'Interesting Gulls' at Point aux Prairies

Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus top left, Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides in the water. Note the size difference and head structure

  As Dan and I were leaving the Point aux Prairies Park yesterday we spotted a large raft of about 300 mixed gulls, largely Great Black-backed. We quickly noticed several large whitish gulls mixed in, and set about trying to figure out what they were. I felt they were Glaucous Gull, due to size, forehead slope, and sneaky expression. Dan was leaning towards Iceland Gull, based on a smaller individual with a rounded, smaller head. It looks like we're both right! Try to figure out which is which - hours of fun for the whole family! Thanks Ken Thorpe for the help (and for the redpoll tips).

Westmount Summit, Jardin Botanique, Point aux Prairies Park, February 10, 2014

Don't mouse the owls

Pointe aux Prairies

Still not used to seeing clots of other birders. Although I saw a lot more cameras than binos...

Deer bed at P-a-P. Front legs at the left, rump at right

P-a-P 'interesting' gull assemblage at dusk

Scanning for creepers 

Westmount Summit

P-a-P Park

female House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus

Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis

Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator

American Goldfinch Spinus tristis

Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator

Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator

Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator

female Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus

female Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

  It was a gorgeous sunny day for a winter birding marathon, with close to 25 species seen. Dan and I first stopped in at the Westmount Summit, where the most notable bird was an elusive Brown Creeper. We spotted it in the same remote spot where I saw one way back in 2008. We followed a hot tip about a nearby Great Horned Owl, but all was quiet on that front today.

  Next it was back to the Botanical Gardens in the east end, where we hoped to get some more Redpoll experience. We quickly spotted a half dozen birder/photographers swarmed under a berry tree. They were all after a group of four stunning female Pine Grosbeaks. They reminded me of parrots, as they curled around branches to get after the berries, their rumps and heads sparkling orange in the sun. Two of the grosbeaks were much more subdued, with only minimal yellowish colouring around their heads. We later got great close views of a handful of American Goldfinch and House Finch. Coming from quiet Korea(where each foreign birder is issued his own province, haha), it was bizarre to be in the midst of a dozen or so birders/photographers!

  At the Point aux Prairies Park we were thrilled to have a close encounter with a massive female Pileated Woodpecker and some White-tailed Deer. In the nearby St-Lawrence River we scanned a large raft of about 300 gulls, with interesting results. So interesting that...expect a gull post in the near future.

Westmount Summit

Downy Woodpecker - 2

Black-capped Chickadee - 8

Brown Creeper - 1

White-breasted Nuthatch - 3

Northern Cardinal – 1

En route

Rock Pigeon – 20+

American Crow - 6

European Starling – 10

House Sparrow - 12

Jardin Botanique

Downy Woodpecker - 2

Black-capped Chickadee – 30+

White-breasted Nuthatch - 3

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1

Northern Cardinal – 2

Dark-eyed Junco - 20

American Goldfinch – 2

Common Redpoll – 40+

House Finch – 4

Pine Grosbeak - 4

Point aux Prairies Park

Common Merganser – 2

Mourning Dove - 5

Downy Woodpecker - 1

Hairy Woodpecker -1

Pileated Woodpecker – 1

Black-capped Chickadee – 40+

Northern Cardinal – 7

House Finch – 3

+INTERESTING GULLS! (stay tuned)

Prévost, February 5, 2013

Sound of silence

Fox highway

Cold, but glorious

Best birding strategy? Sit and wait.

Joey crossing thin ice using a sketchy log

Eyes front, ears back

Common Raven Corvus corax- BRONK!

Confiding Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus

Equally confiding White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis

Living the dream 'up north'

 I spent a chilly two days up north at a friend's 'house in the woods'. We went out for a bird walk in a quiet valley and quickly got wrapped up in a mixed bird wave made up of inquisitive Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, and a Downy Woodpecker. We also spotted several Red-breasted Nuthatch and Mourning Doves.
  As we entered the woods we heard a strange birdsong, one I couldn’t place my finger on. It sounded like perhaps a singing finch. More proof of my woefully poor Canadian birding skills. I’m always trying to compare Canadian birds to Korean birds, which I know a lot better! The eternal expat.
  Mammal action came in the form of a ghostly Red Fox, and that was a real treat – it froze when it sensed us, then silently vanished up a hill. Judging from the criss-crossed highways of fox tracks in the area, this valley was downtown Fox City.
  We later saw a bronking Common Raven winging past overhead, at one point perhaps chasing another raven or raptor behind the treeline. I asked my friend about Common Redpolls, and although we didn’t see any on the 5th, he has seen them around his house this winter.
  In other news, one person got back to me about the 'Redpoll confusion' (thanks Mark Dennis), and it looks to be a Common Redpoll.
  I’m still daydreaming about spending the entire spring birding Korea’s Yellow Sea islands. There has been some great vagrant action in Korea lately, with national first sightings of Bufflehead, Bearded Vulture/Lammergeier (possible national first), and Black-winged Kite coming in the past month.
http://www.birdskorea.org/Birds/Birdnews/BK-BN-Latest-Birdnews.shtml

Redpoll confusion

‘Confusing’ Redpoll – note the light pink wash on breast and potentially smaller bill 

‘Confusing’ Redpoll – slightly lighter mantle (?) and relatively clean vent

Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea – note the thicker flank streaks

Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea – darker pink on the breast of the male on the left

Common Redpolls Acanthis flammea – note the dark rump on the right, extensive streaking on flanks and vent (centre bird), and dark mantle (left)

  A few weeks ago, I finally saw my first Common Redpolls, at the Morgan Arboretum. They’ve been quite abundant in Quebec this year, and it turns out that it’s worth having a good look at Common Redpoll flocks, as many flocks have the odd Hoary Redpoll mixed in to make things interesting.

 Separating Common Redpolls Carduelis flammea from Hoary Redpolls Carduelis hornemanni in the field can be pretty tough. After picking though the literature, the most important Hoary Redpoll field marks to look for are: paler overall colour, noticeably paler mantle, stubbier bill, unstreaked rump (best visible in flight), vent and undertail coverts that are white or unstreaked, much finer streaking on the flanks, and a lot less pink on the breast.

  The ‘pale Redpoll’ Dan and I spotted amidst a group of about 20 Common Redpolls today seems to have some or all of these characteristics. But, are we seeing these traits because we want to see them? Does our bird look ‘hoarier’ because it’s younger, or has it got fresher or more worn plumage than the others? Does it fall within the range of normal plumage variation of a Common Redpoll?

  We stared at it for about 10 minutes, but it was moving though a mixed flock at the feeders, so it was tricky in the field. Looking at pictures in three different field guides, I’m a bit dismayed but unsurprised to find that the illustrations look quite different in each book!
  I'm trying to use some pics I took today to contrast the features of the Hoary vs. Common, in spite of the knowledge that trying to 'bird' from photos is not really the way to do things! I feel like I need another few hours of observation to get more comfortable with redpolls.

  I’m stumped and lack experience with redpolls, so any helpful comments (especially those leading to a lazy armchair tick!) are most welcome. I'm worried I'm bird-lucinating again! Am I seeing what I want to see?

Jardin Botanique, February 3, 2013

Common Redpolls Acanthis flammea

The 'Big Owe' looms over the Botanical Gardens

female Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus

Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

male Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Eastern Grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis - albinistic?

Eastern Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis

Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) Junco hyemalis

male House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus

Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta Canadensis

  It was about -15 °C and sunny today – cold enough to freeze immobile toes and fingers after 20 minutes, and exposed noses after 40. Dan and I made a run out to the Botanical Gardens in Montreal’s east end near the ‘Big O’. It’s a great spot full of wide open fields fringed with a good mix of vegetation. Although quiet at first, we encountered some frenzied bird activity at a feeder station with a nearby gazebo that doubled as a blind. 

  The Common Redpoll was the most abundant bird of the day - a species which has been having a big winter in North America. Their flight call reminds me of Eurasian Bullfinch with a bit of Eurasian Siskin thrown in. One male was noticeably lighter than the others, and as it flitted from feeder to feeder we strained for a good ten minutes to pick out the small details that could help identify it as a (much less frequent) Hoary Redpoll. Both lacking experience with redpolls, we came away thoroughly perplexed, and perhaps 60% confident that the light individual was a Hoary Redpoll. After later studying a few blurry pictures I managed to snap and consulting several field guides and internet pics, we are still a bit baffled. I think this will get its own blog post. 

  In spite of the fresh seasonal weather, it was a treat to get some good close views of species I need to re-acquaint myself with, like Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, and House Finch. I was surprised we didn't encounter any raptors, given the amount of bite-sized sky meat around. We have plans to get out again later this week to check out some promising Montreal spots. I wonder what the local situation is with ‘common but irregular’ Bohemian Waxwings this year?

What we saw:

Downy Woodpecker – 2

American Crow – 10

Black-capped Chickadee – 7

White-breasted Nuthatch – 1

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1

European Starling – 20+

Northern Cardinal – 2

Dark-eyed Junco – 20+

Common Redpoll - 30+

Hoary Redpoll - ??

House Finch – 2