Week 20 You Can’t get them All
Monday found us at the Tip again for a bit of reverse migration but no great amounts of migrants and no rarities going off. Once we started up from the Tip with Theresa, Angela and Michael, we found our first of the year Philadelphia Vireo. It was high in the tree but Jerry managed some photos that show the yellow on the chest and the undertail coverts. It was HOT! The birding was ok but we did not add any other species. We did have good looks at an Olive-sided Flycatcher again and very nice views of roosting Common Nighthawks.
We staked out a few areas where Mourning and Canada Warblers had been seen and heard but we dipped on those. We spent the evening in the park because in the past we have found it can be quite birdy but the heat continued and things were quiet. We decided that we would head home on Tuesday, still do the tip in the morning but then head to Rondeau.
Tuesday at the Tip started with more shorebirds than there had been with closer looks at Ruddy Turnstone, Plovers and some Spotted Sandpipers. And then someone yelled out Pelicans and we all watched 7 American White Pelicans fly closer and closer and eventually land at the Tip! We will see these huge birds up near Rainy River but it was nice to get them off the list now and add them to my Point Pelee list.
A few minutes later Keith and Cameron looked down at their phones (I had little reception as usual) and said White-faced Ibis at Hillman, start walking! This was the morning that the Trams had broken down and we had already done the walk up 3.7km but now were faced with the walk back and at a faster pace. It would be a great bird to add to my list. As we walked we fretted about the ID – Glossy Ibis and White-faced Ibis are very similar and many get mis-identified. We had to go for it though. We ran into Josh near the Visitor Center and had a quick convo with him assuring us the finder of the bird was a careful birder and the ID was probably correct. We reached our car a bit winded, ok a lot winded!, we are in our 60’s ya know, and started the excruciatingly slow drive (40km) out of the park and then to Hillman. My phone finally caught up and a note came in that the Ibis had flown, uggggh, then two minutes later, it was back! Yes! Then as we got closer to Hillman, a note from the Tip – a rare Yellow-throated Warbler had just reversed off! AHHHHH!, then a few minutes later, a rare Eurasian-Collared Dove had flown by the Tip. WHAT!!! There were a lot of choice words uttered in the car! The emotions went from low, high, low and ended in frustration. I have been at that Tip waiting for just those birds to go by for days and days and the one time I leave to get something else!! GRRRRRRR! We got to Hillman and I ran/walked to the Shorebird Cell terrified that the bird would fly before I could see it and there was the Ibis calmly feeding, without a care in the world. I got a great bird but missed two I really wanted to get. And that is this crazy hobby, best laid plans but nature has its own agenda and I have really little control as to how this will all pan out. And as it would turn out the White-faced Ibis stayed for 2 days so I could have stayed at the Tip for those other birds and sauntered over later, as many other birders did, but YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW!
With Trams not working it made little sense to go back into the Park and do the 3.7km walk twice more in the hopes that the two rarities would reverse a few more times. They did reverse but not within a time frame that we could have got there again from where we were. We continued towards Rondeau and home and decided to make a stop at Zion Road, a spot for Lake Watching, with the thought that maybe the Dove would make a fly past as it did about a week ago. We met Tim and Jeremy doing a watch and joined them to see about 900 Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins and Turnstones land in the fields and then take off and land again. Whimbrels joined them, other Passerines migrated overhead. What was also flying around? Millions of Midges had hatched. When we walked to the Tip in the morning I had heard this weird humming and commented that it sounded like a horror movie before some swarm of killer bees arrived and we had discussed what it might be and now I was seeing what it had been.
Eventually, the migration slowed and we had not seen a Eurasian-collared Dove or a Swallow-tailed Kite go past so we headed on to Rondeau. We spent the afternoon walking some of our favourite spots at Rondeau and finally tracked down 2 Gray-cheeked Thrush to add to our list as well as Jerry getting some better pictures of birds previously seen. Late afternoon we headed home arriving around 7pm. The heaviest migration week was over, we had survived and seen most of what we wanted to. Laundry, food, photos, lists all needed to be done. For the first time in 3 weeks we were not waking to an alarm although I was awake at 4:40 am anyway LOL.
Wednesday we chased a Stilt Sandpiper George and Marcus had found the day before but dipped on it, before heading to Jerry’s moms for caregiving duties. While home we missed a Bell’s Vireo found by Bob and Glenda at Pelee and a White-winged Dove found by Tim and Jeremy at Rondeau. Such are the constraints we have with this Big Year and there is nothing we can do about it. I’m grateful his Mom does not currently require more care and that we can get away for birding as much as we have. And I have my fingers permanently crossed that it continues until after our trip to Rainy River at the very least.
Thursday morning we were on duty to get our grandkids to school and then headed out to some of our local patches to mop up a few of the species we were still missing. We added Willow Flycatcher in the wetland behind their house to complete our list of 144 Common Species! We headed to Gilkison Flats where we met up with George S. and had a leisurely walk trying in vain to actually see the birds we were hearing. Within 10 minutes we had heard both Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a first for Jerry, and a Black-billed Cuckoo, a first for both of us. We will see these birds in the coming weeks as they routinely come through our yard and often stay in the area for the summer. We headed home and enjoyed some time on our back porch, listening and watching our yard Orioles and Grosbeaks and feeling quite relaxed for the first time in a few weeks. I even managed a nap. After dinner we headed out to local swamps to add our last two warblers we missed at Pelee when a report of a Blue Grosbeak came up in London, only an hour away. We headed there but a report came in when we were half-way there that it was a misidentification – it was a molting Indigo Bunting, that can look somewhat similar. Jerry suggested that we should have waited for confirmation but if we had and it was really the Grosbeak there would not have been enough daylight left to drive there and try to get the bird. So you can never win with these situations. We headed home, having not got our warblers or a Blue Grosbeak.
Friday morning we once again headed to the local swamps and quickly heard a Canada Warbler where we hear it most years. We tried for 10-15 minutes to find it in the dense shrubs and trees but despite it sounding like it was right in front of us we were not able to find it.
This is the continual frustration of this very quick spring and leaf out. We usually have a few weeks of barren branches with just buds allowing great looks at all the warblers but this year it has been almost impossible to see anything really well. I hope that we will see this bird on its breeding grounds on our north trip in a few weeks so that we can get a photo. We looked for a few other species that were singing and then moved on to the next swamp area where we heard the “churry churry churry” song of the Mourning Warbler to complete our needed Warblers list. Again, we hope to see this bird at some point at one of the breeding areas close by so that Jerry can get photos and we can actually see the bird.
On Saturday a Kirtland’s Warbler was finally heard singing at Pelee and since we were in the area we drove over to see if it could be seen or heard again. There had been some migration and birds were lower in the trees and in a bit more quantity than previous weeks so we enjoyed seeing some warblers including a Canada that we had just heard yesterday. We also had quick looks at a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher to add to the list. No one refound the Kirtland’s although it might have been re-heard a few times before we arrived. While we were searching for the Kirtland’s 6 hours east of us a Worm-eating Warbler was found and seen that day. I suspect that those were our last chances at those two rare warblers and they will not be added to our list this year.
This week we did add King Rail to our list. This is an Endangered and Sensitive Species in Ontario so I am not at liberty to tell the whereabouts or the story behind our getting it. Their nesting locations are kept very secret and we were fortunate to have an experienced birder take us to hear one. I have hidden the checklist as I know that people can see those on my profile and I do not want the birds put in jeopardy. Usually, I love nothing more than sharing locations and helping others find birds but this is one that, sadly, I cannot.
I expect that we will hit 300 species on the Rainy River trip in a few weeks unless some more rarities arrive in the next week. We are close…9 birds away.
Week 20 144 Common Species are completed All 28 expected Warbler species seen or heard 19 rare birds and 9 mega rare have been seen 10 more species added Total Species seen this year 291 for J&E