Grindstone Creek, Burlington ON. April 24 .2022. A beautiful April day, the sort we long for as late winter grinds on. April always reserves the right to allow a bit of winter back in but today it dished up a handful of birding treats.
I started the day with a transect through my favourite valley and was very happy with thirty-seven species including a Ruby Crowned Kinglet, a pair of Blue–winged Teal, an ever-shy Hermit Thrush and a Caspian Tern; none of them sensational, just nice to see them back. I heard a Swamp Sparrow singing and wondered what my chances were of seeing it, they can be a bit secretive; but this one was close so I crossed my fingers. I climbed onto a tree stump to better my view of the swamp whereupon it came over and started to sing in front of me. Somehow everything fell into place, here it is. One of the pleasures of a good look at a Swamp Sparrow is noting its rich, foxy red wings, visible on my photo.
I stopped to check on a known site for Eastern Bluebirds and watched a pair working hard to keep Tree Swallows from taking over their nest box. Actually, there were two nest boxes almost side by side and I think that at the end of the day each pair will get what they want, but for now they’re having trouble seeing past the mere presence of rivals.
This afternoon we walked a trail along a wooded valley edge. The perfect walk on a perfect spring day with Bloodroot flowers now open, the earliest native flowers of spring. A sunning DeKay’s Brown Snake lay stretched along our path and a pair of Ospreys has taken control of their habitual nest site on a tall communication tower.
Clear musical bird song filtered through to us and at first I thought it might be a Northern Mockingbird, but I was wrong (although close, same family). I was hearing the very welcome and characteristic song of a Brown Thrasher. Apart from being variably inventive the song is distinctive for usually having each phrase uttered twice, rather famously described as: “plant-a-seed, plant-a-seed, bury-it, bury-it, cover-it-up, cover-it-up, let-it-grow, let-it-grow, pull-it-up, pull-it-up, eat-it, eat-it, yum-yum” (Thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for that. I couldn’t have hoped to come close.)
Brown Thrashers are birds with presence. Apart from their compelling song, they can be very conspicuous scratching and picking noisily in leaf litter. Get a glimpse and you’ll see a long tailed, yellow-eyed brown bird like a large thrush. Conspicuous too in that they’ll usually sing from a commanding-view perch, but sometimes quick to take flight. It was that declarative ‘I’m back’ song that was enough to make the Brown Thrasher My Bird of the Day today.