Tanzania (Pt 1): Arrival

 I figured after several months of being too busy to post anything about my Tanzania trip in August, 2023 - what better way to tell my stories and share my experience than a couple blog posts!

It all started when I was looking into course selection at the University of Guelph trying to nail down some of the more interesting courses. I went down a deep rabbit hole that had me looking at waivers for "field courses". I had heard of these only in passing but understood it as a way to fulfill scholarly requirements and travel at the same time. Having NEVER left Canada in my life (and frankly being terrified at the thought), I sent in my application. Not long after that, the Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology (OUPFB) posted the courses available for 2023 and I had to make my decision. Not many courses could fit into my nearly full time work schedule, but I had the entire month of August. I was immediately drawn to "Wildlife and Ecology of East African Ecosystems" and despite the anxious whispers of my family members, I submitted another application to register for that course. 

Acceptance to these courses is usually fairly competitive and I was on a waiting list for some time before finally hearing that I was on the trip! I could hardly believe it. The prospect of going to Africa never really sank in until the morning I was going to board my plane. I felt nauseous at the thought of flying halfway across the world with a group of strangers to a country I had absolutely no familiarity with.

After my sister convinced me to get in the van, my parents drove me to the airport at 6am where we said our goodbyes. Now I was on my own to navigate the airport and locate my group (which was more eventful and challenging than I'd like to admit but those stories are for another time)...

Inside of the Toronto Pearson International Airport

My luggage was checked in, I obtained my boarding passes, and I found my group. After waiting for over an hour, we boarded our 14 hour flight. The take-off was impressive and I don't think I'll ever get over how insane flying is as a general concept. I may or may not have shed a few tears as we breached the clouds. 

View over the Atlantic Ocean

I slept during a lot of the flight and woke up to eat when meals were being served. After many many many hours we were nearing our stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So began our descent.

Now I had worried that flying might give me motion sickness but hadn't had any issues on the take-off. I took some gravol ginger as we neared Ethiopia but I was too late. As soon as the descent began, the nausea hit me like a train. My 'worst-case scenario' was becoming reality. I hardly survived the 30 minute descent telling myself I'd just make a run for the airplane bathroom upon landing. But the second our plane landed, the bathrooms locked and I was panicking. (I wish I had known air sickness bags were available at every seat but I did not). Eventually I just told the flight attendant that I will being throwing up soon so she unlocked the bathroom and I RAN there. 

My nausea was improved and water also helped but I spent a large part of the layover in the Ethiopian Airport washroom sitting on the ground next to the toilet dreading the connecting flight to Tanzania. 

Eventually I managed to drag myself out to the large windows overlooking the airport landing strip because I wanted to see birds - obviously. Almost immediately I saw Pied Crows strutting across the pavement and many small swift-like birds that will remain unidentified. I had one target bird for the airport though. An Ethiopian specialty; a White-collared Pigeon. After several minutes, a flock of pigeons flew over and I noticed unique white patches on their wings - a distinctive feature of White-collared Pigeons! I was overjoyed, but had to quickly return to the washroom to throw up some more. 

Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia

Birding in the Ethiopian Airport is especially difficult due to their policies on binoculars. Any optical enhancers are strictly forbidden due to ongoing conflict in the area and I have heard many stories of birders getting berated or having their binoculars confiscated.

Anyway, I boarded my flight to Tanzania and spent the entire flight sleeping and throwing up. Motion sickness really is a bad time but I was kinda over it at this point. We arrived at the Kilimanjaro International Airport and I stumbled to the check in. When we reached the building, over 50 Little Swifts wheeled over our heads chittering away. I cried again.

We got checked in, retrieved our baggage, and met our tour guides for the remainder of the trip. I was mesmerized by a Superb Starling after we left the airport but was told to "stop getting distracted by birds" - to which I responded "that's what I'm here for!"

I found myself laying on the ground still fighting nausea but the position offered a good view of the Pied Crows so I was content. We eventually loaded into the vehicles and headed for Moshi where we would spend the next 3 nights.

Late Fall Bluffing

 It was the morning of November 2nd 2020. The winds were looking pretty sweet for waterbirds at "The Bluff", with 50km/h Northwest winds. It was a cooler day, not getting much higher than 3 degrees. Being in online university meant I had almost daily live meetings, and Nov 2 was no exception. Thankfully I only had one lecture that morning which allowed me to get out later that afternoon. 

At the beginning of the year I made a list; "2020 Must-See Birds". It was a list of 72 overdue lifers. On that list was Black-legged Kittiwake. With a few records along the Lake Huron shoreline from earlier that fall, I was almost certain today would be the day.

I parked at the gate and made it down the road. The wind was brisk and the cold north component had me shivering before I even had my scope set up. It was immediately clear \"things were happening\". 

I hunkered down behind a dirt hill in an attempt to hide from the wind. The "dead end" sign that is usually at the end of the road was seemingly missing. I discovered the strength of the wind had snapped the wooden post of the sign right in half!

The "dead end" sign at The Bluff

After that I immediately had two Great Black-backed Gulls fly over together:

Immature Great Black-backed Gull

Adult Great Black-backed Gull

The gulls continued to stream over in almost overwhelming numbers. The vast majority were Ring-billed Gulls with a few Herring Gulls mixed in. As someone who still has a long way to go in the realm of gull identification, seeing hundreds of close flybys of many different plumages is one of the best ways to learn.

Herring Gull

The Great Black-backed Gulls (GBBG) showed no signs of stopping as they continued to stream by. I was surprised that the first immature GBBG was the only sub adult I\"d had that day. Of eight GBBGs, seven were adults. 

Great Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Many of these birds appeared to be in active primary molt. 

Aside from the gulls, a couple of raptors spiced things up a bit. An adult Bald Eagle made a couple of passes as well as a Merlin. Both of which are likely local birds, but still nice to see.

Bald Eagle

Merlin

A Long-tailed Duck whipped past at one point as well, too fast for pictures. Later a small group of ducks flew by. One definite male Mallard, and a few American Black Ducks or Mallard x Black Duck hybrids. 

Mallard and some Black Ducks/Hybrids

After freezing for a little while longer, I had a new bird for the day! A young Lesser Black-backed Gull made a close pass just overhead. 

Immature Lesser Black-backed Gull

Then all at once, I had a flock of 50+ gulls coming in. Trying to look at every single bird before it passed was a challenge. I knew I had missed a few so I looked at the ones that had passed behind me and saw a bird that looked odd. Now I don't know if you've ever tried it, but IDing gulls from behind is not an easy task. I knew the bird had a fine black tip to a slightly notched tail. Never having seen this on a gull before, I took photos until the bird was a speck on the horizon. 

When I looked at my photos I knew deep down that the bird I was looking at was the newest bird on my life list, a Black-legged Kittiwake! Before jumping up and down like a crazy person, I decided to get some other opinions. After my ID was confirmed, I THEN jumped up and down like a crazy person.

Some flyover Lapland Longspurs marked the end of the seawatch as the stream of gulls slowly died off. On my way back to my car, I noticed some Snow Buntings foraging right next to the road. I couldn\"t resist taking a photo because Snow Buntings are majestic creatures.

Lapland Longspur in flight

Snow Bunting

I am already looking forward to my next Bluff visit, and hopefully a lifer or two to come with it...

Discovery of NFC's

May 3, 2019
I had stayed home from school on May 2 because I had to work on a project in school that I left until the last minute. It was due May 3 and so I started at noon on May 2nd and worked. It was a stop motion project with clay so it was bound to take a long time. The sky got darker and I still had a lot of work to do. I decided I was going to need some coffee if I was going to finish this project. I worked into the night and around midnight I needed some fresh air so I stepped outside to wake up a bit. 

The weather was nice with 100% cloud cover and no wind. It was fairly warm out too, about 15 degrees. There was a very light drizzle that probably helped keep the birds lower.

That's when I heard the first thrush. I could only pick out Veery and Hermit Thrush calls because I hadn't studied flight calls a lot. I heard hundreds of passerine chip notes as they flew over as well. I was genuinely stunned. I always knew NFC's (Nocturnal Flight Calls) existed, but nothing could've prepared me for that. 

I also heard some things I could actually identify including several Wilson's Snipes doing their winnowing calls. This was awesome considering I had never heard these calls before and they were so easily identifiable. I also managed to hear some yellowlegs which I never would've thought I would hear as an NFC but there they were. 

The entire experience was very surreal considering I was quite sleep deprived and running almost entirely on coffee and adrenaline. I stepped out several times through the night between work periods. 

I managed to finish my project at about 6:30am and I got 45 minutes of sleep that night... I got a 100% on the project though :)

Migration has Begun

May 4, 2019
My Dad and I have been planning a Huron county big day since last year with a goal of 100 species. May 4, 2019 was the global big day and we decided to do a 'practice big day'. We hit some of our main spots including the Bluff, Hullett Marsh, and this subdivision of cottages on Lake Huron. The subdivision is on Black's Point Road, which can be good for migrating songbirds.

Here are our ebird lists:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55847014
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55913437
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55847019
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55847032

We woke up bright and early at 5am and headed out to the Bluff. The weather was calling for lots of sun and 18 degrees. Before we got there, we stopped in a field full of gulls and managed to pick out two Glaucous Gulls before continuing.

There was a light rain misting our windshield as we pulled in to the Bluff after 7am. There was heavy blackbird movement south but nothing unusual was seen in these flocks. The rain stopped, but it was still very dark and overcast. The North wind started blowing harder at 7:30am and it got very cold. 

The classic view from The Bluff

One of the many Blackbird flocks

The Bluff was pretty miserable and the birds were few and far between. We had another two Glaucous Gulls there that were both heading north.

We also got 7 Caspian Terns which was pretty cool considering there were no reliable places for them in Huron County (that we know of).

After three hours of mediocre birding in freezing temps, we decided to move on. It is always so hard to leave the Bluff because it feels like anything is possible there. Some crazy things have been seen there through migration that are not only good birds for Huron county, but they are good Ontario birds as well! Check out all the birds that have been recorded here.

We drove over to Black's Point Road and began birding the area. We saw some of our first thrushes of the year (surprisingly late) which were three Hermit Thrush feeding in the ditch beside the road.

The amount of migrating songbirds was disappointing and not exactly what I had hoped it would be. We heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and saw many Ruby-crowned Kinglets that were skulking in the large evergreens.

There were also many American Robins around that were being semi- cooperative for pictures. 

Just as we were leaving, we heard a very loud, buzzy three note song. I stopped dead in my tracks as I immediately recognized it. While I had only ever seen this bird once before, and I had never heard it, the song of a Clay-colored Sparrow was distinct. My Dad and I both pished for a very long time with no luck. We heard the sparrow multiple times before it stopped singing. After that, we did not hear it again. We searched for a while before realizing we were almost late to a meeting (I will expand on this soon). Clay-colored Sparrow is a good bird for Huron County and a county lifer for both my dad and I.

We then went to an information meeting at Hullett Conservation area about a new tactic they are implementing to help Snapping Turtles nest more successfully. They created these large boxes with a screened in top, an open bottom, and small rectangles cut out at all sides near the bottom. The idea was that these boxes are placed over turtle nests and stakes were put in to hold the box down. The biggest problem for Snapping Turtles in Hullett, is the staggering rates of nest predation. The boxes are meant to keep out predators while still allowing baby turtles to escape when they hatch. 

After going to this meeting, we decided to do some birding around Hullett. We started at Front Road and saw lots of swallows already moving into the nest boxes. We also got to see one of the first Palm Warblers of the year. We then headed over to Conservation Line and saw many first of the year (foy) birds such as Vesper Sparrow, Eastern Kingbird, and Black-and-white Warbler. There were also quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. One of my favourite parts was seeing and hearing Rusty Blackbirds all over the place as most previous views were far away and backlit.

Black-and-white Warbler

Rusty Blackbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler

While the birds have finally started to show up, I also got to see my first butterfly of the year, a Red Admiral.

Red Admiral

As my Dad and I came to the end of Conservation Road, we walked up the dyke and began scanning the water. Suddenly my eyes passed over something different. I gasped when I realized what it was.. a Red-necked Grebe! My dad and I had been looking for this bird since forever. This bird isn't incredibly rare in our area, but it's certainly a great bird for us... a lifer too! I snapped a few digiscopes and posted it in the Huron County Rare Bird Whatsapp group where a few people decided to go look for it.

Red-necked Grebe

       
We then headed over to the parking lot 'with the big viewing stand' where we were surprised yet again. We noticed a large bird flying our direction and after getting eyes on it, we immediately knew it was a Peregrine Falcon. We had only ever seen this bird once before at Hullett so it was a nice surprise - especially for a pretend big day.

Peregrine Falcon

We then went to check on a Killdeer nest that we had been watching for chicks. The nest was still doing well with four healthy looking eggs.

Killdeer nest

We made our final stop at Burns Line were we saw a beautiful Eastern Garter Snake.

Eastern Garter Snake

That was the end of our practice big day finishing at a grand total of 87 species! We had fantastic weather and could only hope our actual big day would be as nice.

Sunny Day at Hullett

Sunday April 28, I woke up at about 8am and the weather looked nice. I decided to temporarily forget about my heaps of schoolwork and spend some time birding. The winds weren't great for spring migration and it was still pretty cold despite the sun shining. My dad and I left shortly after 8 and headed over to Hullett Marsh. Check out our Ebird lists below:

Ebird list before lunch
Ebird list after lunch

We didn't see anything too groundbreaking but it was nice to get out and enjoy the weather (and get some driving experience in!).

Hullett is made up of six country blocks with a few interior roads that lead to parking lots. While its primary attraction is hunting, it is also used by many locals as a place to hike, canoe, and go birding. 

The past few days of rain made most trails through Hullett impassable without hip waders. Today was also the first day this year that Tree Swallows began showing up in numbers... most of them seem to have already chosen the nest box they will occupy.

Tree Swallow

Many birds are already nesting, including Killdeers. They usually nest in open areas because their eggs are camouflaged amongst gravel or dirt. Camouflage is a method used by many birds for many different reasons. The eggs of Killdeer are camouflaged so that predators can't see and eat them. 

I'm already looking forward to the Killdeer chicks hatching because they are one of the most adorable fledgling birds.

A few insects were out and about including beetles, butterflies, and dragonflies. I managed to snap a shot of this Six-spotted Tiger Beetle:

I'm still working on my insect identification and rely pretty heavily on iNaturalist. If any of my IDs are wrong please let me know in the comments. Thanks!!

I also found this butterfly which I have identified as a Milbert's Tortoiseshell. This was a lifer for me! We also saw a Red Admiral that was too quick to get pictures of. I'm beginning to expand my interests to include more leps (Butterflies and Moths). 

I find that when it comes to birds, butterflies, and herps, they all have their own 'time' throughout the year. When the birding begins to cool down into July, that's when odes and butterflies are peaking. 

We went down Conservation Road on the Northwest side of Hullett and it was shockingly dead for birds. We saw a few darners that refused to hold still. Then, when we were on the bridge I noticed something moving down the stream being pulled by the current. 

It was an Eastern Garter Snake! The first snake I'd seen this year in fact. The water was very cold and the snake was swimming against the current to no avail. We watched him float down the river until finally he managed to reach the shore and climb onto to dry land, a happy ending. 

After that, we decided it was time to head home. I have no birding plans coming up except for Rondeau which should be in about two weeks. After Friday this week, I am hopeful that all of the school work will slow down a bit and I can do some actual birding this coming weekend. 

First Post

I've always wanted to start a blog but I keep coming up with excuses; "I'm too busy"... "I wouldn't even know what to say," etc. But not this time. So, here we go.

With the spring migration beginning, many of the new returns are welcomed... even if 90% of them are Turkey Vultures and Common Grackles. While the only real birding that I've gotten the chance to do is in my patch, I've still come across a few interesting things.

The main hotspots I go birding include Hullett Marsh as my main one, Exeter Sewage Lagoons, and during fall and spring migration, The Bluff. 

Hullett Marsh 

The Bluff in the fog

Unfortunately I have no actual pictures of Exeter sewage lagoons but in all fairness, 

they ARE sewage lagoons.

For me, the thing that got me into birding, like many birders, was a bird. It clicked for me about 5 years ago when I was hand feeding Chickadees. I only started birding seriously in the past two or three years though.

Hand feeding Chickadees (March 2019)

The camera I'm currently using is a D5600 with a 70-300mm lens which I love. It doesn't have the reach for some birds but of course I still try to take pictures of those way-too-far birds. I've had it for about 2 months so I'm still trying to get the hang of it.

My new-ish camera

Things are looking pretty busy the next few days (yeah there's that excuse) so I don't have many bird-related plans except for a short trip to Hullett. There is a Rondeau trip on the horizon though; about mid May. As for now, I'll just have to keep up with school and continue honing my warbler song ID...