Chronicles of an Ontario Birder: Some October birding

Some October birding

It has certainly been interesting fall for me from a birding perspective. I haven't been out nearly as often as usual due to work, but I've still seen some neat birds! As I said in one of my previous posts, for most of the fall I have been adding a stop at the Oliphant Fen to my drive on the way home from work. I had found a few cool birds there in early/mid September (notably a Long-billed Dowitcher), but the weeks after that were fairly quiet. A few yellowlegs and plovers but nothing crazy.

On October 1st I added a bit more birding to the normal route home... stopping first in Southampton to check for a reported Baird's Sandpiper. The sandpiper was a no show, but there were a pair of Tundra Swans hanging out in Horeshoe Bay... quite early! Normally I don't start seeing them until the last week of October or so.

- Tundra Swans

Just as I was about to leave, I picked up a massive flock of shorebirds in my binoculars flying over Lake Huron towards Chantry Island. There looked to be at least 200 (which is high number of of any shorebird in the county). I quickly set up my scope, but by then the birds has disappeared behind the island. Needless to say I was quite disappointed. The passing cyclists likely wondered why I was uttering profanities at the lake, I smiled and waved when I noticed them.... which may have made things better or worse.

Anyways that left me craving a shorebird fix, so I drove up to the Sauble Sod Farms in hopes of turning up a golden-plover or something. As is the case every time I visit this location (I've tried a few times a week since August), there were no shorebirds of any kind in sight. There were Buff-breasted Sandpipers seen here over 15 years ago, so I cling to the hope there might be some again one day. I'm sure I've stopped here over 50 times in the last few years... I've only ever seen Killdeer and a lonely Black-bellied Plover. I swear never to return, as I do after every visit. Next I went to what has been the only reliable spot for shorebirds this fall, the Oliphant shoreline. There are 3 inlets to check here, and it's normally very easy to see if birds are present without even stepping out of the car. Inlet number one... empty.... Inlet number two... seemingly devoid of life whatsoever... Inlet number three... bingpot... as I scan over the far side of the shore I see some Greater Yellowlegs, and one larger bird with a wickedly long bill. Hudsonian Godwit! I grab my scope from the backseat and enjoy some wonderful views of it feeding in the shallows.

- Hudsonian Godwit (middle) with Greater Yellowlegs

Hudsonian Godwit, or "hudwit" is quite a rare bird for Bruce County, with only three previous records. The most recent was 2015, and the other two were from the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth (aka the 1980's). I snapped a few distant but IDable photos and returned home for dinner, as it was getting fairly late at this point. Later in the evening I returned for better shots, and luckily the bird was still there. A few of the keen Bruce listers had made the drive over for it and the bird was putting on quite the show for them. It flew around the inlet a few times, displaying its striking black and white underwing pattern. It remained for another day for a few more birders to see, before disappearing.

- flight shot

The rest of October has been good, not crazy from a "good" birds perspective but enjoyable nonetheless (I could go on for a whole post on what quantifies a good bird, but I digress). I did a few chases out of the county, something I haven't done much of in the past year. I'll include those in a future post for those interested in such things. It's a gradual transition up here, between fall and winter. The calender will tell you winter won't be here for another 52 days, but the birds tell a different story. The Yellow-rumped Warblers are basically gone now, only a few stragglers remain and you get the feeling each one you see could be the last of the season. There are very few "summer birds" left now, most that are currently here either are late migrants that breed farther north, year-round residents and birds setting up territories for the winter. In the past two weeks the Rough-legged Hawks have invaded the Ferndale Flats area en masse, one day I counted over 20 individuals on my drive around the fields.

- Dark morph Rough-legged Hawk

Northern Shrikes are also back, I've seen several in my area in the past week, as well was evidence left behind by them. Common Redpolls, American Tree Sparrows and Snow Buntings have also arrived in numbers. I involuntarily shivered when I saw my first Snow Bunting of the season, always one of those birds that signals a change. White-winged Crossbills are all over the northern part of the peninsula, it has seemed like I have heard their harsh "chit-chit-chit-chit" every spot I have gone in recent weeks.

- White-winged Crossbills

- a more typical view

Another interesting thing was the invasion of American Coots into the county. Normally a coot is a good find here, seeing 3 or more at once is something that doesn't happen often. In the past two weeks I've seen close to 250 coots, with several flocks numbering over 60. From talking to other Ontario birder and looking at eBird data, it appears this is part of a widespread movement of coots eastward in exceptional numbers. Areas in Northern Ontario like Cochrane, where coots are normally quite uncommon, have seen flocks of over 500(!) birds. Why this is happening isn't that clear, but dry conditions across the Midwest might have forced these coots to shift their migration route east.

Ducks are moving through now in impressive numbers. Early October was quite dull for waterfowl, which I would guess was due to the very warm weather we experienced (birds were staying farther north). The flood gates opened around the last week of the month though, hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and scaup are moving down the lakeshore, as well as smaller numbers of scoters and other assorted species.

White-winged Scoters

- Greater Scaup

It's an exciting time of year to look for rarities, traditionally Oct 15- Nov 15 is the peak of fall rarity season here in Southern Ontario... you just never know what might turn up. This is my first fall without seeing a Golden Eagle in October, though I wasn't hawkwatching much so that didn't help : ) Hoping one will fly over the yard soon...

I shall end this post with random bird photos from October...