Monday we were expecting to wake up to snow and maybe have to hang around the hotel part of the day but there was nothing on the ground in Richmond. It was -8 though. We decided to head out to try for a lifer Gyrfalcon. These are a sensitive species so I cannot see reports on ebird but I had some information from birders of a few spots to check. Unfortunately, I took us to an older location by mistake that was an hour away from the area we wanted to go to. Ugggh – it happens when we have so many things to do in the evening and we are tired and I just don’t recheck all my information. The area had received snow and lots of it – we felt like we were in Northern Ontario complete with roads that were not plowed AT ALL! We finally got to the right destination and started driving blocks of fields. It was similar to looking for a Snowy Owl, drive slow, stare at fields, look for lumps beside bushes, up on posts etc. The wind was vicious and the few birds we saw were being battered about. We did this for 2 hours and no Gyrfalcon. But the consolation was our 150th bird of the year – a Western Meadowlark.
Our next destination was a Wetland area where a Black Phoebe, a southern Arizona/Texas bird was hanging. Last week when we arrived we would have had a lovely walk/saunter on gravel paths to get the bird but I had made the decision to head to the Island first. Today things were quite different – and we were wearing running shoes.
It was a heavy slog in, we got turned around figuring out the area the bird was in having never been there before, and started nagging on each other. This tends to happen when things are not going our way, LOL. We finally found the area and hung out checking out the few birds around. No Black Phoebe. There was a Northern Shrike (Butcher Bird) in a tree right at the same area. I watched it for a bit and realized that it was eating something. Uh-oh! but a quick look with my bins showed a mouse impaled upside down on a branch with its little pink legs sticking up in the air.
Northern ShrikeNorthern Shrike Mouse Dinner!
Sad, but at least it was not the Phoebe. We spent over an hour scouring the brambles, watching along the water edge, our feet were wet and cold, we were discouraged and though we knew the bird was most likely still there and close by we just knew we could not stay any longer.
Its always tough when you get a day like this when things just don’t go well. But we try to hold onto the things that do go well. On the road outside the wetland we had two Varied Thrushes land beside our car for even better pics than the other day. They as such a gorgeous bird.
Varied Thrush
We headed to our next stop for a Marbled Godwit and again faced vicious winds and cold made worse by our socks that were still wet. And no Marbled Godwit. Three dips in one day. Sigh!
The last stop of the day was for Owls – Short-eared and Barn. I had info of where the two species hunted and we arrived around 4:20. Ten minutes later two Short-eared Owls flew over the field and entertained us for the next 30 minutes often coming very close to where we were standing on the road. It was awesome! We already have Short-eared on our list and have a picture but it was still nice to have the experience.
Short-eared Owl
We wanted the Barn Owl for our year list. It is not an easy bird to add. We waited there for 1.5 hours going back and forth to sitting in the car to stay warm until dark fully descended – no Barn Owl. Four birds, four dips. Yikes, this happened just a few weeks back on our Toronto trip. Hope it’s not going to become the norm!
We ordered pizza, headed back to the hotel to hot showers and planned what we should do tomorrow with more snow and frigid temperatures forecast.
Tuesday we woke up to snow in Richmond, where it rarely snows, apparently. We decided we still needed to get out there with only two days left so we had to figure out a way to keep our feet dry. We used garbage bags the hotel kindly provided and put them over our socks, tucked into the top of our socks and then our pant legs over top of them. You end up with damp sweaty feet but better than ice cold wet ones.
Garbage bag boots
We headed to Blackie Spit in the morning hoping to track down those Marbled Godwits but they were still not around where we could see them. We did manage to find some small sandpipers and added Western and Least to our year list.
Western SandpiperLeast Sandpiper
Next we headed to an area where Barn Owls are known to roost. It was a lovely walk with 40 or so Bald Eagles sitting in trees and not very skittish when you walked close by. It was awesome to have an adult fly directly down the path towards me and over my head! We also got up close looks at Eagles building a nest. The video is below. We walked around, checking all the evergreens and the tangles but did not find a Barn Owl.
Bald Eagle
With snow still very much in evidence we opted to head up to Stanley Park and see about adding a Barrow’s Goldeneye. We had put one in as a hybrid earlier and wanted to make sure we saw the “real” thing this time. Stanley Park is a gem, and never disappoints us as far as birding goes. It was the first time we had seen it in snow!
Stanley Park
We went out to the beach and immediately saw a number of Barrow’s Goldeneyes. Jerry took pics, we confirmed that they were true Barrow’s and just like that something else was off the list.
Barrow’s Goldeneye
We walked the Lost Lagoon Path because Jerry needed a picture of a Bushtit and half way around we saw a dozen Bushtits flying through the Rhododendron bushes. It was a challenge to get a picture as they are super fast and small and the bushes were thick with leaves and snow.
Wood DuckGreat Blue HeronBushtit
Eventually Jerry thought he had enough that one would be good and we finished up the walk and then headed back down to Boundary Bay for another Owl watch at dusk.
We walked the Dyke path and there were already Short-eared Owls out hunting along with Northern Harriers. We saw a Harrier grab a duck from a small pond and land heavily with its dinner. A coyote came up the side of the dyke and casually wandered towards us a bit and then headed back down the other side.
Coyote with a bit of Mange
We chatted with a couple of photographers that had shown up and they offered up the location of the celebrity Northern Hawk Owl that we had heard about last week. I was hesitant to see it as I had read that the crowds were huge and we try and avoid those situations with Owls. But, it was the end of the day so we took a quick drive over to hear that it was no longer being seen. We headed back to the hotel and went out for Indian food and plotted how we would spend our last day. A Ruff was reported close to Blackie Spit and so we had 6 birds still on our list to get: Gyrfalcon, Barn Owl, Ruff, Black Phoebe, Marbled Godwit, Northern Hawk Owl. The problem was we had one day and not really one full day because of the cold most birds were staying hunkered down till it warmed up around noon. We had to make some decisions as to what we went for. Luckily they all were located in the southern area but with more than an hour between some spots.
We started Wednesday with a quick stop where the Ruff had been seen and found Long-billed Dowitchers that it had been seen with but they were all tucked in and nothing looked different. We opted to head to the Hawk Owl spot next even though it was back-tracking because it made more sense the Owl would be out rather than the Phoebe or shorebirds. Are you still following? LOL When we arrived at the Owl site there were only about 5-6 photographers and all of them were standing around. That was not a good sign. But as we left our car and walked down the path people started running. That is a good sign and sure enough we could see the owl on a hydro wire above the road. What a strange place for this little owl to end up in. Homes, industry, a busy road and just a few small fields to hunt in. We took pictures and a few videos and left in 11 minutes including the walk from the car and back.
Northern Hawk Owl
Next stop was almost an hour away, second try for the Black Phoebe. It had not been reported since Feb 2 and we had been there on the 3rd and not seen it. This time we had our “plastic bag boots” on our socks and thankfully the snow was tamped down by various dog walkers so that we were not completely covered by the time we got to the area. There was open water where there had been snow and ice two days ago so we were optimistic that if the bird was alive it would appear. We waited an hour. No Phoebe. I hope it survived the storm but it seemed unlikely that it would not have needed to feed during the time we were there.
From a time perspective we knew we would have to let the hope for Gyrfalcon go. It was another 30 minutes further away and then to drive for a few hours hoping you catch it flying was a long shot. We opted instead to head back for the Ruff and Marbled Godwits, taking quantity (YEAR BIRDS) over quality (LIFER). We headed back to Elgin Heritage Park and searched again for the Ruff. The Dowitchers were around and actively feeding so we started to feel hopeful that the bird was around. A few other birders arrived and we learned that the Ruff had been seen in the morning at Blackie Spit!, on the grass! near the gate! Ugggh! we were there yesterday morning and opted not to go this morning but we were 5 minutes away at Elgin! I’m not on the BC What’s App network but I think I might have to for the summer. I then met Roger Foxall, a birding legend, who at 83 has so many cool stories to tell of birding exploits! I could listen to him for hours! He has the most lifetime birds in Canada at 565. We have seen 440 species in Canada.
We searched for the Ruff together and nothing. We opted to head to Blackie Spit to try for the Godwits again and Roger said he would join us. We got to the Spit and Jerry saw the Godwits far out on the sand as the tide was out but at least we had another bird – 2 out of the 6. Roger never arrived but we figured he had opted to head home instead. We then headed back to Elgin park again for one last look for the Ruff. We pulled into a different parking lot by accident and noticed a couple of cars and then pulled out and headed to the area where the Ruff had been yesterday. We had a quick look – no birders, no birds. At that point we decided to call it a day.
When I sat down to a glass of wine at the pub an hour later all my emails updated and there was a message, “Ruff here right now”! It was from 3:42 and Melissa, the reviewer, had sent it to me. Roger had asked her to let me know and he had driven back to the Spit to try and find us to let us know that the Ruff was near the second parking lot (the one we turned into accidentally)! OMG! So close…yet sooooo far!!!! I felt so bad for Roger driving around trying to find us and I felt so bad that I did not check my email! The Ruff is not a lifer, and it is a bird that does shows up in Ontario but it is a big rarity anywhere in Canada and would have been nice to add it to the list so early in the year.
We flew home Thursday happy with what we had accomplished, 61 birds added to our year list. We missed 5 birds that I had on my “wish” list. A couple of these might still be found on our summer trip out here but certainly they are less likely. We stayed at the Steveston Cafe and Hotel in Richmond because it was central to the airport, ferry and most of the birding spots. We like finding places that are local, have some history or community behind them and this fit the bill. Established in 1895 it featured the hotel rooms upstairs with a cafe that served a delicious breakfast included in the price, a liquor store open till 11 every night and seniors discount on Tuesdays and a pub, The Buck and Ear that featured happy hour specials every day. Everything we needed within steps of our room. We will stay here again on our summer trip.
I switched off my notifications for British Columbia and switched the Ontario notifications back on and right away I saw King Eider in Hamilton! You will remember that I have said I would not go back to Tommy Thompson for a 3rd attempt at the Eider that continues to be seen there, so I know where we will be heading on Friday.
After visiting Babi at memory care we headed off to Jones Rd on the lake with some optimism but we knew it was windy and cold and the lake was likely to be choppy. Sure enough, viewing was not very good. There were 6 other birders that came and went while we were there and no one could confirm either the female or the male that had been seen over the last three days. Jerry and I both thought we saw it but because of them diving for food and the waves and wind we were just not able to feel comfortable enough to confirm and add it to our list. The forecast for Saturday was little wind which generally means a still lake but we also wanted to see our kids and grandkids.
Saturday morning we headed out to watch 2 of the grandkids at swimming lessons and instead of heading for the Eider as we planned we went home because I was not feeling well with stomach issues. An hour later a report came in that indeed, the lake was like glass and the male Eider was being seen. I dragged myself up from the couch and heating pad and we set out for Jones Road. We had enough time to try for the Eider and still make it to our grandson’s hockey game.
We scoped while birders doing a lake count scoped beside us. it took maybe 10 minutes for me to find the female Eider and get everyone on it and confirm that it was indeed the female. Jerry managed a poor picture as she was a long way out. Maria and Carolyn showed up and we searched for the male Eider as the female had moved behind the point. Maria found it and we all got on it and had good scope views but pictures were darn near impossible for Jerry’s camera. I guess that would be the advantage of going to the Toronto bird. We headed to the hockey game (they won 5-4) and headed home to make soup and rest. Sunday was spent catching up on blogs, pictures, lists and plans for the year ahead because of a snow storm. Jerry went out to shovel and had a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly over so he is officially 1 bird ahead of me this week! Although, there was no picture to confirm…highly sus, as my granddaughter Evie would say.
Week 6 12 more species added. Species seen 161 Ellen 162 Jerry
A bone-chilling cold arrived this week with temps at -18 with a wind chill of -28. On Monday we just had time to do a drive locally through the fields on Paris Plains Church Road. It is a winter home to hundreds of Snow Buntings and usually there are a few Lapland Longspurs hanging with them. We found only a few Horned Larks with one Snow Bunting in a group. Jerry got his better pictures of a Snow Bunting and that was it.
Horned LarkSnow Bunting
On Tuesday we headed back to Toronto, I know, I know, I was NEVER going to bird that way again. BUT, the King Eider and Ross’s Goose were still being seen, a Common Eider was still hanging out near Peterborough and we had a location of an OWL! So I convinced myself to try again, it would be different this time and an OWL! It was the only day we would have available and it was, of course, cold and windy. We got to Tommy Thompson Park at 7:30 and trudged the 4 kms in the bitter cold, on the slippery, rough road. Did I mention it was BITTER COLD!? When we got out to the side with the lake the winds were gale force strength and trying to see anything while holding the scope somewhat stable was a ridiculous task. Not to mention my eye freezing from the onslaught of the wind. It is in these moments that my thoughts go to “what the F are we doing this for?” The ducks were reasonably close to shore and we scanned, and scoped, and scanned again. We moved from Pen D to the Pen C area where it had been reported. We took a break on the warmer path out of the wind, then went back out again. NO EIDER! Grrrrr! It was happening again just like last Tuesday. When we could not take the wind any longer we glumly gave up and trudged back to the car. There is nothing you can do to change the fact that the bird is not where you hoped it would be. One hour later a birder we met coming in when we left found the Eider in Pen B a further walk into the park! UGGGGG!
Our next stop was a newer location for the Ross’s Goose in a field instead of the lake and as we pulled up we could see the field was full of Canada Geese. We were looking for the small white goose among them. More scanning, more driving slowly the length of the field. The field was not flat so we knew there were hills that the small goose could be hidden from us but we tried our best to hit all the angles. Then a helicopter flew over and every bird took flight. Our job was easier as we quickly scanned through hundreds of geese looking for something white. NOTHING! Sigh! We were again dipping on the Ross’s Goose too, just like last week. Time was flying by and we still had two destinations so we opted to leave hoping to re-check the field late in the day. The Common Eider is a bird that is, well, common out East, so we will see this bird and I definitely do not need to chase it for this year but it is a great addition to our Ontario Life List and apparently it is the northern subspecies which is different than the eastern species. All that too say, birders can rationalize chasing any bird, LOL. We arrived at the Common Eider spot, pulled off the road, looked across the river with bins and saw a large duck in front of the yellow house as had been reported over a number of days. Jerry took pictures for two minutes, I scoped the bird to confirm and we were back in the car and driving off in 6 minutes. The one bird of the day I did not need and of course we got it. Why oh why could the King Eider not have been so predictable and stayed in one place?
The view from the carCommon Eider
The final stop was for an owl. I’m not even going to say what species it is. Birders can and will deduce what I am talking about. Owl locations are guarded and kept very quiet in the birding communities especially for the sensitive species. But, one person tells one person and they tell a friend and eventually two weeks later a whole lot of people know about the owl. We try to keep these locations on the down-low to protect the owl. I hope to get this species of owl out west in the summer but when you are counting birds you should take the opportunity when you get it, so we went. On the way we saw a woman taking a pic from the side of the road and stopped and saw a beautiful Barred Owl perched just off the road. Jerry got a couple of pics and we left. Barred Owls are plentiful and not on the sensitive species list. We have already seen a Barred Owl this year but Jerry got a great picture of this one.
Barred Owl
We got to the location for the other owl and joined a couple of other birders hoping for a glimpse…and an hour later, NOTHING! BIGGER, LONGER SIGH! We left to give ourselves time to get back to the field for one final check on the Ross’s. There were even more geese, probably 600 or more and just at dusk a helicopter went over again so all the geese lifted up with most leaving and no white goose was seen. So last Tuesday we were 0 of 4 and this Tuesday 1 of 4! That is dismal birding my friends, DISMAL! The drive home was quiet but at least the traffic, for once was good and we got home by 7. I swear to all of you right now that I am absolutely NOT making another attempt on that King Eider at Tommy Thompson. I can only hope that another appears anywhere else at year end.
Wednesday morning we had a meeting with the staff at Memory Care and then we headed up to Kitchener for the annual Snowy Owl hunt. I was a tad nervous that the bad karma from Tuesday would carry over but we went anyway. Last year it was very difficult to find a Snowy anywhere in Ontario as they did not move down from the Arctic but this year they are back in some abundance and there had been a number of reports from the Linwood area. Hunting for Snowy’s involves driving up and down gravel roads looking at fields covered in snow for a lump of white with black “bits”. It was still windy so we were also dealing with blowing snow. There were many false stops for buckets, bags, snow covered rocks that looked like owls. There were a couple of other cars driving around and we stopped and shared info. No one had seen any. I had 3-4 spots that had been reported on ebird and we know the regular roads to find them. At the end of the second area I saw a lump near a fence, lifted my bins, and it was a Snowy! Yes! the curse had been lifted!
Can you see the Snowy?Snowy Owl
I was also scouting for Jude who was on his way to try for Snowy’s too so I quickly sent him the pin and pics hoping the owl would remain in that spot a bit longer. We continued up the road and turned onto the main road and both of us saw another lump in the first field. Sure enough, a second snowy minutes after the first! Things were looking up.
I was happy with seeing two and after sending Jude the second location we headed home. A Short-eared Owl had been seen in Brant County the last couple of nights 10 minutes from home so we wanted to try for that at dusk. We headed out at 4:30 and went up Paris Plains Road first and had a flock of about 150 Snow Buntings fly out of the field around our car and then back into the field. It happened too quick for photos but what an awesome sight those birds make. A bit further along the road we saw this strange bird flying low over the field, it had a strange lob-sided flight and the shape and size were strange to us. We both said “what was that?” and I quickly turned the car around to follow after the bird. It landed in a tree, we got bins on it to realize it was a Northern Shrike with a dead Junco! That was why it looked so strange in flight. It pecked at its dinner a few times, perhaps the death blow, and then hopped down into the thicket with its dinner. Jerry got out and walked over hoping for a pic and the Shrike popped up and sat for a minute and Jerry got some nice pics of it before it dropped back down and we left it to enjoy its meal. This bird is known as the Butcher Bird as it preys on small birds, lizards and frogs and it often impales its victims on thorns or barbed wire to keep for later and I assume making it easier to eat.
Northern Shrike with feather from Junco dinnerLook at that deadly beak!
We then stopped to chat with a birder that had seen the Short-eared Owl the night before and got the exact location and Jude arrived, having gotten the Snowy and decided to join us in the Short-eared hunt. We headed down to show him the Shrike and he got pics of that. Jude has been going full speed this year and the Snowy and Shrike were year birds for him. He says he is not doing a Big Year but I think he will end up doing one by default. He is already in the number one spot. We headed over to Watts Pond Road where the owl was seen the last few nights and waited. I was nervous about where we were parked, it didn’t give very good “long” views and the evening before it was seen farther down the road. We drove down and back and then around 5:20 we drove down again. On the way back up the road we stopped at an open area near the beginning of a large berm. Jerry said wait here, it has good views and 30 seconds later a Short-eared Owl flew right out and near our car before turning back and moving through the field. I quickly honked for the guys further down the road and they moved down to see it. Jerry got pics, I watched the owl and a few more people arrived. We have always known there were Short-eared Owls in Brant County but we have never had consistent reports from one location. Perhaps this area might become that spot where they are reliable each winter.
Short-eared Owl
We were all cold, hungry and happy to have seen the owl and we were happy to have seen two owls added to our list. The Short-eared owl was Judes 130th bird of the year! We headed home and as we turned off West River road we saw a bird up on the wire above the road. It was dark by this time and hard to see but we could tell by the shape and tufts that it was an Eastern Screech Owl! A three owl species day! and it put me at 100 birds for the year. Jerry took some pics in the dark and we continued the short drive home. What a difference from the day before. From low, low to high, high. And I guess that is why we do this – always a mystery as to what will happen, and what you will or won’t see…
Eastern Screech Owl
The next few days we had things to do for Babi and to organize for our BC trip next week. We needed to buy a tripod that we could fit in our carry on bag as we hate to check luggage when we fly and had to head to a store in London to get it. On Sunday we took a few short local hikes and went out to see a Greater White-fronted Goose in Brant Waterworks Park. Last week we had driven to Simcoe to see one for our list and of course this week one showed up 20 minutes from home. It is a Brant County Life bird for me though so worth the walk in beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures.
Week 4 4 species added Ellen 100 species Jerry 99 species
We started 2025 in Kirkland Lake and headed out to see if we could get the Rosy-Finch for this years list. Each species is a “new” bird for the year and so the day is one little hit of dopamine after another LOL. There are lots of happy shouts – “Blue Jay, first of the year!”, “Black-capped Chickadee, first of the year!” and so it goes. Our first bird of the year was a Ruffed Grouse, two actually, on the side of the road as we drove to the Rosy-Finch location. We expected to be the first ones there but Barb had driven up from Hamilton and had already had great views. The Rosy-Finch was in a tree when we arrived which made us very happy! Jared’s yard was full of birds with a few we normally would not be counting on January 1. There were Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, and Canada Jays as well as the usual species we get in our backyard. It was great to share the start of our year with Barb and Jared, the homeowner. We took pictures and video of the birds and then we headed out for the long drive home.
Pine GrosbeakCanada JayEvening GrosbeakGray-crowned Rosy-finch
Normally, our January 1 would take place along Lake Ontario as it does for many birders in Southern Ontario. Most of the duck species are present and you can rack up some good numbers usually expecting to see 50-70 species on the first day. With being up north and spending 7 hours driving, our first day count was low – only 25 species but I would say we had some quality birds that are not always easy to see and two rarities. On the way home we took a quick detour at Orillia and headed over to Scugog where a rare Harris’s Sparrow has been frequenting a feeder for quite a while. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before it appeared under some cedars and we added a few more species that were coming to the many feeders the homeowners had filled. We also added a Northern Shrike Jerry spotted on the wires and when we got home at dusk a Great Horned Owl was hooting in the backyard. I ended up being a bird ahead of Jerry because I saw a Bald Eagle near Huntsville while he slept. I’m sure he will see one tomorrow.
Harris’s Sparrow
January 2 we stayed at home and ran a list for the backyard and then took a hike down the trail to walk instead of drive. We added 13 more common species to our list with Jerry getting his Bald Eagle. We are even again. On the 3rd we had errands to run and so we did a quick drive through local spots and went for a short walk at WFR Dickson CA to see the resident Tufted Titmouse. It is also a great spot to get closeup pictures of many of the common birds as they are used to humans and being fed by hand. We added 6 more species.
Tufted TitmouseNorthern CardinalAmerican Tree Sparrow
On Saturday we opted to head to Wolfe Island and try for our nemesis bird last year, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. We tried multiple times for that bird and there were a few other sightings in the province but we missed them or the owners chose not to have the public visit. I was determined to add it to our Canada list. You need to take a ferry from Kingston and we arrived just in time to catch the earlier one and as we were driving on the ferry a Discord report from the homeowner said the bird had just been at the feeders. We drove the 15 mins but had to stop along the way for a Golden Eagle!, a Rough-legged Hawk and a Northern Harrier. All first of the year birds and nice views of them.
Golden EagleRough-legged Hawk
When we arrived at the home the owner Mark stepped out to let us know it was at the front feeder and we both got a quick look at it before it hopped back into the tangle of vines nearby. It was -12C with a strong wind so conditions were not great – frigid would be an apt term. I climbed back in the car for a few minutes and Jerry walked down and saw the bird at the side of the house where we both got great views as it sat out in the open for a bit. We drove around the island a bit and then opted to go back to the mainland and head west to take another ferry onto Amherst Island.
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Amherst is also an IBA (Important Birding Area) and can be a mecca for migrating raptors and owls. It is not always easy to find said raptors and owls but we are assured that they are there. After getting off our third ferry of the day we headed to Owl Woods, an area where a number of species are known to roost. We met up with Dorlisa, Colleen and Geordie and Dorlisa was kind enough to give us directions to where they had seen a Barred Owl minutes before. We found it and spent a very few minutes taking some pictures and looking at it with bins from a distance away before heading out to leave it in peace.
Barred Owl
A Discord report came in of a Tufted Duck in Toronto and we discussed whether to try for it but after checking the travel time we realized we would not get there before dark. We drove a bit and walked a bit more of the island but had no luck finding other owls or many raptors. The drive home ended up taking 4.5 hours because of snow squalls going through near Colborne. It was a messy, slow drive so we didn’t get back in the door until 8. Hungry and tired we were happy to sit down to a very quick dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Apparently, we are back on the “birding diet” of eating one meal a day!
On Sunday we had committed to doing the Brant Christmas Bird Count and while I very much wanted to be getting the Tufted Duck, we picked up Jeff, a local friend, and headed out to do the count. We knew our area would only take the morning so there would be time for the duck later. It was snowing and around -8 so it was a quiet start to the morning with a lot of the birds still tucked into their roosts. We saw 26 species of birds at 2 different locations and finished just after noon. The highlight was Jerry finding a Yellow-rumped Warbler that is probably wishing it was in south America with all its friends.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (fall plumage)
Reports had come in that the Tufted Duck was close to shore at Colonel Sam Smith Park in Etobicoke and many people were getting nice close looks at it. We headed there after a quick stop to drop Jeff off and arrived at 2 to find out that it had flown off about 5 minutes before! We hung out for a bit as many Scaup (it was hanging with them) were flying back in but we also knew that yesterday it had flown in late afternoon and had ended up just further west in the lake and viewable from a small park about 10 minutes away. We opted to go and check that place out. We set up our scope and started scanning the large raft of Scaup (ducks). Scaup and Tufted look very similar but the Tufted Duck has a black back and the Scaup have a grey back so you are looking through hundreds of ducks for the one with the black back. I found it! but by the time Jerry looked in the scope it had dove. As others arrived we now had 5 of us looking for it, scanning the raft and not re-finding it. Minutes went by and I was beginning to wonder if I had imagined it when Dorlisa saw it. Thank goodness, it was there! It took many minutes more for everyone to finally see it as it was actively diving for food and was only on the surface for 30 secs and then gone. More birders arrived after we sent the Discord report that we had found it.
Can you find the Tufted Duck?Tufted Duck
We stayed for a bit longer as more birders arrived and helped as many as we could get looks at the duck in the scope. Always wanting to add that good birding karma! and I love helping people get on the birds especially if it is a lifer for them – the next best thing to getting a lifer is helping someone else get a lifer! There were plenty of high fives and then we headed for home. Thankfully a fast drive home with no snow squalls and we celebrated with one of my fav meals. Taco Rice Bowls! Yum
I have got in the habit of doing my blog on Sundays/Mondays so even though we are only 5 days in I am calling this Week 1 and then I’ll keep going with blogs ending on Sundays. Five days in we have seen 65 species of birds with 4 rarities. We still have lots of ducks and common species to add this winter but we are not in any hurry. Its been a good week.
WEEK 1 65 species added 4 rarities J&E 65 species seen
Just my thoughts on different aspects of the Big Year, in no particular order…enjoy!
Stats and Costs of the Big Year
We drove 49,449 kms! and since we drive a hybrid plugin some of our travel was “free” so assuming average gas prices we figure we spent approximately $2,650 on gas and we spent $9,095 on accommodation and some restaurant meals although as a rule we took food with us. We walked 1,145 kms and that was truly disappointing – I had thought we would be hiking much more than that. I suppose you could suggest that we were efficient in our walking but very inefficient in our driving LOL. Jerry managed to get pictures of all but 11 birds and 7 of those were “heard only” birds anyway so he only missed pictures of 4 which is very good! We birded in every one of the 50 Counties in Ontario and found some very cool places to bird that we had never been to before.
In the beginning we were putting in long days and hiking for hours but as the year went by and the species needed were fewer and fewer we found ourselves driving many hours to spend a few minutes seeing one bird. I had hoped we would be able to bird the areas more but inevitably there were time constraints on us to get back for caregiving or other life needs. If we did not have the caregiving I imagine that this would not have been as much of an issue and we would have been able to just bird more and try to find more species for ourselves.
This hobby is really not about the numbers but instead about spending time in the company of birds and often other birders. I tried not to get sucked into the numbers too much BUT it is a Big Year after all and the expectation is that you will be trying to be the top birder in Ontario. Somehow, we have managed to stay at the top until the end with Jeremy Hatt only 3 birds behind and Margaret Hough and Jude Szabo placing 3rd and 4th in numbers. Remember that for most, if not all of us we have an extra bird with the Hoary Redpoll that was lumped with the Common so the counts are 1 bird more for the official year count. Huge Congratulations to Jeremy who managed those numbers working full time and to Margaret and Jude who are relatively new birders and managed those numbers. Margaret, Jude and ourselves often ended up at the same birds and if we were not we were cheering each other on and sharing information so we could all get the same rarities. Thirteen people have made it over the 300 this year and there have been 372 species seen in Ontario (373 if you count the Hoary Redpoll). We have seen 89.8% of the birds seen. Can I just round it up to the 90% that I wanted to achieve? There have only been 12 birders, including us, that have seen 335 or more in an Ontario year. This was far more than I thought we would achieve.
First column is checklists Second column is species of birds
Once I had got the 300 so early and I realized I could likely hit 320 I was far more relaxed as we chased a rarity and meant it when I intoned my mantra “we either see the bird or we don’t”. It is crazy to me that if I had just gone for the 4 birds I now regret not going for and maybe taken on a few of the long distance chases I could have hit 340! I’m not sure how it will feel to not bird this intensively even next year with doing Canada and I don’t really feel that I will be trying to hit 300 again but I know many people that find they go for that benchmark every year now. So we will see how the numbers and listing manifests for us…
One of the absolute best things to come out of doing this Big Year is the people we have met and the friendships that have developed. It pushed me to talk to people more, to give out my card with my blog on it, to message birders I did not know and ask for help and information and overwhelmingly birders wanted to help, wanted to cheer us on, wanted to make sure we had seen a post. I won’t name you all as I don’t want to miss someone but you all know who you are and your advice, cheering and thumbs ups kept us going through the tough times. Many kept birds in scopes, stayed with birds until we and others arrived and shared in our excitement. I love this community of passionate, interesting people with sometimes just one thing in common – a love of birds! It was only through all of the birders out there that we achieved that number. Big Years are always a communal effort and the result belongs to all the birders in Ontario. The birders who go out every day, often to the same patch are usually the ones to find the rarities or the ones that stop at a new area for the first time and find something fantastic all contribute. There are many non-birders that find something that looks different and think to post it to a facebook group so that others can see that bird too. I have enjoyed helping other birders doing big years in past years and have always gotten a thrill from helping them achieve their goals in a small way.
Another hope was that our birding improved doing these years and I feel happy with our progress, particularly in learning bird songs and calls. We used Merlin a lot at the beginning of the year and especially in the spring when the bird song is strongest. I have managed to learn quite a few more songs and I certainly am way better at recognizing a “different” call and stopping to investigate what it is. We spent a lot of time on the lakes and I can proudly say that I can identify a Jaeger from a Gull and Cormorant now LOL. I can’t tell you what species of Jaeger but I feel much more comfortable looking through a spotting scope at far away dark spots! Whenever we birded with the elite birders we tried to ask questions as much as we could and they always graciously answered our queries and that translated to learning a lot more about many species. Both of us have upped our “pishing” game and I have managed multiple times to get birds to pop up for a look. We keep saying we want to record a really good pisher and then just replay it when we are in the field but doing it yourself and getting the response is waaay better.
Historically, Big Years have been a young man’s game and certainly the record holders generally show that. But I wanted to show that you can be older, have other responsibilities and not necessarily be that knowledgable and still post great numbers. Technology has enabled that with up to the minute posting of rarities, ebird allows you to search where any species can be found at any given time, and apps can help you identify birds you see by song or pictures. If anyone is thinking it might be fun to try one I urge you to give it a go and take a chance. There were other birders who had committed to doing their own versions of Big Years and/or trying to get over the 300 number and I like to think maybe we inspired them to keep at it just as they inspired us to keep going. It was often the same group of us chasing rarities and that made it much more fun when we could celebrate others with their own numbers and lifers.
I absolutely loved doing this Big Year, yes, there were times when I wanted to give up and that it just seemed too hard, BUT, the fun times far outweighed the bad. The joy I still feel every time I am out and raising my binoculars to see a bird clearly is the same joy from the first years we started this. The thrill is still there. The peace I get from being out in nature and the calmness that comes when I’m in the woods has kept me grounded for the three years we have been caring for Jerry’s mom.
And finally, I have to give a massive shout out to my husband and partner of 46 years, who to be honest, I dragged into this by saying we would just be trying for 300 knowing full well I would want to go as hard as I could. Way back in 2013 it was my idea to get off the couch and start listing and then I suggested he could start taking pictures so we (I) could establish my reputation as an honest birder and it was my crazy idea to do a trio of Big Years when we realized we would be caregiving for a number of years and not able to travel far. He has embraced these goals of mine and happily (for the most part) come along for the ride and I think he is now hooked just as I am. He did the vast majority of those 49,500 kilometers of driving this year as I was navigating, checking updates and making plans as we traveled this province and he did it with me often criticizing his driving – too fast, too slow, watch the road, that’s the long way! etc etc. I promise I absolutely won’t do that for the Canada year….as much! LOL Love you! Thanks for helping me reach my goal!
And a big thank you to all of you for reading along, hope I have been mildly entertaining and made you feel like you came along.
I thought the year might be over, and then the stars all seemed to align after Christmas. Jerry’s mom’s unit in the hospital was locked down due to Covid and so, sadly, we could not visit for a week and then on Friday we finally found a memory care unit in Brantford that has one room available for her in another week or so and suddenly we had a bit of freedom at the end of the year. We thought we might head to Wolfe Island to try for a Gyrfalcon but a friend had already checked the area and had not seen anything. On Dec 27 a Gray-crowned Rosy-finch was seen 7 hrs away up in Matachewan but at a private residence. I made some inquiries about access and waited and nothing was reported until the 29th when it was confirmed it was still coming to the feeders and the owners were fine with birders having access. Thank you to Jared and Kari for welcoming birders and sharing this rarity! We made plans to head up on the 30th with a hotel booked until Jan 1 so that we might also get the bird for 2025.
We left at our usual 4am with rain and strong winds for most of the 7 hour drive until the last 40 kms when it switched to light, wet snow making the driving a bit slippery. We arrived at the house at 11 and there were Evening Grosbeaks and a couple of Pine Grosbeaks feeding but a quick look confirmed that the Rosy Finch was not present. We anxiously panned the area over the next few minutes and then all the birds took flight and left. We kept scanning with our bins checking every movement but no Finch. We waited and I said, “I think we might have an hour or so wait until the next feeding” and 30 seconds later a bird flew into the tree by itself and IT WAS THE GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH!!!!. BIRD #335!! We were very excited but had to be quiet so we didn’t spook the bird and Jerry had to try and get pictures. It stayed around for only 5-10 minutes and moved to a few spots where Jerry got better pics and then it flew away without feeding. We left some black-oil sunflower seeds and a thank you note for the home owners and went on our way.
Gray-crowned Rosy Finch
The weather had deteriorated and the snow was staying on the road so we opted to head for the hotel and find a Tim Hortons to work on blogs until check in rather than trying to continue to bird although we are always on the look out for owls in Northern Ontario. We saw a few grouse on the roads and Jerry got a pic of this nice Ruffed Grouse. They come to the roads to pick up grit and unfortunately do not move fast. Further along we saw the remains of one that had been hit by a car.
Ruffed Grouse
On the last day of the year we headed a bit south to Hilliardton Research Station where we had seen the banding of Boreal and Northern Saw-whet Owls in September. We were hoping to see a Boreal Chickadee or a nice owl but it was pretty quiet. We did get out of our car and walk the roads and had great views of Canada Jay and later a Northern Shrike. I love this kind of birding on a quiet northern road with little traffic, easy to walk and easy to see as birds cross over the road. Animals love to use it too as we saw tracks on both sides of the road of fox or coyote.
Road BirdingCanada JayNorthern Shrike
At 10:15 the familiar ping from Discord interrupted that lovely walk on that northern road announcing that a Eurasian Tree Sparrow was coming to a feeder on Wolfe island near Kingston. Crap!, my nemesis bird was giving me one last opportunity but not quite chaseable when I was 8 hrs and 22 minutes away. We had discussed leaving to head home an hour earlier when we saw snow in the forecast for tomorrow but even if we had the timing would just not work out. The sparrow was one bird I was not going to get this year but perhaps it would stick around and I could get it for 2025? At the end of the day we found four more Ruffed Grouse on the side of the road and one male was showing his namesake, lovely black ruff. We could not resist more pictures and video.
Ruffed Grouse
We drove slowly back to the hotel and finished up these blogs satisfied and happy with how it all went.
And so we come to the end of this crazy year, at midnight on the 31st there will be a reset and all of us birders will be back to a count of 0 for the year 2025 until the alarm goes off and we rise from our beds, open the blinds and click “Start a checklist” and see what birds we can find …
