15 May 2014. Mountsberg ON. I put my own principle to the test today, the principle that whenever I go birding there’s always a Bird of the Day; that even a miserable, cold, dank day will produce something special. I took part of the afternoon to visit a couple of marshes in hopes of catching sight of either a secretive bittern or an evasive rail. As I left home, the threat of rain turned into intermittent showers and by the time I arrived at my first stop everything was thoroughly wet. Not enough to put an end to things but enough that I chose to leave my camera behind in the car, I don’t mind my binoculars getting a bit wet, they’re supposed to be waterproof, but there is no such claim made for my little camera.
At the first marsh there were dozens of swallows looping and skimming around and as one swept by I noticed its chestnut-tan rump and thought to myself, “Nice! Cliff Swallow. I wonder where they find to nest around here?” And I noticed that there were Tree Swallows there too, but that was it, I gave them no more thought. In the distance a trio of Turkey Vultures was sailing high against the grey clouds like motionless black kites, and I fancied that I saw an Osprey although it quickly swept out of sight, so I’m not really sure.
Moving on to the second stop I had to sit out a steady downpour and when it eventually eased up I made a quick walk across the marsh noting only Red-winged Blackbirds, a pair of Mallards and a couple of Great-crested Flycatchers.
So as I drove home I wondered what could possibly have been my bird of the day since, to be true to myself, there surely had to be one. I hadn’t seen or heard any sign of either of my target birds and it was generally a wash-out of a day; then I remembered the Cliff Swallow and yes it made the cut as Bird of the Day.
It’s a species that deserves a good second look, I know of a couple of places with Cliff Swallow colonies; they’re gregarious and where the right nesting sites exist, dozens of pairs will build their bottle shaped, mud nests side by side along the underside of sheltered overhangs. Not far from home, on the shore of Lake Ontario, there’s a flashy new pier and the Cliff Swallows have found that it meets their needs perfectly; it has lots of suitable overhangs where no predator could possibly reach them and of course the lake will provide an endless supply of insect food all summer. I’ll go back and get some photographs one of these days – when it’s not raining.