Butterflies of Korea - Part III (Suncheon 2015)

Asian Comma Polygonia c-aureum

Common Beak Libythea lepita

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui

Red Ring Skirt Hestina assimilis

Indian Fritillary Argyreus hyperbius

Indian Fritillary Argyreus hyperbius

  For the flutterers that lurk among us.

Nuthatchin' in Knowlton

Brome Lake

Brome Lake trail

Back of Fairwinds

Purple Martin and Chimney Swift?

Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis

  Just got back from a few days in Knowlton with a friend, which is relatively close to the Missisquoi spot in Vermont I visited in November. We ended up staying in a historic house from the 1870s called "Fairwinds". That was a trip. Didn't get a whole lot of birding in, but a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatch were a treat to watch. En route we had a few Red-tailed Hawks, healthy skeins of Canada Geese, and what I'm fairly sure was a cloud of 250+ Horned Larks in a field, put up by a low-flying helicopter.

Whiskey Jack North

Baie-du-Febvre

Fôret Montmorency

See the wind?

The work of a Black-backed Woodpecker?

Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris

Boreal Chickadee Poecile hudsonicus

Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis

Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis

Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis

Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis

Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis

Baie-du-Febvre, Fôret Montmorency, February 26, 2017
  Dan showed up at an eye-wateringly early 6:20 a.m. yesterday for a trip up to Fôret Montmorency, with two members of the McGill Students' Birding Club, Zack and Kateyn. Kudos to Dan for handling the driving for the grueling 700km round-trip. Halfway up, we stopped in Baie-du-Febvre (site of our Prothonotary big day last May: http://snowyowllost.blogspot.ca/2016/06/twitch-and-shout.html), for a cheeky scan of the fields along Route Janelle. We came across loose flocks of charming Horned Larks with a few Snow Buntings mixed in, but unfortunately not the lone Lapland Longspur that’s been hanging out there.
  At our final destination up in the hills, the white-out conditions got challenging at times, both for driving and for birding. Fôret Montmorency was awe-inspiring, I’ve never been in a boreal forest quite like this – very Tim Burtony. One of our target species, Boreal Chickadees, were taunting us with fleeting glimpses all the way up a hill, until we were finally rewarded with satisfying long views at the top. They looked quite different to Black-capped Chickadees - relatively large and chunky, giving a dark, purple-ish impression at first glance. Lovely bird.
  Similarly, we blanked when it came to spotting Canada’s bird, the Canada (Gray) Jay, after a full tour around Lac Piché, probably due to the wind situation that seemed to be keeping most birds hunkered. After a quick regroup back at the main building, and some helpful tips from passing hikers, we raced back down a trail in a Hail Mary foray back to the lake, which failed. On our way back, we moped and despaired, until, two minutes from the parking lot, I looked up and saw a phantasm. A Canada Jay was perched inches behind Zack’s head. The next ten minutes were surreal, like being in the presence not of an animal, but an alien race far superior to humans. The pair of Whiskey Jacks perched calmly within a foot of us, seemingly observing us and taking notes of their own, communicating with each other using cryptic, whispered chuckles. The encounter ended when they melted back into the Balsam Firs as a pack of Pine Grosbeaks rippled overhead.

Baie-du-Febvre
American Crow - 11
Horned Lark – in the neighbourhood of 45
European Starling - 3
Snow Bunting - 4

On the road
Herring Gull - 1
Rock Dove – 23
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 68
Horned Lark – 25ish total on several roads near Baie-du-Febvre
European Starling -31
House Sparrow - 11
(Red Fox – 1, White-tailed Deer – 1)

Fôret Montmorency
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Gray Jay - 2
Black-capped Chickadee – at least 6
Boreal Chickadee - 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch – at least 5
Pine Grosbeak – a flyover flock of 9, with several others heard from treetops
(American Red Squirrel -1)

St. Valentine's Day Birdssacre

Fields of Mirabel

Parc des Falaises de Prévost

Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis (Male coming into breeding plumage?)

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Mirabel & Prévost, February 14, 2017
  Just got back from another few days up north at Casa del Joey, filled with bluegrass jams (my fingers hurt), spiced rum (my liver hurts), and birding (all is well). We spent the morning of the 14th cruising the Rangs Ste-Marie & Ste Dominique north of Mirabel Airport, trying to peer over the massive walls of snow that have been cleared off the roads – we’ve had a lot of heavy fluff-fluff in the region over the past week. We soon came upon 60-80 (one group of 20 roved widely) Snow Buntings by the roadsides, and spent literally hours watching them and listening to their delightful little chattering calls.
  Towards noon we came upon another target species – a Snowy Owl perched briefly on a barn, before it headed back out to the middle of a field. We later told another birder about this sighting, and he replied “Crisse! Ou ca?”, and sped off in pursuit, heh heh. We had no luck with finding a Gyrfalcon there, or at the Alfred-Kelly Nature Reserve/Parc des Falaises de Prévost, which was very quiet overall.

Way back when

Gotta love those skiddy hoar frost morning rides

Robin, Subho, and Loghry try to spot an Eastern Water Rail at dusk - two of them succeeded... 

Tim finally gets his Sandhill Crane

Tim scans the bay from the seawall for a sunset surprise

I find my second Suncheon Sandhill

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea

Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus

Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Little Grebes Tachybaptus ruficollis huddle and circle on a ridiculously small unfrozen patch

Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus

Hooded Crane Grus monacha

  It’s been a slow bird week, so I was having a traipse down memory lane, sifting through old Suncheon folders from this time last year, and found a few I had plum forgotten about in the mindless scramble of my last month in Korea. Here are a few more memories from the best patch I’ve had the pleasure of birding in - although it was being steadily degraded by encroaching development when I left, and I hear that has continued unabated. Incidentally, the memories would have paled without the cool dudesters in those pics.
  Going up north tomorrow for a few days to hang out with Joey, and I’ve got some ambitious, Google Maps-inspired winter birding planned. Fingers crossed.