Week 12 (March 16 - March 22)

This week has been very much a slow week. With the COVID-19 virus and the social distancing I haven't been out with anyone and I've been trying to avoid crowded areas, which for some reason right now is hard to do. Everyone when there is a pandemic has been deciding to see nature. Which for birders trying to social distance while still going to their local quiet spot is very hard.

I went to a little bit of private property owned by my family on Sunday. It's right beside Selkirk Prov. Park so I could see all of the vehicles parked by the gate and it was crazy! There were so many vehicles there were some that ended up parking along the side of the road. It's like people were thinking that with the current epidemic that they should just go out and go for a walk because going to a local park in "Social Distancing."

The week did see me going to a quite a few places after work, including Sayer's Park in Hamilton and Ruthven a few nights as well.

Ruthven was normal, nothing overly exciting. Most of the common birds. One thing is weird. I've been birding a lot after 5 and more towards 6 o'clock to be honest, and I have had a hard time finding Blue Jay at Ruthven in the evening. That is one thing I have never had a problem with before so it is definitely weird thing. Hopefully it's just the time of day and nothing overly serious.

Saturday saw me going to Sedgewick Forest in Oakville, a small spot where I seen my first White-eyed Vireo in Ontario. There I was able to bag the first Ruby-crowned Kinglet this year and an amazing view of a Cooper Hawk! Didn't see a whole lot of other birds probably due to the hawk scanning around.

Where I got the real excitement was at the wetland in the private property owned by my family! I only went for a little walk and I spotted a personal high of 13 Wood Ducks! With a box back there I am hoping we get at least 1 pair nesting back there. It was also packed with raptors! 5 Bald Eagle, 3 Red-tailed Hawk, and 2 Turkey Vulture all circling in the same place. The 5 baldies were all circling together and 3 of which were adults, 2 I thought may have started Kartwheeling but they unfortunately did not, nonetheless, it was still amazing seeing so many of the eagles all at once and I am pleased that their numbers are growing!

Weekly Totals:
Species: 42
Individuals: 470

Cooper Hawk - Oakville ON

COVID-19 and How it is Affecting the Birding Community

By now everyone knows about the COVID-19 virus going around putting the world in utter panic. This has put a big thorn into peoples' sides and panic in their minds. I want everyone to make sure they are safe in this turbulent time but that doesn't mean stop birding.

The biggest warning put out by organizations such as the American Birding Association is that birding is what will keep the calmness in your minds and the relaxation in your body. Now, this doesn't mean birding in large groups is still okay, I would strongly advise against it. Small groups (no more than 10 people max) should be going out at one point in time and any of those feeling and showing the signs of COVID-19 should remain on self-quarantine for 14 days as suggested by the Canadian Government. I'm sure this will all work itself out at some point we just need to be diligent and more importantly stay safe! I'm going to remain birding and posting in this time and I'm hoping soon I will be able to start talking more and more about migrants and the movement of birds though my local station (Ruthven) which is closed to the public (myself included) until the 6th of April.

If there are any people curious of the symptoms of COVID-19 then please read this form put out by the Ontario Health and Wellness website: COVID-19 Self Assessment

Here is a great statement put out by the Ted Floyd of the ABA on things we as a community should be doing in this time of emergency, I hope you enjoy: Five Things ABA Members and Other Birders Can Do and Should Do During the Ongoing COVID-19 Emergency

Stay safe everyone and good birding!

 

Week 11 (March 9th - 15th)

This is the week I hit 100 days straight birding, and with that came with an exciting new sighting! Greater White-fronted Goose and Snow Goose! Although I didn't get any pictures the flock of White-fronts was a good size one and very showy and easy to see.

The rest of the week was slow so let's move on to Friday when I had the day off. I didn't drive everywhere but I did drive to the Royal Botanical Gardens and made my way around the boardwalk, lots of Ring-necked Duck and even a Belted Kingfisher made an appearance.  Even seen my first Carolina Wren this year. From the boardwalk I headed back homewards to the Hagersville Quarry, caught a couple Hooded Merganser but didn't see much else unfortunately. Then I decided to move on to the bridge not too far from Peacock Point where I spotted a small group of Northern Shoveler in the flooded field.

Saturday was a long day of birding with a friend of mine. He and I drove all over Hamilton starting at Windermere where he and I spotted the Pied-billed Grebe that's been kicking around there and spotted a Green-winged Teal at the back bank. 2 new species for the year on both of our lists. Not to mention a large flock of Ruddy Duck (60)! Next off to the Burlington Ship Canal; nothing too notable, trying to look for the Red-throated Loon I seen earlier in the week, but we missed it! Here is the real kicker, there was a Red-throated Loon spotted a couple of hours later. From there we decided to move on to Stoney Creek (10th Rd and 8th Rd). On 10th we spotted a few Eastern Meadowlark and listened to their amazing calls for a while before moving on to 8th Rd. 8th was great, seen a whole flock of Northern Pintail (35) and a pair of American Wigeon swimming in a large puddle in the middle of the field. We then moved to a little quarry not too far away and seen our second Pied-billed Grebe of the day along with a male Wood Duck. From there he and I took a little drive to the Beamer CA Hawkwatch. Slow day there mostly, nothing too exciting other than an adult Bald Eagle that was migrating.

Sunday seen me heading out to Long Point with the same friend. We took a swing by Lee Brown WMA and seen a massive flock of Redhead (120 at least) and a flock of Sandhill Cranes (28) flew above us as well. We then moved on to the Old Cut Banding Station and "New" Provincial Park. Not too much to note at Old Cut, the typical Swamp Sparrow and Song Sparrow. The "New" Provincial Park drew up another 2 pairs of Sandhill Crane and a surprise Eastern Phoebe! Definitely a good day there's no doubt about that.

Definitely a nice week and I am thinking my best week so far!

Week's End Totals: 
Total Species: 77
Total Individuals: 2717

Black-capped Chickadee - Hamilton ON

Canada Goose - Hamilton ON

Carolina Wren - Hamilton ON

Downy Woodpecker - Hamilton ON

Week 10 (March 2nd - March 8th)

This week was very much back and forth weather wise. Snow, no snow, it was very much frustrating which means a lot of boring birding days! So, let's skip to the weekend where the weather was above 0!

Saturday was a long day, lots of birding. Starting with Ruthven. I was there at about 20 to 8 and went for a nice walk through the grounds. Nothing too notable there except the caw of a Common Raven from across the river. From there took a little drive to the Windermere Basin where I was able to see 11 species of waterfowl and a little flock of American Coot making its stay there. From there I made my way to Bayshore Park where I grabbed an awesome view of a pair of Redheads. First of the year and hopefully not the last! From there I was headed back towards Haldimand and seen a couple Turkey Vulture soaring in their upward "V" formed wings. But the best is when I was pumping gas and I got a great view of over 100 Tundra Swans on their migration north! That made my whole day!

Sunday was more of a slow down. I only visited my local Hotspot, Selkirk Provincial Park. Beautiful day for a walk through the park and grab some birds in the meantime. Walking to the front park was no regret (even if my feet hurt after), 5 Lapland Longspur calling from the fields around me, it is definitely a nice bird to hear in early migration period. The park was no different, lots of peak birding with a pair of Hooded Merganser and a male Northern Harrier cruising around. It definitely brings me back to the good old days where the birds were just there and no life lists and it was all about the birds. I loved that feeling.

Week's end totals:
Species: 57
Individuals: 1,453

Mallard - Hamilton ON

Female American Wigeon - Hamilton ON

Week 9 (February 23 - March 1st)

Week 9 in 2020. Pretty slow week, did not get to go out birding too terribly much due to lots of traveling. Sunday I only birded from the window of my parents' house and seen a lot of House Sparrows, in fact it was the entirety of what I seen.

The week presented an interesting view, large flocks of Canada Geese are congregating at the pond behind my work. The largest flock was 174! This is just a mid-sized drainage pond, so just imagine how full this pond is. It snowed a little this week so it was hovering around 0°C for the most part which meant there was a little ice but all in all the weather seems to be getting warmer and warmer.

Saturday was definitely a slow day. I traveled to Montreal with one of my friends and did a little partying with the Canadiens' victory over the Canes! While this was great for the sports fan inside me, the birder was far from happy with the 6 hour drive. I did catch a surprise Iceland Gull at an OnRoute in Port Hope, Northumberland County but other than that the weekend was definitely a bust for birds. I did pick up a few flyover Common Raven on Sunday morning pulling my year total up to 83, but other than that it was a pretty slow weekend to follow a slow week.

On the bright side the sun is staying out longer and Daylights Savings creeping up I will be able to start birding after work again! Counting down the days!

Week's end totals:
Species: 13
Individuals: 494

Photos to be added. Did not upload any yet. 

Spring, Not Spring? Make Up Your Mind!

I know that weather is definitely hard to follow in Southern Ontario, the snow is very much back and forth of showing up and going away but this year has been so weird. Yesterday (05-Mar-2020) was very warm (+6°C) and the sun was out, the birds were calling and I had that migration tingle and the banding season along with the return of Warblers was making me damn near gitty. So to my surprise into work this morning was the blast of large snowflakes plowing into my windshield and I just thought to myself, what happened here??

Let me paint the true picture of yesterday to me: 

I could smell the moisture in the air, and feel the sun on my face. It had been a while since I could bird with absolutely no hat or gloves on and it excited me! The calls of Canada Geese and Red-winged Blackbirds calling from all edges of the pond behind my work. I stop to take a deep breath and feel the freshness in the air. This is the iconic early spring day for a birder and I feel like a lot of birders (myself included) would start counting the days until the breeding birds like Blue-winged Warbler and Eastern Wood-Pewee (in the east) return to our daily lists or sightings for the non-listers out there. 

Today, that is a very different feeling. I walk out of my car and feel the slush squish around my boots, this is a feeling I was hoping to never feel ever again, yet here I am. A heavy coat weighs me down and a toque covering my ears cutting the calls of birds near by. I feel the excitement leave my soul, and fall into disappointment. This is what late February and March has been for Southern Ontario so unfortunately we may not be done with the snow just yet! 

This is Hamilton area mind you, the Haldimand area I usually bird (Ruthven National Historic Site, Selkirk Provincial Park, etc.) were definitely not half as bad, and it looks like we are going to get more rain than snow at home, but tomorrow will be fantastic! It looks like it's going to be another early spring typical day so one can hope! 

Red-winged Blackbird calling - Hamilton ON

Birding with a Camera

You would not think that me, an almost 23-year-old, would have a hard time with cameras since we have been through it all. The movement from film to digital and whatnot, I still remember using disposable cameras and having to get them developed. But there is always one thing I have had a hard time with, using a camera on my birding trips.

I always pictured birders as a bunch of people with binoculars, notebooks, and field guides just like me, but that image is changing. The birders of today carry with them a pair of binoculars but have swapped out most field guides for an app on their phone and have replaced notebooks with eBird. Along with the change in literature they have added an extra item to their list, a camera. Nowadays it is hard to find an experienced birder who isn’t an amateur photographer, myself included. I may still be new to the whole birding with a camera concept, but it has changed the way I approach birding. I find that I reach for the bins and then immediately try to snap a pic of any bird, rare or not. The satisfaction of getting a picture of a bird spikes the adrenaline of seeing a cool bird to the max, for me at least.

I solemnly believe that all birders should carry at least a little point and shoot camera with them. It doesn’t have to be a ridiculously expensive piece. My set up was probably just over a grand total but I have met a few young birders who can’t afford anything that extravagant so they bought a simple $100-$200 point and shoot camera and get by perfectly fine, in fact they can get some good shots. I encourage photography as long as they follow the birding code of ethics.

My Canon T100 Body and 75-300mm Lens

My 150-500mm Sigma Lens Canon EF mount.