18 March 2016. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. Although day-to-day tropical birding is firmly behind me I’m still sifting through four weeks of field notes and photos. I’ve been able to uncover a couple of ‘new’ species, birds I’d misidentified first time around. But back in Ontario, spring is clearly underway. A two-week burst of sustained warm weather has brought in waves of Tundra Swans, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Song Sparrows and Turkey Vultures. They must spend the late winter anticipating and watching for a break in the weather as their green light to head north. In contrast many other species, those who spend the winter in the tropics including as far as the Amazon Basin, would have no clue about the northern winter, whether it’s let go or not, and must take their cues from the sky, the spring equinox perhaps.
Today, for the first time since January 8th, I walked around my census route. As I’d expected there were lots of changes, perhaps one of the most noticeable was the clamour of bird calls, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds and Canada Geese but Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens were working hard at claiming their piece of real estate too.
My greatest pleasure came from hearing some tiny wisps of Winter Wren song. I thought my chances of seeing them would be slim, they’re so small and work hard at staying low, but one hopped up a few metres away and stayed long enough for me to capture a few photos. It’s possible they had over-wintered here, it’s sheltered and winter has been very mild. By the end of my walk I’d seen or heard four of them.
A little later I spotted an Eastern Phoebe, undoubtedly a new arrival. They are one of the landmark arrivals of the spring migration. It’s always the return of the Tundra Swans, Red-winged Blackbirds etc. that we celebrate first and then, just as they’re becoming old hat, the first Eastern Phoebe shows up; and not far behind it a Tree Swallow or two.
My day ended with twenty-six species, a pretty good total. It included a handful of American Robins, Blue Jays and Hairy Woodpeckers – nothing out of the ordinary there, but a dozen American Tree Sparrows singing with enthusiasm for spring, a Trumpeter Swan claiming ownership of a stretch of pond, an overhead Turkey Vulture, Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks (six of each) were all refreshing to see. I’ll be looking for that first Tree Swallow but a week of cooler weather is forecasted; we’ll see how it goes.
