Nova Scotia’s hatch year birds

Hatch year birds are confusing as they include two plumages, juvenile and immature. Juvenile plumage is the first set of downy feathers, and the immature plumage comes in shortly afterward. The immature plumage is the first real set of flight flight feathers a bird has, and it will likely look completely different after it’s first molt as an adult. For birds that come to Nova Scotia to breed, like our visiting Wood Warblers, the immature plumage will carry them to a warmer climate in the Fall when they leave us until next Spring.

Either way, the field guides can’t show you everything and there is a definite lack of photos showing newly fledged / hatch year birds so I will try to build a little library of them here from my own photos. It’s going to take me a long time, probably years, but that is half the fun…

Black-throated Green Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Dark-eyed Junco

1st year Junco just a little older than a fledgling I'd say - Taylor Head - July 3, 2016

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

Boblink

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Fox Sparrow

European Starling

Red-winged Blackbird

Alder Flycatcher

Common Yellowthroat

the grainiest bird photo I was ever so happy to take

BEYOND, Birds, British Columbia

Earlier this month I spent a bit of time birding in British Columbia in advance of a short work conference in Vancouver. In my tradition of not straying too far from the city for my diversions, I chose Squamish as the out of town overnight.

Last year my epic lifer fail was on the Barn Owls, so I was determined to get them this year and got some help from a guide (Mike Klotz) to up my odds and added American Dipper to the wish list.

As much as I love to see rarities, my preference is to see native species in their natural habitat. Both the Barn Owl and America Dipper are endemic species for the West Coast and would not be seen in Nova Scotia.

After arriving in Vancouver, I took a bus up to Squamish to spend the night. Beautiful setting to spend a bit of time and unwind, and great Dipper country. I noted a little park across from the Squamish bus stop so did a bit of birding, luggage in tow, and got some great looks at a group of Varied Thrush. They have evaded me on previous trips to BC, so I was happy with this serendipitous sighting.

The next morning I arranged for Mike meet me in Squamish at sun up, and we checked a few fast-moving streams where Dippers are known to be present. We dipped on the first one (I know) and I spotted one right away at the second location.

Dippers are a little hard to photograph as they are small, dark, and favor mountain streams. Even if it’s sunny out, the mountains cast a shadow and creates a dimly lit environment. However, I’m relatively happy with my photos, but more importantly I was thrilled with the experience. The first bird we found sang beautifully for a while, which was an unexpected treat so early in February.

The second bird we saw in another location put on a great little show flying up and down the stream, stopping to forage for food. When we zoomed in on some of our photos, we realized he was actually that some of what he was finding, and eating were Salmon fry.

The weather was perfect, so we enjoyed some casual birding on the trails in the lovely mountain setting.

not a bad spot to wake up and do a bit of birding in I thought

Many of the birds are also native to Nova Scotia, although some have colour variants such at the Red-bellied Sapsucker (our is yellow) and the Northern Flicker (ours is yellow-shafted, BC has red-shafted). Most of the Eagles had moved on but we saw a few. December I believe would be the time to see the 1000+ strong convocations of Eagles following the Salmon run. Someday if can find the time that would certainly be something to see in such a lovely setting.

We have large groups of Eagles in Nova Scotia, but sadly it’s because someone feeds them chicken carcasses to attract tourists. Not my idea of watching birds in natural habitat. Although we do get large groups in the fall at the Cape Breton causeway following the Billfish (Atlantic Saury) run which is fun because lots of other critters such as White-sided Dolphins enjoy that as well. Still I don’t think we would ever see 1000+ Eagles all at once in Nova Scotia without a man-made circumstance of some sort.

Anyway, I only had two target birds for the day, so we were off to find my Barn Owl next. Mike had a lead on a location in Point Roberts, Washington where we thought there would be enough light in the barn to get good photos, but the owls were not there.

However, it was supercool to do some sea birding on a little beach in Washington. “Point Bob” is basically the most southerly tip of BC that is cut off by the 49^th parallel. Birding never fails to bring me to interesting places, to provide different viewpoints of our world.

I even had an opportunity to do some birding in Washington!

Knowing how important it was to me to see my first Barn Owl, Mike had a backup location. And a backup to his backup, which fortunately we didn’t have to use.

The barn was very dark, and the second story rafters were very high. Even with binoculars it took a bit of work to locate two Barn Owls that were seated high in a corner. After seeing then in my binoculars, I made a few feeble attempts to photograph them at ISO 1600 that I had set from the first location with more light, and immediately realized I’d have push the sensor to the max and settled on the full ISO 256000. My grainy shot is still a great accomplishment by my budget priced Nikon SLR given the conditions, but even better it shows how amazing the Barn Owl camouflage is.

what amazing camouflage the Barn Owls have!

These wondrous creatures look they are part of the barn boards. You can see other camouflage in this photo too that prove once again Mother Nature always has a few great tricks up her sleeve. And so is the story of the grainiest bird photo I was ever so happy to take.

The afternoon owl theme continued as we stopped at to visit some Great Horned Owls, and then went in search of a Northern Saw Whet Owl.

The Saw Whet search was not so successful, but we had great fun trying at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

one of the resident Sandhill Cranes at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary

As if that wasn’t good enough, we spotted a Short-eared Owl at dusk as we ended our day.

Short-eared Owls and me have quite a back story.

Short-eared Owl heading off to nab something I’d say

I had a great adventure and I’ve now seen most of the birds I’ve wanted to see in BC. My next British Columbia visit goal is to photograph a beautiful Coastal Wolf, but realistically I’ll probably just do wide angle shots in Gastown ?

my big fat Greek birding adventure

BEYOND, Birds, Europe, Travel

My intention was not to spend much time birding on my trip of a lifetime to Greece this September, but yes I packed the binoculars.

Lots of beaching, eating, and relaxing was on the agenda with a little bit of birding to be mixed in.

I had the flu last winter and was down for a few weeks, pretty much bed ridden for a lot of that time and began dreaming of better times. And decided that my dream trip needed to be in the near future.

Armed with the internet, I printed out maps of Greek Islands and all the international airports and ferry routes and started to plan a little island-hopping vacation.

Things were pretty much par for the course until I saw a photo of a Dalmatian Pelican, and my plans came to a screeching halt.

Back to the drawing board. These endangered birds are not found in many places in the world but turns out they are quite plentiful in Northern Greece.

And so, my trip changed entirely to hanging out on one island and then flying up to Thessaloniki to rent a car and hit the wetlands of Lake Kerkini.

I will note that I would prefer to never drive in Greece again, so hopefully next time I go birding in Northern Greece it will be with a group of friends and a braver soul can take the wheel. But, it was a personal achievement and they say you should do something that scares you every so often. Uh huh.

I had reviewed eBird reports to choose my dates and locations. Honestly, this was not the best time of the year for the birds, but not that bad. I also wanted warm ocean swimming and for the tourist season to be over. All this left me with 4 target species (Bee Eater, Dalmatian Pelican, Eurasian Spoonbill, Hoopoe) and 1 that I thought might be still around but was in fact gone (Rollers).

My first target was found in Antiparos quite by accident. My 4 sleeps in Paros were not really intended to involve any birding, but you and I know we are always birding.

In good tourist fashion I took the ferry to Antiparos for the day to sight see and explore. Mostly I was taking snapshots for the folks back home, but I did pack the telephoto lens in my daypack just in case.

the scrub where I found the Hoopoe on the way to the most lovely beach – and I didn’t even go swimming because you know what – you can swim anywhere in the Cyclades

Wandering as I do, I happened upon some good scrub and figured it would be great habitat for migrants and after spending some time trying to figure out the new to me Hooded Crows, I continued with my big lens attached. Because I was switching lenses and photographing a variety of things I had a massive camera fail when the most beautiful of my targets appeared. I could not believe my eyes when a Hoopoe appeared right in front of me on a foot path to the beach. And because I had VC turned on, I missed the shot. You just can’t focus fast enough on the fly in the field to catch surprise birds that are moving. And your serendipitous target bird rarely stays still.

no Hoopoe photos but great battlescars I thought

I must say though seeing one of these guys in person on the way to check out this beach was still a highlight of my life.

Several new to me birds were also in the area, such at the Crested Lark and Sardinian Warblers

Back to the business of touristing I went, and visited a number of villages during my stay in Paros.

One of these was Aliki, where I was actually hoping to see birds. Aliki has a good salt pan behind the tourist beach that I had read might be dried up at this time of the year. Ummm…might be dried up.

the salt pan in Aliki

A spring visit is required, not recommended in my opinion…LOL

lovely tourist beach in Aliki

Gorgeous beach though, and fun to see the Octopus hanging on the lines to dry for the restaurants.

not a good day to be an Octopus I guess

Although the pan was dry, I still found a couple of lifers down the shore and had a nice cool off on my hike.

had an inlet all to myself to cool my tootsies

After much relaxing and twice a day swims, I was ready to head up north for the rest of my target birds, and the mighty Dalmatian Pelicans.

it was a tough 4 days in Paros…I’ll tell ya 😉

The drive from Thessaloniki was only bad for the first 20 minutes (just google driving in Greece) before the landscape changed to farmland and the first birds appeared. I had no time to stop as I was fighting daylight, but it was a group of about 25 small hawks which were most likely Kestrels. As I continued toward Kato Poria the mountains slowly rose around me as the sun settled in a soft glow. The hotel was not far off. I landed in complete darkness and awoke to the same the next morning.

The drive to the boat launch was just before sunrise, and once we launched the sun began to rise, right on schedule.

We were immediately greeted by a large group of terns, gulls, and our first celebrity pelican.

juvenile Dalmatian Pelican

Not long after the Pygmy Cormorants made their first appearance, and then the show began.

the star of the show

Dalmatian Pelicans are a pretty tough act to follow, but the large flocks of White Pelicans, Greater Flamingos, and Eurasian Spoonbills were a very decent second act.

Greater Flamingos

White Pelican

Eurasian Spoonbills

There were several other interesting birds but honestly for me the big waders were the main event.

The boat tour would have been enough for me, but of course I spent the rest of my day birding around Lake Kerkini. It’s so beautiful there that many Greeks visit in the summer just for a vacation, and not to bird at all.

Lake Kerkini

There is a lot of ground to cover and although I was delighted to see the Water Buffalos in Vironia, I felt I hadn’t spent my time well and wished I had more of it.

Water Buffalos – later I ate some seemed really surreal

The next morning, I was going to drive back in to Thessaloniki to spend the day touristing, but watching the news over breakfast I noticed there were large groups of protesters and police officers in the downtown area and figured that was not the thing to be in the middle of. I changed my hotel to be closer to the airport and decided to spend some extra time in Lake Kerkini.

Although it was not the original plan, it was just perfect. I meandered around on my own schedule with some knowledge of the area from the day before and found all the birds I missed the day before.

Squacco Heron

Happy in my soul, I promised to return…next time with friends.

I imagined this for 6 months!

a weekend in the Cape Breton highlands

Atlantic Canada, BEYOND, Canada

Approximately 30 intrepid birders descended upon the Cape Breton Highlands this weekend for the Nova Scotia Bird Society’s out of town meetings and field trips.

For most of us I imagine it was a life changing experience to forest bathe in the company of so much knowledge. For me, it was also a chance to commune with my Cape Breton birding connections. I thank David McCorquodale for not only his knowledge, but making sure there is always strong coffee for his fellow birders to start the day off right. Seriously though, if you wonder what the birds are eating in Cape Breton you must chat with Dave about the insects and trees, he has a wealth of expertise to share about habitat and bird behavior.

Great skill aplenty in my little group, it was delightful to have the company of Laura Saunders and Bethsheila Kent. Laura has wonderful ears for birding, fantastic information about local breeding birds and habitat, and a great sense of humor and fun. Bethsheila shared her vast horticultural knowledge and passion for fauna, most notably delighting many on the group walk at the Bog trail with typical Bethsheila zest!

Bethsheila Kent and Laura Saunders my best girls for the weekend!

How these three great spirits could tolerate my incessant whining about not getting a photo of a Moose or finding my first Spruce Grouse is beyond me. A testimony to their gentle nature I suppose.

Surrounded by so many wonderful spirits from around our province this weekend, we were somewhat like a group of large children let loose in the playground.

Laura asks “what happened to this egg” at the seabird breeding colony at Cheticamp Island. Never lose your sense of wonder…

the big kids playing on the Bog Trail

handsome male birders in summer plumage (left to right, Alix, Mike, and Blaine)

Anyone who knows me knew that my targets for the weekend were to see my first Spruce Grouse, and to get some closeup photographs of Moose.

Friday night David McCorquodale took us “moose hunting” around French Mountain as the sun went down and we witnessed a young calf in the river with its mother. Distant grainy shot from the road looking down but such a wonderful and tender moment we were privileged to witness.

Far down in the river where nobody can reach them, this calf and mother enjoy a quiet drink in the river, North Mountain.

There was a walk scheduled very early on Saturday morning (330AM in fact) on the Skyline trail to look for Bicknell’s Thrush that I chose not to join, and of course the group had an amazing display from a male Spruce Grouse fanning its tail and defending territory, and a very close encounter with a Moose!

That’s okay, I’m frequently punished by the universe for sleeping in, so I say you all earned it for rising early, and I’m delighted for you all to have had this wonderful experience.

Later that morning Bethsheila and I were tipped off (thank you B) about a group of Bay-breasted Warblers moving through the lower parking lot on the Skyline. Although I did not find a Spruce Grouse this time, it was wonderful to watch those birds feeding on the Spruce trees. I’ve never seen them in breeding plumage before, and they are outstanding to observe. It’s amazing how they camouflage seamlessly in their habitat.

Bay-breasted Warbler male

Bay-breasted Warbler male perfectly camouflaged

There were also several Black-throated Green Warblers in the area who are also masters of camouflage as all birds are.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler perfectly camouflaged

And I never tire of the Maggies.

Magnolia Warblers were perhaps the most numerous warblers in the park.

I joined the NSBS group for a guided walk on the Bog Trail. We were accompanied by park interpreters who helped identify many plants in and around the bog. We had many of our own group on the walk who also had knowledge and/or interest in the Fauna. Amber and Bethsheila spent a lot of time mucking around investigating with great curiosity which was great fun to witness.

As well I spent a good portion of the day whining about not seeing a Spruce Grouse and trying to figure out if I would join the group in the evening or hit the Skyline again to find one.

In the end, I chose to venture up the Skyline myself after supper. Even though I visit Cape Breton quite a bit, I rarely have this opportunity as my Border Collie, Macy, is usually with me and dogs are not allowed on that trail even on leash. This is a rule I support firmly as dogs can agitate wildlife and Moose and Black Bear are frequently spotted on this trail. I don’t really like taking her in the park at all, and the few times I have hiked in the Cape Breton Highlands with Macy I was nervous to venture very far into the woods with her. I prefer to be with other humans or alone and alert for wildlife encounters. I had a close encounter with a Black Bear in Newfoundland a few years ago in Gros Morne which was amazing. Other people came behind me a few minutes later but I was the only one who saw the bear. Alone and silent, it crossed my path.

Anyway, off I went with great faith that I would see a Spruce Grouse as pretty much everyone else in the group saw them every time they went up the Skyline.

My plan was to go as far as the Moose enclosure and then turn around as the terrain changes up there and becomes less hospitable for Spruce Grouse. No luck. But my heart almost stopped when I realized there was a Moose about 20 feet away from me by the enclosure. Serendipity has long been my best friend in nature, and I knew why I was there at this very moment in time.

Long lens in hand, I quietly maneuvered about the Moose working to get the light behind me. I kept my distance, but it was not long at all before tourists arrived on the scene and started taking selfies. A park ranger appeared after a while and helped corral the humans away from the Moose, but people really didn’t seem to understand the threat to their safety. I hung back giving the Moose and the crowd a wide berth and continued to try to get the light in the right position for photos. The Moose did as it wished, so patience was required, and I just had to put in the time and wait for it to get into position for photos. Several times I told people they were too close, and they were irritated and said they were fine. FYI Moose attack more people than Bears and Coyotes combined and although docile when not threatened a circle of tourist taking selfies is a bad situation. Thinning the herd, I believe they call it? Anyway, the Moose started scratching the ground with it’s front hooves and snorting and wagging its head so me and someone else with common sense moved in the other direction using trees for cover.

After the park ranger finally convinced the stupid tourists to shove off and give it space, the Moose relaxed and got into the perfect position. Were I alone and in a better opportunity to choose my camera settings and perhaps with a tripod, I could have the perfect shots, but for me this is a highlight of my life and I’m very pleased with the results given the situation.

I do feel like my time on our friend’s farm as a child helping to herd the dairy cattle was of great benefit in this situation. Understanding the behavior of wildlife and birds is the only way to get close enough to get the real shot.

You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for hours, even though I dipped on the Spruce Grouse yet again on the descent.

I then joined many of the NSBS members on their adventure to listen for Bicknell’s Thrush at sundown at Benji’s Lake.

Although not heard, this was an amazing group outing with many big shoulders of our birding community. The kind of people who lift you up into the birding stratosphere as our dear Eric Mills has done for so many of us.

And our new fearless magazine editor in chief, Alix d’Entremont.

Alix d’Entremont

Although you have BIG shoes to fill, we all know you will succeed as you are already on the path of the great birders in our province.

The group decided to try one more time on Sunday morning, but you can already guess I decided to hit the Skyline for another shot at the Spruce Grouse, right?

Dipped again but had a lovely walk, entertained by Pine Grosbeak, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Pine Siskins, none of whom are present in good numbers in my neck of the woods so how can I complain really.

Pine Grosbeak female

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Pine Siskins getting some grit for digestion I presume

Eh em.

And so, I headed up to Benji’s after and didn’t see anything different but enjoyed the terrain and the company. Laura and I were quite certain we heard a Spruce Grouse land in the bushes right about where Dave said he often sees them, but we waited it out and never saw it. In retrospect since we couldn’t sight it maybe that one was a female as it would be harder to spot…nonetheless another dip in perfect habitat!

Time for checkout, but I decided on the way back we had to make one more attempt for the Spruce Grouse before leaving the highlands, and it was well worth being 20 minutes late for checkout time as Mr. Handsome finally made an appearance.

I will say, this was well worth the 4-year wait to see as I have chosen not to twitch them 2 hours from home and wait for a sighting in the highlands as I knew the day would come eventually.

Although my focus was different than many in the group, please know that you were also my focus.

Spending time in the field with great birders is a true privilege and a pleasure. It was wonderful to connect with so many birding friends and make new ones.

Thank you to the volunteers from the Nova Scotia Bird Society who worked to make this wonderful out of town meeting a reality. It was truly a life changing experience.

Yours in birds,
Angela

chasing Egrets…a Great week in Cape Breton

Atlantic Canada, Birds, Canada

Being surrounded by nature in Cape Breton is one of my favorite things. I spent a great deal of time in the woods growing up and it is still my favorite place. The woods or Cape Breton you say?

Anyway, this Monday I drove down to Sydney. It was a work trip but it’s my hometown so lots of opportunities for great diversions and nobody wants to hear about work anyway.

Monday, I did make a stop before dusk in Arichat to try to locate the Black Vulture that has been hanging around but no luck. Man, that would have been a cool lifer, but you win some you lose some. Although I snapped this Raven with his prized Rice Crispy Square. Imagine my disappointment to realize the square was not the light coloured head of a Black Vulture, but you take what you can get I guess.

Common Raven with a Rice Crispy Square

Mother Nature must have felt bad as she sent me a Barred Owl a little further down the line.

Tuesday I met a group of favorite birding friends to tour around Louisbourg and Catalone and see what might be hanging around.

We dipped on the Great Egret that had been spotted by others, but found another one in Baliene, which was even cooler

Great Egret in Baliene

We found out after the fact that we had missed out on a Gyrfalcon that had been sighted a few days earlier. Likely long gone anyway, and as incredibly disappointing as this is we did enjoy expected sightings like the Harlequin Ducks.

male Harlequin duck in the rough surf

And if you think Black-capped Chickadees are adorable, hello Boreal Chickadees. They sound like they have a cold and are super cute.

Nice to see the Purple Finch coming back as well. They had a rough go last year so it will be interesting to see how the population was affected. Don’t forget to wash your bird feeders in any case!

Purple Finch

Wednesday rain and work only. Next.

Thursday, I started the day off right and met a friend and her Boxer to let my Border Collie, Macy, have a good run so I could enjoy a few hours later to bird.

A target species for the trip was the Pine Grosbeak. Groups of them have been eating grit on the side of the roads in the Bouladerie area, so I had the afternoon reserved to go find some. This is year 4 of birding and I’ve never seen one in Nova Scotia, although I have in Newfoundland.

Sometimes I leave the camera at home when it’s to be strictly a dog outing, so my dog can have some serious downtime of her own and when I do, there is always a great bird sighting.

This Thursday morning on a logging road on Juniper Mountain a mated pair of Pine Grosbeaks landed in a tree right in front of us if to pose for the camera. The camera I left home. And so it goes, this juggling of life, priorities, and serendipity. I really have no right to complain.

So with my target bird ticked I really wasn’t sure what to do with this much prized free time to go hang out alone with my big camera lens. About mid-afternoon I decided it best to revisit some of the spots Dave McCorquodale showed us on Tuesday while they were fresh in my mind. Good birding locations can be hard to re-find as they are not marked by signs typically, ya know?

Thought I’d try before heading back to see if I could get a good photo of either a Harlequin Duck, or maybe even a Great Egret since I was sans Border Collie for a bit. The little pond where the Egret was rumored to be won out as I pulled up and found it right away. Saw a few vehicles that looked suspiciously like birding vehicles and upon speaking with one of the drivers I found out that Kris Tynski and Adam Hill were in the area photographing.

They are my Cape Breton nature photography heroes…so I hung about to say hello…and get some Great Egret shots of my own of course.

These guys were hunkered down, and I didn’t want to bug them so waited and met Kris on the way out. He has the sweetest Red Fox photos (one of his fox photos below), among many other nature lovelies. Please check out his work. Oh, and he has a Border Collie, as do I, so maybe it explains the love of foxes. There is a theory that Border Collies are bred down from fox and if you own a Border Collie too, you may just believe this.

Here is one of Kris Tynski’s photos or a Red Fox and kit

Adam popped out of his blind after a bit and we had a great chat about photography and birds. I don’t think he’ll mind me posting this photo I snapped of him in his blind here as he shared it on his social media.

nature photographer Adam Hill in his blind

You can check out Adam’s website here to see his nature photos, and wonderful photos of the Aurora Borealis.

On the way out both Adam and I stopped our cars at the Egret flew in for a closer look and I managed to get a flight shot I’m happy with.

Great way to end the week, although I’m kicking myself in the pants for not joining Steven McGrath on his hike Friday morning. He even found a Sora!

I made the poor choice instead to check the dump in Arichat one more time on the drive home, and dipped again.

Although I will say that scanning through approximately 40 Common Ravens and watching their aerial courtship displays was very interesting. One thing you learn in birding, is that sorting through common birds looking for something different will really teach you a lot about common birds you tend to overlook!

I’m always sad to leave, but will be back in June for the Nova Scotia Bird Society annual out of town meetings in Cheticamp.

Can’t wait!

Birds, Barks, Beyond

wildlife & portrait photography by Angela Granchelli

Birds

Nova Scotia’s hatch year birds

the grainiest bird photo I was ever so happy to take

my big fat Greek birding adventure

a weekend in the Cape Breton highlands

chasing Egrets…a Great week in Cape Breton