What a great autumn, bird-wise, for the Thunder Bay District! A few weeks ago a Slaty-backed Gull was added to the district (and Northern Ontario) list(s). Now comes the discovery of an Anna's Hummingbird, a first for northern Ontario, and a second for the province, visiting a feeder in Thunder Bay. More details, from OntBirds here. Dec. 3, 2013. Courtesy of Glenn Stronks. Dec. 5, 2013. Courtesy of Glenn Coady. The first provincial record of Anna's Hummingbird was documented for October 25-30, 2010, in Essex County. Dec. 10 update: The Anna's Hummingbird has not been seen in ..read more

The intrepid Alan Wormington, who has an uncanny knack for turning up interesting birds during his annual forays across the north shore, found this Western Kingbird, a casual visitor to the district, on October 18, 2013 at the Schreiber-Terrace Bay landfill, a stone's throw from the Trans-Canada Highway. Thanks for sharing your photos Alan. October 18, 2013. Courtesy of Alan Wormington. October 18, 2013. Courtesy of Alan Wormington. Other photo-documented sightings of WEKI along the north shore include: Sept. 10. 2010, at Marathon.  Aug. 21, 2012, a new add ..read more

Tammie Hache of Manitouwadge, at the east end of the Thunder Bay District, found a very unusual passerine in her yard today (November 10th, 2013). Tammie wrote: I discovered this beautiful little bird in my backyard today. I sadly thought it was a window strike casualty when I found it on the ground half tucked under the last piece of siding on the garage but when I picked it up, it blinked at me. :) It has incredibly beautiful eyes! November 10, 2013. Courtesy of Tammie Hache This is only the fourth occurrence of White-eyed Vireo in northern Ontario. All have been in the T-Bay Distri ..read more

In the last week came the exciting report of a White-faced Ibis that's stopped over on a lawn along side the Trans-Canada Highway in Oxdrift, in the Kenora District.  Ursala Wall noticed the ibis on April 23 as it foraged on Alane Sken's lawn. Carolle Eady from nearby Eagle River was able to get some excellent photos confirming the first occurrence of the species in northern Ontario. Photo courtesy of Carolle Eady The record is exceptional and yet not so surprising. Let me explain. It is exceptional in that only a dozen or so WFIB have been documented for the province and never ..read more

There's a decent movement of Pine Grosbeaks along the north shore this week. We have a dozen or so visting our feeders. Along the Lake Superior coast, they can be seen and heard flying northwest on most days. Last year we had a bumper crop of Mountain-Ash fruit and we enjoyed an abundance of Pine Grosbeaks through the winter. This year during our drought, very little fruit was set and all of that has been eaten. I'll be surprised if any Pine Grosbeaks remain here for the winter. The first photo was taken today - I've never noticed pink in the wing bars before. The others are older. What a be ..read more

We've had a mixed assemblage of 150+ redpolls in our yard for a few weeks. Most have been "Southern" Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea flammea) with a smattering of "Greater" Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea rostrata). A couple of "Southern" Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni exilipes) were joined today by a "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni hornemanni). These photos give a sense of the larger size of Hornemann's Hoary Redpoll relative to the Common Redpoll in the foreground. Over the previous two winters I've spent some time observing Ontario's four recogniz ..read more

Once again Nick Escott and the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists coordinated the autumn bird round-up. Six parties spent at least part of Saturday (Nov 3) or Sunday (Nov 4) counting birds between Thunder Bay and Manitouwadge. Martha and I covered the Lake Superior coast between Rossport and Marathon. A total of 77 species were tallied. Waterfowl viewing conditions were particularly good. While no real rarities were turned up, an ongoing Eastern Towhee was a good sighting in Nipigon. Many thanks to all who participated. Here's the tally, posted per Nick's request. Snow Goose 5 Downy Woodpe ..read more

These two showed up today. More about leucism and albinism from Cornell ..read more

I went for an excellent hike this morning along the Lake Superior coast south from Pebble Beach in Marathon to the mill effluent treatment ponds and then back along the CPR tracks and saw a tonne of birds. As Alan Wormington discovered back in the day, NE winds along the north shore can trigger large migratory movements of passerines in the late fall. Among the rarities Alan turned up on this stretch have been Cassin's and Field Sparrows, Townsend's Solitaire and White-eyed Vireo.  I didn't cross paths with any megas but I was awed by the tide of Common Redpoll - one supe ..read more

We had a very drab looking Indigo Bunting show up in our Marathon yard today - late-ish but not the latest autumn record in the Thunder Bay District for this neotropical migrant. Also in our yard were all of the regular winter finches: Pine and Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Common and Hoary Redpoll, White-winged Crossbill and Purple Finch. Indigo Bunting in Marathon, Oct. 27, 2012. Of late some true rarities have been reported from the Lake Superior basin. At Grand Marais (MN), only 128 km from Thunder Bay, a Cassin's Kingbird was photographed today. Photo here: http://moumn.org ..read more