NOTE: Feel free to check the gallery again as we have added new pictures. Rather than leave blank spaces for the birds Jerry missed a pic of, we have added older pictures of the species, and added notes with the year, so non-birders can see what they look like. We only have two birds without pictures, Yellow Rail and Connecticut Warbler as we have only ever heard those two species.
The euphoria from the Kittiwake twitch carried into Monday leaving us both feeling like the year had unofficially “ended”. Not to say the Black-throated Gray Warbler in St. Catherines was not on our mind. But our reality was Jerry’s moms furnace had stopped working on Saturday and none of the motor suppliers were open over the weekend so we had to get a replacement motor and Jerry had to install it Monday. I took the opportunity to take his mom out for some shopping for Christmas chocolates and candy (her favourite). We would have loved to be searching for the warbler and figured it would be re found. Sure enough late afternoon, when we were already almost back to Brantford, Jude found it and had a brief few seconds with it before it disappeared. There was not enough time for us to travel there and birders that were closer that did, could not re find it before dark. Tuesday we were at Port Weller at 7:45 hoping it would be hungry enough to start feeding early. We had a bit of a time crunch as we had a long awaited appointment with Home Health to get PSW’s for Jerrys mom in the afternoon. We had chatted in the car about sticking together for this one as it seemed that people were only getting quick glimpses at it and we didn’t want a situation where one of us got it and the other missed it. To be honest, that was my concern more than Jerry’s LOL. So we walked, we stood, we waited, we chatted with other birders and as is true to his nature Jerry continued to walk off and I would be having to leave a conversation to run to where he was. It became the joke of the day. We stuck within the area that the bird had been seen both times but birders moved about the park as well. The sun was out and we concentrated on areas with sunshine hoping the bird would be looking for the warm spots. We had to leave at noon and by then there were only a few birders left. Margaret was staying as she had come a long way and we passed along the “birder good luck” that she would no doubt get it after we left. And at 1:20 she did find it after another couple said they had just seen it a short distance from the original spot. Many birders returned to re find it again closer to the original area but sadly we were in our meeting and we were also taking our grandson out for his birthday dinner so there was no time to go back in between. The vagaries of birding and the timing of everything is something I have talked about many times this year. Sometimes everything aligns and sometimes it does not. I no longer stress about these sightings, I laugh at the fickleness of birds to appear for some birders and not others. The more time you put into this pursuit the more chance you have to see things. As Barb says “the only guarantee is if you don’t go, you definitely won’t see the bird.” And so it appears that we need to make a third, and possibly more, attempts for this little warbler. Wednesday was forecast as a snow day but there was not that much in the morning and things cleared by noon and we had nothing on the calendar so we took a chance to make the third attempt. When we arrived there were only 2 birders that had been looking for a couple of hours and it was chilly, overcast and a bit windy. I was not optimistic. A few minutes later Mourad showed up and I was a bit more enthused, Mourad has a fantastic ear for calls and the warbler had been doing its “chip” call. I went for a short stroll to show him the spots where it had been seen and Jerry, of course, wandered off (cue dramatic, foreshadowing music in the background). Mourad and I heard a Kinglet and he was sure he heard a second bird with a chip. We searched but saw nothing and the calls were not repeated. We walked back down the path and separated and I headed down to walk the canal a bit. A few minutes later my phone rang and Jerry said they had it on the path I had just been on with Mourad! Jean had found it with Mourad and Bob was there as well. Uh-oh! Jerry had seen it and I had not!!!! I started to run, um jog? and I could see them up on the path but a fence between meant I had to run down the path and around to get up to them. I wheezed my way past a dog walker, my mind in a panic and joined them with no one on the bird, but within a few tense seconds I saw the warbler! Whew! Jerry’s life was spared (Glorious Hallelujah chorus)!
It remained feeding for maybe 10 minutes allowing many photos and great bin looks before we lost sight of it as it moved to another tree. A big thank you to Jean and Bob, it was a lifer for them, and Mourad for sharing the moment! Other birders re found it an hour or so later so it appears this warbler is getting a bit easier to find and see as it struggles to feed enough to stay warm. A bird in this situation cannot usually put on enough fat to make a lengthy migration flight so this is probably a doomed bird who might make it into January but at some point when it gets really cold it will sadly, likely perish. I hacked and coughed for the next few hours because I suffer from EIB (exercise induced bronchoconstriction ) in cold air but it was more than worth it to see the Black-throated Gray Warbler.
The weekend was the traditional OFO Gull weekend in Niagara Falls and since we had seen the Kittiwake we opted to just go on Sunday in case a rarity was found. There are always a large number of birders in attendance with some of the experts on gulls so it is always worth a visit to learn and socialize. We are extremely lucky to have good friends that live in Niagara-on-the-lake and always offer us a very comfy bed to stay over complete with more socializing! Thanks Dave and Julia!
The expected species of gulls were seen but nothing unusual and we left the large group around 1 to head back over to the Black-throated Gray Warbler so that Jerry could get better pictures. There was a group of 10-15 people viewing the bird multiple times over the hour we were there as it moved about feeding. It looks very healthy and seems to have a large supply of bugs to still feast on. I’ve added a video to give you an idea of how small and difficult the warbler is to find and see and a couple more pictures from our second visit.
Will this end up being the last bird added to our list this year?
Week 49 1 species added #334 species seen by J&E