More Mitchell Birds (And Some From the Farm)

The fact that I was off evening chores, made it an ideal time to hurry out to the Mitchell Sewage Lagoons (West Perth Wetlands) before dark.  I had been a couple weeks since my last visit there and this time of year it is constantly changing as migrants come and go.

I arrived at the lagoons about 5 pm and started my walk.  I was anxious to cover what ground I could in the remaining daylight.    Some of my first ducks of the day were a small group of green-winged teal. 

Continuing on I came across many of the usual mallards.

I don't usually consider canada geese to be unusual, but there were massive numbers on the soccer field.  I estimated 600, but that number is likely an undercount.  It was impressive when most of them took off at once.

The cells farther from the parking lot held more variety in ducks.

Northern shovelers

Mallards and pintail

I picked out black ducks, wigeon and gadwall as well.

Shorebird activity has started to slow down.  The huge numbers of white-rumped sandpipers seem to have mostly moved on and I only counted a handful of them today.

Dunlin seemed to be the dominating shorebird on this occasion.

Nearing the end of my walk, I caught sight of a bird that from a distance looked like a lone green-winged teal.  I got it in the scope and instead found this.

The light was starting to fad and these phone scoped photos aren't the clearest, but I believe this is likely the black-bellied plover found here two days ago by Jarmo Jalava.  It was a first for me and a great find for my evening at the lagoons.

I spent last weekend birding the farm, but didn't turn up anything particularly unusual, except for a butterfly that I wasn't expecting this time of year.

Eastern Comma

Hidden Heron

It sounds like southern Ontario is expecting a decent rainstorm overnight and into tomorrow so I'm glad I got some birding in tonight before it hits.

West Perth Waterfowl

Well it's definitely fall now and the days are getting shorter and cooler.  However this is one of the best times of year for birding.  I admit it is true that it is a challenge identifying many of the species that change to a more dull winter plumage.  The warblers for example are much duller in colour and don't sing the way that they do in the spring.  But, I consider that all part of the fun of birding and there is one group of birds known for turning into their breeding colours this time of year, the ducks.

I've always enjoyed birding in general, but waterfowl has for some reason always proved particularly interesting to me.  This is the time of year when it is fun to watch those plain brown ducks transform into colourful breeding plumage.

I have been experimenting with taking pictures through my spotting scope.  The quality is still not great, but it allows me to capture somewhat decent images and today I got a chance to try it out again at the West Perth Wetlands.

The tundra swans were interesting to see.  It is a rare sighting according to Ebird.

Snow geese have not been reported at the wetlands for a while so it was interesting to spot the birds among the Canada geese.

A large number of white-rumped sandpipers were also present.  The species seems to be present in unusually large numbers across southern Ontario right now.



It`s definitely a sign that fall is well underway when wood ducks and blue winged teal start disappearing from the Ontario landscape.  The odd individual still shows up occasionally, but I didn`t see any today.  The pictures below were taken a couple weeks ago at the wetlands when both species were quite common.




A couple drake wood ducks just starting to show colour.

Canada goose and friend.





 

 

 

 

Overall today was a great day for the wetlands and I left with several new life species.

Some End of Summer Sights

Like it or not, it appears that the days of summer weather are coming to an end.   However this is a great time to get out and watch for migrants during pleasant fall days.

I haven't had time to post a lot, but here is what has been around in wildlife lately.

I've been seeing quite a few yellow garden spiders around.

Monarchs aren't the only caterpillars that like milkweed.  The milkweed tussock moth larvae does too.

This year is the first that I have seen a cecropia moth caterpillar.  The adult moth is a stunning insect

Froggy milkweed visitor

This year is the first that I have been tagging monarchs.  It will be interesting to see if any are recovered in Mexico.

Mitchell Meanderings

Summer always seems to be a busy time for me and as a result my blog posts are few and far between.  However I manged to make time to slip out to the West Perth Wetlands and I wanted to post some of the pictures of my afternoon.  The water level in many of the cells has really dropped and as a result, there were plenty of shorebirds available.  Among some of the most common were killdeer.

I also managed to pick out several semipalmated plovers.

Lesser yellowlegs were also very plentiful along with a mix of other shorebirds not unusual for this time of year.



Most of the waterfowl is still in non-breeding eclipse plumage including most of the mallards and blue winged teal.

Blue-winged teal

I managed to pick out three american wigeon starting to show some signs of breeding colour.

Wigeon trio

Lots of monarchs were present, a sign that migration is beginning for them.

The only other butterfly of note was a black swallowtail.  I haven't seen a lot this year so it was great to spot.

Not long after I got home, I recieved a rarity email from eBird stating that wilson's phalarope and clay coloured sparrow had been seen at the lagoons that morning.  I didn't see either one, but it was a great day nonetheless.

Manitoulin Island

 I have just returned from a very enjoyable trip up through Ontario's Bruce Peninsula and onto stunning Manitoulin Island.  It has been a few years since I last visited the island and it was great to be back.  There was plenty of time for hiking, fishing and of course birding.

Crossing on the Chi Cheemaun ferry was a great way to start off the trip.  We took the earliest crossing at 7 am. 

Partway across to the island, an announcement came on that the ship was going to go through a man overboard drill.  It was interesting to watch the small rescue boat lowered down and then head off to make its 'rescue'.

Arriving in South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, the first plan was to check into the rented cottage on Lake Mindemoya.  Large numbers of sandhill cranes were seen in the fields as we drove.  While watching the cranes, I noticed a small falcon sitting on the power lines.  It was a merlin, my first sighting of one.

The cottage on Lake Mindemoya had an excellent view over the water making it a great place to set up the scope and scan the area.

A normal sight on many northern lakes, these common loons would often swim by in the morning.  Even if I didn't see them, I could often hear them.

Although not photographed, I also had the thrill of watching a swarm of common nighthawks feeding on insects over the lake.  This species is very common on the island during the summer months.

It's always fun when on the island to visit Providence Bay and walk the boardwalk along the water.  Although quite common, ring-billed gulls are relatively tame and easy to photograph.

I also saw this little shorebird scurrying along around the waves.  My shorebird identification skills still have a way to go.  Any thoughts are welcome.

Overall it was a great trip with several new life species.  The island is definitely
worth a visit if you are in the area.

Return to West Perth Wetlands

This extremely hot weather lately makes it hard to get out and bird as much as I would like.  On top of that, it's summer and birding hasn't turned up much unusual lately since spring migration is long past and fall migration has barely started.  However I still enjoy getting out when I can and today I visited the West Perth Wetlands later on in the day when the heat had eased off a little bit.  It was also a great opportunity to try out my latest purchase, a spotting scope and tripod. 

You can see that I got caught in a brief shower.

It allowed me much closer views which were not possible with my binoculars.


There were many birds about today.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Eastern Kingbird

Wood ducks

Canada Goose

Goldfinch in thistle.

Overall, a good time in West Perth.

Muskrat

An Afternoon of Birds and Butterflies

I was glad to have a free afternoon and good weather on the same day and decided to walk a route around the farm.  Birds were my primary focus, but many species of butterflies and dragonflies also quickly caught my interest.  For the most part, it was the insects that were the most co-operative for photos.

With monarchs being relatively scarce this year I was surprised to find this individual hanging around a patch of milkweed.  I plan to return to this spot and check for eggs.

Common whitetail dragonflies were the dominant dragonfly of the afternoon.

Continuing on down the lane, I passed several wet patches that proved to be excellent buffets for the butterflies.

 

It was at one of these wet holes that I spotted my only mourning cloak of the day.

The tall grass also held numerous insects.

Skipper butterfly.  I don't know this family well enough to say what kind of skipper.

The mosquitoes were not so bad today, but the deer flies were out in full force and they all seemed to want a taste of me.  Finally leaving the deer flies behind, I had a chance to taste some of the many black raspberries currently in season.

I saw and heard a wide variety of bird species today, but only got one half decent photo, a young wood duck.