surprise: a Yellow-breasted Chat in our nets!

the wait is probably worth it, although uploading a picture on dial-up is a test of patience. We too had to wait to almost the end of the season to get a new species for Cabot Head. So here's a picture of our first ever Yellow-breasted Chat!

other visitors from the North... and one from the South!

As October continues to tumble gently towards November and colder weather, more denizens of the North are appearing on our shores. Some look like snow flakes, to prepare us for what to come: Snow Buntings in their fluttering flocks have been delighted us these last few days.

Over Georgian Bay, flocks of Long-tailed Ducks have been flying fast over the water. They seem eager to go somewhere, as we haven't seen them yet resting on the water.

But the big surprise came today (October 27), as warm air loaded with humidity was pushed from the south: in a net (B8 to be precise), a large, yellow, white, and green bird, with a strong beak and a harsh call, was probably as astonished as us to found itself in such predicament! It was (drum roll!!)... a Yellow-breasted Chat!

This species has not only never been banded here at Cabot Head, but also never observed before, and not only in the count area, but also in the broader region of the BPBO checklist (at least, to the best of our knowledge). We gleefully put a band on it, took all the precise measurements, and spent some time taking pictures (soon to come on the blog).

In migration time, always expect the unexpected! (as I like to repeat)

visitors from the north and the night

The sun hadn't risen yet this morning when we checked nets for the first time. To our surprise, soon followed by delight, a strange form was in one net. It was a Northern Saw-whet Owl with a beheaded mouse in its beak! We gleefully brought it back to the banding lab to put a band on the owl. At release, we tried to give it back the mouse, but too stressed, it neglected the easy meal. That's unfortunate, but hopefully, this little young male would find another feast next night.

At the end of the morning, another visitor showed up, perched in the dead birch in front of our house. A diurnal kind of predator this time, this Northern Shrike tried its luck on our banded young male Northern Cardinal, with no luck. It flew away afterward.

Yesterday, on a hike, we also spotted a Northern Shrike in a wetland not far from the station. With the arrival of this denizen of the North, it is definitively starting to feel like the season is nearing its end: only 12 days of banding left...

fall harvest

It is certainly fall now, with the leaves in full regalia and the mercury plunging steadily. And with fall comes harvest of kinglets and sparrows and chickadees and woodpeckers! Many Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets can be seen now fluttering and twittering in the trees, as well as hanging upside-down in our nets! And when you get one, you're more than likely to get half a dozen or even more. Maybe Kinglets were not in mind when "a dime a dozen" was forged but it readily applied...

Sparrows of the North have also come down on the battered shores of Georgian Bay: the White-crowned Sparrows have been around already for a few weeks, all adults sporting their namesake diadem, while the young still need to deserve their own by surviving the winter, exhibiting only a shy and modest brown cap. On Tuesday 13, the first American Tree Sparrow was caught in our net, with a few others seen hopping freely in low shrubs. Delicately marked and very elegant indeed, this sparrow is one of my favourite! Another sparrow with a bicoloured bill, albeit much bigger, appeared from its northern haunts the following day: a very rufous Fox Sparrow was caught on Wednesday 14! Another one was also caught yesterday.

Various Bald Eagles, in all kind of attires, are seen quite regularly, like the 3 immatures seen at once one early morning, or the adult perched on what is (very) locally known as the "Eagle Tree", actually 2 Red Pine Trees offering their strong horizontal limbs on a strategic location, high on a bluff, overlooking wetlands, basin, and Georgian Bay.

The first flurries have been thoroughly enjoyed too! Crisp air, sun competing with clouds, leaves falling in nets, frosty morning: it is fall indeed.