Missed Mexico

This past week my parents took a trip to Mexico (I've never been birding in the western part of the Americas) so there have been some cool birds that they took pictures of, being non-birders only from their cell phones mind you.

The week started with the typical non-birder bird, the female House Sparrow, that to most looks like a completely different species of bird. A little backstory on this in my life. My mom loves to watch the birds out of her kitchen window but she isn't very well-versed in the bird identification part of the hobby, seeing as she always had a son to tell her what was what. She knew the basics like Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, and Blue Jay, but most sparrows baffled her (like all new birders or amateur birders), so the female House Sparrow always made her question the species. Throughout the years I've always been called to the kitchen and asked the looming question "what bird is that?" and I would always reply with the "its a female House Sparrow." Not one word of a lie this has probably happened at least 100 times in my life, and it still happens after I've moved out.

More towards the middle of the week I receive a text message from my dad with a picture of something a little more intriguing, he is much more well-versed and has gone on many birding trips with me including my trip to Point Pelee NP in May of last year. Now this bird is one we don't see in Southern Ontario, a female Gila Woodpecker. This is the moment in the story where I start kicking myself wanting to be where they are instead of the cold, arid landscape which is Ontario in January. That bird would have been a lifer for me personally.

Gila Woodpecker - Baja California Sur, Mexico

By Thursday I've gotten told a lot of gulls and Brown Pelican have been hanging around their hotel which is fairly typical for coastal Cabo San Lucas, and they also seen a Great Egret. These were enticing since it's been a very long time since I myself have seen pelican and all of the western gull species they could have as well speak lifer to me. However, what really pushed my jealousy of their trip (other than the 25°C weather compared to just above 0°C here) was the sighting of a beautiful male Hooded Oriole. Even to just see a picture makes me long to go and see that bird. The striking orange that trails all the way to the base of the beak with their typical black mask. I've always had a little place in my heart for orioles of all species and have only been able to get my bins on the two common Ontario species Orchard and Baltimore. This makes my week even without seeing it myself, maybe in years to come I'll be able to take a little trip down to see my very own lifer birds on Mexico's west coast!

Hooded Oriole - Baja California Sur, Mexico

Hooded Oriole - Baja California Sur, Mexico

2020 So Far

So far 2020 has been pretty good, accumulating 57 species already and over 4900 individual birds. 

Week 1 (January 1st - January 4th)
The first week was a very typical 1st week of the year, fast accumulation of bird species, the typical Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, and Dark-eyed Junco were among the first on the year list for me this year. 

Week's end totals:
Species: 41 
Individuals: 490

Week 2 (January 5th - January 11th) 
The second week of January seen very little growth in totals for the year species-wise. Gaining just a singular species (White-crowned Sparrow), but still a wonderful species to see! 

Week's end totals:
Species: 14
Individuals: 654

Week 3 (January 12th - January 18th)
Week 3 was a little better after a little visit to Windermere Basin in Hamilton I knocked off a bunch of duck species in huge numbers! The highlights included a Ruddy Duck and thousands of Long-tailed Ducks. 

Week's end totals:
Species: 37
Individuals: 3,184

Week 4 (January 19th - January 25th)
Slow week filled with travelling and bad weather. Had to take a little last minute trip to Ohio to visit a customer on Wednesday but did not get much time to bird except the car ride (11 hours total) filled with American Crow, Canada Geese, and Red-tailed Hawk. Followed by a rainy/snowy weekend, I did get out to Port Maitland to see some ducks but nothing for songbirds. But on the bright side the 19th pinned a new bird for the year, and a beautiful one too, Short-eared Owl!  

Week's end totals:
Species: 12
Individuals: 575

Short-eared Owl - Selkirk Ontario

2019 Birding Rundown

2019 Rundown 

2019 was a great year for me and all of the birding I did. I seen over 200 species (a personal high for me) and visited a lot of new places including Point Pelee National Park in early May getting my high of 100 species in a single day!

Although not birding much in the winter (January-early March) and in the summer (late June - late August) I got a lot more in between May and September in peak migration season. Seeing lifers like Willet and Connecticut Warbler.

The year ended with me seeing 34 lifers and accumulating more than 17,000 individual birds seen.

2019 was amazing and I cannot wait for 2020 with my goal of birding every day for the whole year (already at 29 days straight going in) and travelling throughout the year (including PEI in August or late July), bring on 2020!

Common Loon - Lake Nosbonsing Ontario

Intro

Hi everyone! My name is Cody Bassindale, I am a birder from Haldimand County (close to Hamilton) Ontario. I have been interested in birds for decades (got my first field guide when I was 4 years old) but in recent years I have been more dedicated to knowing the birds and banding the birds I see as well.

This blog is more of a rundown of what I see around and things I hear in the birding world. I do not travel much so most of my sightings come from around the Hamilton area, aside from my hopefully annual trip to Point Pelee in early may.

Just to give you guys a little rundown for my photographs as well. I'm definitely one of the people who are a birder before photographer. So, that being the case I do not have a great camera (cheapest DSLR Canon sells) and all of my lenses match that cheap description. I like to take photos but most of them will be a little blurry and I apologize for that for sure but I hope the story behind the photo is a lot better than the photo itself!

Thanks I hope you enjoy my posts!