Summer Birding Review & Fall Migration Fun
It's been awhile since I've last done a blog post. Summer has now come to an end, the temperature is dropping drastically, and most of the regular summer birds have now gone south. But before we get to that, lets go on to a few of my summer highlights...
July
The Dickcissel that had been around since June 28 ended up staying till July 26, giving me more nice photos. It was definitely one of my summer highlights!
Another unexpected find was a flock of 14+ White-winged Crossbills that made a brief showing on July 22. I had missed out on them in the spring, so it was a very nice surprise too find them in July!
A couple of Northern Rough-winged Swallows on July 25 brought my 2021 yard list to 180 bird species for this year!
Other July highlights include an adult Red-headed Woodpecker with one recently fledged young bird, a bunch of Cliff Swallows, the continuing Golden-winged Warbler, a few Bonaparte's Gull's, and a couple Common Loon which gave me some sweet views and photos.
August
Because of work, I didn't get time to do much birding time throughout August. Though there were a few interesting birds that I did see.
My First Of the Year (FOY for short) Philadelphia Vireo arrived on the 18th, bringing my yard to 181 species for this year, beating my previous record of 180 species from last year.
A Sora (my second ever yard record) was, sadly, found dead along the side of the road near our yard on the 21st. Almost certainly a hit-and-run victim...
The next day (Aug 22), was my day off work, and I'm glad it was or I never would have found the Lark Sparrow the popped up from our neighbours corn field!!! This species of bird has only been recorded in Bruce County 5 other times, all of which were in spring. One of those "other times" was my sighting from last spring. So, although it wasn't a new life bird for me, it was probably still my highlight bird of the summer!
A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on the 29th was a FOY and my 183rd yard-bird of the year!
September
The month when the most fall migratory species are on the move South.
A single Olive-sided Flycatcher on Sep 2nd was my First Of the Year (FOY) and my 185th yard bird!
Sep 6th yielded a Swainson's Thrush foraging in my backyard. Yard bird number 186! This was the first of many Swainson's I found throughout September. One night in September, I heard 54 or more of them flying over in a matter of only 40 minutes while doing a Nocturnal Flight Call Count (NFC). A NFC is pretty much just standing outside during the night, and listening for any migrating birds flying overhead. For those of you didn't know, most birds migrate during the night when it's cooler and calmer.
I had my first EVER Grey-cheeked Thrush fly over on the evening of Sep 15th, while I was doing a NFC! And early the next morning, while it was still dark, I heard a total of 15 or more fly over. Definitely a cool experience!
I awoke early on Sep 16 to get a rare bird alert on my phone. And what a surprise it was when I saw the name of the bird... a Northern Wheatear!!! The Northern Wheatears range is mainly in Eurasia, but some breed up in the arctic circle, Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland. And during migration, a few individuals will occasionally make appearances in Ontario. Such was the case with this individual, which was found on the outskirts of Owen Sound, just over an hours drive from my house. And oddly enough, we were going to be making a trip to Owen Sound that morning! So long story short, my dad drove us to the wheatear location, and we were able to get amazing views of this rare bird! Due to the harsh, hazy light from the midday sun, I was only able to get a half decent photo, but I'll take it!
Another few highlights in September were my second Yellow-billed Cuckoo of the year, a couple Peregrine Falcons, 2 American Black Bears that walked past me one morning, and a hatch year Massasauga Rattlesnake and Eastern Milksnake!
The month when birding becomes boring... NOT! This month has been one of the best Octobers for White-winged Crossbills! Crossbills are finches from the boreal forests, and usually Bruce County and the rest of southern Ontario only gets Crossbills when cone crops are poor and the birds fly farther in search of food. I've had some pretty good days, with as many as 72 fly over within a couple hours. Nothing compared to what the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory ( the local bird banding station) has been getting. One morning they recorded over 1,800 fly over! Totally insane!!
One of my favourite highlights of the month was a couple of Dunlin I heard calling calling from a partially flooded part of our neighbours field. It was my first ever Dunlin (finally!) and yard bird Number 190 for this year!! My goal was to find at least 190 yard birds this year, so it was nice to finally accomplish it! I doubt I'll get 200 species, but who knows, maybe a bunch of rare birds will show up one day, lol!
Other cool birds include my 2nd and 3rd Red Crossbills of the year (another northern species of finch usually seen farther south food is scarce), my 3rd yard Cackling Goose of the year, my 2nd Northern Goshawk of the year, my second Great Black-backed Gull for my yard this year, a bunch of Common Redpolls (another northern species of finch seen in the south when food is scarce), 2 Trumpeter Swans (only the 3rd time I've seen them before!), my second ever yard record of a Northern Pintail, a Northern Saw-whet Owl I heard calling at night, and a late "Yellow" Palm Warbler (oddly enough, I had one at the same time last year).
One sighting I can't confirm was a possible Boreal Owl (a rare northern owl species) that responded to audio playback from my phone. The owl responded 4 or 5 times with the exact same call (a loud "squeak!"), but there's a chance it could have been just a Saw-whet Owl responding, as some owl species can probably make similar or even the same squeaky calls. So I guess I'll have to just keep hoping for a "real one" sometime!
But my favourite sighting of October will probably go to the Eastern Screech-Owl that gave some fantastic views in the early morning of Oct. 31 (halloween day oddly enough)! The owl literally landed within a few feet of me and started flying back and forth from a few different trees in the yard. Getting photos was really tricky, but with help from my brother who held the flashlight, I managed a few nice ones! It was beginning to get brighter out, so the owl decided to roost in stand of cedars in the backyard for the rest of the day. Even though screech owls are fairly common, It's not every day you get see one up close!
November is finally upon us, so maybe I'll get some rarities like a Mountain Bluebird or a Townsend's Solitaire (or maybe even a Gyrfalcon!).
A few photos from the second half of this year...
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