NDG Birding Notes, July 26, August 2, August 9, 2025

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

European Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Bumblebee sp.

Haze from the wildfires out west

-->July 26

-16 species in a 90-minute loop.

-Hot and smoggy as hell – Montreal had the worst air quality in the world, yay.

-Monarch spotted.

-No American Redstart or Eastern Phoebe.

-‘They’ are keeping the grass low, in contrast to last year, where it was left to grow waist high over the summer. Not surprisingly, the diversity and numbers of dragonflies and butterflies is much lower than last year.

-Red-eyed Vireos vocalizing widely.

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa

-->August 2

-Sunny and 18.

-14 species encountered mid-morning.

-A bit less hot and humid, and less smoggy as well. I could actually see the river, and indeed the peaks of America.

-A pair of Eastern Phoebes this week, but still no American Redstarts in the dense hilly tangles where they summered last year.

-Plenty of young robins and sparrows out and about.

Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica

Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus

Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus

Monarch Danaus plexippus

Looking for artifacts before they put up a (condo) parking lot?

Sturgeon Moon

-->August 9

-27 and hazy in the early morning.

-16 species in 90 minutes.

-Nothing unexpected for better or worse.

-Loads of tent caterpillars in Montreal this year (bring on the Cuckoos!).

-The thin edge of the warbler bell curve has already hit – they have started their southward voyage. Was hoping for some Mount Royal warbler shrapnel, but no dice. Thought I had some on the way out when I spotted small birds flitting around in a tree, but they were Chipping Sparrows (fool’s warblers).

-I will miss this quiet place when it’s been destroyed.

NDG, July 12, 2025

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura

Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

European Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

Japanese Scarab Beetle Popillia japonica

Bumblebee sp.

From a Hairy Woodpecker?

Buck Moon

Latest bird stuff from the deej’, after a few weeks off for sore-backedness.

15 species in 90 minutes. 

The young Cooper's Hawks are out and about.

Webby in the woods.

Sticky heat wave in town of late, yuck, and smog from the wildfires out west, yuck again.

May in the ‘deej

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

-->May 6

-First NDG Chimney Swift spotted – same date as last year

-->May 10

-Another humid, gloomy morning

-At my local patch, a Carolina Wren and Tufted Titmouse (?) heard

-22 species

-11 degrees and rainy

-Mallards, several Blue-headed Vireos, an Eastern Phoebe, and Song Sparrows all over

Common Loon Gavia immer

Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia

Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca

American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla

Why don't I wear Wellies?

Tarting the site up for investors?

-->May 17

-An early morning circuit of my local patch right before a major thunderstorm rolled through

-The trees are leafing out in a hurry!

-On the warbler front, 11 species ticked, with the most numerous and vocal by far being Tennessee Warbler (20-30, everywhere), followed by Bay-breasted Warbler (12+)

-I’m fairly certain I spied an Orange-crowned Warbler was mixed in among the Tennessees, but that’s a helluva treetop ID conundrum in the gloom

Wobblers:

Tennessee Warbler – 30+

(Orange-crowned Warbler - 1?)

Nashville Warbler - 1

Yellow Warbler – 2 heard

Magnolia Warbler – 10+

Blackburnian Warbler - 3

Black-throated Green Warbler - 3

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1

Blackpoll Warbler - 1

Bay-breasted Warbler – 12+

American Redstart – 1 female

Common Yellowthroat – 1 heard

Also notable:

-Site species list up to 79 (18 warblers)

-40 species in 2 hours

-Eastern Screech-Owl heard on the way in

-Tufted Titmouse heard on 3 occasions….fairly certain

-Common Loon flyover was a site first

-Baltimore Oriole

-Least Flycatcher

-Eastern Phoebe

-Red-winged Blackbird

-“All 4” Vireos (Red-eyed, Warbling, Philadelphia, Blue-headed)

European Starling Sturnus vulgaris

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas

Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

Welcome to the Wetlegz Blog

-->May 22

-Bay-breasted and Yellow Warblers heard in lower NDG near the tracks, and a Great Egret flyover

-->May 24

-30 species in 90 minutes. Why does it rain every Saturday morning?

-Seems the Blue-headed Vireos are more plentiful and longer staying this year

-7 species of warbler, including a skulky female Common Yellowthroat, with Bay-breasted still the most numerous – I’m seeing a lot of them this year

-Cooper’s Hawks still on the nest

-A vocal Baltimore Oriole

-Not certain about the Tufted Titmouse anymore…the boring investigation continues