Liam was also missing one for his year list so we both came out to find it. We met up at the park and heading the direction that we were told the bird was in. The walk over was pretty typical for the shoreline of Lake Ontario and seen a lot of Common Tern and Ring-billed Gull.
It was odd birding in such a urban area for the most part this summer has been filled with socially distant and places normal people would thing a body would be ditched or is kinda crappy (little Sewage Lagoon pun, sorry had to). It was an easy walk at least, better than walking on the iffy rocks at Townsend for sure.
At the building we hung a right and headed out towards the marina. That would be our best bet to see these water-dwellers. On the way there we hear a nasally awkward call that Liam and I both knew immediately. Fish Crow. They frequent the harbour and are not too difficult of a bird to find in the area. We spotted one eating out of a trash can, it was hard to miss since it was calling and eating. I raised my camera and snapped some pics just to say I've gotten some of a for sure Fish Crow and not get asked if it wasn't just a smaller American Crow.
We continued down the path and decided to stop and admire some of the Terns flying around. Caspian and Common all of them. The Commons are so much smaller than the Caspian and I knew that you just can't see the reality of that until you see the 2 of them interacting with each other. We seen a huge black spot in the middle of the lake about 300m away. Scoping up we notice that it is a huge flock of Double-crested Cormorant! They're in a feeding swarm which means lots of fish. The average Double-crested can down a pound of fish every day. That's a lot of fish when you add up how many of these birds there are. With the list of their natural predators being as low as it is we will continue to see an increase of these birds. This in turn will have some negative effects on the biodiversity of our waterways, but I can get into this in a whole other post!
Passing by the cormorants there were lots of swallows (we counted 5 species) all flying around us, luckily not dive bombing as I have found that swallows can be viewed as some of the most aggressive species around. Getting out to the end of the pier was pretty easy, not too hot out yet and our eyes were focused on seeing some Grebes. It seems like we waited forever for them. We talked about other stuff going on in our shared world but still nothing. Talk, look for a Grebe, talk, look for a Grebe. It probably felt a lot like a lot longer than it was... we tend to be an impatient pair.
We started spit-balling new places to go, the longer the wait the more we convinced ourselves to move on. Just as we were about to move onto another spot Liam's face broke into a smile and said "Grebe!" I swung around and there it was, magnificent. Full breeding plumage, just floating by. Nothing even phasing it, even a kayaker who got about 2 feet from the bird, didn't even flinch. I have never seen a species of water-dwelling bird so calm before. It was an experience I will never forget!
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| This is a perfect comparison of the Caspian and Common Terns. To put this in a little perspective, the Common Tern preening in the front is actually a couple feet closer to me than the Caspian, yet the Caspian is still much larger! |
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| This Fish Crow was feeding on some "tasty" garbage. This really shows the unfortunate reality that is humanity, most of the stuff there is 100% recyclable.. |
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| That reddish neck is what gives the Red-necked Grebe it's name but the striking yellow bill and beautiful facial pattern is what takes my breath every single time I see one. |
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| This picture really shows what a bird nose looks like, it is a hole in their bills that will go straight through and you can see it clearly here as the "white spot" on this individual. |
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