Long Point, Canada - 3 to 10 June 2015

3 June

It really seems as though the main migration has now passed. Catching this morning was very slow. With a few birds of the same species in hand, comparisons between individuals were really useful.

 Female and male Cedar Waxwings

 Mourning Dove 

This afternoon we did a nest check at the Tree Swallow grid. From the 60 or so boxes there were seven with nestlings. The boxes willbe monitored and as chicks hatch, efforts made to ring or record ring number of both adults.

 Nest boxes have been lettered and numbered for reference. The baffle is needed to deter predators.

  

Eastern Fox Snake 

This Eastern Fox Snake is over a metre long and one of the predators of Tree Swallow nests. The species is uncommon within its range of Onterio, Ohio and Michigan where it only occurs near Lake Erie and Huron. It is a species of Rat Snake but is killed by many people who mistake it for the venomous Massasauga Rattlesnake.

 The male typically guards the box and communicates approaching dangers to the brooding female.

Young are usually ringed at around 12 days old. In view of the heavy rain that we had been experiencing, poor weather conditions will also be considered when deciding if monitoring visits should be made, or left to allow birds to get on with rearing their chicks.

 After days where the resident Tree Swallows tried to dissuade the Purple Martins,
one pair now appears to be in permanent residence by the ringing lab.

Totals: 19 (0)

Mourning Dove - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 1
Tree Swallow - 2
Norhern Rough-winged Swallow - 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1
America Robin - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 4
Magnolia Warbler - 2
Blackpoll Warbler - 3
Red-winged Blackbird - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 1


4 June

As the water pump to the house has still not been repaired, partly due to inclement lake conditions on the day the fixer guys were due to boat out, the calm conditions and low level of the water tower made it really important that the water tank be filled today.

Clear sky and full moon across the marsh

 

Indigo Bunting

 Male SY Common Yellowthroat

CHL and DEN did most of the ringing rounds and had 26 of 17 species by 11.10am. After a mammoth effort involving the reserve water pump (that had sprung a leak, waders, leaking pipes and all 3 men) the tank was eventually filled.

We were surprised to find a drone quartering the tip area today. It turned out to be part of a project by the interior ministry to film sandbars. The filming team had come over from Turkey Point on a day visit.

The afternoon was spent trying to catch adults in the Tree Swallow boxes. Males are particularly difficult and seem much more retiscent to enter boxes than the females. We ended up knowing 3 pairs of the 7 boxes with nestlings. More eggs should hatch soon so there is still plenty of work to be done on the Swallow grid.

Totals: 26 (0)

Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 2
Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 2
Least Flycatcher - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Gray Catbird - 2
Cedar Waxwing - 2
Magnolia Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
American Redstart - 2
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 4
Northern Cardinal - 1
Indigo Bunting - 2
Song Sparrow - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 2


5 June

It was a very calm start to the day with Erie as flat as a mill pond. Captures totalled 38 birds today. There were a few flycatchers and more warblers about, perhaps a late rush held up by the earlier bad weather. Highlights were a Mourning Warbler and two Blackburnian Warblers.

 Sunrise across Lake Erie

 

Mourning Warbler female

Blackburnian Warbler male

We spent the afternoon walking the paths and took a few photographs.

 

This Killdeer had a nest close to the path but no-one was able to locate the nest, or any young. 

 Wild Iris

Indian Paintbrush

 Northern Map Turtle

Red Saddlebags Dragonfly

Totals: 38 (2 )

Eastern Wood-Pewee -2

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher -2

Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 2

Barn Swallow - 1

Gray Catbird - 2

Brown Thrasher - 3

Cedar Waxwing - 3

Yellow Warbler - 5

Magnolia Warbler - 2

Blackburnian - 2

Blackpoll Warbler -6

American Redstart - 1

Mourning Warbler - 1

Common Yellowthroat - 2 (1)

Wilson's Warbler - 1

Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

Red-winged Blackbird - 1

American Goldfinch - 1 (1)

6 June

Again, it was too windy to ring today so we spent the morning on the Swallow Grid trying to catch adults that had so far eluded the efforts of MRI, CHL and DEN. 

 Male Tree Swallow

From our monitoring we know of at least one box that appears to have an additional female helper attending the chicks, and another where the female is going it alone. We caught 5 of the outstanding males and ringed four more birds.

There seem to be few birds around apart from a lot of Waxwings feeding around the Swallow grid.

We have been warned to be ready to leave tomorrow after census.

7 June

Our last day at the tip and we have heard that Stu and Mark would be bringing a new cooker as well as two other people to continue ringing until the 10th, the last ringing date. We operated the lab and made the tip and garden rounds for the last time. 

  

Yellow Warbler

 

 Ringing lab

We turned out the bird bags and tidied the room for the last time.

Totals: 13 ( 3) 

Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 2

Eastern Kingbird - 0 (1)

Brown Thrasher - 0 (1)

Common Yellowthroat - 1

Yellow Warbler - 2 (1)

Blackpoll Warbler - 3

Mourning Warbler - 1

Northern Waterthrush - 1

Northern Cardinal - 1

Starling - 1 

Red-winged Blackbird - 1

The following photoes show the array of various traps available for catching without mist nets.

The large net on the right now has a rather splendid repair courtesy of DEN.

They also have the daddy of all mallets!

  

Rings rack

We were relieved to have completed our time without mishap with the rings. They could so easily fall from the wire loops if knocked from the rack or during transfer from the thin wire on which they are received.

The boat arrived in the late morning.

 Northern Mockingbird

The Northern Mockingbird continued to sing close to the ringing lab and DEN made one final discovery - Common Nighthawk.

Common Nighthawk

ATV trailer withthe old cooker

For a while the tip seemed very crowded. Our team of four, the four from the boat AND two men fixing the water pumps. The cookers were switched over and the new one connected up. I couldn't help thinking that I might have got on better with the newer model. I hated that cooker, and now it was coming back to Old Cut with us. Evenually it was time to leave.

As we waited in the boat for departure, we realised how much the beach had been reduced by the storms while we had been there. One of the notice boards was now much closer to the lake with the concrete base completely exposed.

As the sand shifts, vegetation is continuously undermined on the North and South beaches.

The tip had changed considerably during our stay.

 On 22nd May the tip was not raised very much above the lake level. It was
quite long and could be seen  snaking around to the left just under water level.

  By the 1st of June it was more raised and much, much shorter.

 

The lighthouse, block house and ringers' cabin are a few metres from the North shore. The Lighthouse is on a stout concrete base but at some time all buildings will circum to the storms. There may be seven or so years left for the ringer's house at the tip.

Calmer conditions meant no need for survival suits on the return to Old Cut.

Almost there...............

Canada geese and goslings were nature intended.

8 June

Migration is pretty much over at Old Cut so it was planned that RC and CHL would operate the ringing site while DOT and DEN monitored Tree Swallow boxes.  Rain was forecast and forced the abandonment of both activities. Only one male swallow was caught in the short time available and nets were closed well before we returned to Old Cut.

Totals: 9 ( 7 )

Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 0 (1)

Black-cappedChickadee - 1 (1)

American Robin - 2 (1)

Gray Catbird - 1 (1)

Yellow Warbler - 1 (2)

Magnolia Warbler - 1

Blackpoll Warbler - 3

Baltimore Oriole - 0 (1)

9 June

There was no ringing on this date. The weather was too bad. DOT teamed up with RC to do TRES boxes in the afternoon. We got a lift (many thanks to Whip-poor-will Paul) to Simcoe to collect the rental car then went to have a look around some sites near Port Rowan, the sewage lagoon and the grounds of Bird Studies Canada. Two new species for the were Pied Billed Grebe and Moorhen.

10 June

The last day of the spring ringing season had arrived. RC, CHL and DEN operated the station but the birds were few and far between. There was a school party due at 10am but we really weren't sure they would have many birds to see.

When Jodie arrived with the party there had been no birds for 90 minutes. Thunder rumbling over head so they had their tour around the nets, returning with a retrapped Brown-headed Cowbird and Gray Catbird. Jodie began the demonstration while we started to close ahead of the rain.

The last school visit of spring 2015

The last two birds extracted were a Traill's Flycatcher and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. This made Jodie's day as the last one he ringed was in 1998.

In the afternoon we took the car for a run to Backus Woods in hopes of seeing Cerulean Warbler. The mosquitoes were terrible and we heard birds long before we got a couple of  rather poor views.

 Dense vegetation made viewing difficult.

The mosquitoes were relentless. Repellent is simply not enough.

We spent our last evening having diner at the Boat House, Port Rowan then packed up ready to leave the next morning.

Totals: 7 (2)

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1

Alder/Willow Flycatcher - 1

Gray Catbird - 2

Cedar Waxwing - 1

Yellow Warbler - 0 (1)

Blackpoll Warbler - 1

Brown-headed Cowbird - 0 (1)

House Sparrow - 1