Before The Storm

I squeaked in another quick walk at the Arboretum this morning, before the rain hit. The birds were certainly taking advantage of the temporary respite, as they were all singing their little feathery hearts out. There really is something wonderful in standing out in the woods and listening to the morning chorus of birdsong. Today's headliners were the Warbling Vireos, with back-up vocalists Baltimore Oriole, Nashville Warbler, and Winter Wren.

I got my Northern Parula this time. And, thanks in no small part to the Petersons CDs I've been listening to in the car, I got it first by song alone. So progress is being made towards a mastery of ID by ear!  Slow, painstaking progress, but progress nonetheless.

There were three female Mergansers swimming around in the open-water portion of the swamp, too, which took me completely aback since I tend to think of them as river or lake birds. I immediately started debating between Red-breasted and Common, although they didn't look quite right for either... apparently Hooded was completely off my radar for some reason, which is a shame since that's what they ended up being.  Many thanks to the local mailing list for setting me straight on that one.

Coming up to a long weekend, huzzah! Although according to the current forecast it could be a damp one. Some of the locals are apparently making a trip down to Long Point on Sunday, which is very, very tempting... guess I'll have to keep watching the skies and decide at the last minute, that seems to be the way these trips work out.

It Was The Best Of Times....

It was both a satisfying weekend, and a disappointing one.  Satisfying, because the weather was gorgeous and I got some solid birding time in.  I hit up the Guelph Arboretum, the James St. Trail (in Guelph), Snyder's Flats (Waterloo), the Currie Tract (Halton), any my own back yard, seeing and/or hearing:

- Canada Goose
- Mallard
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- Killdeer
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Solitary Sandpiper
- Ring-billed Gull
- Mourning Dove
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Eastern Kingbird
- Yellow-throated Vireo
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Tree Swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- House Wren
- Winter Wren
- Wood Thrush
- American Robin
- Grey Catbird
- Cedar Waxwing
- Ovenbird
- Northern  Waterthrush
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- American Redstart
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Chipping Sparrow
- Field Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Common Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Baltimore Oriole
- House Finch
- Purple Finch
- American Goldfinch

A whopping 53 species altogether. The highlights for me, I think, were the Blackburnians (because that is one seriously gorgeous bird, and I was able to get a good long look) followed by the Yellow-throated Vireo which I am proud to say I ID'd by song alone. Someone else who was out on that trail yesterday got a photo of one, so yay independent confirmation! The lowlight I have to say was the James St. Trail. Maybe it was just a case of wrong-place-wrong-time, but for a spot that has such a big species list on eBird it was really quiet. The Currie Tract was also a bit of a low, but that was mostly because I had forgotten last year's lesson and not brought my bug spray.  That is one buggy trail... I haven't had any problems with bugs anywhere else this year, but that whole area was swarming.

Getting back to my opening sentence, though, the reason the weekend was also disappointing is because while I saw lots of birds, I didn't see any new ones.  I certainly didn't see any of my target species (Northern Parula, Bay-breasted Warbler, Red-headed Woodpecker, all of which had been reported in the area by others).  But that's the nature of the hobby, isn't it?  If it was so easy to find all of the birds all of the time, it wouldn't be so rewarding when your moment finally arrives.

Spring Has Sprung

How on earth am I supposed to focus on office work when it is so wonderfully warm outside? How on earth am I supposed to focus on anything else at all when there are so many birds to see?

Knowing that the forecast calls for rain this afternoon, I made myself a bit late for work this morning by taking a pass through the Arboretum at 7am. And oh my goodness, I am glad I did.  Two brilliant male Blackburnian Warblers, two only-slightly-less brilliant male American Redstarts, lots of Black-throated Green Warblers singing.  My first Baltimore Oriole of the year.



Song Sparrows and Field Sparrows abounded.  I may have heard a Vesper Sparrow, but I'm not 100% sure. The song was similar to a Song Sparrow, but... different.  More musical and varied? But still with the same introductory-notes-followed-by-trills pattern.

 I did catch these two rival Northern Flickers facing off, which was incredibly cool to see.  They just kind of bobbed their heads at each other and posed.



(Please forgive the poor photo quality; the lighting was, of course, terrible at that moment.)

So many birds to see.  I have the feeling I'm going to spend most of my weekend outdoors.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I feel like such a bad birder, here it is hitting the peak of spring migration and I haven't picked up my binoculars in weeks.  The usual excuses apply, of course: work distractions, general life business, residual embarrassment over an unfortunate public misidentification of an American Woodcock as a Common Nighthawk... you know, the usual.

I've also been spending large chunks of my weekends hiking. This year I signed up for an end-to-end hike series in the Iroquoia section of the Bruce Trail.  Eleven other intrepid hikers and I will be tackling this 130 km section over the course of eight hikes, two of which we've now completed.  And although that sounds like it should be a perfect birding opportunity, when you're trying to keep pace and not trip over a multitude of loose rocks it doesn't actually leave much time for watching the sky. I still perk up at every song, of course... there's been Northern Flickers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, lots of Chickadees, Cardinals, Red-winged Blackbirds and Blue Jays, and the occasional White-throated Sparrow.  But for the most part I've been leaving the binocs in my backpack and focusing on my feet instead.

The Bruce really is a beautiful trail system (roadside and urban sections aside).  It's been a treat seeing the spring ephemeral wildflowers come out, even over the course of just two weeks.


Cut-leaved Toothwort - Cardamine concatenata


Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum


Siberian Squill - Scilla siberica


Plantain-leaved Sedge - Carex plantaginea


Red Trillium - Trillium erectum


Dutchman's Breeches - Dicentra cucullaria


Wild Ginger - Asarum canadense


Blue Cohosh - Caulophyllum thalictroides


Mountain Watercress - Cardamine rotundifolia


Not photographed: the 25 snakes we saw along the trailside this past Sunday. Mostly Common Garters, but there were a couple of wee Brown Snakes out there too.

I've got the next couple of weekends off from hiking, so I fully intend to use that time to find some birds.  And also probably do more hiking, because for some reason it seems like a good idea to try and do the Toronto section of the Bruce this year too.  ...and maybe finish the Niagara section, which I started last year.  We'll see if I have any feet left by 2015!