Week 21 – 300!
We arrived home from Pelee Saturday at 2, did some laundry, ate a nice home-cooked meal and were awake at 4am Sunday to head to the Carden Alvar to help lead a hike with the Waterloo Naturalists. It was a drizzly, cold, windy morning, a stark contrast to the 28C at Pelee just two days ago. We met up with a bunch of great people and spent the day discovering this unique part of Ontario that is home to special birds, plants, and insects. We added an Upland Sandpiper and a Grasshopper Sparrow but the Loggerhead Shrike, a Carden specialty, did not appear. With a morning and afternoon hike, followed by dinner with the group, it was another long day and we were looking forward to some down time over the next two weeks.
Monday we caught up with house chores and then headed to our son’s for a BBQ. On the way home we stopped at a small wetland behind their home because we know Willow Flycatcher’s have been there for many years. Sure enough we heard the “fitz-bee” call of one and found him out on a branch. Many birds have “site fidelity”, meaning they return to the same spot year after year if the site has the right habitat, food and they have been successful nesting. This species has been in that wetland for the past 5 years that we know of. Perhaps not the same one but certainly it is good habitat for flycatchers. The Willow Flycatcher was bird 300 for both of us! Three-quarters of the way to 400! Once we add the common birds I expect to get out west I think we will be around 380.
Tuesday morning we headed out to a local area to find a Mourning Warbler for me. Jerry saw one at Pelee but I missed it. The first stop we heard many birds and some warblers but not the Mourning Warbler. Other Brant birders heard it so we know it is around but it was not singing. We moved on to another area and decided to stop where we thought the habitat looked nice. We turned on Merlin and as soon as we got out of the car we heard the Mourning Warbler song and very close to the car. It was singing right beside the road where we could see it in a tree. Jerry got some lovely pictures and I had some fantastic views of it. Often this can be a “heard only” bird as they are a skulky warbler often under logs and in wetlands on the ground.
This means that I am one bird ahead of Jerry until he hears/sees an Easter Whip-poor-will, which will likely be in Rainy River. So far we have both managed to see all the rarities but the time may come when one of us misses something that we will not get a second chance at. I worry about this more than Jerry does LOL.
Wednesday and Thursday were rain outs and while the birding might have been good somewhere in Ontario I took the time to figure out our East trip in September and started booking ferries, whale watching (seabirds) and hotels. There are a couple of rare gulls showing up here and there – a California and Laughing Gull – and it is tempting to chase them but California is a western Gull we will see a lot and the Laughing Gull shows up out East with some regularity. If they end up closer and when we are heading for something else then I might go for them for the Ontario list. We have one #1 ranked bird to get, a Baird’s Sandpiper. We usually see them in August here in Ontario but we are likely to get it in Saskatchewan in June. We have 13 #2 ranked birds to get but only 3 that I feel we need to add before we head west. Black Vulture in Niagara is one, Acadian Flycatcher is another, and Dickcissel is the third. While I might have other chances for these I would feel better getting them off the list now.
Friday we took advantage of a small break in the weather and headed into Middlesex County to find a singing Acadian Flycatcher. We hoped that site fidelity would again work in our favour and so we went back to the same trail and the same spot we found one last year. Sure enough an Acadian Flycatcher was singing in that spot. Finding him was a bit of a challenge among the green leaves but we got on him and Jerry got a bit better picture than last year.
This spot also has Hooded Warblers so we spent some time following their songs and trying to find them in the foliage. It took much more time than finding the flycatcher but eventually one was singing close enough to the trail and Jerry got better pictures than the fuzzy one from last week.
Next we checked out a field where we had a Dickcissel last year but it was not singing when we were there. It might show up next week or perhaps it will not return to that spot again. Sometimes site fidelity works and sometimes it does not. I do have a chance for this species up north or even out west but it is not plentiful. I hope someone finds one on territory so we can get it next week. On territory, for the non-birders, is when male birds find suitable habitat to nest and start singing to attract mates. They will defend these territories from other males and are easier to find as they remain in one location and are singing a lot. Saturday and Sunday were family days, a last sleepover with the grandkids and a family gathering before we head west. Most of the bookings have been made for the East trip and everything is in order for the West trip. We are anxious to get going and start seeing different birds.
On Saturday night Brett heard a Yellow Rail ten minutes from our house at Grass Lake. These are very secretive birds that we expect to get up in Rainy River where they nest but it is always good to get them during migration. We had the kids Sunday morning so did not go over to hear the rail but after our dinner and grandson’s football game we stopped in on our way home just at dusk. We joined about a dozen people who were gathered at the marsh edge hoping to hear the “tik-tik-tik” of a Yellow Rail. it sounds like two stones being tapped together. We waited about an hour but there was no tapping. We will give it another try in the morning.
Week 21 5 species added 302 Ellen 301 Jerry