The Quest for New Bird Species

Well, the spring migration seems to have slowed down even before it really got started. It seemed like spring would never come, and for a while there, it looked as though there would be a lot of species coming back.

The numbers of warblers have tapered off, and we've now been focusing on the shorebirds. My hope is that things will get better with warmer temperatures, as it has been on the cool side for the past couple of weeks.

That being said, my husband and I have been going to places like Oshawa Second Marsh, in the hope of finding new bird species. We had heard about the Piping Plover being spotted there, and we went off in pursuit.

The whole area is beautiful, with a lot of tree and shrub species, and a lovely pond, opposite Lake Ontario. We had a very long walk to make in order to reach the shore birds. We didn't find the Piping Plover, but we did see our first Ruddy Turnstone. There were also Semi-Palmated Plovers, Dunlins, White-rumped and Spotted Sandpipers to be seen.

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.

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.

Waiting for those Warblers

Yesterday, we decided to go to Tommy Thompson as we didn't want to go out far. It was an incredibly beautiful day, it went up to 26 degrees Celsius. For the past while, we have been having very cold weather.

We had gone to Colonel Sam Smith Park, and Humber Bay East Park during the week, and we were lucky enough to see a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Ruddy at Humber Bay.

At Tommy Thompson, my husband spotted an American Woodcock, not only close to the gate but also close to the road. Woodcocks are almost impossible to see without almost stepping on them. The dig into the earth with their long bills in order to get at the earthworms. Generally, we only manage to get a glimpse of them flying away.

This one just sat there and allowed us to approach it. As we crept closer, it would continue to keep a baleful eye on us, and crouch down closer and closer to the earth.
We left it undisturbed for a change. It was nice to actually get a good look at one, this time.

By the wetlands, we managed to get close to some canvasback ducks who were busy competing for the attentions of one female. There were also some terns, and some shovelers. The terns are busy getting their nesting sites ready. The platform on the lake doesn't seem to interest them at this point, but that may change.

We did see a huge perch flopping out of the water, several times. I have no idea why it would do this, but it was a pretty interesting sight.

We didn't get to see much, because the weather started to change significantly. The wind whipped some clouds, and dust, and we decided to high tail it out of there.

The next day, it was cold and raining, and we changed our minds about going back. It turns out that, at least, ten warblers species had blown it with the storm. D'oh.

Saying Hello to an Old Familiar Face

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to go birding at High Park, Humber Bay East Park, and Col. Sam Smith Park.

The weather was fantastic for a change, and the sky was free of clouds. At High Park, we took a lot of pictures of the returning Wood Ducks. Both the male and female of the species are quite beautiful. We did not see much else, so we went to Humber Bay East Park.

We did not find the Harlequin Ducks from the previous day, we did see our first Pied Billed Grebe of the season.

From there, we went to Colonel Sam Smith Park. In one of the bays, we saw the King Eider juvenile male that we had seen in the winter. It got pretty close to shore, and it was in spring plumage. It looks like a second year male. We also managed to get close up shots of the male Common Merganser, which is difficult to do, normally. The female mergansers seem to look upon the King Eider as some kind of rock star, as they hung around him so closely, and they stared at him a lot. He would just chase them off, as did the male merganser.

Another big surprise was the sight of pair of Common Loons so close to shore. They were great to see; especially as it has been a long time since we have seen any.

Yesterday, of course, we saw the Harlequin Ducks at Humber Bay East. We also went to Col. Sam Smith, and saw Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, and perhaps, a Bank Swallow, yesterday. The highlight of the day for me, was the sight of some Little Gulls flying close by us, on their way to who knows where.

Slow Start to Spring

Well, Spring is here, more or less, but the pickings are still pretty slim. We saw our first new species for our spring checklist, and also a new species for both my husband and I.

We went up to the Holland Marshes, last Thursday, in the hope of seeing some Snow Geese stragglers. Well, there wasn't much to see, as the vernal ponds were drying up. In the last place we decided to look, we were greeted with a lovely surprise.

At the end of one country road there was a swamp on one side, and the road ended in another swamp. On the opposite side of the road was an old barn, with a window propped open in the upper storey.

Two little birds swooped over to check us out. They were our first Eastern Phoebes of the season. They found us very curious, and stuck around long enough for us to take some pictures.

When we turned back to go to the car, there were a pair of ducks swimming right beside the road. (The other ducks we saw were largely Pintails, but they were too far away for good viewing.)

At first, I thought we were looking at some widgeons, but then I realized that we were looking at Blue-winged Teals; a first for us. We managed to get a couple of shots before a nearby Kildeer screamed with alarm, and set the pair flying.

Today we went to Lasalle Park in Burlington, in hope of seeing some Tundra Swans, or yes, Snow Geese. It was a long shot, and we were disappointed again, but there were some Trumpeter Swans still hanging around, as well as some American Coots, and Widgeons.

Along the trail we were fortunate enough to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Winter Wren which was darting in and out of the leaf litter.

Pretty Slim Pickings

Birding this week has been pretty bad. We went all the way to Brighton, yesterday, to Presqu'ile Provincial Park. We heard some pretty good reports, especially of waterfowl present. It fact, it was week two of their Waterfowl Festival.

Well, there was not a whole lot to be festive about. When we arrived I was happy to see a Great Blue Heron fly over head. Wow, I thought, this augured well for the day. Boy, was I wrong! We saw a lot of Song Sparrows, Robins, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet,1 Pine Siskin; which I only heard but took off when I approached. Lots of Mute Swans, 2 Turkey Vultures, crows, Mallards, and Bufflehead. Not what I was expecting to see after an hour-and-a-half drive.

I decided to try to enjoy the beauty of this place; and it was beautiful. We went for a walk down one trail that wound through the pines and out to the wetlands. It was incredible. Certainly, worth the trip just to go hiking, and camping. I am going to pretend that I won't go back there for the birds.(Yeah, right! It is a birding hotspot spring, summer, and fall.) We did end up seeing about 100 Ring-necked Ducks in the end, but I was hoping to see Tundra Swans, and Snow Geese.

We stopped at Coburg Harbour, but all we saw there, besides the usual Mallards, and Ring-Billed Gulls, were some Trumpeter Swans, and a pair of Kildeer. I took pictures of one duck that was very far off, and I'm certain it's female Harlequin duck, but my husband thought the picture wasn't detailed enough. He says it's probably a Surf Scoter. Hey, I've been wrong before.

We stopped at Newcastle Harbour, and didn't see much of anything at all. Someone had recently seen a Swangoose, but it, apparently, has left.

Finally, we stopped at Humber Bay East. Pickings were pretty slim there too, but we did get to see some Northern Shovelers pretty close up.

When will Spring Migration really start?