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So first thing in the mourning yesterday, I went outside briefly and heard a Yellow Warbler (#148) singing, then later in the day heard it again. Then headed to the Lambton Wildlife outing. The outing went quite well! The Port Franks Forested Dunes are quite a nice area!! During our walk, we managed to find an Osprey (#149) fly over fairly low for a fantastic view!! Glad to get that off the list!! Closer to then end of our walk, we heard a calling Sandhill Crane (#150) as well! On our walk back, we met up with a small pocket of birds! Most of which Pine Warblers, one providing an excellent look! Also in the group were a few "Western" Palm Warblers and some Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

Adult Male Pine Warbler

After we finished our walk, my dad and I headed over to "L" Lake for a quick look, got Common Loon, Purple Martin, and a few other swallows.

  Common Loon

After lunch we went to the Tundra Swan fields on Greenway Road. We got a few more species at this location, a single lone Tundra Swan (must be lonely!), many Bonaparte's Gulls, through a scan of the field in the scope, we were able to find 4 Greater Yellowlegs, a single Lesser Yellowlegs (#153), and a group of 35plus Dunlin (#151). Also at this location, heard a singing, and briefly saw a Vesper Sparrow (#152).

Today was the OFO trip to Rondeau PP. Over-all had a pretty good day! I ended with 75sp total for the day, including some new for Ontario years, and a lifer! New birds for year included: Caspian Tern, Blue-headed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Purple Finch. By the time lunch was upon us, it had already started to rain. And despite checking multiple times, we could not find the Yellow-throated Warblers. 

Soon after lunch, we headed over to the cottage the warblers have been being seen at once more. This time, shortly after we go there, there it was!! A Yellow-throated Warbler!! On the suet feeder no more then 15ft away!! We were able to watch it in bins for some time, and watched it gabbing at a red-breasted nuthatch trying to scare it off! Soon enough, the second one showed itself to us!! This was a very exciting LIFER(#363)(ON#272), and such a beautiful bird! I'm going to have to call it one of my favourites now! It is such a nice bird, the pictures I've seen of them, really don't do them justice. Unfortunatly because of the rain, we could not get pictures of them..

Later on, we went to a few other places, one of them being Erieau in search of the Lark Sparrow, unfortunately it hasen't been seen sinse friday night. We did get Forester's Terns and Horned Grebes there of note. Some people saw an adult Little Gull with a Transmitter of sorts on its back. Euro bird? Guess we'll probably never know.

 Rose-breasted Grosebeak Male

  Farily yellow Blue-headed Vireo

Over-all, despite the rain, a very enjoyable day.

Good Birding! 

Quick Post

Today went on Lambton Wildlife's Properties Tour to Pork Franks Forested Dunes. I got 6 new species for the year, 2 were at the dunes/L Lake. The 6 new species for the year are:
-Yellow Warbler
-Osprey
-Sandhill Crane
-Dunlin
-Vesper Sparrow
-Lesser Yellowlegs


I will try to give a more detailed post about today tomorrow...
And tomorrow I am also headed to Rondeau PP. for the OFO trip. Should be fun!!

Good Birding!

The Early Bird Gets...Snowed On?

Crazy weather this year! Yesterday above 20C, and now today its snow/sleeting! At the end of April no-less! Anyways, Monday after school I went to Canatara in search of the Louisiana Waterthrush that Eric Marcum had reported the morning of.. Unfortunately no luck on the Waterthrush, but I did get a few birds off the list! First off, went for a walk in our forest before I went there, not much to be seen actually, did get my first "Western" Palm Warbler (#144) of the year! Not much else, not even a "Myrtle"! But anyways in Canatara I added two species.. House Wren (#145), and that early bird, which is actually one of my favourite species of bird! An early girl Northern Parula was sitting out in the open for me and a couple others to see! So that was fairly exciting, not quite as exciting as a Louisi but exciting no-less! I also noted a Song Sparrow with very very thin streaking...But seems to just be a Song.. Oh well..

Unfortunately just a Song Sparrow.

NOPA showing it's cool-green mantle.

 And a front view now.

 Saw 3 of these cute lil'guys, two were modeling quite nice!

 #2

Still lots of Hemies!

Good Birding!

Mid April Migration and Pictures

In this post, I'm basically showing pictures from today, and writing new Lambton Year Birds.
Last post ended at 131.. So there are a number of birds to add since then:
132- Blue-grey Gnatcatcher - Back-yard - 17th
133- Brown Thrusher - Back-yard - 17th
134- Swainson's Thrush - Back-yard - 17th
135- Bonaparte's Gull - Forest Sewage Lagoons - 20th
136- Forrster's Tern - "FSL" - 20th
137- Eastern Towhee - Back-yard - 21st
138- Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Wawanosh Wetlands - 21st
139- Bank Swallow - "WW" -21st
140- Broad-winged Hawk - "WW" - 21st
141- Common Tern - Sarnia Marina - 21st
142- Cliff Swallow - Dow Wetlands - 21st
143- Double-crested Cormorant - Lorne C. Henderson - 21st

Now for some pictures:

 Coulda made a good in-flight shot if branch wasn't there.

 As you are probably starting to see, I had a bit of a "Myrtle" Warble-shoot.

 Showing its yellow-crown and rump.

 Young Cooper's

 Pine Warbler

 Not a Pine Tree in sight!

 Cropped a little more.

 More "Myrtle" (Yellow-rumped) Warblers

 Eatin Coots

 N. Rough-winged Swallow behind branches

All previous from Wawanosh Wetlands. 

 "I'm watching you." --Canatara

If you look closely, you can see the neck and head of a Wild Turkey in CANATARA PARK!

The following are at Dow Wetlands.

Pair of Pide-billed Grebes

 Eastern Meadowlark

Despite trying for some time, this is the only ID'able Cliff Swallow shot I got.

eBird Checklists for today:

Wawanosh Checklist

Modland Road Fields Checklist

Canatara Checklist

Sarnia Marina/Bay Checklist

Dow Wetlands Checklist



Good Birding!

New Birds + New Lambton Life Bird

Today I went to Forest Sewage Lagoons after school with my dad, and was Not disappointed. Minutes after arriving, we saw a Purple Martin (#129) fly-over with a Tree Swallow. After about five minutes of scanning the south cell, I was able to pick out an interesting female-type duck. This duck, I am 99.9% sure, was a Female EURASIAN WIGEON! (#130). I had direct comparison to many American Wigeon, and it was noticeably different. And after about 10-15min of studying, I had decided that must be what it is. Unfortunately, though trying to photograph the bird, it was hard to find without the scope, and the pictures unfortunately didn't turn out... By the end of the walk around the lagoon, we also got a Spotted Sandpiper (#131).
Forest Sewage Lagoon eBird Checklist

Also, earlier today in our forest, found two Ruby-crowned Kinglets (#128) with a flock of Golden and Brown Creepers. Also yesterday, while waiting at the bus stop, got Barn Swallow (#127).

Sunday, spent a couple hours at Canatara. As reported by Paul Carter earlier in the day, there were two Black-crowned Night-Herons (#124), and finally got my Fox Sparrows (#125) there as well. And, on the way home, in the field across the road from my property, stopped and found a Greater Yellowlegs (#126).
Canatara eBird Checklist

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Good Birding!

Junco Help?

Don't have time for a full report, sooo:

What do you people think of this junco? I don't think its a pure slate-colored, but I don't know if it should be called a Oregon? Cassier?

BDay Birding + the Day After

Yesterday was my 18th birthday, and I was out birding almost all day. The first place I went to was Kettle Point. There wasn't a ton there, but I did get one White-winged Scoter, one Glaucous Gull, and my first of year Common Loon (#110). After that, went to the tundra swan fields behind the Lambton Heritage Museum. There were only 2 Tundra Swans left there, a small assortment of ducks, and there was a Pectoral Sandpiper (#111) foraging with a few Killdeer.
We spent multiple hours birding in the Pinery PP, hiking Riverside, Hickory, Heritage, Carolinian, Cedar, and Pine trails. Riverside had a fair bit of activity, best there being a Pileated Woodpecker about 50ft from us.

Hickory was probably the best trail of the day, many Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Song Sparrows, a Eastern Phoebe, and best of all, Pine Warbler (#112). One individual was heard singing, then seen flying over before disappearing into the pines. Next was Heritage, which for the most part was very slow, about 10 Eastern Bluebirds were among the only birds seen. We parked the car at Burley Bridge and walked to the Carolinian Trail. From the bridge, one Belted Kingfisher, one Bald Eagle, and tons of Turkey Vultures. On the trail, we saw an American Robin, a Canada Goose, anddddd, that's about it. Over on the Cedar Trail, from the lookout over the river, there were a few Wood Ducks, two Canada Geese, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes (#113). Last, and actually least for once, Pine Trail. We only saw a few American Crows, and heard a Pileated Woodpecker while on this trail. We then headed out the park, and on the road on our way home, we saw a Northern Goshawk (#114)! It flew out over the road, about 2/3s of the way across, the did a U-turn and went back into the forest of the Pinery. Pinery eBird Checklist





Last stop for the day was Forest Sewage Lagoons. Nothing new for the year, but a huge assortment of ducks! Almost all the ducks around at this time of year! 3 Cackling Geese among them. Still looking for a Eurasian Wigeon here, there always seems to be a lot of American. Forest Sewage Lagoon eBird Checklist

Ended the day with a total of 68 species.

Today, while volunteering at the Bluewater Center for Raptor Rehabilitation, I heard a Hermit Thrush (#115) singing. And after I was done there, my dad and I went to Canatara Park in Sarnia. Canatara was jumping with birds! 4 Blue-winged Teal, 5 Northern Shoveler, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 1 Horned Grebe in Huron, 1 Great Egret (#119), 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (#116), 40+ Northern Flickers, 7 Eastern Phoebes, 1 Tree Swallow (#120), 3 Brown Creepers, 1 Swamp Sparrow, 1 Field Sparrow (#117), and 5 Myrtle Warblers/Yellow-rumped Warbler (#118). Canatara eBird Checklist

 Great Egret flying

Eastern Phoebe

After I was home, I went for a quick walk ans was able to pick out a bunch of Rusty Blackbirds (#121) in a mixed blackbird flock.

Good Birding!

Early April Lagoons

This afternoon went to Watford Sewage Lagoons, was not disappointed. About 100m West of the Road to the lagoons there was a puddle in the field, there were 2Killdeer and my first of year Wilson's Snipe (#107). Soon we headed down the path to the lagoon, only to be stopped when I saw my first of year American Pipit (#108) foraging in the field. Once we got to the lagoon, it wasn't long before I found my third new species for the year, the one I was most expecting to find, Ruddy Ducks (#109).
eBird Checklist -- Watford Lagoon

Also yesterday morning right as I walked out the door to go to my bus stop, I heard an Eastern Phoebe (#105) calling, and later in the afternoon, in our forest, I saw at least 40 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 4-5 Brown Creepers, and my first of year Winter Wren (#106).

On another note, today I saw my second butterfly species of the year, Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly, saved it from my garage. I have had 3 Mourning Cloaks so far this year as well.

Good Birding!