Erieau

This past Saturday, during one of my daughter's swim practices, my husband and I made a quick visit to the piers at Erieau, then we walked along the marsh trail just outside Erieau.  We saw some birds that I have seen before, like Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Herring Gulls, an Osprey with a fish in its talons (couldn't get a decent picture...the sun was in the wrong place), Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ring-billed Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants.  As usual, there were several birds that completly eluded me...not only do I not recoginize many songs and calls, but fall leaves crunch underfoot, drowning out the rustling about of little birds.  That said, I did see two life birds.... :)




Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher!! Life Bird!  Got to watch it eating a bug of some kind :)



Yellow-rumped Warbler...not a life bird, but first time I've seen one in this plumage.

I think this is a Bonaparte's Gull (life bird!!)...there were at least two flying around.  At first I thought it was a Black-headed Gull, but the bill on this bird is all black.  It has orange/red feet and one of them has a black tail band...reading about it, it seems that the one with the tail band is a juvenile.  As usual, if I have misidentified this bird, please let me know.

McGeachy Pond

Well, it is back-to-school time....two months ago.  That means far less freetime for me.  My schedule now totally revolves around my daughter's schooling and swim schedule (thankfully my son drives and is essentially done school!).  I haven't really had the opportunity to go out birding, but I try to take advantage of the odd hour or so that I occasionally get.  This post is about such an opportunity!  My daughter swims in Blenheim, so I decided to go check out Erieau.  On my way there, I was totally side tracked by a marshy-pond, so I stopped to have a look.  It is really nice....there is a path between the marsh/pond and Lake Erie.  This day, there were several monarchs enjoying some asters, there were Caspian Terns flying above the lake, Mute Swans were swimming in the pond.  There were numerous other birds that eluded me....I could hear a lot of bird songs/calls that I didn't recognize....I am waiting to for the library copy of Birding by Ear.  I saw one life bird, a Belted Kingfisher, using its wings to remain in one spot while looking for fish.  By the time I put down my binoculars and grabbed the camera, he (or she) dove out of sight.  The following pictures aren't birds, but will give you an idea of what it is like at McGeachy pond, if you haven't been.

One of several rabbits I saw along the path.

Four Monarchs on this plant!  There were more, but this was the most I could capture in a photograph...they kept spooking and returning.

Beautiful!

Boardwalk into the pond from the path between the pond and Lake Erie.

The path and lake as seen from the tower by the "parking lot".

This was down the road from the pond...tobacco recently picked.

A tobacco drying barn on the other side of the street.

Holiday Beach Festival of Hawks

On Saturday, September 17, I attended the annual Holiday Beach Festival of Hawks for the first time.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  It was nice to see and hear from very knowledgable birders!  I was especially excited to get to release a Black-throated Blue Warbler, thanks to the generous man who adopted the bird but allowed someone else to release it.  He initially offered a child standing near me and upon refusal, I got the opportunity :)  I found the Raptor Identification class put on by Bob Pettit of the HBMO to be quite informatitve.  I also learned two other things: 1) I really need a good pair of binoculars, and 2) an 18-105mm lens just doesn't cut it.  A gentleman standing next to us shot a picture of a Juv. Bald Eagle, as did my husband with my camera....in my husband's shot, the eagle is just spec on a blue background...the man beside us captured a fanastic close-up!  I will be looking into upgrading to at least a 300mm lens before spring.

As for counting "lifers"...what are the rules?  Most of the birds I saw at the Festival (all but the Turkey Vulture and Bald Eagle) were birds I had never seen before.  Do I count the birds in the demonstrations as lifers or do they have to be seen in their natural habitat?  In the meantime, I am not counting including them on my list because it feels like cheating.  I hope you enjoy the pictures :)

Barred Owl on display...beautiful!

Broad-winged Hawk on display

One of several kettles of Broad-winged Hawks that flew overhead.

Redstart that had been banded that day.

Northern Parula that was banded and now ready for release.

This is the Black-throated Blue Warbler I got to release :D

One of many Sharp-shinned Hawks that were banded.

An Osprey that flew overhead...those who kept their eyes on it saw it dive into the trout pond...I missed it :(

American Kestrel....so cute :) 

Look at that face :)  Bander pointing out the baffles on his nostrils.

Eastern Screech Owl on display.

Gray-cheeked Thrush banded that day.

Red-tailed Hawk that had been caught at the Airport, but released at the Festival.

Red-tailed Hawk.  Notice the trachea in his tongue!

Female Peregrine Falcon caught at the Airport.  It had already been banded, but they didn't yet know where it was from.

Female Peregrine, again.

We saw this Bald Eagle on the way home, soaring over Ojibway Parkway.  My husband pulled over so I could get some shots of it.

Labour Day Weekend 2011 (Ottawa)

My brother has lived in Ottawa for about 5 years, and in all our visits, we had never been to Gatineau Park.  We headed to Pink Lake with my brother and his family (he, his wife, his almost 8 year old son and just 3 year old daughter).  I suspect there were many more birds and critters around than we saw, but we made too much noise :)

Caterpillar on the boardwalk...had fun explaining the "fake head" to my nephew.

View of Pink Lake

My daughter, husband and myself (my son couldn't come.)

 This bird (below) is the only new bird I saw at Gatineau Park. I was initially thinking it might be a Hermit Thrush.  Not sure though....I can't make out the details well enough to count it as a life bird...

 This is the first time I had ever seen a milipede in the wild :)  Yup, they're gross!

On Sunday, it rained, so we did "indoor" things.  On Monday, we went to Brewer Pond to catch frogs...my brother and the kids tried numerous times while at Pink Lake to catch the slippery suckers, with no luck.  They had better luck at Brewer Pond.  While there, we saw....

Lots of dragon flies.

A Garder Snake...

This Song Sparrow...which is actually a lifer...have seen them, but never identified them before...

And this Great Blue Heron!  My brother was basically standing next to it then spooked it trying to get my attention.

While sitting on my brother's deck, this Black Capped Chickadee came for visit :)

And these White-breasted Nuthatches (below) were busy on this stump most of the afternoon on Monday.  They were fun to watch!  Apparently, before cutting the tree down, it was frequented by Pileated Woodpeckers.  I was hoping to see one this weekend, but didn't.  The feeders at the window in the background were busy all day with Goldfinches, Chickadees, Nuthatches and an unidentified Woodpecker.

So, although not a birding trip, I was happy to get a couple lifers!

Pics from Northern Michigan

These are my favourite bird pictures from our recent trip to Alpena and Mackinac Island.  I saw a few other life birds (see previous posts), but I didn't get pictures of everything.  There are also a couple pictures of ducks that I haven't identified yet...I will post those when I figure them out :)  As always, if I have misidentified a bird, please let me know....

Bald Eagle soaring over the Alpena Harbour

Turkey Vulture...literally about 10 feet in front of where I was standing!

Double Crested Cormorants, Mackinac Island

Double crested Cormorants, Lake Huron, off Mackinac City

Ring billed Gull, Mackinac Island

Double crested Coromorant, Mackinac Island

Spotted Sandpiper, Alpena Harbour

Ring billed Gull, Mackinac Island.  Have you seen one perched in a tree before?  I hadn't :)

Common Mergansers, Mackinac Island

Turkey Vulture, soaring over Alpena Harbour

Caspian Tern, Bayview Park, Alpena

Gull towing a dead fish by its entrails :S, Alpena Harbour

More in Northern Michigan....

Well, today was a thrilling day for me! I can add to my life list a Bald Eagle and a Spotted Sandpiper :) I managed to get photos of both!

Although not a first, I got the most amazing picture of a turkey vulture! It landed on a pile at the marina we were parked at, right in front of our truck. In case you didn't know....they are HUGE!

All pictures will follow upon my return home.

Oh yeah....the mergansers I saw were common mergansers.

Summertime in Northern Michigan!

We are currently vacationing in Alpena, Michigan, on Lake Winyah. It is a nice, calm lake with beautiful sunsets and lots of marshy areas. I am unable to post pictures (only brought my iPad with me) until I get home, but here are some life birds for me so far:

Double-Crested Cormorants: Lots of these everywhere! A local on the boardwalk of the Alpena Harbour identified these for me. We have seen at least a dozen or more daily! On our way out to Mackinac Island, there were at least 20 of them mixed with some gulls on the rocks near the docks.

Caspian Tern: Through out the majority of the day, you can find one or two of these birds perched on logs in the water...in the same spot, all day. They fly off if a boat or paddler gets to close, but ultimately returns.

Northern Flicker: Finally! I got to see three interacting together. First let me tell you how I came to find them.....I was having a dream that I had to pick up a superworm (don't ask..) and in my dream, when I grabbed it, it started squealing like a ginuea pig. It startled me out of my sleep, but I still heard the sound. I grabbed my binoculars, still in my pj's, and headed outside to see what on earth was going on. I thought for sure some poor animal was in harms way. Following the sounds, I see three flickers in the trees, making all kinds of squealing sounds without opening their mouths! I have seen them every morning since :) Watching them interact was quite amusing!

Woodpecker: I am not sure what kind of woodpecker I saw this morning...It may have been a Hairy Woodpecker. I got a fairly brief view of it before it flew off.

Merganser: I saw several mergansers swimming together, but until I take my pictures off my camera, I cannot tell which kind.

That's it so far....I am not actively birding (my family finds it dreadfully boring), but I am keeping my eyes and ears open. I have heard what sounds like loons, but haven't seen any yet. There are lots of bird sounds I don't recognize, so I am hoping to add a few more before the week is up:)