Birds of the Month

Harlequin Duck

Port Weller East Pier, StC - 12/07/2022

Harlequin Ducks have a steadily increasing population in the world. However, the eastern population of North American and Canadian harlequin ducks has been listed as Endangered in varying degrees and in different regions. It is said that there are less than 1000 recorded harlequin ducks in the eastern populace of North America and Canada. 

Snow Bunting

Port Weller East Pier, StC - 12/07/2022

Snow buntings signal the coming of winter for people living in the south where they migrate to but are a harbinger of spring for those who live in the Arctic. They are sometimes called "snowflakes". The collective name for a group of Snow buntings is a "drift" of buntings. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. 

Black-legged Kittiwake

HH Knoll Park, PC - 11/21/2022

Black-legged Kittiwakes often form large, noisy cliffside colonies. Their common name comes from the sound of their cry. Unlike large gulls, these birds are never seen on the ground, except when nesting. They feed entirely at sea. 

Ross's Goose

Weaver Rd., PC - 11/24/2022

Ross's Goose is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck, and is the smallest of the three "white geese" that breed in North America. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase snow goose, but about 40% smaller. 

Gadwall

Dufferin Islands, NF - 10/14/2022

Gadwalls, or “grey duck”, are greyish-brown, mid-sized dabblers. Gadwall nests are sometimes parasitized by other hens.

Cattle Egret

Waverly Beach, Fort Erie - 9/10/2022

Cattle Egrets  are not common in southern Ontario. A relative newcomer, all the way from Africa, they first started nesting nesting in Canada, in southern Ontario, in 1962. In Niagara, sightings are usually of one bird only and seen once every other year. 

Short-billed Dowitcher

Lakeside Park, St Catharines - 9/10/2022

Short-billed Dowitchers migrate in stages, first moving to intermediate areas to complete their molt, then moving on to their ultimate wintering areas. This strategy is called “molt migration.” 

Willet

Lakeside Park, St Catharines - 9/10/2022

Willets are a rarity in Niagara. Because they find prey using the sensitive tips of their bills, and not just eyesight, Willets can feed both during the day and at night

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Point Farms Prov Park - 8/9/2022

Olive-sided Flycatchers almost always perch conspicuously on a high bare perch with an upright posture. This husky, barrel-chested flycatcher is the largest of the pewees, with heavy grayish markings on the sides as if the bird is wearing a vest. 

Olive-sided Flycatcher whistles an instantly recognizable "quick, three beers!" across its habitat, making it one of my favourite birds.  

Chukar (Lifer #345)

Hullett Prov Wildlife Area - 8/11/2022

Chukars are boldly-patterned quail-like birds.  Usually seen scurrying around on the ground. Native to Asia and the Middle East. It is sometimes used as hunting stock. 

This one likely escaped from Exeter Game Farm, a fully-licensed bird hunting preserve. We were about 40 km away from this facility. It still counts as a lifer. 

Northern Waterthrush

Bon Echo Prov Park - 7/6/2022

Northern Waterthrushes are often unseen singers whose rich, sweet whistles lure listeners into its attractive wooded swamps and bogs habitats of northern North America. They lack the bold colors of many other warblers and don’t forage in forest canopies. They forage at the water’s edge in bogs and still water, where they hunt aquatic insects and small salamanders.

Least Bittern

Renfrew County - 7/16/2022

Least Bitterns (part of the heron family) are fairly common in its wetland habitat, but secretive and easily overlooked. It is the smallest of its family. Its tiny size and attractive pattern of orange, black, and white is distinctive among herons. Occurs throughout much of the Americas.

When alarmed, it freezes in place with its bill pointing up, turns both eyes toward the source of alarm, and sometimes sways to resemble windblown marsh vegetation.

Fish Crow

Port Dalhousie - 6/8/2022

Not everyone realizes it, but there are two kinds of crows across much of the eastern United States. Looking almost identical to the ubiquitous American Crow, Fish Crows are tough to identify until you learn their nasal calls. 

Cliff Swallow

Port Dalhousie - 6/8/2022

Cliff Swallows have short, square tails. One distinguishing feature is its dark throat and pale forehead. He was on the lighthouse at the end of the pier. 

Eastern Whip-poor Will

Erieau - 5/10/2022

Didn't ever think we'd get a photo of an Eastern Whip-poor-will. They are easy to hear but hard to see. Their plumage blends perfectly with the leaf litter of the open forests where they breed and roost.  A group of whip-poor-wills are known as an "invisibility".

Black-necked Stilt

Blenheim - 5/11/2022

The Black-necked Stilt is most abundant in natural and man-made wetlands from the southern United States to southern South America. Sightings have become more numerous. 

The Black-necked Stilt uses an anti-predator display called 'the popcorn display' where a group of birds hop around the predator while flapping their wings.

American Woodcock

Rondeau Provincial Park - 5/13/2022

The American Woodcock has the largest visual field of not only any bird, but of any terrestrial vertebrate! This is because its large eyes are set far back and high on its head. Which means that it can see 360 degrees in its horizontal plane and 180 in its vertical plane, without ever having to move its head at all.  

Eared Grebe (Lifer #343)

Erieau - 5/12/2022

The Eared Grebe is the most abundant Grebe in the world, however a very rare visitor to Ontario as it normally lives on the west coast and winters in the southwestern United States and Mexico. One of the most amazing facts regarding Eared Grebes is that they are mostly flightless, unable to fly for about ten months each year.  They only fly in order to migrate, so for a month each spring and fall they take to the air 

Prothonotary Warbler

Point Pelee National Park - 5/20/2022

Prothonotary warbler is the only warbler in Canada that nests in small, shallow  tree cavities of dead or dying trees standing in or near flooded woodlands or swamps. It will also readily occupy specially designed nest boxes. 

This is one of my favourite warblers.

Black Tern

Point Pelee National Park - 5/20/2022

In Ontario, Black Terns are found scattered throughout the province, but breed mainly in the marshes along the edges of the Great Lakes.  In winter they migrate to the coast of northern South America. 

Their eggs have porous shells to be able to live on their wet environment. 

Whimbrel

Morgan's Point CA, Wainfleet - 5/27/2022

Whimbrel is also known as "elephant birds" in some parts of the world thanks to unusual shape of the bill. 

Some migrating Whimbrels make a nonstop overwater flight of 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from southern Canada or New England to South America.

Brant

Morgan's Point CA, Wainfleet - 5/27/2022

Brants usually live near the sea. They remain on or near coasts, particularly during the winter. 

Seawater is difficult to live in because it is usually undrinkable. These geese have special glands that let them drink saltwater.

This species of goose has quite a short tail. In fact, they have the shortest tail of any species of goose.

Piping PLover

Wainfleet Wetlands CA - 5/31/2022

The shores of the Great Lakes were once home to nearly 800 pairs of Piping Plovers. In 1990 that number had dropped to 13. There are currently around 65-70 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes Population. The piping plover is on the Federal Endangered Species list. 

The town of South Bruce Peninsula was convicted, and fined $100,000, in 2019 of damaging habitat of the endangered shore bird, by raking and grading over habitat at Sauble Beach in prior years.

Kentucky Warbler

Morgan's Pt (Wainfleet) - 4/24/2022

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Female Belted Kingfishers are more colorful than males. Females have a rusty brown band on their underbelly and a heft bill. A group of Belted kingfishers is called a "crown" of kingfishers. 

Belted KIngfisher

Niagara Shores CA (NOTL)  - 4/14/2022

Evening Grosbeak

Algonquin Park - 3/9/2022

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Pine grosbeaks are the largest of the northern finches. The Pine Grosbeak was depicted on the 1986 series Canadian $1000 bill.

Pine Grosbeak (Lifer #342)

Algonquin Park - 3/9/2022

Little Gull (Lifer #332)

Queenston - 2/13/2022

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Don’t be concerned if you don’t see the red on a Red-bellied Woodpecker’s belly as it is difficult to spot in the field.  The red coloration found on the belly looks like nothing more than a light wash of red.  

Red-belied Woodpecker

Niagara Falls  - 2/13/2022

Northern Saw-whet Owl (Lifer)

Fifty Point CA - 1/4/2022

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During migration the Snow Goose flies so high it can barely be seen. They form shifting curved lines and arcs as they fly. They can reach speed of 95 kph.  

Snow Goose

Welland Canal (WIFC)  - 1/10/2022