Barred Owl Barometrics

Owls are a favourite bird of many people, even non-birders. So when a Barred Owl showed up at Rondeau Provincial Park this past December, and has been seen intermittently as recently as yesterday, it is special. This bird is only the fifth known record for the Rondeau checklist area.

There is lots of suitable habitat for Barred Owl at Rondeau, and that begs the question as to why it is so rare. Of course looking at the very limited habitat across much of southwestern Ontario, there aren't many habitat linkages so birds from the species' normal range choosing the best habitat available to them would not be tempted to move into the Rondeau area.

But that may be changing, and not just because the amount of forested habitat here in the southwest is increasing to any extent. For some reason, Barred Owls have been recorded a lot more this winter than usual. It was interesting to read the various Christmas Bird Count reports for this past Dec 15-Jan 5 period to see where these owls were recorded more frequently than usual. Many counts only record them very infrequently if at all, so getting even one was a highlight. Some CBCs had them in record numbers. Okay, usually a single bird was a normal number reported in previous counts, but some counts were reporting as many as 3 birds. The summary reports provided by the count compilers on Ontbirds often made special mention of the presence of Barred Owl on their count.

I did a bit of search on eBird. This first map shows the Barred Owl reports on eBird during the three month period of December 2005 to February 2006 period. The purple rectangles indicate where one or more reports of Barred Owl occurred during that time. The darker the purple, the more reports within that rectangle.

Obviously there were very few reports during that period. However since eBird only got up and running in 2002, lots of birders had not begun participating, so it is not surprising how few records show up. In fact the grey rectangles indicate where there was at least one report of any bird species made, and the non-grey and non-purple rectangles indicate where there were no reports of any birds. There are probably as many rectangles without any birds as with at least one bird, and clearly Barred Owls were very limited.

This next map shows a similar area for the period of Dec 2010 to Feb 2011. Obviously the number of birders participating in eBird seems to have increased, given the increased number of grey and purple rectangles. And the number of purple rectangles has also increased. But the level of participation by birders entering data on eBird was still building, and it is not nearly at the same level as it is today.

This next map shows the period of Dec 2017 to Feb 2018, just a little over a year ago. The number of grey rectangles has increased quite a bit, as have the number of purple rectangles. It is interesting to note that across the border to the southeast of southwestern Ontario, it seems that the increase in purple rectangles is even greater.

Fast forward to the most recent three month period of Dec 2018 to Feb 2019. While the number of rectangles where bird data has been entered is much the same as the previous year, there is definitely an increase in the number of purple rectangles, including more darker purple ones.

As expected, the level of bird data entry on eBird continues to grow. It will be interesting to see what next year's map will look like. Will the species continue to appear to expand? Will there be a retraction?

The area shown on these maps is not the only area where Barred Owls have apparently increased. A recent news report from Nova Scotia, shown here, indicates the species has increased there as well. It has perhaps been a trend throughout the northeast, and the question is why. Has the weather been a factor, or the food available during the breeding season, causing a greater production of young, but during the winter the food availability is not enough to sustain the increased population so birds have to move beyond their normal range? This has certainly been the case for some other owl species, such as Snowy Owl. It is interesting to speculate, but for the time being we can enjoy the presence of this impressive owl.

Another thought to consider: maybe there is more than one Barred Owl in the Rondeau area. There certainly is enough habitat. As the mating season arrives, we will have to get out in the evening and listen for calling birds. Just maybe there is a pair of them and seeing more of this species is in our immediate future!

Late February Birding in southern Chatham-Kent

Hints of spring continue to tease us, but the reality is that there could be quite a bit more winter. And although some bird migration is beginning, it isn't out of the ordinary yet. On some days checking out normal bird hot spots can be downright dismal. For example yesterday I spent about 40 minutes wandering through the campground at Rondeau and did not see a single bird! But that doesn't mean some of the park inhabitants don't see you.

Elsewhere in the park it was a little more rewarding. Each trip is a little different. In fact just a few days ago, after checking the campground hoping to see the Barred Owl that has taken up residence in the park since last December, I didn't find it. Just before I left the parking lot, I got a bird alert from Garry S that the owl was at camp site 182. I had been there less than an hour earlier without seeing it, but Garry and his brother Steve had come along and watched the owl fly by and land in an oak tree. Ten minutes later, I was there enjoying the bird as well.

I'm not sure if it is just my imagination, but the number of squirrels in the campground seem to be fewer in number lately.

Northern Cardinals are sometimes quite abundant. At times it is not unusual to see 20-30 in a day. The males are at about their brightest now.

 This Bald Eagle was perched high up in a cottonwood tree along Lakeshore Road. If traffic kept moving it didn't seem to be bothered, but stop along side of the road and point a camera lens at it, and in a matter of moments it decided to move on.

Elsewhere in the park, feeders are where birds are most likely to be found, as long as the feeders have been kept filled. Photo ops are sure to be had.

Am Tree Sparrow

 Am Goldfinches are starting to show a bit more colour as they transition to their breeding plumage.

Dark-eyed Junco

White-throated Sparrow

 Okay this next one is the non-native House Sparrow. Not all that exciting, and it isn't a species that I, or likely most bird photographers, search out to photograph. But when an opportunity arises, why not?

Yesterday I took the opportunity to go on a long hike around the central block of forest in the park, and while the birds were few and far between, I came across a very cooperative Pileated Woodpecker. I heard its distinctive pecking first as it was digging in to a tree trunk in its search for invertebrates. It was on the back side of this tree, but then came around into full view.

After a few more minutes, the bird apparently wanted to get to the other side of the trail, and in doing so, flew almost right at me. It passed by at eye level not more than 4 metres from me. This next photo isn't the sharpest, but it is one of the few I have ever taken of the species in flight, and shows the wing pattern.

 The Pileated landed in a tree very close to the trail, and continued on chiselling its way into the trunk in its search for insects. This photo is not cropped very much and even with me moving around slightly to get a better angle it did not seemed bothered with my presence. A closer look at this next photo even shows 2-3 pieces of wood chips it has just dug out. After taking almost 150 photos, I continued on up the trail while the bird kept on digging.

Rondeau Bay has been frozen over for the most part, with a few openings available for wintering and newly arriving waterfowl.

Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese and even a couple of Ross's Geese have been seen with the larger and much more abundant Tundra Swans and Canada Geese. Photos have been difficult, but a couple of days ago, Jim B noted that there were nine Greater White-fronted Geese on a grassy patch adjacent to the bay at Shrewsbury.

Eight of the nine

Getting a drink from the bit of standing water

 The birds were quite cooperative for me as I sat in the vehicle, getting a few photos. But then a Raccoon came along, not a normal mid-day sight. I expect that it is probably dealing with the deadly distemper disease and acting atypically.

 The critter sauntered up to the geese, causing a bit of consternation.

 A few moments later a couple of construction vehicles came along and entered the property immediately adjacent to the grassy patch and together with the presence of the Raccoon, caused the geese to move onto the open water of the bay. The Raccoon ventured out to the edge of the ice, but gave up after a few minutes and came back on land.

 The geese remained out in the water.

Nine Greater White-fronts and one Canada

 Meanwhile an adult Bald Eagle soared overhead.....

 ....which caused a great commotion amongst the several thousand ducks resting out on the bay. Most were Canvasback and Redhead, but there were Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead and scaup sp mixed in with them. The eagle kept on going and the ducks returned to the water.

I also wanted to check to see if the Great Horned Owls that are often along the Erieau Rail Trail were into nesting mode yet. On the way over I noted that the Bald Eagle nest just northwest of Shrewsbury and visible from Fargo Road, had an adult sitting on it. I've seen this on at least 3 occasions recently so it seems this pair seems to think it is time. Other nests I've checked in Chatham-Kent don't seem to be quite at that stage yet.

I got to the Rail Trail and as I approached the owl's nest tree I came across some large waterfowl that seemed like they were pairing up for their own nesting action.

I heard, and saw, the Great Horned Owls in one of their typical perches. One is fairly visible, and the other is just to the left of the main trunk and mostly obscured.

Alas, when I got to the nest tree it was clear the owls would not be using it this year. It had been severely damaged by the ice storm of a week or so ago, and the main trunk was broken and lying on the ground. I'm not sure what the owl's Plan B is, but it will be worth keeping an eye out for other possible nest sites nearby.

Geese Galore and Tons of Tundras

I've been meandering about here and there mostly around Chatham-Kent over the last few days, on the lookout for signs of spring migrants or whatever. It is a little too early for reptiles and amphibians to be out, and certainly too early for those early butterflies. It is nice that we are gaining several minutes of daylight each and every day, and it is only another month until the spring solstice! And with the slightly warming temperatures and bright sunny days, it seems that some of the buds of trees such as Eastern Cottonwood are getting slightly fatter. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking.......

Waterfowl continue to be part of the story of this time of year. Numbers are building, especially of geese and swans, but the diversity of ducks is also on the rise. There are several thousand Tundra Swans and Canada Geese in the general vicinity of St. Clair NWA, using the NWA as an overnight roost but heading out into fields to forage at various times of the day.

Canada Geese are quite abundant, and if one examines a flock closely, you may still find a bird with a coloured neck collar. This next photo shows a very small part of a flock of well over 1200 birds in a corn stubble field just east of SCNWA. Right in the slightly lower centre of the photo is a goose with an orange neck collar.

 A highly cropped version of that photo reveals the alpha-numerics (you can probably get a better look by clicking on the photo). They are U5U7. I noted this bird in the same general area almost exactly a year ago. I sent this photo and the report to a former colleague within the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry who indicated that this bird had the collar put on as an after hatching year (AHY) female up on Akimiski Island in James Bay, back in 2012, so this bird is at least 8 years old.

Neck collars on geese are not as common as they used to be, as some of the research that used this type of banding process has wound down, and also because the banding process has changed. By using a neck collar, the only way researchers find out about a bird's location is if the bird is shot or observed somewhere and even then only if the hunter/observer takes the time to report it. Nowadays things like small geolocators are put onto birds. As I understand it, communications cell towers can detect the individually coded geolocator almost continually so that researchers can keep track of individual birds without anyone having to have visual contact.

This is the time of year when Greater White-fronted Geese are most likely to show up, and that has indeed been the case over the last few weeks. More than a few flocks of Canada Geese currently in southern Ontario will have a small number of GWFG amongst them. This next photo does not show them really well, but there are two GWFG in it. The geese were not providing me close views, and even with fairly high magnification, they are not showing well, especially since they are a bit smaller than Canada Geese. The most obvious GWFG is at the extreme left, with a second bird slightly to the right of the first bird. The second bird's head is tucked in so that only a small part of the white at the base of the bill is visible.

 A little more obvious are these four Snow Geese: two snows and two blues. Actually the one Snow Goose on the left is noticeably smaller than the one beside it, having a slightly smaller body and shorter legs. It raises the thought that it might be a Ross's Goose, but a close view of the bill shows a bit of a grin patch, characteristic of Snow Goose. Undoubtedly there has been some hybridization between the two species at some point in this individual's background.

On one occasion a couple of weeks ago I noticed about 30 Snow Geese flying over the NWA, and in a discussion with the marsh manager of the NWA, he noticed over 200 Snow Geese recently.

Ducks are becoming a little more abundant as well, although there aren't a lot of this next kind.

Rubber Ducky

While I was out today, there were two adult Bald Eagles in a field near some Tundra Swans. One of the eagles decided to take flight almost as soon as I stopped the vehicle. Even though it flew in the direction of the swans, I did not detect any particular alarm within the swan flock. Bald Eagles aren't an aggressive hunter compared to their relatives, a Golden Eagle. Not that a Bald Eagle won't hunt live prey, but they are more likely to pick off injured birds such as ducks, or wait for a dead fish to float by or pick off a muskrat. Tackling a live and healthy swan is much less likely to happen.

 

There seems to be a lot more sparrow types around these days. Song Sparrows have been quite few and far between most of the winter, but in the last couple of weeks, one will see them regularly.

I stopped by Bannerstone Conservation Lands a couple of days ago. It is a small naturalized area, about 7 ha in size, a few kilometres north of Rondeau. It was planted into trees and wildlife shrubs, with some of the area left as meadow, back in the early 1990s, and the owners donated it to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. It is worth taking a periodic walk around, and on this day the most noteworthy bird species I came across was a Fox Sparrow, one of the few I have seen this winter.

The shrubby pasture along Stefina Line, just a bit southeast of Blenheim is a convenient stop along the way to Rondeau. Winter is the time to check for Wilson's Snipe or Northern Shrike. There are also Wild Turkeys, various raptors and other birds to be found, but never in any abundance. I seldom get more than 4 or 5 species during any one visit to the area. For example one day on the way out when I stopped, the only species I found was Turkey Vulture. There were two of them, and a raccoon carcass, presumably one that had succumbed to distemper in the previous few weeks, drew their interest. One bird was close by the carcass while the other bird was in a tree above. But they didn't appreciate me trying to get their picture. I left after getting a couple of shots, and they appeared to circle around and return to their breakfast.

 A little farther down the road is the spot to check for the ongoing, wintering Wilson's Snipe. It is a hit and miss proposition, with more misses than hits for most birders. On this occasion it was a miss. This raccoon was in the spot where the snipe is often seen, so after getting a couple of shots of the 'coon, I continued on.

On my way home a few hours later, I decided to check for the snipe again. And this time the raccoon had seemingly morphed into a muskrat! Not really, but the 'rat was almost exactly where the 'coon had been earlier.

I scanned up and down the creek, hoping that the snipe would materialize somewhere. I was about ready to leave when I noticed a suspicious looking clump about 75 metres or so away, partially hidden by some grasses. I moved to a better angle and checked it with the 'scope and bingo! There was the snipe sitting up along the grassy edge. This first photo shows the snipe at about 10X. Do you see it?

I managed to get a bit closer and using a teleconverter making it to 14X and then cropping the photo, this is what I ended up with. As far as I could tell, it didn't so much as move a muscle or feather or blink.

Waterfowl should be quite abundant over the next few weeks, and in Chatham-Kent places like St. Clair NWA, Erieau, Shrewsbury and Rondeau will be excellent places to observe them.

The Wings of Spring festival at Rondeau is scheduled for March 9-17, 2019. For more information about this festival, check it out here.