Identification of 1st and 2nd year Neotropic Cormorants: Case Study

Neotropic Cormorant at Point Pelee (Tip), 13 May 2014

The ID of the bird appearing in this blog post was recently questioned by some American birder, and I had very little to offer in terms of field marks supporting it... I called the beast in flight at the tip of Pelee in 2014 as it passed by at close range with two Double-crested Cormorants (DCCO). Concern was raised that the structure was off for Neotropic Cormorant (NECO) and better suited DCCO - especially the tail looking too short. There was whispers that a lack of field marks definitively supporting NECO sealed the deal and the record should be located, taken out back, and shot without hesitation. 

Now I may take my bird ID less seriously than many high-horse-birder types, but my self-found rarity finding/identifying lists are rather important to me, so I took up the charge (in the name of Science) and - for the first time - began to actually look at this bird in detail (rather than ignore & move on). 

First, some photos - then some thoughts:

The culmination of some rather extensive research undertaken by Mr. Pawlicki and I. It's a bit embarrassing to say that I never really gave this bird much of a second thought on fine/proper ID points, but in the end I had a blast as we worked through various/potential ID criteria. The blog post may be a bit biased towards my own thoughts, but I did write it after all:

Age: 

How long does it take NECO's to mature? New Jersey has only two records of NECO, and it's of the same bird (one can only assume) that returned to the same ponds in 2014 and again in 2015. 

Here it is in 2014: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80217068@N04/14211661568/sizes/l

And on the same freakin branch in 2015:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ceraymondbrown/16807782200/sizes/o/

Not that it does NOT look like a glossy/fancy black adult with a tidy white facial border. Therefore these things take three or more years to mature. This will be important later. 

Tail length:

NECOs have relatively longer tails than DCCOs. My warning is that photos - especially without context, can be misleading. The Pelee-14 bird is about as misleading as possible because it is not only FLYING AWAY, but it is also turning it's head back to look at me as I wildly swing my camera towards it. The body&tail are angled away, looking shorter - than the head/neck which is parallel (looking longer and heavier). Given that the ID of this bird was in question, the onus was on me to find clear NECO's showing shorter tails. I found them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8996411@N05/7051701731/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/timschreckengost/8667264518/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/timschreckengost/8667264648/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/timschreckengost/8666164253/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoguy1951/8699126661/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121697883@N07/14300454330/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/devingriffiths/14521238505/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/j-g-fotos/8158969555/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gseloff/16329730077/

Probably one of the best examples:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lavalroy/13611543093/

Head Features:

Next, we move onto the head. I've chosen five features to discuss, but first wanted to discuss that the time of year is also important in using these marks. When young cormorants are still in the nest, or just recently fledged - the can look quite different. These young DCCO's have black lores and black marks down their bills and their facial skin is shaped differently than older birds:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leonchiu888/19817479926/sizes/l

The features i'm discussing will relate to birds that are at least several months old (think "May" - like the Pelee bird we've discussed): 

A - Bill Colour-

Young NECO's often have pinkish bills, rarely going yellow or otherwise. DCCO's often have yellow, especially on the lower mandible. This is a "general" mark and in no way diagnostic. There is a LOT of variation out there. 

Here is the "general" look in young NECO - 

http://www.funbirdingtours.com/wp-content/gallery/se-arizona/10-0327/Neotropic-Cormorant-Silverbell-Lake-032710-05.jpg

General look for young DCCO:

http://www.lilouandrue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Gang-of-Double-Crested-Cormorants.jpg

Again, it's variable - but I think the Pelee bird is spot on for standard NECO (especially in May).

B - Throat Pouch Colouration:

Same thoughts on time of year. The standard look of NECO is to have a little patch of yellowish-peach skin, almost square in shape. Not extending much further (closer to the tip of the bill) than below the eye. DCCO typically has extensive yellow covering most of their throat/skin and bleeding onto the bill itself. 

Standard NECO fare with a yellow patch/square: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerwasley/8148148783/sizes/o/

Standard DCCO fare with yellow bleeding elsewhere:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karennfld/16390495393/

No doubt you will find a LOT of variation out there on a bird-by-bird basis, so be careful with it - but overall the Pelee bird is very much in the NECO-camp and would be unusual for DCCO.

C - Pointed facial skin:

This is a common field mark to look out for, with NECO showing pointed and DCCO showing - not pointed ? - but it is highly variable. The Pelee bird matches NECO, but you will find a lot of young DCCO out there with a similar feature. 

D - Whiteish feather border to the facial Skin:

Another field-guide field-mark, this is shown readily by both species. Heck, just check out the photo I shared for the throat colour of DCCO - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karennfld/16390495393/

That bird has pointed skin and a paler feathered border too! It is another feather that matches NECO - even if it is also shown by DCCO, so for case study purposes I'll just move on... 

E - Lore colour 

NECO typically does not show yellow lores. DCCO almost always shows bright yellow skin in the lores. Especially in May. I've discussed how baby DCCO's can have black lores, and there is the potential that feathers/fuzz can seemingly grow overtop of the loral skin, but 99.9% of the time DCCO will show a bright orange/yellow patch of skin on the lores sometimes extensive. NECO can seemingly show yellowish skin here at times (often peachy), but not like DCCO.

NECO fare - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/patgoltz/16212222988/sizes/l

DCCO fare - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michelsansfacon/18423851080/

I chalk this up as a very strong feature for the Pelee bird as NECO 

F - Overall Impression

A copout field mark here. I've discussed how each of these field marks have varying amounts of overlap between the two species, but when all taken into account they can strongly point to one species or another. The odds of having a bird with: Pinkish bill, small yellow patch at the top of the throat and dull lores being anything but a NECO is extremely unlikely. 

Feather Shape:

We really looked hard at this feature, something I had never seen/noticed before. NECO has more pointed body feathers/coverts than DCCO. Sometimes obviously. Check out the differences in this photo:

http://www.cptpix.com/wp-content/gallery/gyrfalcon/6S3A4331Neotropic_Cormorant_Double_Crested_Cormorant.jpg

I was shocked at how different the two species are. This photo of the Pelee bird showed rather rounded feathers, which had me worried. Yet this photo shows feathers that look more pointed... I did some digging and ended up using the New Jersey bird as a case study. In 2014 it had rather rounded feathers:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80217068@N04/14211661568/sizes/l

In 2015, it was decidedly more pointed:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/southjerseybirder/17004180161/sizes/k/

This age difference was really interesting to me. If you had really good photos, it could potentially help separate these confusing 1st or 2nd year birds... It was also pointed out that the Pelee bird appears to be molting, so new feathers coming in should be more pointed - but perhaps they get more pointed as they age? This leads me to my next though:

Molt Timing:

I have no knowledge of Cormorant molt but I read the birds of north america online account to see if molt gave any hints. It looks like DCCO can be molting just about anytime, especially with populations from Florida to James Bay and beyond - BUT - young DCCOs really shouldn't be molting coverts in May according to the account:

""First Basic" or "Basic I" plumage of Humphrey and Parkes (1959) and later authors; see revision by Howell et al. (2003). Present primarily Dec-Jun. Similar to Juvenal Plumage but juvenal feathers of head, neck, and breast become increasingly bleached through winter and spring, to pale brown or whitish, variably mixed with scattered fresher, darker brown, glossier, and more-rounded formative feathers. Ornamental crest plumes not developed or rudimentary at best. Juvenal upperwing coverts, primaries, and rectrices retained, increasingly worn and bleaching to paler brown"

Neotropic didn't have a detailed account like DCCO, but it shows May as being a primary time for molt... I have no experience with this, but I like that it supports the ID of the Pelee bird as NECO. 

--------------

After a LOT of looking at online photos, it is possible to find some very difficult birds out there. Very difficult indeed. There are even hybrids! Not to mention the baby DCCO's that look rather odd as they come out of the nest.

So what about the Pelee bird? I think the finer details are in support of the identification as Neotropic. The bare part colouration on the face/bill may be bordering on diagnostic when all considered together. Yes, the birds tail looks short in the photos. If you think it looks too short, you'll always think it looks too short. I think it's a bit of photo trickery due to the angle of the birds body, head, and the angle I was shooting at - and I'll always think that... We also noticed it looks to be molting the tail feathers which may screw with the impression as well...

Only one "field mark" remains that wasn't valid for our photo interp - I actually saw the bird in real life. In my recent years voting on the OBRC I've learned to try and understand and appreciate that factor when reviewing reports. The suggestion of non-NECO features come from four photos appearing on this page here: http://peregrineprints.com/UOB/zz14_NECO.htm (prior to this blog post adding more)... It was pretty freakin obvious to those of us who saw it fly past at 50ft with two DCCO's at close range...  Yet I know I was very guilty in never doing any additional looking/research and had no additional details to provide when asked. That shows the questions raised about the photos were 100% justified. Presumably it was accepted by the OBRC without a whole lot of research as well (I know I didn't do it). In the end it was a lot of fun as we dug into these features and tested them out. Maybe this mish-mash of thoughts will help someone else somewhere/someday as they too enjoy ugly non-adult Cormorants around the Great Lakes!

The Cave Swallow, Petrochelidon fulva, in Ontario, 1989-2014

An edited version of this has previously been published in Ontario Birds

------------------------------

This note documents the occurrence of the Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva) in Ontario, looking back through 25 years of data from eBird, which contains the complete set of accepted records from the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC). This is not a comprehensive look at all published occurrences of the species in Ontario, but an overview of some easily accessible electronic data. With this information, we examine a brief history of occurrence, identification, trends in the data and some thoughts on what the future may hold for the species in the province. 

The Cave Swallow was first documented in Ontario at Point Pelee National Park on 21 April 1989 by Alan Wormington (Wormington and Curry 1990), which remains an exceptional spring record today. Nine years later, Alan would document the second provincial record, scarcely a few hundred metres from the first, from 7-9 December 1998 (Dobos 1999). The next chapter of the species’ history in Ontario began on 2 November 1999 when Kevin A. McLaughlin recorded an astonishing five Cave Swallows flying together inside Point Pelee National Park (Roy 2000). This was the first of fifteen records from 1999 accepted by the OBRC, constituting a total of 86 individuals from 2-6 November, capping off the provinces first “invasion”. 

Identification of the Cave Swallow can be straightforward, often aided by the calendar as much as visual field marks. A medium-sized swallow with a square tail, the Cave Swallow has a buffy throat, forehead and rump, dark wings and tail, with a white belly. Late in the fall, young-of-the-year are readily recognized by their suspended primary molt, with fresh dark inner primaries contrasting against the more faded outer primaries. (Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1. A first basic Cave Swallow at Point Pelee National Park, 13 November 2012, showing light outer primaries contrasting with light inner primaries. Photo by Brandon R. Holden.

Figure 2. A first basic Cave Swallow at Point Pelee National Park 13 November 2012. Photo by Brandon R. Holden.

While all swallows found in Ontario are fundamentally similar, confusion generally exists between Cave Swallows and the more common and closely related Cliff Swallow (P. pyrrhonota). Adult Cliff Swallows are distinguished by a combination of their dark throat, pale foreheads and generally more contrasting appearance (Figure 3). Adult Cliff Swallows from the southwestern regions (P. p. melanogaster) of their range show rusty foreheads, much like Cave Swallow although this subspecies is currently unrecorded in the province. These “southwestern” birds should be considered (especially in spring) when potentially encountering a vagrant Cave Swallow. Here it would be important to note the finer plumage details of a potential vagrant, as the southwestern Cliff Swallow will have a darker throat than the Cave Swallow. In the fall, juvenile Cliff Swallows can show dark or dusky foreheads with pale throat patterns. They are generally less buffy-orange than Cave Swallows, and do not show the contrasting primaries expected by the young-of-the-year Cave Swallows that have been recorded in Ontario in late fall. As noted, the majority of Cave Swallow records in Ontario occur from late October through November; long after most Cliff Swallows have left our borders. A large group of Petrochelidon swallows observed in November are likely to be Cave Swallows. It is with single or observations outside of the traditional late-fall window that require extended study and careful consideration when separating these species, subspecific vagrant or late Cliff Swallows must be considered when documenting a sighting. 

Figure 3. An alternate Cliff Swallow at Point Pelee National Park, 9 May 2010. Photo by Brandon R. Holden

Since the initial records (1989, 1998) and the invasion (1999), Ontario birders have recorded Cave Swallows in ten of the subsequent 15 years. Large invasions have been observed in 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010 (the largest) and 2012. When compiling records from the OBRC database from 1990-2009, we found a total of 63 accounting for 188 individuals documented. In 2010, the Cave Swallow was formally removed from the OBRC review list for southern Ontario, ceasing documentation from 2010-present. For these years, an additional 50 records were taken from eBird for 2010-2014 (eBird 2015). Total records by year (not individual birds) are graphed in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Cave Swallow records by year in Ontario using data from the OBRC and eBird. Annual data show dramatic swings in year-to-year occurrence. A linear trend-line shows that records are increasing. 

Thanks to documentation provided in OBRC reports, eBird and associated materials, we have a better understanding of the factors involved with these spectacular invasions. Powerful and far reaching southerly winds, with associated warm temperatures in October and November, have been a precursor to these irruptions. The record high count for Ontario (148 individuals) occurred on 26 October 2012 at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, which was remarkable in that all birds passed east to west within three hours of observation that morning (eBird 2015). The flight abruptly stopped as a cold front swept through causing the skies to cloud over, a shift to westerly winds and temperatures to drop. The record event in 2010 was associated with an exceptional extratropical storm over the western Great Lakes (Figure 5), where the all-time North American land-based record for low pressure was broken (NOAA 2015). Long Point seemed to be the epicenter of the 2010 event, where counting exact numbers proved difficult as large numbers passed through the entire area.

Once large numbers of Cave Swallows have reached our borders, there is occasionally a “return” flight as north winds blow birds back to the northern shores of the lower Great Lakes. Prince Edward County, Erieau and Point Pelee National Park have been notable locations to receive such birds (pers. obs.). 

Figure 5. This record breaking extratropical cyclone in late October 2010 was responsible for bringing many Cave Swallows to Ontario (NOAA 2015). 

Determining noteworthy geographic patterns can be challenging in a province as large as Ontario, where the human population is heavily situated around the lower Great Lakes. Yet, here a pattern emerges, with the majority of records occurring along the shorelines of the lower Great Lakes throughout the various invasions. Locations of records, not accounting for total numbers of individuals, have been plotted in Figure 6.

Figure 6. General distribution of Cave Swallow records in Ontario (in red).  

We predict that Cave Swallows will continue to appear in Ontario whenever powerful weather systems bring appropriate surges of warm southerly air during late fall. Numbers have seemingly risen since the initial invasion in 1999, but having very few birds in recent years (2011, 2013 and 2014) makes it difficult to determine if the increase in numbers will continue. Without a doubt, our knowledge of the species will continue to grow with observers ready to detect new arrivals more readily than ever. Outside of the “traditional” late fall window are two spring records of single birds, which is perhaps a timeframe when birders are not expecting the species to occur and may be under recorded. We encourage birders to contribute records to readily accessible databases such as the OBRC and eBird, which were instrumental in the creation of this account. 

Literature cited:

Dobos, R.Z. 1999. Ontario Bird Records Committee Report for 1998. Ontario Birds 17(2):62-83.

eBird. 2015. eBird data accessed  February 2015. Cave Swallow for Ontario from 2010 to 2015. http://ebird.org/ebird/map/cavswa?neg=true&env.minX=142.27311799286292&env.minY=-20.12861076876384&env.maxX=34.69499299286292&env.maxY=65.15052821266531&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=range&byr=2010&eyr=2015

NOAA. 2015. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, October 26-27th, 2010 Record Low Pressure, Strong Winds, and Early Season Snowfall. Available online at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/?n=10oct2627. Accessed on 9 February 2015. 

Roy, K.J. 2000. Ontario Bird Records Committee Report for 1989. Ontario Birds 18(2):53-72.

Wormington, A. and R.H. Curry. 1990. Ontario Bird Records Committee Report for 1999. Ontario Birds 8(1):4-33. 

2015 BIG YEAR - May Update

May 2015

This is the fifth monthly summary of my 2015 CONDO BIG YEAR!!!

Red dot is my condo building

Red mark is the blue area defined in the first map

Click for - BIG YEAR RULES

The birds! (new species in bold)-

Canada Goose - 250
Wood Duck - 30
Gadwall - 7
American Black Duck - 1
Mallard - 158
Northern Shoveler - 7
Redhead - 4
Greater Scaup - 22
Lesser Scaup - 27
Surf Scoter - 170
White-winged Scoter - 1028
Long-tailed Duck - 1681
Hooded Merganser - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 209
Ruddy Duck - 10
Wild Turkey - 2
Red-throated Loon - 7
Common Loon - 69
Horned Grebe - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 1125
Great Blue Heron - 12
Great Egret - 1
Green Heron - 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 19
Turkey Vulture - 9
Osprey - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Bald Eagle - 5
Broad-winged Hawk - 7
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Black-bellied Plover - 5
Semipalmated Plover - 2
Killdeer - 15
Spotted Sandpiper - 7
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Lesser Yellowlegs - 52
Whimbrel - 45
Dunlin - 156
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 17
Short-billed Dowitcher - 1
American Woodcock - 1
Bonaparte's Gull - 231
Little Gull - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 665
Herring Gull - 146
Great Black-backed Gull - 14
Caspian Tern - 195
Common Tern - 375
Rock Pigeon - 18
Mourning Dove - 40
Common Nighthawk - 1
Chimney Swift - 195
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 17
Belted Kingfisher - 3
Red-headed Woodpecker - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Northern Flicker - 13
American Kestrel - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 3
Alder Flycatcher - 1
Willow Flycatcher - 1
Great Crested Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 62
Warbling Vireo - 9
Red-eyed Vireo - 3 
Blue Jay - 2810
American Crow - 28
Fish Crow - 1
Horned Lark - 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 114
Purple Martin - 66
Tree Swallow - 179
Bank Swallow - 438
Barn Swallow - 390
Cliff Swallow - 167
Black-capped Chickadee - 15
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 5
Eastern Bluebird - 12
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Wood Thrush - 1
American Robin - 174
Gray Catbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
European Starling - 935
American Pipit - 2
Cedar Waxwing - 1839
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 4
Nashville Warbler - 12
Common Yellowthroat - 2
American Redstart - 8
Northern Parula - 1
Bay-breasted Warbler - 2
Blackburnian Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 40
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 2
Palm Warbler - 13
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 77
Prairie Warbler - 1
Wilson's Warbler - 2
Chipping Sparrow - 56
Song Sparrow - 13
White-throated Sparrow - 14
White-crowned Sparrow - 8
Northern Cardinal - 13
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 4
Indigo Bunting - 12
Bobolink - 26
Red-winged Blackbird - 3301
Eastern Meadowlark - 1
Rusty Blackbird - 20
Common Grackle - 1271
Brown-headed Cowbird - 511
Orchard Oriole - 2
Baltimore Oriol- 37
House Finch - 35
Purple Finch - 16
Pine Siskin - 259
American Goldfinch - 1700
House Sparrow - 65

Total species - 130

Total ebird checklists - 24

Best birds of the month: Prairie Warbler, Fish Crow, Whimbrels, Little Gulls, Red-headed Woodpecker,

Useless seasonal rarities: none really. Everything is "in season" in May!

Highlight "big year" birds: rarities aside - WILD TURKEY (!!!), Wood Thrush, Northern Mockingbird.. Lots really... That's May for ya.

Checklists of the month:

#1 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23205779 (first decent dirunal migration of neotrop's)
#2 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23627726 (shorebirds & a nice mix)
#3 - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23492338 (OBRC rare, condo rare, and a great day with m'lady)


Total species added to the big year this month: 55

Big year total to date: 168


Target species going forwards: June is off the table. Check back for the June into July update

eBird needs alerts - I missed some. House Wren, Swamp Sparrow, Veery, Canada Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Field Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Ovenbird, and more... Some of these could really sting come December...

KM driven: 0
KM flown: 0
KM by boat: 0
KM by train: 0
KM by helicopter: 0

(1 Kilometer = 0.621371192237334 Miles)


Previous summaries: January | February | March | | April 


---


Thoughts:

It was May! It was awesome! A big year is a very serious commitment, and I may never forgive myself, but I clearly missed the best days of May. Some were unavoidable for "life" reasons. While others I totally broke down and went to Pelee to find some awesome rarities there instead...  Overall I probably missed the best 5-7 days of birding in the entire year. I may never forgive myself...

Anyways - it was my first taste of being at home and watching the morning migrations. It is much harder to ID birds in flight at my condo than, say, at the tip of Point Pelee. The light angle is worse and the birds are farther away, harder to predict and harder to find. Still, I was darn impressed with the haul including Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers, Orchard Orioles, Northern Mockingbird etc. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but there was just enough to really crank the list higher.

I also think I was quite lucky getting "condo-rare" birds. Wild Turkey was not on the radar. In no way, shape or form. Talk about excitement. I just can't get some "woodland" birds from the 17th floor, but I was impressed with my haul (N. Waterthrush, Wood & Swainson's Thrushes etc). Many of these birds were new for my all-time condo list, pushing it to 199!!!

Shorebirds put in a decent showing with 11 species. Considering I live on the shore of Lake Ontario, I'm always a bit surprised how FEW shorebirds I actually see... Hopefully I'll pull a few more species in the fall. June is a total write-off, so I'll worry about those fall birds later!

May 2nd

May 3rd

May 5th

Snowy Owl Perch Selection in Cold Weather

Introduction
The winter of 2013-2014 was remarkable in eastern North America for an unprecedented southward movement of Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) with high counts around Ontario and records extending far into the southern USA (ebird 2013). It has been theorized that this movement was related to an excellent breeding season in northern Quebec, due to very high populations of small mammals (Mactavish 2013). This article examines an interesting behavior noted among a large concentration of Snowy Owls during a particularly cold period from January 21-22, 2014.

Observations

During January 2014, I spent multiple days conducting field work on Wolfe Island, Frontenac; a known location for high winter raptor concentrations (Weir 2008). The island was driven in a grid pattern, with locations, individuals, age and sex noted as the birds were observed. This served to prevent any sort of duplication when counting. While raptors in general were in very low numbers (pers obs), Snowy Owls were in particular abundance. Some sample high counts were 24 (Jan 15), 33 (Jan 22) and 23 (Jan 30). The high count on January 22 was obtained in a remarkable 3 hours from 2:30pm to 5:30pm; likely aided by a change in the birds’ typical behaviour. Immediately upon arriving at the island, I noted that the first individuals were all perched high in trees or telephone poles. The trend continued, were birds were typically perched at a height >3m for the next 150 minutes. The first individual found on the ground wasn’t until after sundown when a juvenile female was present on a high slope in a snow covered hayfield. She was the 26^th individual of the day. Of the final 33 birds tallied, only 2 were on the ground and one additional bird was >2m up on a pile of lumber.

The weather from January 21-22, 2014 could be categorized as “very cold”. The Kingston Airport recorded a minimum temperature of -29C at 6am, with a wind-chill reading of -41C, on January 22 (Environment Canada 2014). During the survey period, temperatures ranged from -18C to -21C with wind-chills in the range of -26C to -28C. Winds were light (beaufort 2-3) and generally from the SW. Cloud cover was limited to a small area (20%) of thin high level cloud.

Discussion
I theorized that the Snowy Owls had moved to higher perches to avoid sitting on the icy and snow-covered ground that dominated the Wolfe Island landscape. Extremely cold temperatures the previous night had warmed <10C during the daylight hours, leading me to believe that the birds had perhaps perched high to take advantage of the early morning sun and simply stayed there the entire day. The gentle breeze should not greatly affect the birds’ sensitivity to wind-chill. During the first 150 minutes of observation (23 birds observed) I did not note any individuals to be actively hunting, with the majority (>90%) not moving from their perch was I observed them. It wasn’t until dusk that I observed the two individuals on the ground, indicating they had possibly become active before I was able to observe them at their daytime roost location.

This interesting behaviour likely lead to 22 January 2014 being my highest count of Snowy Owls throughout the survey dates. My ability to detect them was greatly increased due to their preference of prominent perch locations, avoiding their typically camouflaged haunts low to the ground. This situation was likely compounded by the fact that there was an ample number of perches >3m for Snowy owls to choose from, after the 2013 Central and Eastern Canada ice storm damaged the tops of many trees throughout southern Ontario, including Wolfe Island (see; Coulson 2013). With that said observations before and after 22 January yielded lower counts of Snowy Owls, all of which had warmer maximum and minimum temperatures recorded.

These observations may give credence to the idea that days with temperatures well below the daily average could prove to be the ideal conditions for observers to detect Snowy Owls and/or conduct accurate counts of individuals present over a specific area.

Figure 1. Snowy Owl, Wolfe Island. 22 January 2014. Perched high on an ice damaged branch. Photo: Brandon R. Holden

Literature cited:

Coulson, G. 2013. Ontario Weather Review – December 2013. Environment Canada. 3pp.

eBird. 2013. Arctic wanderers – Snowy Owl invasion 2013. www.ebird.org. 11 December 2013. (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/gotsnowies2013/) Accessed 23 January 2014.

Environment Canada. 2014. Climate Data Online. Retrieved from http://weather.gc.ca/trends_table/pages/ygk_metric_e.html. Accessed 22 January 2013.

Mactavish, B. 2013. “300 Snowy Owls in Newfoundland Weekend – An Explanation.” [Web log entry] The Bruce Mactavish Birding Newfoundland Blog. 11 December 2013. (http://brucemactavish1.blogspot.ca/2013/12/300-snowy-owls-in-newfoundland-weekend.html). Accessed 23 January 2014.

Weir, R. 2008. Birds of the Kingston Region, 2^nd edition. Kingston Field Naturalists. 611pp.

Fireball Meteor over Guelph (2014)

I wrote this with the thought that the Guelph Field Nats could use it in a newsletter or something... They didn't - so here it is for your blog reading pleasure!

----------------------------------

25 August 2014, 8:20pm; It’s a beautiful late summer evening with light winds and warm temperatures. The sun is setting to the west; and I’m sitting on the swing-set at Joseph Wolfond Park in downtown Guelph.

This is not a routine habit of mine.

I’m on an evening stroll with Melissa and we’ve stopped here for a quick break. With such fine conditions in late August, I had suggested a walk around town with hopes of encountering some migratory Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) which typically pass through southern Ontario at this time of year. Nighthawks are a species at risk, listed as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as well as the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO). While that’s reason enough to get out and hopefully view the species, these birds are also remarkably charming - with an alluring buoyant flight and the habit of only appearing in the waning hours of daylight. Nary a nighthawk appeared, yet the event that followed truly lit up the sky. (pun intended!)

Returning to the swingset, there is honestly little more I could say to set the scene. Perhaps that is the beauty of a meteor: there is no anticipation or build-up truly possible. A startled yelp from Melissa was all the prelude allotted to my experience. I looked up to see a vivid “firework-esque” streak of blue and white light streaming across the sky - only to fragment and shatter like a sparkler before vanishing. My experience had lasted just over a second, whereas Melissa had an extended viewing of nearly three. 

Astonished, we discussed what we had just observed. Some distant corner of my memory was telling me that exceptionally bright “shooting stars” were referred to as “fireballs” - but I was far from sure. As many do, we consulted wikipedia for some information. Turns out, our “shooting stars” - or meteor - is defined as little more than a visible streak of light. A fireball happens to be a brighter-than-usual meteor! A number of organizations have seemingly tried to define exact parameters for these events, but for the sake of our observation we were pretty darn close to answering our questions. A final term seemed to hit the nail on the head - bolide. While some consider bolide to be synonymous with fireball, others define it as an “exceptionally bright fireball, particularly one that explodes” (italics mine). We could unequivocally say that “our” fireball shattered in the final moments of its existence. How exciting!

We had only one remaining question: Did anyone else observe the event? Once again the magic of the internet provided the answers. Less than twelve hours after we observed the bolide, lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.ca and thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.ca had full accounts of the fireball meteor event over southern Ontario and the northeast United States. Several people on each site noted similar experiences, with varying lengths of observation and colours observed. 

While the subject of this note is almost entirely based in astronomy, I couldn’t help but share the experience with fellow naturalists. It was a stark reminder about the incredible things one can witness when observing or studying the natural world - even at the most unexpected times or locations. Afterword’s our naturalist minds become kindled with the ongoing desire to learn more! Bringing this full circle, I can thank this entire experience to some excellent company and the charismatic - yet elusive - Common Nighthawk.

PeregrinePrints RANTS - mini edition

I've got these things... These things that I feel the need to rant about... Yet turning them each into a blog post would make me look like a whiner, so I decided to just squeeze several little rants into one post... Here we go:


1.) - Anti-eBird-users...

I understand that everyone has their own "things" that they do... eBird wants me to submit complete checklists, and I tell eBird that I don't want to. Straight up. But you don't hear me actively trying to persuade OTHER birders to STOP submitting complete checklists, just because I'm not thrilled with the feature. I'd feel like a bit of a jerk.

Which brings me to my point - people who are actively against the use of eBird drive me nuts. If you don't like it - don't use it - but it's the bloody future of bird-record-keeping, whether you like it or not. Sure, it has some issues - but it can be fantastic when used properly and is light years faster than everything else.


2.) - Publications

I feel that this is practically the same issue as #1, but in reverse. I've spent some time over the past few years trying to make my writing sound good so someones will publish some of my thoughts. I had always enjoyed firing off unedited blog posts at a moment's notice, but then someone convinced me that getting your words formally published made them all the more special. Well guess what - after a few years of dabbling in the field, it frackin sucks.

The time spent writing increases tenfold, just to enjoy a flurry of edits from someone who wouldn't recognize you from a  Lama, and several months later you reach a point where you'd rather be eating dirt than re-read your draft a 42nd time. All this just to get it published in a journal (if you're lucky).

I understand the value is still there for a number of situations. You want your ideas heard by as many people as possible. Yet since this little thing called the internet came around, the value is virtually nothing for someone in my position. It's archaic.


3.) - Facebook

After extensive research, I have concluded that Facebook STILL isn't for me. I know it's great for millions of people, and I applaud everyone involved. I can't stand it. So with that said, I'm still trying to make a page that non-facebook-users can still visit if they're interested. If I'm lucky we'll get 10 people to "like" this thing before the birth of my second child...

https://www.facebook.com/PeregrinePrints

(There's nothing really there yet, but I'm curious to know if you can see the page without being a facebooker)


4.) -


5.) - Retiring.. I'd kinda like to do it now... Too soon? Is there any way an avid naturalist can make a decent living, and still have time to be an avid naturalist?


6.) - People who complain or hinder, but offer no solution. Get out of the way - would ya!


7.) - Landfills... As a birder, is there anything worse than knowing that there are thousands of large white-headed gulls happily gorging themselves on garbage at this very moment - but we aren't allowed inside to see them? I haven't run the figures yet, but I get the strong impression that there is a higher percentage of vagrant gulls at landfills than at other food sources. Just check out a place like Pelee Island. The place can have several thousand young/summering gulls - but never quite produces the marvel of a landfill with stupidly ugly (and rare) gulls.


8.) - HOV lanes for the Pan Am Games - they're only for a few weeks - settle down, would ya? Yeesh.


Ok, that should do it...

\

Quiz Results - thanks to those who played along:

1. Nashville Warbler

2. Magnolia Warbler

3. Northern Mockingbird

4. Orchard Oriole

5. Red-bellied Woodpecker

6. Gray Catbird
7. Summer Tanager
8. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
9. Eastern Bluebird
10. Philadelphia Vireo
11. Mallard, Wood Duck, Wood Duck, Wood Duck, Mallard, Mallard

Reverse Engineering a Historical Birding Event

This note was published in The Wood Duck -


Holden, B.R. 2014. Reverse Engineering an Historical Birding Event. The Wood Duck 68(3):7-8.


The whole issue of The Wood Duck can be seen here: 

http://hamiltonnature.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/wood-duck/wood-duck-2014-11.pdf

Normally I'd scan a print copy and put it on my website, but my website is currently out of action - so I figured this would be the next best thing..

-----------------------------------

I have a serious interest in meteorology, and I blame it all on the birds. Through various experiences in the field, there seemed to be a correlation between great birding days and the weather. The more I’ve learned, the more I’ve enjoyed it - and while nothing will rival my appetite for birding; studying the weather has become a significant hobby. 

A fun past time involves searching for notable historical birding events, and then trying to find the corresponding weather charts. In several situations, I can find very little - but occasional surprises turn up. I will spare the details of many past situations that have had varying levels of success, and instead focus on one of the most remarkable bird observations in the birding records of the Hamilton Study Area. In fact, I’ll let Bob Curry’s superb Birds of Hamilton (2006) detail the ornithological side of the story (pg 245):

“On 25 November 1950, a very severe northeast gale reaching back to the Gulf of St. Lawrence caused great damage to the shores of Lake Ontario and also brought a flight of murres (Beardslee & Mitchell 1965). George North (1982) wrote about this event:

On November 26, 1950 there was a terrific easterly gale at Hamilton, On stopping my bicycle for a few moments at the foot of Bay Street I saw a Laughing Gull and a Kittiwake fly by on the wind. So in Toronto on November 28th I suggested to Bill Gunn that we drive along the west shore of Lake Ontario to see if any other oceanic birds had been blown in by the storm. … At Port Credit we were delighted to see a Thick-billed Murre on the water close to shore. At Lorne Park we were amazed to see flocks of Thick-billed Murres flying south-westerly along the shore; some even flew overhead in V formation like geese. Continuing along the lakeshore we kept seeing more murres till at Bronte we had counted 140; probably many more times that had flown by that day”

140 Thick-billed Murre’s! In Hamilton! In one day! I could hardly imagine just how spectacular the easterly gale must have been.The account also detailed Mr. North’s encounter with a Laughing Gull during the same storm - a gull of southerly beaches in the USA. My weather instincts immediately brought me to the wikipedia page for the 1950 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Hurricanes are famous for their ability to transport remarkable birds to far flung locations, but there were no tropical systems in the records to explain these sightings. Using superior intellect, I plugged “November 1950 storm” into the google search engine, and my answer appeared 0.34 seconds later. Wikipedia can say it far better than I, so once again I’ll provide a quote:

“The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 was a large extratropical cyclone which moved through the Eastern United States, causing significant winds, heavy rains east of the Appalachians, and blizzard conditions along the western slopes of the mountain chain. Hurricane-force winds, peaking at 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) in Concord, New Hampshire and 160 miles per hour (260 km/h) in the New England highlands”

“The cyclone initially formed in southeast North Carolina near a cold front on the morning of November 24 as the main cyclone over the Great Lakes weakened. Rapid development ensued … and the cyclone bombed while moving north through Washington D.C. the next morning. … By the evening of November 25, the cyclone retrograded, or moved northwestward, into Ohio due to a blocking ridge up across eastern Canada. … The cyclone moved west over Lake Erie to the north of the upper cyclone before looping over Ohio” 

As it turns out, the Great Appalachian Storm was a particularly devastating extratropical cyclone. One of the stronger systems ever recorded at this time of year (in North America), Toronto received over 30cm of Snow; with several exceptional readings for cold temperature, precipitation and wind speeds recorded from Alabama, through Florida, the entire coastline north to New Hampshire and inland to Ohio. In fact, it caused US$66.7 million dollars worth of damage (1950 figures) by the time it was all said and done. With Mr. North’s observations occurring on 28 November 1950, I can only help but wonder what todays hoards of Hamilton area birders would turn up under similar circumstances, armed with our collections of modern optics and digital cameras. All in all, a highly successful attempt to “reverse engineer” a historical birding event. Figure 1 shows the remarkable storm near peak intensity, below 980mb. If I ever see anything like this in the future, I’ll be one “sick day” away from some spectacular birding!

Figure 1. The Great Appalachian Storm near peak intensity (978mb-980mb) on 26 November 1950 (Wikipedia 2014). 

References: 

Beardslee C.S. and H. D. Mitchell. 1965. Birds of the Niagara Frontier Region: An annotated check-list. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, vol 22. 478pp. 

Curry, R. 2006. Birds of Hamilton and Surrounding Areas. Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. 647pp. 

North G.W. 1982. Thick-billed Murre. Wood Duck 36(7):119. 

Wikipedia. 2014. “Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950” retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Appalachian_Storm_of_November_1950. Wikimedia Foundation, accessed by Brandon Holden on 27 September 2014. 

PeregrinePrints highly irregular quiz - birds in flight (May 2015 edition) #3

Answers to quiz #2. It seems like if there are any birds that are tricky/sticky, people don't enjoy playing along! Thanks to those who did though :)

Chestnut-sided Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-headed Woodpecker
 Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Willet x 2
Oriole sp. - I wasn't sure what to call it, but everyone said Baltimore. Could it be impure due to Bullock's influence though?!
Double-crested Cormorant (left) with Cormorant sp. (right). I'm guessing DCCO for both birds (size variation and single-image photo illusion) but there is no way of saying it's not a Neotropic or hybrid.
Common Tern x 2

------------------------------------------

Part 3!!! -

You know the drill - leave a comment, don't leave a comment, don't cheat, cheat - play along however you like... If any photos in particular are overly challenging, I'll highlight them and provide some additional chances to get it (otherwise, I'll just post the answers at some point!)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Twitching/Listing laid bare

It has been a long time since I've relaxed in the month of June and 2015 was no different... With that in mind, I've had the urge to write a short blog post on twitching/listing and the Little Egret that I presumably won't be seeing...


------


Avid Ontario birders were stunned to see Ben DiLabio's photos of a spankin Little Egret taken on June 2nd, 2015 in Carp, ON (major congrats Ben!). Probably one of the most exciting birds ever to be found in the province - it happened to be sporting breeding plumage and the photos showed almost every feature you would want to see. WOW. Several local birders saw it in the afternoon.

Understandably a number of people went looking for this stunner the next morning but many/all were thwarted as it left the site quite early in the morning. Dang. But that's birding for you. A rare bird is found, and eventually it leaves.

Then things got weird.

The bird was refound, but was now lacking its beautiful (and ID useful) head plumes, several km from the first site, and continued to be challenging to nail down. Over the month of June and into July there were sporadic sightings until birders have figured out enough of a pattern that people can travel some distance and hope to get a sighting of the beast. For those who enjoy the chase, or the tick, or the social aspects of seeing rare birds - it must be a real treat. As a disinclined chaser, I just can't wrap my head around the idea of going for it.

Others have written more detail on why this Little Egret is so rare, so I'll keep it short and simple. Our Snowy Egret appears to be the "new world" counterpart to the "old world" Little Egret. We guess that they blow from Africa over to the Lesser Antillies (or beyond) on the trade winds that blow in the oppisite direction as the northern Atlantic (east to west). These are the same winds that bring us Cape Verde-type Hurricanes in the fall. Once they're in the "new world" - a select few get REALLY freakin lost and end up in North America (presumably migrating "north" as they would have from Africa into Europe).

The story is spectacular, until you look into the details. The Little Egret really doesn't look that different from our Snowy Egret. Don't get me wrong, Ben's photos are some of the best rarity photos ever taken of a truly beautiful bird - but now that it has lost it's distinctive head plumes and the skin colours fade - well... It starts to look more and more like a Snowy Egret...

Things turn comical (for me personally) when a Snowy Egret was found by Cheryl Edgecombe at Windemere Basin in Hamilton barely five minutes from my house. 5 min, 5km for the Snowy or 10 hours and 1000km for the Little Egret. If I blur my eyes, I could probably just pretend the Snowy was the Little and be done with it!

So I ask myself, what (truly) is the difference between the Snowy Egret and the Little Egret at this point? Some initial thoughts are: first provincial record, life bird, not a North American species... But none of those points affect me personally. I didn't find it (so not "my" first/second/third record), I don't keep a life list, and I would prefer to see all birds in their proper range for the first time. Vagrants for me are the excitement of the unknown. I can go to Van Wagner's Beach 1000 times and not see a Leach's Storm-Petrel, but when I do - it's MORE exciting because I HAVE been there 1000 times before.

Most of this is subjective due to my personal interests and where I live, and in no way am I trying to deter from the excitement of the observation or those who have traveled to see it. I know I won't be going to see it anytime soon, and I know there will come a point  in the future where I say "dang, I wish I could have seen that Little Egret - what a spectacular bird".

A quick summary of twitching factors for me:

- Distance

- Beauty 

- Rarity

- Can I learn anything by going?

- Time of year

Any reasons for twitching/not twitching rare birds that apply to you that I haven't mentioned? Or that you feel differently about?

Quiz answers soon!

PeregrinePrints highly irregular quiz - birds in flight (May 2015 edition) #2

You know the drill - leave a comment, don't leave a comment, don't cheat, cheat - play along however you like... If any photos in particular are overly challenging, I'll highlight them and provide some additional chances to get it (otherwise, I'll just post the answers at some point!)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11