A Snake in a Pillow Case...*Updated

This afternoon I received an exciting call from my mom saying that "Dad had bagged a huge snake on the driveway" out front of our house in the suburban area of Kingston.  Not only that, but this 4ft snake was laying eggs at the bottom of the driveway!  My parents didn't recognize what species it was and thought that maybe it was an exotic species, so my dad had used the BBQ tongues to pick it up and put it in a pillow case for safe keeping before giving me a call.  After the pictures came in on phone I saw a largely black snake with some bright flecking on it.

I forwarded the pictures to my favourite snake expert Chris Law and he immediately knew it was a Black ("Gray") Rat Snake.  The Great Lakes population of this species is Threatened provincially.  What a find!  This snake had showed up on the right door step, as snakes are still much maligned in many areas and still are persecuted despite being harmless.

Although the species is known from the area, I was shocked to see it in such a built up area.  I lived here for most of my childhood and never saw very much wildlife let alone a Species at Risk like this.

I have uploaded a few pictures that my parents took of the snake while it was in the pillow case.  You can see some of its eggs beneath it.

Folks from Sandy Pines wildlife rescue came to pick up the snake to check it out as there was some bleeding coming from the snake which could be from the egg laying or from getting nicked by a car or bike or something.  They will release it in more favourable habitat away from cars and people that might harm it.  

**Updated**
I called Sandy Pines today and learned some sad news.  The snake has died of internal injuries sustained probably as a result of being run over by a car.  The eggs are being incubated and will hopefully hatch successfully.  I will update if I learn anything more.

Black Rat Snake

Black Rat Snake

Eurasian Collared Dove - Guelph

Last night I decided to check out the Eurasian Collared Dove in Guelph reported by Mike Lepage. I'm glad I did, it was the first bird that we spotted when we arrived on the scene.  We didn't stay too long since it is in a residential subdivision and I didn't think the neighbors would take kindly to me peering at their houses through binoculars.  A neat bird!  This is a species that has gradually expanded from the southern U.S into Canada, but is still quite rare here.  In the photos you can just make out the "collar" on it's neck.

Eurasian Collared Dove

The Soo!

I was up north of Sault Ste. Marie ("the Soo") last week with Pat Deacon for a few days carrying out breeding bird surveys.  We flew out of Pearson on Monday morning and flew back on Thursday afternoon. Besides being stuck in a seat on the back wall of the airplane, cheek to cheek with two large gentlemen, the trip went smoothly.  We saw lots of great birds including Canada Warbler, Rusty Blackbird, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher among others.  I didn't get many great photos due to the heavy tree cover, but I managed to get a few, particularly of the wild flowers.

Northern Parula

Black-throated Green Warbler

Pat can tell you what all of these plants are.  I enjoyed see these Pitcher Plants.  You can see the flower towering over the pitcher below which catches and digests bugs that get trapped inside.

Another carnivorous plant, the Sundew! This species catches bugs with those sticky globules on the end of the spikes!

I always enjoy seeing Blue Flag Iris

Mottled Duskywing and More

The past few weeks have been busy with work and other things.  This past weekend I was up on the Bruce Peninsula leading a guided tour called "Winged Pursuits" which focused on birds, butterflies and dragonflies.  The weather was cool and windy in the morning, but we ended up seeing 84 species of birds and a few neat insects as well!  Thanks to all that came out!

I also had some field work down in the Essex area on Monday and was able to find the Dickcissel at Camper's Cove.  I snapped a record shot of this beauty below.

On Thursday and Friday I had the privilege of carrying out some butterfly surveys at work for an Endangered butterfly species, the Mottled Duskywing.  Currently there are thought to be only 9 sites in Ontario where this species is known from.  I snapped a few pictures of this beautiful, tiny butterfly below.  

Mottled Duskywing

Mottled Duskywing

This species only feeds on two different species of New Jersey Tea, which was all over the place at the site we were at.

New Jersey Tea

Silvery Blue

 The site we were at also had abundant wild Lupine.  A wonderful flower that is the host plant of a now extirpated species in Ontario, the Karner Blue.

Tiger Swallowtail

Long Dash

 We had to wade across this river to check out a site on the far shore.  We got wet but avoided getting swept downstream!

We camped at Presquile Provincial Park on Thursday night and walked the Owen Point Trail, which bright back lots of memories from my childhood when my Dad and I used to visit the park fairly often.

We saw both Semi-palmated Plover and the recently nesting Piping Plovers, another endangered species that has not nested in this park in many years!

Semi-palmated Plover

Piping Plover

Bruce Peninsula Big Day 2016

Saturday was the annual NRSI Bruce Peninsula Big Day where a group of us try to see as many birds on the Bruce Peninsula area as possible from pre-dawn until dusk.  We started at Macgregor Point Provincial Park and worked our way right up to Tobermory.  Overall, we found the day started out slowly, with many of the warblers not making an appearance.  Hence, our overall total was lower than the last time I did it when we had 143, but we still finished with a respectable 134.5 species (I added the 0.5 since we had 1 hybrid duck - Mallard x Pintail).  The highlight for me was definitely hearing the Least Bittern calling at the Ducks Unlimited Pond!  Songbird photography is getting progressively harder as the leaves start to fill out, but below are a few shots I was able to get from the day.

We tracked down both Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warbler. I have seen both species singing each others songs, and I can't in good conscience call it one or the other without visual confirmation.

Golden-winged Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler.  Would be a great shot except for that branch!

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

Sedge Wren - as the light was fading

Sandhill Crane

American Bittern hiding in the grass.

Upland Sandpiper

Once again we saw the Endangered Piping Plovers at Sauble Beach.  These exclosures have been put up to keep people from trampling the nests and scaring the birds away.  You can see the exclosure fencing that covers the nest and keeps raccoons and other nasties from eating the eggs.  An adult was sitting right on the nest.

The gang at Malcolm Bluffs

Malcolm Bluffs overlook

Black Creek Provincial Park

Next week Caitlyn and I are up on the Bruce again where I will be leading a guided hike for the Huron Fringe Birding Festival on birds and bugs.  It should be a good time as long as the weather cooperates!

More May Migrants

May is my favourite month of the year.  Spring has sprung in earnest, and birds are everywhere!  The past couple of weeks the rare bird reports have slowed down, since it is a lot harder to find songbirds among the thickening foliage.  Here are a few of the birds I was able to capture on film the past little while.

Blue-winged Warbler - Cambridge

Blue-winged Warbler

Finally saw some Whimbrel today a Waverly Beach!

Great-crested Flycatcher

Scarlet Tanager

On Saturday I will be doing the "Bruce Big Day".  My friends at NRSI and I will try to see how many species of birds we can see/hear in 24hrs on the Bruce Peninsula!  A tiring, but satisfying day.  Last year, I recall that I saw 143 species!

Two Rare Warblers for the Price of one: Worm-eating Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat

This morning I had some work down in Essex Region and decided to wake up early to do some bird watching at Point Pelee National Park beforehand.  I'm really glad I did, because I was able to re-find the Worm-eating Warbler which had been on Chinquipin Trail for the past few days.  After searching around in the area for a while I eventually heard the insect-like trill of this species and tracked it down.  I had incredible views as the bird climbed up the trunk of a tree right in front of me!

Worm-eating Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

After wandering around the tip of Pelee waiting for the tram to come pick me up, I spotted a bird hopping along on the edge of a bush.  A beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat!  I was thrilled, not one but two great warblers!  This guy hung around for a minute or two and one other person saw it until it vanished into the undergrowth as only chats can do!

Yellow-breasted Chat - Peek a boo!

Orchard Oriole

 I stopped very quickly at Hillman Marsh and had hundreds of Black-bellied Plover (pictured below) as well as American Golden Plover, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Ruddy Turnstone among others.

Black-bellied Plovers

 Can anyone guess what species these eggs belong to?  Spotted in a wet hedgerow.  I will post the answer shortly.