A GREAT Day at Rondeau

It was a great day at Rondeau, for a number of reasons: it was cooler and much more comfortable to be out than the hot hazy humid days of late and the rain held off. But for birders, it was the report of a Great Kiskadee, a first occurrence for Ontario and Canada. This flycatcher's normal North American range is in southern Texas and Mexico, and many points a lot farther south. There are various extralimital occurrences, however, including as far north as South Dakota, Kansas and Tennessee. All of the North American records are hundreds of kilometres south of the Canadian border.

The word got out yesterday, September 7, when a local hiker captured a photo of an unusual bird along the Marsh Trail. After being uploaded to iNaturalist, it quickly got circulated amongst the birding community that a Great Kiskadee was present. A few birders arrived in time late yesterday to get a brief look at it before it went to roost for the night. This brings the Rondeau area bird checklist total to a respectable 366 species.

Today the Marsh Trail was almost literally crawling with birders as early as 6:30 a.m. It is likely that over the course of the day, at least 150 or more birders from far and wide ventured down the trail in search of this mega rarity. Fortunately all of the action was within the first 200 or so metres down the trail, making the effort to get to the precise location minimal. Not everyone saw it, unfortunately, as it only showed itself for a few moments at a time, and spent the majority of the time out of sight, but apparently not entirely out of hearing, so I'm told. With the brisk ENE wind and my less than ideal hearing, I didn't hear it clearly enough to be certain of its presence. But I did see it on two occasions, about an hour and a half apart.

For my first view, the light was flat, and against the bland sky it made capturing much detail of the bird extra difficult.

The second view was more distant, but with a better background it showed up a lot more clearly, although branches interfered with the focus so several of my photos had to be deleted.

There were many huge smiles of relief amongst those that saw this bird, of course.

During the extended periods in between the times this bird popped up, there was a good variety of other resident and migrant birds to be seen. Other species which made the birding GREAT were Great Egret.....

.....Greater Yellowlegs probing around in the washed up vegetation along the edge of the trail:

and Great Crested Flycatcher, although I didn't get a photo of the latter species.

There were vireos, grosbeaks and warblers, among others. I got 12 species of warbler in just this short distance, which was a greater diversity of warblers than some days in May!

There were several Palm Warblers.....

...and a cooperative Cape May Warbler.

It was great to see so many birders, some familiar and some not familiar, and the camaraderie was excellent. Several fellow bloggers were present, three of which were photographed together on Dwayne Murphy's phone, taken by Rondeau staff member Pilar Manorome. It can be seen here.

After leaving Rondeau, I decided to check out the Keith McLean Conservation Area to see if the young Snowy Egret was still around. It was, along with one of its GREAT cousins.

Snowy Egret

Just to complete this post with the GREAT theme, there was the occasional Great Blue Heron around as well.

 With all of the rarities that have shown up in Ontario so far in the last few weeks, what will be next???? What could be better than a Canadian first, as well as being fairly bright and colourful?

A Final Farewell

No, I'm not planning on leaving the blogging world. This is about my mother, Helen Fern Woodliffe, who after a full life of 95+ years, passed away last Monday.

These past few weeks and months have been especially chaotic in many ways. It was particularly challenging for my aging mother who met her physical decline with determination as well as frustration. Anyone reading this who has had to deal with aging parents will understand.

This is not intended to be an adequate eulogy, but I want to touch on a few things. She and my dad were incredibly influential in my life in so many ways, of course. Not the least was with respect to my interest, career and hobbies pertaining to nature.

Our family loved to travel and explore. When we travelled we wouldn't look for the things and activities that many families did. We never went to Disney World nor sought out the Canada's Wonderland or other theme park types of things to do. We didn't go on vacation to be entertained. No, we explored natural areas.

This first photo was our family back in the summer of 1953 (that is me in the stroller....I was less than a year old) with my older sister, Susan, and dad, as we explored Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. My younger sister, Patricia, came along a couple of years later.

We travelled to the west coast and east coast and places in between on several occasions as I was growing up, always camping in our tent or tent trailer at provincial parks or national forests. The travel bug has remained firmly entrenched with me in my adult years.

In my teenage years, I remember fondly going to places like Rondeau Provincial Park with mom and/or dad when we had caught up on our farm work, with various Peterson field guides in hand and binoculars around our necks, trying to identify everything we could. That interest in the natural world which I got at an early age was part of the reason I could make a career out of exploring and defending natural areas and the myriad species that make them up.

In mom and dad's retirement, they were able to spend even more time travelling, camping and exploring across the continent and beyond. Family members joined them as often as we could, whether it be in Arizona or Algonquin or somewhere else. This next photo is of my family along an Algonquin trail. That is Tim, Marie and Kristin in between my parents in 1994.

Mom was not afraid of a challenge. She was constantly learning. Here she is at age 90, on the Spicebush Trail of Rondeau with my wife Marie, using her iPod to check on some bird songs she was hearing along the trail in mid-May.

Nature was just one of many facets of mom's life. But it was an important one, and for anyone reading this who has benefited from my knowledge of the natural world in any way, be aware that my parents' influence is partly responsible!

Right now I am sure mom is enjoying time with her heavenly Father, as well as my dad, and they are busily rejoicing and exploring the perfect creation there. I look forward to joining them someday.

Birding fun at the Keith McLean Conservation Area

The Keith McLean Conservation Area (KMCA) is often worth checking out. This place has a bit of history for me, since there was a time quite a few years ago that Marie and I lived right across the road from it, when Keith was still living there and farming. Since he passed away a few years ago, it is nice that the property has been turned (at least partially) into a naturalized area for vegetation and wildlife.

With the very high water this spring, along with a partially flooded field, several of us had commented that if this keeps up, it will likely attract something rare as the season goes on. Of course in the spring, it had several Willets and American Avocets stop in for a visit.

The flooded field is perfect for waterfowl and shorebirds right now. With a little bit of searching, one can find up to a dozen species of shorebirds. In the last couple of days, one of the highlights has been a Red Knot, a species we used to see regularly on migration to and from its high arctic breeding grounds. For various reasons, the species has declined significantly and it is now an endangered species. The last time I saw one was several years ago on a sandy island at the south end of Rondeau Bay. So it was nice to hear of one that showed up at the KMCA.

When I got there this afternoon, it had not been seen for several hours. There were four other birders there while I was there, and none of us had seen it. After the others left, I decided to check a slightly different vantage point. The usual viewing spot was right across the small bridge that crossed the creek. While watching birds come and go, it was apparent that some birds found another spot just out of sight from our normal vantage point. I decided to go along the field edge before crossing the bridge, where I could get a look into one of the little alcoves. Sure enough there were some shorebirds there, including the Red Knot! It had undoubtedly been there all along, busily feeding.

It was a long way away, and I could only see it reasonably well with the scope at high power. I took a few shots with my camera gear, hoping I was aiming at the right bird and had it reasonably in focus. This photo, showing a Killdeer on the left and the Red Knot on the right, with various ducks in the foreground, is probably at the equivalent of about 75X.

The other highlight was a Snowy Egret, which Steve Charbonneau found today and put the word out. It was never very close, but seemed to be unconcerned with the few birders viewing it from across the wetland. All of these are highly cropped as well.

 This next photo shows a bit more of the yellowish legs, with black on the front part of the leg.

This next one shows the yellowish feet. In good breeding plumage, the legs are black and the feet are bright yellow.

A shot comparing the much larger Great Egret on the right with the Snowy on the left.

There were other birds of course including this Stilt Sandpiper.

A couple of Belted Kingfishers were foraging in the area. They are always so skittish, so any photo of them is a challenge. This one is hovering just before it plunged into the water below. I think it came up empty.

With post breeding wandering birds, who knows what might turn up next. So far there have been some awesome herons in southwestern Ontario in the past few days, including Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret and now Snowy Egret. Any guesses as to what might be next?

Back Yard Wildlife

I usually do at least a couple of 'Back Yard Wildlife' posts each year, but this is my first for 2018. That doesn't mean there hasn't been any action....far from it! However the earlier season heat and drought didn't help, nor did the fact that I was away for several weeks. So I've got some catching up to do.

A few weeks ago I noticed a raptor feeding on something. Turns out a Red-tailed Hawk had picked off one of the neighbourhood Eastern Grey Squirrels!

The hawk eventually flew off....apparently it did not appreciate some of the extra attention, especially since some neighbourhood kids were watching it from a bit of distance but closing in on it due to their curiosity. It flew off with part of the carcass and this was all that was left where it had been.

A surprise nesting species was a Mallard, with a nest under a small shrubby tree in the front yard.  It didn't even leave the nest when the mower was within about a metre of it, although it kept an eye on it. It was getting close to hatching, I think, but the eggs were predated by something....a skunk perhaps, although we seldom see or smell skunk in our neighbourhood.

On the smaller scale of wildlife in the yard, it has been quite diverse. There have been a few butterflies, but not many except for Monarchs.

 There has been at least two males in the yard for several weeks, and a few females have been passing through. We have not seen many caterpillars, but it isn't for lack of trying. There have been lots of eggs laid, but perhaps the heat and drought earlier in the season took its toll. The eggs are so tiny, barely one millimetre in diameter.

Red Admiral

 This Question Mark was investigating my tomato plants.

 Clearly one or more Black Swallowtail butterflies had been in the area, although I didn't see them. But we've found at least 5 larvae on different plants. Note in this next photo the old skin which this caterpillar has just crawled out of.

A lot of the plants in our yard and in our pollinator patch nearby are tallgrass prairie types, so they are able to withstand the heat and drought better than others. And the pollinators, which come in all shapes, colours and sizes, have loved it!

Metallic Green Bee (Agapostemon sp)

Ailanthus Webworm

A Braconid type of wasp (Macrocentrus sp)

Cicada Killer (Sphex speciosus)

A Stink Bug (Euschistus variolarius)

 This next one is a Feather-legged Fly. It is named because of the feathery material on its lower hind leg. It is sort of visible in the photo.

Trichopoda sp

 This next one is an ultra tiny fly, being only about 2mm in length. I am not sure what kind it is. It may be a male mosquito, although the size and wings don't look right. I have posted it on BugGuide, but no one there has responded to it yet.

Thread-waisted Wasp (Isodontia sp)

Green Bottle Fly (Lucillia sericata)

Wasp (Monrobia quadridens)

 This next one is huge, with a body length of at least 30 mm. It mimics a wasp in both appearance and behaviour, but it is a fly!

Mydas Fly (Mydas clavatus)

Paper Wasp (Polistes sp)

 This next one is a large wasp, the Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). It isn't as large and bulky as the Mydas Fly, but is about 25-30 mm long.

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis)

A Syrphid Fly (Syrphus torvus)

A Tachinid Fly (Dexiini sp)

Two-spotted Longhorn (Melissodes maculatus)

 There are other critters that aren't pollinators but have other roles. This next photo is of an Ambush Bug, lying in wait for a tasty insect to come within reach.

 Next is a day flying moth, the Chickweed Geometer (Haematopis grataria). The adults don't feed, but the larvae do, on Chickweed.

 I'm not sure what this next one is. It is a tiny nymph of some kind, but again, I've posted it on BugGuide without any results yet.

 The Red-banded Leafhoppers are always fun to find. They are so colourful and most easily seen on milkweed leaves, but occur on other plants as well.

There is always a lot to see, especially when you have a healthy pollinator garden!