Thank you very much for sponsoring me in the Baillie Birdathon this year. It is a great honour and pleasure to have been asked by OFO to be the guest birder for 2014. While there are lots of potential routes to try and generate a big list, I stayed with my heart and focused my effort within Northumberland County where I live, and I was expertly assisted by two old friends and skilled birders – Don Sutherland and Barb Charlton.
I have always loved doing big days – trying to see as many species as possible in a single day. Partly it is the strategy and planning behind the day, partly it is the team spirit and unscripted fun that an intensive day of birding generates, and partly it is the thrill of finding unexpected or hard to find species. Inevitably things don’t go as planned. Weather is always a big factor and rarely does one get the perfect day that brings in lots of migrants. Sometimes birds that you figured were “guaranteed” don’t show (which is why you should never use the “G” word on a big day), sometimes you just can’t get a lucky break.
Well I am sorry to say (especially for those of you who sponsored me by species, that is) that May 27th of this year was not like that. We got the perfect weather with both an influx of songbirds and shorebirds. We had amazing luck spotting new birds all day long and seeing all sorts of birds quickly that can take considerable time to find. In the end, we came in with a new county record of 163 species – more than 10 over my previous best! Even though we didn’t find any mind-bending rarities, we did manage to see a number of scarce birds. Perhaps even more amazing was that we missed about 15 species that were seen by others that day or the previous day.
We started at 2:30 a.m. trying for a Screech Owl at a “stake out” but missed it. Then a wind started to come up which is not good. Then we tried a Whip-poor-will spot and heard nothing. This didn’t look good. Our next stop was on the causeway leading into Presqu’ile and there the luck changed. A Saw-whet Owl was tooting continuously and to the north we could hear a Great Horned Owl – now a rare bird in this area. Another night stop produced Barred Owl, with Common Loon and American Bittern in the background.
First light found us on the tip of Owen Pt. scanning Gull Island and Popham Bay. Here we added some shorebirds, gulls and terns as well as Black-crowned Night- Heron and Great Egret. We checked Beach 2 as well and saw two Red Knot, now an endangered species for which Presqu’ile is probably southern Ontario’s most important staging area. Here, as an example of what good luck looks like, we heard a Mockingbird burst into a brief song. Why? Because a Merlin had just spooked it! Tick and tick.
When we left the beach we had done well but did miss a few hoped for species. Then we went to the lighthouse area and at first, it didn’t sound that birdy as we got out of the car, but within minutes we realized our luck had changed for the best.
There were lots of migrant warblers in the woods, many female and not singing, but we quickly added a great selection of birds like Carolina Wren, Philadelphia Vireo, Black-throated Blue, Parula, Blackpoll and Bay-breast, Wilson’s, Magnolia, Canada, and Mourning Warbler. In fact it was so species rich that we were already able to drop a couple of planned stops because we already saw the target. This was huge because it freed up more time to work on difficult species later in the day.
We left Presqu’ile feeling pretty excited and immediately headed north into the beautiful hills of Northumberland. A stop at one of the Lone Pine Marsh Sanctuary’s (a local land trust) properties near Dundonald yielded some great birds including Olive-sided Flycatcher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Hooded Warbler (and no Black Bear which I had seen the week before while scouting). As we headed further north toward Rice Lake we added more potentially tricky birds like Blue-winged Warbler and Broad-winged Hawk. A few stops at grassland sites added Eastern Meadowlark and Bobolink, Grasshopper, Clay-colored, and Vesper Sparrow and a huge cornfield near Castleton turned up a Horned Lark.
The Northumberland County Forest, south of Rice Lake, is an extensive area of rich and diverse forest habitats interspersed with some prairie remnants. Not surprisingly there are many birds to see here, especially some “northern” species that are scarce elsewhere. Here we added two of our target birds – Blue-headed Vireo and best of all, a stunning Northern Goshawk.
It was now mid afternoon and time to get back to the lakeshore in search of missing gulls, ducks and shorebirds. Between Port Hope and Cobourg Harbour we were able to add Great Black-backed and a lingering Iceland Gull, and although partly hidden by fog, we managed to find 3 Whimbrel on the sand at Cobourg, as well as Chimney Swifts over town.
We headed east along Hwy 2 and while driving, had a Common Raven fly over the road – once again great luck. Our next main stop was the Murray Marsh, a huge wetland along the Trent River east of Warkworth. Green Herons were added here (at least by me, since Barb and Don had already seen several which I kept missing), and then we went back into the Northumberland hills for dusk. Parked on a quiet road just south of Peter’s Woods Provincial Park we added Common Nighthawk, Purple Finch, Hermit Thrush and multiple Whip-poor-wills. It was now getting dark so we made a last try for Screech Owl at another stake out near Burnley but, like our 2:30 a.m. effort, we were met with silence. It was now just after 10 p.m. and we decided to head home to Brighton. Just outside of Warkworth I saw a road that I have had Screech Owl on before so we though we would give it a try. I had just negotiated the turn when the unmistakable grey form of a Screech Owl passed so close to the window that I thought I had hit it. We got out to happily discover the owl was fine and singing away. It was an amazing ending to an amazing day.
Finally, I did mention that we missed some birds as well. Here is a sample of birds that were around but we didn’t find: American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Redhead, Least Bittern, Sharp-shined, Cooper’s, Red-tailed (ouch), and Red-shouldered Hawk, White-rumped Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser-Black-backed Gull, Yellow- bellied Flycatcher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Golden-winged and Cape May Warbler, Lincoln’s and White-crowned Sparrow. Imagine if all of those had been seen too!
Again I want to thank you so much for sponsoring me in the Baillie Birdathon on behalf of OFO. And I am sort of sorry we did so well, since it is going to cost you, but not too sorry! But I hope you take some comfort in knowing that the money raised is going to great programs run by OFO and Bird Studies Canada. These programs are providing baseline data on bird populations, long-term citizen-science based monitoring studies, training and opportunities for the next batch of young birders, and a host of other worthy initiatives.
Sincerely,
Doug McRae
