Friday, June 6, 2025

May in the ‘deej

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax


-->May 6
-First NDG Chimney Swift spotted – same date as last year


-->May 10
-Another humid, gloomy morning
-At my local patch, a Carolina Wren and Tufted Titmouse (?) heard
-22 species
-11 degrees and rainy
-Mallards, several Blue-headed Vireos, an Eastern Phoebe, and Song Sparrows all over





Common Loon Gavia immer

Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia

Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca

American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla


Why don't I wear Wellies?

Tarting the site up for investors?



-->May 17
-An early morning circuit of my local patch right before a major thunderstorm rolled through

-The trees are leafing out in a hurry!

-On the warbler front, 11 species ticked, with the most numerous and vocal by far being Tennessee Warbler (20-30, everywhere), followed by Bay-breasted Warbler (12+)

-I’m fairly certain I spied an Orange-crowned Warbler was mixed in among the Tennessees, but that’s a helluva treetop ID conundrum in the gloom



Wobblers:
Tennessee Warbler – 30+
(Orange-crowned Warbler - 1?)
Nashville Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler – 2 heard
Magnolia Warbler – 10+
Blackburnian Warbler - 3
Black-throated Green Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Bay-breasted Warbler – 12+
American Redstart – 1 female
Common Yellowthroat – 1 heard


Also notable:

-Site species list up to 79 (18 warblers)
-40 species in 2 hours
-Eastern Screech-Owl heard on the way in
-Tufted Titmouse heard on 3 occasions….fairly certain
-Common Loon flyover was a site first
-Baltimore Oriole
-Least Flycatcher
-Eastern Phoebe
-Red-winged Blackbird
-“All 4” Vireos (Red-eyed, Warbling, Philadelphia, Blue-headed)




European Starling Sturnus vulgaris

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas

Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos





Welcome to the Wetlegz Blog

-->May 22
-Bay-breasted and Yellow Warblers heard in lower NDG near the tracks, and a Great Egret flyover


-->May 24

-30 species in 90 minutes. Why does it rain every Saturday morning?

-Seems the Blue-headed Vireos are more plentiful and longer staying this year

-7 species of warbler, including a skulky female Common Yellowthroat, with Bay-breasted still the most numerous – I’m seeing a lot of them this year

-Cooper’s Hawks still on the nest

-A vocal Baltimore Oriole

-Not certain about the Tufted Titmouse anymore…the boring investigation continues

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Towhee or not Towhee…

Green-tailed Towhee Pipilo chlorurus

Green-tailed Towhee Pipilo chlorurus


Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia

Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia

Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens

Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina

Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica

Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea

Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis

Northern House Wren Troglodytes aedon

Common Tern Sterna hirundo

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

Canada Goose Branta canadensis




L’attroupement

…that is the question. Towhee is the answer! I was about to head out with Dan on a spring warbler hunt on Monday when I got a text from George about a Green-tailed Towhee that was discovered in relatively nearby Frayère. This bird should be skulking in the Utah sagebrush. So we went.

The spot (Parc de la Frayère) was a nice little spot on the water, wooded paths and pondy bits. Very birdy overall, with 13 species of warbler encountered with little effort.

The rare itself was easy enough to find – it was hopping around on and next to the trails. It had gathered a crowd of 20+ folks, who were on the whole well behaved.

Learned a new French word: ‘l’attroupement.’ I like it. One thing I noticed while amongst the photog clot was that my DSLR camera shutter is crazy noisy compared to others. Ka-CHONK Ka-CHONK! Or maybe it isn’t, and it’s like when you’re eating chips and they sound loud only inside your skull.

We got our looks at the bird, which was fossicking in the leaf litter, then did a lazy tour of the trails, and ended up with 55 species. The trip ended with a surprise adult male Northern Harrier floating over one of the curved on-ramps for the Champlain Bridge.

I heard the bird ended up being a one-day wonder. The fickle winds of migration taketh away!

Monday, May 5, 2025

Notes from a quiet place in NDG, May 3, 2025

Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula

Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum
(I swear)

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Brown Creeper Certhia americana

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax


Wren City, USA

-Dreary flat light, 11 and overcast, on an early morning circuit of my local patch.

-One of the first birds encountered was a Baltimore Oriole (species # 75 for the site). It vocalized for a few minutes, before heading in the direction of Mount Royal.

-Three Palm Warblers (Warbler #17 for the site) on the way in.

-Cooper’s Hawks still on and around their nest (was worried about them after an intense wind storm last week).

-An American Tree Sparrow mixed in with the more common sparrows.

-A pair of treetop-flitting Blue-headed Vireos on the way out.

-25 species in just over two hours.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Notre-Dame-de-Thrash

Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum

Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

Rain cover thingy - it works!


Strap quick release thingy



Quiet Spot in NDG, April 26
Very steady rain in the morning, yet it ended up being quite birdy, with 29 species encountered in 90 minutes.

I finally got to try out a waterproof camera cover I picked up last year. After some fiddling, it worked a treat, although the rain made it tricky to see through the plastic window bit at times (I had to install quick release strap attachments to get the strap mounted through the cover). I’m sort of shocked I got any images at all through the thing, if I’m honest, ha ha.

I used my ‘old’ birding gear, as testing my new light travel rig for water resistance is not something that interests me (but the trials continue).

Looking at the mix of birds, it really felt like late April.

-High single-digit numbers of White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and Chipping Sparrow cluttered up every bit of weedy edge.

-Several Song Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, and an American Tree Sparrow, only my second for the site.

-Finally got a Brown Thrasher for this spot…personal species #73 for the site – a silent individual perched at the top of a muddy sumac slope. I must have walked right past it on the way in, and only caught it on the way out with one of those ‘one last look’ 360 twirls birders do.

-Other birds of note: Merlin, Cooper’s Hawk still on the nest, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren (Back!), Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

-Warblers? On the way.


Part of the charm of this spot is that it looks much as it did 130 years ago, I imagine. Unfortunately, the property is soon changing hands, and in the next few years, I fear that domino rows of condos will stand in this quiet place. But that’s OK, because one fine day in the future, all those condos will crumble back into the weeds, and the last people that remember the folks that built them will be long dead.