Black-throated Gray Warbler twitch, Cap-Saint-Jacques, November 22, 2025

Black-throated Gray Warbler Setophaga nigrescens

L’attroupement

Black-throated Gray Warbler (The original BTGW) – not a bird I ever expected to see in these parts. This species breeds in the western half of North America and winters down Mexico way, but every year some get mixed up and turn up on the east coast. This individual has been present and very twitchable at Cap-Saint-Jacques for over a week, and was still around when I went for it with George and Harry on Saturday last. Still a decent crowd out, and it was nice to walk around the site after the warbler. Haven’t been up there in a while.

All owls, all the time

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

Honeybee sp.

Dreaded tokebis!

PN du Cap-St-Jacques, November 10, 2022

  The Cap was devoid of humans yesterday (Yay!). That, coupled with the unseasonably warm weather and flat light conditions gave the whole excursion a dream-haze feeling to it.

  A respectable variety of sparrows was lurking in the thorny areas of field edges, where the tokebi seeds (Korean for ‘goblin’) stick to your socks in scratchy clumps. In five hours, 29 species were logged.

  A dainty mystery bird perched in a row of windbreak trees between fields proved confounding. Most striking in the field was its colouration, seemingly plain tan/yellowish (egg nog) overall (with some grey mixed in), with subdued markings and the hint of an eye-ring. I looked at it for perhaps 15 seconds through the bins trying to ID it, but when I saw it hopping closer to the field side of the tree it was in, I fumbled for a record shot. Predictably, the bird absconded (mili)seconds before I could get the camera to focus on the bird through the branches in front of it.

  After much profanity and leafing through of the Sibley’s, many possible suspects arose, some of them quite outlandish. I feel that a yellow variant House Finch (…which I’ve never seen before…and…do they ever show up around here?) would be the closest reasonable match. A motley cast of sparrow suspects was also put forward, as was the possibility of a colour aberration in a ‘normal’ sparrow, and/or weird lighting being a factor. But I guess we’ll never know. Shakes fist at sky.

  Bird of the day was a mime-faced Short-eared Owl, spotted 15 minutes after the mystery bird fail, in a nearby field. The SEO came in low right over our heads, and did a lazy figure-S circuit over the field and path before disappearing into the woods. Badass!

  Oh, be careful, not only were bees and crickets still out, but so were the ticks. Check those ankles.

PN du Cap-St-Jacques, April 28, 2021

Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum

                                                                               

Killdeer Charadrius vociferus

Birds

Bee(s)

  Not super birdy at all, up on the cap. Seems the recent cold weather has stalled the northward migration for the insectivorous birds. At least there were almost no people around, either, because people are silly. The overcast weather was bizarre — I couldn’t tell if I was hot or cold, from one moment to the next.

  We logged 34 species, with the highlight being a singing Brown Thrasher…re-re-re-remix!

  Oh, we also saw a single Black-bellied Plover…but seeing as how I couldn’t get a record shot, and it would be an early record for QC…I best pretend that I didn’t see it. What, that? No, just another Killdeer, nothing to see here. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

Sparrow School

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana

Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula

Common Raven Corvus corax

Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus

Shagbark Hickory nuts?
The placement seems odd...

  The parking areas at PN du Cap-St-Jacques were clagged up with happy families and clots of unmasked teenagers last weekend. Away from the scenic waterside vistas, there were plenty of quiet and un-Instagramable spots to be found. The birdiest patches were the shadowy trails that wound around a series of large, mostly fallow farm fields.

  These weed-choked fields were prime habitat for some of my favourites: LBJs…and boy, were the LBJs out and about! If we’re counting Juncos (Are we counting Juncos? Do we? Are we?) and the 'grand finale sparrow' that closed out the trip, nine species of sparrow were logged on the day. Welcome to Remedial Sparrow Identification School.

  At dusk, at the edge of a scrubby field near the farms on the northern bit, a sparrow was spotted that made my stomach fall into my shoes. Pale, straw-coloured, with an eye-line that joined up with the malar behind the eye to form a dark ‘U’…what the? My mind was racing, flicking through the pages of the various field guides in my mind. A pale female Rustic Bunting! Yes, it must be! Then I remembered I was not in Korea. Brewer’s Sparrow? Nope…that map isn’t right…Clay-colored Sparrow! 100% yes. And it was in no way, shape, or form a Chipping Sparrow.

  I got solid looks at it through the bins for a while before I remembered the camera slung over my shoulder. I got on it, and saw the bird filling the frame in perfect focus…for a split second. Then the clump of weeds in front was in perfect focus…followed by the clump of weeds behind the bird. Autofocus hell, I call this. When I lowered the lens to switch to manual focus (damned tiny switches), the bird flipped into a hedge-line that was quivering with other sparrows, as well as half a dozen active Yellow-rumped Warblers for added flavour, never to be seen again. We lingered long after the light had leaked over the horizon, with no re-sighting. That’s birding, eh?

  Looking at the range maps, you gotta wonder if Clay-colored Sparrows are an overlooked species at this time of year, when they are drab, not singing, and mixed in with loads of other sparrows. Anyway, without having secured a record shot, I shall meekly mumble this record out, and should couch the sighting in more uncertain terms. One must never shout CCSP in a crowded theatre. Wait, I guess there are no more crowded theatres.

PN du Cap-St-Jacques, October 11, 2020
Canada Goose-50+
Mallard-12
Cooper’s Hawk-1 harassing the RSHA
Red-shouldered Hawk-1 adult
Herring Gull-1
Downy Woodpecker-1
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Northern Flicker-1
Pileated Woodpecker-2
Eastern Phoebe-2
Blue Jay-4
American Crow-3+
Common Raven-2
Black-capped Chickadee-8
White-breasted Nuthatch-4
Red-breasted Nuthatch-1
Golden-crowned Kinglet-7+
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-5+
Hermit Thrush-1
American Robin-8+
Nashville Warbler-1
Yellow-rumped Warbler-10+
Northern Cardinal-2
Clay-colored Sparrow-1
American Tree Sparrow-4
Song Sparrow-7
Lincoln’s Sparrow-1
Swamp Sparrow-1 hopping along the trail with tail cocked
Fox Sparrow-2
White-crowned Sparrow-12+ (conservative count…they were in most fields)
White-throated Sparrow-10+
Dark-eyed Junco-8+
Purple Finch-2

Parc des Rapides/Cap-St-Jaques - April 14, 2013

The rapids

Parc des Rapides

I actually spotted a fox down by the reeds!

Precarious ice bridge at Cap-Saint-Jaques

Swamp birding

Dan, goose

Canada Goose Branta canadensis

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

American Robin Turdus migratorius

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Wood Duck Aix sponsa with Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

Photog scrum

Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus

  Nice and fresh today, good day for what was probably my last Montreal birding session for a while. Spotted 30 species today - best was luxuriant views of a Pileated Woodpecker working on a stump at Cap-St-Jacques. Highlights at Parc des Rapides included American Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, and Song Sparrow mania. A phalanx of photographers were very interested in a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret skulking in the reeds.

Click on the link to witness the perils of spring birding...
Leaping the ice bridge

  One week til Gageo! :o