Bassindale Birding : Birdathon 2020 (26-Sep-2020)

Although this post is late the day is still fresh in my mind. This was an insanely intense day. Lots of birds and tonnes of walking.

The night started in Dundas Valley where Liam and I have attempted to get exactly what we were looking for today... Barred Owl. This is not a common bird around here but it is definitely one of the best birds around here. We showed up around 02:40 exhausted but still focused. We walked about a kilometre and no matter what listening we did all we heard were White-throated Sparrows. Once we got to the pines I started playing a Barred Owl call. After about a minute or two we heard it! "Who cooks for you" both of us looked at each other and basically jumped with joy! A lifer for both of us and one of the first birds of the day! Once I stopped playing the playback we heard a second one! 2 birds calling back and forth! This was awesome! After getting some great listens to the Barred Owls we started to head back to the car. One the way we ended up hearing 3 Great Horned Owls and an Eastern Screech Owl.

After Dundas Liam and I moved on to Valley Inn. We heard a Black-crowned Night-Heron and Canada Goose adding to the list for the day but we didn't entirely focus on birds. Since the night is when most birds are sleeping we decided to check out some of the massive spiders along the bridge. We weren't sure of the species but they were huge! Some bigger than a toonie!

Stop no. 3 was technically Tim Horton's... we were both a little hungry and I NEEDED coffee. After our little stop there (and hitting a green on every single light on Main St.) we ended up at Van Wagner's Beach. Still dark, we ended up finding a Northern Cardinal making this #8 for the day!

After Van Wagner's we moved onto Edgelake Park, starting in the dark, Liam and I added Swainson Thrush off a nocturnal flight call and then heard an Ovenbird coming from one of the houses. After 7 o'clock we linked up with the other 2 team members (Laurie and Colleen), and a friend from Ruthven (Eila O'Neil). The 5 of us searched the area for almost 2 hours and we eclipsed 50 species (55 exactly) this included 16 species of warbler (Northern Waterthrush and Northern Parula included)! This brought us to 59 species!

Driving to our next spot (Woodland Cemetery) Liam and I were driving past Burlington Ship Canal. Liam was able to get his bins on the Peregrine from the backseat and a pair of Rock Pigeon! 61 species!

Woodland Cemetery was good, 31 species and adding 12 new species including a late Scarlet Tanager and a Nashville Warbler! Lots of Butterbutts (Yellow-rumped Warbler). We tried to find a Merlin but came up short, unfortunately. This put us at 73!

After Woodland, we moved to Biggar Lagoons. This is where we rounded out our shorebirds and marsh birds. We found 22 species! This included Common Gallinule, Rusty Blackbird, American Coot, Sora, and Black-bellied Plover! A scope was definitely needed for this spot as the back pond was full of birds!

After Biggar, we decided to stop at Lakeland for lunch and just to get the Booby and we succeeded! We also managed to land some Sanderling as well.

Once we finished our lunch we moved onto Windermere Basin. Yet another scope spot. The water was oddly high so the shorebirds were few and far between, unfortunately. We did add 7 species though including Ruddy Duck and American Pipit. This topped my biggest big day (104) to 105 species and the day wasn't even over yet!

Once we finished up at Windermere we moved to Tollgate Ponds. This is by far my least favourite birding spot. It is a scarily dangerous place along Eastport Drive in the Industrial Area of Hamilton. We kept the stay here as short as possible because of it. We were hoping for Ruddy Turnstone but came up short on that. We did however add a pair of 2nd year Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The other birds we added included Northern Shoveler, Lesser, and Greater Scaup! This pulled us up to 109!

Moving on from Tollgate we decided to take a look at Van Wagner's Ponds (again) this time it was light out, and we were only peaking around for one bird; Marsh Wren. We walked down the path, which if you've never been, is all stone. Noisy and not always the best walking when trying to keep an eye and ear out for birds. Unfortunately, this is the only surefire spot to find a Marsh Wren at this time of year... which with little persistence (only about 15 mins) we managest to nab! 110 species so far and it was only 10 to 3!

On our way towards the cars, we got a notification, Connecticut Warbler at Shell Park! This would have been a first of the year for Liam and I and a lifer for both Colleen and Laurie. We wasted no time heading over to Oakville to attempt to get out the 111th species for the day! Once at Shell Park, we scoured around the park looking for a little walking warbler. The biggest thing about Connecticut Warblers is how they skulk around in the underbrush, walking, not hopping. They are a tricky bird to find but once you do, they are amazing birds to watch. We kept the search on for 2 hours, no Connecticut, we did pick up a Philadelphia Vireo but it still felt like a little bit of a loss to me.

After the disappointment at Shell Park, we decided to go somewhere barren and dusty, the only reliable spot for birds like Savannah Sparrow and Horned Lark, Wyecroft McPherson SWP. We were only here for about 40 mins, but we picked up 4 new species (Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, Vesper Sparrow, and an odd Palm Warbler...). 116 species, we were so close to the finish line, and to 120.

For our final destination we headed back to Valley Inn, we were down a man as Colleen went home but we needed to pick up some extra species including an embarrassing one... Great Blue Heron. By the time we got there, it was almost 6:30 and we still had not tallied a Great Blue for the day... yikes. Thankfully, it didn't take long for us to tally one. 5 minutes in we got 3 Great Blues, and 5 Great Egrets. The 3 of us waited around till dark to see if we could catch a glimpse of a Nighthawk but no luck. We also added Solitary Sandpiper and Trumpeter Swan to make our total for the day 120 species!

The day was so successful and so was the campaign as we raised over $2,000 for the Haldimand Bird Observatory! Our day was no doubt dedicated to Rick and Nancy for all of the work they do at Ruthven and outside of Ruthven! Not only would the 4 of us not have met if not for the Banding Lab but I would not be as successful as a birder without the guidance of those 2 people. We all appreciate all that you have done to keep birds in the front of people's minds!