5:30am, 24 May 2015, dawn breaking over Big Creek Marsh at the base of the Long Point penninsula in southern Ontario. As I spent the first minutes of my Birdathon atop the viewing platform the chorus of marsh birds was in full swing. A distant American Bittern galunking, Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds singing up a storm and my only Virginia Rail of the day giving a couple short calls before full light hit.
Next stop was Backus Woods, on the mainland, famous as one of the only known breeding locations for Prothonotary Warbler in Canada. The chorus of birdsong was still strong as I rolled up to my first quick stop, a stakeout for Blue-winged Warbler. As soon as I stopped I could hear the male giving it’s “Bee-buzzzzz” song, a drumming Ruffed Grouse was a bonus pick up. Onwards to the main part of Backus where, as I walked in to “Prothon pond”, Scarlet Tanagers called overhead and numerous Wood Thrush and Veery sang their ethereal songs. After fifteen minutes birding around the pond I finally heard the male Prothonotary Warbler singing along the backside of it, too distant to get a look at unfortunately. A Yellow-throated Vireo and Blackpoll Warbler were both good finds as I waited, neither of which I recorded again.
Back out along Consession 4 road, I tried in vain for the Louisiana Waterthrush that we had heard the day before. Nearby I did find singing Pine and Hooded Warblers. It was almost 8am by the time I left Backus, a bit behind the rough schedule I had set myself. As I headed back out to Long Point, a pair of Black Terns flew overhead along the causeway. Before arriving at the Old cut field station of the Long Point Bird Observatory, I took a quick detour along the shore down Hastings drive. A group of 8 Bonaparte’s Gulls were slowly making their way west, a good find this late May. Unfortunately I didn’t have a scope with me so a few distant blobs out on the water had to remain unidentified.
Upon arrival at Old Cut my list sat at 70 species. Activity seemed to be the highest it had been since I had arrived a few days before, a good sign! A Green Heron flew overhead as I made my way into the Woodlot and I could hear a Grey-cheeked Thrush and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher calling. Several species of warbler were about with American Redstart, Tennessee, Magnolia and a late Black-throated Green Warbler, amongst others, all present. A quick jaunt down Lighthouse Crescent proved a good decision as I found a Black-billed Cuckoo skulking in the undergrowth.
My last stop of the morning was the “Old” Provincial Park, just down the road from Old Cut where I hoped to reach the 100 species mark before noon. A small island of shrubbery held my only Mourning Warbler of the day along with my first Wilson’s Warbler and a brilliant male Canada Warbler. Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos sang overhead, and somewhere in the distance I could hear an Eastern Towhee. A lone Cedar Waxwing flew overhead as I made my way back to our cottage for a quick bite to eat with my list at 97 species.
Morgan, my girlfriend, was heading over to Turkey Point for lunch with her family who were visiting for the afternoon and I decided to accompany them. On the way they picked out a Red-tailed Hawk for me, soaring overhead and we saw several Turkey Vultures. In the restaurant parking lot I picked out my 100th species of the day, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. While they enjoyed the lakeside breeze and soaked up the sun on the restaurant patio I took their car, which they had very kindly offered me, out for a quick search along the beach for some shorebirds. The beach was rather crowded with people, and I came away empty handed, although a group of actively feeding Common Terns was a nice spectacle to watch. For the afternoon I was accompanied by a friend, Jesse Pakkala and our first stop was the Turkey Point Conservation Area where he took me to a Louisiana Waterthrush stakeout. With this local specialty ion the bag we detoured through the nearby St. William’s conservation Area as we made our way back towards Long Point. The mid-afternoon doldrums were in effect as bird song was rather light. We did pick up a couple Ovenbirds, which had been my nemesis for the day up until then.
The East Quarterline Sparrow fields were our next stop and here too, the hoped for targets were quiet, we did find Field and Vesper Sparrows but missed out on the hoped for Grasshopper and Clay-colored Sparrows.
As Jesse had to be back at Old cut by 5:30 the last hour of the afternoon was a whirlwind with 20 minutes at the Bird Studies Canada Headquarters providing 4 species of waterfowl on the bay and a nesting Least Bittern. A fruitless stop at the puddle along Lakeshore road that had had a pair of vagrant White-faced Ibis up until the day before was followed by a Savannah Sparrow on a nearby fencepost and another quick pass down Hastings Drive.
Back at Old Cut Jesse showed me a roosting Common Nighthawk that had been found earlier that morning and I squeezed out another new bird in a female Cape May Warbler. On the way back to the cottage I took another look through the “Old” Provincial Park where I finally caught up with a Chimney Swift and came across the bird of the day, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, fly-catching from a wire right across from our cottage!
As I sat down to dinner my list stood at 115 species. Afterwards a few of us spent the remaining daylight on the dyke back at Old Cut. Angry twittering of the local Tree Swallows alerted me to a Cooper’s Hawk cruising overhead and the final bird of the day was an American Woodcock that buzzed by in the fading light. Final species total for my 2015 Birdathon: 117.
If you are interested in contributing to my Birdathon, please select the following link. 75% of proceeds will go towards TLBO with the remaining 25% going to Bird Studies Canada. Donations are tax deductable and can be made until the end of the calendar year.
http://birdscanada.kintera.org/birdathon/averybartels
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| Species |
| Canada Goose |
| Mute Swan |
| Wood Duck |
| Gadwall |
| Mallard |
| Canvasback |
| Redhead |
| Lesser Scaup |
| Ruffed Grouse |
| Pied-billed Grebe |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| American Bittern |
| Least Bittern |
| Great Blue heron |
| Green Heron |
| Turkey Vulture |
| Bald Eagle |
| Cooper’s Hawk |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| Virginia Rail |
| Sandhill Crane |
| Killdeer |
| Spotted Sandpiper |
| American Woodcock |
| Bonaparte’s Gull |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Herring Gull |
| Caspian Tern |
| Common Tern |
| Forster’s Tern |
| Black Tern |
| Mourning Dove |
| Black-billed Cuckoo |
| Common Nighthawk |
| Chimney Swift |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
| Hairy Woodpecker |
| Northern Flicker |
| Olive-sided Flycatcher |
| Eastern Wood-pewee |
| Yellow-bellied Flycatcher |
| Alder Flycatcher |
| Willow Flycatcher |
| Least Flycatcher |
| Great Crested Flycatcher |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Yellow-throated Vireo |
| Warbling Vireo |
| Red-eyed Vireo |
| Philadelphia Vireo |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Horned Lark |
| Purple Martin |
| Tree swallow |
| N. Rough-winged Swallow |
| Bank Swallow |
| Barn Swallow |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| House Wren |
| Marsh Wren |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher |
| Veery |
| Gray-cheeked Thrush |
| Swainson’s Thrush |
| Wood Thrush |
| American Robin |
| Gray Catbird |
| Brown Thrasher |
| European Starling |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Blue-winged Warbler |
| Tennessee Warbler |
| Yellow Warbler |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler |
| Magnolia Warbler |
| Cape May Warbler |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler |
| Black-throated Green Warbler |
| Blackburnian Warbler |
| Pine Warbler |
| Blackpoll Warbler |
| Black-and-white Warbler |
| American Redstart |
| Prothonotary Warbler |
| Ovenbird |
| Northern Waterthrush |
| Louisiana Waterthrush |
| Mouring Warbler |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Hooded Warbler |
| Wilson’s Warbler |
| Canada Warbler |
| Eastern Towhee |
| Chipping Sparrow |
| Field Sparrow |
| Vesper Sparrow |
| Savannah Sparrow |
| Song Sparrow |
| Swamp Sparrow |
| Scarlet Tanager |
| Northern Cardinal |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
| Indigo Bunting |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Common Grackle |
| Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Baltimore Oriole |
| Purple Finch |
| House Finch |
| Pine Siskin |
| American Goldfinch |
| House Sparrow |
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In four afternoons, Barry banded 27 hummers of two species and both genders, Calliope and Rufous, without a single recapture. I was amazed at this number! It must mean there are far more hummers around than I would have guessed; Barry estimated up to 90 birds in the vicinity.
Barry and Rick set up their ‘banding station’ on my patio table.
Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory 