Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Goodly Harvest



It has been a while since I have posted anything. I have had so much fun, finding and taking pictures of so many warblers, that I haven't had much time for anything else.

Most of the sightings have been at Tommy Thompson Park. My husband and I were fortunate enough to see some at Thickson's Woods, and at Cranberry Marsh. However, we can see the same birds closer to home.

More experienced birders seem to be reporting 20 or more warbler species at one go. The most we've managed in one day has been 16 species. As the weather gets warmer, I hope that we will match the bigger numbers.

Tommy Thompson is also a great place to see flycatchers. Usually, they show up a little later- say when the mosquitoes are present. That's when I will stop going to the wet parts of the park, I think.

Some nice surprises over the past two weeks have been close up views of a Scarlet Tanager, a Tennessee Warbler, a Black-throated Blue Warbler female, and a Bay-breasted male. Close up views of the Blackburnian male continue to elude me.

The Yellow Warblers are plentiful, and they don't seem to be as shy as the other warbler species. I love their beauty, and how they zip around from branch to branch. I think they are having a blast.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Warblers at Last


Finally, finally, we got to see some warblers this week. I was starting to wonder if any would ever show up. We have had such cold weather this March, and most of April.

My husband and I went down to Humber Bay East last Tuesday, and we saw a lovely male Yellow Warbler. On the Wednesday, we saw some more Yellow Warblers, and some Yellowrump Warblers close up. They were also in the company of some King birds,some Rough-winged Swallows, and a very curious Solitary Vireo. We were in heaven. We were lurking in the bushes taking close up shots, of these birds. The whole experience eclipsed refinding the Harlequin Ducks earlier on.

On the Thursday, we went back, and saw more of these warblers, as well as a secretive Palm warbler.

On Friday afternoon, we went to Tommy Thomson Park, and went into some very wet areas, in the hope of seeing more warblers. We were not disappointed. We did also see our first Red-headed Woodpecker, so that was a treat. There were at least a dozen Palm Warblers there, and one of them got within half-a-metre of us. We got some awesome shots of it.

The weekend was not so good birding wise, as there was a lot of rainfall. The warblers seemed to have disappeared for now. We had to content ourselves with the dozens of Double-crested Cormorants, and Night Herons that are starting to nest there.

I am hoping for better weather this week, and a chance to see some warblers that we haven't seen before.