Fall Migration Part One: From Toronto to Florida to Cape May, New Jersey

My chasing of confusing fall warblers and other rarities came to an end with a brief hospital stay to fix an issue with a previous spinal operation, but it was fun while it lasted.  I have chased a few rarities and survived much travel, to Florida and Cape May with a week of birding in what they say is the capital of fall migration.  Back home in Toronto, I spent most of the migration season in either Humber Bay East or Colonel Sam Smith Park.  Both have been great for fall migrants and I have added many new birds to my Col Sam Life List, finally passing 200 earlier this year.

Toronto, September 1-26:

Neotropic Cormorants, American Redstart, Spotted Sandpiper, Belted Kingfisher, Cedar Waxwings, a Pied-billed Grebe and a hungry Gray Catbird:

Florida, September 27-30:

I had hoped to find an Elegant Tern, which is rare in Florida, and would have added to my Florida Life List, but was unable to find it on a beach full of terns.  Lots of other waterfowl though, and one very cute raccoon.

Toronto, October 1-6:

I returned to Toronto just on time to not miss another rarity in Colonel Sam Smith Park, a late migrating and wayward Dickcissel, that I had heard about while still in Florida.  I had seen Dickcissels in Ontario before, and this year in Michigan, but I raced to the park upon returning home to add yet another CSSP Lifer, number 209 for the Park List.  I also added Surf Scoter, Northern Harrier and Merlin, giving me 14 new species I've added this year in this amazing park.






New Jersey, October 7-13:

Upon arriving in Cape May, NJ our first stop was for a Eurasian Wigeon at one of the many Hot Spots in the area known as The Meadows.  As my back was getting worse, the walks became slower and more difficult, but we made it out to the pond along a path that leads to the State Park, for this rarity:





We next took a Back Bay Boat Ride with a  very knowledgeable New Jersey Audubon Guide and that was full of a wide variety of water birds, including Red Knots, Brants, and even a Great Cormorant.  Along the way, the thrill of the day was seeing Nelson's, Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows all atop the marsh reeds at the same time.







The next morning we were treated to a Parasitic Jaeger show on one of the many morning bird walks that the New Jersey Audubon runs every day during fall migration.  At one of the sea watch platforms, we saw the jaegers harassing gulls, with the jaegers coming in very close to shore.



There was always something going on at the Cape May Point State Park Hawkwatch platform, and not always were they hawks.  We arrived one afternoon to see that some Snow Geese had arrived.  Thousands spend the winter at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge just north of Cape May.



And there were shores full of shorebirds everywhere we went:

The trip ended with lots of land birds, on land, in the trees, in the skies and Sue rescuing my hat on a blustery day on the boardwalk:







We never did see any rarities after the Eurasian Wigeon, but we had a wonderful time and we will return again, perhaps in the spring, to see the amazing Red Knot migration!

Summer Birding, from British Columbia to West Virginia and South Carolina

So, once a year I head out to British Columbia, and usually tour around Vancouver, Victoria and often up to Squamish.  I then follow-up that trip with a work voyage to Bluefield West Virginia.  This year, however I decided to take a little time to go into the interior, north east of Vancouver, up to Kamloops, 100 Mile and make my way up to Sun Peaks and explore more of West Virginia and North Carolina than I had in the past.  I had hoped the birding would be great but it was mid summer and though I didn’t see a wide variety of species, I did enjoy what birds I saw and, of course, the scenery was nothing short of spectacular.  I drove some of the roads featured in Highway From Hell and got caught in the most intense hail storm I have ever experienced.  All in all, a fantastic trip!

Beyond the birds, there was the scenery:

I was trapped on the Highway from Hell during a severe hail storm with landslides and flooding:

Of course, there were birds too.  A friendly farmer invited me to sit by a river in the back “40” and enjoy his little nature sanctuary between 100 Mile and Sun Peaks, full of Black-billed Magpies, Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Kingbirds, Western-wood Pewees and more:

Sun Peaks was like a lovely European Village, and both the food and scenery were great, but the birds were not plentiful:

But on the way back to Vancouver to fly home I took some time out from the 4 hour drive, and was able to  add a Canada,(formally Gray) Jay to my year list, though only captured it on my iPhone camera:

Next up was my always less-anticipated trip to Bluefield, West Virginia.  However, this time I decided to build in an extra day or two, since I had to stop in Charlotte to visit with the Buffalo Bisons staff.  The ball park there is lovely, with a great city view and the birding around the area was pretty good too.

I spent a day driving around South Carolina and during a lovely hike in Kings Mountain National Military Park enjoyed some nice birding and an Eastern Wood-Pewee, to complete my coast to coast Pewee list:

I also hiked a trail in Stone Mountain State Park, in North Carolina, that led to a spectacularly dangerous waterfall, as the signposts up ahead made abundantly clear:

The photos don’t really capture how cool this waterfall was:

The highlight bird of the trip was a Worm Eating Warbler at Brush Creek Preserve.  Though I didn’t see a wide variety of rare plants and animals, I did see a small “assemblage” of some of them: