Great Canadian Birdathon - 2018

This year, Mike and I committed to doing another Great Canadian Birdathon.  Some of you may better remember it as being called the "Baillie Birdathon".  This is the oldest sponsored bird count in North America, established back in 1976 as a national fundraiser that has continued to this day! 

Funds that have been raised for this event benefit a wide variety of organizations that participate in avian research and conservation across Canada including: Bird Studies Canada, nature clubs, bird observatories, and the Baillie Memorial fund - a research grant providing young researchers with money towards their avian research.

This year, we joined the team "The Raven Lunatics"!  This was a team that had originally begun in Manitoba, but this year has tried to go Canada-wide.  Both of us were excited to not only be on a team with a bunch of fantastic people (all of whom I met on Twitter), but to represent the province of Ontario on the team!

Our Day:

Mike and I started off the morning in the backyard of our current rental unit in Carling, Ontario.  We heard a number of our more familiar backyard birds, along with two pairs of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks who were new that week to our backyard and enjoying the bird feeders (which...we had left up WAY too late in the season).

We then made our way towards Simms Lake for some warblers and woodpeckers! This area has a wide assortment of trails that are used by locals and fun fact: this is the property where the famous Avro Arrow was built!

Me looking over Simms Lake

We then began our drive down Nobel Road towards Parry Sound where we were hoping (but failed) to catch some Chimney Swifts. We did manage to capture both Barn and Tree swallow!

The Waterfront Trail in Parry Sound gave us three new species (Cormorant - Rock Pigeon), but seemed to provide more views than species!  Unfortunately, this is the location where I came across my first (of what felt like a bajillion) black flies this spring.

We then drove our way towards Mactier, Ontario.  Here we decided that, while we were birding, to try and test out at least part of my Breeding Bird Survey route that was to come.  We got through stop 1-16, before needing to head out to the local dump to hopeful catch some gulls, hawks, and Bald Eagle (Tip: Make sure you know what time the dump closes....or else you stand foolishly at the gates like I did this day...).

One of the locations along my BBS Route

One of the funniest parts of the day was, quite honestly, watching Mike.  Being a reptile guy, he was really great at spotting birds and took a lot of pride in being the "first one" to see it!  During a few point throughout the day Mike would excitedly exclaim "THERE'S SOMETHING!!!!  I DID IT!  I FOUND ONE!"  And sure enough it would be a chicken in the forest (no...not a grouse.  Literally a domestic chicken in the forest) or a domestic goose in a wetland. His frustration would just lead me into a fit of giggles - that's what your significant other is for isn't it?

After a fairly quiet afternoon of birding (and mostly hearing frogs) we went back to the Carling area to check out some local hotspots, including a field and a few wetlands.   We were pretty surprised to see some Eastern Bluebirds and American Wigeon here.  Unfortunately we dipped on Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark. 

Brown Thrasher in the bushes

Further down the street we hit one of our favourite spots to bird, the Provincially Significant Wetland out behind Killbear Park Mall.  The last few years we have received permission to hike and bird behind the property and it didn't disappoint!  We picked up Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, and also a very vocal American Bittern, who was not camera shy!  Sorry for the camera shakes, it was super zoomed in and there were buttloads of blackflies all over me! 

We ended our day at a friend's property to pick up a few of the more nocturnal species!  The past few days they had heard a Whip-poor-will for a few minutes per night, so we made sure that we got to their house promptly to hear it.  We picked up (by hear) Sandhill Cranes, Woodcock, and Barred Owl, however the Whip-poor-will made no call for us.  However apparently they could hear it back at the house!!  So we much have just missed it. 

We ended the day with a total of 65 species and a really awesome day full of birds!  After a busy winter and spring, it was nice to finally put aside the day to enjoy nature.  

Our 2018 Great Canadian Birdathon List: 

Blue Jay

1. Blue Jay

2. White-breasted Nuthatch

3. White-crowned Sparrow

4. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

5. Chipping Sparrow

6. Black-capped Chickadee

7. White-throated Sparrow

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

8. Northern Flicker

9. European Starling

10. American Robin

11. Common Raven

12. Common Grackle

13. Common Loon

14. Nashville Warbler

15. Common Yellowthroat

16. Ovenbird

17. Ruffed Grouse

18. Pileated Woodpecker

19. Belted KIngfisher

20. Yellow-rumped Warbler

21. American Goldfinch

22. Hermit Thrush

23. Song Sparrow

24. Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

25. Pine Warbler

26. Canada Goose

27. Pine Siskin

28. Broad-winged Hawk

29. Hairy Woodpecker

30. Barn Swallow

31. Tree Swallow

32. Hooded Merganser

33. Double-crested Cormorant

34. Gray Catbird

35. Rock Pigeon

36. Turkey Vulture

37. Great Crested Flycatcher

38. Yellow Warbler

39. Red-winged Blackbird

40. Yellow-throated Vireo

41. Red-breasted Nuthatch

42. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

43. Purple Finch

44. Herring Gull

45. Killdeer 

46. American Crow

47. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

48. American Wigeon

49. Indigo Bunting

50. Eastern Bluebird

51. Common Merganser

52. Mourning Warbler

53. Wood Duck

Wood Duck

54. Mallard

55. Pied-billed Grebe

56. Great Blue Heron

57. American Bittern

58. Brown Thrasher

59. Ruby-crowned Kinglet

60. Winter Wren

61. Brown-headed Cowbird

62. Ring-billed Gull

63. Sandhill Crane

64. American Woodcock

65. Barred Owl

Thank you to everyone who followed along that day on Twitter or supported!

Checking out Blind Bay before the sun sets

Breeding Bird Surveys - 2018

Having been working on bats and reptiles for the last year in the eastern Georgian Bay area, I've been aching to get back into some bird work.  A Breeding Bird Survey route in the area recently popped up, so what better way to get back into it.

My route starts close to Mactier, Ontario, and heads through to Orrville and then up the 518 HWY. This year, I did a practice route to learn where the stops are and what birds I should be able to expect (and which to brush up on before heading out on the actual day) and then a second survey, which was the actual one I've submitted data for. Both of these I did with one of my awesome birdy friends!

During our practice survey, we got a total of 52 species, while on the actual breeding bird survey date we observed a total of 70 species! Of course every once in a while we would also find a few non-bird species such as deer, a few turtles crossing the roads, and the ever so loud amphibians (primarily grey tree frogs).  Another common sight was always questionable road signs....

Surveys started at 4:58 am, which means I had to leave my house in Carling around 4am.  I was SOOOOOO not used to getting up that early anymore, so coffee was a must (about 4 cups of it...whoops!).  But it made me remember why I used to love being a morning person, so much bird song and gorgeous sunrises. 

early morning start

The biggest downside to the survey day would have been the the wind, not necessarily because of the early morning, but because of the mass amount of pollen that was blowing off of all the pine trees!

 

Some of our birding highlights included:

Alder Flycatchers!  I was so surprised with how many of them there were along the route!

How many Chestnut-sided Warblers there were!  Being able to hear Chestnut-sided Warblers right alongside Yellow Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers all day really helped solidify in my brain (once and for all!) what they sound like.  You know, until you hear an "odd" one.

Two Black-billed Cuckoos were singing away at one of our stops!  It has been a number of years since I had heard one.

All along the route there was some AMAZING scenery - the wetlands, fields, forests.  In fact there were a few places with some of the most gorgeous wetlands that i've seen in the area.  It was a real treat to be able to stop and listen at them.

Other photos from the day:

Northern Flicker

To put a cherry on top to our days, the Orrville bakery was at the (almost) end of our route, which means we got to stop in for a coffee and a treat on our way home!

Barnacle Goose - March 2018

Part 1 in Tianna trying to catch up on blogs features:  The Barnacle Goose! 

Back in March I was heading to Newmarket for a doctors appointment.  I had heard through some friends, facebook birding groups, etc about a Barnacle Goose that had been spotted only a short distance from there.  So, I decided to head down early and check it out!

This Barnacle Goose was a vagrant, meaning that it has strayed from its usual migratory route or range.  Often times this will happen when there are severe weather events. The Barnacle Goose traditionally is found nesting along the Arctic coasts from northeastern Greenland to Siberia.  Sometimes, vagrants from the Greenland population can be found in North America. 

  

The first stop was at the local Schomberg sewage lagoons. Here there was mostly geese and waterfowl, no sign of the famous goose! Just as I was leaving another car pulled in, and it happened to be two old coworkers of mine (Hi Ross and Christian!) who had just seen the goose in a neighbourhood a few concessions over.  So off I went on another search.

Two cars parked on the side of the road, signalled to me where to stop!  Then the search began to figure out where the goose was located.  I was given the tip that it was through some trees, but I was surprised to see that THIS (photo below) was going to actually be the view!

After a little bit of searching through my scope, I was able to spot it through all the branches with a flock of Canada Geese.

While I wasn't able to get the BEST look at it, it was such a stunning bird to see and well worth the trip!

Hope that everyone has had a fantastic 2018 so far!!