April 15th; Great Canadian Birdathon:
We found ourselves between a rock and a hard place: the only day I had available to fill in for Matt Timpf was Sunday….and Sunday was one of the worst days, weatherwise, of the Spring. But we didn’t have a choice, so the Ruthven Ringers headed out early in the morning to try and get as many species as possible in the Haldimand-Norfolk area of southern Ontario. The temperature hovered around 2 degrees and the wind was blowing strong out of the NW making it feel much colder. We weren’t overly hopeful about how the day would turn out…..
We started by opening the nets, doing the first net round and then the census at Ruthven. This proved to be a good move on our parts because when we were finished and driving down the lane to the exit we had 55 species to our credit. These included such hard-to-get birds as Wild Turkey, Tufted Titmouse, Purple Martin, Blue-winged Warbler, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Wood Pewee and Yellow-throated Vireo. On our way to the Townsend Sewage Lagoons we travelled along the Grand River and then Taquanyah Conservation Area. Along this route we added another 13 species including an Osprey, Common and Caspian Terns, Coot and Bobolink. Although we were doing fairly well, we knew that we had a long way to go in very bad conditions.
The Townsend Lagoons, however, gave us a huge lift as there were many species of shorebirds and waterfowl there. We picked up another 23 species including: White-rumped Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Common Goldeneye, Sandhill Crane. The weather seemed to deteriorate even more while we were here – the wind picked up and we got the first of the many snow squalls of the day.
A Clay-coloured Sparrow was in the same location that Matt had found it in last year – in a field across from the OPP station in Simcoe.
We then spent a lot of time running around and between Backus Woods, St. Williams Forestry Area, Port Rowan Sewage Lagoons, LPBO Old Cut Station, and Long Point Provincial Park (covering the Causeway with each transit between sites). We ended up with 24 species of warblers, including Hooded and Prothonotary, all the swallows. American Bittern, Black Tern (the first one I had seen in years). At dusk we headed to the lookout on Big Creek for one last fling and were rewarded with a flock of at least 14 Short-billed Dowitchers.
The Old Cut/Long Point Park area was awash with birds, especially warblers, that were fighting hard to stay alive. The cold N wind was keeping the birds grounded and the insects scarce so they were vigorously moving from twig to twig searching out every last morsel. Feeders were very busy with seed eaters. And the swallows were flying in amongst the trees within forest stands looking for insects. In the park we came upon flocks of them hunkered down on the road getting out of the wind, saving their energy.
At one point, Alessandra was tromping through a thicket in the park and scared up an Eastern Whip-poor-will that flew up to a branch and perched just 3 meters away.
When the dust settled and we had a chance to count things up we ended up with a total of 145 species!! It was a treat for me to be able to bird with Ben, Giovanni, Alessandra and Ezra. Their keen eyes and ears and positive enthusiasm for the event were invigorating….and a lot of fun.
[I will post a complete list of our sightings when I get a chance.]
Photo Gallery from the Birdathon:
Banding May 15th:
While we were running around having fun, Nancy and some stalwart volunteers were holding down the fort at Ruthven. The wind and cold did not help to make this a pleasant experience. Still, they did well and ended up banding 43 birds:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Blue Jays
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Warbling Vireo
6 Nashville Warblers
7 Yellow Warblers
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Black and white Warbler
2 American Redstarts
1 Ovenbird
2 Common Yellowthroats
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Lincoln’s Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Common Grackle
3 Baltimore Orioles
3 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 65 spp.
Photo Gallery from May 15th:
Banding, May 16th:
Although the sky was clear, there were frost patches on the ground when I was opening (the birdathon team was still asleep in the banding lab). And the wind, although not as strong as yesterday, was still cold and making the 2 degree temperature seem much colder. But it was nice when it warmed up. And as it warmed up, so did the birds so that the later net rounds were better than the early ones.
We had two “highlights”: a brilliant male Cape May Warbler and the first Blackpoll Warbler of the year.
Banded 54:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Purple Martin
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 House Wren
4 Gray Catbirds
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
11 Yellow Warblers
1 Cape May Warbler
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
3 Common Yellowthroats
6 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Field Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows
2 Eastern White-crowned Sparrows
1 Common Grackle
3 Baltimore Orioles
4 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 74 spp.
Photo Gallery for May 16th:
