Oh Hey There 2022

Right, last we spoke I was thinking about going for 200 this year. Well, I'm off to a decent start. I can't call this a 'big year' because honestly I'm not putting in enough effort for it to be a true big year, but it'll still be interesting to see how many species I can get without going completely nuts.

I made some waterfront trips in January to kick things off strong. Add to that the fact that it was a new year and therefore every bird was a new bird, even the common stuff added up quickly. By the end of the month I was already at 53. I admit I kind of want to list them, but that sounds like it would be really boring for everyone who's not me. 

...screw it, though, it's my blog.

• 1. Red-bellied Woodpecker
• 2. Downy Woodpecker
• 3. Blue Jay
• 4. American Crow
• 5. Black-capped Chickadee
• 6. European Starling
• 7. Eastern Bluebird
• 8. Mountain Bluebird
• 9. American Robin
• 10. American Tree Sparrow
• 11. Dark-eyed Junco
• 12. Northern Cardinal
• 13. Canada Goose
• 14. Red-tailed Hawk
• 15. Carolina Wren
• 16. White-crowned Sparrow
• 17. Trumpeter Swan
• 18. Mallard
• 19. Canvasback
• 20. Redhead
• 21. Ring-necked Duck
• 22. White-winged Scoter
• 23. Bufflehead
• 24. Common Goldeneye
• 25. Hooded Merganser
• 26. Red-breasted Merganser
• 27. American Coot
• 28. Ring-billed Gull
• 29. Mourning Dove
• 30. American Goldfinch
• 31. White-throated Sparrow
• 32. Rough-legged Hawk
• 33. Snow Bunting
• 34. House Sparrow
• 35. Field Sparrow
• 36. Harlequin Duck
• 37. Long-tailed Duck
• 38. Snowy Owl
• 39. Common Raven
• 40. Red-breasted Nuthatch
• 41. White-breasted Nuthatch
• 42. Herring Gull
• 43. Great Black-backed Gull
• 44. Mute Swan
• 45. American Black Duck
• 46. Greater Scaup
• 47. Rock Pigeon
• 48. Bald Eagle
• 49. Eastern Screech-Owl
• 50. Golden-crowned Kinglet
• 51. Gadwall
• 52. Northern Saw-whet Owl
• 53. House Finch

The highlights were obviously the three lifers: Mountain Bluebird, a western vagrant that was spotted right here in my city during the Christmas Bird Count and obligingly hung around for a while; Harlequin Duck, which I had to take a drive to Oakville to see on a freezing, blustery afternoon on the lake; and Northern Saw-whet Owl, which... come to think of it was also a bitterly cold day to be outside, but worth it for an owl. Notable misses include the Harris' Sparrow that I made two tries to see but just missed both times, and the Lapland Longspur that apparently was hanging around with what was probably the same flock of Snow Buntings that I saw, just a week later when there was more snow cover and they weren't all hiding in the corn stover.

February was a bit less productive, but it was February, so what do you expect. Who wants to do anything but hibernate in February, seriously. I did finally get the Red-shouldered Hawk that likes to hang out down by the highway, and the Peregrine Falcons were back at their nest site on the Burlington lift bridge doing some hunting and vocalizing, so that was a treat to see.

• 54. Cedar Waxwing
• 55. Northern Pintail
• 56. Common Merganser
• 57. Merlin
• 58. Northern Shoveler
• 59. Lesser Scaup
• 60. Ruddy Duck
• 61. Great Blue Heron
• 62. Peregrine Falcon
• 63. Red-shouldered Hawk

In March, I finally made my trip up to Algonquin to snag some winter finches. I've only been saying I was going to do that for years now. In the process I got three more lifers: Black-backed Woodpecker, which was just... sitting there waiting for us when we got on our first trail; and finally, FINALLY some crossbills. They were the bane of my existence last winter, when I searched and searched and couldn't find a single one despite it being a 'super irruption' year, but now they are finally mine. Notable misses on that trip were Canada Jay, Spruce Grouse, and Boreal Chickadee - next time, I guess.

• 64. Pine Siskin
• 65. Hairy Woodpecker
• 66. Pine Grosbeak
• 67. Purple Finch
• 68. Common Redpoll
• 69. Black-backed Woodpecker
• 70. White-winged Crossbill
• 71. Evening Grosbeak
• 72. Red Crossbill
• 73. Wild Turkey
• 74. Red-winged Blackbird
• 75. Killdeer
• 76. Northern Flicker
• 77. Song Sparrow
• 78. Brown Creeper
• 79. Bohemian Waxwing
• 80. Common Grackle

By the end of March, you can see the migrants already starting to show up - the grackles and blackbirds are usually some of the first. April should see some good movement of migrants and a whole lot of possibilities.

Record: Broken. So What's Next?

Well, I tied my record on Dec. 19th with a Great Horned Owl, during the Christmas Bird Count, and then a lucky Rough-legged Hawk on the 20th pushed me over the line. So in 2021 I saw 196 bird species, which is pretty darned good for staying mostly in southern Ontario.

It's also awfully close to 200, which might become my 2022 goal. It would take some effort and luck - getting to 196 required getting all the weird lake ducks down in Hamilton, and a gull pilgrimage to Niagara that also happened to get Razorbills, Black Vultures, and a Black-bellied Whistling-duck. But I also managed to miss some reasonably common things last year which I absolutely should be able to snag this year if I try. So it could balance out.

Going For The Record?

 Holy crap, you guys, I just might have a shot after all.

The number to beat is 195. Thanks to some freaky luck (Yellow-throated Warbler in Oakville?!), an excellent fall locally for shorebirds, and a very productive trip down to the Burlington waterfront this past weekend, I'm all the way up at 187. Eight more species is a lot, though, when it's already late November and all of the migrants have moved on. I'd have to get really lucky again and probably put in some quality time on the back roads north of the city looking for Snow Buntings and Snowy Owls and Rough-legged Hawks.

Fingers crossed.

Talkin' Stats

 Further on the subject of birds, when I say I went hard on birds this spring...

According to my eBird stats I've spotted 160 species so far this year, just in Ontario. The only year that I got more was 2018, when I did my big northern trip and got 50+ extra western and arctic species that I have zero chance of seeing this year. The next biggest years include 2014 when I went to Scotland, 2016 when I went to Pennsylvania/West Virginia, and 2017 when I went to Nova Scotia/New Brunswick... you can perhaps see the trend here. 

The point is, 160 while sticking close to home is probably nothing to sneeze at. And there's still some weird migrants floating around at the moment so let's see if I can keep on climbing....

Pandemic Round-Up

It's once again been a very strange year in terms of outdoor activities. I missed the early summer window for odonates again this year, not because of lockdowns but rather the exact opposite - all of my usual spots were absolutely overrun with people. I didn't enjoy crowded trails even before the pandemic, so obviously I was not any more inclined with a virus floating around.

I compensated by going hard on birds this spring, since birds at least you can go look at first thing in the morning when most people are still in bed. As a result, I broke all of my previous personal records for number of species seen per month and for the year overall. Even got a couple of lifers in the process: Orchard Oriole and Least Bittern. I slowed down into the summer, but I'm still ahead of my previous bests as we now head into fall migration (!!) - excepting the year I went north, of course, I can't compete with the extra fifty or so western and northern species I saw that year, not while sticking close to home. I can, however, make efforts to chase down some of the shorebirds and waterfowl that have started showing up on their way south. I can't believe it's migration time again already, but away we go, I guess.

This year I also discovered the joy that is an inflatable kayak, so much of my summer has been spent out on the water rather than hunting down critters. I can't bring myself to be too upset about that.

Pays To Take A Second Look

So I was poking around some goldenrods, as one does when one is looking for pollinating insects in August, and I happened to snap some photos of what seemed at first glance to be two individuals of the same species, or at least the same genus. 

Joke's on me; despite superficial similarities, the top one isn't even a wasp - it's a fly (Physocephala sp.), as evidenced by the shape of the antennae. The fly family is so much bigger and more varied than most of us would think, and so many of them look absolutely nothing like the typical house fly. The bottom one I believe is a Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp (Isodontia mexicana), which despite its name appears to be native to my area.

The Bugs Of Summer

So it's certainly been a different year as far as outdoor exploration goes. Obviously I did not do any travelling to see birds this year, nor will I be doing that for the foreseeable future. Local exploration was also curtailed for a while while all the trails were closed. And then even after things opened back up… that miserable 40 degree heatwave hit just as the milkweed plants were flowering, so even though that's arguably the best time of year to go hunting butterflies, you can bet I was not going out to do so if I could spend that time lying flat in front of the fan instead.

There are two major downsides that I've found to the hobby of bugwatching. One: bugs, like birds, really like to fly away from you just as you're about to get a good look at them (why oh why didn't I decide to be a botanist). Two: if you miss the flight window on a particular species, you have to wait an entire year for it to come around again. This year, I missed the window on pretty much all of the early-season bugs.

However, in this later part of the season I've started visiting a nearby spot that seems to be just buzzing with fun insects (pun intended). It's an old quarry site, which has created this odd collection of poorly-vegetated shallow wetlands and rock-bottomed ponds. Unfortunately, one part of it seems to be used by the locals as a swimming hole/hang out spot, which makes it very awkward to walk around taking pictures of bugs. But I already got three new-to-me species there (four if you count the one I couldn't get pics of) so I'm going to go back at least once more and see what else I can find.

Azure Bluet

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Broad-winged Skipper

Field work this summer has also netted me two new species (although not literally, since in both cases the net had been left in the car):

River Bluet - actually an S2 species in Ontario (i.e., it's considered rare on the provincial level although it isn't a regulated Species at Risk). Not something I expected to find along an urban creek corridor, but it has been previously documented in other streams in the vicinity.

European Common Blue - a recent introduction to Ontario. Until just last year, I think, it was only known from a location in Quebec, and then it showed up in a spot in the north GTA. This was a new location a few km away from the previous observations.