End of Winter?

Normally by this time of year, it is very clear that spring is on its way. Waterfowl, crows, gulls and the first robins, starlings and blackbirds should be arriving. This winter, by far the coldest, snowiest and longest I've ever experienced, shows no signs of letting up.

I have still been getting outside now and then, and there are a few signs of spring. Chickadees, House Finches and cardinals are singing on every sunny day, woodpeckers are drumming, and I've seen a few chipmunks and a groundhog.

Depending on what I see, I may not post again until we get warmer temperatures, but here's a few of the birds I've come across in the latter half of February.

Male White-winged Scoter in Etobicoke

Ducks continue to be a big story on inland rivers across Ontario as open water remains scarce. Even on Lake Ontario, the differences are apparent, as White-winged Scoters seem to be present in larger numbers and closer to shore than I've seen in the Oakville to Etobicoke area before.

Not as pretty as the male, but I found this female White-winged Scoter on the Speed River in Guelph. This is the first "real" winter record of this species for Wellington County. Although there have been a few sightings into mid-December on large bodies of water like Guelph Lake and Mounstburg Reservoir, this is the first sighting after those areas freeze.

Female White-winged Scoter in Guelph

Other unusual to rare ducks continue on local rivers:

Red-breasted Mergansers

Canvasback

Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead

The last photo was taken on the ice-choked Credit River in my patch in Mississauga. I've only had two previous sightings of goldeneye and three of Bufflehead here, while Common Merganser is very uncommon, so finding 8 Bufflehead, 16 Common Goldeneye and 4 Common Merganser in a single visit was very exciting.

Snowy Owls continue throughout the area. I came across three between the 19th and 22nd of February.

Etobicoke

The second owl, a long-staying bird at Bronte Harbour in Oakville, has an interesting story attached. After checking the usual vantage points I was unable to see the owl (although a female King Eider was visible not far out on the lake), so decided to walk to the other side of the marina in the hopes it would be sheltered against the docks in the vicious wind. 

As I walked along the shore, the owl suddenly flushed up in front of me and carried a duck carcass out to the marina. Here's what it looked like where it was sitting:

It's never a good idea to flush owls, but this was totally accidental, as I was walking into the sun and wind and had had no idea it was there.

Finally, here is what is probably the most unique picture I've ever taken:

I noticed this Red-tailed Hawk tearing into a female Mallard near a group of ducks in Mississauga. The ducks gave the hawk a wide berth, but the Mute Swan was unperturbed, and I managed to get this very odd combination together!

February Thrushes

Last week Andrew Bailey found a Varied Thrush at Guelph Lake, just north of the city. The next morning a few of us made the short trip and quickly got reasonably good views of this rare visitor.

Varied Thrush is a western species, but shows up very regularly in eastern North America in the winter, with a couple found annually in Ontario. It was nice to get this species so close to home.

Otherwise, the birding has been rather slow. We're still 3-5 weeks away from the first big arrivals of migrant birds in March, but subtle signs of spring are already around. I haven't seen a Ring-billed Gull on campus since December, so the single individual present today may have been a new migrant. It's hard to say though, as they winter fairly regularly along the river only a couple of kilometres away.

Today in the arboretum I came across a large flock of robins feeding on Buckthorn in the falling snow. It's hard to believe that these birds will be feeding on lawns and singing from the treetops in a few short weeks!

note the nictitating membrane across the eye

I forgot to post this earlier, but better late than never: I was called "Best new regional birding professional" in an article in the London Free Press as a result of my guiding at Rondeau. Thanks Paul!

The chickadees are now regularly singing "Spring Soon!"

Today marks one year since my first time using my first camera. I'm still a rank beginner, and I don't know if I'll ever use a camera for much more than documentation or opportunistically when the right conditions arise, but I've certainly enjoyed being able to record and share my experiences. Below is one of the first shots I took - a Common Redpoll. This species is completely absent from Southern Ontario this winter.

Lake Ducks in the River

There's been an interesting trend forming in Ontaio over the week - ducks rarely found away from large bodies of water, like Greater Scaup and Long-tailed Duck, showing up on rivers wherever there is open water. For example, I came across the following ducks on a walk along the Speed River in Guelph yesterday:

Canvasback

 

Long-tailed Duck

 

Greater Scaup

Redhead

None of these ducks are normally found within the city of Guelph, and neither do they normally show up on small rivers. There are likely a couple factors at work here.

With the very cold winter, the Great Lakes have frozen extensively, as have any smaller lakes, ponds, and slower rivers. This has much reduced the amount of open water habitat for ducks, and many of the ducks normally spending the winter have been forced to move on.

In addition, ducks often move very early in the spring after south winds or warm temperatures, which has happened a couple of times recently. Some of these birds, particularly species like Redhead and Canvasback, may be very early migrants that haven't been able to find any more suitable open water.

Regardless of the reasons, these ducks provide some welcome excitement in this rather poor winter for birding.

Snowy Spectacular

As most of this blog's readers likely already know, this winter is turning out to be phenomenal from Snowy Owls in Southern Ontario. An excellent breeding season in Northern Quebec seems to be the explanation (see this post from a Newfoundland birder).

Over the past weekend, I was able to see a total of 11 Snowy Owls across Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Grimsby and St. Catharine's.

I love their feet (St. Catharine's)

Same bird taking off while facing backwards!

Another bird from the same field in St. Catharine's (out of a total of 3!)

Bronte Harbour, Oakville

It was a special weekend for another reason too. Back in summer 2010 I participated in the Young Ornithologist's Workshop at Bird Studies Canada. This weekend things worked out that 5 of the 6 participants could meet up again for some birding: Emma Cushnie, Mark Dorriesfield, Muhammad Zwink, Shyloh Van Delft and I.

We had a great time, finding 25 species of waterfowl including a female King Eider, 8 species of gull including a first-winter Thayer's at Niagara Falls, and a Short-eared Owl flying around at dusk. This was all overshadowed by the number of Snowy Owls around!

Probably my favourite duck, Canvasback on the upper Niagara River (with Greater Scaup)

"Jabba the Squirrel"

These two ducks are wintering in the same Mallard flock in Mississauga. The first is obviously an American Black Duck x Mallard hybrid, but the second doesn't seem to show any Black Duck features, and I'm wondering whether it is an "intersex" mallard (an older female that is developing male plumage features). Any input would be welcome, I'm planning to do a bit more research into this at some point.

End of year ducks and things

King Eiders have become a regular fixture among the masses of diving ducks (primarily Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye and White-winged Scoter) attracted to the west end of Lake Ontario by zebra mussels. Still, they are a rare bird to see unless you're actively twitching one, so I was rather shocked when this female swam out from practically under my feet with a flock of Greater Scaup towards the end of December.

It turns out the ducks were diving down and prying masses of zebra mussels off the concrete wall below me, allowing for some excellent extended views. What is presumably the same bird has been seen here (Port Credit, Mississauga) very sporadically for a few weeks this December.

This Eider was not the first rare duck I saw that day. A male Harlequin Duck has been present all winter near Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Etobicoke, and shortly after sunrise I spotted him flying in with several Bufflehead. The ducks landed in a bay very close to shore, and I was able to get some very good views of this spectacular bird, although the early morning light didn't allow for great photos.

A first-winter male Harlequin Duck was present in exactly the same location this spring, and it seems likely that this is the same bird after having acquired his adult finery somewhere in Labrador or Northern Quebec.

This second-winter Kumlien's Gull was nearby. This is the best view I've had of this plumage, which is encountered less frequently than either adult or first-winter birds, but more commonly than third-winter birds.

One of my later stops that day was at a wastewater treatment plant in Oakville, which has been hosting several Yellow-rumped Warblers this winter. I noticed this Belted Kingfisher trying to hunt in the treatment cells - certainly not a good place to find fish!

Luckily it flew off back towards the lake as I walked around the area.

2013: the top 5 moments

5: While watching songbirds in a reverse migration off Fish Point, Pelee Island in May, noticing a yellow-bellied kingbird in a flock of Eastern Kingbirds. Amazingly, as most the birds were turning back, we saw the bird again a few minutes later and were able to confirm that it was a Western Kingbird.

A different Western Kingbird from Hamilton in September

4: Watching and listening to thousands of cranes, swan, geese and ducks flying into Big Creek marsh for the night against the setting sun.

3: After a wet and buggy tramp through dense woods and over boggy meadows, coming out to a clearing to see the Great Gray Owl we'd been seeking sitting serenely in plain sight. Birds really don't come any better than this!

 2: Heading out one evening in August in the hope of seeing wolves at a location where they've been somewhat regular, and having our expectations far surpassed, as we watched one wolf howl from about 50 metres away, with the rest of the pack joining in no more than two or three times that distance beyond.

1: Standing in a clearing at Rondeau in for an hour one beautiful May evening. Against a background of Spring Peepers and Wood Thrush, I watched a male Hooded Warbler being uncharacteristically showy and an Eastern Red Bat foraging overhead in the fading light. As night fell, woodcocks began displaying overhead and a whip-poor-will serenaded me from the woods nearby as White-throated Sparrows began to pass through the treetops ahead of a perfect night for migration.

Early Winter Mammals (and Ice)

It is certainly proving to be an interesting winter weatherwise. A huge ice storm passed through Ontario on December 21-22, with most trees losing at least some branches in many areas.

 

 Before the ice hit, the Credit River was full of floating chunks of ice, clogging the river in places.

 

Late Sunday morning we heard a crash outside, and looked to find that a huge branch had fallen on my parents' driveway, damaging the roof and taking out the power lines. The power still hasn't been restored five days later.

This is probably the branch whose loss I'll feel most keenly: I've seen over a dozen species of warbler in it over the years.

Despite the damage, the ice is really a beautiful sight, especially when the sun shines through it.

Over the past month I've had a few really nice close encounters with mammals. Last week I followed the sound of some agitated chickadees to find this Eastern Coyote. It was on a steep snowy slope above me, not in a tree as it appears from the photo.

I don't see coyotes very often (this is my fourth or fifth decent look), so it definitely provided some excitement.

At the very end of November I came across a muskrat acting very strangely along the Credit River in Mississauga. It was staying very close to me, and was making circuits where it would go a bit downriver and then come back upriver, never going right past me. I'm not really sure what was going on, but here's a couple clips of what it was doing.

To round up this post, here's one of three raccoons I found curled up near each other on a very cold day.