Tag: Big Creek

Hey, Guess who’s late (again)

September 14, 2020

Wasps. They end up spoiling picnics, pool parties, barbeques, baseball games, and almost anything else you want to do outside in the late summer.

In our case, they are really harassing our hummingbirds. It’s gotten so bad that we have had to set up wasp traps near each of our 3 hummingbird feeders, just to try and give the hummies a little bit of a fighting chance. It’s helping, but the wasps seem to be in an endless supply and just keep coming.

As mentioned last time, August was HOT. We had a really intense day of thunderstorms right near the end of the month, and we are expecting a cooldown over the next couple of weeks.

We caught sight of a couple more ships coming along the river that looked interesting. This time it was a Tug pulling a barge.

One day at Holiday Beach our resident fox put on a bit of a show for us. It looked like it might have been playing with something it had caught, while still keeping a close eye on us to make sure we didn’t get any closer (not that we were going to).

So August has seen the return of a lot of various Sandpipers, such as Yellowlegs, Solitary, Spotted, Stilt, White-Rumped, and others that I just have no idea about yet. Some are small, some larger, some have long necks, others don’t, some have long straight beaks, some have short beaks, and some have long beaks that dip at the end, the plumage is similar but slightly different, and so on. Give me time to really be able to identify the warblers, and maybe I can learn some of the myriad shorebirds that drop by. Don’t ask me who any of these are yet.

The butterflies and dragonflies were still putting on a show, with the Monarchs hopefully coming by in numbers soon.

We found out that late August is not the best time to go to the tip at Point Pelee. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way. This is the time when all of the Stable Flies decide to have their babies, and need to fill up on blood. Dogs, cats, farm animals and people are high on their list of best things to bite. And it HURTS! Note to self, try to remember to stay away during that time.

So, other than that, we are looking forward to the outbound migration of the warblers, and the real push out of the Raptors (no not the sports team, the birds). Last year we had some amazing days and if we see that again, it would be fantastic.

  • Yellow Billed Cuckoo
  • Great Blue Heron on top of a Purple Martin house
  • Sunrise and mist on Big Creek
  • Early morning sunrise on Big Creek

So long Summer, hopefully Autumn will be kind.

Till next time, thanks for reading. Stay safe.

June was a bit Cuckoo

July 13, 2020

What an interesting month June was.

Point Pelee and Hillman Marsh opened up, with Pelee being open weekends only for a bit, and although we haven’t been yet, we have heard that a good number of American Pelicans have been spotted down near the tip. We have seen a few flying by our little piece of heaven, but haven’t been able to get any photos of them.

A bit of good news with our tower Ospreys. They are still around and it looks like they may have babies, but they are staying low in the nest right now. So the ones that we saw flying around last month weren’t ours. The only way we can figure that they might have babies is that we have seen the parents on the nest, or bringing more nesting materials up to it.

We went to Holiday Beach one evening and as we wandered the road we heard a strange sound. At first I thought it might have been a Heron, but after a couple moments it made a Tok-Tok-Tok type of sound and we realized it was a Yellow Billed Cuckoo. Sure enough after a few minutes of searching, it showed itself to us and we got a couple of reasonable photos. We have gone back a few times and have heard it in the area, but it seems to be a bit camera shy now.

Yellow Billed Cuckoo

Although the Orioles are still in the area, they have stopped stealing from our Hummingbird feeder. Unfortunately our Hummies have been only making infrequent stops right now, and we rarely see them.

The Fish Flies came in for about a week, and they are pretty well gone now, and the Fireflies have started their nightly fireworks displays. We expect them to be gone soon as well.

Speaking of Fireworks, we heard a couple of houses shooting some off in our area, but due to COVID-19 the town cancelled all of the real Canada Day celebrations, and instead had virtual stuff online.

So what’s a birder to do when the majority of birds have moved along?

It seems bugs and Butterflies are a reasonable distraction. Unfortunately, the really good ones are so damn hard to photograph because like the birds, they just don’t stay still very long.

So, how’s the heat treating you? We had a string of Heat Alerts here with the temperatures feeling up in the 40’s due to the humidity. Let’s just say it was STINKING HOT some days.

Went out a couple of nights ago to watch the moon rise over Big Creek. The mosquitoes were trying to have me for dinner but they didn’t like the stuff I sprayed on my body. They still whispered into my ears but I tried to ignore them.

One morning we were out for a short drive (best time to see wildlife is around sunrise and sunset), and my Lady spotted what we thought were deer in the field, but when we had a closer look, it was a pair of Sandhill Cranes dancing around. They would normally be gone north by now, so it was nice to see them here.

Other than that, there’s not a ton more to talk about, so all we can say is, stay safe, stay healthy, wear a mask, and we’ll all get through this.

Till next time.