Garbage Birding in NW Ontario

From mid-late June...

Kenora downtown - 3 American White Pelicans flew over my hotel room at dusk. Stunning against a pink sky...

Kenora Landfill - not much at all, but a spot that would have potential in "gull season"...


Dryden Area - DANG this area looks cool. Had Black-billed Magpies in at least 5-6 different areas - and I had no time to search around. I seriously wonder what might arrive here as a "vagrant" - perhaps in a year with serious drought in the central USA... It may have more of a "concentration effect" than the Rainy River area, but is quite a bit farther away from the prime land... Anyways, it was cool, and I had no time to look around!


Thunder Bay Landfill - thousands of gulls (99% Herring) but nothing notable AT ALL - a bit of a let down... This place has insane rarity potential - and I would die and go to heaven if I had access to a place like this in Southern Ontario...

Two views from inside T-Bay Landfill

Turns out, they don't really want birders going there anymore though (due to some poor birder behaviour)... Pretty sad to hear this, but I talked to one guy who was OK with me staying for my short visit (as an out-of-town'er) 

Nipigon - 3 American White Pelicans on Helen Lake (along with RB Mergansers, other ducks etc) 

Terrace Bay - I stopped at the "Eurasian Tree Sparrow feeders" from this past May for 10 minutes and didn't see anything. No idea if anyone had even looked since they were first found. I did have a Savannah Sparrow and an Eastern Bluebird here though (really odd habitat for the time of year) - showing that crazy rarities probably turn up in these superior towns all the freakin time (no one is looking and so few even care) 

Geraldton - American White Pelicans on 2 different days on a lake just SE of town... 7-8 birds total. Beauties!

I stopped at a few other small locations along the way, but really didn't have time to bird (and it was a bad time of year anyways). I had a good number of the true-boreal birds, but not all. Connecticut Warblers too!

Landfills... Gull (and bear) heaven...