Thunder Bay to Rainy River - May 22

The last stretch of our drive to Rainy River included many stops along the way. One of our first stops was an unexpected stop at a flooded section on the road to Silver Islet:

The flooding wasn't enough to stop us, but we did see/hear over 10 species of warbler at that location alone! There are a ton of migrants around up here. It's been better than many of the slow days along Lake Erie earlier this spring.

At Silver Islet we found a Northern Mockingbird. A cool bird for the north shore of Lake Superior!

Almost predictable, a Clay-colored Sparrow was feeding under the local feeder:

A cold Cedar Waxwing was nearby watching all the action around the feeders:

We didn't spend much time at Silver Islet. The next stops were at the hotspots in Thunder Bay. Mission Island had a bunch of shorebirds, and several singing Clay-colored Sparrows. From here on, Clay-colored Sparrows remained quite common and lost much of their excitement!

The scenery around Thunder Bay is fascinating with many large hills/mounts, that once must have been islands:

At Chippewa park we found another good bird, an Eared Grebe was far in the distance but not too far for my 50x point and shoot camera!

While we were driving over 100 along the highway towards Rainy River, Mike amazingly picked out an unusual looking bird perched on a post on the side of the road. A quick turn around and we were looking at a Townsend's Solitaire! Nice!

At the Emo sewage lagoons this American Golden-Plover was an unexpected find!

136 Wilson's Phalaropes were at the Rainy River sewage lagoons! Easily beating any of my previous high counts.

The last unexpected find of the day was a Hudsonian Godwit. This Blue-winged Teal was trying to steal all the attention:

Beautiful bird:

Nearby, one of many Brewer's Blackbirds was singing:

That evening we had our first of many Yellow-headed Blackbirds:

We're still on the road today (May 24), and have already finished our visit at Rainy River. We'll be taking our time traveling along the Lake Superior shoreline over the next few days.

This new camera has been great for getting lots of great pictures! I already have a big back log of photos waiting to be posted! There's 15 on this post alone... I'll have to brag about the camera some day when I have more time... Definitely check it out though if you're looking into getting a new point & shoot. The model is: Canon Powershot sx50 hs... all these photos were taken with it.

Wawa to Thunder Bay

Today we spent more time birding the communities along the North shore of Lake Superior and less time on the highway. Much of the coastline here reminds me of Newfoundland. If someone took a picture from one of the bays of Lake Superior I don't think I'd be able to distinguish it from a bay in NL...

One of our first stops was at Pic River, a seemingly abandoned community along a large river. There were plenty of birds at the river mouth. There were hundreds of Dunlin, Horned Larks, American Pipit, and Lapland Longspurs.

In Marathon we walked the railway bed hoping to stir up some interesting sparrows. There were plenty of Savannah Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows. We still haven't found a Gambell's White-crowned Sparrow despite scrutinizing about 30% of the White-crowned Sparrows we've been seeing.

A flock of Horned Larks included several Lapland Longspurs, including one male close to full breeding plumage:

A Field Sparrow in Marathon was a good find (apparently) with only 19 previous records in the Northern Ontario region (before 2012)! It was feeding from a lawn, where we watched it for no more than 30 seconds before we lost interest in this common species for Southern Ontario...

I was happier to see this Clay-colored Sparrow even though they're not nearly as rare:

In Terrace Bay a flock of 15 swans turned out to be the least expected species, Mute Swans. Another rarity for Northern Ontario (only 11 records prior to 2012) but a similarly not very exciting find, even though it's a record high for this large region!

It has been raining a lot here over the last few days. Some of the highways have been washed out resulting in closed roads. Luckily we haven't been delayed too much yet. This Bald Eagle didn't seem to be doing very well:

On The Road

1000km later and we're in Wawa. We made a few stops along the way and found some cool species.

In Thessalon we came across a small flock of Evening Grosbeaks:

A small flock of Brewer's Blackbirds were neat to see - a new Ontario bird for me!

Highlight of the day was when we saw a large waxwing-like bird while driving the highway. We made a quick turn around and were able to identify it. Mike got some pics before it flew off, we were able to age it as an adult (After Second Year) due to the extent of white on the primaries (check out Jean Irons guide for aging BOWAs here):

Some other neat stuff include 1 Olive-sided Flycatcher, a Black Bear, and 2 Moose...

House Finch from yesterday in Waterloo: