Week 3 - Algonquin and Ottawa did not Disappoint!

 We started the week going after a few common winter birds that can be tougher to find and had been reported locally.  Snow buntings are pretty prolific in the fields during the winter months and can be in flocks of hundreds but their may only be 1-2 Lapland Longspurs around at the same time.  Luckily they had both been reported 30 mins from home and we got both species fairly quickly. We stopped at a spot known for nesting Great Horned Owls and did not see them but added a couple more common species. Next was mopping up on Duck species so we hit a few spots around Lake Ontario on Tuesday and saw Black Scoter, Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Duck. I walked away down the path and Jerry found a Green-wing Teal which I could not re-find later as the evening sun turned all the ducks to black so Jerry was once again ahead by 1 bird.

On Thursday we took our first trip north and drove through snow squalls at Bracebridge that turned to light fluffy flurries in Algonquin. The temperature was -9 when we arrived at noon and it made for a magical winter wonderland walking through Spruce Bog Trail. There were a few species of birds around but not as many as we had anticipated, I think the snow kept some birds tucked away. We both added our 100th birds in Algonquin - for Jerry it was Common Redpoll and for me it was Evening Grosbeak! 

I had hoped to be at 100 by the end of February so I'm super happy to have hit that milestone in only week 3.  I know there are still many potential birds out there to find in the next weeks.  On Friday we woke up to a temperature of -24 with a windchill of -31 and warnings of frostbite. We put on extra layers and covered up as much as possible.  Steamed glasses made looking through binoculars difficult and thick mitts made operating cameras a bit of a challenge.

A short distance in the park we noticed a few cars pulled over with people on the side of the road which, in Algonquin, means a moose and sure enough a large male without antlers was munching on evergreens off the side of the road. 

We added 6 of the Boreal species but sadly did not see a Canada Jay or Pine Grosbeak. The Pine Grosbeak have stayed further north because of plentiful food so we will have to travel to Sudbury for them and we plan to be back in Algonquin in the spring and fall so will hopefully get Canada Jay then.

Red Crossbills were plentiful on the roads and at the Visitor Center and we also managed to see a couple of the rarer White-winged Crossbill. Our one boreal rarity, a Hoary Redpoll was seen at the feeders too.

We then headed to Ottawa for another crack at the Western Tanager. Our grandson had a hockey tournament for the weekend so we decided to spend a combo weekend of birding during the day and hockey games at night.  We dropped in at the Tanager site late Friday afternoon, stood in -10 for 2 and 1/2 hrs just like the last time and did not see the bird! 

Early Saturday morning we headed out to the area where Gray Partridge have been seen and spent 1 1/2 hours driving slowly, sitting watching before deciding to give up and as we headed away I decided to pull over just around the corner thinking we could still see the area and Jerry quickly spotted a covey of 11 sitting out in the field!. We quickly posted to Discord so other drivers that had been looking would know where to find the birds.  We spent a few minutes admiring and taking some pics and headed to the Tanager stakeout with renewed optimism. There were many birders gathered at the spot when we arrived at 10 but the bird had not been seen at all.  We walked around a bit, kept our eyes on numerous feeders, chatted with other birders and waited and waited.  When we were just starting to feel like it might never show the bird flew in at 11:45! 

The level of excitement at finally seeing this bird was over the top LOL. I couldn't believe it had actually happened. It took 3 trips and 7 hours standing in -10 temperatures to get that bird.  We enjoyed the moment, took some pics and videos, then the bird was startled from the feeder into the shrubs.

We left to head for our next destination - a Barred Owl.  One of the birders from the Tanager site graciously offered to show us the owl location and true to his word found us the Barred Owl munching on a freshly caught Red Squirrel. Thanks Bob! It was an epic moment for us having never seen an owl with prey. It was wonderful to watch as the Owl went about his meal with no worries of the people standing below him.

As a bonus we also got a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that was wintering there. The last bird for Ottawa was Bohemian Waxwing. Large flocks were reported in a neighborhood east of Ottawa and after driving around for a few minutes we saw 20 in a tree in a backyard but quite a distance away.  We continued driving and finally found a flock of over 100 where Jerry got better pics.  FIVE birds added to our list in one day!  An epic birding day, where all the stars aligned. We wish they could all be like that.

Sunday morning we left at 7 so we could be at the Lark Sparrow location in Kingston at 9. We walked up the driveway and the bird was sitting in a shrub feet away from us.  We were there a total of 7 minutes. We would have loved to enjoy the bird a bit longer but when these birds are on private property and the owner's have given permission to view we do not overstay our welcome.

We got back in our car and headed to see a Harris's Sparrow that was coming to feeders 10 minutes from home and again got out of our car went up the driveway and the bird was out at the feeder for about 1 minute before flying back into the shrubs when a Merlin appeared. We stayed and chatted with other birders hoping the sparrow would reappear for better pics but it did not so we left after 30 minutes.  A two rare sparrow day! 

And the icing on the cake was on the way home a birder neighbor had an Eastern Screech Owl in his bird box so we stopped for a quick few minutes to enjoy the Owl snoozing and sunning while Black-capped Chickadees harassed it from branches inches from its face.

A truly great 3rd week with rarities still popping up around the province.  A Slaty-backed Gull was reported in Mississauga at 4:35, a bit late for us to make it there before dark but maybe it will stick around.

Week 3 - 3 rarities added for a total of 7,  2 more Owl species, 22 species added 

113(E) 114(J) species seen

Week 2 - Limpkin Along!

Just a quick note about the Bird List on the blog:  This is my list of birds seen, Jerry and I already have a few different birds seen as we are not always joined at the hip!  Hopefully, it will all work out as the year goes and we will end up with the same number unless one of those misses is a rarity.  Birds with the asterisk are the rarities.  HO means heard only and those will be taken off as we get other sightings where we see the bird.  

I'm also working on the photo gallery for all the pics of the birds we have seen and will add better photos as we get them. White-out conditions, overcast days do not make for the best photography. I'll add that gallery in the next week or so. It's taking some time to set up.

January 8, 5:00am the alarm went off and we are out of bed and the house by 5:33.  The Limpkin, a species rarely seen north of Florida was re-found in Wheatley Provincial Park after not being seen since December 26. A birder used a thermal imaging scope to find it Jan 7 late in the day and this is one of those mega-rarities that everyone wants for their Big Years.  We were the first to arrive and did not see it in the creek by the road and were not sure how far to walk in - we didn't want to flush the bird, but within minutes birders arrived and Rick (from Pelee) quickly showed us where it had been when he saw it the night before and THERE IT WAS!

It looked in pretty good shape and after a few minutes to take some pics and video we left it, not wanting to over stress it. There were bound to be more birders arriving all day to see this mega rarity. A fantastic start to Week 2!  The rest of the week slowed down with Jerry having some minor surgery and some nasty weather keeping us close to home for a few days.  We managed to add 14 more species this week including our first two owls, a Short-eared Owl seen at dusk hunting a field in Haldimand County, and a Long-eared Owl on a private site in Brant County. 

There are 10 Owl species in Ontario with 7 seen regularly in the south and 3 seen in the North. Most years we will just have Heard Only reports of some of the owls but this year we would like to get pics so we will be trying to see as many of the species as possible.  Owls are much sought after by birders and photographers and there has been much discussion as to how we keep the birds safe from the few unethical people who do not consider the birds when viewing or photographing. Many owls are considered sensitive species now to protect them and the sightings just do not show up publicly for anyone to see, our Discord chat group does not allow owl postings, nor does Ontario Birds FBook Group. Seeing an owl is a fantastic experience but we make sure that we keep a long distance, spend as little time as possible and do not divulge locations especially of nesting owls until after the breeding season. Our focus for the next week is more owls, a few ducks we are missing and then I think the end of the week, weather permitting, we will be heading up north for our first trip to Algonquin. I expect that we will only add 1-2 birds per day going forward until Algonquin. My goal was to get 100 species by the end of February and I should hit that target with the Northern trip and the local owls and ducks.

Week 2   1 rarity, 2 owl species, 14 species added  91(E) 91(J) species seen

UPDATE! On Sunday January 14 a few people captured the Limpkin and took it to a Wildlife Rehab. There are mixed opinions, those birders that believe in "nature taking its course" and those birders that believe we should try to "save" everything. It was no doubt in stress with the extreme cold and its food source (snails) frozen over and would have likely perished in the next day or so but it likely faces a stressful rehab of trying to be force fed and end up having to be euthanized in care.  No easy answers...I'll keep you posted if I hear more.

Started with a whimper and ended with a triumph

 Finally! It has begun...The goal for the first week was to chase any and all rarities. For the last month I have been following rarities in the province and hoping that some of them would remain into the New Year. Most rarities at this time of year end up perishing when snow and cold arrive but the milder weather has meant a few have managed to stick around. We ended up deciding to start our year in Ottawa trying for a Western Tanager that has been here since Dec 15. Then try for 4 other rarities along the route home. The best twitching strategy is to be at the spot at first light. Except the bird wasn't, and after 2 1/2 hrs standing in the cold we  decided to try for the rest of the rarities. The bird showed up 40 minutes later!  Lesson learned - leave more time and stick it out until the bird shows or it gets dark. LOL. We also dipped (missed) our second rarity but knew of a second bird at Pelee so didn't waste too much time but by then we only had time to stop for one more before dark.  At 4:30, with light fading fast and a run/walk down a 2km beach on Lake Ontario I saw a Barrow's Goldeneye in the scope. There was much frivolity! Well, a high five and a frozen smile! Did I mention it was cold?

While it was not the stellar start to the New Year, we took away some lessons and things got better on our second day as we headed to Pelee National Park for a Townsend's Solitaire, which was re-found by a birder so a small group of us enjoyed watching it feed on the blue berries on cedar bushes. After spending some time at the Tip in gale force winds we headed to Erieau for a Harlequin Duck. The wind was stronger and the waves were crashing along the pier but Jerry braved the elements to get as close as he could to get pics of the tiny duck diving beside the concrete pier. Did I mention it was cold?

Day 2 - 2 rarities and one semi-rare and 56 species seen. We next headed to Brampton for a Ross's Goose and then Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto for a King Eider and an Eared Grebe. Got 2 of the 3 as the Eared Grebe has not been seen for a few days.

The following day found us at the London Landfill where we played one of these things is not like the other 2,000 and really thought we had found the one Slaty-backed Gull among all those gulls. Maybe lack of sleep, covid, or just our inexperience led us to celebrate instead of grabbing a scope and really looking at the distant gull because once the ebird reviewer looked at our pics he gave us the thumbs down. Ugggg! Classic newbie mistake!  We have promised each other that going forward when we think we have a rarity one of us will say the code word "Slaty" to remind ourselves to check and double check and check again.

We tried for the Pacific Loon and Western Grebe in Hamilton twice more this week and did I mention it was cold? LOL. Both of us felt we saw the loon in very rough water for seconds but just not good enough looks for us to be 100% confident that is what we saw. There is also a Red-throated Loon being seen and they are similar enough at long distances to us that we want to be sure of what we have seen. We even had some time to spend a few hours with our grandkids feeding the birds at LaSalle.

Saturday we decided after 6 days driving and birding we needed a day off. We still added 2 common species, one  at our feeder and the other at a boardwalk nearby, a Tufted Titmouse (that is a bird not a mouse).  The last day of the week we headed into Hamilton again ever hopeful for calm water and IT WAS! LIKE GLASS! Within minutes we had great looks at what was definitely a Western Grebe and close enough to even get pictures. We managed to see a Red-throated Loon but quite a distance out and then on the advice of another birder we headed into Hamilton to look for the Loon from further along the bay. The Pacific Loon was THERE!  We have tried multiple times for this bird so it was great to finally catch up with it and we still had a couple of hours before Benson's hockey game so we chased down a very out of season Orange-crowned Warbler at Princess Point. Both Jerry and I saw it at different times as it flew across the tops of the grass but did not get great views.  Oh and Jerry saw a Brown Creeper that I did not so we end week one with HIM AHEAD OF ME BY ONE BIRD!!!  I'll get a Creeper in the next day or so but SHEESH! LOL. Still, a triumphant end to a long, very cold and windy week.

Week 1  3 rarities, 8 semi-rare and a total of 77(E) 78(J) species seen. 

BREAKING NEWS!!! The Limpkin (a Florida bird) was refound at 4:00.  We will be there at first light to try and refind it!