G. Ross Lord Park Photos

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog, because I've been procrastinating for the past week. So I thought that I'd get back into things by posting some photos from my recent photography expedition. Nothing fancy, just a couple hours mid afternoon in a city park, but the birds were quite cooperative and I was able to get some decent shots, so here they are.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwings are officially my new favourite bird to photograph

Canada Goose

I spent some time photographing the geese, before they were all chased off by somebody trying to take a photo with their smartphone

Goslings

These goslings were adorable, but what wasn't adorable was how there were about fifty Canada Geese in total taking up the shoreline gathering around somebody who was feeding them. Just a shout out to anyone considering feeding waterfowl, please don't. The populations become out of control very quickly and can do a lot of damage to the eco-system.

Goslings

Cedar Waxwing

Song Sparrow

 The Song Sparrows were very cooperative as always and posed for photos out in the open.

Song Sparrow

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Grey Catbird

Grey Catbird

Day 4 of Summer Target Birding - Rarity!

After yesterday's extraordinarily dull post, comprising of zero photos. I thought that I'd make another photo heavy post to make this blog a little bit more interesting to my total of zero subscribers (maybe I'll finally pass fifty views!).

My original plan for today was to recover from yesterday's ordeal. After doing absolutely nothing all morning I checked my email at around 1 pm. To my surprise, I saw the following subject line in my inbox; [Ontbirds] Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Marie Curtis Park. Needless to say, two minutes later I was out the door and on a bus to Mississauga.

Unfortunately, I missed my bus, so it ended up taking just over two hours to get to Marie Curtis Park, but I was confident that as soon as I got to the park I'd see a big crowd of birders all staring at a conveniently positioned flycatcher. When I got to the park my confidence quickly drained away, I had no idea where the bird was and didn't see the crowd of birders that I had anticipated.

After an hour of wandering around through the park, I finally found a birder who was on his way out of the park. He gave me directions to the bird, turned out that it wasn't in the park, but rather, just outside of it. When I got to the spot there were "only" a dozen or so birders lingering, hoping for another view of the flycatcher. After waiting a few minutes, someone called out that they had the bird! We all looked up just in time to see the most incredible flycatcher flying low out over the grass.It was it, we had the SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER!

Scissor-tailed Blur

Scissor-tailed slightly more distinct blur

STFL showing its' incredibly long tail

After getting some distant photos of it flying across the field, I managed to get a bit closer to get some shots of it perched.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Add caption

Lifers

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Ontario Year List to date:  209

Day 3 of Summer Target Birding - The East Side

In search of Marsh Wrens, and Common Gallinule in the Rouge Valley

On June 24th I had made plans to hike the rouge river from the waterfront up to the 407. My planned route was approximately 15 km and looked something like this.

The route that I ended up walking was probably closer to 30 km and looked something like this.

I got quite lost during my walk and was very relieved when it was over, but I saw some surprisingly decent birds. My plan was to get Marsh Wrens at the Rouge Beach Marsh, walk north to Reesor Pond (15 km), then take the bus home.

While I expected to get Marsh Wrens since I had heard that they were quite regular at the Rouge Beach and Marsh Park, I knew that my chances of getting Gallinules were practically nil since they are a very rare bird in the GTA.

I woke up at 5 in the morning at got on a bus for two hours to get to the marsh. When I got there, I was surprised to find that the road was completely flooded. The water was over two feet deep in some places, and it was impossible to tell where the road ended and the marsh began! After wading back and forth along the road for a half hour, I heard the song of a MARSH WREN and had a brief glimpse of a small brown bird that I presumed to be the wren. I waited another half hour or so trying to get better looks at the bird, but never saw it again, while I was waiting I got excellent views of two OSPREY flying low over the marsh.

After getting over the disappointment of not getting clear views I decided to walk north to the Glen Rouge Campground, and promptly got lost somewhere in Pickering. After some wandering, I finally made it to the trail system and was able to walk for a couple hours without getting lost (accomplishment!). While I was walking I had brief views of three GREAT-HORNED OWLS (possibly, they were very brief views) and a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, and I heard WINTER WRENS (county bird!) and a BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, both unusual for this time of year.

My luck ended somewhere in the vast expanse of the Rouge Wetlands, where I managed to get lost again. While I was lost, I managed to find EASTERN MEADOWLARKS and HOUSE WRENS, which I was pleased with, but still didn't help me find my way back to Toronto. After getting directions from some people who were volunteering with the Bio Blitz I was at least pointed in the right direction. After a few hours of wandering at the side of the road and (hopefully not in use) train tracks, I came across a large group of people (some of whom I recognized from the Bio Blitz). I asked them for directions, and they were able to tell me which way I should be walking, then pointed me in the opposite direction. This added a few more km to my route, but after walking for about an hour through an area comprised seemingly entirely of nature reserves and farms (didn't know this existed in the GTA) I found my way to a suburb and took the bus home from there.

To sum it off, the walking was miserable, but the birds were somewhat decent.

Lifers

-Marsh Wren

Day 2 of Summer Target Birding - Success!

In search of Piping Plover at Ashbridge's Bay

After seeing eBird reports of the Piping Plover in the evening yesterday at Ashbridge's I decided to try my luck for the plover in the evening. It took me an hour and forty minutes by TTC to get to Ashbridge's (note to self, never take the Queen bus at rush hour), so I got there at 6:25pm. As soon as I got to the beach I scanned the gulls looking for anything unusual. As usual Ashbridge's was quite busy, always "nice" to be birding with music being blasted in the background.

After about a minute of searching a dark ring-billed sized gull flew in. In a matter of seconds I got my camera out of my backpack and took half a dozen photos, before I even had a positive ID of the gull. After getting a closer look at the photos, I was sure, I had the LAUGHING GULL! I could see that it was a different bird from the bird that Owen Strickland had found a couple of days before. I had found a rarity! This was the first time that I had found a rare bird by myself!

Laughing Gull

Better view of the Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull showing its' wings

 After I had taken some identifiable shots of the LAGU I walked over to where a photographer had told me the Piping Plover was. In a matter of seconds I spotted the PIPING PLOVER running around on the beach. Can you see it in the picture?

Piping Plover

 How about this one?

Piping Plover

 Lifer #2 of the day!

After photographing the plover I went back to where the gull was to get some better photos.

Laughing Gull laughing!

Here's a shot of the LAGU yawning

Laughing Gull

Bonaparte's Gull from yesterday for comparison.

Bonaparte's Gull

I don't really know much about bird behaviour, I've assumed that this is them yawning, if anyone knows what this behaviour actually is please comment.

Laughing Gull

This had been an incredible evening at Ashbridge's Bay. My best half hour of birding this year.

Lifers!

Laughing Gull

Piping Plover

Year list: 207

Ontario life list: 234

Day 1 of Summer Target Birding - Squat

My last Grade 9 exam was on the 20th so now I have a couple weeks before I leave for the Rockies to fill with target birding.

In search of Laughing Gull and Piping Plover at Ashbridge's Bay Park

In hindsight it was a bit stupid of me to try for Laughing Gull and Piping Plover at 6:00 am since the birds had only been seen at this location in the evening. When I got there, there were hundreds of RING-BILLED GULLS and BONAPARTE'S GULLS, but no Laughings. There were even a couple Redheads in the flooded grassy area, unusual for this time of year.

Bonaparte's Gull

 Then I noticed a Semipalmated Sandpiper running around on the sand. Somewhat of a rare find for this time of year. Probably a juvenile bird that didn't quite make it to the breeding grounds in the Arctic.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

 Since it didn't look like any Laughing Gulls were going to show up I spent a bit of time photographing the Bonaparte's Gulls before leaving Ashbridge's. On my way out of the park, to my surprise a LINCOLN's SPARROW ran across the path in front of me and into a bush. Very unusual for this time of year.

Bonaparte's Gull

Yawning Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Clearly not Laughing distant hooded gull, Bonaparte's

In search of Carolina Wren at High Park

After leaving Ashbridge's Bay, with no clear idea as to where I was going to go next I got on the 501 bus (no longer the 501 streetcar) and ended up at High Park. I had heard that there were Carolina Wrens near the Allotment Gardens (inconveniently situated in the off leash area), I needed Carolina Wren for my year list so I went over to look for them. On my way, I saw plenty of birds feeding their young, including two BALTIMORE ORIOLE nests.

In the Allotment Garden area, there were plenty of dogs (and rehearsing Shakespearean actors), but no wrens. By then it was noon, so I guess I'll just have to try at a later date.

To sum it off

By the end of the day I had seen a grand total of zero target species, but the weather had been nice so I had a decent morning outing (not worth waking up a 5 in the morning for). Maybe tomorrow I'll have more luck. 

A Morning At Carden

Birding Carden Alvar

This is my first blog post, so I thought I'd start this off with something special. On Saturday, May 27 I went up to Carden Alvar on a birding trip with a few friends. 

The day started off well, the first bird of the trip was an EASTERN BLUEBIRD. Shortly after that, a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO flew overhead, what a great way to start the trip! We then proceeded to the bluebird box 10 hide to try our luck for Loggerhead Shrike and Upland Sandpiper. On the way, we saw plenty of EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, BROWN THRASHERS and BOBOLINKS, birds that are usually hard to find in Toronto.

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Meadowlark

At the hide we came across the most cooperative pair of BARN SWALLOWS that I have ever seen. They were perched about 6 feet away from the hide and allowed for some excellent photo-ops. Inside the hide we found an EASTERN PHOEBE sitting on a nest. Unfortunately, we saw no sign of either shrikes or sandpipers.

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallows

Yellow Warbler

Common Loon

We then drove on to Sedge Wren Marsh, where we were able to locate a SEDGE WREN building a nest. Unfortunately, the bird was quite far away and I was unable to get any photos of it. As we were searching for Sedge Wrens we heard multiple WILSON'S SNIPE winnowing in the background and we were able to pick out some very distant snipe in flight. We also heard an ALDER FLYCATCHER calling (lifer!). As we were leaving the marsh we saw an AMERICAN BITTERN fly across the road.

At least the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD was cooperative!

As we continued in our search for sandpipers and shrike we found an incredibly cooperative WILSON'S SNIPE posing for us on a fence post. We were also able to relocate the AMERICAN BITTERN which I was unable to get a photo of partly due to the rain, and partly due to the fact that the bird was hidden in tall grass as bitterns usually are.

Wilson's Snipe

American Bittern, photo taken by Eric Baldo

We then left Carden Alvar for a side trip to a small town nearby to photograph an OSPREY that was conveniently nesting about 10m off the ground next to the road. We were able to scramble up the side of the road to reach eye level with the nest. The Osprey was not pleased, but put on quite a show for us.

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

After the encounter with the Osprey, we went back to Carden Alvar to search for Golden-winged Warbler, an Alvar specialty. While we were driving we came across an EASTERN TOWHEE conveniently posed at the side of the road. At one point I thought that I heard a Golden-winged, so we got out of the car to check. Turned out that it was "only" a Black-Throated Green, but I was able to photograph this stunning male SCARLET TANAGER!

Eastern Towhee

Scarlet Tanager

At one point in our search we got out of the car in a spot that looked good for Golden-winged Warblers. We then started to play a recording of a Golden-winged in the hope that it would respond, after numerous attempts we heard it. The faint zee-zaa-zaa-zaa of a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER! All of a sudden there were several males all flitting about 5-10m off the road. Then I saw movement in a tree and I raised my camera to photograph it, it clearly wasn't a Golden-winged so I assumed it was the Brewster's that I had heard someone call shortly beforehand. After careful analysis of the photo, I concluded that it was a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, a lifer!

Golden-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

After the warbler excitement, we went back to the Sedge Wren Marsh where we saw more Golden-wingeds but not much else. We then made one last stop to try to find shrikes and sandpipers. We dipped on Loggerheads but we managed to get some half-decent looks at an UPLAND SANDPIPER walking through the grassland habitat. Unfortunately, our time at Carden had come to an end, it was 1:00 and we had to make it back to Toronto for Toronto Birding Week's culminating event, "The Last Curley". A poetry/music/ballet rendition of Fred Bosworth's novel Last of The Curlews.

Birding Marie-Curtis Park (Etobicoke/Mississauga)

The performance was at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church near Colonel Samuel Smith Park. The show far exceeded expectations and now I need to go buy the book. I then heard that a Connecticut Warbler had been sighted at Marie-Curtis Park in Etobicoke. I had no idea what a Connecticut Warbler was or sounded like, or even precisely where it had been last seen. But I knew that I needed it for my life list. I was dropped off at the park (which I had never been too, or even heard of before Connecticut Warbler fame) and after some wandering was able to stumble upon a fellow birder. Then more birders emerged from the bushes, I had found the stakeout. 

This was my second stakeout of the weekend and wasn't my last. The birders told me that the bird had been heard shortly before I showed up so I decided to sit there and wait for a bit. There were plenty of warblers around (mourning, chestnut-sided, yellow, etc.) but no sign of the Connecticut. After over an hour of waiting for the bird to come to me, I decided to take matters into my own hand and try to find the bird myself. I walked off into the bushes in the bushes and after a few minutes of searching, I saw a small bird fly out in front of me. After a few more minutes of waiting for the bird to reappear it finally showed it self and I was able to get a surprisingly decent shot of it. 

Connecticut Warbler

On my way back to the bus stop, I managed to pick up a few more birds for the day. MOURNING WARBLER (lifer!), and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO among others. It took me two hours to get back home from Marie-Curtis, but this side trip was definitely worth it for the warbler. All in all, I had a fantastic trip and managed to pick up six lifers! Shoutout to Mark Peck who dedicated his time and energy (as well as copious amounts of gasoline) to take me and two other young birders on an amazing outing.

Lifers of the trip

1. Connecticut Warbler
2. Mourning Warbler
3. Alder Flycatcher
4. Sedge Wren
5. Golden-winged Warbler
6. Blue-winged Warbler

Trip total: 81

My Canada Year List total at the end of the trip : 203