Author: Peter T

April 14 2013. Ruthven Park, Cayuga ON. There are no obvious explanations for the huge wave of Golden-crowned Kinglets at the bird observatory these past couple of days. On this morning’s census I recorded 62, but actual numbers are certainly way higher; add a zero and it might be just as accurate.  On some stretches of the census route my eye would be caught by a flit of movement, invariably a kinglet, then I’d realize there were more, many more.  And they kept moving, jumping and fluttering, so by the time I had an approximate count at that particular spot, it had all changed.  Perhaps a new group had moved in or maybe I was counting the same birds twice, I could never be sure.

It wasn’t all Golden-crowned Kinglets.  Perhaps best, and certainly Bird of the Day, was a Yellow-rumped Warbler that muscled in on a group of kinglets.  And then no sooner than I’d finished mentally applauding the warbler, I caught sight of an Osprey circling high overhead and consorting with a territorially minded Red-tailed Hawk.  There were plenty of other good sightings too: two Eastern Phoebes, a Brown Creeper and a trio of labouring Great Blue Herons among them.  Heard but not seen were an Eastern Bluebird, a House Finch and an Eastern Tufted Titmouse.

I caught sight of my first Northern Ficker of the year, I ‘ve heard them a few times in the past four or five days, but seeing that conspicuous and diagnostic flash of bright white on the rump completed the mental record.

The river that flows through the lands of the bird observatory is one of the largest in Ontario and the heavy rains of three days ago have caused it to overflow its banks.  Whenever that happens the shoreline gets reshaped, low-lying fringes drown and all sorts of debris break loose, creating log-jams and floods.  The census route was impassable in places and deep in sticky silt in others.  Wellington boots were a necessity and I find wearing them very tiring, my still aching calves still remind me of their part in a successful early spring day.

April 12 2013,  LaSalle Marina, Burlington ON. We’ve just been swept by a very late winter storm.  It came at us slowly from the west, we had plenty of warning: expect freezing rain, or ice pellets, or snow; expect chaos on the highways and expect flooding. And just as predicted it swept over us taking a day and a half to do all of those things, if you stayed indoors and maybe read a book or had a nap, it was all right.  Some people went birding I expect, but not me.

This afternoon, in the calm after the storm, I went to see what birds were around, to see if any oddities had blown in, or maybe friends blown away.  At a nearby marina a small group of very cold men were trying to recapture and reconnect a bunch of floating docks that had broken loose and washed up on a distant shore.  For a while it was all rather discouraging, even the birding was hardly noteworthy.  I was mildly interested in six pairs of Gadwall, maybe they’ll nest around here I thought.  A couple of male Mute Swans were pummeling each other in an effort to impress a female who seemed to be paying them little attention. Several pairs of Red-breasted Mergansers were prowling along the shore and sort of grunted at me as they swam off. There seemed to be American Coots everywhere and for a while I rolled the alliterative pairing ‘Coot Country’ around my brain, but eventually that too faded.

Trudging back to the car I spotted a Caspian Tern just a few yards away, low and flying parallel to the shore.  My first of the year; and it made me think wow! and thereby qualified as Bird of the Day.  Invigorated, I pulled out my notebook and started to jot down my sightings, I remembered that I’d heard a Carolina Wren and a Northern Flicker; I’d seen a Pied Billed Grebe, a Brown Creeper and three or four Golden-crowned Kinglets up close.

A little later I stopped to check a raft of ducks I’d spotted just offshore and found that they were mostly Ruddy Ducks with a handful of scaup (not sure which kind) mixed in. A couple of Turkey Vultures sailed low overhead and a Common Grackle was squeaking and creaking for his mate’s benefit.  This winter storm will be forgotten in no time, and then we can get on with spring.

April 8 2013. Caledonia ON.  After a fulfilling morning at the bird observatory, a morning that produced lots of welcome sightings: Osprey, Eastern Phoebe and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker among them, I drove home wondering what would be next.  Spring migrants are streaming in, we heard our first Northern Flicker, a flight of three ponderous Great-blue Herons laboured their way nortward high above the river and the first Tree Swallows were swirling around checking out nest boxes. And I surprised myself with a couple of on-the-go shots of a group of Common Mergansers flying upstream.

There’s rain and a chance of thunder in the forecast; such turbulence does funny things sometimes setting off a cascade of new birds.  And if we do get a decent April rain it will prompt a frenzy of amphibian activity: Wood Frogs, Chorus Frogs and salamanders will all be racing (as only an amphibian can race) to the nearest pond to get the egg laying underway.

As I joined a fast moving four-lane stream of traffic I noticed something along the edge of a dun-coloured field.  The traffic was reasonably sane so I pulled over, set my four-way flashers going and grabbed my binoculars.  As I’d suspected, a male Woodland Turkey was strutting along a hedgerow, fanning his tail to proclaim his dominion.  Somewhere in that vicinity he has a harem of lady friends, or at least he’s making plans to.  I managed to get my camera out and zoom in on him for this lucky, but hardly award-winning, shot. His impromptu appearance made him my Bird of the Day.

And if you’re wondering what species a Woodland Turkey is, well, I’m on a one man mission to get the so-called Wild Turkey renamed.  Here’s a link to my rant on this topic.

April 6 2013.  Beamer Falls Conservation Area. Grimsby, ON.  There’s a place not far from here that has become the place to watch migrant hawks returning in spring to breed.  It can be pretty spectacular, I’ve been there on mid April days to see hundreds of Sharp-shinned Hawks buzz by at tree-top level, and I recall one warm cumulus cloud day when we tallied over 2,400 Broad-winged Hawks circling high overhead.  But it can be a bit hit and miss and we’ve come to appreciate and expect other reliable passage migrants including Tree Swallows, Blue Jays and Northern Flickers.

Fox Sparrows are also regulars at this time of year.  They hang around with American Tree Sparrows, Song Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos scratching in the leaf litter beneath some sunflower and millet loaded feeders.  It was a bit cold for hawks this morning so, from the shelter of my car I tried, without great success, to see if I could get a decent photograph of a Fox Sparrow.  As sparrows go they’re quite pretty, melodious and even enchanting, but for all that there’s no Fox Sparrow Appreciation Society that I’m aware of.  Maybe it’s because they’re just sparrows which puts them in the LBJ (little Brown Job) category.  Such dismissal is a loss to society because foxies are cut above ordinary brown, they have rich chestnut-red wings, rump and tail feathers, a liberal sprinking of reddish spots on their flanks and breast, and a patch of chestnut on their cheeks. (Click on the picture above at left to get a better idea.) It’s true that they tend to skulk out of sight a lot, but they make up for it by singing frequently, a musical song that Pete Dunne (who always seems to masterfully capture the essence of a song) describes as  “Sounds like a lazy or dreamy R2-D2 of Star Wars fame”.

As for hawks, well there were a few.  Perhaps my bird of the day should have been the Northern Goshawk that sailed low overhead, skirting the edge of the parking lot allowing us all a good look. Dozens of Turkey Vultures waltzed by like a parade of undertakers, a single Sharp-shinned Hawk darted through the trees carrying what I suspect was formerly a junco, and an American Kestrel spun low overhead fanning its banded tail as it turned.  But I liked the Fox Sparrows best, maybe even enough to start a Fox Sparrow Appreciation Society.

April 4 2013.  Bronte, ON. The town immediately to the east of us is a rather high-priced place.  It has miles of Lake Ontario shoreline, a couple of pretty high-end marinas and plenty of gracious neighbourhoods.  It also has some good birding spots.  This afternoon I was reminded of the desirability of waterfront properties when, through my binoculars, I followed the flight of an American Kestrel.  It flew strongly from the water’s edge, across a grassy park and up to the top of a newly completed, several-storey apartment building.  As I looked intently at the kestrel I gradually recognised that a woman of perhaps my baby-boomer age, dressed in form-fitting and fashionable exercise clothes and standing on a  Stepmaster or Fitnessform treadmill, was glaring back at me through the window of her penthouse with a view.  Hmmm. Well I’ve been coming here longer than she’s been standing there!

I was at one of the town’s marinas to see if the Red-necked Grebes had started their spring courtship dances yet.  I watched them last year and marveled at their aquatic synchonization and braying love songs; I don’t want to miss this year’s performances.  I think it’s still too cold.  They have formed pair bonds but seem more content to float around like a couple of logs; they don’t stray very from each other though and I’m sure they know exactly what to do when the time is right.  A day or two of warm spring weather and I think it’ll be the Sound of Music all over again.

Just along the path I came upon a female Common Goldeneye working the rocky shoreline diving for food.  Interesting because goldeneyes prefer deeper water and this one spent a long time diving in shallow water within a few feet of passersby; I actually wondered if it was sick, it had a rather manic expression. In any event it was interesting to be able to study it at such close quarters and even to be able to watch it underwater.  I managed to get several photos including some of it diving and a few more just as it surfaced. Here’s some of them; my Bird of the Day Common Goldeneye.