Birding After Work

I’m sorry for being missing in action for much of this summer on my blog, but my summer job (working for our local agricultural society during the 108th annual Vermilion Fair), and farming, especially looking after my 100 broilers and 100 layers, have kept me very busy. On the up side, I got my driver’s license at the end of June, so I’m enjoying being more mobile.

This past week, I was finally able to get out and do some birding, something I haven’t been able to do for a while. On Wednesday, I brought my camera, binoculars, and scope in work, so when I was finished for the day, I stopped off at the Vermilion Provincial Park to see what was around.

There were lots of gulls flying around the river, mostly non-breeding Franklin’s Gulls, a few Bonapart’s Gulls, Ring-bills, and four Herring Gulls. Double-crested Cormorants were also quite prominent on the river, especially on the dock where many of them were vibrating the muscles and bones in their throats, called gular fluttering, to help them cool down.

On the way back to my truck, I heard a bird “chipping” in the poplars. I was able to see that the bird was an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Here’s my eBird checklist from my bird walk at the park, which included a Ring-billed Gull,

a pair of Herring Gulls — the front one is a juvenile and I believe the back one is a first winter plumage bird (please add a correction in the comments if necessary!),

A juvenile Franklin’s Gull,

Double-crested Cormorant and the juvenile Herring Gull,

After evening chores one night this week, I went out with my scope to our summerfallow field to look at some of the wet areas to see if there were any shorebirds feeding in the low spot. I did find a Semipalmated Plover — a year bird for me as I missed the species this spring, and five not-so-solitary Solitary Sandpipers.

I took a few photos of the plover before the resident Swainson’s Hawk flew over where the shorebirds were feeding and scared off the plover. The hawk landed in a bare tree and was immediately harassed by a pair of American Robins and Eastern Kingbirds.

Here’s my eBird checklist from that day, which included the Swainson’s Hawk and American Robin,

An adult Semipalmated Plover,

On Thursday after work, I went out for another bird walk around our yard. I first headed to the lake behind our house where I was hoping to find more shorebirds feeding along the lakeshore.

When I walking to the lake, a Merlin flew down and landed on a fence post in front of me until it noticed me and abruptly flew off,

A Red Paintbrush,

A juicy wild raspberry,

There weren’t too many birds at the lake, but there were four adult Eared Grebes feeding their chicks on the lake, and also a group of Savannah and Clay-colored Sparrows flitting about in the bushes. A Killdeer, American Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, and Red-winged Blackbirds flew above me.

My eBird checklist from the lake.

Cedar Waxwing,

Cattails,

At the slough east of our house I found many more birds than at the lake: a Great Blue Heron, dozens of American Coots, a Black-bellied Plover, common Goldeneyes, Black-capped Chickadees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Redheads, Savannah Sparrows, a male and female Northern Harrier, Spotted Sandpiper, Pied-billed Grebes, and more.

My eBird checklist from the slough.

I spent an hour watching the birds at the slough until I noticed one of my brothers on our deck, barbecuing hamburgers, so I headed home

This Solitary Sandpiper was feeding in a group of five other Solitary Sandpipers and a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper,

2013 in Review

Looking back on the past 12 months, I did a lot of bird-y things in 2013 — helping out with the Edmonton Nature Club’s Young Naturalists’ Corner at the Snow Goose Chase, raising money for Bird Studies Canada and my local naturalist society with the Baillie Birdathon, birding in Central Park, a month-long internship in Ontario helping with fall migration monitoring, working on my Young Birder of the Year projects, and the Alberta Birds Facebook group I started in 2012 is up to 763 members, including lots of great birders and photographers.

A Savannah Sparrow (digiscoped) in June,

I added 31 new species to my Life List, putting it at 266 species. I was a little disappointed with my Alberta List, since I saw only 137 species compared to 154 last year. For my Year List, I saw 22 mammal species and 210 bird species.

On of my lifers this year — a Harris’s Sparrow that showed up at my feeders this past spring,

I added a new species to my humble yard list — a Blue Jay which stayed for only a few minutes in October, but I was very excited to see it,

A Double-crested Cormorant in Central Park in July,

A Month at the Long Point Bird Observatory, Part 2

(Part 1 of my internship account is here)

September 1st: It was a little windy today, so some of the nets were closed, but we caught a hatch-year female Sharp-shinned Hawk which was very neat! An after-hatch year male and female Canada Warblers were caught in the same net. It was a good opportunity see the differences in plumage in the hand, and side by side. There weren’t very many songbirds around, but I did find a Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, and a Wilson’s Warbler flitting about in some bushes near one of the nets.

A female Sharp-shinned Hawk,

The after-hatch year male and female Canada Warblers,

We saw a few Ospreys at the Tip, and this one was very obliging for a photograph,

September 4th:  Today was the only day we banded over 100 birds while I was at the Tip. It was a lot of fun to see so many birds but it was also very tiring for the banders. Most of the birds caught were Catharus thrushes, Blackpoll Warblers, a Wood Thrush, and other species, and a Connecticut Warbler was also banded later in the morning. There were hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds flying over with a few Bobolinks in the mix, and there were 25 Sanderling feeding along the beach.

A Connecticut Warbler,

A Viceroy Butterfly,

LPBO staffer Janice with a male Indigo Bunting (and matching shirt and fingernails!),

September 5th: Today wasn’t as busy as yesterday for banding, but the number of warblers moving through the area was astounding! Some of the warbler species were Wilson’s Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Canada Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, Nashville Warblers, Bay-breasted Warblers, Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, and Cape May Warblers were all seen around the Tip. In the afternoon Ana, Antje, Daniel, and I did a supplementary census and the highlights were a large mixed flock of 16 warbler species, a Brown Thrasher, a Baird’s Sandpiper feeding in a group with three Least Sandpipers, a Cooper’s Hawk, and a very co-operative Philadelphia Vireo. My two lifers for the day were the Philadelphia Vireo and Northern Parula.

A Bay-breasted Warbler,

Northern Parula,

September 8th: It was much too windy to open any of the nets today, so in the early morning Dayna, Ana, and I went out to the Tip to look for any unusual gulls and Jaegers that would have been brought in by the strong winds; unfortunately we didn’t see any. We did see over 4,000 Double-crested Cormorants flying past the Tip which was quite the spectacle. There were three Great Black-backed Gulls at the Tip and large flocks of Sanderlings were flying around with a Baird’s Sandpiper and two Semipalmated Plovers mixed in.

A beautiful Pandora’s Sphinx Moth,

 

A Monarch Butterfly chrysalis I found in the sand at the Tip,

September 9th: Bird activity is still very slow and since it wasn’t too windy we were able to open some of the nets. Double-crested Cormorants were flying past the Tip in large numbers, and a Great Blue Heron was hunting along the shore of the Tip. On one of my net rounds, I saw a banded Rock Pigeon sitting on the Heligoland Trap. Some of my favorites banded today were a Tennessee Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warblers, and Blackpoll Warblers.

Tennessee Warbler ruffled from the wind,

A male Chestnut-sided Warbler,

Sunrise at the Tip,

LPBO staffer Dayna with a Black-throated Blue Warbler,

One of my favorite warbler species — a male Black-throated Blue Warbler,

A very ratty looking moulting Eastern Towhee,

Eastern Whip-poor-Will,

September 11th: Swainson’s Thrushes, Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Veerys, Wilson’s Warblers, American Redstarts, Red-eyed Vireos, and American Robins were some of the species caught this morning. The best bird of the day was an immature male Eastern Towhee. Stu and Ed were on census, but about half an hour into the census Ed came running back to tell the rest of us at the banding station that they had found an Upland Sandpiper in a tree. It was really interesting to see the sandpiper just standing on a branch high up in a tree.

An Upland Sandpiper,

September 14th: Banding was steady this morning with LPBO’s first Orange-crowned Warbler of the Fall season and lots of Swainson’s Thrushes. I was able to band a Wood Thrush, many Black-throated Blue Warblers, and American Redstarts. There were lots of American Redstarts in the woodlot around Old Cut and many of them were adult males instead of the usual females and immature males. In the late morning, someone who was birding around Old Cut found an Eastern Whip-poor Will roosting in a spruce tree, it was a great way to end my stay at Long Point!

Late in the afternoon of the 14th I left Long Point and got on a plane in Hamilton to fly back home to Alberta.

During my month stay at Long Point, I read the first 40 pages of Peter Pyle’s Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part II which is essential to bird banding; there are copies of both volumes in all the LPBO banding labs and library. From my banding work and the book, I learned a lot this summer about skull ossification and molt patterns. I also learned just how much work is put in by volunteers, from entering data, and bleaching the walls of the house at the Tip to keep molt and spider droppings from wrecking the paint, to sweeping all the sand out of the house daily and installing a new refrigerator. Without all the hard work done by volunteers, the Long Point Bird Observatory wouldn’t run as smoothly as it does.

I had so much fun at Long Point again and learned so much. I hope to go back sometime soon!

The species I was able to add to my Life List at Long Point, August-September 2013:

Eastern Whip-poor Will, Upland Sandpiper, Philadelphia Vireo, Northern Parula, Wood Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, Palm Warbler, Peregrine Falcon, Wilson’s Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Ovenbird, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-billed Cuckoo, Virginia Rail, and Magnolia Warbler.

Birding in Central Park

We arrived in New York City on Saturday, July 6th, and on Sunday morning at 9 am I went on a bird walk with Bob DeCandido (“Birding Bob”) and Deb Allen in Central Park. It was a very hot day (we found at the end of the day there had been an extreme heat and humidity warning for City), but we saw some great birds including an early migrant — a female Black-and-white Warbler, which was very exciting.

I counted 27 species in total on the Central Park walk, and added Chimney Swift, Great-crested Flycatcher, Black-crowned Night Heron, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, and Black-and-white Warbler to my “Year List”.

The walk started at the Turtle Pond dock and it was very nice to be greeted by about 15 Red-eared Sliders,

A Red-eared Slider,

A Red-bellied Woodpecker,

Part of the group watching a Great-crested Flycatcher,

I saw three Black-crowned Night Herons throughout the walk ,

A Northern Flicker nest,

What would Central Park be without seeing a squirrel?

A shy Carolina Wren,

A pair of Mallards at the boat pond,

A Double-crested Cormorant drying off at the Boat pond,

I was only one foot away from this Mallard. That’s the beauty of Central Park — the birds are so used to people,

I had an excellent time with the other birders, got some good photos, and saw some great species. Central Park is such a wonderful place, and Bob and Deb are great park guides!

Here we are at the end of our walk, with Bob and Debra on the right. Thank you again for such a wonderful time (and the only real birding I got in while in NYC)!

May Species Count

Last Saturday, my local naturalist society held its annual May species count. I’ve gone a few other years at 5 am or so, and I was asked this year if I’d be able to join the club president then. But with our beef club achievement day, show and sale the next two days, I needed to get as much rest as possible. So I started counting birds at 9 am instead and saw some good birds, though I missed a few common ones such as House Wrens, American Coots, and Barn Swallows.

Chris told me later that he had seen a Blackpoll Warbler earlier in the morning —  it would have been a life bird for me. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to see it, but I did get an extra three hours of sleep!

I had a good walk and saw 32 species in three hours with two first of season birds: Cedar Waxwings and Spotted Sandpiper.

I aways have so much fun doing this count and can’t wait to see what I get next year!

A flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls were feeding near the edge of the river and here’s one (digiscoped),

A Tree Swallow on a no trail riding sign,

Buffalo beans,

A view of the river,

I’m not quite sure what species of Dragonfly this is,

A Song Sparrow (digiscoped),

A beautiful Canadian Tiger Swallowtail,

A Franklin’s Ground Squirrel (digiscoped),

I saw quite a few Double-crested Cormorants on my walk (digiscoped),

An interestingly colored American Wigeon (digiscoped),

A pair of Mallards (digiscoped),

Fall Migration Hike

I spent Tuesday from 9 am to 1 pm at the local provincial park to look for Fall migrants.

I started along the river side of the park. The first birds I saw were Black-capped Chickadees, though after looking through the photos, I realized I hadn’t taken any photos of the chickadees. I saw a quite a lot of species, from Yellow-rumped Warblers to Turkey Vultures. I saw 18 species in total: four Pied-billed Grebes, eight Red-necked Grebes, one Double-crested Cormorant, five Mallards, two Gadwalls, 10 Buffleheads, three Turkey Vultures, one Northern Harrier, 15 Ring-billed Gulls, 23 Black Terns, one Belted Kingfisher, one Blue Jay, five American Crows, countless Black-capped Chickadees, three House Wrens, 17 Cedar Waxwings, 15 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and eight White-throated Sparrows.

Red-necked Grebe,

At first I thought this raptor was a hawk,

It was a Turkey Vulture,

One of the highlights of the trip, a Belted Kingfisher,

Non-breeding Black Tern,