I ended up in the Long Point area this week for work, and it seemed like a real shame to just head home again without stopping for a short walk somewhere. I mean, if I had already come all that way.... So I found myself a trailhead into Backus Woods, slapped on some bug spray (holy crap, mosquitoes), and ventured forth.
I saw practically nothing. Not surprising; the canopy has closed in and forest birds are experts at hiding amongst leaves. On the other hand, I heard quite a lot, including a Prothonotary Warbler (pretty sure, anyway - Backus is known to be one of the few sites in Ontario for them) and a couple of Hooded Warblers (again, pretty sure - the song sounded right). I would have loved to get eyes on either of those, because I usually don't really feel like I've "got" a bird until I see it, at least for those species whose songs I don't know like the back of my hand. But there was just no chance. Next year I'll have to make a point to head down that way when the leaves have just started to come out, see if I can't have better luck.
Heard a bunch of things that I couldn't ID too, of course, to my continued frustration. I am still making progress in that regard, aided by the Petersons "Birding By Ear" and "More Birding By Ear" cds, and the Larkwire iPhone app. But as I'm sure I've complained before, it is slow, slow progress. I'm a very visual learner when it comes to this sort of thing; me and audio just don't click the same way.
Thanks to the two warblers, plus the Purple Martin I saw at the Bird Studies Canada office earlier in the day, my life list is now at 199. I tried to cap off 200 in style by going after the Cerulean Warbler that was supposedly singing at the Guelph Arboretum this week, but all I managed to accomplish with that trip was dropping my driver's license somewhere in the woods. Luckily, a very kind person picked it up and returned it to me the next day, so no harm was done. Let this be a lesson for all of us: zippers are your friends!
