Last Day in Paradise

Hispaniolan Parakeet

Our last day had finally arrived, and as our flight wasn’t until 8:45 pm, I got up early and went out birding before breakfast. I started at the beach, then walked the eastern-most path along the edge of the resort. I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, and my only goal was to catch up with the cuckoo-like bird Doran and I had seen on our second day.

I didn’t see the cuckoo, but the Northern Parula was in the same tree where I’d seen it before. There was a second warbler in the same tree – brownish overall, with a necklace of dark streaks and a noticeable white wing patch. I thought it might be a Cape May Warbler, but wasn’t able to confirm it until I saw the photos showing the greenish rump and yellow patch behind the auriculars.

In the Dominican: Around the Resort

Snowy Egret

Friday was our last full day on the resort, and it was another beautiful, sunny day. We enjoyed a relaxing day in the sun, taking a dip in the ocean when it got too hot. The Atlantic Ocean was rougher than the Pacific Ocean at our resort in Costa Rica, which made for a much different experience. Once we got tired of being smacked around by the waves we spent some time on a lounge chair drying off in the warm Caribbean sun. Normally the lounge chairs are all taken by the afternoon, but we had timed it so that most people were getting lunch when we arrived. We didn’t see any birds again – no terns or pelicans or frigatebirds, and after lunch I headed out to photograph some birds and features of the resort.

Second day in the Dominican

White-cheeked Pintail

We spent the first day on our vacation catching up on sleep and getting acquainted with the services the resort has to offer. We booked reservations at each of the specialty restaurants (Mexican, Italian, seafood, Oriental, and steakhouse) and arranged a non-birding excursion to Catalina Island. On our second day we spent more time exploring the resort. My goal was to get up early and hit the beach at sunrise to see if I could find some beach birds (gulls, terns, shorebirds, pelicans, frigatebirds) before the beach crowd arrived. Doran decided to come with me, and we did get to see the sunrise. Unfortunately there were still no birds present, and enough people up and walking around to make getting a clear photo of the beach difficult.

Hello, birds of winter!

American Tree Sparrow

Our warm fall weather continued this weekend, with sunny blue skies and temperatures reaching above 20°C both days – it was 11°C higher than it should be this time of year. With the return of our rather late summer, it was a bit of a shock on Saturday to see that two of our common winter residents had arrived in the region: the Common Goldeneye, a diving duck that inhabits the ice-free portions of the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers all winter long, and the American Tree Sparrow, a small brown sparrow with a red cap that likes shrubby habitats and sometimes visits bird feeders in more rural areas.

I was still trying to bring my year list up to 200, and started the weekend off with a walk around the Eagleson storm water ponds. I was hoping for Cackling Goose, though a Greater White-fronted Goose would also have been nice – although much more rare than the diminutive Cackling Goose, it’s one I keep looking for every time large numbers of geese start gathering here before finally moving on. To my disappointment I found only three waterfowl species: Canada Goose, Mallard, and a few lingering Double-crested Cormorants. I was happy to see that the cormorants were still around, as every sighting could be the last of the year.

Painted Ladies

Painted Lady

The equinox has passed and summer is showing no signs of leaving despite the changing colours of the leaves. Once again the temperatures reached the high 20s, and a heat warning went into effect yesterday, as forecasters say that the continuing sunshine would result in daytime temperatures reaching the low 30s, with humidex values approaching 40C. When I went out yesterday morning I had two targets in mind: the Parasitic Jaeger seen off Andrew Haydon Beach for the past two days, and the influx of Painted Lady butterflies that has reached eastern Ontario. I left early, as I knew the day would warm up quickly, stopping at the Eagleson storm water ponds first to see if anything new had arrived.

Update from the Eagleson Ponds

Red-breasted Nuthatch

The Eagleson storm water ponds continue to be a great place to look for birds and other wildlife, and this under-birded gem can be fantastic during migration. I like to spend my mornings here in order to add new species to the hotspot list and new photographs to the illustrated list on eBird. As of July 29, 2017, the list stood at 125 species when I added Rose-breasted Grosbeak to the list. In the past few weeks, I’ve added four new species while others have added two, bringing the list to 131 species to date!

On August 26th I added two new bird species here: Red-eyed Vireo and Red-breasted Nuthatch. There’s just enough of a woodlot here to attract some forest birds, though they are few and far between. I heard a Red-eyed Vireo singing and was happy to add it to my list. I was even happier when I saw a Red-breasted Nuthatch in the tall pines in the same woodlot – nuthatches only show up occasionally, as do woodpeckers. Interestingly, I heard a White-breasted Nuthatch the same day, and I saw a Hairy Woodpecker fly into a tree across Meadowbreeze Drive.

Encounter with a Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

After Saturday’s rather dull outing I decided to get up early on Sunday and hit the storm water ponds before heading out to Jack Pine Trail. I wanted to look for warblers and water birds – particularly shorebirds – before checking Jack Pine for warblers, thrushes, and other forest birds. If time permitted, I hoped to stop in at the Richmond Lagoons to see if the recent rains had refilled the ponds there. Unfortunately for my plans I had such a fabulous time at the storm water ponds that I didn’t make it to the other spots.

A Plethora of Shorebirds

Belted Kingfisher

Shorebird migration is in full swing right now. This is one of my favourite groups of birds, and normally I have to go to places like the Richmond Lagoons, Shirley’s Bay or Andrew Haydon Park to see them – and this summer’s drought has left the Richmond Lagoons with zero habitat. However, there’s a terrific spot to see these particular birds only a 10 minute walk from my house. The Emerald Meadows storm water pond system has had fabulous habitat these past few months, resulting in 11 species so far since I started visiting in July. This was about the time that the work on the ponds had been completed, and as the southern ponds had been completely drained while the construction was going on, for several weeks they had held only an inch or two of water. Since then the water levels have been slowly increasing, but the water is still low enough – particularly in the southern-most pond – to attract some shorebirds to the muddy edges.

Where Dragonflies Grow on Trees

Common Raven (juvenile)

On Victoria Day I returned to Mud Lake to look for migrants and dragonflies. I arrived early – before 7:00am – in order to beat the crowds, but even at that time there were a few people wandering around. I started at the ridge and worked my way around the conservation area in a clockwise direction; I hoped that by exploring the quieter side trails I would come up with a decent list for the morning. Well, I did finish my outing with a good number of bird species – 43 total – but most of them were found along the northern and western sides, which is where I usually bird anyway, especially when I am short on time.

Another Rare Heron in Ottawa

Cattle Egret

First there was the Yellow-crowned Night Heron west of Carp at the end of May. Then there was the Little Egret which appeared in Carp at the beginning of June and then spent some time along the Ottawa River in mid-July. These birds range from quite rare in Ottawa to MEGA-RARE!!! in Canada, and both birds were lifers for me. Although there are three previous records of Yellow-crowned Night-herons in Ottawa (in April 1970 at Rockcliffe Park, in May 1999 at Mud Lake, and in April 2007 in “Ottawa” – perhaps the bird that was seen briefly at Billings Bridge but never relocated?), this was the first time one had lingered long enough for me to see it. The Little Egret was not just a first record for Ottawa, but a first record for Ontario! I never thought I’d see more than one rare heron in a calendar year, let alone two rare herons in two days.