Warblers of Friday the 13th

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica

Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens

Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca

Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca

Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca

Swainson’s Thrush Catharus ustulatus

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus

Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor

Common Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis

Purple something something

Westmount Summit, May 13, 2022

  Went up to the Westmount Summit bright and way too early to have a rummage through the spring arrivals. Ended up with 44 species, 10 of which were warblers (low single-digit numbers of Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Yellow-rumped, and Ovenbird) in four hours of birding. Now I’m tired. The end.

A Quiet Place

Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Brown Creeper Certhia americana

Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

NDG, May 7, 2022

  A sunny bimble round ‘a quiet place’ in NDG turned out to be quite birdy. The obvious highlights were two personal first-of-year Black-throated Blue Warblers. They were feeding at a leisurely pace, both down low, and then up high. Ended up with 22 species in just over an hour.

  It feels like the conditions are gathering this week for another silly attempt at a D-ville hundo…

Crepuscular perambulations

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

Rusty Blackbird Euphagus carolinus

Brown Creeper Certhia americana

Brown Creeper Certhia americana

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

Eastern Comma Polygonia comma

Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica

(Flick back and forth between this pic
 and the previous one, just for fun)

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, May 5, 2022

  A 7-hour P.M. circuit of D-ville produced 60 species, with several first-of-year birds included among them. It was nice to see a flock of about 50 Rusty Blackbirds (a vulnerable/rapidly declining species) filtering through the ‘drowned forest’ near Pointe Nord – it sounded like the woods were full of Killdeers…George claims I ‘always’ hear Killdeers, heh heh.

  Other highlights included a Sora heard and briefly seen at dusk, my first Chimney Swifts of the year, and of course the return of warblers, with four species seen (Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Palm, and Black-and-white).

  The main swamp is a magical place in the purple dusk, with Marsh Wrens gurgling from the reeds, and Black-crowned Night Herons patrolling overhead.

Wrensday

Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata

Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata

Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis

Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolour

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa

putative Bowfin Amia calva

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, April 29, 2022

  Another 7-hour afternoon at D-ville. A total of 58 species seen, including three species of wren (no Carolina Wren though). Nice to see the warblers are back – nothing besides Yellow-rumped, but at it's reassuring to know that other species are already in the province.

  A highlight was an extended audience with a Wilson’s Snipe that was feeding in the open across a narrow canal. It reminded me of the looks at Common Snipe I got in Gangneung a few years back.

  What else? Six species of sparrow were seen, and a Sora was heard.

  Bring on Golden Week(s)!

Tuft Luck

Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula

Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula leading
Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis

The land of summer cottages on cinder block stilts

Saint-Paul-de-l'Île-aux-Noix, MRC : Le Haut-Richelieu, Montérégie

  Went on a twitch down south towards the border with George on Sunday. We found the Tufted Duck, a rare visitor from Eurasia tucked in among a loose raft of (mostly) Lesser Scaup. Bountiful rafts of Tufted Duck were always a sure sign that winter had arrived in Korea.

  We also ran into another bird familiar to me in Korea, a Red-necked Grebe. I didn’t realize that it was a Canada lifer for me until I checked my Sibley’s. Huzzah.

  I spotted a pair of Caspian Terns in the flooded fields on the drive down to the Tufted Duck spot, but we couldn’t find them on the way out. Those fields did hold some other birds of interest, such as Northern Shoveler, Blue- and Green-winged Teal, several Greater Yellowlegs, and a Rusty Blackbird.

  The ‘sexy’ spring migrants still seem bottled up somewhere down south. Those Blue-headed Vireos and Palm Warblers oughta be showing up in force in the next week.

Reserve Faunique Marguerite-D’Youville, Île Sainte-Bernard, Châteauguay, April 22, 2022

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps

Osprey Pandion haliaetus

Osprey Pandion haliaetus

Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus

North American Beaver Castor canadensis

North American Beaver Castor canadensis

North American Beaver Castor canadensis

Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus

North American River Otter Lontra canadensis

Common Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis

Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta

Who are these little fellers?

  It was cold and blustry at D-ville the other day, it felt downright autumnal. Tuques, gloves, and neck tubes were on for most of the day. Quiet at times, but still 51 species in 7 hours.

  Plenty of non-winged critters were out and about. There was a dead River Otter at the eastern tip of the Petite Digue – a sad way to encounter this species for the first time.

  There had to have been close to 1,000 Tree Swallows over the Grande Digue at dusk, swirling in clouds wherever one looked. Also at dusk, I heard one verse of Yellow Warbler song, but didn’t see a bird, so I think I’ll hold off until I claim my first warbler of the spring. Seems like the main streams of migrants are still plugged up somewhere down south by cold and weird weather. Soon!