Alcid twitching

 

On a big year the prospects for new birds begin to seriously dwindle in December. Most vagrant songbirds show up in November, so if there was something like a Black-headed Grosbeak at a feeder, chances are it would have been found already. Similarly, it’s very late in the year for shorebirds and puddle ducks to show up, because most of these birds are earlier migrants. The most likely rarities to show up, that would also be new for me, are the following;

• Common Eider
• Short-billed Gull
• Common Gull
• California Gull
• Barn Owl
• Thick-billed Murre
• Gray-crowned Rosy Finch

There are also more remote possibilities like other alcids, Ivory Gull and lingering warblers, but those are never too likely. It just comes down to a waiting game at this point. Self finding a new bird is fairly unlikely, so for the month of December I remain on the ready, phone nearby in case a bird is reported. 

On December 10th my phone flashed with a Discord message to the Ontario Wide Bird Alert. My heart raced. What was it?! Dovekie. Ashbridges Bay in Toronto. Panic. Could I get there in time? I was in Bruce with Alessandra, 3 hours away from Toronto. It was only 10am at that point so daylight wasn’t an issue, but alcids are notoriously flighty.

We were off immediately, heading south at high (but technically legal…) speeds. Two hours out I got a message that the bird had flown out in to the lake and disappeared in the chop. Despair. Measuring in at only 20cm long, finding a small bird like that in a large, wavy expanse of water is near impossible. Then twenty minutes later it flew into the marina that it was originally seen in and landed. William called when we were under and hour away and said it was being quite cooperative and swimming close to shore. Hope grows. 5 minutes away I get a text from him saying it just flew out of the inlet again. Disbelief, more panic. We rolled into the parking lot and I full out ran the remaining 800 meters, around the marina and out the the rocky point. The amassed crowd there said it hadn’t been seen in several minutes, so the best bet was to just wait there for it to return. My phone chimed with another alert, the bird was seen in the water by the parking lot, the same parking lot that I was l just in! I started jogging back there, followed by a few others. We were stopped in our tracks halfway there with news that the Dovekie was now back at its original spot at the point. Frustration, and more running. This time the bird didn’t fly away, and when I arrived it was swimming contently just offshore. Relief.

I climbed down the large rocks to get down to the birds level, where I spotted a large flat rock that was just above the water. I laid down and waited, as the Dovekie worked it’s way up the shore, popping up for a few seconds and then diving for a long period of time. It then emerged out of the water right in front of me, almost touching distance. I rattled off twenty shots before it dove again. Over the next hour and a half I watched it working back and forth along the rocks, sometimes drifting out further but always ending up back by the shore again.

This bird represents the first truly chaseable Dovekie in Ontario, so it was an Ontario bird for everyone present (and a full on lifer for me). I find a lot of birds look larger when they’re on the water, but seeing this seabird up close really showed how small it really is (smaller than a Robin!!). With a tiny bill, a striking black back and head, a white belly and throat and a partial black collar, its a gorgeous little bird. When it dives it’s wings come out, giving it the impression of a tiny, short-necked penguin. I got soaked by Lake Ontario waves several times, but honestly it was worth it. By far one of my favourite experiences this year, in the top 5 easily. Just such a charismatic and enjoyable bird to watch, and being 358 for my yearlist didn’t hurt either : )

- Dovekie photo'ing

- Dovekie

- Dovekie

I spent the past few days helping William look for Gyrfalcon on the peninsula, but we came up short. Large numbers of Bohemian Waxwings, Black Scoter, Red-necked Grebe and several Northern Shrikes and dark morph Rough-legged Hawk provided some highlights though.

Ontario yearlist @ December 14th - 358