Long Point today = very birdy

I spent a  few hours this morning birding Long Point Provincial Park and it was really hopping. Streams of birds were moving from east to west - flocks of Robins, Myrtles, Pipits, Finches, Sparrows, etc were all on the move. It felt like a great day to find a rarity, but it's challenging when there are so many birds! Do you look at the sparrows on the ground, the warblers in the bushes, or the birds flying over? You can't do it all justice. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the remote field stations turned up something good. While I didn't find any rare birds, a late Red-eyed Vireo was probably my best bird. Brown Thrasher was a nice surprise and a Tufted Titmouse was my first for Long Point, a tough bird locally for some reason. A single Nashville Warbler was my most interesting warbler. At one point I looked up and saw a flock of Tree Swallows overhead - it made me wonder how long they had been there and how many Cave Swallows I may have missed.

Yesterday I checked Turkey Point beach - there was a large flock of Dunlin and Sanderling and good numbers of Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers. There had been a Golden-plover hanging around but perhaps it has moved on. I didn't look too hard for it. I then went over to Burwell for a quick jaunt where I bumped into Brandon Holden and his dad who had just completed a circuit in the park. Again nothing remarkable, the hybrid gull Brandon mentions on his blog, and a Blue-headed Vireo were my personal highlights.

A large flock of Dunlin and Sanderling feeding along the beaches at T.P. 

Myiarchus Flycatcher - No

Saturday night most people probably saw the ontbirds message about a Myiarchus flycatcher seen by Chris Burris on Hasting's Drive at Long Point. Myiarchus is of course a genus, containing a number of species that occur in North America. In Ontario, Great-crested Flycatcher is the only regularly species, a familiar breeder to 99% of all birders. If this sighting had of occurred in May or June it might have not raised any eyebrows at all. But it occurred on October 13th, and GCFLs should be long gone. In fact, the record late date for Long Point is October 10th (or perhaps this date is Ontario, I'm not sure). So, we either have a record late GCFL, or a mega has found it's way to Ontario. Ash-throated Flycatcher is the most likely vagrant, and this is why the message got posted to ontbirds, and why many birders were out searching Hasting's Drive today.

It probably goes without saying that no one refound the bird today or we would have seen an ontbirds post. Birders from afar, as well as the locals scoured Hasting's all morning/early afternoon and didn't turn the bird up. It was windy however so the bird could have hunkered down out of sight. Hasting's is definitely worth checking in the days to come - if not for the flycatcher but for the fact that this road turns up its fare share of rarities.

Lifer Tiger Beetle

First I'll talk birds - fifty days of rare competition. Nothing exciting on my end... Seeing some birds that are getting late - various shorebirds, American Bittern, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, etc. It seems like my birding plans at the beginning of a week always change and I never get out to as many spots as I had planned, so I'm not surprised I haven't turned up anything remotely exciting. Birding plans for the rest of this week: I think I'll bird Long Point once or twice and try to snag a rarity before it finds it's way out to the tip (to be found by Stu no doubt!).

O.K., insects. While checking Old-Cut bird observatory rather briefly this week I spotted a tiger beetle on a pathway and thought, cool, I think that's a new one for me. I took some photos and have since identified it as the Twelve-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela duodecimguttata). It's not rare as far as I know, and I probably overlooked it before amongst the masses of the more common C. repanda.

 Twelve-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela duodecimguttata)

 The Ontario Odonata message board has been fairly quiet recently with no southern rarities showing up apparently. Black Saddlebags are still making their way south and I couldn't help but take a photo of this one at Old Cut.

Raven at Turkey Point, Owl Banding at Cayuga

Over the weekend the Long Point Basin Land Trust held its third annual hawkwatch at Long Point Eco-Adventures located on Front Rd just west of Turkey Point. Sunday was my turn to man the count and I scanned the skies from 10:00 until 3:00. While the flight wasn't crazy we had a nice diversity with many regular species being found. Of course I was secretly hoping for a Swainson's Hawk to go over for the 50 days of rare competition. Two peregrines were nice to see and we counted up to 11 Bald Eagles although several were probably local birds. The highlight of the count was a Raven that I spotted making it's way east. It didn't call, and it wasn't soaring around on thermals so I was a bit lucky to look in its direction as it went by. It really stood out by it's massive size, slow wingbeats, and wedge-shaped tail. Oddly enough we had a Raven on last years count as well! I guess these guys are coming from the escarpment, but we aren't very far from birds in the Appalachians either. I wonder how much they intermingle.

Later that night I went to Ruthven Park near Cayuga. It's a historic site on the Grand River that does bird banding. My brother Matt was running the Owl nets that night so I tagged along to help process the birds. We caught 3 Saw-whet Owls between 8:00 and 2:00. Not exactly overwhelming but it's better than getting skunked! The light looks a little harsh in some of the photos below, but it really isn't that bright in the banding lab. We try and keep as much light off the birds as possible to minimize stress and to not bother their eyes.

 Me and the little monster

 

Birding plans for the week include getting out to Long Point to look for passerines at least a couple mornings. Van Wagner's is on my "to-do" list but the wind doesn't seem to be cooperating... we'll see if that changes. Maybe Port Burwell?..

Lesser Black-backed Gull - Port Stanley

I'm guessing if anyone is following this blog they likely follow Brandon Holden's blog as well and are aware of the "50 Days of Rare competition". In a nutshell, a bunch of birders are seeing who can find the "rarest" bird over the next 6-7 weeks. So far the best I have been able to do is a Lesser Black-backed Gull that I found today at Port Stanley today. It seems like everyone is finding these guys this year.

Lesser Black-backed Gull



At Port Burwell there were hundreds of gulls but nothing rare amongst them that I could see. Six Sanderling were a nice consolation prize on the west beach along with three Black-bellied Plovers.

Sanderling

 



Yesterday at Turkey Point I checked the beach and was surprised at the large amount of shorebird habitat along the beach. The low water levels are a bonus for shorebirding this fall. I spied a single American-golden Plover amongst the more numerous Black-bellieds, and there were several Baird's Sandpipers mixed in with the more regular peeps.

 Turkey Point beach

 Baird's Sandpipers

 

Black-bellied Plover on the left, American Golden-Plover on the right.

 

 At first I thought I "found" the AGPL but after checking ebird I realized one (perhaps this one) was first seen on September 22nd by several observers. If we pretend this was a mega-rarity and I was hoping to win the 50 days of rare competition with this bird, I may not be able to count it as a "self-found" bird. The rules are strict and the issue of "news ignorance" and "re-finds" is dealt with. See http://punkbirder.webs.com/selffoundrules.htm for all the rules

 

 

 

 



Ruffed Grouse beside road

Title says it all... I haven't posted much in September - I'll try and do better!

Tip of Long Point

I had the opportunity last week (Wednesday) to go to the Tip of Long Point for the day - my first time in many years! Birds were slow, and I didn't find any rare migrant b-flies or d-flies but it was still an interesting trip. I had wishes of a Frigatebird or Brown Pelican on the boat rides to and from the point but neither materialized. Bird highlight was a Hudsonian Godwit we found on a sandbar with gulls and other shorebirds. A Laughing Gull turned up at the tip - but not until we had already left and were back at the mainland! That's the way it goes sometimes...

We came across this dead Softshell Turtle up on one of the dunes next to the shoreline. Apparently it had been there since June and was basically mummified and not scavenged at all. We also found 1 or 2 predated softshell nests.

 

  Melanistic Gartersnakes are super common at Long Point.

 

 Dragonflies were flying in huge numbers and Monarchs were starting to amass on this willow.

 

 Phragmites are a real problem on the point...

 The Tip! It often has rarities galore and large numbers of gulls loaf there. Sitting on the sand not too far from the gulls were 2 Peregrine Falcons (below). Don't think I've even seen them sitting on the ground before.

 This was a new Tiger Beetle for me (Cicindela hirticollis). They are a shoreline species but I'm not too sure how common or rare they are. I'm guessing Pelee has them.

 O.K. these were not from the Tip, but rather from St. Williams earlier in the week. I was happy to find Dainty Sulphurs in several places, including at my place.