History repeating (#308-309)

This long weekend was the perfect opportunity to finally get out and do some serious birding. I hadn't really had a chance to check out the migrants, but we have enjoyed watching the bluebirds and swallows that nest nearby.

*Erratum: Bird below is tree swallow, not sparrow. Clearly I was snoozing when photo editing :) Sorry about that!

On Saturday morning I headed to Mud Lake. I was there early (for me) but there were so many cars! I seemed to get there at just the right time because the trees were seemingly just drizzled with birds.

I never imagined that I'd get not one, but TWO lifers, on home turf especially!

Now I wouldn't be surprised if I'd seen this bird before, but I definitely haven't counted. In the past I had a hard time photographing vireos, and never had a definitive shot of a red-eyed. I underexposed this (of course, the same day I told some one "I never shoot RAW, waste of space, totally unnecessary," and it came back to bite me!) Anyways, I managed to pull something out of the shot, but do scroll down for WICKED shot of a red-eyed vireo the next day.

#308: Red-Eyed Vireo; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 2014 

And many warbling vireos as well, doing that thing for which they get their name. I searched my own blog to see when else I posted about warblng vireos, and I think it's hilarious that three years ago, I was in the exact same place (Mud Lake) on the exact same day (May 17) and sightings were very similar.

Again, this is not a tack sharp, but it's the best shot I have of a Black-Throated Blue and a huge improvement over the last one. I've seen these twice before...my first, also at Mud Lake, was a female and I didn't even know what it was for the longest time, and my first male was just a fleeting glimpse in the thick of the brush.  Come one, how AWESOME is this bird? He has got a mask on!

There were so many redstarts around. I forgot they are quite tiny (warbler size....I seem to recall them being bigger) but they are so joyful! And I love that almost neon orange on his sides...he's wearing the uniform of the early 90s! (was it the 90s? I don't know, I was only like 4 at the time...)

I spotted this awkward baby cardinal hiding in the bus, and mom flitting around nearby. Not one I found by hearing the song....definitely trying to go unnoticed.

As usual, many many yellow warblers were about. I believe this is an immature (no streaks on breast), according to my National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (my absolute favourite guide, by the way).

East of the ridge, in the evergreens there were a ton of Cape May warblers and yellow-rumped warblers. The Cape Mays are a special treat...my first Cape May was in Mexico!

I walked past a man standing close to the water treatment plant and he waved me over and pointed out a blackpoll warbler. I didn't realize that I hadn't seen one, and I definitely would have brushed it off as a chickadee or a black-and-white-warbler! So, a lifer, just because this nice man pointed it out to me!

#309: Blackpoll Warbler; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 2014

It was such a great day that I got that addicted adrenaline buzz and had to head back again the next day, this time one hour earlier. Worth it? I think so!

Much better shots of the red-eyeds...uh....yeah.

I'm quite certain about this warbler, although I didn't get a great view, just one quick moment and it was gone..

There were so many yellow-rumped warblers. I assumed the one below is a female, but is it normal for them to have a yellow eyebrow?

Many catbirds could be heard singing their uneven warbled song.

More adorable redstarts everywhere.

I didn't see nearly as many species as are being reported but I certainly had an amazing day. I didn't make a list, but saw (I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch):
- ooodles and oodles and oodles of cedar waxwings (so many this year),
- lots of yellow-rumped warblers
- cape may warblers
- warbling vireos
- red-eyed vireos
- 1 black-and-white warbler
- at least one blackpoll warbler
- several American redstarts
- many yellow warblers
- red-winged blackbirds
- 1 black-crowned nightheron
- 1 magnolia warbler
- tree swallows
- mallards
- gray catbirds
- downy woodpeckers
- great egret (overhead)

You may have noticed I've started putting text on my images, because I've noticed an increase in photo downloads and also some images popping up around the web (Pinterest...). That's great - it means people are seeing my stuff and that's really exciting, but want to make sure there is some reference back to the blog :)

This last shot I just adore...a cedar waxwing was totally silhouetted and the light play is totally fantastic.  I may even print this one up...I think it's just magical. Nice to bring a little art to my birds shots!

Until the next one,
j

migration madness (sunday part 2) #145-146

(back on the ridge)

female rose-breasted grosbeak

I'm sure I've seen (and definitely heard) warbling vireos at Mud Lake before, but my shots were always from below with funny white balance and I was never really quite sure (since the Tennessee Warbler and the Philadelphia Vireo look kind of similar). I didn't hear this one sing, but I'm pretty positive I got one!
#145: Warbling Vireo; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 15, 2011

I love the description of the warbling vireo's song: I'll seize you and I'll squeeze you!

Hey ladies! Click for full-effect.

Another blue-headed vireo! Isn't it funny when you get a lifer and then you start seeing them everywhere?? OK, maybe not everywhere, but at least a few times...



Another black-throated green warbler



Redstart posed for me...I know I posted one just the other day, but I had to...

Just along the edge of the water I found this beauty, among a bunch of yellow-rumped warblers. Actually I saw two of them that day....lucky me!

#146: Bay-breasted warbler; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 15, 2011.

This flicker sits on these lights and drums them. It's metal and it's really loud...I don't know if he's just trying to communicate or if he's actually trying to drill a hole! Poor guy, this makes me kind of sad. Because birds should be on trees, not metal lamps.

Once I got home, I was sitting in the living room and noticed some movement in the window. I had hung the hummingbird feeder up a few weeks ago, but moved it on Saturday after the fiasco with the squirrel (he drank all the sugar water and pushed it onto the ground once it was empty). But I'm not home all the often to see the action out there, so this was the first (actually second, but maybe the same one) hummingbird I've seen this year!

The great thing is I got this feeder late in the year last year and I couldn't understand why the birds didn't have the bright red throat. So I guess it's a breeding thing and I was so excited to see his bright red throat. Actually I was so happy that a hummingbird was in my yard again that I actually emitting noises of pure joy! (hummers always do this me). A finch had landed on the pole and this guy arrived shortly after. His look clearly said, "excuse me, but your feeder is over there!" Since then he's been visiting often. I look forward to watching them this summer!

All in all, Sunday was a great day. I missed the Cape Mays and the blue-grey gnatcatcher that everyone was talking about. Gotta leave something for next time, right :)

So the cool thing about this year's migration is that I'm starting to get to the point where I "just know," or at least have a good guess of, what a bird is without having to pull out the book anymore. Lord knows I've flipped through my bird guide enough times to know almost every bird in it and where it is in the book! Granted, I do check once in a while, but I've come a long way from only being able to confidently identify a robin, cardinal, great blue heron and the other "typical" birds. Last year, I had to look up every warbler I saw, and had to compare every last aspect...now it seems so much more obvious. And sparrows are getting so much easier too. So you know, yay for getting better at things.

Things (I) have for sure changed a lot over the last year. If you told me two years ago that I would spend entire weekends, consistently (several hours at time) chasing down birds, I'm sure I wouldn't have believed you. It's funny how a short hike on a winter day turned into a full-blown addiction...well, I suppose I could be addicted to worse things! Spending so much time outside, surrounded by nature...I really don't think it gets better than that. So the only question is, where to next weekend?



Also, I just wanted to let you guys how how much I appreciate your stopping in and reading and maybe even leaving a comment or two. Your comments always make me smile, and it's nice to know when you're writing  that a person or two is going to actually see it. I'm already drafting entries in my head when I'm out in the field...so I'm thinking of you!

You can leave your (tilly) hat on. (#141-143)

I got up (relatively) early today to join on the OFNC outing at Mud Lake, despite the uplifting forecast  (pouring rain x infinity). Well if April showers were supposed to bring May flowers, what the heck do May showers bring?

I knew I was late, so I figured they might have started already. When I got there though, they were nowhere to be had, so I checked in my Trail and Landscape, and it had started 30 minutes earlier than I thought! I could swear I had checked the time last night. Well, this meant I was actually 45 minutes late, so I got started on my own. I got talking to another OFNC member, Gillian, but after not too long we caught up to a group of people we thought could be them (A group of 20 people with tilly hats and binoculars and their heads all craned in the same direction? It's gotta be them.)

Well, it was a little bit quieter than I hoped, but I did manage to get three new blog birds. The amazing thing was having others identify them so quickly.

#141: Blue-headed vireo; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 14, 2011

# 142: Blackburnian Warbler; Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 14, 2011

 What a gorgeous bird.

I pulled a full-on rookie move with this bird. "Um, guys, what's the one with the orange head again?"

#143: American Redstart;  Mud Lake, Ottawa; May 14, 2011

First time I'm putting a redstart on my blog. I remember well the first time I saw one. It was at the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and it was flitting around being very difficult. I kept saying, "I don't know what it is! It isn't in the book!" (It was.)

I have to remember that this is a "Field Naturalists" club and not just a bird club, so there was almost as much talk about plants as there was about birds. They kindly pointed out Jack-in-the-pulpit plants (cool!), trout-lilies (below, also known as Adder's Tongue, Dogtooth Violet, Yellow Adder's Tongue), garlic mustard (incredibly invasive but also delicious, so I am told), blue beech (the "muscle" tree), hackberry trees, purple violets and trilliums, and poison ivy (haha). Funny, aside from the obvious, I have never taken note of any of these things before. What do you say, does this call for a 100 plants in a year blog? ;) Well, it's a great big world out there, and so much to learn. I loved how with the rain today it felt like walking through a west coast rain forest. mmmm....

Trout lily. Funny name, pretty flower.

The other thing about this group is it tends to be a lot of the same people, so lots of familiar faces, and some of them really know their stuff. What a humbling experience. I feel like I have learned so much in the last year, enough to consider myself somewhat intermediate....then I listen to these people and I just put myself way back at the bottom of the totem pole. Rookie!

The leaves are really starting to come out and it's much more dense than last week. I'm pretty sure next week we'll have a full-blown canopy...

Well, I missed a lot of things that they saw and normally I really take my time and stick around until I get "the shot." I still got a few, and towards the end, we started having more luck (which of course, meant it started to pour).  But it was just too wet for d90 so I headed home at 11, hoping for a break in the weather later on. It didn't happen :(

Earlier this week on Wednesday, I headed out after work with Matt. It was such a gorgeous day, and we didn't go too far since gas was at $1.36 or something crazy like that. So we went to Shirley's Bay...Saw a thrasher behaving much like a robin, an eastern phoebe, terns, stunning orioles, a few geese on nests that I thought were going to charge right after us (they built their nests right beside the path!), and lots of the other usual suspects.

Eastern Phoebe

Beautiful Baltimore.

Dinner!

Single spotted sandpiper

There are so many awesome birds being reported that I'm missing. I'm planning to really study some of the songs so I'm more prepared for tomorrow, if it lets up a bit. I've found a few really promising links...

•  North American Bird Sounds recordings (downloadable) 
•  Birdsong Mnemonics by Tom Lorenzin. Pretty great...for example, he describes B&W warbler like weezee, weezee wezee....like a bathtub squeaky toy. Bang on!
• BirdJam (+there's an app for that)

I definitely have my work cut out for me. Because in addition to this, I need to construct a rainjacket or something for d90.

mm-hmm. not glamourous, but promising.

I've got a few hopefuls, but won't mention them here. *Crossing fingers*