Weekly Roundup November 9th to November 15th
This week had fairly few rarities in Muskoka, so I’m going to begin with a bit of Ontario rare birds before diving into Muskoka. My rare bird scouting in Muskoka was short a day this week because I decided to join some friends for a last minute trip to Ottawa to twitch for a TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE.
We left Muskoka at around 10 pm on Saturday night, driving through Algonquin Park and arriving in Ottawa at 3 am. A quick power nap later, a bit of coffee, and we were up and at the site where the bird had been seen the previous day. We arrived there at 7 am, climbing a steep, but small hill to look out at a group of around 4000 CANADA GEESE. Other birders had located the bird that morning, but it took a bit of time to pick it out from all the surrounding birds. One of my friends found it a lot quicker and we shared a scope to all get a look at the amazing bird. The goose hung around for about 45 minutes, often swimming around in the water and disappearing within the large flock of geese. If your eyes ever left the goose, it took a few minutes or longer to refind it, even though it never moved too far. There was just so many geese!
Though the TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE was the highlight of the day, there were still a few other highlights. We managed to get a HOARY REDPOLL at one of the other stops we made, as well as finding a flock of over 15,000 SNOW GEESE landing in a field. Photos don’t do the scene of that many SNOW GEESE landing at once, but it was quite the sight!
Snow Geese in Flight, Ottawa, Aaron Rusak
Moving back to Muskoka, waterfowl are also the focus here. This week no new rarities popped up, but we had several continuing birds. LESSER SCAUP, LONG-TAILED DUCK, NORTHER SHOVELERS, and RUDDY DUCK all continued into this week.
A couple of our usual culprits, CAROLINA WREN and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER are still sticking around in their usual areas. We’ve even got some lingering RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS moving around in various places in Muskoka. Most of our migrant breeding birds have left however, so some of our smaller birds are few and far between.
Red-winged Blackbird, Bracebridge (2019), Aaron Rusak
Finches are having a similar showing to last week, with both GROSBEAK and CROSSBILL species being seen in fruit and conifer trees across Muskoka. COMMON REDPOLLS are moving through in large flocks as well, and there was even a CANADA JAY seen near the edge of Dwight.
What to Look for this Week
What more do we have coming to Muskoka, now that many of our finches have arrived? Well, with the arrival of both PACIFIC and RED-THROATED LOONS in Simcoe, there is the potential for either of those species to be seen on any of the larger water bodies. There’s also still a chance for one or more of the SCOTER species to make an appearance.
There are also odd vagrants still popping up across Ontario, like a VARIEGATED FLYCATCHER and the TUNDRA BEAN-GOOSE we saw this past weekend. Keeping an eye out for unusual birds is a very good idea these days, as you never know what might be turning up in your neck of the woods. Note: A day after this was written, I woke up crazy early and went to find the VARIEGATED FLYCATCHER myself. Success!
I call it find the flycatcher in the snowstorm (hint: it’s the blob in the center)
Variegated Flycatcher, Brooklin, Aaron Rusak
Got a rare sighting of your own? Feel free to send it to aaron@shrikebirding.com and it may be used in our next weekly report. We’re hoping to add additional information in our future weekly reports, so unusual sightings within Muskoka are hugely appreciated.
Happy birding!