"eBird Global Big Day- What's that???"
If that's what you're thinking, I'll tell you a bit about it. eBird Global Big Day is when every birder on eBird tries to see as many species of birds as possible, and put them on eBird. For the past few years there's been one in the Spring and Fall.
My dad and I woke up in the morning with a plan. We were going to go on a walk on our property first, then go to Mohawk Lake, Branford, to try and see a Neotropic Cormorant then go where the wind takes us.
As we started the walk, my dad spotted a vocalizing Bobolink in one of the front maples next to the road, which was interesting since in wasn't good habitat (there was some good habitat not too faraway though.)
 |
| Bobolink- Guelph Eramosa, Wellington, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
At the start of the trail, we saw the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in its spot and if memory serves, we hadn't seen it in a while.
 |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- Guelph Eramosa, Wellington, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
The rest of the walk went smoothly, with nothing too interesting except a Savanah Sparrow at the back. It was not in the field but quite close, though sticks were still in the way of an good view.
 |
| Savanah Sparrow- Guelph Eramosa, Wellington, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
By the end of the walk we had seen 34 species of birds.
As soon as we got back we got in the car and started toward Branford.
We did a few checklists along the way, getting some new day birds.
Finally at 9:30 we got to Brantford. I glued my face to the window as we drove, looking at all the Cormorants. I saw no Neotropic, just Double-crested. After a few minutes of driving through the spot, we got to the trail where we would look.
The trail was called the D'Aubigny Trail. We went down a trail that lead to a gravel clearing with a river in which it had been seen. We stopped and looked. There were fourteen Cormrants flying, swimming and perching in trees and two were on a rock. We looked at every one thoroughly, looking for the size difference and the white streak (not the best description) under its bill. There were only Double-crested's and a Common Tern or two.
 |
| Common Tern- D'Aubigny Trail, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Double-crested Cormorant (with it's "double crest" showing- D'Aubigny Trail, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We left the gravel clearing and kept going down the trail. There we turned onto a smaller path that lead to the river once again, but further down. There were Cormorants there, but all were Double-crested. When we got back on the main trail we found a Red Admiral on some plants with dew on them, waiting for the suns rays to shine through the trees and warm its body, where then it would take flight to the sky.
 |
| Red Admiral- D'Aubigny Trail, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We decided to head back to the gravel clearing, wanting to see if any new Cormorants came. When we got back we saw Josh Vandermeulen, and it was the first time I met him in person. After a short chat (mostly my Dad and Josh talking) we checked out the new Cormorants, but still no Neotropic.
We left after saying goodbye to Josh.
Even though we had not seen the Neotropic Cormorant, we still had one or two places to go. The next spot was called the Gilkison Flats, with a wide path going through another bigger forest. There were lots of chirps and calls from birds around us. Some of the birds we saw were two Blue-grey Gnatcatchers together (a year bird for us), three more Orioles, a House Wren and a Grey Catbird hopping around.
 |
| Blue-grey Gnatcatcher- Gilkison Flats, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Baltimore Oriole- Gilkison Flats, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| House Wren- Gilkison Flats, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Grey Catbird- Gilkison Flats, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We then had got to the river along part of the trail. It was not as clean and tidy as the other part of the river we had seen, but was muckier and had sticks and cans sticking out.
We did not see Cormorants but a mixed group of Swallows, diving down into the side of the river in big clusters, picking up pieces of muck and finding some sort of food. The group was mostly made of Barn and Tree Swallows (the Tree Swallows are cavity nesters, so there must have been some sort of food source nearby.) There were also some Cliff and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.
We got fairly close to the groups but always they would flush and I never bothered to try to get a photo of them.
We didn't know what to do when we got back to the car. We didn't know where to go next and were starting to think that it had disappeared, since there were certainly more than a few birders trying to find it. There was still hope, though, because the day was warming up and the Neotropic most likely would leave its roost and be grouping with some other Cormorants.
Then at about 11:20 AM as we driving around searching for Cormorants, we got what we had been waiting for; the Neotropic Cormorant! It was rediscovered at Mohawk Lake by Sarah Lamond!
We got over there and arrived at 11:30AM. We made our way to the river, keeping an eye out for Cormorants. We found a group containing nine and searched it. After a few minutes still looking in the scope my dad said he was pretty sure he had found it.
There was another birder there and asked which one and my dad pointed out the bird. After a few minutes he said "I saw the bird the night before, and it looked different. I don't think this is it." Instantly my hopes fell like a rock, a disappointment fell over me. We thought we had seen it but maybe it was just a Double-crested...
After the birder left my dad said, "Hmmmm, I'm pretty sure that's it. It looks pretty close to me". We decided that we should still take pictures of it just in case. It was perched on a branch with half of the branch submerged in the water, next to another bigger Cormorant. It was a lot smaller and had a white line beneath its bill.
Some birders arrived a few minutes later, and asked us if we had found it. My dad said that he thought he had found it, but it another birder had said it wasn't one. When he showed them the bird they agreed it was the Neotropic Cormorant.
Oh, hmmmmm.
Yay.....
Yay!!!
That's what went through my mind when they said those words. My dad had been right, and it was the Neotropic Cormorant!
 |
| Neotropic Cormorant- Mohawk Lake, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We saw Josh again when we were heading back to the car.
We found out later that when he got there, he got a few photos, before the Neotropic and some other Cormorants flew west.
We had a few choices of where we could go. A Ruff was seen but it was a few hours away, so that was out of the question. A better option was the Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, where we could get a few year birds...
Since it was not too far, and we were sure to get at least one year-bird, we decided on Mitchell Sewage Lagoons.
When we got there we headed onto the little wooden structure looking over to the once used Sewage Lagoon, but now a man-made wetland. There were a few waterfowl and shorebirds, but soon we got distracted when we heard a Yellow Warbler which was a year bird.
 |
| Yellow Warbler- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We walked around the trail, along the used Sewage Lagoon and saw many baby geese with their mothers and a few baby ducks (which were Mallards) with their parents. There were also some Buffleheads (a bit late) and Ruddy Ducks.
 |
| Ducklings (Mallard)- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Canada Geese- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Ruddy Duck's- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
Then we got one of the targets that we had came there for; a group of Dunlin.
Of course these were not lifers, but only year birds. But they were just as magical, because the dull coloured ones I had seen in Fall were now brightly coloured birds in their breeding plumage. There were a few Lesser Yellowlegs hanging out with them too.
 |
| Dunlin- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We went on again seeing more ducklings and goslings. When we had got to the far side of the restored sewage lagoon we saw some Blue-winged Teal and some Northern Shovelers.
 |
| Northern Shoveler's- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Blue-winged Teal- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
Then I had a nice surprise- a Groundhog popped up in front of us. We actually saw a few while walking up but we got only glimpse of it, but now I was able to get pictures of one, the first picture I had ever got of the species.
 |
| Groundhog or Woodchuck- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
When we went back to the wooden structure looking over to the once used Sewage Lagoon, we saw more baby geese and a Spotted Sandpiper.
 |
| Baby goslings (CAGO)- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
 |
| Spotted Sandpiper- Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, Brant, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
We headed back to the car and started home......
Oh if you think this is over, I have one more thing
We were back in Wellington and by this time is was 3:00 PM when something strange happened. Looking out the window we saw a very close Snowy Owl in a corn field. This was quite a late sighting, and I'm pretty sure it was a Male because males are almost all white, while juveniles and females have more black streaks (short streaks that is) on them.
 |
| Snowy Owl- Wellington, Ontario- May 9, 2020 |
No comments:
Post a Comment