Birds of year’s end

House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
(Looking rather scruffy)

Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Red Fox Vulpes vulpes

Parc Jean-Drapeau, December 30, 2021

  Was good to knock the dust off the old knees, for a year’s end bimble ‘round Parc Jean-Drapeau. Relatively birdy for the time of year, with 21 species in 3.5 hours. Seasonal oddities included two Hermit Thrush spotted near the parking lot, as well several White-throated Sparrows (‘Fried eggs’). The day felt odd – warm-ish, not a puff of wind, and a dim crepuscular overcast all day. Oh, loads of House Finch, innit.

  What else? Went to Villa on Boxing Day, came away with nine species, but no Snow Bird mysteries.

Geesin’ in D-ville

Snow Goose Chen caerulescens

Snow Goose Chen caerulescens

Snow Goose Chen caerulescens

Snow Goose Chen caerulescens
(dark morph)

Banded Snow Geese YC60 and 28EC

Spot the Ross's Goose

Ross’s Goose Chen rossii

Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris

Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris

Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris

Plage Municipale, Drummondville

Fellow geesers

Snow

Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos

  Went out east to Drummondville yesterday to do some geesin’ with G+B. When we got to the Plage Municipale in the morning, there were a total of five Snow Geese, and it was snowing. D’oh.

  To kill time before their inevitable return, we circled through the streets of Drummondville, a mind-numbing sprawl of a town…a suburb with its own suburbs. In front of a pet store in a strip mall, we found a lone Song Sparrow in a bush. Fun!

  At a nearby sewage treatment plant, there were Northern Shovelers aplenty, and a surprise flyby from a Golden Eagle.

  When we returned to the Snow Goose spot in the afternoon, we were not disappointed. The grand spectacle was underway, the geese were back. Being in the presence of tens of thousands of birds in flight is breath-taking, and I highly recommend it. Individual honks became a dull roar. Thousands of organisms moving as one.

  At one point I heard what sounded like a jet engine, and saw that the entire flock was up. The flock split into two groups, and whirled around in giant roaring masses, then approached one another and intertwined, like charging medieval armies.

  I’ve seen estimates of the number of Snow Geese there that range between 50,000 and 160,000. I stopped counting at about 36,448 (three had headaches), but a conservative 85,000 seems like a reasonable guess.

  Mixed in with the Snow Geese were at least two to three Ross’s Goose, a rare, miniaturized version of a Snow Goose. While trying to pick through the drifts of Snow Geese in search of more Ross’s, I eventually went goose-blind, and lost the ability to pick out individual geese from the mass.

  After about 30 minutes, the rock star goose showed up. A lone Tundra Bean Goose, a rare vagrant from Eurasia dropped onto the beach directly in front of the gathered phalanx of admirers. It was often aggressive to the Snow Geese around it, sending off any goose that approached. I saw plenty in Korea, but of course, as is the case with all vagrants, a lost bird always draws a crowd, in spite of how common it may be somewhere else. It’s getting nippy out.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus

Him screm!

Lovely salmon underparts

Showing off the namesake tail

Chomping fruit
(Check that epaulette)

Chomping insects

Drawing a crowd
(Airport security came over and was like
"Uhh, why are there 50 nerds bristling with optics
pressed up against the gate?")

The Techo-woods were pretty quiet

Autumn Meadowhawk Sympetrum vicinum

  Wrack up another cracking vagrant for the Tecnnoparc: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! Long awaited. They summer in Texas, then head down to Central America for the winter. Well, they do until they don’t! This juvenile must have gotten turned around near Houston or something, because it showed up at the Techonoparc in the west of Montreal on Saturday, and there was a massive clot of twitchers there this morning.

  It was showing well right by the airport, and feeding both on sun-warmed insects as well as berries (or grapes?). I was a big fan of its peachy underparts and gleaming secret epaulettes. It gave off Minivet vibes at times. As always with such errant birds, it was a thrill and an honour to observe, but I do hope it gets turned back around and figures out where it's supposed to be. Anyway, hooray for birds.

Udo's Long Walk

Wind-blown Keddy ears, somewhere east of
Seogwipo, on the rugged coast of Jeju Island

Keddy searches for fish heads to crunch,
with Mount Halla looming in the distance

  Another story has just dropped on Relax Melodies (Bettersleep). It was based on a real place (Jeju Island), and a real Yorkie (Keddy). There are a few Korean birds in it...

Lost in Translation

(Photo from Mongolian Bird Watching Club)

   Mongolian is a helluva language to translate "Red-flanked Bluetail" from. 😂

Niss the Woodland Gnome

  My latest sleepy-time tale for Relax Melodies (now known as Bettersleep) recently dropped. I'd originally titled it "A Gnome's Autumn Errands." It's about a gnome roaming around in the woods, foraging for supplies in preparation for the coming winter, interacting with his fellow woodland creatures. Winter is coming.

  I can't tell if I've been busy or lazy lately, it all feels about the same in the end.

Shorebird School 3

Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes

Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos

Sanderling Calidris alba

Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus

Mucking through the muck

Mr. Extreme gets real low

How benches are made

Camping Domaine Florent, Sept 19, 2021

  On the northern banks of Lake Champlain lies Camping Domaine Florent. The place is a curious blend of summer residences that felt like the passengers on a cut-rate cruise ship had washed ashore and decided to form their very own dystopia.

  I went there with George and Ben on Sunday to walk through the mud and scope out the shorebirds. We logged 12 species of shorebird (among 50+ species on the day), and there were lifers for all, huzzah. The rock star bird of the day was the Long-billed Dowitcher, which was also a rock star bird in Korea.

  It was neat to be able to walk down the beach taking in the shorebirds, then walk back through the woods, picking through the confusing fall warblers.

  My eyeholes still burn a bit from all that sun. That’s what I get for mutating into a nocturnal creature.

Belated T-parc stuff

Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi
(Which had me thinking 'Shrike' in the bad light until we got closer...)

American Goldfinch Spinus tristis

Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia

Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia

Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria

Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca

Monarch Field, where 'they' want to pave paradise
to put up a mask factory

The spot where the main swamp was 'accidentally'
drained by some evil tunnel-boring machine

Technoparc, August 28, 2021

  Hit the Technoparc two weekends ago with George, and got about 50 species in a few hours. The sites at the Technoparc are so large and spread out, it was my first time visiting a couple of them. Monarch Field, a lovely overgrown field fringed by forest edge was by far the birdiest spot of the day. We had decent warbler diversity there, as well as an Olive-sided Flycatcher. It looked very bull-headed, and initially had me thinking Shrike until we got right up on it.

  Oh yeah, Monarch Field happens to be where ‘they’ want to build a disposable mask factory. Not one of the many available sites in the industrial park next door. Right there, in the best little spot around for flora and fauna. ‘They’ suck. Welcome to Wump World.

  Later, at some pond, we found an American Goldfinch that died after getting stuck to burrs. Pretty gruesome.

  Overall, my birding skills were really not sharp on the day, and seem to be getting duller with time. I guess I need to sleep, or focus more.