Cem Dregs and Fool’s Warblers

Brown Creeper Certhia americana
(March 21)

Northern Parula Setophaga americana
(May 9)

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
(March 21)

Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor
(March 21)

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Marmotte/Siffleur Marmota monax
(Matrch 21)

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus
(March 21)

Harry doing what Harrys do

March 17

Dan getting dissolved
(March 28)

April 5

A skirmish line of twitchers dipping on a Louisiana Waterthrush
(April 5)

Little Lord Horror’boi

A house, 100% haunted

Coffee stashed in the camera bag, the only way to go

  Not every one of my bird trips ends up being blogged. Sometimes I get backlogged (backblogged?), sometimes I forget, and sometimes I just can’t be arsed spending the time to blog, especially when the birding was slow. Here’s a quick compilation of a few such trips to the cems over the past few months.

-March 17: 10 degrees and sunny in the snow, 16 species.

-March 21: 10 degrees and rainy…20 species…many mammals. Lovely Brown Creepers at close range.

-March 28: 4 degrees, rainy as feck, 9 species…”How rainy can it get?” I laughed. We dissolved.

-April 5: 5 degrees and mixed weather…23 species…dipped on a one-day-wonder Louisiana Waterthrush at 7:45am after an all-nighter…if you’re not tryin’ you’re dyin’.

-May 9: Painfully quiet for the time of year…27 species but it felt like less than that. On the warbler front, we ended up with only one each of Black-and-white Warbler and (a last minute) Northern Parula, and we had to dig hard to find those. Plenty of ‘fool’s warblers’ (kinglets) around though. I guess it was one of those “The wind taketh away” kinda days. What else…Saw an Osprey...and a singing female Purple Finch that initially had us conundrummed.

Underbirdy

Pine Warbler Setophaga pinus

Pine Warbler Setophaga pinus

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

Mont-Saint-Bruno, May 12, 2021

  Had a quick muck around Mont-Saint-Bruno yesterday with the Scottsman. While the flying bebites and the leaves were in near summer form, it was still relatively underbirdy, with five species of warbler noted among 31 total bird species.

  Continuing with the trend of a screwy late spring, when we visited the same spot almost exactly three years ago, there were 12 species of warbler (and 44 species overall).

  A breeding-plumaged male Pine Warbler showed well. It was a stunner, especially when compared with the 1st year female from the previous post. I can see how, given quick looks, it can be a confusion species with Yellow-throated Vireo.

76er

Yellow-throated Vireo Vireo flavifrons

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Pine Warbler Setophaga pinus

Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula

Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana

Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis

Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolour
(social distancing)

Blue-winged Teal Anas discors

Canada Goose Branta Canadensis

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria

Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata

White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus

Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor

Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor

CF-18B

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, May 11, 2021

  Another practice run towards a ‘D’ville Hundo,’ with 76 species logged over 10 hours in the field. That’s a respectable count, but it’s hard to crack 100 with only five warbler species kicking around. Seems like the warblers still haven’t showed up en masse…probably got plugged up somewhere down south due to the relatively cool weather we’ve been having this spring. The weather was certainly not helping the situation on this day, with tuques, thick gloves, and neck tubes being the necessary accessories of the day.

  One of the first birds of the day was also the best. Where the trees begin just after the ‘bluebird fields,’ a bird flashed over the path. I got on it pretty quick, and, at a very unbirder-like volume, screeched ‘Yellow-throated Vireo!’ at the top of my lungs, before I knew what was happening. A small crowd of nearby photogs and birders soon congregated under the rare bird, and it was cool that so many folks got a look at it before it squirted off towards the horizon.

  It was awesome to get close looks at Solitary Sandpiper (so Green Sandpiper-like!) and Wilson’s Snipe towards dusk. The Wilson’s Snipe looked identical to the Common Snipes I saw in Korea, and had me wondering if I would be able to tell the two apart if they were sitting next to each other. The answer is definitely not.

(*Whoops I did a recount...77. 77er?)

Hirundine Headaches

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia

Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolour

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata

Purple Martin Progne subis

female Purple Martin Progne subis

Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor (top)
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia (relatively dainty)

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Osprey Pandion haliaetus

Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentine
(Love that Godzilla tail...)

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, May 6, 2021

  Been a lonnnnng time since I visited Margaret D’Youville. Was sunny, fresh, and windy out, and relatively birdy. We logged 66 species, which seemed decent. When I checked later, I realized we’d missed 18 species on the day, according to eBird. Those damn morning birds, heh. Today, 11 different birders combined for 102 species, which makes me think that my crazy idea to find 100 species there in a day is not so crazy. It would mean a long day, but I’m in.

  There were six species of swirling hirundine to pick out from amongst the dervishes of Tree Swallows. It was headache-inducing at times trying to puzzle through the distant clouds of blurs, but also fun as hell. Some juvie Tree Swallows had me thinking Bank Swallow (aka Sand Martin) for a bit, until we got onto the real deal, and saw how crisp their chest bands ought to be. Tree Swallows arrive in late March, and it takes them 25-45 days to incubate/fledge, so juvies at this time are not as early as they first seemed.

  What else? They tore down the covered bridge thing over the Grande Digue, which seems a shame. Another Rough-legged Hawk near the (closed) North Point was fun to watch. Four species of warbler were seen, including Northern Parula. They’re heeeeere.