End of March Birding

Birded the Sarnia Area today, starting out at Wawanosh. Nothing really of much note there, waterfowl numbers have decreased in the past week(s), but there were quite a few Song Sparrows singing throughout the walk! We headed to the Modeland Rd flooded fields, after seeing what Eric had reported there a couple weeks ago I couldn't resist! We did not quite get the same species as he did, however one new for year at least! 5 Blue-winged Teal made species #104 for my Lambton County Big Year.

Poor qual, distant Blue-winged Teal

After there, we headed to Point Edward Lighthouse, and after that Sarnia Bay. The lighthouse had nothing but distant Long-tailed Ducks and a few Mergs.Could not find the Horned Grebe we had seen there last weekend(#101). The Bay was also fairly un-active. Though I did notice something weird with a couple of Gulls. There were two "Herring Gull"'s side-by-side, but one was noticeably larger? I'm guessing it must have been a small male and large female? Also two nice Bald Eagles made an appearance, one actually wasn't camera shy!

What you think of the Gulls?

Other recent additions include: Northern Shoveler(#102), and Carolina Wren[finally(#103)].
Other notables include: 14 Cackling Geese, and 2 Greater White-fronted Geese on Bear Creek near Petrolia on the 23rd.

Good Birding!

Finally 100!

Yesterday I decided it was about time to check Forest Town Sewage Lagoons for the first time of the year. Went fairly well! Was able to rack up two new species, First species was actually the most present duck there, the American Wigeon. There had to be at least 110! Was scoping them all out searching for anything different like a Eurasian or something.. Didn't turn up any though. There were also a surprising number of both Ring-necked Duck and American Black Duck compared to Mallards too. Soon enough I found my 100th species!! Woohoo! 3 white morph Snow Geese swimming around in the lagoon! Through some more scanning I was able to pick out 13 Cackling Geese. One single group of 9, and two groups of 2.
http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S13442945
 
After that, on to Wawanosh Wetlands for the first time this year as well. At Wawanosh I was able to pick out another 7 Cackling Geese, might have missed one because the Chris and Janette Davidson reported 8 that day there. Also there were two American Wigeon, two Gadwall flying around, two Hooded Mergansers, and 3 American Coots.
 http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S13442820

 None of my picture today worked out very worth while, this probably only decent one of the day.

Over all a very good day!

Good Birding!

NewBz and Unique Experience

So since my last post, we have not had any days of really nice sunny weather, I was hopping it would have stayed! I have a few new birds to report for the year. First of all, on Monday night myself and my dad, had our first American Woodcock of the year, "peent"'ing and doing flight displays. Though I haven't seen/heard'm since!
Also today, I went to A.W. Campbell Conservation Area in Alvinston to help out with setting up for some of the maple syrup festival that is tomorrow. On my way back from there, I noticed a unique bird fly across the road in front of me. A bird with a very pointed bill, and a fairly short tail with white outer rects. You guessed it, Eastern Meadowlark! Another new bird for the year. When I got home, I decided to go for a walk in the forest, also decided to go down to the neighbours property's for some birding as well. While I was down there, I was able to find a Swamp Sparrow foraging in a weedy/shrubby area. Also on my way back along the tracks, I found a nice Northern Shrike not to far away! Once I got back to the house I started thinking and realised that last year, within about a week of this time, on two different dates, I went down the neighbours following bear creek off our property and found multiple wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and  green-winged teal. I decided to take my dad down the creek for his first time. It is a really nice area to be in, and whilst we were walking down the river, we found 4 Wood Ducks (new for year), 2 Green-winged Teal, and 2 Hooded Mergansers. Same species as I found last year!
On our way back we saw a very unique, and unusual experience! It has nothing to do with birds, but it was most definitely one of or the most amazing  mammal experience I've ever had. 

We stopped on a bridge over the creek, to see some splashing in the water a little ways down. While looking through binoculars, we got a good look at what the commotion was all about. in the water, splashing, there was what we believe, to have been, a BEAVER!! The first Beaver I have ever seen! And the reason it was splashing made the incidence even better! It was trying to scare away a Mink! Once the Mink ran away, it swam across the creek, and started splashing again! And soon we saw a Second Mink on the bank! They soon all disappeared, and we continued back.
The reason we thought Beaver and not Muskrat is that when it was swimming and splashing, it appeared to have a wide tail. Also we had been finding both new and old beaver shewed trees the entire walk, and also a large hole in the side of the bank. I've done a little research and found that they do occasionally dig holes in banks for there homes!
Very Exciting!

Good Birding!

Sping is FINALLY Here!

The past few days, spring has most definitely arrived! Within the past 5 or so days, there have been massive movements of many species, including Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Turkey Vultures, Killdeer, and Tundra Swans. Blackbirds had a massive movement on Wed-Thurs, they were everywhere on Thurs! And still are! I am hearing Killdeer almost everywhere I go!
Today I went to the Pinery Provincial Park with the family, and also hit a couple other spots in the area. First we went to the Lambton Heritage Museum Fields to take a look at the Tundra Swans that congregate there in huge numbers every year. My estimate today when I was there was approx. 3800 individuals. After that we went to the park and walked a bunch of trails. During thee walks, we found quite a few of the parks common species, lots of Tufted Titmice and White-breasted Nuthatches, also got my first Belted Kingfisher of the year, and a very close few of a young bald eagle, just about 30ft above our heads. Near the end of our walk on one of the trails, we found this little weird but cool looking squirrel. My best and only guess is that it was a Red Squirrel and Eastern Gray Squirrel cross.
After the Pinery, we went for a quick look at Kettle Point, there wasn't much around there, a male Northern Harrier made a round, and a single Cackling Goose amongst a small group of Canada's, which was also new for the year. There was also a young Iceland Gull flying around in the distance.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:

Crazy Squirrel right?

Good Birding!

Past Two Days

So today, I once again went to Perch Creek looking for the Saw-whet. And once again, for the 3rd time this year, didn't have any luck. I suspect this will be the last time I spend looking for it this winter because if it hasn't left to go back up north to breed, it will fairly soon. While we were almost in Sarnia, we decided to check out the Bay, and the Lake, and hopefully get some Green-winged Teal photos. So we headed into town. Our first stop, was the south side of the bay. There, across the ice/water, there were Mallards, a few Black Ducks, Redheads and both Scaup. Also, sitting on the ice, was a small 30ish sized group of gulls. In between those and the Gulls flying by, I counted 6 Greater Black-backed Gulls, 1 Iceland Gull(first winter), and 7!! Glaucous Gulls. Until I realised, One of the so-called Glaucous Gulls, had some gray tips to the wings, and was slightly smaller then the others. My first Herring x Glaucous Hybrid! Aka. "Nelson's Gull". So that was a fair excitement. Other then that, here are some photo's to tell the rest of my Sarnia Bay experience.

 Mallard x American Black Duck Hybrid

  Female Redhead

 

Tiny Green-winged Teal behind American Black Duck.

After the Bay, we hit the bridge and the lighthouse. At the Bridge, both Peregrines were flying around as we pulled up, and at the Lighthouse, there was the normal Long-tailed Ducks and Common Mergs. Also at the lighthouse, was that Female Surf Scoter again, but it was wayyyy out, just a dot without a scope.


Yesterday was also a fairly goodday at home. Within an hour of waking up in the morning, I looked outside to see a large flock of Redpolls fly by. I went outside with scope and binoculars and managed the search the whole 85+ bird flock before they flew on again. In the flock, with the scope, I got Great looks at 2 individual Hoary Redpolls, and my First Ever "Greater" Common Redpoll! Both of these were very nice sights to see! Other then those, the same'ol same'ol around, Downy's, Hairy's, Red-bellied's, a Wild Turkey, Chick-a-dee's, the usual.

Good Birding!

LIFER#2 of the Year

Today after school I decided to head over to the river, mainly to look for those Greater White-fronted Geese that have been being reported the last couple days there. They have been being reported around Fawn Island area so I figured I'd head south towards there. During the drive, and all the places I stopped at, I observed 2 Iceland Gulls, 1 Glaucous Gull, a White-winged Scoter, my first Female Northern Pintail of the year, and my first Common Grackle of the year. I was surprised at the lack of a single black-backed gull on the river! Once I got down towards Sombra area, I started to see a surprising number of Ring-necked Ducks, I counted 14 in the general Sombra area. As well as my second new for the year species of the day, an American Coot swimming with the scaup, Mallards, R-N Ducks, and a few other species. I finally got down to Fawn Island and pulled into a little parking lot, pulled out the scope, and scanned the geese on the island. Soon enough, I managed to spot a small sleeping, brown goose. Greater White-fronted Goose!! My Lifer!! Though it was not the best view in the world, its head was tucked in. Though after a little while longer of scanning the shore and the water, all the geese took off, and among them I found 2 Greater White-fronted Geese! Guess there must have been on hiding at the back where I couldn't see it! I managed to get a little better of a view in flight, but still not perfect. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want to leave it in the car at school all day. I decided To head back home. On the way back I also found both a Peregrine Falcon, and Merlin fly over Hwy40 while I was driving.

Other things of interest since last post:
-I am up to 5 Red-shouldered Hawks for the year! 4 in-county, one outside.
-Last Sunday I found a Savannah Sparrow on the side of the road near the Bluewater Center for Raptor Rehabilitation.
-I think it was the friday before that when I found a female Surf Scoter from Point Edward Lighthouse.

Figured I should try to get at least one photo into this post. Photo from a few winters ago.

So with the 3 new species today, my county list is up to 89 species for the year. 2 of which have been Lifers!

Untill next time,
Good Birding!