May3 2016. Ruthven Park, Cayuga ON. The colour guard arrived today: Yellow Warbler, Baltimore Oriole and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. In my mind the spring arrivals arrive in three tranches: First to push back the ice and bring hope, Red-winged Blackbirds and Tundra Swans; Then dozens of fill-in species through March and April; Lastly the Neo-tropical Colour Guard of May, the tanagers, warblers and orioles.
The radar loop had shown a big overnight push of migrants. Our proof was a dawn Whip-poor-will calling from somewhere unseen, then as the day brightened a first of the year Baltimore Oriole, a bright splash of orange that we haven’t seen for quite a while.
Three of us did the daily census at the bird observatory. We hoped for but didn’t see the Whip-poor-will, but heard or saw several more first-of-the-year birds: Yellow Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and somewhat sensationally, and Bird of the Day, an American Bittern who we inadvertently flushed from the riverbank where it had presumably called a halt to a night of migration. The rather erratic, at times thin, vegetation along the banks of the river is not the bittern’s idea of home. It will keep going looking for a wide expanse of cattail reeds or deep marsh grasses.
Two years ago I encountered American Bitterns on three occasions making it a red-letter year. This photo is from one of those encounters.