October 5, 2012 Eastern Screech-Owl

Our the past decade we have had the occasional Eastern Screech-Owl show up in the back ravine. We either hear it calling during the night or Black-capped Chickadees and Blue Jays find it during the day light when it is roosting in a hole or tree cavity. 

Gray morph Eastern Screech-Owl in our backyard.

The Eastern Screech-Owl is an uncommon/scarce resident in the Ottawa district.

We first heard it calling at around 6:40pm and Ben imitated the "whinny" call and the owl flew in to investigate.

 

September 30, 2012 Birding Renfrew County

Hi Everyone
Spent most of the day birding in Renfrew County. Overall a great day despite the occasional showers and overcast conditions. Our first stop at Cobden/Muskrat Lake produced a few Common Loons and a small flock of Bonaparte's Gull along with one Eastern Bluebird. Our next stop was along the Ottawa River at Westmeath Provincial Park. This area is renowned for the Nelson's Sparrow during the fall and we weren't disappointed. During a 4 km walk we observed 13 Nelson's Sparrow and 1 Le Conte's Sparrow. The birds were found along the shoreline in the taller vegetation and when flushed would fly low for a short distance and land in some shrubbery giving us great views. There were also lots of White-crowned, White-throated, Song, Swamp, and Savannah Sparrows. Others birds noted include, 3 White-winged Scoter, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, 8 Black-bellied Plover and a few American Pipit and Horned Lark. Our final stop of the day was at Lake Dore. The viewing conditions were excellent and the highlight was a winter plumage EARED GREBE. We observed the bird from the Township Park near the intersection of Hwy.41 and CR9. Also on the lake, were 18 Red-necked Grebe, 28 Horned Grebe, 30+ Common Loon, 50+ Bonaparte's Gull, and 7 Surf Scoter. On our drive home we observed a flock of 300+ American Pipits near Renfrew on Goshen Road thanks to an American Kestrel.
Good birding, Bruce and Ben
Directions: Lake Dore is located off Hwy 41 near Eganville/Golden Lake. Pembroke Marina is located in the town of Pembroke at the end of Albert St. Westmeath Provincial Park access point is at the end of Sand Point Road off CR 12. Walk along shoreline for 1-3 kms south. If you require additional information, please email me privately.

September 26, 2012 Red-throated Loon at Shirley's Bay

Hello Ontbirders
Late yesterday afternoon, September 26th, I spent a couple of hours birding along the Ottawa River between Britannia Point and Shirley's Bay. There was a small movement of water birds including Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Northern Pintail and American Wigeon. The highlight was a breeding plumage Red-throated Loon off the parking lot at Shirley's Bay. This is my 3 record of a breeding plumage RTLO in September . The first was September 27, 1975 and the second was on September 21, 1979. Both at Shirley's Bay. There were also 7 Surf Scoter, 4 Red-necked Grebe, 5 Common Loon and 2 Horned Grebe. At Deschenes Rapids a Red-necked Phalarope was feeding below the rapids and 7 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull were resting on the exposed rocks along with 44 Great black-backed Gull.

Good birding, Bruce
Directions: Shirley's Bay: From Ottawa take Hwy. 417 west to the Moodie Drive exit and turn north (right) on Moodie Drive and continue to Carling Ave. Turn left at Carling Ave. and follow Carling to Rifle Road. Turn right (north) on Rifle Rd. Park at the lot at the end (boat launch). Walk back to the road, and continue through the gate on the Department of National Defense property. There is a trail on your right (clearly marked with vehicle "No Entry" signs) which heads into the woods, and, eventually to the causeway. There is lots of POISON IVY along the causeway.

**** PLEASE NOTE**** YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE RANGE CONTROL
OFFICE BEFORE ENTERING THE SHIRLEY'S BAY AREA-- Call (613) 991-5740 and request permission to visit the causeway area for birding.

September 22, 2012 Birding Presqu'ile

 

On September 22nd I birded Presqu'ile Provincial Park. Despite the strong winds, 40-60 km/hr the birding was great. The best bird was a juvenile Parasitic Jaeger off Owen Point. This is a rare visitor to the park. The shorebird watching was good with 9 species of shorebirds including 2 Ruddy Turnstone, 2 Baird's Sandpiper and 16 Sanderling. There was a good movement of warblers, 15 species, including Northern Parula, Blackpoll, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted and Magnolia Warbler and also had a couple of recently fledged Cedar Waxwings. Overall a nice outing.

Despite the fall season is now officially starting I have a Mourning Dove nesting in my Manitoba Maple. This is my latest nesting record for Ottawa. Still have lots of juvenile American Goldfinch at the Niger feeder, some still begging for food.

 

Directions: To reach Presqu'ile Provincial Park, follow the signs from Brighton. Locations within the Park are shown on a map at the back of a tabloid that is available at the Park gate. Access to the offshore islands is restricted at this time of year to prevent disturbance to the colonial nesting birds there. Birders are encouraged to record their observations on the bird sightings board provided near the campground office by The Friends of Presqu'ile Park and to fill out a rare bird report for species not listed there. Birders interested in coming down should bear in mind that most of the  best birding areas in the Park (Owen Pt., Gull Is., High Bluff Is., Calf Pasture Pt., and the marsh) are all closed to the public on Mon., Wed., Fri., and Sat. to accommodate the duck hunt. 

 

 

The Cedar Waxwing is one of our later nesters and this juvenile is resting after eating a number of berries.

An adult Great black-backed Gull feeding on a dead Mallard.

The Blue-headed Vireo, formerly, Solitary Vireo is a regular migrant during late September and early October.

Boreal Owls on the move south? September 17, 2012

All signs were pointing to Boreal Owls this autunm in northeast ontario and perhaps further south. last night we started our owl banding season and caught 3 Boreal Owls and 13 sawwhets. This is the first year that the first owl captured was a boreal owl. In the past ontbirders have made the trek to see Boreal Owls at our marsh in the beautiful boreal forest if you ebirders are thinking this is the year you can add a boreal to your list then i would recommend thanksgiving weekend. good luck convincing family to pass on turkey for a glimpse of a boreal owl. Boreals irrupt every four years based on northrn crashes of their main food source the red backed vole which happens every four yeras this is the peak of the vole southern boreal irruption cycle. please feel free to contact me off line to dsicuss opportunities.

Hilliardton marsh is located about 5 hours north of toronto we are 2 hours north of north bay a wee drive off of hwy 11 as the boreal owl flies. Boreal owls have been reported in alberta and tadoussac quebec so this is not an isolated event . Depending on how far south they come you may see them in owl woods near kingston this autumn but you would pass on a trip to the boreal.

Update: October 2, 2012

Last night at the hilliardton marsh we were joined by a couple for iowa who made the three day trek to hilliardton which is 15 minutes for newliskeard. We managed to capture and band 8 boreal owls and caught 1 that we had banded the night before. This could be THE weekend to see these boreal beauties. Please refer to www.themarsh.ca for directions. In other bird news we had an early pine siskin and banded our first american tree sparrow of the season. We are located about 5 hours north of toronto. banding is open to the public nightly from 9 to 11. Check weather as we do not band if it is raining. All the best birders . Sincerely Bruce Murphy thanks to Glenn Reed and Chris Sukha foir their help. We have now banded 20 boreal owls. An intersting bit of information is that 17 of them have been adults while about 95% of the sawwhets we have been banding are young of this year.

Winter Finch Forecast 2012-2013

WINTER FINCH FORECAST 2012-2013
by Ron Pittaway
The theme this winter is that each finch species will use a different
strategy to deal with the widespread tree seed crop failure in the
Northeast. It will be a quiet winter in the eastern North Woods. See
individual species forecasts for details. Both coniferous and hardwood tree
seed crops are generally poor from northeastern Ontario extending eastward
across Quebec to Newfoundland south through the Maritime Provinces, New York
and New England States. Within the Northeast there are pockets of good
crops. Cone crops are much better in the Hudson Bay Lowlands and
northwestern Ontario west to Alberta, Northwest Territories and Yukon. Three
irruptive non‐finch passerines whose movements are linked to finches are
also discussed.

INDIVIDUAL FINCH FORECASTS

PINE GROSBEAK: A good flight is expected into southern Ontario because the
mountain‐ash berry crop is variable in the boreal forest. Many berries are
hard with low moisture content because of the drought. The European
mountain-ash and ornamental crabapple crops are poor to fair in southern
Ontario so these crops won’t last long. Grosbeaks will be attracted to the
usually abundant buckthorn berries and to bird feeders offering black oil
sunflower seeds. The Ontario breeding population of this grosbeak is stable.

PURPLE FINCH: Most Purple Finches will migrate south of Ontario this fall
because both coniferous and deciduous hardwood seed crops are very low this
year in the Northeast. Purple Finch numbers dropped significantly in recent
decades as spruce budworm outbreaks subsided and currently a moderate
population decline continues in the province.

RED CROSSBILL: Red Crossbills comprise at least 10 “types” in North
America. Each type probably represents a separate or newly evolving species.
Most types are normally impossible to identify in the field without
recordings of their flight calls. Matt Young of The Cornell Lab of
Ornithology reports that there is currently a large early irruption of Type
3 Red Crossbills (smallest billed type) from the west into eastern North
America. Recordings can be made with a cell phone and sent to Matt to be
identified (may6 AT cornell.edu). Every recording adds an important piece to
the puzzle, especially when accompanied by notes on behaviour and ecology,
including tree species used for foraging and nesting. Matt emphasizes that
the conservation of call types depends on understanding their complex
distributions and ecological requirements.

WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL: With very poor spruce cone crops in the Northeast,
most White-winged Crossbills will likely stay this winter in the Hudson Bay
Lowlands, northwestern Ontario and western Canada where spruce cone crops
are generally very good. They will be virtually absent from traditional
hotspots such as Algonquin Park where spruce crops are very low. Wandering
birds may show up throughout the Northeast.

COMMON REDPOLL: There should be a good southward flight because the white
birch seed crop is poor to fair across the north. Watch for redpolls on
birches and in weedy fields and at bird feeders offering nyger (preferred)
and black oil sunflower seeds. Check flocks for the rare “Greater” Common
Redpoll (subspecies rostrata) from the High Arctic. It is reliably
identified by its larger size, darker and browner colour, longer/thicker
bill and longer tail in direct comparison to “Southern” Common Redpolls
(nominate flammea subspecies). Note: The notion of a “biennial
periodicity” that redpolls irrupt south every second winter is not
supported by records in Atlantic Canada (Erskine and McManus 2003). The
authors concluded that "irregular abundance but near-annual occurrence" of
redpolls in the Atlantic Provinces is a better explanation than a two year
cycle. Similarly redpolls were recorded on 32 of 38 Christmas Bird Counts in
Algonquin Park (Lat. 45.5 N), Ontario.

HOARY REDPOLL: Check redpoll flocks for Hoary Redpolls. There are two
subspecies. Most Hoaries seen in southern Canada and northern United States
are “Southern” Hoary Redpolls (subspecies exilipes). “Hornemann’s”
Hoary Redpoll (nominate subspecies hornemanni) from the High Arctic was
previously regarded as a great rarity in southern Canada and the northern
United States. In recent decades a number have been confirmed by
photographs. Hornemann’s is most reliably identified by its larger size in
direct comparison to flammea Common Redpoll or exilipes Hoary Redpoll.
Caution: White birds loom larger than life among darker birds and size
illusions are frequent.

PINE SISKIN: Some siskins currently in the Northeast should move south this
fall and winter because cone crops are poor. However, siskins are an
opportunistic nomad wandering east and west continent-wide in search of cone
crops. Most siskins will probably winter in northwestern Ontario and western
Canada where cone crops are generally very good. Major southward irruptions
occur when cone crops fail across most of North America.

EVENING GROSBEAK: This spectacular grosbeak is ABA’s Bird of the Year in
2012. We can expect some at feeders in central Ontario and probably
elsewhere in the Northeast because coniferous and hardwood tree seed
supplies are low. Highest breeding densities are found in areas with spruce
budworm outbreaks. The larvae are eaten by adults and fed to young. Current
populations are much lower than several decades ago when budworm outbreaks
were much larger and more widespread.

THREE IRRUPTIVE PASSERINES: Movements of the following three species are
often linked to the boreal finches.

BLUE JAY: Expect a smaller flight than last year along the north shorelines
of Lakes Ontario and Erie because the red oak acorn crop is very good in
central Ontario. Beechnut and hazelnut crops were poor to none, but the
acorn crop may be large enough to keep many jays in the north this winter.

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH: A widespread irruption of this nuthatch beginning in
mid-summer indicated a cone crop failure in the Northeast. Most will leave
the eastern half of the province for the winter, but some will probably
remain in northwestern Ontario where cone crops are much better.

BOHEMIAN WAXWING: Expect a flight this winter because the mountain‐ash
berry crop in the boreal forest was affected by drought. Even though some
areas have large crops, many berries are hard with low moisture content.
Farther south Bohemians will be attracted to the usually abundant buckthorn
berries because European mountain‐ash and ornamental crabapple crops are
generally low and of poor quality.

WHERE TO SEE FINCHES: Algonquin Park is a winter adventure about a three
hour drive north of Toronto, but this will be a very lean finch winter in
the park. Conifer crops are poor to none. Feeders at the Visitor Centre (km
43) should have Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, and redpolls. The Visitor
Centre and restaurant are open weekends in winter. Arrangements can be made
to view feeders on weekdays by calling 613‐637‐2828. The nearby Spruce Bog
Trail at km 42.5 and Opeongo Road are good spots for Gray Jays, Boreal
Chickadees, Spruce Grouse and Black‐backed Woodpeckers. Be sure to get a
copy of the new “Birds of Algonquin Park” (2012) by Ron Tozer. It is one
of the best regional bird books ever published with lots of information
about winter finches and boreal specialties.http://store.algonquinpark.on.ca/cgi/algonquinpark

WINTER FINCH BASICS: A primer about finch facts, seed crops and irruptions.http://www.jeaniron.ca/2011/WinterFinches.pdf

Excellent paper on berry crops in Ontario.http://people.trentu.ca/jebowman/Howeetal2012.pdf

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I thank staff of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
designated by an asterisk* and others whose reports allow me to make annual
forecasts: Dennis Barry (Durham Region), Eleanor Beagan (Prince Edward
Island), Pascal Cote (Tadoussac Bird Observatory, Quebec), Bruce Di Labio
(Eastern Ontario and Churchill, Manitoba), Carolle Eady (Dryden), Cameron
Eckert (Yukon), Marcel Gahbauer (Alberta & Northwest Territories), Michel
Gosselin (Canadian Museum of Nature), David Govatski (New Hampshire),
Charity Hendry* (Ontario Tree Seed Facility), Leo Heyens* (Kenora), Tyler
Hoar (Northern Ontario & Quebec Laurentians), Jean Iron (Hudson Bay, James
Bay & Northeastern Ontario), Bruce Mactavish (Newfoundland), Brian Naylor*
(Nipissing), Justin Peter* (Algonquin Park), Genevieve Perreault
(Regroupement QuebecOiseaux), Fred Pinto* (North Bay), Harvey & Brenda
Schmidt (Creighton, Saskatchewan), Ron Tozer (Algonquin Park), Declan Troy
(Alaska), Mike Turner (Haliburton Highlands), John Woodcock (Thunder Cape
Bird Observatory) and Kirk Zufelt (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario). I especially
thank Matt Young of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology for advice and detailed
information about seed crops in New York and adjacent states and for
information about Red Crossbills. Jean Iron proofed the forecast and made
helpful comments.

LITERATURE CITED: Erskine, A.J. and R. McManus, Jr. 2003. Supposed
periodicity of redpoll, Carduelis sp., winter visitations in Atlantic
Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 117(4):611-620.
Ron Pittaway
Ontario Field Ornithologists
Minden, Ontario
19 September 2012
_______________________________________________

Ontario Field Ornithologists Convention September 14-16, 2012

A record high 254 participants enjoyed the Ontario Field Ornithologists
convention from Friday to Sunday, September 14-16. Field trip areas included
Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Port Hope-Cobourg, Prince Edward County,
Northumberland Forest, Brighton Constructed Wetland, Brighton Provincial
Wildlife Area, and Oshawa Second Marsh.

A remarkable 173 species were tallied during the three days, comparing very
favourably with previous convention highs of 176 at Point Pelee in 2009 and
177 at Long Point in 2010.

Among the many interesting birds reported were: Lesser Black-backed Gull
(Presqu'ile), Forster's Tern (Second Marsh), Black Tern (Second Marsh),
Short-eared Owl (Presqu'ile), Red-headed Woodpecker (Presqu'ile), Eastern
Kingbird (Second Marsh), Prairie Warbler (Northumberland Forest), Dickcissel
(Presqu'ile), and Evening Grosbeak (Second Marsh).

On behalf of all participants, I would like to thank the organizers,
speakers and field trip leaders for their tremendous efforts to make this
such a great convention.

Hope to see you at the convention at Point Pelee in 2013 (date to be
determined).
Ron Tozer
OFO Convention Checklist Compiler
Dwight, Ontariortozer@vianet.ca

Update: September 29,2012

 The final tally of species reported for the three-day weekend event
(September 14-16) was 178. This is a new high for the OFO Convention,
exceeding the previous high total of 177 at Long Point in 2010. Anyone
wishing to see the list should contact me privately.

I have been advised that the 254 registrants this year was actually our
fourth highest, behind 258 at Point Pelee in 2009, 270 at Hamilton in 2008,
and 271 at Point Pelee in 2007.

Good birding.
Ron Tozer
Dwight, Ontariortozer@vianet.ca