Red-headed Woodpecker | The Ovenbird Blog

Week 11 Slow and Steady

by Ellen Horak | Mar 16, 2025 | Canada 400

Another fairly slow week as we spent the first few days selling things from the condo and donating the rest to various local charities where we know the proceeds or items will help others. Since it was March Break we had 3 of our 4 grandchildren stay with us for 3 days and that doesn’t always translate to birding. We did manage a hike in Brantford on Thursday and ran a checklist but no new species were seen. Finally, on Friday after the last one was dropped home we headed down to Port Rowan where a very obliging Red-throated Loon was still swimming in the narrow channel offering spectacular views! Bird #168 for the year. We likely saw many of these out in BC but because the Pacific Loons were always so far out we decided not to try to find the odd Red-throated that might have been among them. They are very similar in their winter plumage.

One of the ways to distinguish the Red-throated Loon from other North American loons is the bill is almost always pointing upwards at an angle.

Saturday morning we headed back to the condo but stopped enroute for a Red-headed Woodpecker that was found by Flamboro Downs. It was a juvenile so had a brown head instead of red. We found it immediately on the same hydro pole it had been reported on yesterday. It is always nice when birds are so obliging.

We then did a quick stop at Flamboro because a Eurasian Wigeon and Greater White-fronted Geese had been reported the last few days but neither were being seen when we arrived and it started to rain shortly after. We had driven by yesterday with Evie in the car and opted not to stop because we wanted to get to Port Rowan for a year bird over two birds that we already have on our lists. I don’t want to have to see double the birds this year just so I can add species to my Ontario list or my Brant county list. It gets onerous really quickly trying to bird that way.

After work at the condo – will it ever end? we headed home for a quick dinner and a report came in of a Pink-footed Goose in Ottawa! A lifer, a rarity, and a year bird. It took a bit of time but it was refound and many Ottawa birders got out to it before dark. We discussed. We had talked earlier in the day about a trip to Quebec because there are again about 4-5 good birds to add to the list currently being seen in Quebec. Could we add Ottawa at the start and then continue on to Quebec. We figured out logistics and timing and it would mean most of the week, at least 5 days in Quebec. It was very tempting but the condo is hanging over us at this point. We really need to get it ready to rent and rented by May 1 as we are at Pelee and then out west until August. The reality is there has been a Pink-footed Goose in a pond in Newfoundland since 2020 and it remains there as of yesterday. What are the chances it will still be there in September? What is the life-span of a goose? And the birds that are currently in Quebec are likely to be there again in the fall and into the winter. It would be a nice bird for my Ontario Life list but I don’t worry too much about that list.

The advantage to being able to bird the whole country this year means I have these kinds of choices where many rarities are not as crucial to get because they can be seen somewhere else and at another time. I am still taking a chance but I think I will roll the dice on this one and choose to get the condo done first and then worry about those species later in the year. This might be a regret down the road – we will see…

After dinner we headed into Brantford and met up with Robert and Sue for an evening’s entertainment of displaying American Woodcocks. We had 3 “peenting” just after 7:30 and then one zipped past us before they started doing the display flights called a “sky dance” or a “timberdoodle”. Launching themselves as high as 200-300′ in the air they then spiral down while the wind through their wings makes a whirring noise and then land near where they took off. In the video below you can hear the continual “peent” “peent” if you turn your volume up . We tried to take pictures and video of the flights but with the fading light and the speed of the birds we did not manage to get anything.

So two new birds on Saturday takes us to 170 species for the year. Slow and steady. Of the 217 common species in Ontario we have seen 113 so we are half-way there. Warmer weather this week should start to bring shorebirds through and with the rain this weekend there should be plenty of flooded fields to check for them.

Week 11 3 new species added 170 species E&J

Week 22 A Welcome Reprieve and 300!!!

by Ellen Horak | Jun 1, 2024 | Ontario Birds 2024

I’m ending this week early, on Friday and posting early so that I can write about the trip north in one blog.

When I originally started the blog I imagined a few non-birding friends and family might be casually interested in what we were doing but during my weeks at Pelee I talked to a lot of birders and handed out my card with the blog on it and I think, looking at the blog stats, there are a number of birders that have started following the adventure too. Welcome! I’m happy to share our ups and downs and for any future Big Year Birders perhaps there are lessons to be learned from watching our many mistakes.

Monday it rained and I was quite happy to be at home and not bird, in fact I missed putting in a checklist for the first time since January 1. After the craziness of May I needed to research for our Rainy River trip and cook some food to take on the trip as well as set our house in order. We had things to do for Jerry’s mom and so the “time off” from birding extended to Tuesday and then Wednesday we had a bottle drive for our local Lions and then Thursday more caregiving and packing. There were almost no reports of birds I needed or were chaseable. There was a Lazuli Bunting up north but just a one off sighting as is often the case with Buntings. A Western Kingbird was momentarily seen at Pelee, but not chaseable.

I also finally had time to go through all the videos I have been taking. Since it is quiet this week I thought I would share some of them. I’m still working on this, it is tough to be zoomed in and hold the camera on the bird without movement so I apologize for the “boat” ride in some of them LOL. Still I like the idea of capturing some of the bird behaviour we see and hearing the sounds around the birds we are seeing. Hopefully, it brings our adventure a bit closer to you too.

Bobolink and the “R2D2” song

Barn Swallow gathering mud and grass for nest

Northern Waterthrush tail bobbing

Red-headed Woodpecker

There were a few birds I needed to still get in Southern Ontario but I needed proper weather conditions and it looked like Friday would be the day. We headed out at 5am and picked up bird #299, an Alder Flycatcher that we only heard singing its “Free Beer” song. It is probably the one bird song that EVERYBODY remembers! Who doesn’t like free beer?

At our second site we were searching for another flycatcher but this time it was the Acadian. Its one song is often described as “peet-sah” or “pizza” as some have suggested. Do you see a theme with birder mnemonics? The forest was shaded, leafy, muddy and full of mosquitoes. Trish had given us some direction as to where she had seen the birds the day before and so we stopped in the same area. We were prepared for the bugs and not too bothered as we listened for the song among all the other songs. We could hear Eastern Wood-pewee, Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, and a few Ovenbirds. A few minutes later another sound, not the song but just the “peet” call and we both said “Acadian” at the same time. We had bird #300. We didn’t celebrate, or even high five because we were intent on seeing the bird so we had to wait and listen and see if we could zero in on where the call was coming from and then search the trees for a tiny olive green bird. It was a challenge and was finally made easier by a bird flying past us and we had good quick looks at it. Jerry managed only one picture in the shadows of the forest but there was no doubt we had our 300 species. Then it was time for our traditional high-five! Thank you Trish!

We stayed for a while hoping to see more of the Flycatcher, there was another one singing and we hoped to get a chance for better photos but they were not co-operating and eventually the mosquito repellant started to wear off and so we headed back to the car. Once in the car I let the relief of 300 wash over me. I know the year is not over, but it is nice to have hit the original goal as early as we have. Five months to get 300 and now I have six months to get 20-30 more birds? I have 7 birds to get on this next trip plus any rarities and then another 12 in the Fall migration and anything else will be rarities that show up so 320 should happen with 330 looking maybe possible. We will see…

There was one more stop I had planned, a Dickcissel had been heard and seen near Exeter in Huron so we headed up there and as we pulled up to the field we could hear the Dickcissel singing. Jerry got out and quickly went to try and find it and managed some photos of it in the grass. Again, we waited hoping for another view and it did come out and sing and I had great binocular views and Jerry got better pictures. Eventually, the bird flew further back in the field and so we ended our bird blitz and headed home to get ready for the Rainy River Trip.

Week 22 3 more species added 301 species seen J&E

Week 13

by Ellen Horak | Mar 31, 2024 | Ontario Birds 2024

The forecast for Monday was sunny and warm so we headed to Rondeau for the day and finally added 6 birds to our list! Blue-winged Teals were the last common duck species needed on the year list. We also had our first Eastern Phoebe and Field Sparrow along the Marsh Trail at Erieau. We then stopped to see the Black-billed Magpies that appear to be nesting close by. Black-billed Magpies are a beautiful bird not usually found in Southern Ontario. There is a population north of Thunder Bay that is countable on lists and they are a common bird out west but they are a non-migratory bird so any birds seen in Southern Ontario are often presumed to be escaped birds and not countable. This is another record that will be heading to the OBRC for a decision. I am not worried about this sighting as I know that I will see a Magpie up north in June that will count if this record is not accepted. Last April I was shocked to see a Black-billed Magpie on Governors Road in Dundas while driving to Jerry’s mom’s. I posted to Discord and many local birder’s came out to see that bird. We are still waiting to hear if the record is accepted. A few other Magpies were seen in the same week last year and then two nested outside of St. Thomas and had at least 2 successful young fledge from the nest. This pair near Rondeau is building a nest and it may mean this is the start to a population of Magpies in Southern Ontario!

A Red-headed Woodpecker over-wintered at Rondeau and we have missed it on each of our other visits so we took some time to again walk around the area where it has been seen. We didn’t see the bird in the morning but stopped again on our way out of the park. Minutes later I saw it fly into a tree at the corner where we got some great shots and video of this stunning bird.

We finished the day adding a Chipping Sparrow for a total of 6 new birds and hoped the trend would continue. The best part of the day was the fact that we were out walking! for 11.8km! It felt so good to be out of the car and enjoying the trails and forest.

The trend sadly did not continue for the rest of the week but we did get out and walk another 10km on Wednesday and 4km on Thursday without adding any new birds. It was a frustrating week as I read my hourly “needs alert” for Ontario each day and could see reports for Osprey, Towhees, Winter Wrens, Purple Martin, and Black-crowned Night Heron but when we went out we found none of those birds. I KNOW I will see all those birds but it is SO tempting to want to get them on my list NOW that you start to consider “chasing” them. And my mantra is not to chase common species! So I had to put up with feeling a bit of “birder envy” LOL. And Jerry has had to put up with some whining this week. I lost my “zen” a bit.

On Saturday, with renewed optimism, we headed down to Long Point hoping to catch a few more early migrants. We added Forster’s Tern at Turkey Point and then Pectoral Sandpiper at Long Point but the other species that were being seen did not show up for us, a few hours later other birders reported them again! That is the fickleness of birding, sometimes they move, fly, are quiet and what one birder sees, the next birder does not, sometimes by minutes.

On the way home we stopped at some local flooded fields where Lesser Yellowlegs were reported yesterday and yes, there were 5 in a pond way back in the field. Whew! At least the day ended on a high note. I only need to see 42 more common species out of 143 and we have started adding to my spring migrant list. While the floodgates have not opened wide there are new birds slowly trickling in. Next week is supposed to remain cool so I imagine it will still be a bit slow but the birds are coming…and I will re-find my Zen.

UPDATE: Western Tanager – the lovely Western Tanager that caused us so much grief at the beginning of the year sadly died this week after striking a window in the area it was wintering in. The bird was first found in November and has been fed by Ottawa birders since January. Sadly, window strikes kill over a million birds in Ontario each year and likely a billion in North America. The group FLAP has a bevy of volunteers whose job it is to collect all the birds at the base of buildings in Toronto during migration. Toronto is considered one of the deadliest cities for bird strikes. Check out their website for more information at flap.org.

Window strikes in Toronto photo by FLAP/Kenneth Hrdy

We use Feather Friendly dots on our windows and since installation we have not had one bird die on those windows. We still have some windows not covered and we have been drawing lines with soap on those windows in spring and fall migration to prevent the birds hitting those windows. Eventually, all will have the dots. Lee Valley sells the tape with the dots and you can also buy them from their website featherfriendly.com. Please consider putting them on your windows if you have birds around.

Week 13 9 birds added 167 species seen J&E