Week 14 (March 30th to April 5th)

 A few things happened this week.

1. I made the decision to only stay home and my parents' place. Keep me from getting COVID and spreading it. This includes work so I have been working from a home set up, which has been good other than doing all of the forms I have to fill out with very little info and just pictures. (For those who don't know I am an Engineering Technologist so all of the bad parts go through me). 
2. All of the parks around me have closed. In Haldimand County the fines are up to $5,000 and I personally have better things to do with that money. 
3. My annual Point Pelee trip is cancelled and my trip to PEI in July is up in the air pending how long this epidemic takes hold. 
4.  Banding at Ruthven has also been closed for the time being, unfortunate but necessary. I am definitely disappointed but it is for the best. This means all of the migrants I find will have to be on the private property my family owns. 

That's all of the updates in the COVID-19 situation for right now. Even this being the case I still have my birding streak up (125 as of Sunday April 5th). I have been doing a lot of birding in the private property surrounding my family. This is a little view of what that has been. 

The weekdays were pretty much the same but Friday was amazing! I seen 29 species including 2 Fox Sparrow and 22 Wood Duck. Should definitely look at putting more boxes up for them since we only have the one. This was just amazing as I haven't been seeing too many ducks there last year but this year seems to be a turn around for ducks there, which is amazing news. Green-winged Teal and Blue-winged Teal have made many good appearances there as well which is just awesome to see with my lack of Green-wings being spotted last year. I've also seen lots of American Wigeon and American Black Duck back there and an almost inordinate amount of Bald Eagle (at least 1 almost every time I'm out there). This has definitely been nicer than having nothing! 

After the wetlands on my way home I was driving past a known Short-eared Owl spot and found 3 of the individuals chasing one another around the field (this pulls my count up to 5 on the year). That was so amazing I have never witnessed that in my entire tenure as a birder and I will never forget it. 

The weekend seen me go to Ruthven on Saturday where I picked up my first Eastern Towhee of the year. Nothing too exciting besides that but it was still nice to see my fellow Ruthven gang before the closure that afternoon. Grabbed a few good pictures of a Blue Jay and American Robin by the Fox Den Trail. Sunday I decided to put my blind back at the wetlands and keep it up. This is hoping I can possibly go back there before dark sometime and wait for the waterfowl and get some amazing shots without scaring the birds away. Fingers crossed! 

Hoping all of you good health and especially good birding! 

Weekly Totals: 

Species: 50

Individuals: 990

Fox Sparrow - Haldimand ON

Fox Sparrow - Haldimand ON

Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON

Short-eared Owl - Haldimand ON

American Robin - Haldimand ON

Blue Jay - Haldimand ON

Blue Jay - Haldimand ON 

Week 13 (March 23rd to March 29th)

This week came at me much worse than last for COVID-19. Now all of the non-essential businesses are closed and I am working from home (or my parent's place) so I had a little more access to a sweet birding area! Just awesome for me.

Before that though I did get out to a couple other spots, even got to see my first Blue-winged Teal of the year, and hopefully not my last! That was the Hagersville Quarries where I also picked up the first White-winged Scoter for Haldimand bringing my life list up to 209! I also got out to Ruthven a few times but nothing significant happened there. I also got to peak out at Port Maitland (about 5 mins from where I live currently) and man what a disappointment this year! Nothing notable whatsoever unfortunately. This was all before the banding season starts April 1st. 

The real excitement comes from going to the wetland I mentioned. Racking up 28 species in just a couple hours including 7 species of waterfowl and 5 Bald Eagles! It should be interesting to stay away from people in this self-isolation and see some interesting birds in the process over the next few weeks with the travel limit I have self-inflicted, mostly me trying to avoid the GTHA like the plague! I know I may be missing out on some stuff like Wilson Snipe and Dunlin but all in good time. 

This week should be interesting. 

Week Totals:
Species: 49
Individuals: 1030  

Golden-crowned Kinglet - Haldimand ON

Song Sparrow - Haldimand ON

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