August 20, 2005
East coast shorebirds
After having fun with the eastern seaboard passerine migration, I turned my attention to shorebirds. A quick visit to the Amherstview sewage pond (near Kingston) produced a small group of maybe 30 shorebirds, amongst which were 2 Baird's Sandpipers...
... and this, my lifer Stilt Sandpiper at last!
After Canada, I decided to return to the UK for a week (well, I was practically halfway home), which left me with a 6.5 hour stopover in JFK airport, NY, so naturally I went birding! Jamaica Bay is a shorebird magnet only one subway and a short walk away from the airport, affording a nice view of the New York City skyline.
This scrappy-looking Boat-tailed Grackle turned out to be my 550th ABA area bird!
As hoped, the East Pond was teeming with shorebirds. I got very close looks at the hordes of Semipalmated Sandpipers...
... and Lesser Yellowlegs.
Best of all were a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers - a long overdue lifer for me.
Big John's Pond was worth a look, producing a (literally) Solitary Sandpiper amongst the dowitchers and yellowlegs.
A walk around the West Pond yielded a nice selection of eastern species (Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black Duck and a dust-bathing Brown Thrasher), plus my first of year Common Terns.
Belle Island birding
I spent a few days recovering from the hectic conference in Kingston, ON, where earlier in the year I had seen my first (and second and third...) Great Gray Owl. Aside from a short but productive trip to Lemoine Point for my lifer Bobolinks, the majority of my birding comprised early morning visits to tiny Belle Island. I got some reasonable portraits of some of the local breeders including baby Gray Catbird...
... and American Robin.
This Rose-breasted Grosbeak landed in the same tree as the Robin, almost too close to photograph!
Also around were vocal family parties of Baltimore Orioles...
... the local race of Song Sparrow...
and Yellow-shafted Flickers.
Flycatchers of all sizes from Great-crested...
.. to Least were well-represented.
Here's an Eastern Kingbird vocalising...
... and one of many Eastern Wood-Pewees singing its name.
This attractive orb-weaver appeared to have caught a wasp.
As in Montreal, the migration was very visible and obvious (maybe this is an east coast phenomenon), with 17 species of warbler* seen, including 2 beauties for lifers (Bay-breasted and Golden-winged). A weedy clearing attracted foragers such as Nashville, Tennessee and Magnolia Warblers.
A puddle in the road proved to be a migrant magnet, attracting this Red-eyed Vireo (seemed unusually yellow, but I couldn't turn it into a Philadelphia!)...
... plus Yellow, Black-and-White and Canada Warblers.
* For my own memory as much as anything else, the warbler species seen were Northern Parula, Tennessee, Golden-winged, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Myrtle, Pine (at Lemoine Point), Bay-breasted, Black-and-White, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Yellowthroat, Canada.
Marvellous Montreal
I just spent a very pleasant week in Montreal, attending the monster-sized annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (5000+ participants!). Fortunately I did manage to escape the throng for a spot of birding. Just before the conference I spent a delightful day hiking and canoeing in the Mauricie National Park.
Overall bird diversity was low (perhaps due to the time of year), but birds seen included my lifer Mourning Warbler, a smart breeding-plumaged Common Loon, a noisy pair of Merlins and Northern Parula. On hearing a bizarre drumming sound from the undergrowth, I crawled through a gap and came eyeball-to-eyeball with this male Ruffed Grouse!
In Montreal itself, I had some great early morning birding on the scenic Mont Royal.
It has a good selection of eastern breeding birds (Cardinal, Indigo Bunting and Chimney Swift, for example), but a chance encounter with a mixed flock of migrants provided most of the excitement - Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles alongside Red-eyed Vireos and a large (for a west-coast birder) diversity of warblers, the best of which was my lifer Blackburnian Warbler. I also had a strange but memorable encounter with a Ruby-throated Hummingbird which had managed to get itself stuck to a teasle-like flower. After a little careful handwork on my part (these birds are TINY!) it was soon on its way.
August 5, 2005
Last-minute shorebirding
I'm about to disappear from California for a conference in Montreal (any birding suggestions for central Montreal anyone?), so have been diligently checking out shorebirds for the last week. It's something of a deafening activity at the moment, as the protective parent Stilts and Avocets noisily defend their young.
North Davis Pond is just now becoming good shorebird habitat - this pimply bottom belongs to the Spotted Sandpiper which has been hanging around this spot for a few days.
The city of Davis Wetlands has been attracting huge numbers of Long-billed Dowitchers, among which were a scattering of Wilson's Phalaropes...
... and this morning, two moulting adult Marbled Godwits.
After countless attempts, perseverence finally paid off in the form of my first California Semipalmated Sandpiper, a distinctive juvenile lacking any orange tone to the scaps and with a decidedly stubby bill.
The trifecta: from l-r, Western, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Woodland WWTP came up trumps this morning with my second county bird (no 245) in two days - a moulting adult Ruddy Turnstone. Whilst phoning out the news I took my eyes off the bird, which promptly disappeared - rather careless of me! Also around was a hunting Peregrine, a winter-plumaged Dunlin for its second day, a flyover Black Tern and oodles of Great-tailed Grackles. One great thing about this site is the opportunity for close-up study of the commoner shorebirds such as Western Sandpiper (this juv was particularly bright)...
... and this confiding Semipalmated Plover.
I may not get the chance to update my blog for a couple of weeks, so until then, au revoir!
Banded Caspian Terns
On 28th July 2005, Joan and I encountered 19 Caspian Terns at the Bridgeway Island Pond, Port of Sacramento - a good number for these parts. Two of them were banded - an adult with two red bands on its left leg, and a juv with what looked like red and two white on the left leg, and green-white-silver on the right. Anyone know where they're from?
Blue birds, butterflies and bats
After years of trying, Steve Hampton managed to locate a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Yolo County - no small feat! Four of us were hot on the trail of this bird, but in spite of 2 hours searching and climbing through reams of spider webs (not recommended), we were unable to relocate it. However, the riparian habitat had many other things to offer, including great views of singing Blue Grosbeaks...
... and Lazuli Buntings.
I saw several of these pretty checkerspot butterflies, but as I haven't got round to buying a butterfly guide yet, don't know what it is. Any ideas?
Monarchs are always a pleasure to see, and I'm noticing them in increasing numbers at the moment - are we seeing the first wave of migrants?
That evening, I caught up with one of the more impressive natural phenomena in our region - the mass emergence of millions of Mexican Free-tailed Bats from under the Yolo Bypass. This rather shaky photo was taken leaning out of the car window travelling at 60mph!
August 3, 2005
Yosemite and King's Canyon
It's been a long time since my last post, partly due to workload, but also due to the lack of exciting bird news. A couple of weekends ago, Andrew and I did a whirlwind tour of Yosemite, King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Scenery- and bird-wise, the highlight was Glacier Point. This site offered not only spectacular views over Yosemite Valley,....
... but provided us with close-up views of a group of Blue Grouse chicks, foraging under mother's watchful eye.
This chipmunk looked on nervously from behind a tussock.
After a night in the seedy suburbs of Fresno, we headed up to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks...
... and marvelled at the Giant Sequoias, including the largest (by volume) tree in the world.
The wet meadows we visited were carpeted in wildflowers (but sadly no Great Gray Owls).
When pondskaters attack...
Anyone know what lizard this is?
