Thinking About Birding at Van Wagner's Beach - Oct 30, 2025

With a ripper of a NE wind on Oct 30, 2025 - I decided to bird Van Wagner's Beach (VWB) in Hamilton, Ontario. A famous inland location to view "pelagic" birds like Jaegers. Sure, the drive was long - but I grew up in Hamilton and I would probably run into some familiar faces while enjoying the birds. 

Yet six hours into the watch I hadn't seen another birder. Where was everyone? Yes, it was late October, and a Thursday... But I couldn't help but think about the state of the birding community. 

The above photo was taken over 20 years earlier at VWB in late September (on a weekday). If you wanted to add Pomarine Jaeger or Northern Gannet, to your life or year list - your best bet was to go to VWB when the winds were blowing. In fact, prominent community members would actively tell you the same - go during east winds - bring a scope - and a crowd of people will join you in the search. 

Today, the best way to see those species for the first time - is to make sure your phone beeps at you - when one is reported somewhere (Discord). 

I followed this train of thought further. A welcome element (for me) back in 2005 was a chance to discuss bird identification, gull molt, or even just see something like a Pomarine Jaeger well. A chance for study and learning. There were not thousands of images available online for review. There were people you could actually talk to (face to face) about birds and birding. Today, you can largely scratch that "itch" by joining a Facebook Gull or Jaeger group, without leaving home. 

Many others enjoy the competitive side of birding. As noted, if you wanted to add Northern Gannet to your year list,  you should probably be at VWB. Even more so, if you wanted to compare your list to everyone else, you were going to encounter other listers at VWB. Had anyone else managed to break 300 so far this year!? You could talk to people (face to face) and find out. 

Now, you can get your fill by checking the "top 100" page on eBird for your favourite hotspot / yard / county / province / country literally anywhere, anytime of day, on your phone. 

Ultimately, you're left with a significantly reduced number of birders at VWB, wondering where everyone else is. 

And do you know what? That's probably ok. I'm not writing to try to convince anyone to change how they bird. I know there are still days with lots of birders present. I know keen young birders will still find their way in our hobby. 

But I do wonder if more could be done to remind members of our community that there is joy to be had by simply spending time in the field. I personally love being outside in a storm - strong winds, rain, the sound of crashing waves. Seeing your first Pomarine Jaeger is exciting, no matter the context. I just hope everyone also gets the chance to see their first "unexpected" Pomarine Jaeger too, ripping down the beach at close range, on the edge of a squall. 

Birding at Night

 
It was fairly "known" that some amazing things were happening in the bird world - at night - in Cape May in recent years...... With a notable publication our earlier this year detailing their work:

Story via the Cornell Website: Study reveals new technique to identify individual night-flying birds for the first time

Paper:  https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/143/2/1/8506565?login=false

Citation: 

Johnson, T. B., D. Gochfeld, M. C. Roach, G. A. Apte, R. Gallardy, S. C. Wilson, A. Marden, D. J. Irons, A. Farnsworth, and C. L. Rutt (2026). Seeing in the dark: Using thermal imaging to directly observe nocturnal migration. Ornithology 143:ukaf074.

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Long story short, I didn't think this type of equipment was in the cards for me (expensive) - but the potential to learn more about bird movements & migration was just too much to bear! So as of a few days ago, I've found a way to make it work - and I'm really looking forward to putting it to use in the coming months.

Hopefully a lot more interesting tales to tell - with time!

Small Cormorant Alert - Hillman Marsh - Aug 10, 2026

 

A perplexing small cormorant from Hillman Marsh a few days ago... Visually, it seemed small enough to be outside the expected variation of DCCO... but that rather subjective... 

The bill was rather pale yellow for a young DCCO (but within range), and the facial skin shape was somewhat pointed but again within DCCO range... The bill was relatively long like a DCCO as well... The lores had a contrasting yellow stripe as expected in DCCO... 

For a long time, definitive hybrids have been recorded from south-central Florida ... But few confident hybrids have been recorded elsewhere (many confirmed hybrids on eBird are arguably not clear-cut identifications) ...... Perhaps that is changing??  Jax Nasimok had an exceptional candidate recently in Ajax - https://ebird.org/checklist/S376683557 

While trying to look for comparable reference media - this bird from Ohio jumped out at me as a potential hybrid: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/660972796/

Of course, "candidates" have occurred previously in Ontario. I'm not keen to try to find them all on ebird right now, but this bird found by Reuven Martin came to mind as a real head scratcher:  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/354755556

The near-centre bird with wings raised. 

My photos aren't great, which goes along with the handful of others I've seen over the years. Another candidate was the subject of a past post, as the blog was reaching it's initial death throes.....  Interestingly, I uploaded that bird to eBird as a NECO/DCCO (slash, not x) - and it was rejected! I actually had to contact the local eBird reviewers multiple times to convince them of their mistake. It's hard to recognize patterns and make advancements in our knowledge when you have to try this hard to correct a potential oversight or misunderstanding... 

Ontario's earliest ever record NECO was actually "rejected" multiple times this spring - even with a diagnostic photo - until a higher power swooped in to at least put the record back in limbo. But I digress! I wonder how many records of "distant small cormorants" have been accepted as NECO in Ontario?!  Nope. Stop. Fall migration is just heating up. Don't get too distracted now. 

PeregrinePrints Blog - Retrospective

 

This blog started when you could run out of bird-things to look at, on the internet, in one evening. 

Putting random bird-related stuff on a blog was fun. I used to joke that I liked talking about birds so much that I needed somewhere to put it all, because no other human being could handle listening to it!  So the blog became an outlet. It also became a useful way to start conversations. Someone would ask about something I'd written, and we were off. 

Eventually, that changed. Blogs, websites, youtube videos and podcasts became ways of competing for attention, selling books, promoting tours, etc. Birding has followed along. eBird "top 100s" ...  iNaturalist stats ...  algorithms and the rest have added another layer of metrics and competition to a hobby that - for some - is meant to be an "escape" from reality. Quiet time in nature. 

I eventually lost interest in blogging - as I didn't want to be part of the "competition". 

But perhaps that's also why it might be worth doing again? Blogs have become sufficiently irrelevant to the attention economy that they might be a good place to just put random thoughts. I'd rather you were not on your device - outside, perhaps birding, or spending time with friends of family. But, if you're looking for a bird-related distraction, that isn't controlled by a stress-inducing algorithm or littered with "top 100" lists, stuff may be appearing here again going forwards. 

 

How long will it last? Who knows. But for now: bird ideas, weather, natural history, observations, equipment, whatever. I might even edit the text this time. 

Morning Flight Watch - Point Pelee - Aug 9, 2026

 

I had some spare time & a strong desire to be in the field. The setup was marginal, but I wanted some birds in flight... Always something interesting to see in the field (esp. if you look closely). 

My first fall PROW (!), DICK and OSFL as the main species highlights. 

84 YEWA is one of my highest ever counts for fall. The number of vireos and empids was also quite good for the date. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch is hopefully a positive sign for the rest of the fall. 

Birds like Indigo Bunting, Blue Jay and N. House Wren end up being highlights - as unseasonal or unexpected movers.... 

The tally: 

Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove  16
Chimney Swift  10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  4
Downy Woodpecker  4     
Northern Flicker  1
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1   
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1     
Traill's Flycatcher  6     
Least Flycatcher  1     
Empidonax sp.  9     
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  5     
Eastern Warbling Vireo  10
Red-eyed Vireo  5
vireo sp.  3    
Blue Jay  1  
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2    
Northern House Wren  1   
European Starling  40
Gray Catbird  4     
American Robin  10
Cedar Waxwing  140    
House Sparrow  3
House Finch  2     1,1
American Goldfinch  10
Chipping Sparrow  2     
Song Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow 1 
Bobolink  5     
Baltimore Oriole  13     
Red-winged Blackbird  200
Brown-headed Cowbird  1     
Common Grackle  75
Northern Waterthrush  1     
Prothonotary Warbler  1     
Tennessee Warbler  2    
Bay-breasted Warbler  1    
Northern Yellow Warbler  84     
new world warbler sp.  6     
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1    
Indigo Bunting  1    
Dickcissel  1     
passerine sp.  5     

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Boy.. what happened to the good olde days of blogging? Anyone have any idea? Are we burnt out from social media & always being electronically connected? How do we continue to share ideas & learn from each other without being "turned off" by the whole thing?!

Edit: my website is no longer in existence!

In the past, I used this blog as an outlet for my birding/photography interests... I could throw ideas to the wind, and whoever wanted to read it, could! And that was that... Now, sharing seems to be competitive... How many likes did you get? Retweets? Where do you rank vs. everyone else. Who is better than who!? I don't like it...  My 19 yr old self would probably have liked it... Who knows...

A superficial Slaty-back?

Early June - Hillman Marsh