My last weekend in Ontario for at least 8 months was spent in the Waterloo region. I did a bit of birding, as usual, which got me sort of excited for next year. I'll be living in Waterloo for 12 straight months starting next May which is going to be very different for me as I have been moving to a new city every 4 months for the past 3 years! Living in one city for 12 months will allow me to really appreciate migration from one area - I'll have my regular 'patch' (which undoubtedly will be Columbia Lake and Laurel Lake) to visit most days so I'll know which birds I should expect and which ones are on the move. Over the past 2-3 years I've certainly become familiar with the general migration of birds through Southern Ontario - but I don't have a thorough understanding of one particular region.
This is highlighted by one sighting from the weekend versus last weekend. I was near Kingston 8 days ago where I saw ~175 Bonaparte's Gulls in one spot alone so I wasn't at all surprised to see 2 at Laurel Lake (Waterloo) today. Then Ken Burrel shows up to say that Bonies aren't seen in the region every year so my sighting is a pretty good one. If he hadn't showed up I would have thought the day was pretty dull without anything exciting - but as soon as I know that the bird is somewhat unusual I'm happy!
So, the moral of the story is that I should stick to one spot for a year or more so that I really get to know my local birds and can fully appreciate migration.
Have I got you convinced?!
Other fun sightings from today and yesterday:
Grass Lake area:
my first juvenile Sandhill Crane! It was huge.
Common Moorhens - which apparently are unusual for the region as well according to KB
Am. Bittern
my first juvenile Eastern Bluebird
Clair Lake:
family of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
a Northern Waterthrush
Columbia Lake:
1 Least Sandpiper
Laurel Lake:
family of Pied-billed Grebes - every time I go there it seems I see a family of Grebes
Anyway, nothing riveting about these sightings - but still fun as it'll be my last time seeing most of those species for 8+ months.
In my next post I'll look back and brag about all the cool places I've been in Ontario over the past 2ish years. And I'll convince you that you should ignore your local patch and seek out all the better birds everywhere else - because there's always a better bird to be seen wherever you're not!
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Presqu'ile birding
After meandering through Eastern Ontario I stopped at Presqu'ile Provincial Park and stayed in the area from Sunday evening to Monday around noon.
Again, I was hoping for shorebirds but only found a few Semipalmated Plovers to add to my non-existent weekend list.
I did find a cool fossil:
I checked a field with many wildflowers for butterflies in the afternoon. While watching a Monarch laying eggs on the milkweed plants I found this new butterfly for me, a Great Spangled Fritillary:
But my favourite sighting of the weekend and probably one of my top highlights from birding this summer occurred while the sun was setting.
I was enjoying the setting sun over the marsh from a picnic table while I was reading a book.
I decided to take one last walk through the marsh before sunset. I was hoping to hear or see a Least Bittern. As I took my time walking along the boardwalk I became aware of a relatively large gathering of swallows overhead. At first I tried ID'ing the ones closest to me - Purple Martins stood out the most, Bank Swallows were numerous as were Barn Swallows. I did pick out a few Tree Swallows and I'm sure Cliff and Rough-winged Swallows were also present. I soon gave up on ID'ing all the birds and took in the spectacle materializing around me.
I was the only person on the boardwalk that evening adding to the already very calm and tranquil marsh at dusk. Thousands upon thousands of swallows emerged to swim and glide through the air above me in the fading light. There seemed to be surprisingly little chatter among them making the gathering more serene. I felt as though they were bidding farewell to the setting sun and saying their last goodbyes to one another before they went to roost amongst the cattails.
At 9:05 pm the swallows went speechless and disappeared within less than a minute.
It really was one of my favourite birding experiences from the year - this competing with birding in some of Ontario's top locations (Long Point, Pelee, Carden Alvar, Algonquin...). I think I enjoyed it more than Pelee in May! Mostly because I had planned going to Pelee and knew I was in for some good birding. In contrast, I went on to that marsh boardwalk looking for 1 bird in particular without any expectations of the gathering about to unfold around me.
I often find surprises make more of an impression and are more satisfying than something that is expected to happen.
My final estimate on numbers was 50'000. I'm pretty sure there were many more than that though. This photo alone has ~250 birds (or maybe my computer screen has a lot of dust spots) and I am zoomed in a lot so the photo shows less than 1% of the sky! On top of that, the aperture was at f/5.6 - meaning that there was a small Depth of Field meaning that most of the birds that should be in the photo are out of focus and not visible!
So, 50'000 is a pretty conservative estimate.
This photo doesn't do justice to the scene whatsoever.
Again, I was hoping for shorebirds but only found a few Semipalmated Plovers to add to my non-existent weekend list.
I did find a cool fossil:
I checked a field with many wildflowers for butterflies in the afternoon. While watching a Monarch laying eggs on the milkweed plants I found this new butterfly for me, a Great Spangled Fritillary:
But my favourite sighting of the weekend and probably one of my top highlights from birding this summer occurred while the sun was setting.
I was enjoying the setting sun over the marsh from a picnic table while I was reading a book.
I decided to take one last walk through the marsh before sunset. I was hoping to hear or see a Least Bittern. As I took my time walking along the boardwalk I became aware of a relatively large gathering of swallows overhead. At first I tried ID'ing the ones closest to me - Purple Martins stood out the most, Bank Swallows were numerous as were Barn Swallows. I did pick out a few Tree Swallows and I'm sure Cliff and Rough-winged Swallows were also present. I soon gave up on ID'ing all the birds and took in the spectacle materializing around me.
I was the only person on the boardwalk that evening adding to the already very calm and tranquil marsh at dusk. Thousands upon thousands of swallows emerged to swim and glide through the air above me in the fading light. There seemed to be surprisingly little chatter among them making the gathering more serene. I felt as though they were bidding farewell to the setting sun and saying their last goodbyes to one another before they went to roost amongst the cattails.
At 9:05 pm the swallows went speechless and disappeared within less than a minute.
It really was one of my favourite birding experiences from the year - this competing with birding in some of Ontario's top locations (Long Point, Pelee, Carden Alvar, Algonquin...). I think I enjoyed it more than Pelee in May! Mostly because I had planned going to Pelee and knew I was in for some good birding. In contrast, I went on to that marsh boardwalk looking for 1 bird in particular without any expectations of the gathering about to unfold around me.
I often find surprises make more of an impression and are more satisfying than something that is expected to happen.
My final estimate on numbers was 50'000. I'm pretty sure there were many more than that though. This photo alone has ~250 birds (or maybe my computer screen has a lot of dust spots) and I am zoomed in a lot so the photo shows less than 1% of the sky! On top of that, the aperture was at f/5.6 - meaning that there was a small Depth of Field meaning that most of the birds that should be in the photo are out of focus and not visible!
So, 50'000 is a pretty conservative estimate.
This photo doesn't do justice to the scene whatsoever.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Sewage Lagoons
After spending some time near Ottawa this past Saturday I made my way back to Toronto while stopping at several sewage lagoons that I had never been to before.
Naturally, I was hoping to see many shorebirds but unfortunately most (all of them actually) were flooded limiting the habitat needed to attract shorebirds. Nevertheless I did see a few shorebirds.
I started Sunday morning with a brief stop at Shirley's Bay in Ottawa. I had been there last year when I saw no less than 100 shorebirds including a Red-necked Phalarope and a Baird's Sandpiper. Of course I was hoping for something comparable but I was disappointed with only about 15 shorebirds including:
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
2 Greater Yellowlegs
10 Lesser Yellowlegs
2 Solitary Sandpipers
Shirley's Bay is in DND (Department of National Defense) property so the wildlife there is protected resulting in excessive numbers of deer. Not that they're a real problem there - it's just different to see a group of deer every 50 meters.
Right away at the entrance to the property a family of deer greeted us:
And at the bay a family of four was feeding:
In total we saw 10 deer in less than 1km of walking.
Herons are pretty common as well:
At the Sewage Lagoons throughout Eastern Ontario the same species were present:
Killdeer:
juv. Lesser Yellowlegs:
molting ad. Least Sandpiper:
Song Sparrow guarding the lagoon gates:
Probably the most unusual shorebird of the weekend was a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope (with ad. Lesser Yellowlegs to left) at the Amherstview Lagoons:
After checking out the lagoons I made an overnight stop at Presqu'ile Provincial Park - which I'll write about tomorrow!
Naturally, I was hoping to see many shorebirds but unfortunately most (all of them actually) were flooded limiting the habitat needed to attract shorebirds. Nevertheless I did see a few shorebirds.
I started Sunday morning with a brief stop at Shirley's Bay in Ottawa. I had been there last year when I saw no less than 100 shorebirds including a Red-necked Phalarope and a Baird's Sandpiper. Of course I was hoping for something comparable but I was disappointed with only about 15 shorebirds including:
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
2 Greater Yellowlegs
10 Lesser Yellowlegs
2 Solitary Sandpipers
Shirley's Bay is in DND (Department of National Defense) property so the wildlife there is protected resulting in excessive numbers of deer. Not that they're a real problem there - it's just different to see a group of deer every 50 meters.
Right away at the entrance to the property a family of deer greeted us:
And at the bay a family of four was feeding:
In total we saw 10 deer in less than 1km of walking.
Herons are pretty common as well:
At the Sewage Lagoons throughout Eastern Ontario the same species were present:
Killdeer:
juv. Lesser Yellowlegs:
molting ad. Least Sandpiper:
Song Sparrow guarding the lagoon gates:
Probably the most unusual shorebird of the weekend was a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope (with ad. Lesser Yellowlegs to left) at the Amherstview Lagoons:
After checking out the lagoons I made an overnight stop at Presqu'ile Provincial Park - which I'll write about tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)