Manitoulin Twitch

  

   On Saturday evening (August 27th) a Glossy Ibis was posted to eBird on Manitoulin Island. The bird was found by Paul Frost, in some small pond surrounded by cattle. It was way too late in the day for me to get there, so I started looking into options to chase it the next day. I was unlucky and lucky in that regard. Lucky because Sunday was my one day off work that week, but unlucky because it was a weekend... So the Chi Chi Maun ferry was fully booked. The 7 hour drive around Georgian Bay to get there wasn't particularly appealing...

It just so happened that my local birding pal Jarmo Jalava was going over to Manitoulin that day (he has a cottage there), and he offered to take me with him and drive me to the ibis! I departed my house around 6:30 that morning and embarked on the hour long drive to Tobermory. I was slightly nervous waiting to board... as during my last experience with a boat (my recent North Carolina pelagic) I got violently seasick. This concern was luckily only that though, and I was fine for the entire trip. Some loons were the only excitment bird wise.

Upon arrival I received word that the ibis had been seen early that morning, so my hopes were high. After a tense half hour of driving we arrived at the pond, where sure enough the ibis was quietly feeding besides a Lesser Yellowlegs. We enjoyed phenomenal views of it, my 2nd ever Glossy Ibis in Ontario and one of my biggest misses from earlier in the year. A relief to say the least!

- Glossy Ibis

                       

After enjoying the bird for a bit we went out in search of Ring-necked Pheasant, another species I needed for the yearlist. Pheasants have recently been re-evaluated by the eBird folks, and going forward the only "countable" population that is deemed self sustaining is on Manitoulin. I had searched briefly on my way back from Rainy River in June, but hadn't had any luck. 

Only a few minutes away from the ibis spot there had been a few recent pheasant sightings, so we headed over to check it out. After about 20 minutes of walking down a quiet country road, I flushed a large grouse-like bird out of the grass beside the road. Ring-necked Pheasant, check. I fired off a few shots as it disappeared behind some shrubs and out of sight,

- Ring-necked Pheasant

After two successful chases, we did a bit of island birding (not too much of note) and then Jarmo dropped me back off at the ferry terminal where I boarded and headed back to Tobermory. Quite a good day, 2 new birds in the span of an hour isn't something that happens much at this stage in the game. Thanks Jarmo : )

Just to keep things up to date, yesterday after work I drove over to the Beeton Sod Farms in Simcoe County and snagged American Golden-plover. One of the few easy code 2 birds that I had left. I knew I would cross paths with one eventually, but I just wanted to get it out of the way now. Only 6 more birds to tie the record now! 

- American Golden-plover

Ontario yearlist @ August 30th - 340