Sandhill Cranes near Port Rowan

This time of year, we spend a fair bit of time heading westward a kilometre or two looking for Sandhill Cranes.

They aren’t hard to find as they are usually feeding just east or west of highway #59, north of Front Road/Lakeshore near Port Rowan.

On Christmas Eve at dusk, we watched from the Big Creek viewing platform as a couple of hundred came in for the night.

The Long Point Christmas Count conducted on Saturday December 20th tallied 730 Sandhill Cranes.

Here they are:

More details on the count at http://www.mail-archive.com/birdalert@ontbirds.ca/msg35028.html

Snowy Owl in Port Rowan

It is a warmish but drab day in Port Rowan.

Keen birders are off at the Woodhouse Christmas Count.
http://www.delhinewsrecord.com/events/1053372

We went for a short hike at the Port Rowan Wetlands on Hunter Drive North with no real expectations of seeing any interesting birds.

Port Rowan Wetlands

Graham took the picture of a Female Snowy Owl shown below before she headed off in the direction of the Beer Store.

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds Still Here

It has been a while since we last posted.

The fact that we still had two or three hummingbirds at our feeders last Friday was inspiration to write a piece which appeared on Forever Young Information on Sunday September 21st. You can read it here. http://foreveryoungnews.com/posts/2728-bob-s-blog-hummingbirds-take-off-for-another-year

In the course of writing that story I learned a little about Ruby Throated Hummingbirds courtesy of the Ontario Hummingbird Project http://www.ontariohummingbirds.ca/

Friday was also the last day this season and I swore this on a stack of Old Peterson Field Guides that this would be the last time. The last time I'd stir up that one part sugar/four parts water beverage for this season. Sugar is in excess of 3.00 per 2kg bag I've been reminded.

But they were still here so yesterday so I rationalized topping up the three feeders one more time (for sure) yesterday.

Hummingbird at one of our Feeders on September 23rd

Fall Migration is in full swing with banding taking place for early morning to noonish every day at the Old Cut Banding Station at Long Point.   Come down and visit or follow their sightings board at http://www.bsc-eoc.org/longpoint/index.jsp?targetpg=lpbosight

A Perfect Walk

(This story was originally published at  http://foreveryoungnews.com/  where I appear regularly.)

It has been said that golf is a good walk spoiled.

But birding is “a good walk perfected.”  That was the message Jeff Gordon brought recently  to a large group of outdoor enthusiasts at Bird Studies Canada’s (BSC) National Office in Port Rowan just about 400 metres from my residence.

Yes, we have a National Office in Port Rowan. And Gordon, a celebrity in the birding world was a most able and appropriate speaker as spring migration is ramping up here on Ontario’s South Coast.

Gordon heads up the American Birding Association (ABA), a non-profit organization that provides leadership to North America birders and also contributes to bird and bird habitat conservation through its programs.

He was in town to participate as the Celebrity Birder in the annual Baillie Birdathon as well as to speak at this special event billed as a Celebration of Birding.

Gordon is passionate about birding and birds.  He worries, though, that birders need to open up to others who may be interested in nature and the outdoors but are intimidated by the vast knowledge many experienced birders present.  Rather birders need to be “evangelists” about their hobby and help “break down barriers” for newcomers.

Gordon’s presentation included plenty of action shots of birders from around North America including Alvaro Jaramillo. (Jaramillo coined the “good walk perfected” line.)  The ABA head takes these types of pictures because birders are good at taking photos of warblers and eagles and the like but not so good at taking pictures of people enjoying birds.  More images that capture the “grandeur of birding” are needed.

Earlier in the day, local ornithologist Tim Lucas found a rare Kirtland’s Warbler near the entrance to the new Long Point Provincial Park.  This is considered North America’s rarest warbler and is normally found only in a small area in the north central part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula during breeding season.

Gordon and a dozen or so others were there.  He captured the excitement on his smart phone and shared the footage in the evening presentation thereby reinforcing his key message.

I think Gordon made his point well that night.  The next day another relatively rare bird was located in the area.  Check out this twitter picture and you should be able to share in the enthusiasm with those seeing a Bell’s Vireo for the first time.

https://twitter.com/JodyAllair/status/465118827127521281/photo/1

You can read an interview with Jeff Gordon from Prairie Birder at http://prairiebirder.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/interview-with-jeff-gordon-baillie-birdathon-celebrity-guest-birder/

Spring Has Arrived

Spring has finally arrived in the Long Point/Port Rowan area as evidenced by some the birds coming through on Sunday May 4^th.

Around 4:00 in the afternoon two American White Pelicans passed over our house heading westerly over the Inner Harbour of Long Point Bay.  Panic ensued as we tried to gather camera, binoculars secure our dog and visiting pets and head out after them. 

We were lucky to catch another brief glimpse of them (possibly ten minutes later) from the Bird Studies Canada property on Front Road.

Here is a shot from our front yard looking over the Inner Harbour, maybe 600 metres away.

Later that day Graham took some shots of a Sora hiding out in the decommissioned sewage lagoons on Hunter Drive North.  That is up on the top of the page.

You may know that the sewage lagoons are being turned into a table wetland. 


More information is attached at http://www.longpointbiosphere.ca/programs-projects/port-rown-sewage-lagoon-naturalization-project/

Guests are expected at our B & B (http://www.bbcanada.com/13914.html) this weekend.  They’ll find lots of backyard bird feeder activity including some male Baltimore Orioles (three, in fact) who arrived on Saturday and, as I finish typing this sentence, our first Ruby Throated Hummingbird of the year.