Theres the Snow!

Went looking for the reported Slaty-backed Gull on the river today. I'm not going to say for certain that I found it, but I did see a gull fitting the description in approx. the same area as reported. Again, good comparison to Herring and Greater Black-backed Gulls. Bird did have a bit of streaking on head and neck, too much for a Greater Black-backed, slightly larger then Herring. Back was a dark slaty-grey, pink legs seen, not extremely bright but they were seen. I can't think of any other gull this could be, but I am not going to count it to my list unless one is confirmed in the area or down river a ways in the next week or so.

On another note, also seen on the river was 3 Glaucous Gulls, 43 Greater Black-backed Gulls, one adult Thayer's Gull which was new for year, as well as the Bald Eagles I saw. At Sombra I found my first Ring-necked Duck of the year as well. I also stopped at the bridge, for the 4th time this year, and for the 4th time this year, missed the Peregrine Falcon. That bird is really bugging me! I also visited the lighthouse, though there weren't any birds this side of the green buoy due to the ice, and I couldn't find anything other then a Long-tailed Duck out there.
My last stop was Canatara Park, where I saw at leased 5 White-winged Crossbills with a flock of Redpolls, as well as a Red-tailed Hawk.

Good Birding!
And good luck if your looking for it!

White Birds, Wheres the snow?

Today my dad and I went birding on the lake/river on this very chilli winter day. Our primary goal was for the Trumpeter Swan previously reported by Blake Mann at Sarnia Bay, but we would obviously be keeping and eye open for the Western Grebe seen about 5 days ago at Point Edward Lighthouse and the Harlequin Duck on the river a little over a week ago, unfortunately we didn't get either them! Our first stop was at Point Edward Lighthouse, there wasn't a ton there, mostly Long-tailed Ducks, but also present was a nice close up adult male White-winged Scoter, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, and Common Goldeneye. In the distance, there were a few groups of Redheads and Scaup sp. mixtures as well. Gull wise, the usual Ringer and Herring, and finally got that Iceland Gull everyone has been seeing here for my year. On our way out of the paring lot, we had a little male Merlin fly up to a pole right beside us. While we were here, I was informed of a Snowy Owl at the intersection of Waterworks Rd and Plank Rd.

Our second stop was the Sarnia Bay/Marina. Duck wise, a few species, Mallards, Common Mergs, a group with Redheads, Greater Scaup, and a couple Canvasback, and there was a single Am. Black Duck swimming with some Mallards. Gull wise, many of the two commons again, about 18 Greater Black-backed, 2 Lesser Black-backed, and another single Iceland Gull. But best for this location was the Trumpeter that was previously reported, it was along with a pair of Mute Swans.

After that, just headed down river. Down river, there was a complete lack of ducks! Even the shell docks where I had 12+ Hooded Mergansers on the 1st, there was only 1 today! No other interesting ducks other then that either! There were a few distant Tundra Swans in some spots but thats it! Before we headed out towards home from the river, we stopped one more time, there was a large group of gulls flying around. Included was a few Greater Black-backed, and 3 Glaucous Gulls, 2 first years and an adult.

Our lat stop was looking for the Snowy Owl. We did not find it at that intersection, but we did find one a couple km East of there, so probably the same one. It was at a distance in a field strait West of the intersection of Rokeby Line, Plank Rd and Mandaumin Rd.

At first it was wayyyyy out there in the field, needed a scope to positive ID, but we walked out into the field for pictures, though they didn't turn out well.

I just think this is a cool shape it's making n flight!
So new species for the day, Iceland Gull, Trumpeter Swan, Tundra Swan, and Snowy Owl. So theres all the white birds, wheres the white fluffy snow!?!?
Until Next Time.

Good Birding!

New birds over past week.

So I haven't posted in over a week, so there are a few things I should probably post now. So my last post, I said I was at 52 species for the year, unfortunately, it gets harder to find new species the further into the year it gets, so, since then, I have added 17species. Which I am very happy with because I haven't really gone on any really good birding trips since then. I am also very happy with some of the birds I have gotten, there are a few that I may not see again in the county this year, and some that are just strait up fair quality birds! Some of the fair quality birds I've seen since then: American Robin(not very present this winter), Brown-headed Cowbirds, Great Blue Heron, Pileated Woodpecker, White-crowned Sparrow, and White-winged Crossbills. Then there are 3 species that I could easily miss for the rest of the year. Bohemian Waxwings, 5 seen/heard in a flock of Cedars yesterday afternoon, which is probably my most-likely to find again. A single Hoary Redpoll in a flock of about 70 Common's, which was seen on the 5th. And best of all, on the 11th, I got my LIFER and Yard Bird, Barred Owl! This species is a very good species for the county! This will probably be one of my highlights of the entire year!

 Cropped

This was a very lucky, unlikely, and exciting find!

Unfortunately there are a few species on the river right now that I am unable to go see for the next little while, I really hope they stay. A Trumpeter Swan at Cathcart Park, and a bright male Harlequin Duck near Courtright, which is a would-be lifer for me. Both of these species would be awesome additions to my year, and life lists. Hopefully they will stay a little while longer.

Good Birding!

Day 2, Owls 2

Yesterday, my dad and I decided to go birding, and we decided to go to the south-western portion of Lambton. I had 3 personal goal birds for this trip, of which, in the end, we got all 3! But on the drive down there we also got some good and/or year birds! For example, near Rutherford, on Oil Heritage Rd, we spotted a large Buteo sp. in a tree right beside a field, once we got a bit closer, it turned out to be my first Rough-legged Hawk of the year! We decided we wanted pictures, so we turned the car around and took a few poor but ID'able pics. But the bigger surprise was, climbing trees, surrounded by field, was a little Brown Creeper! Another Year Bird! Which wouldn't'v been seen if we didn't turn around for the Rough-leg.

But soon enough, we were back on our trip towards our first stop. Our first stop is the place that last year, at the SFN CBC, I got my lifer Short-eared Owl. This year, because we split into two groups, I didn't go there, but, the people that did, flushed up 4! So I figured they should still be there. But a couple km down the road from there, we spotted some weird, camo, birds sitting on a stump on the other side of the ditch. What was it? A Short-eared Owl! We quickly turned around and started taking pictures. Sadly, none of mine turned out as good as I had hoped, but some of my dads are really good! Here is the best one I took:

 It was a very beautiful bird, and was the first time I'd seen them not in flight! Definitely the highlight of the day!

So we made our way to the location we expected Short-eareds, but as we walked all along the grass, none were flushed! But I did actually get two new for year species whilst we were there, a calling Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a Northern Shrike chasing another bird along the forest! Shrike was another of my goal birds for the day, so that's 2-down, 1-to go.
Our final location is where we have gotten Long-eared Owls both CBC's we have done. And today was no different, as my dad walked through trying to flush them, I was at the end watching the get flushed out! We saw at leased 8! As I was watching them flush, I was trying to get pics, but, they are so dang fast!! No possible way to catch them!
So that's 3/3 of my goal birds for the day! And soon enough it was time to head home.
So after day two of birding, I am up to 52 species for the year!

Good Birding!

Happy New Year! It Should Be a Fun, Big Year.

So today, the first day of 2013, I went birding (as I do most new years days). But today was different. As a few of you may know, but not all of you, this year, 2013, I am doing a mini, Lambton County Big Year. This mean I am going to try to see / find as many species of bird, in my home county of Lambton Ontario, in a calender year. I am very excited to do this, I think it will be a great challenge, loads of fun, and a fantastic learning experience. The reason I have decided to make this year my Big Year is because, it is pretty much the only year where I plan to be home the whole year. For half of 2014, I plan to be in College, so I wouldn't have a full year birding in the county, and after that, there is a good chance that I will be living and working somewhere else. So that is why I have chosen this to be my big year. I am very excited and hope to learn lots. I don't know if anyone has ever done a Lambton Big Year, but that doesn't mean I don't have a goal to aim for. But if anyone knows if there is, please let me know! And Wish me luck!!

Surf and White-winged Scoters, Scaup, and more? (photo not by me)

So today, mid-morning, I head to Sarnia for a day of birding. On the way to my first destination, I saw 5species, one of which was my first species of 2013!, and that was, Horned Lark, too bad my #2 wasn't the first, because a Merlin would be an awesome first bird of the new year! Oh well, still a good #2! So soon enough, I found myself at the Point Edward Lighthouse, only to find about 3 Thou. Redheads, 1.5 Thou. Long-tailed Ducks, 12 Lesser Scaup, and 2 distant White-winged Scoters being the bests. I decided not to stay there to long because firstly, my hands were Freezing! And second, I wanted to move around a bit so I can clear some species off my need4year list. So next up, was the bridge looking for the Peregrine's, but after a little search, I could not find them, I guess they will have to wait for another day. 

Next was the Sarnia Marina and Area, which gave me my biggest surprise of the day! I counted 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the area! 1 Fly-by and 5 sitting on the ice with all the other Gulls. I was crazily surprised at this number for I have never seen more then 1-2 at a time in the county! Also in the area, 15+ Greater Black-backed's, 1 Glaucous Gull, and a Green-winged Teal (found by Paul Carter previous day).

After the Marina, I headed to Canatara for a walk around. Surprisingly, it was very quiet in the park, not very much to be seen or heard, but one of the few birds I did see, was a White-throated Sparrow, which is a fairly good bird for this time of year!

This little guy was just sitting and staring, so I figured it'd be a shame not to take a picture!

So after that, I decided to head downriver till Couruna, seeing what was in the river, then headed to Perch Creek. In this time, I found 12 Hooded Mergansers, at they are Shell Docks as most years. At one place, there was a tree, with a Red-tailed Hawk sitting no more then 2m away from a big female Cooper's Hawk! Was very surprised that they were so close to each other, was also very surprised that there was a flock of 300+ Mourning Doves!, no more then 100m away on the road, which is a crazy big flock of this species! Also between the two locations, found a group of 3 Red-tailed Hawks circling together! Here is a crappy pic that you can hardly tell their hawks:

 

As I said, very crappy pic.

In between Perch Creek and home, I added a couple more birds for the day, including: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hairy Woodpecker, another Red-tailed, Am. Kestrel, and Merlin, more Snow Bunting and Horned Larks, and, a single Lapland Longspur.

So, by the time I got home, I was up to a grand total of 40 species for the day! But, my day wasn't quite over yet, once it got dark my dad and I went outside and played Eastern Screech-Owl call-back, and got 4 to respond! That's #41!

So day 1, off to a great start in my opinion. Hopefully I can keep the luck!

Good Birding!