic-tic of a Yellow Rail. A few other birders came out as well and so we had a bit of a social visit talking quietly while listening intently for the ticking. It was a pleasant way to start the day even though we never heard the Rail. After an hour we headed home for our morning tea and then birded Cavan Flats, a local spot, ten minutes away. Jerry finally got pictures of an Indigo Bunting and then we heard another Mourning Warbler singing. Eventually, we managed to even see it but it was not cooperating for pictures.
Tuesday I was out with my Brunch Bunch and so Jerry tried to track down a Northern Mockingbird for a picture but he was unsuccessful. We are both ready to get going out west and start adding birds again. Right now my ‘needs alerts” are birds we will get in the next week up north or birds we already have from BC but not in Ontario. So it is very much a waiting game, either for a rarity to show up or Sunday to arrive so we can start our west adventure.
The trip west will start on June 1 with stops in Wawa and Rossport along the way to our first destination, Rainy River. We hope to add Yellow Rail, Connecticut Warbler, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Le Conte’s Sparrow, and Alder Flycatcher. We would love to replicate last year and also see a Great Gray Owl but I’m not counting on that. From there we will head through Manitoba, stopping for anything interesting from my needs alerts. We will stop at Chaplin Lake in Saskatchewan for American Avocet, Baird’s Sparrow, Longspurs, Red-necked Phalaropes and Sandpipers. Then we will stay at Grasslands National Park for 3 days hopefully picking up Burrowing Owl, Sprague’s Pipit, and a number of grassland species. We will head into Alberta for a stop to try and see Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous Hawk and Rock Wren before finally arriving in Grand Forks British Columbia on June 8.
I’ve spent the rainy days this week going through all my lists, and rechecking ebird reports for some of the species I know will be more difficult to find, I’ve added all the birding pins to my google maps, added all the hotels and any other pertinent info onto my phone. I also print lists of everything as well as have maps in the car so that if we don’t have service we can still find our way around. I’ve loaded all the packs in merlin and ebird for the prairies and I’ll be clearing my phone of pictures so that I can have as much storage as possible.
Friday a day old report of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron from Port Weller hit Discord and instead of waiting to confirm it was refound we decided to go and see if we could refind it ourselves. Jude was also on his way. We figured if we could not find the Heron we could continue on to Niagara and try for the Black Vulture that we still have not added for the year. We hiked and scoped the pier at Port Weller but we could not find the Heron. While we were there a note was added that the bird had actually been seen 2 days ago. Oh well, we cannot get them all. We headed off to Niagara and stopped at the lookouts and Locust Grove but no Black Vultures were around. We seem to have been striking out a fair bit lately but I hope that will change as we head West. The Black vulture might have to wait until the fall or winter now.
I’m opting to finish this blog a day early so I can blog the west trip in complete weeks. No birds added this week for the first time in awhile. We are packed and ready to go. Blogs may be delayed depending on where we are but I will try to keep to the weekly schedule. Woohoo! Its finally time to head west!
Week 22 no birds added 302 for E and 301 for J