After my last blog February 8 we continued to only bird on nice weather days. We opted to drive into Hamilton on a sunny but cold day to traverse the Lake in hopes of Scoters and some Owl species. It has been a strange year with Lake Erie almost completely frozen and Lake Ontario with huge areas close to shore frozen. Standing at the lake you can hear loud “KRACKS” as the ice cracks along the shore. We had our best views of Black and Surf Scoters because the ducks were in small areas of open water surrounded by ice which meant no waves! Usually our views are far out and glimpses in the scope between waves. They were still quite a distance for Jerry’s camera but he did manage some recognizable shots and the looks through our scope were lovely.
Black ScotersSurf Scoters (white forehead)
After checking all the openings to the Lake we eventually ended up at 50 Point, the known spot for owls in the winter. We walked the usual area but did not find any Saw-whet owls and so headed to another area. Carefully scouting pines and spruce we checked for any visible lumps. Jerry found a carcass of a rabbit and a medium size owl flushed from a nearby tree. A Long-eared Owl. Margaret texted to ask about owl sitings and to let me know she was at 50 Point so we quickly spoke and met up. We continued along the path and another birder alerted us to a Long-eared Owl and as Jerry moved closer to the tree to see if he could see the Long-ear on the other side he came face to face with a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl! Two owls in the same tree. We quickly backed away and quietly managed a few pictures before leaving it in peace. Angela and Michael also joined us at Fifty Point so they got to see the Saw-whet too. These owls are seen by a lot of people – there exact where-abouts are not posted on Discord and many people hide their lists on ebird but it is a known park for photographers, birders and just locals that like seeing nature. The owls return year after year and despite the popularity of the place we have not witnessed large gatherings of people disrupting the owls. Hopefully, like us, they snap a bad pic and then go on their way.
We met up with Angela and Michael the next day to see the celebrity Virginia Rail at F.W.R. Dickson and had quick looks, but no pictures as it scurried out to grab a peanut we had just brought to help it through the continuing cold. We then headed to Brant Park but only a bit of the main road was plowed and it was really tough going through the softening deep snow on some of the more popular paths. There were few birds and no owls and as we headed out a small snowstorm arrived so we opted to call it a day and head out for dinner.
On the Family Day weekend a rare Barrow’s Goldeneye was reported in Cambridge only 15 mins away from us so we had to take a look at it. We were heading to Keira’s for a family dinner but my food was ready to go and we had an hour before we needed to leave. We arrived at the Blair Lookout where birders had it in their bins so I got the scope out and after some time managed to get on it as it constantly dove for food. Eventually, everyone had good scope looks and Jerry walked down the road to access the river at another spot to get some pictures. While we were there an Iceland Gull flew by so we added 2 birds to the year list. I am interested in just how birding like this will pan out in real numbers, no chasing great distances but just waiting for the birds to show up close to us or by accident when we are out seeing other things. We had parked down a bit of a slope in some snow and with the warmer temps the snow was super slippery so with our “seasonal” tires we could not get back out onto the main road – it was super silly, not even that much of a hill. After repeated tries we needed a helping push from the birders that had congregated for the Barrow’s. Thanks Guys!
Barrow’s GoldeneyeIceland Gull
The next day we walked local trails following reports of some interesting birds in the neighbourhood. There was a Long-tailed Duck down at the trail head which is unusual on the river and in Brant County but certainly we had seen thousands of them on the Canal in Hamilton.
Long-tailed Duck
Then we headed onto the rail trail walking up from Paris towards Glen Morris as a Red-shouldered Hawk had been seen in the morning. We ran into Bill and had a nice chat and saw a number of species while we chatted but no Red-shouldered Hawk after the initial report. This is the first year that we have not had one in our yard after 6 consecutive winters of a Red-shouldered Hawk visiting. I’ve certainly been home more than other years but have not managed to see one.
A week or so later we were heading to Benson’s hockey game in Beamsville in the late afternoon and decided to quickly stop at 50 Point to try for a third owl species – a Great Horned Owl. Apparently, there was a possible nesting pair. We walked the area we had heard they were known to roost in but did not see any large lumps. We scanned another area, chatted with a local that said they had not seen them that day and so we decided to head out as the light was fading. Just as we started to drive along the road, I looked to my right and saw a lump in a small evergreen just off the road. We got out of the car and had glimpses of an alert Great Horned Owl through the branches and trees. Jerry took a picture and then the owl started moving around placing his back to us and stretching a bit and then he flew off back to the area they have been seen in probably to start the night’s hunt.
Great Horned Owl
Jerry was struggling with his photography through most of the month after getting new lenses in his glasses and discovering that they had made them transitional lenses by mistake. With any sunlight or daylight the glass darkened on him and he had great difficulty seeing through the camera lens. It has been a frustrating few weeks for him. Thankfully they have now been changed again so he can finally see through the viewfinder.
Since then we have not birded except for our backyard feeders. We have added a few early migrants, the first Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived and today we had our first Common Grackle and a Sharp-shinned Hawk chased after the Doves in the yard. There is the “feel” of spring. A warmer day here and there, then another cold spell but we are closer to spring every day. The days are getting incrementally longer and the worst of winter should be behind us. The pajama days have come to an end. With as little birding as we have done this year we are still at 90 species seen since January 1. This is about average for us most years in Ontario, and as expected, quite a bit below our big years where by this time in 2024 we were at 145 and last year we were at 107 species in Ontario.
Ontario numbers as of March 1
In other news…We have been busy finalizing all our travel plans for Costa Rica, trying to find required items for our trip and making sure we have most eventualities covered. Our focus most evenings has been to learn as many birds of Costa Rica as we can, or at least familiarize ourselves with the bird families and some calls. We will have guides for many of our outings but we also plan to bird on our own as well. Many birders opt to just write a cheque (a big cheque) and take a tour so that they need not worry about anything but seeing the birds and it is very tempting to travel that way but for two of us the cost is hard to justify. Certainly there are countries that a tour would make the most sense but Costa Rica is safe, we have heard, and easy to find your way around so we will give it a go. I do not think I will be blogging while we are away, but you never know. I suspect that evenings will be spent figuring out pictures and calls of species seen so that we can submit accurate ebird lists as least. I plan to journal our whole trip and then put together blogs when we get back with hopefully some great pictures and stories to share. This will likely not be until April when it will truly be spring here! Until then….
The strategy for these early weeks is much the same as last year in that we don’t want to chase common species just to up our numbers quickly. There are birders that go full out in January and amass as many species as they can as fast as they can but the reality is eventually everyone else catches up as they see and add the common species. Our time is still somewhat limited as we deal with Babi things so we are trying to be efficient with when and where we bird.
On Tuesday we opted to try for a couple of rarities that we need to get in Ontario and that have been reported since the new year. A Ross’s Goose has been hanging in Whitby for awhile and a King Eider has been seen off Tommy Thompson park in Toronto. Instead of fighting traffic we made some stops along the way to see what else we might add to our list. The Lakefront Promenade in Mississauga has been host to a Snow Goose and Harlequin Ducks and usually has some good numbers of birds around so we stopped there first. We don’t particularly need Snow Goose or Harlequin as we will likely see both somewhere else but the more we take off the list now the easier it is later. It was a frigid -10 feeling like -18 but we set up our scope and started going through the Geese hanging around and did not find the Snow Goose. We then walked quickly along the lake and did not turn up the Harlequin Ducks either. Uh-oh, not a great start to the day. We added a few common species for our year, Redhead and Winter Wren, and then we opted not to spend any more time as they were not the target for the day and we headed off to Whitby Harbour in hopes of the Ross’s Goose.
There were about 500 Canada Geese to sift through in Whitby at scope distance away and we were looking into the gusting west wind making it difficult to keep our scope steady so we could view the geese and again, no white goose. There were a number of other spots that it had been seen so we heading back to the car when we spotted a raptor in the channel. It was a Peregrine Falcon hunting the gulls and it spent a number of minutes right in front of us chasing the gulls as they squawked and flew and tried to evade it. We had fantastic views with Jerry snapping pictures and I totally forgot to pull my new 16Pro phone out and take a video! I think I could have gotten some decent video as it was super close to me. It never managed to get a gull and gave up and landed in a tree.
Peregrine Falcon
After checking a few more spots for the Ross’s Goose which involved looking through hundred’s more Canada Geese we headed to our next destination, Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. This is a premier destination for birders but it is a huge area and requires a looong walk in to get to the birding spots. Luckily the King Eider had been seen just past the marina so only about half-way in. We added Ruddy Ducks on the way in and then American Wigeon but alas, once again we came up empty with this duck too. What can you do? Timing is what it is all about. We scoped thoroughly, was it just diving and we kept missing it or was it farther out? At 4:00 we gave up and headed back to the car.
Tommy Thompson Park with the Toronto skyline
Out of 4 species we had hoped to add we found 0! To add insult to injury we were leaving Toronto at 4:30 and due to construction sat in gridlock for an hour before getting on the highway so we arrived home at 8:00! Ugggh! we swore never to bird in Toronto again. LOL, or at least until the next rarity .
On Friday there were milder temperatures and we opted to bird for the day so we started checking a few spots in Brant County as we worked our way to Simcoe where a Greater White-fronted Goose had been reported. The park area in downtown Simcoe has been there since the 50’s and I have fond memories of family picnics there in the 60’s with my family and a stop at Hewitt’s Dairy on the way back to Hamilton. There were about 500 Canada Geese to look through to find the “one thing that was not like the others”. Our first scans turned up nothing and Jerry moved further up the canal while I turned back to give the area we had just scanned another look and suddenly there was the orange bill of a Greater White-fronted Goose in my bins! I called Jerry to let him know and then could not re-find the goose! It blended in so well and so it took a few minutes to find it again and by then Jerry was back so we both had great views of it. Last year our views of this goose was across the bay at Rondeau and we could barely make out the orange, but here there was no mistaking it.
Greater White-fronted Goose
We then headed to Hamilton, driving farm roads through Haldimand towards Hamilton but saw nothing too much and ended up along the Lake. We found two more year birds, Black Scoter and Surf Scoter off of Millen Road but too far out for pictures. Decent scope views though. We then called it a day around 2 and headed home. Just as we pulled in the driveway, a text came in from Bill letting us know that he had found a Northern Saw-whet Owl in Brant Park and giving us directions. We had missed one last week when we were moving Babi so it was nice to get another chance. We made a quick bathroom stop and headed back out again. We met up with Jason and Jenny who had also missed it last week and we walked quickly to the area we know these owls often roost in. Neil was there looking and told us that he had not found it and the owl must be gone. We all stood in the area and I glanced up at a cedar right beside me and I saw that familiar lump and there was the tiny owl sitting near the trunk of a cedar tree! It is always super exciting to find or re-find one of these owls. They are only 5-9″ tall and weigh in at 2.5 ozs so it is difficult to find them when they are tucked into evergreens. We backed up to allow viewing without encroaching and the ones with cameras took a few photos and then we left the owl to its rest.
Northern Saw-whet Owl
So unlike Tuesday when we batted 0 of 4 we managed 4 of 4 on Friday. You just never know what kind of birding day you will have when you head out. We opted not to make the Cochrane trip because we have a very good chance of seeing Willow Ptarmigans in Newfoundland in the Fall or even BC in the summer and most of the other birds we would get on the trip can also be had somewhere else. The Quebec trip is on hold for the moment and might not happen until the end of the year depending on what is still around later in February. We have booked our flights to BC leaving in a week to get winter birds and there are a few rarities that we hope will still be there when we go. My focus has been on reading ebird reports and setting up where we need to go in Vancouver and on the Island so that we can maximize our time there. Barb introduced us to David out in BC, who has been most helpful in giving us information not always readily available.
We had our Grandkids for a sleepover on the weekend so didn’t get out to bird again this week. Oh, and the ducks we missed on Tuesday were all seen the rest of the week so it was just timing that we missed them. And it probably means we do have to make another trip back to Toronto to try again…
Week 3 11 species added Ellen 96 species seen Jerry 95 species seen
The forecast changed overnight and the winds looked good again for Lake Watching so we headed to Hamilton Monday afternoon and spent 5 hours scoping and chatting with other birders. The winds were quite strong so I was hoping for something good but it was fairly quiet with just a couple of Parasitic Jaegers coming in for a close look at the shore and a Sabine’s Gull later.
Tuesday there was a report of an Ibis up in Cambridge so we went up to see it on the off chance it would be identified as a Glossy and add it to our Hamilton Study Area list. Many of the Ibis’s seen in the fall are juvenile birds and it is very difficult to ID them to either Glossy or White-faced. Pictures were looked at carefully and it was determined to be a Glossy Ibis. That was a bird we chased way back in the spring and drove 4.5 hours to see and now here is one 30 minutes away from our house. But it is a far easier ID in the spring.
Thursday we headed up to the northern Ontario Field Ornithologists Conference instead of attending the southern one in Leamington. We left early knowing that we wanted to bird along the way. I also wanted to get checklists in 2 of the remaining Counties so we were taking a detour to do that as well. A report came in that a Kirkland’s warbler was found in Oakville and of course we were 2 hours into our drive up north. I was starting to think committing to a whole weekend up north might have been a bad idea… We stopped at the Bracebridge Sewage Lagoons to get a checklist in Muskoka County and to see if we could find a Nelson’s Sparrow that had been reported but we did not find the sparrow, many other species of sparrows but not a Nelson’s. We then detoured along highway 60 to Oxtongue Ragged Falls to put in a checklist for Haliburton County. We are down to two Counties left to bird in, at either end of the province, Lambton on Lake Huron and Prescott/Russell east of Ottawa.
Ragged Falls
Next stop was the Powassen Sewage Lagoons to see if we could get better pictures of a Hudsonian Godwit that was reported there. When we got out of the car I quickly checked my emails and saw that 2 Red Phalaropes had been reported an hour before at a lagoon about 80 km away. We got back in the car without looking for the Godwit and made our way to the Warren Sewage Lagoons to find the 2 Red Phalaropes happily swimming about. This is a tough bird to get in any given year so I was happy to have the chance to add it to my rarities list. The Kirkland’s Warbler had not been re-found in Oakville so I was feeling better about my decision to head north.
Red Phalarope
Friday we attended the OFO outings that included bird-banding in the morning and more sewage lagoons in the afternoon. While we didn’t expect to add any birds to our list it was fun to be out with other birders, socialize a bit and learn about the Hilliardton Research and Bird Banding Center. The banders are all volunteers that are excellent at explaining the intricacies of bird banding and identification and then go the extra step to patiently show you how to hold the birds before release.
Net removalLincoln’s and Swamp SparrowReleasing a White-crowned Sparrow
Friday night we were privileged to attend the owl banding at the centre. They band Northern Saw-whet Owls, which we have only heard this year and Boreal Owls which we have not added to our list yet. The weather was a bit warm and apparently owls prefer to migrate in cooler temperatures but they were hopeful we would get at least one owl. The first net check had 2 Saw-whet owls and we were very happy to see these tiny owls, watch the banding process and then the release. The banders work quickly but allow for some photo ops and then a quick release outside where the owls are placed in a tree until their eyes re-adjust.
Northern Saw-whet Owl
The banders then headed to the nets and area where they were calling for Boreal Owls and we waited and waited. A longer wait is a good thing, as it usually means they are carefully untangling owls from the net. When the volunteer banders arrived back they entered the room triumphantly carrying four!!! bags! We have seen a Boreal Owl only once before and the view was not great so it was a fantastic experience to see one close up, take pictures and then both Jerry and I got to release an owl back into the wild. Such a fantastic experience!
Boreal Owl
I need to talk about my decision to add this species to my list because it will be controversial to some birders. Generally, it is frowned upon to add birds that are seen while being banded to your list as your list should be only birds that you or others find in the wild and while they are being banded they are “captive”. The question is when do they technically become wild again? Some birders use the rule where they won’t add the bird while it is being banded but once it is released then it is technically “wild” again and they will add it then. Some will say they have to see the bird fly some distance away or re-find it later to count it and others won’t care either way. The ABA (American Birding Association) suggests the bird not be counted while it is “under the influence of captivity” so the initial release would be part of that. There will be lots of opinions, just as there are lots of birders. Ultimately, it is my list and I have decided to add these wild Boreal Owls that happened to spend some time in human hands but then were released back to the wild in my presence. I plan to still take another trip north in December and will try to get a Boreal Owl to respond to calls that would also count in an effort to satisfy every opinion. Bird #323
Hilliardton Marsh Research and Education Center gets no government funding so they rely on private and corporate donations. Please check out their website https://thehilliardtonmarsh.com/ and consider becoming a member and/or making a donation. The daily bird banding is open to the public in the spring and fall and the owl banding has to be reserved for a fee and is sold out very quickly each year. We have become members and will be making yearly donations.
Saturday we attended more OFO outings and did a bit of a private drive on our own hoping to turn up a Boreal Chickadee that is still on our list as a “heard only” but the forests were pretty quiet. Sunday we headed home early and stopped at the Powassan Lagoons again but did not find anything exciting. In the end the trip up north was the right decision, there were no rarities found at the southern conference at Pelee and the Kirtland’s was never refound but we added two birds to our list.
Next week we will be targeting two more expected species – Nelson’s Sparrow and Black-legged Kittiwakes.
