Mount Royal Cemetery, September 18+23, 2019

Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii

Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis

Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis

Northern Parula Setophaga americana

Woodchuck/Groundhog Marmota monax

probable Black-backed Woodpecker tree damage

Yeah, that's not creepy in the least

  My planned ‘all-morning’ trip to the cemeteries on September 18th wasn’t as birdy as BirdCast promised, with a total of 32 species seen in four hours. Highlights: a wacky Groundhog eating apples; a Gray Catbird eating white berries (what are they?); finally caught up with the shy Eastern Screech-Owl; heard an Eastern Wood-Pewee calling from the UdeM woods; a personal first of fall Golden-crowned Kinglet; 20+ White-throated Sparrows; and an uptick (upflick?) in Flickers (5).
  Eight warbler species were seen, including some tantalizing head-scratchers that had to be left unidentified. Sigh, I thought I had my fall warblers down. Yellow-rumped Warblers were out in force, especially in the NDNC, and there was a fat little warbler wave by the MRC north entrance on the way out.
  It was very thrushy on Rose Hill, with four Swainson’s Thrush, a Veery, and six young American Robins making the bushes rustle.
  George found a female Black-backed Woodpecker the previous day (like a boss!), but I didn’t catch up with it, and it looks like his bird was half of a pair that was subsequently seen across the street in Mount Royal Park. Cool!

  Weird weather on the 23rd – windy, rainy, and overcast but uncomfortably humid, followed by an eerie dead calm. Highlights: close looks at a Cooper’s Hawk; a young Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on Mount Murray; yet more Flicker activity, with a wave vizzing south over Mountain View; several Winter Wrens in the dark peripheries; and my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Dark-eyed Juncos of the year for the cemeteries. Ended up with 26 species in three hours.
  An exploratory Black-backed Woodpecker foray into the Mount Royal Park turned up tantalizing views of a Hairy Woodpecker-sized bird…that was probably a Hairy Woodpecker, but also some fresh evidence of Black-backed Woodpecker damage in a nice little patch of suitable habitat seemingly away from the GPS location of the sightings from a few days ago. Bird mysteries are fun.

Mont-Tremblant, September 21, 2019

So fresh, so north...Tremblant

White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum

lesser Fritillary sp.

lesser Fritillary sp.

Dekay’s Brown Snake Storeria dekayi (almost)

  Lovely sunny weather for an early morning trip deep into Parc National du Mont-Tremblant with George and a dozen BPQers. We dipped on most of our boreal target species, although George and I heard (and recorded) the cranky rasps of a frustratingly unseen Boreal Chickadee.
  We ran into White-winged Crossbills several times, which was awesome, as I’d only ever had fleeting looks in the past. The birdiest moment came, as it often does, around the parking lot before the trip officially got rolling, with eight species of warblers, among other bird action. A good variety of sparrows species were also seen on the day, and right before final tally we ran into a wee Dekay’s Brown Snake and a confusing lesser Fritillary…was it a worn Silver-bordered Fritillary?

  And now for a real ‘believe it or not’ incident. On the ride back, as we passed a large mixed-vegetation field near Mirabel, George called out “What’s that?” and pointed out a bird slowly flying over the field. “Owl!” I yelped, without thinking.
  The bird was slightly more compact and ‘nubby’ than a Ring-billed Gull, and showed dirty white underparts, with darker markings glimpsed near the round-looking wingtips. The stumpy head and odd ‘awkward-yet graceful/balancing on the head of a pin’ flight pattern made ‘Harrier’ flash to mind for a split second, before I got a better look at the aforementioned characteristics. The encounter was over in all of ten seconds, but the overwhelming jizz I was left with was that of a Short-eared Owl hunting (I spent a whole afternoon watching a pair hunting low over a field during the day several years ago in Korea).
  The next field we passed had some Ring-billed Gulls over it, and the contrast couldn’t have been any starker (shape, size, colour, flight attitude). The first bird was not a gull. So was it a Short-eared Owl? Only if you believe such an unlikely bird could be responsibly identified after a ten-second look while zipping down the highway. Believe it…or not.

Eastbirding

Coulée-Grou

George and Shrijeet puzzle through a warbler wave

Birds giving side-eye to playback = awesome

Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina

Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
(my mind slipped and I thought I was in Korea looking at a Green Sandpiper for a moment)

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps

Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata

Locust Borer Megacyllene robiniae

Praying mantid (European mantis) Mantis religiosa

  George, Shrijeet, and I struck east today for six hours of birding in Montreal’s far east end. Thanks for driving, George! There were entertaining rivulets of warblers at PN de la Pte-aux-Prairies/Secteur du Fleuve to pick through, and a nice Philadelphia Vireo. The skies morphed from summer to autumn over the course of the day, but that was bound to happen. I like it.

  At the ‘Secteur des Marais’ of the same park, Shrijeet and George saw a Virginia Rail-sized blob zip across the path into thick lacings of reeds. We then heard (and recorded) some classic Virginia Rail tweeking sounds (shakes fist at the reeds).

  Parc de la Coulée-Grou is a bit of an interesting spot. Not so much a park as what looks like the site of a planned housing development that has been overgrown for about 20 years, with several promising swampy patches hidden away. In the water hazard of a golf course, we found eight Common Gallinules (including juvies), a  young Pied-billed Grebe, and a showy Belted Kingfisher holding court. Good times.

Here are Shrijeet’s eBird checklists:

PN de la Pte-aux-Prairies--Secteur du Fleuve
PN de la Pte-aux-Prairies--Secteur des Marais

Parc de la Coulée-Grou

Warbler Ripples

Lincoln’s Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii

Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens

Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens

Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla

Blackpoll Warbler Setophaga striata

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Empidonax flaviventris

Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi

Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis

Swainson’s Thrush Catharus ustulatus

House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus

European Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

European Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

  Not waves…ripples. Most of the better ripples were in the NDNC, and it felt birdy overall, on a morning-afternoon that slid from chipper single-digits to sweaty death-sun. Spent almost five hours roaming, and ended with 42 species, 12 of which were warblereenos. Warbleronees? Bumped into Louis and George, and JSM himself was out and about today but I missed him.
  Not much raptor action, but some fun personal fall firsts like BHVI and WIWR. Up on Mountain View, I gave myself ten minutes to wait around for the Olive-sided Flycatcher to return, but I got bored, so I loosed a laconic pish. Blam, a Lincoln’s Sparrow popped up 15 feet away and gave me a funny look. I think I woke it up. Sorry, Lincoln’s Sparrow, go back to bed.
  There appears to be extensive Japanese Beetle damage on the leaves of some ornamental flowers, which a lady said weren’t there last year. Then she asked George and I questions about Raccoon migration season, and we did out darndest to answer her. We were all honoured to meet each other.
  Spotted a European Common Blue butterfly, which was only first recorded in Quebec 15 years ago, introduced via Mirabel airport. Neat. Apparently the species has lost 96% of its worldwide population due to habitat loss. Not neat. We’re all doomed.
  Anything good happen for Friday the 13th? Nothing, except when I turned an ankle in an invisible groundhog hole, causing my jaws to slam together. I saw lightning and came to lying in the grass, not knowing what planet I was on (again). I cursed lustily and did backflips all the way home.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), September 13, 2019
Turkey Vulture- 1
Ring-billed Gull- (2 at Decelles entrance)
Downy Woodpecker- 2 (1)
Hairy Woodpecker- 2 (2)
Northern Flicker- 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher- 1 on Mountain View
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher- 1 on Oak Ridge
Warbling Vireo- 1 moving through N2
Blue-headed Vireo- (2 in the UdeM woods, and brief looks at another vireo that had super yellowy-green flanks, probably another BHVI)
Red-eyed Vireo- 2
American Crow- 2 (2)
Common Raven- 1
Black-capped Chickadee- 6+ (4)
Brown Creeper- 1 in the woods north of Mountain View
White-breasted Nuthatch- 4 (2)
House Wren- (1)
Winter Wren- 1 in L5
Eastern Bluebird- 4+ (7 along the western side)...once again, many being hounded by clots of admiring Chipping Sparrows, which seem to revere them as blue gods
Swainson’s Thrush- 3
American Robin- 1 juvenile in L7
Gray Catbird- 1
Tennessee Warbler- 10+ mostly in N2, (3)
Nashville Warbler- 2 (1)
Northern Parula- 2 (4)
Chestnut-sided Warbler-1 in the woods north of Mountain View

Magnolia Warbler- 6 (6)
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 1 on Mountain View
Black-throated Green Warbler- 6 (4)
Blackpoll Warbler- 1 (2)
Bay-breasted Warbler- 2 (4)
Black-and-white Warbler- 1
Common Yellowthroat- (1 in the southwestern corner)
Ovenbird- 1 on Mountain View
Rose-breasted Grosbeak- 1
Northern Cardinal- 6+ (3)
Chipping Sparrow- 60+ (120+ along the western edge)
Song Sparrow- 3 (1)
Lincoln’s Sparrow- 1 on Mountain View in the Catbird/Cardinal bluff
White-throated Sparrow- 1 skulking by the raised apple tree area south of the hummingbird feeder
House Sparrow- (2 near Decelles)
American Goldfinch- 4 (2)
House Finch- (1) 

How is it September?

Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus

Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus grappling with a cicada

Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus

Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

juvenile Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
(This bird apparently fell from the sky and almost hit a birder....
that's some X-Files level birding shit.)

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica (invasive)

More evidence of the over-zealous scrub clearing of late -
many brushy areas that have been around for as long as I can
 remember have been cleared to the ground.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), September 5, 2019

  How is 2019, for that matter. Blew up my legs today at the cemeteries for almost five hours. Birdy in spots, and at times. Had a Cooper’s as well as a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and I heard what sounded like a Black-billed Cuckoo again around Oak Ridge. Nice to see Nashville and Tennessee Warblers, it’s been a while. Towards the end I watched a Black Swallowtail get bill-shwacked by a Great Crested Flycatcher, but drunkenly fly off. Ended up with 37 species, 9 of them warblers.

Squall birding

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea

Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia

Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica

Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla

Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
(in one of the dead trees by the south entrance)

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), September 2, 2019

  Spent 2:00-6:00 P.M. in the cemeteries today, and got thoroughly precipitated upon for the first hour. The sun cracked through after a bit, which brought the bugs out in force, followed closely by the birds.

  The first warbler wave hit in the north end of the NDNC, and there were signs of three more distinct waves in the MRC, all vizzing south. Other highlights included a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, close looks at Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, eight Cedar Waxwings, and two young Indigo Buntings where the species breeds in the NDNC.

  The mystery of the day went down in Oak Ridge, when I heard a brief and distant trilling/clucking call coming from the NDNC that sounded suspiciously like a Black-billed Cuckoo. The call wasn’t heard again, but an American Crow was heard from the area shortly after – perhaps the first call was mimicry or a crow being a weird jerk?

  The day ended with 34 species, 11 of which were warblers:

Northern Parula- (1 along the north field)

Chestnut-sided Warbler- 3 (3)

Magnolia Warbler- 8 well-dispersed, (3)

Cape May Warbler- 1 (1)

Black-throated Blue Warbler- 1 male in Mountain View

Black-throated Green Warbler- 6 in various spots, (4)

Yellow-rumped Warbler- (1)

Bay-breasted Warbler- 1 on the eastern slope down from Mount Murray

Black-and-white Warbler- (1 along the north field)

American Redstart- 3 (1)

Ovenbird- 2 in the woods just north of Mountain View, along the fence-line where they always seem to reliably end up.