Common Yellowthroat

Aldershot, ON. April 29 2020.  At eleven last night the radar map showed the skies of North America to be almost solid with birds in flight. So, this morning I was up early and out hoping to find a feast of new arrivals. I made my way to a quiet, wet-bottomed valley and for a while wondered what all of last night’s radar fuss was about. But then, as often happens in spring, there was a sea change and there were new arrivals around me. First, a nervous White-crowned Sparrow that brought a smile to my face, it was keeping company with a group of White–throated Sparrows foraging in the understory. Above, in some towering White Pines I could hear a Pine Warbler trilling and not far from it a Yellow–rumped Warbler worked through some dogwood branches searching for an insect breakfast.

Making my way back to my car, I heard a Swamp Sparrow in full ‘this-bit-of-swamp-belongs-to-me’ song, he was so absorbed in it that I had little trouble getting photos of him. As I watched and listened I heard another song off to the right, somewhat familiar but a touch off-key. It took a minute or two to process but I thought I was probably hearing a Common Yellowthroat; their song is distinctive and bold and they are probably much more often heard than seen. But this song was tentative and perhaps a touch hoarse, I made a mental note, ‘possible Common Yellowthroat’ and then, moments later, it popped up right in front of me! We eyed each other for a moment before it flew to the other side of a small watercourse to hunt down a meal in a tangle of spring flood debris. This is him.

There are many months of the year when a Common Yellowthroat is a touch routine; but not this morning, it was My Bird of the Day and confirmation that last night’s radar had it right.