A Nemesis Defeated

Ticking birds off a list is not the reason I go birding (or so I tell myself). On the other hand, I have to admit I get a sense of satisfaction from the tick. When the tick is overdue, other emotions come into play. I suppose it is a subtle variety of anxiety or shame, and some must feel it stronger than others because it motivates some birders to go to extremes.

So it is more with a feeling of relief than of victory that I report my first Ontario Worm-eating Warbler at Point Pelee on May 14. I don't know who the original finder of the bird was, but it hung around on the Woodland Trail at Point Pelee where it was intermittently seen during most of last week.

My last Worm-eating Warbler was May 16, 2007 at Cape May, NJ.

Last week I also put to rest this Ontario nemesis:

Yellow-headed Blackbird

I have searched for this bird on numerous occasions in the known spots in southern Ontario, and chased a couple of them in unusual spots but have always come up empty until now. Thanks to Andrew Don who provided some key information that enabled me to finally track this one down for Ontario.

My Week Off

I was at Rondeau P.P./Pelee N.P. from last Saturday until today which was a nice stretch of birding.

Yellow Warbler

The weather was unseasonably cold from Saturday night until Tuesday with three chilly nights in the tent, but it sure warmed up today.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

There were no big pushes of migrants during that time, which was a bit of a let down, but quality made up for quantity in certain respects. No life birds, but I did see three (!) new Ontario birds, defeating a nemesis in the process.

Blackburnian Warbler

It was really great to be at Pelee with lots of familiar faces, even if the trails did get a bit crowded at times. It's great fun to be around others who share the same love of nature.

What's this one called again?

Frank Morley did a great job of reserving a group campsite in Point Pelee N.P. From what I understand, he has to phone in the reservation in the middle of the night in early January to confirm the booking.

Piping Plover

It won't be long now before breeding bird season starts in earnest.

National Geographic

Cover Story: Luckiest Man Alive Contest Winner Declared

Warbler Therapy

This winter was painfully long. Last Sunday afternoon was the first time I felt like winter was finally over. This week was pretty nice, but I was stuck in the office.

The weather forecast for tonight is for the winds to shift to the south and clear skies. Not what you would call "fallout" conditions. Too bad its not calling for a little rain shower first thing in the morning to slow those migrants down.

I'll bet there will still be plenty of recent arrivals tomorrow. Seeing those first warblers of spring is always good for a boost after a long winter.

A Shared Nemesis

Recent reports of two Worm-eating Warblers, one at Pelee and the other today in Peterborough, highlight a painful reality for me; I have only ever seen this species in the USA.

I should have seen one in Ontario by now... way overdue by my reckoning. It is indeed one of my nemesis birds. I am at least glad to see that Dwayne Java shares in my pain.

Waiting for Spring

Product Review: BirdLog eBird App

BirdLog is a bird checklist app for your mobile device. According to its advertisers, BirdLog is a breakthrough because it is the app which "for the first time allows quick-and-easy data entry directly from the field".

Let me get straight to the point: BirdLog is a rip off. The burn is twice as intense because I broke one of my own rules when I was considering the purchase of this app: I believed the hype about it. I read the glowing reviews on eBird as well as other praise lavished upon this app around the internet. I should have taken it as a warning, but instead I uncritically jumped on the bandwagon.

There are two deceptive aspects of the way this product is marketed. The first one is that the developers have not made it sufficiently clear that this app is only useful in the field if you have an data plan on your device and you are in proximity to an available cellular network. I have an iPad that is WiFi only. Perhaps I should have realized that I needed a data plan for the maps to work correctly away from a wireless connection, but I didn't. My second complaint is that the folks at eBird who provided such glowing reviews have an undeclared (or at least insufficiently declared) conflict of interest in that a portion of each sale is donated to them. The eBird endorsements were the most influential on me in terms of my purchase decision, however I did not realize at the time that eBird and BirdLog were in cahoots. Not only did I make an improvident bargain, I have also been disillusioned.

In conclusion, BirdLog only does one useful thing that the regular eBird doesn't, namely it enables you to enter your location using the GPS capability of your mobile device. If you only have access to WiFi you will find this feature to be unavailable in the field.

For someone with an iPhone with a data plan, eBird might be mildly helpful. From my perspective, BirdLog is an over-hyped waste of money.