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.