Baltimore Oriole

May 2 2017. Hamilton and Burlington ON. I know they’re trying, I met them just a week ago in North Carolina, trying to reclaim the territories they gave up late last year. But lousy weather is holding them back, a big sweeping arc of foul weather, a wall reaching from the further reaches of Texas all the way to Quebec. Yesterday and last night were soakers and the birds that somehow made it this far were grounded, today we went out looking for them and it was worthwhile.

Our woodlands are still pretty bare of leaves so such birds as there are can be spotted quite easily. I took the morning to check three well-wooded parks along the shore of Lake Ontario. In this urban sprawl, parks by the lake are natural refuges for tired migrants although I suspect they’ll drop in anywhere where the insect-pickings are good. But it’s better that we who carry binoculars and cameras are seen wandering around parks than prowling residential neighbourhoods.

It was wet and slushy but I could hear Palm Warblers and Yellow–rumped Warblers almost everywhere. They weren’t alone, I found singles of Yellow Warbler (the first of millions to come), Northern Parula, Black and White Warbler, Ovenbird and Black–throated Green Warbler and several Black–throated Blue Warblers, all of them quite spectacular in their full-on breeding colours. For a while I envied the close-up quick-fire photos of some of the other birder/photographers. This is the time to capture those brilliant portrait shots you find in glossy magazines and I wondered whether I might be better off with a faster camera and big, long lens. But I think not; my little camera gets in the way often enough and I rank seeing the birds, the experience, above photographing them.

Setting aside those warblers for a moment, I watched a Veery, shy as always (see April 25 post), heard a Wood Thrush singing and had long lingering looks at Blue–headed Vireos and an inquisitive Yellow–throated Vireo.

Despite the choices offered by all of the above, my Bird of the Day was a newly arrived Baltimore Oriole. For me it was the first of the year, I anticipate their arrival towards the end of the first week of May. I heard it first, calling its clear, beckoning whistles long before seeing it. Those calls will brighten the days for a few weeks but just as they become tiresome they’ll stop, their pair-bonds made and territories secured. I found the oriole working through a flowering cherry tree where it looked stunning as though it belonged on a Mother’s day card. Here it is.

Here are a few more lovely birds from the day.