Chronicles of an Ontario Birder

Shameless advertising

Not my usual type of post… but I thought I would use this platform to advertise Alessandra’s art! She’s working on a number of commissions for Christmas now and is available to do others if people want.

They’re pretty great : ) buy them….

This is from her Facebook post

…….

Hey everyone!! Just putting this out incase anyone’s looking for a quality Christmas gift for someone they cherish (or hate, no judgment).

I’m making custom bird art! I can bring any bird species to life, with some added creative flare!

I have two main mediums I work with, Watercolour and Acrylic, and the subject will be a full bird with your choice of background, or a bird portrait.

Watercolour is my favourite medium and I'm selling custom originals on your choice of paper (8.5"x6") or board (10"x8") for $80 and $95 respectively.

I can also do Acrylic paintings on canvas (10''x12''), these are more detailed and can include multiple birds, multiple species, + plants, background etc. These are more time consuming and use more expensive materials so I charge $230-300 depending on the details.

Shipping is extra but I will be more than happy to deliver right to your door if you will be around Wellington or Bruce County!

Some recent examples

You can message her on Facebook (Alessandra Kite), or email alessandra_wilcox@yahoo.com

Big year related post with an insane chase coming in a few days

Back to Ottawa for a Goose

When I was at Fifty Point November 6th, waiting for Cave Swallows to fly by, I was talking with some birders about my most likely new additions for the year. The first thing I said was Northern Gannet, then an hour later I see a gannet at Fifty! After the gannet, I explained that things are getting considerably harder because Pink-footed Goose is my most likely bird. That afternoon, of course, a Pink-footed Goose was found near Voyageur Provincial Park in Prescott and Russell by Jacques Bouvier. The goose had actually been around the area for a week, although it had only been seen on the Quebec side until then.

Because I was busy the next day chasing the gallinule, I decided to wait to go until that Wednesday, with the plan being to spend several days searching for the goose if need be. Since the spot was an hour east of Ottawa, doing it in a single day felt a bit risky and not that enjoyable!

On the morning of November 9th, Alessandra and I were picked up at 4:00am in Guelph by Isabel Apkarian, who had dipped on Pink-footed Goose 4 times in the past and was out for revenge. We stopped a few minutes later to pick up the last member of our goose hunting party, fellow big year birder William Konze. The Subaru Crosstrek looks quite spacious from the outside, an illusion that quickly fades however when 4 people, several scopes and a mound of supplies are piled in. It did have adaptive cruise control though, which may be worth the trade for space... even if the annoying lane assist sensor wouldn't shut up for the entire trip.

After several hours of driving, I received a message that Jacob Stasso had just seen an Atlantic Puffin at Dick Bell Park in Ottawa. It was only a flyby and chances of refinding it were slim, but we were only an hour away from the spot so we changed course and headed into the nation's capital for a quick alcid detour. It was a bit of a shock to the system getting out of the car to a chilly wind beside the Ottawa River, after the 25 degree Cave Swallow weather only a few days before.... That's Ontario for you. After talking to Jake and spending an hour looking along the river, it became obvious that the Ottawa River is indeed very long, and a puffin is a small bird to find in such a large space. Since there were a number of local birders out looking who all knew the area better, we left the puffin search to them and drove the remaining hour & a half to the goose spot.

The best location to view from was a small dirt road beside a large dam, that spanned the river and was closed off for construction. It seemed a bit iffy about people being allowed in the area, but if you look like you belong workers tend not to bother you, so we walked up the edge of the road and began scanning. Vince Fyson joined us shortly after that and helped scour the area for the rest of the afternoon. Numerous Cackling Geese and a single Snow Goose were mixed in with the thousands of Canadas present, but not our hoped for pink-footed variant. We gave it our best until light made scanning impossible, then drove back to Ottawa. where the Skevington's had graciously offered to let us stay. As is the case every time I have visited here, we were treated to wonderful food (thanks Angela) and entertaining stories... Always a nice part of visiting Ottawa.

The next day we were up at 4:00am again because we wanted to make it to the dam for sunrise, when a lot of geese take off to spend the morning foraging in nearby fields. William seemed to be slightly more awake than the rest of us, so he drove while everyone else passed out. Upon arriving at said dam, it was quickly visible that there were hardly any geese there. It seemed that they had roosted somewhere else for the night, so we turned around and drove down the river a bit further to find a vantage point to scan. I was just starting to wake up when we pulled over beside the road a few kilometers away, where we spotted several large rafts of geese sitting out on the river. Just as we were setting the scopes up they started taking off, so I began rapidly scanning through the flying flocks. My scope passed over a slightly smaller goose, with silvery wings, a white tail and a dark head. It was the Pink-footed Goose!! I proceeded to lose it a few moments later when it disappeared behind a treeline. The rest of the group hadn't seen it, and were rightfully quite frantic.
We piled back into the car and William gunned it inland while we tried to keep the lines of flying geese in sight. After 10 minutes of skillful James Bond level driving, we arrived at a cornfield where large numbers of geese were descending. Suspense... had we followed the right flock? had the pink-foot peeled off? Isabel got on the bird as it was landing with canadas. Success! An Ontario lifer all around, we enjoyed amazing views of it in the scope for half an hour as it contently fed with the other geese. After putting in 3 long days looking for this species in the spring, seeing it felt pretty satisfying : ) This was 356 for my yearlist, and 350 for William (big congrats on breaking the 350 barrier sir!).

- Pink-footed Goose with Canadas

- #356

- Alessandra in goose watching stance

We spent the remainder of the day searching for Barnacle Goose (which William needs) and scouring the river for alcids, but came up short on both. That evening we enjoyed another great meal at Jeffs and had Eric Baldo over to play Wingspan (a birding board game). The following morning we returned back to Guelph, satisfied we wouldn't have to return to Ottawa for another goose in the near future. Unless...

Since then I have been busy leading a few bird hikes in Grey/Bruce and birding around Guelph and Hamilton. No new birds, but a few highlights including;

- My first self found King Eider of the year (flyby at Van Wagner's Beach)

- Self found female Barrow's Goldeneye with Alfred Raab on a birding hike around Owen Sound

- First of fall Northern Shrikes and Common Redpolls, also great views of a Golden Eagle

In rarity news, there is a Limpkin in Lewiston NY... just across the river and actually visible from Ontario... so close but so far........ arrrr. A plee to US birders, please flush this bird across the river. Use firecrackers, whatever in necessary.. Just make it happen ; )

Kidding of course...

Ontario yearlist @ November 17th - 356

Lake Ontario Provides

I'll start off this post by going back in time to last week, when I was looking at weather maps for the upcoming days. From last Thursday to Sunday, a low-pressure system wind was moving north from the gulf coast, bringing with it powerful south/southwest winds all the way up to Ontario. With that kind of setup in the late fall, the chances of rarities turning up here are high.

On top of that, this system was perfect for bringing Cave Swallows to Ontario. Although caves are code 3s, their numbers fluctuate greatly depending on the year. Some seasons there are numerous reports around the province, while during others there are none. It just depends on the weather. Why these birds disperse north in large numbers during late fall is a mystery, but. When these birds first arrive here (generally after a day or two of strong winds) they are often see a long north facing shorelines during south winds, and then after that when the weather turns, south facing shorelines on north winds.

Saturday morning found me at the western edge of Niagara County just after sunrise, at Fifty Point Conservation Area, which juts out into Lake Ontario. Since this location has had Cave Swallows in the past, and the winds were ideal for that day (strong south) my hopes were high. Shortly after arriving I was joined by the usual crowd (the other big year birders plus Erik VDK and Isabel), and we began our watch. The first two hours passed by rather quickly, with large numbers of loons and ducks keeping our interest. Then, just around 10am I spotted a flock of 25 Swallows flying by, going west above the trees inland. They were gone a few seconds later, and all I was able to tell for sure was that they were small swallows with square tails. Almost certainly caves, but for my first one I needed a better look. We trekked inland to a parking lot with a nice, raised hill for viewing, a spot recommended by Brandon Holden. This turned out to be a good choice, as twenty minutes later another flock of swallows flew over, this time right overhead and definite caves. 353! This was a lifer for me too, and one of my remaining 3 code 3 species.

I ended up staying until 1:30, and finished up with 45 Cave Swallows... Not too shabby!

The photos are a bit subpar, but that's how it goes sometimes...

- Cave Swallow

The following day the winds were a bit lighter and more southwest and south, but I decided to go back to Fifty Point again for another watch. One reason was that seeing Caves in Ontario is a pretty rare opportunity and I wanted to take advantage while I could, another was that Alessandra needed it for life and couldn't make it the previous day. On top of that, there was a chance of something rare on the lake while we were there (gannet was on the mind).

Only about half an hour after arriving we had our first flock of caves, this time 8 birds. Again, views were brief and right above us, so my photos weren't really any better. That was followed by a flock of 5 birds, higher up this time. A cloud bank passed over after that and the winds shifted a bit, which for whatever reason shut down the swallow passage.

Then I saw on discord that a Northern Gannet had just been seen of Fifty Point, a mere 500 meters from where I was standing! I full out sprinted from the parking lot out to the end of the point, where I got brief views of a distant gannet before it disappeared out of view in a thick feeding flock of mergansers. A crowd of birders had amassed at the point, and together we waited for it to return.

It took a bit of patience, but about an hour later we picked it up along the shoreline further east. It was flying towards us... and ended up flying past the point only a few hundred meters away! This was a Ontario bird for me and Alessandra, and a great addition for the big year. We waited for a bit longer, with a nice highlight of a Little Gull flying past, then headed out for a celebratory meal with Andy and William.

- Northern Gannet

After a week of slow birding 2 new birds in 2 days was quite exciting, but the fun wasn't over there. That evening news came through of a Purple Gallinule that was found at Second Marsh in Durham! This was a bird that was on my radar for an addition this fall, but I wasn't too hopeful as it's getting a bit late in the year now. Juvenile gallinules often disperse north/get lost in the fall and can get brought up by the same systems that bring Cave Swallows to Ontario.

The next morning, I was at second Marsh with William shortly after sunrise. A quick survey of the area where the bird was seen, which was a small cannel of water beside an extensive marshland came up empty. A trail ran along the cannel, but seeing the water was a bit difficult due to high reeds. We scoured back and forth for over an hour, then someone down the path shouted that they had it. Another sprint ensued. Down the trail, a few birders were enjoying amazing views of the Purple Gallinule, that had just come out of the reeds and was showing nicely. #355 for the year and a lifer too! Bird secured we headed back to Guelph, not a bad 3 days if I do say!

- Purple Gallinule

Tomorrow I am headed to Ottawa for several days in hopes of seeing a Pink-footed Goose that was found on the weekend...

Ontario yearlist @ Nov 8th - 355

The Bluff - October Addition

On October 30th the conditions looked decent for a morning flight watch at "The Bluff" in Huron County. This is one of my favourite birding spots, but I've visited it a lot less than normal this year due to big year madness..

Anyways there weren't any rare birds around to chase, so I got up at a time that was much too early and headed over to the Bluff with Alessandra. There we met up with Isabel Apkarian and Andy Nguyen for a day of standing on a sand cliff beside the lake. Activity started off fairly slow, but things began to pick up after 9am with large flocks of Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins. After seeing all the recent grosbeak reports across southern Ontario it was fun to connect a flight of them (my first ones since March). Red-necked and Horned Grebes were sitting out on the glassy calm water, with Red-throated and Common Loons flying out in the heat shimmer. The winds had shifted a bit more southwest than I was hoping for, which seemed to contribute to lower numbers of birds than expected. A massive flock of geese contained 2 Snows and 2 Cackling, adding further to the day list. While scoping a distant treeline I spotted a flying Pileated Woodpecker, a new species for my Bluff list.

By noon the songbird movement was winding down, with only the occasional flock of finches passing over. We were considering packing it in, but then a bit of a raptor movement started with a few groups of southbound Red-tailed Hawks, so we stayed until almost 3pm. The raptor highlights were a lovely dark Rough-legged Hawk, a Golden Eagle and an adult Northern Goshawk. Unfortunately for Andy he needs goshawk for the year and left twenty minutes before I had it... Next time Andy!
The Black-capped Chickadee movement was pretty fun as well, with groups of 5-20 birds moving all day through the corn field. It's a bit odd to look up and see a flock of chickadees in the sky, not how you see these guys most of the time. I always wonder where these chickadees and coming from and where they're going...

Highlights from the the day below below;

- 9 Red-necked Grebes

- 5 Red-throated Loons

- 1 Wilson's Snipe

- 1 Golden Eagle

- 4 Northern Harriers

- 17 Sharp-shinned Hawks

- 3 Cooper's Hawks

- 1 Northern Goshawk

- 72 Red-tailed Hawks

- 1 Rough-legged Hawk

- 1 Pileated Woodpecker

- 350 Black-capped Chickadees

- 474 Evening Grosbeaks

- 22 Purple Finches

- 324 Pine Siskins

- 632 American Goldfinches

- 2 Lapland Longspurs

- 16 American Pipits

- 55 Species total

- Rough-legged Hawk

- Wilson's Snipe

- Pine Siskins

- Siskins

- Evening Grosbeaks

-More

A nice break from chasing and a really enjoyable day at one of my favourite spots: )

On the subject of the big year this past week has been pretty annoying.... There have been 5 good birds... Ross's Gull, Great Cormorant, Gray Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird and Atlantic Puffin... and they have all been one observer wonders/not chaseable... Argh! A nice chaseable mega would be nice right about now please....

Back to Van Wagner's Again

Last Friday (Oct 28th) the winds were out of the east, which meant of course that it was lakewatch time in Hamilton. On my way down that morning a few reports of Pomarine Jaeger came in from Van Wagner's, so my hopes were high! Of course, a rare bird would have been nice, but I wanted to get Pom out of the way since it was my last remaining "easy" code 3 species.

I arrived around 1pm and found a spot in the line of assembled birders to put my scope. This spot, a wooden platform with a prime view out at Lake Ontario sits directly behind the Lakeland Centre at Van Wagner's Beach. Because of its convenient location and its fame for jaeger watching, if it's a weekend and there are favorable winds, there will always be a crowd of birders gathered there. On top of the banter that happens whenever a crowd of bird people gather, this means that there are more eyes looking out at the lake, which usually means more birds spotted (the one drawback of a large crowd, is that sometimes when it gets slow on the lake, all the birders will get distracted talking to each other and nobody will be scanning...). For the next 4 hours I scanned back and forth and chatted with the folks beside me (Alessandra, Rich Poort and Andy Nguyen... who was there hoping to add pom for his big year too), and searched looking for jaeger-like specks on the horizon. As is often the case on most lakewatches, there was a lull in activity from 1 until around 4pm. Massive numbers of ducks that were flying out on the lake, mainly scoters and Long-tailed Ducks, but that was enough kept me from falling asleep though.

There were a few highlights during this time though, a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake... and a new self found bird for me, a Pacific Loon that flew by mid-day. It was a species that I have always had my eyes open for, so finally finding one felt pretty good. I'm sure these loons are frequently overlooked in southern Ontario, as not many people pay attention to distant flying loons over the lake : )

Then, around 4:30 I picked up a jaeger in my scope heading away. Views were a bit distant, but I was able to watch it for over 5 minutes as it slowly circled higher and higher before becoming a speck on the horizon. It as a bulky looking jaeger with a prominent double wing flash and a heavy flight.... In other words species #352, Pomarine Jaeger! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get photos, and the bird gods seemed to read my mind, as just after the first bird disappeared, I picked up a second Pom harassing some gulls right beside the shoreline. This bird was much closer than the last one, and I was actually able to get decent pictures as it whipped by (my first ones of a Pom too). This was a lifer for Alessandra and Andy (also #326 for his yearlist!) and by far the best views I have had of one.