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Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

It started off well – brilliant stars and a nearly full moon, a warm, clear night, and a northbound flight of thrushes as I waited in my driveway at 2.30am for the others (no, we didn’t start at midnight). To my ears, most of the thrushes were Swainson’s and Veerys but with a nice sprinkling of the high down-slurred calls of Gray-cheeked. But the rest of the day was an endurance test in record-breaking high temperatures – the car thermometer stayed at 34C for six hours in the middle of the day and with the humidity it was technically nearer 40C most of the time. Not surprisingly, most birds were in the coolest spots they could find and not at all keen to show themselves, let alone sing, so we worked hard for our final somewhat disappointing total of 140 species.

My companions were Richard Pope and Bill Gilmour. Our itinerary was entirely within Northumberland County, east of Toronto, so we were also sneakily trying to set a new Northumberland Big Day record, presently standing at 149. Night birding gave us a cooperative Eastern Screech-Owl, Whip-poor-wills and American Woodcock but the firefly-lit marshes were silent. As first light glimmered, we did some one-stop-shopping for grassland sparrows on Trenear Road near Brighton. A Grasshopper Sparrow, beautifully illuminated in the car headlights as we drew up at this excellent location, sat on the road and sang for us, and five more minutes produced Clay-colored, Field, Vesper, and Savannah as well.

Our next stop was Owen Point at Presqu’ile Provincial Park to scan Lake Ontario before the heat-shimmer got too severe. We picked up quite a few species here, but there were disappointingly few shorebirds, and the lingering Red-necked Grebe and Red-throated Loons, present for days before, had disappeared. As we birded the area around the Lighthouse, the Red-bellied Woodpecker squawked on cue but there were very few warblers and other small passerines, and Bill’s usually well-attended backyard feeders were unexpectedly quiet.

Inland the heat was building, what birdsong there was diminished even further, and new species were few and far between. We did have a few bonuses – feisty Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers dutifully sang where we looked for them, Black-billed Cuckoos were already calling as we drew up at a woodlot where we had heard them last year, and Richard’s strange howls were convincing enough to call in a Barred Owl where we hadn’t expected to find one. An Upland Sandpiper quietly sat on a fencepost for us to enjoy, and a Red-headed Woodpecker was flying to its nest even as we turned off the main road to look for it. So we succeeded with several relatively difficult species, but even common warblers were impossible to find – Blackburnian was probably our biggest miss, though we tried in many likely places.

The mosquitoes were loving the merciless heat. Scope-carrying birders are their main delight – as you walk along, the hand you cantilever your scope with is exposed and unprotected, almost instantly becoming a mass of painful mosquito bites. Perhaps a golf-glove would help- We struggled on, tracking down new birds excruciatingly slowly. Some light relief came at a manmade pond near Grafton, where we added Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs before realizing that one of the ducks on the shoreline looked very strange, a strikingly-plumaged almost-textbook Baikal Teal! But some features weren’t quite right and we concluded it was a Baikal Teal X Mallard hybrid. Would we have counted it if it had been a “real” Baikal Teal? At this point in the day, probably we would!

As dusk approached, back we went to Presqu’ile. We scoped the beaches for the elusive Piping Plover or any other new shorebirds without success. As night fell, we stood on top of the marsh viewing-platform listening to Marsh Wrens and Swamp Sparrows, but not one American Bittern called in the hour or more we were there, even though Bill had had several noisy bitterns in sight from exactly the same spot only a few nights before. Our last bird was a ghostly Common Nighthawk floating by on the horizon. But by now we were almost completely surrounded by rapidly gathering thunderstorms, with impressive lightning flashes to the east and south, so being on top of a high viewing platform no longer seemed such a good idea. It was nearly 10pm, time to call it a very long day.

Margaret Bain

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Rather than driving 300 kilometers and chasing half-way across Ontario, we declared that we would do our Birdathon, as “Celebrity Birders” for the Ontario Field Ornithologists, entirely within the deep dark depths of urban Toronto.

When we assessed the territory and planned our route, we told prospective sponsors that we would see between 100 and 130 species. When given a quoted range, most people remember only the low figure. At least we have observed that tendency when it comes to spending money. Thus we look at the bright side of only reaching 102 species on our Birdathon.

But let us give it context: Every bird we saw, from the humble House Sparrow to the mighty Peregrine Falcon to the diminutive Blue?gray Gnatcatcher was seen in a public urban space.

We know, as do many of you that the geography and vegetation of Toronto makes for a surprisingly rich variety of avifauna. Of course Birdathon is timed to take advantage of both migration and breeding season so our chances of seeing birds were maximized. So where did we go to see these birds? As we drove down our street at 6:45 a.m. we saw an American Robin, Chimney Swift, European Starling and Northern Cardinal on our way to the Leslie Street Spit where we put in quite few hours of serious birding. The “Baselands” wet woods, which are jeopardized by the planned Lake Ontario Park transect and “improvements”, were full of birds and bird watchers. Gnatcatchers nest there, so we heard the constant bizzing of their call as we looked and listened for warblers and thrushes. Further out the spit, in the bays and ponds, we saw fewer ducks than expected but did find several shorebirds as well as herons, terns, gulls, sandpipers and, of course, cormorants. When we felt we had seen about as much as we could see and were just getting back to the car, a mature male Eastern Bluebird perched on a post with the sun lighting up his delightful sky blue back and red breast. We lingered to enjoy the sight, even as we knew we were wasting valuable time!

From the Spit we went to the west side of the city and walked along the Humber River and into James Gardens and Lambton Woods. As we had expected, we saw Cliff Swallows but no amount of walking in circles produced either of our other “target species” for the woods, Pileated Woodpecker and Black-capped Chickadee; so slightly downhearted and stressed we went to the corner of Bloor and Islington and had a nice look at the Peregrine Falcons. We could have done this “naked eye” but did put up the scope for a close look. Again just wasting time on the beauty of the birds!

From there it was down to the western waterfront, with a short deviation to find a Northern Mockingbird in the industrial area beside the 427. Colonel Sam Smith Park produced the elusive Black-capped Chickadee and a Cooper’s Hawk as well as a flock of Brant and long lines of White-winged Scoters skimming the surface of Lake Ontario.

It was now getting towards dusk and we had to decide; the Humber River at Old Mill for the Red-tailed Hawk nest or Humber Bay Park for ducks. We had recorded Great Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron and Belted Kingfisher, so the river was probably only a one species stop. The vote went for the waterfront again. We were desperate: we actually had not reached 100 species. Our performance was not going to impress anyone, in a positive way. Fortunately Humber Bay produced!! Trumpeter Swan got us to 99. Two Hooded Mergansers brought us to 100 and a Greater Scaup was 101. It was good to have one extra in case we had miscounted.

But we were not done yet. Our party, Garth Riley and Nancy McPherson who provided stalwart help and companionship all day and Raunie Ratcliffe who had kindly taken over the driving as we started to flag, returned to The Spit. We stood at the side of grotty Unwin Avenue with industrial land behind us, a chain link fence and the occasional dubious-looking car between us and the Baselands. As we peered into the desolate darkness, we heard it, beeep.. beeeep.. beeep..beeep. Woodcocks were calling and displaying!

So we made it to 102.

And we are honoured to have been the OFO Celebrity Birders for 2009. Thanks to all our sponsors!

John & Victoria Carley-

Held 6:45 pm Friday, 16 May to 6:45 pm Saturday, 17 May, 2008

We were very honoured to be selected the OFO Celebrity team for the Baillie Birdathon, and determined to raise lots of money. Our plan was to start in Middlesex County, on Friday evening, where we had knowledge of nesting species. There were ideal conditions, a wonderfully calm, sunny evening. We started at 6:45 pm near the London airport where Ian had scouted some areas. A number of wet spots held ducks and shorebirds and we made the rounds of the nesting raptors: Osprey, Bald Eagle, Cooper’s Hawk, Peregrines and Merlin.

Being successful, we headed out to Komoka Provincial Park, where we knew a number of species could be located in a variety of habitats. Grasshopper Sparrow and other field species as well as ducks and shorebirds were found. Amazingly we got 12 Whimbrel there, and picked up 3 Ring-necked Duck and luckily saw a Common Nighthawk.

Our next stop was the Delaware Sportsman’s Pond (a.k.a. “Anhinga Marsh”), which disappointed this year as only Sora was obtained for the list. After an unsuccessful hunt for owls, due to the noisy Delaware Speedway, we turned in for a quick sleep.

The following morning we were on the road by 5:00 am, with a successful stop for Eastern Screech-Owl and getting a bonus Whip-poor-will. The morning started rather clear and not too windy, but a noticeable change was occurring and our attempts at Great Horned Owl were fruitless. It was overcast and windy by the time we got to Skunk’s Misery, our potentially make-or-break location, and we became concerned. Seeking out the more sheltered locations, which unfortunately also held hordes of mosquitoes, we picked up the usual species, including Hooded and Cerulean Warblers, Acadian Flycatcher and Pileated Woodpecker. We were pleasantly surprised by getting Broad-winged Hawk and a female Hooded Merganser. Alas, not too many migrants were located so we headed to Rondeau.

We had ended up with 104 species before we left Middlesex County. Along the way, we stopped at various habitats known to us, and picked up a few species, notably Greater Scaup in a small farm pond beside the road. As we traveled down to the lakeshore from Morpeth we picked up a few lake birds including Common Loon, Red-breasted Merganser, and several gull species.

We had hoped that there would be lots of migrants in Rondeau, but it didn’t pan out that way. We did pick up lots of species, mainly because we were lucky with a glorious pocket of warblers near the Maintenance Buildings which included an Orange-crowned Warbler and several Wilson’s Warblers. We also got a Yellow-breasted Chat near the Pony Barns, thanks to several local birders. While looking for the Yellow-breasted Chat, we got a pair of Tufted Titmice, and at the feeders at the Visitor’s Centre a couple of Pine Pine Siskins were grubbing. Unfortunately we “dipped out” on Prothonotary Warblers, and the Worm-eating Warbler that were said to be around. So with the wind swirling, we headed out of Rondeau to try other spots. As tradition dictated, as we left, we managed to each down a quadruple-scoop tub of ice cream from our favourite spot.

We worked our way over to Erieau and there we picked up Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin and Ruddy Turnstones, which were numerous in the fields. In fact, large flights of those species were coming across the lake from the south. Only common species of gulls at the harbour produced nothing new, so we headed up to the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. We were seven species richer in waterfowl when we left there which included a Bufflehead and Horned Grebe.

We found a number of species at the Hillman Shorebird Habitat, thanks to the large group of birders there who helped us out; thanks everyone! We were standing there in short sleeves, as it was sunny and fairly warm, though there was a breeze. Unfortunately, the Mottled Duck wasn’t there at the time, nor did we encounter the King Rail from over on the road, but we got Willet, Little Gull, and Wilson’s Phalarope among others. Many shorebirds were noted coming in from off the lake. At one point it was quite an exciting sight to see all the clouds of shorebirds scared up by a passing Peregrine.

After gleaning information about Point Pelee from the birders we encountered, as well as reading the Pelee Ontbirds Report on our PDA, we decided to make only a short visit there because we had already observed most of the species being reported there and as it was getting on in the day, we thought it would be more profitable to head north to investigate two more marshes. We birded Sanctuary area only. Then off we went.

North of Tilbury is a marsh which you can look at through a fence, and we could see Common Moorhen, but the wind was blowing a gale, we had to bundle up again, and scopes were not able to be used. It soon rained, so we gave up and headed north to Angler Line marshes. Stocking up on gas and supplies, we drove through sun, wind and rain on the way there, watching a beautiful rainbow, and odd cloud formations, wondering if this weather would end our luck. No sooner had we arrived but the Yellow-headed Blackbird called and flew about. The sun had burst out and the winds were light here, so we also heard Least Bittern. Then, just down from that location we saw a Green Heron. Just as time was running out at 6:43 pm, I walked over to a ditch along the road, and a Black-crowned Night-Heron flew up and we watched it fly over to settle into the marsh, our last bird, the 172nd species in our odyssey. After about 18 hours of birding and travelling over 450 km we were pretty exhausted.

We were pleased with this total, which on such a “weather day” with relatively few migrants being seen, seemed even more satisfying. We even were able to get 23 warbler species, including goodies as mentioned, but missing Black-throated Blue and Cape May – yikes.

We really enjoyed our father-son outing while raising money for the OFO and BSC. Again, we thank OFO for allowing us to represent them in the Baillie Birdathon this year and a huge thank you to all the birders who helped us along the way and to the many who sponsored us with their pledges for OFO and BSC.

Good birding!

Pete Read for the Grippers: Gavin, Rob, Ian & Pete