M-Anx

  Published story #7! Ever get that zugunruhe? It comes on as a tickle under the skin. This tale asks and answers: “What would happen if ‘the enemy’ managed to weaponize migration?”

  Spoiler alert: I really enjoy wiping out all of humanity in a lot of my stories, it just feels good. We’ve had a good run as a species, but if we’re honest, humans have probably earned a thorough Ctrl+Alt+Del. *toilet flushing sound*

(LINK DOWN FOR NOW)

Twitch and shouts

White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus

Skulky and not easy to spot...

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

  Twitched an errant White-eyed Vireo in Angrignon Park today, and was reminded why I don’t tend to enjoy being around when rarities are being pursued. While many folks were observing quietly from a respectful distance, when the bird showed, several lens-bros rushed up to the bushes. We're talking within a foot or two of the bird (!), while talking loudly the whole time. Many of the other photogs (no binos = you’re a photog) shrugged and followed them. Then of course the incessant playback began. Blarghhhh. “Too close!” I yelped, but no one was listening to me.
  I mean, if everyone had backed up about 15-20 feet and shut their gobs, the bird would more than likely have showed well at the edge of the scrub. It was especially easy to see from up on my high horse. But seriously folks, you can buy cheap binos at Canadian Tire for like 50$. Bah humbug.
  Anyhow, I hope this bird, well north of where it should be, gets turned back around and ends up where it oughta be headed.

PN du Bois-de-Liesse, October 19, 2019

Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii

Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius

  Lovely fiery fall foliage on a quick jaunt through the Bois-de-Liesse woods yesterday (only Secteurs des Champs). Alarm calls alerted us to a Cooper’s Hawk using the trails to cruise around in search of skymeat.

  The old woods in the southwest yielded an active group of at least a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers using a variety of cheeky off-brand foraging techniques lifted from Brown Creepers and flycatchers. A Blue-headed Vireo was also spotted in these woods.

  The streams in the park were completely sterile of flora and fauna...makes you wonder where that water is coming from. Overall, seems like it would be a decent spot for warblers in May.

Every D’You down in D’Youville

Lovely

Tiny Montreal on the horizon

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
(actually showing a hint of that seldom-seen red belly)

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolour

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus

American Black Duck Anas rubripes

Green-winged Teal Anas crecca

  Lovely as always at Marguerite-D’Youville yesterday, in spite of…no…because of, the gloomy skies and powerful winds. Those winds were flesh-flayingly intense at times on the west side. Overall very birdy, I thought, given the weather and time of year, with 36 species logged in five hours.
  Notable birds included good looks at the “D’youville specials” (Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Harrier, Tufted Titmouse, and Swamp Sparrow), and distant looks at some pelagic species such as White-winged Scoter and Horned Grebe (not super fun without a scope…). Five species of sparrows on the day, good times. Ahh, love that place.

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, October 18, 2019
Pied-billed Grebe-2 at Pont Soeur Louise-LaSource
Horned Grebe-2 off Baie du Nord
Double-crested Cormorant-5
Great Blue Heron-4
Great Egret-4
Canada Goose-12+
Wood Duck-1
Mallard-35+
American Black Duck-6
Green-winged Teal-8+
White-winged Scoter-3 off Pointe Nord
Northern Harrier-1 along Petite digue
Bald Eagle-1
Ring-billed Gull-12+
Red-bellied Woodpecker-2
Downy Woodpecker-10
Hairy Woodpecker-3
Pileated Woodpecker-1
Black-capped Chickadee-15+
Brown Creeper-4
Tufted Titmouse-4-6
White-breasted Nuthatch-10+
Golden-crowned Kinglet-1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-10+
Eastern Bluebird-5
America Robin-1
Cedar Waxwing-2
Yellow-rumped Warbler-4
Northern Cardinal-8+
Chipping Sparrow-3
Song Sparrow-15
Swamp Sparrow-3 or more along Petite digue
White-crowned Sparrow-1 along Petite digue
White-throated Sparrow-20+
Dark-eyed Junco-12+
Common Grackle-1

Tsippers, Bug-snatchers, and Seed-crackers

Sibley-sized mushroom ball

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
(with a cracked bill)

Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas

Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Blurry bathtime trio

One of the Cat Lady's cats (NDNC)

Pink-edged Sulphur Colias interior
(Or perhaps Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice)

  The air was blissfully fresh in the cemeteries this morn, and I had more stamina than those crummy hot days of recent memory. BirdCast promised big movement overnight, and it did seem like there were plenty of late migrants out and about (34 species recorded in four hours). Just three warbler species on the day, with quite a few Black-throated Blue Warblers chewping in the underbrush – all females.
  Seems most of the treetop bug-snatchers have already moved through and have been replaced by the skulky seed-crackers that all say ‘tsip’ – Chipping Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, as well as personal FOY Fox Sparrows and Hermit Thrushes.
  The day’s biggest surprise was a Philadelphia Vireo in the northeast corner of the NDNC – seems late for the species. What else? Loads of Kinglets, and I saw my first Red Fox in a while. For some reason, I eagerly await my first American Tree Sparrow of the year. They’ll get here.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), October 5, 2019
Canada Goose- heard overhead
Turkey Vulture- 1
Merlin-1 by the Molson monument
Ring-billed Gull-1
Downy Woodpecker- 2 (1)
Hairy Woodpecker- 2 (2)
Northern Flicker- 4 (2)
Eastern Phoebe- (1 in the north woods)
Philadelphia Vireo- (1 in the northeast corner of the NDNC behind the garages)
Blue-headed Vireo-1 (4)
American Crow- 25+ (2)
Black-capped Chickadee- 8+ (10+)
White-breasted Nuthatch- 3 (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch- (1 or 2 in the northwest corner)
Winter Wren- 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet- 2 (3)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 10+ (20+ in the north woods)
Eastern Bluebird- 2 (8+ along the western edge of NDNC)
Hermit Thrush- 5 (4)
Gray Catbird- 1 heard on Pine Hill Side
Cedar Waxwing- 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 3 (6 well-dispersed in scrubby bits)
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 8+ (8+)
Common Yellowthroat- 1 on Oak Ridge
Northern Cardinal- 2 (1)
Chipping Sparrow- 30+ (50+)
Song Sparrow- 4 (4)
Fox Sparrow- (2 along the western edge of NDNC)
White-crowned Sparrow- (1 first winter)
White-throated Sparrow- 30+ (20+)
Dark-eyed Junco- 20+ (12+)
American Goldfinch- 8 (20+)
House Finch- (4)

Marais de St-Timothée, September 29, 2019

Autumn Meadowhawk Sympetrum vicinum

Canada Darner Aeshna canadensis

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

Rusty Blackbird Euphagus carolinus with American Robin Turdus migratorius

spot the Green Heron Butorides virescens

Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata

Pickerel Frog Lithobates palustris

  It’s been a year since my last pre-Gangneung Canadian birding jaunt. Time flies, yadda-yadda.

  Yesterday’s plan was to hit the Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville hard, but an apple picking event meant that the parking lot there was full. Cars were being directed to another, massive (and full) parking lot off the island (whose gates were set to be chained shut at 5 P.M. sharp), where a shuttle bus would be taking the throngs of apple pickers to the site. No thanks, nope.
  So we hit Marais de St-Timothée instead, and it while it wasn’t super birdy, it was at least peaceful – only 32 species were recorded in and around the swamp on a crisp, sunny day. Notable were at least 1,000 icterids on the move, with several flocks of 200-300 (mostly) Red-winged Blackbirds joining to form an unbroken chattering black cloud overhead at the end of the walk. Separate from that mob were four Rusty Blackbirds perched in a dead tree with two American Robins. Perhaps surprisingly for this time of year, but perhaps not, only one species of warbler (three Common Yellowthroats at the parking lot muck canal) was logged all day.
  In other news, dragonflies really like me.

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.