Well, I've been back from the Hudson Bay coast for a few weeks now (I
was there June 6-22). Unfortunately I have been moving to our new
place since I have been back so haven't had a lot of time for the blog
(or editing photos so I could do a blog post). Anyways, I am still
without internet so I haven't even submitted everything to eBird yet but
when I do I will be sure put some links to the more interesting
checklists.
The trip was awesome, there was a crew of
8 of us staying at the really sweet Burnt Point research camp. The
camp is about 3km from the coast and about 50 km east of the Winisk
River. It is real tundra there so lots of completely new things for me
to see! Most of the study area is wet tundra (basically wet sedge
meadows with small moss hummocks) but there are also numerous small
ponds, often with small willows and heath-lichen ridges which is more of
what I pictured tundra to look like. As a group we had 87 species over
the two weeks in the study area. The weather was quite cool and windy
most days (winter jackets and hats necessary) so insects weren't too
exciting (only 2 species of odes) but migrant butterflies had certainly
made it there with Red Admirals and both ladies seen regularly. Question
Marks had made it to at least Moosonee on June 6 when we stopped to
refuel.
The birds were awesome with shorebirds nesting
everywhere. We had about 8-9 nests of Least Sandpiper, Whimbrel and
Semipalmated Plover. Plus a single American Golden-Plover nest and a
handful of Killdeer and Snipe plus some other cool stuff like 2
Red-throated and 1 Pacific Loon nests, Parasitic Jaeger nest and lots of
Willow Ptarmigan nests!
Anyways, I'll let some photos and video speak for themselves....
Smith's Longspurs were around on the bigger ridges.
Ice was still right to shore when we arrived
White-rumped Sandpipers were still moving through when we arrived
Molt migrant Snow Geese
Caribou were seen basically everyday
Flame-tipped Lousewort
Parasitic Jaeger "nest"
Mama (or Papa?) both adults let us know we weren't welcome
Whimbrel on heath-lichen ridge with flowering Lapland Rosebay
American Golden-plover near nest
Arctic Fritillary, my only lifer butterfly
1 pair of Short-billed Dowitchers was present at the very south end of study area
Arctic Tern colony (18+ adults) at south end of study area
Long-tailed Duck on nest
Me at the coast near the end of the trip
Semipalmated Plover doing a half-hearted broken wing display
Female Willow Ptarmigan
Camp pond at midnight
Frosty Lapland Rosebay
Red-throated Loon on nest
Common Redpoll in birch. Redpolls were indeed common and I was pretty sure I heard Hoaries once or twice
Northwest end of Akimiski Island, Nunavut. Check out that ice in the background!
First look at the camp. Looking north.
Scared up a Compton's Tortoiseshell
First Willow Ptarmigan sighting....!
Hudsonian Godwit at camp pond. Hard frost that night froze a skim of ice on pond.
The White-crowned Sparrows we saw were quite variable. From pale-lored individuals like this to completely dark lores.
Painted Lady was probably the most common butterfly I saw
Well, I've been back from Pelee Island for a couple weeks now and haven't gotten around to doing a blog post. I'll remember this May as being one of the dullest I have experienced weather-wise, which resulted in very monotonous birding. Still, you can never complain after a spring in Ontario! Anyways, there's always next spring! Here are a few highlights from Pelee Island
Lake Erie Watersnake
Little Yellow
Juniper Hairstreak
Bay-breasted Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
And a couple videos:
Well, that's it from me for a few weeks. This time I have a better excuse as I am headed for Polar Bear Provincial Park on Hudson Bay! I should have lots of photos and videos from the trip when I return in late June!
I flew to Pelee Island today to meet up with Ken and my parents. The day was fairly slow but we did get one really awesome bird- a very unexpected Purple Sandpiper! Amazingly, this is my third spring Purple Sandpiper, with another bird that I found at Alfred Sewage Lagoons last spring (May 28), and one bird at Cobourg Harbour on May 29, 2009. Here are some pics of today's bird:
Purple Sandpiper is much more likely in late fall, and much more likely further east in Ontario (Presqu'ile and Niagara in November/December are the traditional times/locations. Interestingly, Michael Butler had another spring Purple Sandpiper about a week ago. There was some speculation that that bird may have overwintered on Lake Superior. Today's bird was definitely traveling with a flock of newly arrived shorebirds.
Since it was nice and sunny I was hoping for some interesting insects. The winds were wrong but there was a nice variety of expected butterflies with the "best" being this Gray Hairstreak:
Here's the full eBird checklist for today on the island. And who could resist posting a photo of a Fox Squirrel:
When I got home from work today I came inside and noticed a Hermit Thrush on my lawn. The bird appeared to be shivering, which I thought was perhaps the cold weather (it was about 5 degrees Celsius). However, I quickly realized the whole bird wasn't shaking but it was just very quickly tapping the ground with one foot. I watched the bird (and noticed another Hermit Thrush doing the same thing) for about 45 minutes off and on. I remember seeing the same behaviour once before at Bird Studies Canada Headquarters by a Semipalmated Plover and Ron Ridout at the time told me it was a foraging behaviour used to draw prey up to the surface. I've heard second hand that Wood Turtles actually employ a similar technique!
Anyways, I did some searching and found this paper from the Wilson Bulletin that documents the behaviour in some of the other Catharus thrushes and also suggests that the "foot quivering" is a foraging behaviour - something that seems well supported by the video I took:
The Birds of North America Online account for Hermit Thrush also references "foot quivering" as both a foraging technique and an aggressive behaviour between birds.
Spent most of today again on Pelee Island with Ken. We racked up another decent list considering the persistent cool temperatures and north/east winds putting a damper on migration. New birds for me for the year were Sora (Fish Point first thing), Ovenbird (singing at Sheridan's Point), Black-and-white Warbler (along west shore road), and Red-headed Woodpecker (along west shore road). You can have a look at the full eBird checklist for the day.
The highlight of the day was again one of the Yellow-throated Warblers that have been present since Ken arrived. Ken heard the second one just before we saw this one at the pump house:
Here are some other photos of actual birds from the island today.
You know it's slow when...
Some nice and close Red-breasted Mergansers today
Ken claims there are "lots" of pheasants this year but I didn't see that many
Decent numbers of Hermit Thrushes this weekend
A few vultures around
A woodcock camouflaged with its surroundings
young eagle
And a few non-birds:
Fox Squirrel
Fair numbers of Question Marks and Red Admirals today
Syrphid to identify...
Got a couple more shots from the plane too:
Middle Point
Lighthouse Point and Scudder
Point Pelee
I'm back on solid land so hopefully things don't get too crazy this week...
