What's This Bird Wednesday

Another week, another quiz!

Last week's answers;

#1 - Solitary Sandpiper 

#2 - Pectoral Sandpipers

#3 - Green-winged Teal & Northern Shoveler 

#4 - Cedar Waxwing 

#5 - Red Phalarope

#6 - Blackpoll Warbler 

#7 - Vesper Sparrow 

I've been going through some of my photos from the last few months recently ~ and I found these genuinely horrible pics that would normally be deleted.. but I thought they might be more useful as blog content! Enjoy haha! 

                                                            #1

                                                              #2

                                                           #3

                                                           #4

                                                          #5

                                                #6 (all species)

                                                            #7

Guesses in comments.. as per usual 

What's This Bird Wednesday

Last weeks answers;

#1 - Purple Martin

#2 - Black-throated Blue Warbler 

#3 - Blue-winged Teal and Mallard 

#4 - Philadelphia Vireo 

#5 - Blackpoll Warbler 

#6 - Baird's Sandpiper

#7 - Red-necked Phalarope

Last weeks quiz was probably my hardest yet, but Zane Shantz and Liam Thorne both did well and got 6/7. #5 (Blackpoll warb) was a tough picture at a weird angle.. so a bit deceiving..

Shorebird season is upon us now in Southern Ontario, so I threw some shorebirds into this week's quiz! Good luck!

                          #1

                         #2

                         #3

                         #4

                         #5

                        #6

                       #7

Same as before... leave guesses in comments 

What's This Bird Wednesday

I tried to make this one harder.. as some people were finding the previous quizzes too easy (coughzanecough).

First the answers from last week's quiz;

#1 - Spotted Sandpiper 

#2 - White-winged Crossbill

#3 - Northern Goshawk 

#4 - Peregrine Falcon 

#5 - American Black Duck, Gadwall, Mallard (x2)

#6 - Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Ruddy Duck

Here are this weeks birds, good luck!

                                                                #1

                                                                 #2

                                                                   #3

                                                                #4

                                                               #5

                                                              #6

                                                                #7

Same as before, leave your guesses in comments 

What's This Bird Wednesday

First off the answers from last week's quiz. Zane Shantz got em all right...

#1 - Northern Waterthrush

#2 - Pine Warbler

#3 - Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 

#4 - Lesser Black-backed Gull 

#5 - Red-eyed Vireo 

#6 - Brewer's Blackbird 

And now.... this week's quiz!

                                          #1

                                           #2

                                           #3

                                            #4

            #5 - list all species in photo!

             #6 - same deal, list all species

Answers will be posted next week. Put guesses in comments...

Birding by Kayak: Sky Lake edition

*Quick note. For some reason the blogger website keeps glitching/kicking me off recently... I usaully write my posts on the app, then go on the website and edit photo size/captions.. but I can't do that at the moment, so if this post looks a little different, that's why.*

 This morning I decided to get up early and be out on Sky Lake before 6:00am. I silenced my alarm a few times.. but eventually got up, gathered my gear and biked over. The north end of Sky Lake is about 2 kkilometers from my house and I leave my kayak at a family friend's dock there. It's the closest accessible water for me.

 I launched just after 6:15am and slowly made my way along the edge of the lake to the southeast corner. This area is basically undisturbed and has some prime wetland habitat, which is home to some cool breeding species like Virginia Rail, Marsh Wren, American Bittern and Least Bittern. There were no bitterns today though, but there were tons of Marsh Wrens and a few rails.

Recently I started going through my "photo targets" on eBird, that showed me what species I have seen but not uploaded photos of. I've got it down to 21 species. Some of them I know I've photo'd, but just can't find the said pictures and others I haven't photographed at all. One of those birds was Marsh Wren, which although is a common breeder in my local wetlands, it tends to stay hidden in the vegetation. 

I can't say I've ever spent time trying to get a wren photo, so when I heard one singing this morning I stopped my kayak and grabbed my camera. It took a few minutes of waiting, but eventually it flew up and I got a few shots off.

The pictures aren't very good.. but it's a photo lifer so I'll take it..

I also found a Marsh Wren nest later that morning 

After I was done with the wrens, I paddled over to the west end of the lake (about 2km) to look for terns. I knew Black Terns were nesting somewhere at that side of the lake, but I wasn't sure exactly where..

The nesting site turned out to be quite easy to find, out in the open and made obvious by the adults flying overhead calling. Black Terns can be terrifying adversaries if you get too close to their nest, so I tucked my kayak in a stand of cattails beside the nesting area so I wouldn't disturb them (no, I'm not scared of terns..). 

A few minutes later I heard a commotion and saw an adult Peregrine Falcon whip by, with a tern in close pursuit. The falcon was carrying a bird (some dove-sized thing) and basically ignored the smaller tern. I rarely see Peregrines in the summer up here, so that was a fun surprise.

I spent over an hour there, watching the 2 pairs of terns come and go from their nests. Most of the time they weren't very close, but occasionally they would fly right overhead and give me a chance to take photos. I've always thought of Black Terns as dainty, rather skiddish terns of the marsh, but that certainly changed today!

As I said, I was only there for an hour, but in that time I saw the terns go after at least 11 different birds. I know most birds are protective of their nests... but this was something else! If another bird flew within a 500m radius of the nest, BAM! The friendly little tern is suddenly transformed into a blood thirsty, aggressive and frankly terrifying creature that could pass for a jaeger. When a cormorant passed by a BLTE went right for it, even grabbing at the larger birds tail. But that doesn't even compare to the Caspian Tern encounter, as that bird was chased halfway down the lake in a mad frenzy. Not even the innocent Tree Swallow escapes the terns wrath, and was chased whenever it flew too close to a nest. Don't bother going to Van Wagner's Beach this fall to watch Parasitic Jaegers harass gulls, Black Terns are much more fearsome/entertaining!

Some tern pics..

The wind started to pick up around 9:00am, so I left the terns and made my way back to the dock. On the way I had a Least Sandpiper fly over, my first "fall migrant" of the season. Other highlights from my paddle included;  Wood Duck, Common Loon, Sandhill Crane, Green Heron, Osprey, Wood Thrush, Blackburnian Warbler and Scarlet Tanager. 55 species in total, not bad for a morning kayak! I returned around 10:30, just as the heat of the day was descending. There was a nice breeze for most of the morning, so the temperature was quite enjoyable on the lake. A nice break after the 30°C heat we've had this past week!

Some random bird photos...

Common Loon

Caspian Tern

Double-crested Cormorants

That's it for now, just thought I'd share some photos/pass on a warning of the terrifying Black Terns.

Also I had a Lesser Yellowlegs at Sauble Beach this evening, the shorebirds are starting to move..

My 10 favourite places to bird in Bruce County

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile, so I decided I might as well write it today!

It was really hard to get this list down to only 10 spots.. there are just so many cool places in Bruce! I may have to continue this post at a later date with my top 20... 

Anyway here they are! My favourite birding locations in da Bruce

#10 - Dyer's Bay Road 

A good spot year round, Dyers Bay Road has some awesome open/overgrown field habitat and a large area in one field floods most springs. In April it can be a great place to get dabbling ducks and shorebirds, among other things. In the summer it's a reliable spot for Sandhill Crane, American Bittern and occasionly Red-headed Woodpecker. The list of rarities found here over the years is long, so I'll just include some of the best birds; Greater White-fronted Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Loggerhead Shrike, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Mountain Bluebird, Dickcissel, Henslow's Sparrow.. a pretty solid list of birds! It also seems like a good spot for a Northern Hawk Owl or Gyrfalcon to show up.

#9 - Fathom Five Marine National Park- Observation Tower

I've only birded this spot a few times (in April) and even though the days I visited weren't overly productive.. I really like the spot. On eBird the hotspot only has 59 species, but hardly anyone has birded it. I mean yes, a tower on the Lake Huron side would be ideal.. but I'll take it! If you want to see some pics of the tower click Here.

In the spring the Tobermory area gets massive numbers of Turkey Vutltures "stacking up" over the townsite (they need a nice day with S wind to cross to Manitoulin) and the tower is in a great spot to see them. If you spent enough time here each year, I bet you'd get at least one Black Vulture. So yeah, a rather untested spot, but I love its hawkwatching/morning flight potential.

#8 - Lion's Head Harbour

I've spent a lot of time here and really like this little harbour. It's the only place that I get eBird hotspot needs alerts for and I tend to chase anything rare that shows up here. It's a great spot to bird in the winter months, as it can be a good for gulls and rare ducks. In the last 10 years Brant, Common Eider, Harlquin Duck and Barrow's Goldeneye have been recorded here.

#7 - Armow Dump

Gotta have a dump on the list! In my opinion this is the best gull spot in Bruce, for location & the numbers it attracts. I've never had a mega here, but it was where I saw my first Bruce LBBG. I bet a SBGU, MEGU or CAGU will show up bere in the next few years, maybe I'll even find it! (🤞). 

#6  - Greenock Swamp 

I only discovered this spot last summer, but it's definitely one of my favourite spots in South Bruce. On my first visit I found a few singing Cerulean Warblers, so that was a nice introduction to the place! It has a neat, Carolinian forest feel and kinda reminds me of the Rondeau area. It's a fun place to bird in the summer and has some cool breeding species like;  Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Wood Thrush, both cuckoos and Scarlet Tanager. I could totally see an Acadian Flycatcher or Prothonotary Warbler showing up in the spring.

 

#5 - Oliphant Shoreline 

Obviously I love this spot, as it gave me a Reddish Egret back in 2018! Amazingly, this wasn't the only Ontario first found at Oliphant, in 2013 Michael Bulter found a Eurasian Dotteral here, one of the rarest and most unexpected birds ever seen in the province. Putting the MEGAs aside for a minute, it's just a really cool place to bird. The coastal fens and sheltered inlets are really the only accessible habitat of this kind in Bruce and it's always a good spot to go birding. It's a place I always check in the spring/fall for shorebirds after there's been a rainstorm or heavy wind. The high water level this year has left few good spots for shorebirds, but in some years it's by far the best place for them on the peninsula. In the last 10 years Oliphant has had;  Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Red Knot, Willet, Long-billed Dowitcher, Hudsonian Godwit, Piping Plover and American Golden-plover. That's without mentioning other rarities like Black Vulture and American White Pelican.

#4 - Isaac Lake

This cool wetland is only a few kilometers from my house, so that's a major point in it's favour. It's all time list is over 200 species and its variety of habitats make it a good spot for field, wetland and forest species. Some breeding species include;  Trumpeter Swan (some years) American Bittern, Black-crowned Night-heron, Black Tern, Sora and Common Loon. It's also had some rare birds... with Yellow Rail, King Rail, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret and LeConte's Sparrow being highlights. It's a great spot to visit from early spring to late fall and is just a really enjoyable place to bird. 

#3 - Baie Du Dore

A large Bay that borders the nuclear power plant, Baie Du Dore is a great  for waterbirds. The outflow from the plant allows the bay to remain ice-free long after the rest of Lake Huron freezes in the winter. This attracts a lot of lingering waterfowl and massive numbers of Bald Eagles (sometimes over 70!!). In the winter it's one of the better places to look for uncommon Bruce birds like Little Gull and Canvasback. What rarities have been seen here? Barrow's Goldeneye, Harlquin Duck, King Eider, American White Pelican, Black-headed Gull and Eared Grebe come to mind..

#2 - Point Clark 

In extreme southwestern Bruce County, Point Clark (PC) jutts out into Lake Huron farther than anywhere else in Bruce. When standing on the breakwall, you have an awesome line of sight north and south. This spot likely wouldn't be this high on other locals birder's top 10 lists (probably wouldn't even be on their lists), but I just love it here. Lakewatching is one of my favourite birding activities and PC may well be the best spot for it in Bruce. It also has good morning flight potential... I don't bird PC nearly as much as I'd like to, mainly because it's a long drive from my place (over an hour).

Best birds seen here?... Brant (flocks) Harlquin Duck, Forester's Tern, Red Knot, Purple Sandpiper, Jaeger sp and Cave Swallow.

I feel like this spot has good potential for county megas like Sabine's Gull and all the jaegers. For a county that borders a great lake, Bruce really doesn't have many records of stuff like phalaropes, jaegers and Sabine's Gull.. but I'll leave that for another post...

 

#1 - Kincardine Sewage Lagoons 

Dubbed "Pelee North" by local birders, Kincardine Lagoons is a great spot to look for migrants in the spring and fall. The lagoons are quite productive, especially for rare geese in March/April. Adjacent to the lagoons is a large strip of mature deciduous trees, which also has several streams that run through in. Beside the forest is a cemetery with some nice scrubby areas, so there's 3 very different habitats side by side. The lagoon often gets the first warblers of the year and sometimes the forest experiences a fallout of passerines in mid-May. In no way is it like the massive fallouts seen at Point Pelee, but it's pretty good for Bruce County! Some great birds have been seen here including;  Cinnamon Teal, Black Vulture, Prothonotary Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Connecticut Warbler.

Am I saying Kincardine Lagoons is my favourite spot in Bruce? I don't know. I really like the hotspot, but I also really like the other locations mentioned above. When I made the list I was trying to put them in order, but it's so hard ranking them! Anyway I think the last 5 are my favourites... in no real order.

So yeah, there's my top 10 list! 

I included a map below with all the hotspots I mentioned, not a bad distribution around the county!

Dickcissels and a few yard birds

Quick update with recent sightings..

Last week a few Dickcissels were found just west of Underwoood in South Bruce. Dickcissels are sporadic breeders in southern Ontario, nesting in small numbers in some years, but then are completely absent in others. They are mainly a western prairie species, but they are known for wandering and often shown up in weird places. 

To recap my DICK sightings;

- I saw my first Bruce Dickcissels in 2017, when over 20 birds were seen around Bruce over the summer. 

- In 2018 I found one in Tobermory in early May, but that was my only one of the year. 

- In 2019 I missed it completely.

So yeah, it's not a species I see very often ans I've never got good photos of them, so I was tempted to chase...

My mom had to go down to that part of the county anyway this morning, so I talked her into taking me on a slight "detour" to look for the said Dickcissels. I didn't have to spend much time looking and actually heard a singing bird before the car stopped. I spent the next hour walking around the area, taking pictures, getting a few nice recordings (best one Here) and chatting with the local birders (Bob and Anne-marie Taylor). I ended up seeing 3 singing males and 1 female that was carrying nesting material, which was cool...

Anyways it's always nice to break up the summer with a few rare birds and it was certainly fun to spend some time with Dickcissels.

- Female DICK

- Male DICK

  On to some yardbirding news..

The old yard has been pretty quiet for the past month.. almost all of my sightings are of local breeders and it's just been too hot for much enjoyable birding (I hate birding in the heat). I do have some nice breeders this year;  Eastern Whip-poor-will, Hermit Thrush, Magnolia, Blackburnian and Black-throated Blue Warblers to name a few...  so I can't really complain.

My "yard big year" has really stalled and I went through a long dry spell after I added a Purple Martin in late May. I almost went the entirety of June without a new bird, but lucky added a few species in the last few days of the month. Highlights listed below.

June 24 - I was out birding the yard at sunset, listening to a loon calling in the distance, when I had a Black-crowned Night-heron fly overhead. This species is pretty hit or miss here.. I've had it twice in my yard, but it's easy enough to miss in a season so I was happy to get it.

- BCNH

June 27 - I was out in the yard in the early morning when... I sensed something; a presence I had not felt since... well March, when I saw a lot of this species on my Northern Ontario trip. Pardon the Star Wars quote... I just had to...

Anyways yeah, I heard  dry, two part "chut-chut" call.. oWhite-winged Crossbill! Totally an unexpected species for my yard in June and a big bonus for the year list. I got my phone out to record it, but I fumbled with it a bit too long and ended up getting a barely IDable recording as it flew away. Link to that here (just after the redstart song).. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/246304631

I've had WWCR once before here, but that was in the expected time of year (November-March). Oddly enough I had another WW crossbill later that day in North Bruce and a few were seen in Tobermory that on June 28th too. Both crossbills wander widely throughout the year and nest whenever food is plentiful, so they can really show up in Bruce any time of year. They have been seen at Cabot Head in August occasionally, so it's not unprecedented, but this bird was still a pleasant surprise.

July 1 - I went out in the evening to listen and heard a Black-billed Cuckoo calling. I've seen this species around my neighbourhood all spring, but it was nice to finally get it in the yard..

What will my next new yardbirds be?! Swallow-tailed Kite would be nice... as would American White Pelican and Neotropic Cormorant... I digress...

That's it for now, more content will be posted next week... maybe

New additions to yard yearlist;

- Black-crowned Night-heron 

- Black-billed Cuckoo 

- White-winged Crossbill

Yard yearlist at July 2 - 154

What's this bird wednesday

 I've been trying to think of more content to put up on the blog over the summer and thought I'd give "What's this bird Wednesday" a try. I have an abundance of bird photos from this spring, so I was thinking of posting a few every Wednesday for a weekly bird quiz.

Anyone interested? Maybe? Kinda?

Anyway just post your guesses in the comments, I'll announce answers next week.

I've added 6 photos below, all taken in Bruce/Huron this past May. Birds in flight are my favourite things to photograph, so they'll likely dominant my quizzes. Sorry😉.

                    

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6