A post from December 18, 2015 raised hopes for upcoming Christmas Bird Counts!
December 18, 2015:
As I started to heat up my soup at work, I turned on my cell phone to see what I what was going on. In this case, what I was missing! Just a couple minutes before that, Steve Charbonneau sent me text saying a Vermilion Flycatcher was at the Cornelis farm. So much for lunch!
It took me only ten minutes to get there, but we did not see it at first. After about ten minutes, I found the bird near a Walnut tree. (I only had my G16 today, so photos are less than ideal).
We watched it attempt to feed, then it moved to the pasture where the Belgian horses were.
It is a first year male.
A nice way to cap off an otherwise crappy week!
It was about time something of note was found around here rather than eastern Ontario!
Back in 1994, a Vermilion Flycatcher was found in early November at St. Clair NWA. I got a call at work from Steve, so I took off early to see the bird. That was 5 November 1994. That particular bird stayed a good month.
The location of today's flycatcher has been good to us over the years. Just behind the barns and along the river, is a restored wetland, called the Bossu Wetland. In its first spring, a male Ruff (black) was there 20 April 2006. It stayed a few days and the owner of the property was gracious to let visitors come.
Later in May that same year, a Snowy Egret showed up (26-29 May)!
2006 was a decent year in the area, as I found a female Ruff at Stewart Wetland the same week as the male Ruff!
A Cattle Egret appeared briefly in the horse paddock where the flycatcher was today, 31 October 2007. I never saw that bird. Typical habitat for a Cattle Egret.
I left work a bit early today and stopped in. Jeremy Hatt and Jeremy Bensette et al. were there and they had seen it about a half hour earlier. The temperature had dropped and the wind picked up, so I think the Vermilion Flycatcher settled for the night (I hope).
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