Chronicles of an Ontario Birder: Ontario Banana Belt Birding

Ontario Banana Belt Birding

Just a little update on this past weeks birding

- March 15th

East winds and partly sunny skies were forecasted for the Niagara region all day, ideal conditions to see a Black Vulture fly across the river into Ontario. These birds roost in Queenston on the New York side, but sometimes they can be seen flying over Ontario. East winds often push them in our direction, so I drove to the Queenston Heights overlook with Ezra in the early morning, arriving just after sunrise to begin our vigil. After about an hour some Turkey Vultures started taking off from the US side, slowly circling and gaining elevation. One by one, they crossed the river, some flying right overhead and disappearing into Ontario airspace. After another half hour passed and vulture number 30 crossed over, Ezra spotted a Black Vulture circling on the US side. It was soon joined by 5 others, and began circling, and we rather reasonably assumed that they would soon follow the rest of the Turkey Vultures and fly our way. It wasn't meant to be though, soon after they took off, the Black Vultures reversed course and landed back in their roosting trees again. Oh the frustration of it all...but, didn't we see the birds? Well yes, but according to listing rules, they have to be IN Ontario. Birds seen in the United States don't count for a big year list. We kept waiting, then after another hour they took off again... and flew the wrong way, eventually disappearing over a treeline in the distance. This was made even more frustrating by the fact that all of the Turkey Vultures had crossed the river. Oh, birding is just like that sometimes.

- Turkey Vulture

- waiting for vultures

We then moved on to Beamer Conservation Area in hopes of catching a hawk flight. When we arrived some low clouds were rolling in, severely limiting visibility. a lone Red-shouldered Hawk was the only raptor we saw. This was a yearbird for me though, so no complaints.

- Horrible Red-shouldered Hawk photo

Our last stop of the day was Green Road in Hamilton. I had missed Black Scoter on every visit here this year, but since we were already driving by it seemed worth a shot. After a few minutes of scanning, wham, Black Scoter flying by. I'll see many Black Scoters this year, but it's always nice seeing a new bird for the list.

- March 16th

I awoke predawn and drove towards Port Burrell, where I planned on meeting Isabel Apkarian for a morning of birding. The fog was quite heavy on the drive down, but I assured myself that it wouldn't be an issue. Because getting closer to a lake always means there will be less fog...

On arrival, I discovered that it was in fact foggier here than it had been on my drive. We were planning on doing a morning flight watch for a few hours, but with visibility limited to under a few hundred meters in every direction, it wasn't exactly perfect conditions. I could hear some ducks out on Lake Erie, but I literally couldn't see past the shoreline. After half an hour it became apparent that things weren't improving, so we decided to cut our losses and head over to Long Point.

- Fog!

We began in the new provincial park, where it seemed to be equally foggy and birdless. Blackbirds were about the only thing around in numbers, including a small group of Rusty Blackbirds. For the entire day I thought that Rusty Blackbird was a new bird for me, I totally forgot that I had seen one at a bird feeder in Elk Lake back in January. Isabel had a bunch of studying to do, so since it seemed like we weren't going to see much she headed off.

I moved on to the causeway at the entrance to the point, but it was so foggy here that I couldn't make out any of the ducks. I continued on to Port Rowan Wetlands, where the water had thawed considerably since my visit on Sunday. I was just able to make out the ducks out on the water, primarily American Wigeon and Ring-necked Duck. It was a weird feeling, I knew there were lots of birds around, but I simply wasn't able to see them!

It was just after 11am at this point, so I decided to drive over to Rondeau and bird there for the remainder of the day, where I hoped there would be considerably less fog. I only had to get about half an hour west from Long Point when the fog lifted and the sky became totally sunny, what a change! Along the way I stopped at Port Stanley Sewage Lagoons, where the highlights were:

- 1 Snow Goose

- 6 Tundra Swans

- 24 American Wigeon

- 1 Red-shouldered Hawk (just down the road)

I then drove to Shrewsbury, where the Eurasian Collared-Dove eluded me yet again. Rondeau Bay fully open now and was coated in waterfowl, by far the most I've seen here this year. The weather was gorgeous and lighting on the birds was fantastic, so I spent a few hours carefully scanning through them in hopes of finding a Eurasian Wigeon. I struck out, but it was a really enjoyable afternoon of birding. Here's a taste of the duck numbers;

- 500 American Wigeon

- 200 Mallards

- 700 Canvasback

- 2000 Redhead

- 200 Ring-necked Ducks

- Erieau

That evening I drove to London, where Susan and Jim Nagy had generously offered to put me up for the night. Susan is also doing an Ontario big year this year, with a goal of hitting 300 species. After a lovely home cooked meal, we drove over to a local conservation area to watch displaying American Woodcocks. It sure did feel like a spring evening, even after dusk it was 10 degrees and birds were calling everywhere. Flocks of calling Tundra Swans passed overhead in long Vs, American Robins and blackbirds were singing, and I saw my first bat of the year.

Woodcock habitat

- March 17th

After a 6am wakeup, I left London and drove to the morning flight location by Port Burrell, as I needed redemption after being shut out by fog the previous day. Susan and her friend Diane Weiler (another London birder who is doing a big year) joined me, and Ezra also drove down and met up with us. It was a nice and sunny spring morning and it was nice actually being able to see out over the water! We spent an hour an a half birding there and ended up with 36 species, not bad for a mid March day. Some highlights were:

- 14 Wood Ducks

- 2 Northern Shovelers

- 34 American Wigeon

- 27 American Black Ducks

- 33 Northern Pintails

- 130 Ring-necked Duck

- 1 Cooper's Hawk

- 146 American Robins

- 400 Red-winged Blackbirds

- 1200 Common Grackles

- Cooper's Hawk

- Wood Ducks

- Northern Pintails

- Redhead

- Canvasback

- American Wigeon

- Killdeer

- Common Grackle

- Red-winged Blackbird

- American Robin

After that we drove over to Long Point, where we met up with the whole Skevington clan. Our large posse moved on to Port Rowan Wetlands, which was alive with bird activity. Large numbers of blackbirds passed overhead, Sandhill Cranes and Killdeer called in the background and a few migrating hawks flew over. 3 Tree Swallows flew over the water, my first this year and always a fun new spring arrival to see.

- Sandhill Crane

Our group spent the remainder of the day birding Port Rowan, the causeway, Old Cut and the new Provincial Park. It felt like a late April/May day, with temperatures closing in on 20 degrees! There weren't a ton of new birds on the point itself, but large numbers of blackbirds and waterfowl kept it interesting. I heard an Eastern Towhee calling, another yearbird.

On the way back down the causeway this Horned Grebe posed for photos

- Horned Grebe

Ezra, laying in the mud to photograph
a non breeding Horned Grebe

- Big Creek Marsh

I drove back to the Bruce that evening... So strange having the sun still up at 7:30! As I was driving up the Grey/Bruce Line at sunset and the air was filled with Canada Geese, flocks flying everywhere. I stopped and scanned through a group of several hundred, turning up several Cackling Geese. The light was totally fading at this point, so I had to leave the rest of the distant geese unidentified. American Woodcocks, Sandhill Cranes and Killdeer were calling, my first ones in Bruce this year.