So What’s Been Going On Since Last Time

or perhaps

Does it still count as a Blog if I only post every few months???

I have to get a better handle on this thing (he says to himself knowing full well nothing will happen).

In June last year we had a few nasty storms come through the area. My Lady and I were sitting in the parking lot of the town Visitor Centre and watched as the clouds worked their way across the river from the west. My Lady suggested I take a photo, so I happily obliged. The phone panorama worked quite well.

Also in June My Lady and I went to Niagara Falls to see the new Tunnel attraction. We did the evening tour that included an interactive light display that we found informative and entertaining. Then we took the elevator down to the Tunnel, and made our way out to the viewing area beside the Horseshoe Falls. Spent a little time here and had to protect the camera occasionally so it didn’t get too wet. This attraction might be really cool to see at night when the Falls freeze up and the lights are shining on it.

In September our town has a little event called The Uncommon Festival. It’s a great time for fans of Steampunk and Wizardry to dress up in their favourite cosplay outfits and hang out with like-minded friends. We have been a couple of times and some of the costumes are really fantastic. I went in the evening this year and watched as a bunch of “Pirates” and “Soldiers” entertained the crowd by firing cannons as well as muskets and blunderbuss toward the river. Got a couple of interesting photos.

In the fall we went out towards the Bracebridge area hoping to see the autumn colours, unfortunately we were a little bit early so we checked out some waterfalls instead. However we did get to see the partial Lunar Eclipse.

A few weeks after that we headed north along Lake Huron to visit Goderich and Bayfield. Pretty little towns and a couple of our favourite day trips.

Would you believe that Birding has still been going on? Yup, even after our amazing journey to Texas, we still get out to look for birds whenever we can. If you have been reading my past posts you would likely have seen most of the regulars that come by, however we did have a few new ones that deserve a mention.

Then of course along comes the time to spend on the Holiday Beach Hawk Tower, helping to count whatever happens to be flying by.
This year we had an amazing young gentleman who was able to pick up the calls of birds flying by, and was so fast with his camera it was like watching an old western gunslinger shoot a coin out of the sky. He was able to get some awesome photos of birds that I couldn’t even see.

Remember the Pelicans that came by in the early spring last year? Well it looked like they had a great time in the breeding grounds, and they made their way back to our little marsh, and took up residence for a month or so. Often there were over 1000 Pelicans on the marsh at a time.

So 2024 was an amazing year for people who enjoy looking at the sky. The sun has been very “dirty” with sunspots throughout the year, and I have really enjoyed getting some shots of it. Then of course we had the major event of the spring (perhaps a lifetime) with the Total Eclipse in April.
In May we had the Aurora that sadly we stayed in bed for, followed up with the August aurora that we fortunately had a chance to see.
Did you know that in October we had another aurora? This one I am calling a MAJOR EVENT, perhaps even going so far as calling it an AURORAGASM (surely better than sex?). I have never seen anything like it before, and one young lady in our group was in such awe that she said “It’s so beautiful I feel like crying!”
I’ve been asked if the actual views were as good as the photos, and all I can say is that once our eyes were adjusted to the dark, all the colours were easily visible. So even while the camera was taking 8 second long exposures, I was still able to observe and enjoy. At one point the sky was Red all the way over our heads.
Wait until you see the photos below.
And just a week after that we were able to see Comet A3 with our naked eyes (it was difficult, but once you knew where to look it became easier). The photos look better as I took a number of photos a few seconds long each, then stacked them to really show what the tail looked like.
And we can’t forget the previously mentioned Partial Lunar Eclipse

Winter came in with a vengeance this year. It was cold all across North America, and we had our few days of it as well. Not only that, but we actually got some snow! Nothing like in the traditional snow belts, or what was going on in Toronto, but more than we have seen since coming down here. And with the cold weather, the snow stayed longer. The marshes froze over and people were out skating and playing hockey on them, the Detroit River was on and off frozen and Lake Erie had large ice shelves reaching far out from the shore.

But winter did bring in some of the winter birds, like Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs and Dark Eyed Juncos, while others tough it out throughout the year, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nuthatch, Blackbirds and Starlings and a good number of ducks.

We also have a few Raptors that are comfortable with the winter weather. Red Tail Hawks, Coopers Hawks, Northern Harriers, and of course Bald Eagles. I submitted the photo below of the Adult Bald Eagle to our local CTV news channel, and it appeared as the Photo Of The Day on the following day. Unfortunately we missed seeing it, but one of our friends sent me a text letting me know that they saw it.

Slowly the months turn over and March makes itself known by bringing in the warmer weather, and the promise of a new birding season.

My Lady and I went to a nearby Provincial Park in early March and as we were walking along the road a dark streak flew in front of us and landed in a tree. I got my binoculars on it and we were thrilled to see a Pileated Woodpecker! We hadn’t seen one since before we left Toronto, and although we hear of one visiting the area once in a while, we were never in the right place at the right time.

All winter we had an impossible time finding any owls, and after lamenting our woes to one of our friends, he advised us of a place that we should be able to see some. Fortunately he was right, and we had a couple of wonderful days observing a number of Short Eared Owls hunting.

A couple of weeks later another friend pointed out a Screech Owl sitting in a box.

It took a little while longer this year for the Pelicans to return to Holiday Beach, but it’s nice to be able to say that they are making their way through with a bit of a stopover here. Sadly the marsh is at its lowest water since before we moved down, and all of the birds are having a harder time finding food. This includes the Pelicans. There have been a few days where they weren’t seen at all after their earlier arrival.

So how many of you got to see the Blood Moon in March? I actually stayed up all night and had my camera taking photos every 20 seconds from pretty well start to finish. I have this little compilation here, instead of putting in too many photos.

Well, after March comes what I like to call “Birding Season”. April and May are some of the best months for the inbound migration and Holiday Beach and Point Pelee are going to see a lot of us again this year. Of course this means I will likely have a couple of thousand photos to go through before I can put together another posting. Hopefully you will all be patient.

Does that get us all caught up? Maybe, but I am sure I am missing a lot. Maybe I will remember it in time for my next posting (whenever that turns out to be).

Thanks again for reading, hope you are still enjoying what you see.

Till next time.

2023 Summer and Fall Update (don’t worry, it’s a short one)

Believe it or not, I actually had a majority of the blog written up to cover what happened in 2023, but by the time I was going to finish it up 2024 was already in full swing. So I think it’s about time to do a little catching up with 2023, before we get side-tracked by Summer, and then the Fall on the Tower, and just think, Christmas is just over 6 months away.

We had a majority of the usual suspects running through town over 2023, but then we also had a few rarities that had us chasing through Essex County for a chance to see them.

In June we learned that there was a very special migrant that was spending time down towards Point Pelee, so we hopped in the car and headed out that way. Once we saw all the cars parked at the side of the road, and our friends wandering over, we knew we were in the right place. This poor Cassin’s Kingbird is usually found in the far south US and Mexico, but it may have been blown up in some of the storms around that time.

In July My Lady and I took a trip up to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan via the Mackinac Bridge before going for a visit to Mackinac Island. This place is really pretty but also really pretty touristy. It is a car free island and the only way to get around is by foot, by bike, or by horse and carriage.

Getting off the ferry from the mainland you are almost immediately hit with the tourist shops of fudge, t-shirts, popcorn and candy, restaurants and so on. After walking around for a little bit, and waiting over 20 minutes at Starbucks, we hopped onto one of the Horse Drawn Carriage tours and enjoyed a slow paced trek around the hotspots and made a stop to see the butterfly conservatory, where a couple of butterflies took a real liking to My Lady.

After returning to the mainland we drove further north to Tahquamenon Falls. The upper falls is one of the largest east of the Mississippi River (nowhere near as tall as Niagara though), and further downriver is another set of cascading falls that make this a very worthwhile drive.

One evening we had an alert stating that there was an immature Little Blue Heron hanging out with a number of Great Egrets at the Egret Roost just down the road from our house. Zoom, out we go and meet up with our friends to see this rarity, and then we find that there were 2 of them. Fortunately they stayed for a few days giving us some nice opportunities to get photos.

A few days after that we had a Swallowtail Kite giving a real show in Lasalle, just a half hour up the road, and although we couldn’t make it the first day, we finally had a chance to go see it, and boy are we happy that we did. It gave everyone there a fantastic show as it went back and forth across the fields and over the road, just looking for some grasshoppers to eat. Many times it simply flew nice and low over all the photographers as if telling us to get the best pictures that you can. It even made it on the local TV news. After a few days it disappeared and was briefly seen at Point Pelee, before heading out to who knows where.

In 2023 My Lady and I had a chance to be on the Holiday Beach Hawk Tower a lot more than ever before and we truly enjoyed every moment.

We were entertained by feeding Ospreys and stealing Eagles, Hummingbirds, Sapsuckers, Deer and Sandhills. We even had Peregrine Falcons strafe the tower before inviting a Blue Jay out for lunch. Then there were the Broad Wing Hawks. OMG the middle of September is the best time to observe the Broad Wing migration where THOUSANDS of these raptors were on the move through the area in massive flocks that enthrall everyone who looks up.

Young Osprey happy about catching a fish

October, the smell of autumn permeates the air. The outbound migration makes a change and now different birds are going by. The last of the warblers slowly peter out and the Broad Wings get replaced by Turkey Vultures. Shorebirds visit the marsh looking for mudflats to feed on and Pelicans swarm in to rest and feed on the numerous fish that inhabit the marsh. Starlings murmur as they harass the raptors that are just trying to pass by. Waterfowl start to congregate in larger and larger numbers only to be stirred up whenever the Eagles swoop in.

Finally we arrive at November, the time of the Golden Eagles. As far as I am concerned 2023 was the best one for seeing Golden Eagles since we have been helping out on the tower. One day we had a couple of Goldens fly by and I was pointing them out to some visitors, when I looked back to the East and saw 5 more flying in towards us. I freaked out a bit and got everyone excited as we saw 4 of them fly in and pass over the marsh. Shortly after that a couple of the gentlemen who do the raptor banding pulled up to the tower and brought out the 5^th Golden, who apparently was tempted by the bait bird and got trapped in the netting. They did all the scientific measuring and banding, and brought it over for everyone to get a close up of it, before releasing it to carry on with its migration.

Finally in December we had a couple of new birds hit our area. A Limpkin spent a short time at Wheatly Provincial Park, and allowed quite a few people a chance to see it, and a Townsend’s Solitaire visited Point Pelee for an extended stay, often being stubbornly difficult to find, but other times just showing up and sitting in a tree for everyone to see. The Limpkin is usually found anywhere from Florida south to much of South America, and the Townsend’s is a Western North American bird.

The end of December hit all of a sudden and then BAM, 2024 came along. Is it just me, or is time moving a little quicker these days?

How about a few more photos for now

Maybe I can get our trip to Texas up before I get side tracked again for the rest of this year???

Thanks for staying with me, and if you like what you see, tell your friends about the site. Trust me, I certainly don’t think I’ll be spamming anyone’s inbox at the rate I am putting these posts up.

Till next time.

September; a hard month to swallow

As the summer holidays end and the kids go back to school, we begin to see the birds making their way south to warmer climates.

This also is the time that we begin the annual Hawk Observation as they zip past the Holiday Beach Hawk Tower. This year my Lady and I actually had an opportunity to spend some time on the tower helping out observing and counting, and whenever possible, taking photos.

However, September was a bit shorter on the tower than we had hoped. Due to various things in life getting moved ahead in the priority list, birding took what could be considered a major bump down. Not that there was anything wrong. For the first couple of weeks we were looking after our Grandpup, and it is really difficult to look for birds and take photos when you have a pretty strong dog on the end of the leash. Then after we dropped Grandpup back home we spent a few days in Tobermory where we had a very interesting experience.

While we were driving, My Lady called her brother to say hello, and while they were talking he mentioned that He and our Sister in Law were in Tobermory for a couple of days. We were quite surprised by this coincidence and decided to meet up with them as we were on our way there ourselves. When we pulled into the Motel that we were staying at, My Lady mentioned that one of the cars in the parking lot looked like her brother’s. When we went into town we met up and as we were chatting it was confirmed that it indeed was their car as they were staying at the same Motel.

We walked around town and after we checked in and got our key I remembered the room number that they were in and as it turns out, our room was DIRECTLY BELOW THEM! This was just way too bizarre. We spent the evening having supper on our balcony, talking and laughing until it was time for us all to head to bed.

We have to consider that due to Covid we had only seen her brother briefly a couple of times, and had not seen our Sister in Law for literally years. These coincidences led us to believe that our meeting was meant to be, for whatever reason. We may never know exactly why, but we are truly happy that it all happened the way it did.

After our return home it was finally time to get up onto the tower for the Hawk Watch.

You may have noticed that I rarely use people’s names in the blog, but this time I really feel that I have to give a proper shout out to the people who dedicate so much time to counting the birds that make their way past not only the tower, but as far as the eye can see all around. Thanks to Nicole, Hugh and Liz who spend up to 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, from the beginning of September to the last day of November in almost every kind of weather. Anything from brilliant sunshine and hot end of summer days, to below freezing temperatures and winds so strong you can feel the tower sway beneath your feet as the days shorten into the end of November.

We see many things while standing on the tower. One day I happened to notice a Blue Heron who had caught a fish in the marsh. We have seen this before where the fish gets caught, the bird adjusts it in its beak and quickly swallows it. Fresh Sashimi to go.

Oh Boy this is going to be a really good breakfast

However, this time the fish was either putting up a heck of a fight or it was just too big to swallow.

Although it is a Hawk Watch or Raptor Count, there is also another group of people who capture the hawks and take various measurements, before sending them on their way with a new piece of jewellery. This is all for science and the banders are trained and certified. Once in a while they will bring a bird or two on the tower and people can adopt them. No, you can’t take it home with you, but you will get your picture taken with the bird, as well as a certificate with the banding information emailed to you, and any time that the bird gets “recaptured” you will be notified by email as to where it was found.

Sharp Shinned Hawk. Welcome to the Band.

The biggest movement of raptors in September is usually the Broad-wing Hawks. This year we had amazing movements with 33,000 Broad-wings and 92,000 Blue Jays on September 23 alone.

Very small portion of a Broad-wing flyover

You never know how hard or how easy it will be to spot the birds. Some days when the sky is clear they might start off the day flying lower and within sight, but as the day warms up they start to ride the thermals and it could take them so high that the only way to spot them is through binoculars. We have often had people lying on the floor of the tower with binos stuck to their eyes as they count tiny specks flying overhead.

Other days the clouds will cover the sky which will force the birds lower, which gives great opportunities for us to get really close views as they almost buzz us on the tower.

And some days they will be able to fly through the blue sky and disappear behind the cloud only to pop out again somewhere else along their flight path.

Families of Bald Eagles take up temporary residence in the marsh, staying months while the fishing is good.

Ducks begin to hang out for a while, fattening up for their next leg.

Monarch Butterflies pay us a visit to the tower as well during September, before starting the long trek to their wintering place in Mexico.

Monarch stocking up before a long flight to Mexico

And as for the Blue Heron with the fish mentioned earlier… We watched it for over 10 minutes as it fought with that fish. Eventually we saw it walking in the water, without the fish but likely still hungry.

Thanks for reading.

And if you are interested in more information on Holiday Beach and what the Hawk Count is all about, as well as seeing some of the numbers and an extra little article that I wrote up specifically for the site, please visit www.HBMO.CA. Feel free to make a donation if you are so moved to do so.

Till next time.

Hey look at this, I’m finally getting August out!

December 08, 2022

You know, I can apologize till the cows come home, but it won’t change the fact that I am once again extremely tardy in getting my blog out to you. That being said, I am sorry.

At least we know that August was a lot warmer than we are getting now, and the wildlife was out enjoying themselves as much as we were.

Most of the time we hung around Holiday Beach and made full use of our annual pass. So what did we end up seeing?

Hiding out in the greenery was what appears to be a Lake Erie Water Snake. We’ve seen them before, but it’s always nice to see a snake in the wild.

Lake Erie Water Snake. You can just barely see its face to the left of center

Turtles really enjoy getting out and sunning themselves on the warm summer days and August saw them out in full force. I originally thought that we only had Painted Turtles, Snapping Turtles and Blanding’s Turtles, but I have since found out that we also have Map Turtles at Holiday Beach as well. Not bad for a small portion of Southwestern Ontario.

August brought out the Butterflies in droves. Sadly I don’t know Butterflies well, but so many of them are very pretty and will occasionally sit still once in a while to allow us to take photos.

The birds are quite hungry and they are fattening up for the outbound migration. We were very entertained by a Flycatcher who played with what looks like a hornet, before eventually finishing it off.

Did you know that the birds change their looks as the Summer wears on? In the Spring when they arrive they are often sporting their beautiful breeding plumage, but after they get to their breeding grounds and have their babies they begin going through molting where they lose the pretty colours and put on the more drab outfits that makes it a bit more difficult to identify as they head back out of the area.

Female or Immature Male Chestnut Sided Warbler

At one point we kept our eyes on a few ducks that we originally misidentified, and later learned that they were molting Wood Ducks. They still looked very nice, but not their striking colouring that we love.

This is also the time that we get more of the different Herons taking up residence. Most of the time we see Blue Herons and Great Egrets, but it’s always a welcome site to find the Black Crowned Night Herons and Green Herons enjoying all the goodies that the wetlands provide.

Black Crowned Night Heron hunting for breakfast

We had a special Gull stop by in Essex County for a few days and many of our birding friends went to see it, so we decided to try to find it as well. The first day we saw all kinds of Gulls, Terns and Cormorants, but not the bird we were looking for. Then it rained and we scooted out of the area.

I went back the next morning and fortunately was able to find the Franklin’s Gull relatively easily as it was right out along the edge of the sand spit across from the park where we were the day before. It was interesting to see all the other Gulls giving it a wide berth as it wandered around the area.

What’s the chance of seeing 2 types of Cuckoos in the same month? Probably not very good. However that is exactly what happened to us in August. Early in the month we had a quick sighting of the Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, and then near the end we were thrilled to watch a Black-Billed Cuckoo at Point Pelee for well over 10 minutes. Took far too many photos that all seemed to look similar in hindsight, but was exciting at the time.

One evening My Lady and I took a river cruise along the Detroit River from Windsor up as far as Peche Island and back down underneath the Ambassador Bridge. It was a very pleasant evening and a lovely date night for the old married couple. Afterwards we drove half hour to get home and promptly fell asleep.

The following morning we got up and jumped in the car and drove out to St. Thomas for a day. Went to see the Train Museum and take a walk along the Elevated Park trail. It was such a nice day that we carried on to Pinafore Park for a walk.

So guess what, that wraps up August, but a bit of good news, I have a bit more time now and can expect to get September’s blog out soon. Not tomorrow, but… soon.

Ok, how about these Eagle photos. Very rare to have it take off and fly towards you.

Thanks for sticking around and we hope that you are still enjoying our stories.

Till next time.

Is that the sound of Crickets?

Wow, I really didn’t take a lot of photos in April. We went out a few times, but not much seemed to be happening

As mentioned last month, we had some Pelicans fly in and eventually land in Holiday Beach marsh.

Early April my Lady and I went over to the Hawk Tower, and as soon as we arrived 40 Pelicans performed their landing routines, before splitting into 2 groups and giving us a great show.

We saw them 1 more time after that and then poof, they were gone and haven’t been seen around here recently (but we have heard of some near Pelee)

We happened to see a juvenile Bald Eagle catch a fish and get chased by a handful of Gulls. They wanted the fish, but really had no chance.

The Horned Owls had at least 1 baby, but they always stayed on the wrong side of the tower to get any worthwhile photos.

As of the end of the month the nest appears to be empty, and the Ospreys have returned but are building a nest on one of the light stands in the baseball field across from their original home. Maybe they don’t like the smell of Owl.

The Egrets have also made a comeback, and are showing off their breeding outfits. I have been waiting to get photos of them ruffling all their feathers, but they continue to elude me.

We heard of an Evening Grosbeak at Point Pelee, and made our way over as quickly as possible. Although we had seen a few last year way up in a tree, this one gave us a really nice show.

We would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for Saint Vincent. La Soufriere has been explosively erupting on and off for the past number of weeks, with lots of rock and ash debris, pyroclastic flows, over 20,000 people evacuated, and we are hearing that the 2 old craters have become 1. The north part of the island, considered as the best growing area, is wiped out and may take a very long time to show any signs of regrowth.

Family is safe right now, but we are still concerned for them. None of them live in the Red zone, but all are being affected in one way or another, some worse than others.

With May comes the real big push of incoming birds on their inbound Spring Migration. We will be trying to be out every day possible, looking for anything that moves, hoping it’s something that is new or special for us, and praying that we get a decent photo.

I will try to get another post out early next month, fingers crossed.

Till then, stay safe.

Thanks for reading.

Is Easter Cancelled?

The weather is starting to warm up and the ice is finally off the lake. As it broke up we found a few lake icebergs floating a little off shore.

It’s really nice to see some of the early birds working back into Essex County. We had a few Sandhill Cranes visiting our little area again, unfortunately they seem to be staying pretty far out in the fields, or higher up in the sky. They like to give a loud call similar to a turkey gobble, and as soon as we hear them our heads are up and swiveling all over.

All over the place we are seeing the Turkey Vultures, Killdeer (they tell you who they are when they fly), Redwing Blackbirds, Dark-Eyed Junko, Phoebe, Kinglets, and Robins. Herons and Egrets are finally showing up in small numbers. We’ve even had a flock of American Pelicans resting on the Detroit River just a 3 minute drive from our house. All kinds of ducks are starting to show up. We missed the Long Tailed Duck in Windsor, but Pintails are enjoying themselves at Hillman Marsh.

So last month we were chasing the Snow Buntings, but early March was all about the Redpolls. This time we got a message that they were at a park that we often visit for waterfowl and shorebirds. The initial post was about over 100 redpoll, so we hopped in our car and off we went. By the time we got there, they had either moved away, or were hiding from us.

We went back a couple days later and as we got to a small brush at the edge of the trail, we noticed the bushes almost seemed alive. We had struck Redpoll gold! In all we counted almost 70 in a couple of trees, and they were giving us quite a show. Although we couldn’t find a Hoary, we were giddy just seeing so many Common Redpolls so close.

My Lady and I were walking through Holiday Beach a couple days ago and spotted a strange bird. I took a photo, and was quite surprised to see a White Headed Robin! Right away I put it onto our birding group and went on taking far too many photos. After getting home and putting them onto the computer, it turns out I took just under 600 pics of this poor bird. After getting rid of the obvious bad ones, I am still left with about 90. I really should get rid of some more. We have found out that this is a pretty rare bird so it’s nice to see it again a few days later, and this time we showed it to a few other birder friends who were able to get their own photos.

And guess who’s back on the Osprey nest? Yup, those Horned Owl squatters. They are making it harder to see them this time, and we haven’t seen any babies yet, but we are keeping an eye out for them.

We had a Common Loon spending time in the Colchester Harbour for a few days. We stopped there a couple days and tried getting that perfect photo of it rising up with the wings out, head up and bill open in a call. Unfortunately it chose not to do that for us. We did show up one afternoon when the sun was shining nicely and got some close ups of it. Very happy with that.

On one of our many drives, we spotted 4 female Pheasants near the side of the road. We went back a few days later and found the male trying to hide, before it went running down the side of the field.

So I teased about the Pelicans earlier.

We were lying in bed one morning and our phone beeped with a bird group message. Someone had 40 Pelicans just off his back yard. Back and forth messages followed finding out where, and it was 3 minutes from our house. After receiving permission to go visit his back yard, we flew out of bed, threw on our clothes, grabbed a cup of tea to go and zipped over. We missed the large group but were quite entertained by the dozen or so that were left. The next day, they were there again, and off we went again. Sadly most had left by that time, but we managed to find a small group out on the lake just a short walk away. Later we heard they were in the marsh at Holiday Beach. We zoomed over there and found 4 of them close to the Hawk Tower where we spent so much time in the fall.

Quite a different experience than we had last year, when we had seen a few in flight, but couldn’t get any photos until the very end with only 1 directly overhead at Pelee.

BREAKING NEWS…

EASTER IS CANCELLED…?

Due to a hungry Eagle spotted by local photographers (My Lady and I), it has been confirmed that the Easter Bunny has met a sad demise.

Initially spotted in a farmer’s field, the young Eagle quickly flew into the trees in a guilty attempt to hide from prying eyes, but was soon again found enjoying a satisfying lunch of pulled rabbit. A basket of coloured eggs magically disappeared as the photographers tried to focus on them.

Considering that they breed like rabbits, we can only hope that at least one of his multiple offspring is willing to take up where this poor bunny’s place ended.

WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTOS FOLLOW

So, that’s pretty well it for March, we are trying to see whatever we can, and hopefully April will start to bring in some of the warblers.

In the meantime, I am still trying to figure out how to take a few shots of the stars, and since Orion is the most prominent constellation in the sky from my back yard right now, the Orion Nebula has been my target of choice. One day I’ll be able to post something really cool, but for now, here’s Orion.

Thanks for reading. Glad you are still with me.

Till next time.

What’s with this SNOW?

Welcome to my new readers. Always nice to see you here. Hope you continue to enjoy.

Well, originally we didn’t expect February to be anything interesting, but I guess in a way, it turned out to be alright.

The past few months have been pretty grey with a lot of cloud cover, but for some reason we actually got to see the sun a number of times in February. With this though came the colder weather. The ice on the river built up quickly so Lake Erie and Lake St Clair both froze over as far as the eye could see. A lot of the waterfowl moved in a bit closer so we visited the Lakeview Marina a few times to see what we could get photos of. Sadly we missed a couple of the different visitors, but we were always entertained by the good old regulars.

Early in the month we heard about a Mockingbird being seen in Ojibway Park in Windsor. So my Lady and I packed up our lunch and set off to see if we could find it. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to find as it was just along the trail leading to the popular bird feeding bridge, and it was willing to give us a show. At one point it was chasing some Eastern Bluebirds out of the area while we were trying to photograph them as well.

And SNOW, geez did we get snow this year. Some of the residents in our area said they hadn’t seen this much in almost 10 years. We actually had to go out and shovel a few times, and when the plows came along we had to work hard to clear the end of the driveway. Thankfully, we have a great group of neighbours who are all willing to work together to help everyone out.

Sure, some people living in more traditional Snow Belts would laugh at us complaining of a “little bit of snow”, but we live in a Banana Belt down here at the bottom of Canada. I guess if Texas can get slammed by old man Winter, then it’s fitting that we get a bit here too in the Great White North, even if we don’t like it so much. Kids on the other hand were having a blast. With the marshes frozen over we saw a good number of skating and hockey rinks popping up, and even had a few parents out scooting over the fields in their snowmobiles.

One really nice thing about the snow was the arrival of thousands of Snow Buntings being seen all over the county. A few concessions over from us had the largest flock of Buntings that I have ever seen. Sure, I really haven’t seen a lot, but this one was really big. They hung around a couple of silos that must have had enough food scattered about to keep them satisfied, but they would be so far away from the road where I couldn’t really photograph them. I did manage to find other flocks that would kinda let me be close enough and have added a few photos below. A large number of Horned Larks and a very, very small number of Lapland Longspur would join in with the Snow Bunting feasts.

Just down the road is Big Creek which also was almost completely frozen over, except for a small area close to the road, about 50 feet across, where the ducks, geese, swans, a couple of herons, and the local Eagle family would all congregate and feed. One day we stopped to watch an eagle harass the other visitors, and eventually it caught a small fish and then flew off to a tree to enjoy it. It was snowing a fair bit at the time, as you can see in the photos.

Oddly, we had a few Virginia Rails that were trying to overwinter at the Point Pelee Marsh this year. We were fortunate to be able to get out to see them on a good day when at least one was feeding along the boardwalk. With the cold weather there was a lot of concern about whether or not they would survive and we aren’t sure if they made it, as we went back a few days after the heavy snowfalls and we couldn’t find any new tracks and nobody has seen them since. They nest in the marsh so we can always hope that they were able to find a new area to hunker down in and stay safe. It’s a big marsh after all.

While at Pelee, I climbed the tower at the tip to see how much ice had been building on the lake.

And here we have a few more of the Pelee residents

We went to the marina a couple days ago when it was getting warmer, and all the eagles were gone from Peche Island. Often there are over a dozen or more hanging out in the trees, but with the ice breaking up, and the lakes and rivers running again, they have either moved on, or found somewhere else to find food for now.

There were still a small number of the regulars close by, and I was really lucky to find a Hooded Merganser in the mix. At one point it was cleaning itself up, and I just sat there waiting for the inevitable rise up and flap wings motion. Finally, up it goes and my finger hits the button and click click click, and then it’s over in about 1 second. Fortunately, I got the shot I was waiting for.

So that’s about it for the February roundup. Hopefully March will begin to bring some of the early birds in. On the 28th we had some Killdeer flying around our heads as my Lady and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood. Maybe some of the other shore birds will start showing up too.

Remember, if you like the stories or photos, enter your email and click the Follow button to get notifications of any updates. Looks like I may have actually settled into a routine of doing a monthly roundup, so I think I will try to keep it that way, unless something really special happens.

Thanks for reading.

Till next time.

Once Every 4 Years

Hey guess what! Winter is almost over!

Overall, it has been a fairly gentle one down here, other than the constant cloud cover, and the occasional snowfall that we have to sweep away. But hey, the sun has actually been making an appearance a little more often nowadays. We have even had the front and back doors open a few days, and the freshness of the air is exhilarating.

Just had a silly thought, if 1 year in human time, is equal to 7 years in dog time, how old is the dog if it celebrates its birthday on February 29. Since it only comes around every 4 years, that dog could live forever!

And what about cats? If they have 9 lives, and are born on Leap Day, do they automatically get 4 times as many?

My brain hurts.

And now for something completely different ,,, Birds. You knew it was coming.

We had a Snow Goose hanging out with all of the Canada Geese in a field across the road. Then one day we were driving alongside the river into town, and my Lady says to stop, there’s something different on someone’s riverfront yard. Sure enough, there’s our little Snow Goose, up nice and close.

Snow Goose hanging out with a flock of Canada Geese

Then we got word of some Snow Buntings out near Point Pelee. Into the car we go and eventually find them out distant in the field where we first saw the Black Bellied Whistling Duck in the summer. It was beautiful to see a few hundred of these little birds dancing from spot to spot.

We also got word of 6 Meadowlark sticking around a field about 20 minutes away, so we packed up a cup of tea and headed over to see if we could find them. As we approached the area, they flew out of the trees on the left and into the field on the right. Of course, they flew a good way out into the field, but a bit of patience allowed us to get a couple of good photos. Not only that, we had some Snow Buntings playing around nice and close. Not close enough to get single birds, but a wonderful display of them flying.

Meadowlarks in flight. Vibrant yellow in a grey season

Part of the large flock of Snow Buntings

We wandered over to Wheatley harbor a week or so ago, and we were graced with a beautiful display from some Bald Eagles. They mostly paired off and did their aerial gymnastics, but at one point we counted 7 spread out across the lakefront.

I almost forgot, we were out for a walk at Holiday Beach last week, and as we were passing an area where we had seen deer before, my Lady stops me and looks through her binoculars. I look through my camera, and get off a couple of shots of a little Fox out sunning itself. It didn’t like the fact that we had stopped, so it quickly got up and moved further into the trees.

As for everything else, we are going through photos of the birds from last year’s migration, and are trying to be able to identify them quickly, just in case we get put on a spot, or maybe even tested.

Sorry for the long time between posts, but it’s been a bit hard to sit down and put my mind into writing, when there has been so much wildlife outside to keep us busy.

Thanks for reading.

Till Next Time.

And now for 2020

Welcome to 2020. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s.

So, I didn’t make any resolutions for this year. I suppose one of them would have been to get this blog updated every week, but based on the current date, I would have blown that one already.

First off, how about some bird sightings. There still seem to be a lot of Kestrels and Red-Tailed Hawks hanging around these parts. We see a lot of them as we are out and about. Went over to Holiday Beach a couple days ago and actually saw about 4 Carolina Wrens searching for food in some brush on the ground. Went to the tower there the next day and there were some Goldfinches bouncing around from tree to tree. When we were in Toronto we would only see these little ones in the spring and summer.

There have been a couple of Egrets still visiting the waters nearby, and the Eagles are making their way back in as well.

Have you ever on the spur of the moment thrown some clothes into a bag, jumped in the car and just go somewhere, without knowing where you will end up. A few days before Christmas, we did just that. Since we are fairly close to the border, we crossed the bridge and made our way south on I75. Ended up spending the night just south of Dayton, and the next morning pointed the car southwest and eventually ended up in Nashville. We made sure to stop at the visitors info centre and made our plans for the next few days.

Honky Tonks – check
Belle Mead – check
Hop On Hop Off – check
Country Music Hall Of Fame – check
and of course The Grand Ole Opry – check

We also visited some other sites around the city, and eventually worked our way back home for Christmas. What’s nice about travelling on Christmas Day is that there is hardly anyone on the road, and the border crossing is pretty fast.

We did the same spur of the moment thing, and visited Sarnia the weekend before New Year’s and found out that there was a Snowy Owl being spotted occasionally in the fields nearby. We decided to take a walk along one of the trails, and sure enough, way out in a field we saw a white blob. I tried to take a couple of photos to see what it was, and couldn’t really tell. I ran back to the car and grabbed my stronger binoculars, and walked quickly back to my Lady who was keeping an eye on the blob. After a few moments of trying to catch my breath (hey I’m an old guy now you know), I was able to confirm it was indeed a Snowy Owl, and it was actually facing our direction. I placed my lens on my Lady’s shoulder and fired off a number of shots, hoping that at least one would come out (this is called spray and pray). It took a bit of cropping in but I feel this might be the best shot.

We had also heard that a Harlequin Duck had been seen by the Bluewater Bridge that morning, so we zipped over there, but the water was running so fast, nothing was sitting around. We then wandered over to the Sarnia harbor, and checked out the waterfowl taking refuge in the docks area. Sadly, the Harlequin wasn’t around, but this little guy came over to see if I had any food for him.

1 of only 2 white ducks in Sarnia Harbour

There were also a few Long Tail Ducks out on the river.

As we were getting ready to move on, this Eagle came to harass some of the ducks, before flying off to a tree out on an island in the river.

So the weather here has been on and off lately. Sometimes cool, sometimes a bit warmer, but you can tell the seasons have changed. Hey, we even had snow for an hour. Then, within 30 minutes, it was gone. We had some ice cover on the marsh for a few days, but it too has melted again.

The sky though has been a different matter. It feels like weeks have gone by where there is either cloud cover, or just overall grey. The sky has been covered in some way for so long, that when I looked outside the other day, I was almost blinded by a strange bright light shining down from a weird coloured sky. Believe it or not, the sky was BLUE! I went online to see what that light was, and found out that it was The SUN! What a day for celebration! Sadly, it has disappeared again though.

Anyhooo, it’s only a few months before the season changes, and the birds start to make their way back north, and we are out traipsing around our favourite birding areas again.

In the meantime, please leave me a comment below and let me know what you like or don’t like about my verbal meanderings, and don’t forget to click Follow to get email notifications when I put up another post.

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I’ll try to get another post out sooner, rather than later, but until then, thanks for reading.

Till next time.