O O

Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius
(Atrocious record shot of a truly spectacular bird...
it only showed briefly in dim, backlit conditions...)

Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus

Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis

Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus

Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus

Harris’s Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus

Concrete

Towhee Road

Sketchy

Tiptoe through the trilliums

Technoparc, May 4, 2021

  Been a while since I’ve seen the Technoparc. It’s a site that has, I believe, the highest species count recorded on the island. The work crews were out busily developing/degrading the spot, as usual.

  The trip was ostensibly to twitch a lovely oxblood-breasted male Orchard Oriole. We got lucky with it, and only spent a few minutes with it. The rest of the afternoon was spent on a lazy wander of the site. It’s bigger than I remembered.

  It was very birdy — 48 species in a few hours, without hitting any of the major swampy bits. With a few more hours spent, and more corners visited, that total could easily have been a good deal higher.

  Eight Sparrow species were seen, if we’re counting Juncos and the Towhee. Are we? Are we? “…and their allies…” in any case. We even left three ‘easy’ sparrow species on the table (Lincoln’s, Swamp, White-crowned), because you gotta leave some for next time.

  Four species of warbler were logged (Palm, Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Yellow), with many other species seen there in the past few days. Yay warblers.

  It was raptory! A Rough-legged Hawk gave off wintry vibes, and a pair of Northern Harriers were seen doing straight-up aerobatics, in display. We’re talking Immelmans, hammerhead stalls, barrel rolls, etc. — it was impressive.

  A falconer at the edge of the airport came by to scare off some Canada Geese with a drive-by Harris’s Hawk. The geese were like ‘Meh,’ so the hawk jumped back into the back of the car, and the falconer fired off three different levels of firecrackers at the geese. That worked. Apparently the Harris’s Hawk got loose the other day. Do raptors with jesses count on eBird? Single tear. Anyway, cool to see one up close.

  Was awesome to see a few Savannah Sparrows along the airport fence. They really remind me of the emberiza buntings of Korea, in appearance, metallic ‘pink’ calls, and habits. I get a phantom pain when I look in empty ditches here…in my mind they oughta be teeming with buntings. And Vinous-throated Parrotbills, for that matter. Savannah Sparrows actually end up being spotted in farm fields in Japan in the winter, by birders chasing cranes (the birder effect). I always looked hard for them in Korea’s winter fields.

  Late in the afternoon, an odd-yet-familiar rising ‘metallic House Sparrow chirp’ call alerted me to the presence of a cracking Eastern Towhee. It was fossicking through the leaf litter along the fence that borders the golf course, about halfway between the airport and the big radar ball. Always a fun bird, and I’d forgotten how big they are.

  Seems every birder I know in Korea has been getting out to the islands lately, and has been seeing good stuff. I'm super jelly. Get 'em!

Mount-Royal Cemetery, May 2, 2021

Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia

Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius

Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca

Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa

Dan has written a book titled
“The new method for doing birding yoga whilst splayed on your car.”
He is available to give 2-hour lessons for small groups, in person or via Zoom.

  It’s that time of year when then first of year (FOY) birds will be coming in thick on each trip. Personal FOYs included four Blue-headed Vireos, as well as similar number of Winter Wrens, and Eastern Bluebirds, which were out and singing. Eastern Phoebes were also heard singing in most corners of the cem.

  At least four Black-and-white Warblers were feeding restlessly between the cannons and the lower Chinese section along the fence-line.

  As can be expected for the time of year, there were butt-loads of White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos making the underbrush shimmy.

  Fox Sparrows seemed more numerous (12+) and widely dispersed than I’ve seen at the cems. Fox Sparrows — always cool.

  Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that the leaves/warblers ratio is way off this year — meaning there are not many warblers out yet, whereas the trees are already well underway with their leafing out. I see a May filled with much ‘warbler neck’ and mumbled curses.

Parc Jean-Drapeau, May 1, 2021

Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica

Great Egret Ardea alba

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus

Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentine

  Still feels like that migration cork hasn’t quite popped yet. Nothing outrageously spring-y at PJ-D, and sadly no warblers, with 35 species on the day.

  Highlights included a nesting Cooper’s Hawk, and several Barn Swallows mixed in with the Tree Swallows. Later on, the hirundines were joined by Chimney Swifts, which were first-of-year for me.

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.

Pleeo the Sandpiper's Murmurations, and other sleep tales

Props to Emmanuel Perron,
who does all the awesome illustrations at Relax Melodies

Gnome Jam - my go-to self-created mix

Some of the hundreds of sounds to pick from with the composer feature

  Have trouble sleeping?

  I’ve been writing ‘slow lit’ (bedtime stories for adults) for Relax Melodies (now known as Bettersleep) for a while now, and the first three of these tales have finally been produced and released: Gizmo the House Cat, A Penguin’s Voyage, and Pleeo the Sandpiper’s Murmurations. They’re not all about birds, but I manage to sneak birds into all of them, heh heh. More stories are on the way.

  Slow lit is a challenging genre to write — the stories have to be engaging…but also boring soothing enough to put people to sleep, so it’s a bit of a literary razor’s edge. It’s super weird to hear my stories being read by a professional narrator, with all the sound effects and music.

  Relax Melodies is a Montreal-based relaxation app, and they hustle — they have over 55 million downloads, and are always trying to tweak their product to better suit their many devoted customers. They have loads of favourable reviews from customers as well as media, with an average rating of 4.6/5 from more than 215,000 individual reviews on the apple app store.

  Aside from the stories, there are other features to help get you to sleep — meditations, breathing exercises, ‘sleep moves,’ and my favourite, the composer, where you can make your own sound mixes. I actually listen to the mixes I created most nights to help me slip off to meet the Sandman. My mixes are mostly ‘nature’s white noise’-type things, with wind and rain and whatnot, but straight-up ‘cat purring’ also knocks me out every time.

  My stories are not on the free part of the app, but there are a few other stories on there you can listen to for free on your smart phone or computer. A yearly subscription is about $30, and they often have sales. They also have a 7-day free trial, and lifetime subscription options.

  Anyway, they didn’t ask me to write this, but I reckon it’s worth a listen if you have issues slowing down your mind when trying to get to sleep.

Royal Eagle

Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos

Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus

Common Merganser Mergus merganser

Canada Goose Branta canadensis
(out standing in its field)

Great Egret Ardea alba

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

Slow down, Turbo, save some birds for the rest of us!

Marais de St-Timothée, (St-Louis-de-Gonzague) April 24, 2021

  Finally saw a Golden Eagle! Dunno why it’s taken me so long to see one. I always seemed to miss them on days when they were spotted at the cemetery. I blame the bill of my cap, and my penchant for staring down into the scrub. National Geographic won’t exactly be busting down my door for the 6-pixel record shot, but it makes me smile nonetheless.

  The Golden Eagle is called ‘Aigle royal’ in French. Royal Eagle works for me. It was wayyyy up there, too. Thank Odin for peripheral vision/spidey sense. The Bald Eagle, in case you were wondering, goes by ‘Pygargue à tête blanche,’ in French, which is a bizarre mouthful. Northern Harrier? Why, ‘Busard Saint-Martin,’ of course.

  All in all, a windy and sunny day out on the swamp, and a nice round 41 species logged. Felt like without the wind we could have picked up another sparrow sp or two.

  It was a day that featured plenty of staring at distant ducks through the phragmites. Thought we’d pick up at least one warbler species, maybe a Palm, but nothing. They’re on the way. The bugs have already arrived, and are waiting for them. Oh, I forgot to wear my anti-tick socks, and I was sure that my ankles were covered in seething masses of ticks the whole time.

  The American Tree Sparrows were feasting on the flying insects in the trees, and were acting rather like warblers, I thought. Spotted a couple of Barn Swallows making a quick pass…love me a Jebi – I forgot how orange they are here.