Monday and Tuesday I waited for word of Buff-breasted at the Sod Farms but people had checked and still nothing. The new morning and evening ritual is to check the wind forecast for Hamilton and Sarnia. In Hamilton birders want strong NE winds and in Sarnia we want strong NW winds. You can get seabirds with other winds but your chances are much higher with the right winds. It was looking good for NE winds in Hamilton Wednesday and Thursday. In Hamilton, birders gather at the Lakeland tower close to Hutch’s restaurant and set up scopes and chairs to hang out for hours scanning for the three expected species of Jaegers, Parasitic, Long-tailed and Pomarine. Peak time for these birds is September/October when they migrate from their Arctic breeding grounds and a few stop along the Great Lakes before heading to their wintering seas. Jaegers are known as the “pirates of the sea” as they engage in kleptoparasitism meaning they steal food, usually from Ring-billed Gulls or Common Terns by chasing them down and harassing them until they drop any meal they have in their bill or have just swallowed. It is very cool to witness one of these chases close to shore. Lake Watching tends to be in crappy weather; think cold, rainy, and windy so any days in August where it might be a bit warmer is worth trying.
Wednesday morning was humid and hot and Lake Ontario was like glass but the winds were forecast to pick up around 11 so we first birded through Confederation Park enjoying multiple views of heron species and carefully checking any Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons for a possible Yellow-crowned. A report of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper came in from the Chatham area but I opted not to chase it so early in the season. Around 11:30 we headed to Lakeland and met up with Markus, a young Hamilton birder who did a Big Year in Hamilton last year, reaching 275 species! We climbed the tower because they were rebuilding the deck at ground level and started scanning. Within 30 minutes Markus spotted 2 Jaegers coming towards the tower and we had great views as they came in on the east side and flew around the back of the tower to the west side. Both Markus and Jerry took a number of pictures and just like that we had bird #315 Parasitic Jaeger added to the list. Thanks Markus!
We celebrated and then went back to scanning. Lake watching is hours of scanning the lake and horizon for small black specks that fly differently from gulls, ducks and cormorants. When someone spots a jaeger there is the challenge to describe where you are looking to get all the other birders on it too, and its a moving target. So you will see multiple people looking through scopes and suddenly someone yelling, “I’ve got a jaeger! It’s above the horizon, heading left, crossing past the CN tower now, a gull just flew right below it, now over a white sailboat, coming up to the tallest white building”. You get the idea. It is a skill to try and describe something that is essentially is a tiny black bird in a field of blue water and blue sky. Most sightings are so far out that they have to go in as a Jaeger species rather than identified to type. We wanted them in close enough to shore that we could identify and hopefully add Long-tailed Jaeger as well. Other birders joined us over the afternoon and we had a number of birds far out and another couple of Parasitic come in close. The winds got stronger, the air was colder and I was shivering by 4:00. What a crazy change from the morning. We hung in another hour as it is often very good between 3-6 but nothing else came in. We ended the day having seen 5 Parasitic Jaegers fairly close and 5 jaeger species. Not bad for a first Lake watch in August.
Thursday the winds were a bit stronger in the morning but Jerry had an appointment so we didn’t get there until noon time and Max was sure he had a Long-tailed come in fairly early when he was there first thing. There were a few more birders present and shortly after we arrived Barb got on a Parasitic Jaeger reasonably close. Margaret, from Toronto had joined us and got her Parasitic for the year. We all went back to scanning. When we got bored of scanning we amused ourselves by taking pictures and video of Sanderlings and a Ruddy Turnstone on the beach taking turns so we didn’t miss anything. Marcus and George supplied us with lots of sweet treats and the hours went by quickly.
While I was videoing the Turnstone I looked up and there were 2 Jaegers flying right past me, pretty close. I was so stunned and then tried to get my camera up and going and they were gone! I don’t know how Jerry gets the pictures he does! All the birders got on those birds and they were determined to be Parasitics too. We continued to scan and chat about birding, hearing stories of great gets from Barb. I love hearing these stories as you quickly realize how random events are that lead to great gets or misses. I also like hearing information about other species and where to find certain species. It is always an informative time while you patiently wait for those brief moments of birds flying past. As the afternoon waned the winds dies down and there was less action on the water. We were meeting Marg and Lawson for dinner at Hutch’s so we packed it in again around 5.
The hours I need to devote to Lake watching will increase until I get the Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaeger on my list. Hopefully, I can head to Sarnia for a watch there as they often seem to have more Long-tailed over that way. There are a few people checking the Beeton Sod Farms daily for the Buff-breasted that have chosen this year not to show up on time and there are still no sightings. I am not stressed, but I am a tiny bit concerned that they might not show up there and I should have chased the one in Chatham. Oh, it is never the right decision it seems. On Saturday a Yellow-crowned Night Heron was reported but could only be seen by a boat in the St. Lawrence near the Thousand Islands. Another bird that was not chaseable. Although, I did look up where and when the 1,000 Islands cruises go just in case. It was not near the island the bird had been seen or we might have added that to our weekend plans. On Sunday late in the day a report came in that a Mississippi Kite had gone over the Holiday Beach Hawk Watch the first day it was running so I guess that is where I should have been LOL.
Week 35 one species added #315 E&J