In this post.. hot weather.. disappointing storms.. and a few birds
Tropical Storm Cristobal moved over the great lakes region on June 9th.. and we were flooded with rare birds.. well not really.. no. We didn't even turn up a frigatebird! Like?! Sooty Terns were seen around the Great Lakes in a few states.. but Ontario just couldn't get one.
I decided to go birding at Point Clark on the morning of the 10th, hoping to score a flyby storm bird. I somehow managed to talk mom into leaving at 6am.. which in itself is impressive. The forecast predicted 80km/h winds and torrential rain with thunder storms... and it turned out to be a a warm sunny June day. I've always had a aversion to birding on sunny summer days, preferring cooler, stormy days with inclement weather looming (I'm weird that way). I lasted from 7am-10am at Point Clark, at which point I realized my time might be better spent looking inland for breeding birds (as I has seen 0 rares)..
Highlights of my June Lakewatch were;
380 Canada Geese
1 White-winged Scoter (my latest record in Bruce)
2 Common Loons
1 Spotted Sandpiper
160 Cedar Waxwings (going north)
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| - Canada Geese |
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| - Common Loon |
So yeah.. not too exciting, but I'll take the scoter.
After that we worked our way home along Lake Huron, stopping occasionally to check little bays and inlets for frigatebirds. While I didn't see any, I did hear a Carolina Wren singing (good for Bruce) and picked up my first Grasshopper Sparrow of the year.
Last week Jarmo Jalava found a pair of Least Bitterns at a wetland in my 5MR, so I went over that evening to try for them. Least Bittern is a species that I've never seen well or photographed, so hopes were high.
The pair turned out to be extremely cooperitve and I was even able to get a few decent photos of them.
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| - Least Bittern |
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My birthday was later that week, so on that morning I went down to South Bruce with my father to get all the breeding species I still needed for the year. They were mostly all birds that I usually get in May, either on Bruce Birding Club or fringe festival outings, however since I have been staying close to home this spring, I had some easy gaps to fill in my yearlist.
The targets in question were;
Upland Sandpiper
Yellow-billed Cucko
Golden-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Clay-colored Sparrow
We started at McGregor Point PP, where I hoped to get both winged warblers. The first 2 stops produced singing Golden-winged Warblers, however their blue winged brethren played hard to get.
Not wanting to waste the best part of the day looking for one bird, we moved on to the J/1 line for the field species. The J/1 is likely the best place to get difficult field species in Bruce and is always a fun place to go birding. It's about 12 kilometers long, so the best way to bird (especially in the summer) it is to drive it slowly with the windows down. As soon as we turned on to the road, the song of a Vesper Sparrow drifted in the window.. not a bad start. Right after that a Upland Sandpiper popped up on a fence post beside the road, staying only long enough for me to snap a quick photo.. no complaints here, as uplands are never guaranteed. The rest of the drive was highlighted by Northern Harriers, Willow Flycatchers, Eastern Bluebirds, Bobolinks.. and 3 nice Clay-colored Sparrows..
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| - Upland Sandpiper |
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| Clay-colored Sparrow |
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Next we headed over towards Greenock Swamp, where I hoped to get Cerulean Warbler. As we were driving, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew right over the car into a small forest beside the road. After a quick turn around, I got out to try for photos. The cuckoo called, but remained hidden obviously taunting me from it's unseen perch. Two Blue-winged Warblers sang nearby though, so how could I complain?
Not bad, two new birds at an unexpected location.
Greenock Swamp is definitely one of my favourite spots in South Bruce, with its more southern, Carolinian forest feel and an abundance of cool breeding birds, what's not to love? I rarely bird the swamp, simply because its over an hour away and not close to any other birding destinations. We arrived around 10am, just as the heat of the day was starting to move in. There are two concessions that run through the Greenock, so we drove them both twice, stopping occasionally for short walks. Besides being great for birds, Greenock is also without a doubt the best spot for mosquitos in the county.. The place is teeming with the little buggers..
To get to the point, I missed the cerulean, but still had a good time birding da swamp and saw (mainly heard) 50 species. Highlights included;
- Ruffed Grouse
- Eastern Wood-pewee
- Yellow-throated Vireo
- Brown Creeper
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Winter Wren
- Wood Thrush
- Mourning Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Scarlet Tanager
It ended up being a very successful morning.. 5/6 target birds, 91 species and a nice view of a Red Fox.
Anyway that's all I've got for this installation of Chronicles of a Bruce Birder, I'll try to have another update in a few weeks. I'll end this post with a few pictures of Black Terns I got at Isaac Lake.
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| - Black Tern |
