November Gales, Tales and Swales

 Been here and there the last few days trying to find things of interest.  November is an interesting time of year no doubt for birds as well as ship history.  Lots of windy days lately, as November often brings us. Gales of November are upon us.

This past Friday I went northward to Ipperwash in hopes of seeing some finches.  It is an irruption year for northern finches, so that fact has made birding interesting.  Not the biggest irruption we have ever had, but all the finches have made an appearance to some degree.

Best spot is the old MNR parking lot at Ipperwash.  There are adjacent sand barrens and a trail winding through the 'swales'.  The swales harbour lots of winterberry holly, which is quite attractive to Pine Grosbeaks.

Some of these attractive grosbeaks were seen the previous day, but I could not come up with any this visit.  However, I did manage to check off practically all the other finches!

Just out of the car, some Evening Grosbeaks flew over.  I heard the odd Redpoll (all one species now!) go over, as well as lots of Purple Finches.  Some Pine Siskins were mixed in.

Later on, a White-winged Crossbill flew over (then another shortly thereafter) much to my delight.  There have not been many crossbills in this particular irruption, so it was a bonus.

Although I did not get any Pine Grosbeaks, I was happy with the morning's results.  As well, several birders I know were around, so as always, it was a social event too.

Next day I did not go too far from home.  Stopped by Mitchell's Bay first thing (yes, I am still hopeful for a goodie there!).  Water levels are still dropping, exposing lots of mud here and elsewhere.

Of note, a late Greater Yellowlegs was feeding on the mud.

An preening!

Later on, I went up to Reid C. L.  I noticed that they have started some 'improvements' by trimming down some of the thick stuff in hopes of making it more suitable for the Northern Oak Hairstreak.  The "open" area was getting quite overgrown, and fewer and fewer nectaring sources each year were available.  Some things such as hemp dogbane will be planted there.

I was out basically just for a walk in the woods, which I love to do.  Best bird was an Eastern Towhee which did not come out to face the camera!

It was quite warm in the afternoon, so some insects were out.  This member of the long-tailed aphideater complex was on one of the last flowers in the garden.

Sunday, was forecast to be sunny with a very strong NW wind.  You guessed it, I headed up to Lake Huron, namely Ipperwash, for a lakewatch!

There were not many ducks, but lots of gulls.  I missed an adult Black-legged Kittiwake that was seen (adults are very rare on the Great Lakes), but did see a Parasitic Jaeger.  A jaeger is good on any day it seems!

It was too windy for land birding, even though I tried for a bit.  I did finally see a couple of Pine Grosbeaks though.  Hopefully I can go back for some better looks someday.

Today, I had little ambition to go anywhere, so finished cleaning up the yard in the morning. In the afternoon, it was nice and sunny, so went for a walk at the "go-to" place.

A couple of scenes:

This date in the past is notable for some marine history facts.  I have written about these in the past, but are always significant to my eyes.

On November 17, 1972, the Michipicoten broke in two in the Gulf of St. Lawrence whilst being towed overseas for scrap.  I remember well seeing this ship at Port Lambton in the summer of 1972.  So much so, my dad commissioned a line drawing for me as a Christmas gift.

line drawing by Frank Crevier

It was originally built in 1905 as the Henry C. Frick.

An identical ship built in 1905 was the William E. Corey. It was eventually renamed the Ridgetown and retired in 1969.  As many of you know, it still exists today!  However, it is now a rusty old breakwater at Port Credit.

(I once found a Western Grebe here!)

Tomorrow will be the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan.  A very tragic event indeed.

The husband of my father's cousin sailed on her at one point, so there is a family connection there.  He took these photos, among others, which I possess.

Don and Dorothy Langridge

So, this month is memorable for me in many respects.

Point Pelee Tip lifering (when water came up and washed it away)

Mid-November Things

 This past week was rather uneventful, so not much to report!  If we ever get more seasonal weather, things should pick up.  Climate change.......

Wednesday I stayed local and took advantage of the nice weather.  I went for a long walk at Reid CA in the morning.  Hardly any birds of course, but I checked out the riverbank since water levels are quite low.  Some river mussels (shells) were visible.

Mapleleaf

Giant Floater

Thursday was a rainy, but windy day so I had the notion to head down to Wheatley Harbour to watch the lake.  It was not as productive as I had hoped!  Lots of gulls, but as usual, no rarities.

I did get into Point Pelee for a bit, but it was mostly car-birding as it was still raining.

Friday was uneventful locally!

Saturday I headed down to Point Pelee.  I wanted to be in Essex County to attend the Essex County Field Naturalists annual banquet.  More on birding at Pelee later, but the dinner event was a chance to get something off my bucket list, so-to-speak.

Guest speaker was Adam Shoalts, of whom I have written about before.  Since reading all five of his books, I have become quite a fan!  I always wanted to go to one of his presentations, but he is so popular that it is difficult to get tickets.

Adam's focus was his canoeing adventure from Long Point to the Arctic a few years ago.  The name of his book about this trip is Where The Falcon Flies.  Fascinating stuff!

My day started at Point Pelee with a Tip Watch.  I joined Keith Burk with conditions that were perfect with excellent visibility and not too strong of a wind.  It was cloudy, but that is better for lakewatching anyway.  Wind was light out of the NW so not the best to bring in birds to the Tip.

Lots of loons and a fair number of White-winged Scoters were flying, but not much else.........until a bit later.

At one point I noticed masses of ducks to the NE heading west.  'Masses' was an understatement!  Eventually, looking to the west, it was the same thing.  Honestly, I have never seen so many ducks at once.  They were essentially all scaup, and no doubt Greater Scaup.  Here are some unprocessed views.

The skies were filled with ducks to the north, and most circled back to set down on both the east and west sides of Point Pelee.  I estimated around 100,000 ducks, and they were basically all scaup.  It was mind-boggling!  Especially for one species.

After some thought and discussion, I roughly estimated about 90,000 Greater Scaup!  Record high from Alan Wormington's records less than twenty years ago, was about 60,000 as I recall.

I walked various trails in the park later, but there were not too many landbirds.

Tip bonies

Today, it was down to Rondeau Park.  A decent SW wind was blowing, so I was lured to dog beach for a lakewatch.....again.   Hardly any gulls, but a few more ducks were moving, especially White-winged Scoters.  At least it paid off this time with a decent bird.

Before that at one point, a shorebird came by which turned out to be a late Greater Yellowlegs.  Not the godwit that I was hoping for!  A bit too far for my measly camera.

Several loons were moving or swimming offshore, including a few Red-throated.  At one point, I noticed loon swimming not far offshore.  It was difficult to get on through the waves, and it was diving more than it was up.  However, my brief views allowed me to determine it was a Pacific!  Eventually it stayed up longer (but distant) to allow us to make sure it was a Pacific. It was just two years ago that Steve and I found Rondeau's first Pacific in the same spot!

Hopefully there will be more loons and ducks for the Christmas Bird Count in the area on December 15.

Some historical filler from year's past:

Fifty-five years ago today, the 1905-built Ridgetown was laid up for the last time (originally Wm. E. Corey) .  It was eventually sunk as a breakwater at Port Credit in 1974.  It still exists today, but probably will not last much longer due to deterioration.

Her identical sister (Henry C. Frick) was retired in 1972, and sold for scrap.  Michipicoten was being towed for overseas scrapping, but broke in two in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 15 November 1972.  

Michipicoten breaking up
(photo from Boatnerd)

It was a favourite of mine when I was quite young, so much so, my Dad commissioned a line drawing done of it!

One of these days, winter will arrive!  Maybe.