Vermilion Flycatcher-Certificate of Appreciation

The Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) recognizes individuals or organizations that graciously host rare birds.  The Vermilion Flycatcher at Wallaceburg 18 December 2015 to 1 January 2016 on the Cornelis property was no exception!

Its last day: 1 January 2016

The bird was mainly on the property of Georgette Cornelis just north of the town of Wallaceburg.  She was more than happy to allow birdwatchers to search her property for the bird.  In fact, she said "the more the merrier!".

Hundreds of birders from all over came to view the bird at least once, some multiple times.

27 December 2015

Tonight, I presented certificates of appreciation to Georgette Cornelis as well as her son Larry on behalf of OFO.  Larry was the initial discoverer of the bird and throughout its stay, helped birders find the bird while he was around.

As I presented the plaques, Georgette hoped that the situation will happen again!  (I hope with a different species though!)

A New Year-Local Birding

Listers and LLB's abound!
I stayed local today checking on some of the established birds.  Normally I would be doing the St. Clair NWA CBC, but I felt I wanted to go on my own today.  It would have been blustery (again!) along Lake St. Clair anyway.  Hope they did well.

I did stop by the Vermilion Flycatcher first thing, but it was early and I did get a brief view.  I planned to come back later when lighting was 'supposed' to be better.
 
I briefly stopped at Brander Park, Port Lambton and the Tufted Titmouse was still present.  On to Sombra, and the female Harlequin Duck is still pretending to be a Mallard at the ferry dock area.

I drove back roads towards the Vermilion stakeout and upon arrival several familiar birders were present.  Some had seen the bird in the last week, but wanted to start the new year off with a bang by seeing the flycatcher.  Even the "afternoon shift" had to get out of Dodge and see this bird!

It was right near the road when I arrived, but there was quite a bit of snow coming down.

It disappeared behind the barn and Larry Cornelis spotted it there, but it eventually came back to the weedy field.

The Yellow-headed Blackbirds were also in the news, so many went to see them south of town.  Brett Fried, Barb Charlton and crew followed me to Bear Line where the flock (smaller than yesterday) was right along the road.

A close examination revealed two males and a female Yellow-headed Blackbird.  They also picked out a Rusty Blackbird.

We watched them for some time and the flock eventually thinned out.  The male Yellow-headed hide well in the flock and it takes some effort to find them.

Some Lapland Longspur were nearby as well.  With the snow, more Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, etc. were evident today.
I checked out the end of the road at the Snye and the only thing I got was an American Robin!

Feeders were active today with the weather, but nothing new here.

Maybe we will get some long overdue sun this weekend.  It has been a week since the sun has been out!
Sunday is the final CBC at Skunk's Misery area. Should be interesting.

Year-End Birding

Yesterday I went to Rondeau Park.  It was rather quiet as one would expect, but quieter than normal. Recently we have lost much of the sand that was built up from early October.  That mysterious concrete foundation at south point trail is well-exposed again!

Another tree succumbs

This morning I headed south of town and started at Bear Creek Marsh where I usually start my CBC. Yesterday, the blackbird flock was reported near there along with three Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They were just on the edge of the Wallaceburg CBC circle, so they made count week!  Wallaceburg CBC has recorded Yellow-headed Blackbird five times since its inception.

Upon my arrival, a massive flock came off St. Anne's Island, but kept going.  There were 5000+ birds.  At the Snye (Chenal Ecarte), some were still moving by and I could hear quite a few in the reeds/phragmites.  I believe they roost there during the night.

I headed back out and at the start of the marsh and the very end of Bear Line, was a very large flock!

record photo

It was predominately Brown-headed Cowbirds, but lots of starlings, grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds mixed in.  The flock was constantly moving, but I eventually did pick out two male Yellow-headed Blackbirds.



It was once again a very gloomy day and photography was useless.  Even with ISO at 4000+ (!) it was a challenge.  It was supposed be a sunny day, just like yesterday (ya right), but as usual the weather forecast was wrong yet again.

Find the yellow head in this photo:

I followed the flock down the road for almost a half hour, but that is all I could find.

I went on towards Mitchell's Bay and around Lake St. Clair to Lighthouse Cove.  I saw only 5 Snowy Owls on the roads I took, but a couple were fairly close.

It was generally quiet just like every place else.  CBC's farther north and east seem to be getting good numbers of birds, but in this part of the province there are very few birds inland as everyone has noted.  At least there have been some decent birds!

Lots of swans still around

Arriving back home, I stopped by the Vermilion Flycatcher stakeout. It took a while to spot the bird, but it was finally seen working the weedy field.  It came close, but with the ever-present gloomy skies I still could not get sharp photos.

Tomorrow is a new year, so I expect some birders to be looking for this fine bird to start off 2016 birding.

Happy New Year to all!

Wallaceburg: A Unique CBC

Yesterday was our local Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  The Wallaceburg CBC has been going on since 1986 (a trial was in 1985) and I have been doing them since 1987.  Needless to say it is always interesting, and sometimes exciting to see what is out there.
This year was the "quietest" count I have ever done.  One wonders where all the birds are, even though it has been unseasonably mild (until today).  Ducks are still out on the lakes, up north, or deep in the marshes.
Flowers, buds and other things are still out!

We were pleased to count the Harlequin Duck at Sombra dock.  There was not much else out there with regards to ducks, but I think we can thank Bill Ansell who faithfully feeds the ducks daily, and every winter at the Sombra dock.

My CBC area has always included everything south of Langstaff Line and I have been doing that every year with the exception of one when I helped Steve Charbonneau on Walpole Island. (Those were the days when Northern Bobwhite could be found with ease!).

I started at Bear Creek Marsh, SW of town, and was joined by Janet Fraser and Martha Gillier.  I arrived when it was still fairly dark and my very first bird was a Great Blue Heron (head only seen in the headlights of my car) along Bear Creek.  It turned out to be the only Great Blue recorded by CBC participants.

Bear Creek is always a good spot to get a variety of birds, mainly waterfowl.  Due to the horrible weather (yes it was the weekend again), we did not get much.  Just before we left Bear Creek, I heard the sound of Sandhill Cranes, and three were seen flying to the east.  The two below were seen later in the morning.

Later on, I found two more between Stewart and Langstaff (viewed from the back of the property where I used to work), then later in the afternoon we found four more on the south side of Stewart.  I had no doubt we would get Sandhill Cranes on the count as they have been increasing in numbers over the years, and have been very regular this fall and early winter.  The CBC recorded 72, which coincidentally is approximately the number that flew over Stewart Wetland each morning for two months.

Quickie photo of Sandhill Cranes

Many of us stopped by to the see the faithful Vermilion Flycatcher at some point.  It was less than a kilometre from my CBC area.  Martha and Janet wanted to see it, so we went up there.
A few familiar faces were there again, including Barb Wire Charlton and Dave Beadle. (Dave is at the scope).

If nothing else showed up on the CBC, this was the one we wanted to record!  What a co-operative little gem of a bird.  One wonders what its future holds, but it may be doomed.

It has been getting food thanks to the mild weather.  People have seen it get various grubs, flies, etc.  It has found an ideal location.

Our CBC recorded 75 species which is OK considering the undesirable weather and other factors.

Martha and Janet recorded one of the three Snowy Owls of the CBC on Meadowvale Line west of hwy 40.  I went out this morning and saw it farther back in a field.  (Another was to the east of hwy 40).

I checked out Bear Creek Marsh again and saw a couple species I did not get yesterday.  Those included a flyover Common Grackle (none were recorded yesterday!) and a nearby Cackling Goose.

I went into the old Dover Township and found at least ten more Snowy Owls on only two roads I took to St. Clair NWA.

There are thousands of Tundra Swans still around along with much other waterfowl.  With the exceptionally mild weather recently, there is ample open water.  The St. Clair NWA CBC is this coming Friday, so that should do fairly well with waterfowl--its mainstay.

Boxing Day Special

I did quite a bit of touring around today in anticipation of the Wallaceburg CBC.  First good bird was a Snow Goose circling around over the Snye and edge of Walpole Island.  It was just before 08:00, so lighting was not good.  Lighting was not good all day since it was a *TYPICAL* weekend weatherwise.  Tomorrow looks even worse!   I think this year will go into the record books as less-than-desirable weather on weekends, ever.

I took a record shot of the Snow Goose anyway.  A Snow Goose around Wallaceburg is excellent at any time. I have only seen a couple in all my years of birding.  We have only had it once (2005) on the CBC.

I decided to do some driving around Walpole Island this morning.  It is always better to get out and walk somewhere, but I only drove some of the roads.  Best bird species was a small flock of Sandhills Cranes at the river.
Blackbirds are around, and at one point I saw a flock of 800+ Common Grackles flying over the marina towards Walpole.  There were other things mixed in, but I got on it too late.  Red-winged are around, but that is normal and strangely they come up 'rare' on eBird.

The Harlequin Duck was not present when I stopped by Sombra, but it showed just before noon.

I stopped by the Vermilion Flycatcher stakeout and a few people were present including Luke Berg. He had a couple of American Pipits flyover just before I arrived.  Another potential good species for the Wallaceburg CBC!  (We have never had them).

The flycatcher was working along one of the old chicken barns, keeping out of the raw east wind.

It eventually did fly a bit closer for a while to the fence we were standing at much to the delight of Kaye Janssens.

I thought it would be neat to get a photo of it with the Wallaceburg water tower in the background. Here is proof it was at Wallaceburg!

This farm is the ideal location for the Vermilion Flycatcher, with lots of decent habitat and protection.  This is also a good location for flyovers along the Sydenham River.  A number of decent species have been recorded here.
We had an adult Bald Eagle fly over this morning.

Here's hoping for a decent day bird-wise tomorrow....

Christmas Eve (day) at the Stakeout

At noon today, I headed to the steakhouse stakeout.  (I skipped lunch).  I have not really had any time since last Friday to see the Vermilion Flycatcher again.  It was a fine sunny day (but then it is a weekday!) and several birders came to see the bird for Christmas.

Vermilion Flycatcher

It was right in front of me as I arrived.  It never came very close though.  I was hoping to get some decent photos, as was Cherise Charron who was clicking away with her camera.

After everyone else left, I stuck around to watch the flycatcher move about the grounds.
We hope it stays to be counted on Sunday's CBC.  Coincidentally, we always have the compilation gathering and dinner at the very same location!  How cool is that?

The Belgian horses were going about their business as the bird moved about the paddock area.

Afterwards, I went up to Reid CA for a walk.  There was actually a number of birds there to look at.

At home, I had a chance to look at the feeders since I am usually not around during the day.  I have a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches taking advantage of the seed.  This species is always decent around Wallaceburg, especially for the bird count.  (There is also one at the flycatcher property).

Late this afternoon, I went south of town to check out some of my CBC area before the clouds came in for the weekend.  I found 3 Snowy Owls in one spot!  A wide-angle lens could have captured all three, but only two were able to fit in the view.  They were distant, but two were basically in the same furrow.

Another farther back, was regurgitating a pellet, I believe.

Merry Christmas to all blog readers!