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August 28 2012.  Woodland Cemetery Hamilton ON.  The past 24 hours has seen a change in weather, which has given the birds a migratory push.  This afternoon after sitting through an indoor presentation about hiking in Peru I spent an hour or so in a nearby area of rock outcrops and scattered trees and shrubs; actually a cemetery.  It is strategically placed along the Lake Ontario shoreline so birds are sort of funneled through it, and the spacing and variety of trees makes for quite rich bird viewing in late summer and fall.

I sat for a while in a microburst of migrants and noted Black and White, Magnolia, Black-throated Green and Pine Warblers, a deliciously peachy-gold marked female American Redstart , a Blue–gray Gnatcatcher and a couple of Philadelphia Vireos.  They were all difficult to hold in my field of view because they were jumping and flitting around busily fuelling up on high protein insects.  Here’s a photo of a Black-throated Green Warbler taken in May.

I heard the clear song of a Black–throated Blue Warbler; “Zhrurr zhrurr zhree”, a sound I haven’t heard since May and it sure caught my attention. Moments later I was treated to a long look at a full-colour male, handsome with his blue back, white belly, black face and throat and the diagnostic little square of white on his primary wing feathers.  It was a pleasant hour or so anyway but this Bird of the Day made it extra special.

August 26, 2012. Cootes Paradise, Hamilton ON.  Dams and other devices at its downstream, east end artificially control the water level in Lake Ontario. So what’s good for shipping balanced in the context of rainfall, generally sets the tone for water levels from end to end.  One of my best birding spots this year has been a large expanses of mud flats at the extreme west end of the lake; the shorebirds love it there.  This morning I went out early to see what may be around on a small, just-emerging mud-bar, I found a vantage point with the sun at my back and was astonished at the numbers of birds out there.

Caspian Terns noisily dominated the area but dozens of Lesser Yellowlegs prowled around picking hungrily.  Some, like this one, came quite close to my shore and allowed close study.

A careful sweep of the mudflat turned up a couple of Stilt Sandpipers, a Short–billed Dowitcher, several Semi-palmated Sandpipers and best of all, indeed Bird of the Day, was a graceful Wilson’s Phalarope.  This was a teachable moment self-taught.  It was too far off to photograph, but I was able to make some field notes including “pinkish/yellow legs, clear white under, small eyeline”.  There are three phalarope species: Wilson’s, Red, and Red-necked.  In their Arctic breeding plumage they’re quite distinctively different, but they soon molt back to their basic nine-months-of-the-year attire when, at a distance, they all look much alike.  The lesson learned today was the value of my written field observation of the pinkish/yellow legs. Oh, there are other determining and distinguishing details like extent and definition of the eye-line and darkness of the upper body, but good viewing conditions may make or break the reliability of these.  Leg colour is diagnostic for a Wilson’s Phalarope.

August 24, 2012.  Cootes Paradise, Hamilton, ON. Just a hot summer day today.  This morning on some nearby mudflats I made out a Black-bellied Plover, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, and a probable Short–billed Dowitcher.  There were lots of Killdeer running around and a Semi–palmated Plover or two as well. This particular marsh always seems to attract Great Egretsin late summer, and today I counted twelve.

They, and numerous Mute Swans, make bright white splotches everywhere, rendering the Great Blue Herons almost invisible by contrast.

This afternoon I volunteered help at a fish control experiment.  I watched an Osprey make three plunging attempts to catch a fish and on its last go it managed to seize a small wriggling perch.  Then a little later I was pleased to hear a Warbling Vireo singing tentatively in the nearby willows. It seems odd to hear bird song in the late summer / fall but it’s quite common, particularly among robins.  The song is never full-on, more hesitant and rarely complete.  Why should this be?

I have read that levels of testosterone increase in some songbirds in the autumn.  Elevated testosterone levels lead to the onset of breeding behaviour, including song.  But what prompts testosterone production, and why now?

Somewhere I think I read or heard that late summer /fall birdsong may be prompted by daylight length.  That makes sense in the spring.  We are now two months past the summer solstice so our daylight length is the same as two months before the summer solstice, or mid/late April, and the robins were certainly singing then; however the Warbling Vireos hadn’t even arrived.  I would appreciate anyone’s thoughts on this.

Anyway hearing the Warbling Vireo this afternoon was a wow moment, and it was my bird of the day.

August 22, 2012. Lowville, ON.  Changes in weather hinting at cooler days to come prompt our birds of summer to start heading south.  Arctic-nesting shorebirds began showing up around here in July and now the passerines (perching birds or, less accurately, songbirds) too are on the move.

Today I accepted an invitation to join a young birder in exploring his home turf to look for migrant warblers.  He’d seen 14 species a few days ago so he was optimistic and I was keen to learn more.  As it happened there were many fewer migrants evident today.  I explained to him that they seem to move in waves; you’ll get great days with lots of birds and then a lull until a change in the weather drops the next broad hint to get going.

I learned a useful lesson from him, to listen for vocal chickadees; where there’s chickadees there’s often other birds (warblers in this case). Over three hours we encountered 3 or 4 little microbursts of chickadees and warblers.  Our tally included Canada Warblers, American Redstarts , a beautifully close-up view of an Ovenbird, Black and White Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler and a Wilson’s Warbler.  Added to that were a few Red–eyed Vireos, an undetermined “Empidonax” flycatcher, Eastern Wood Peewee and, as my Bird of the Day, a close but briefly seen Great Crested Flycatcher.  The warblers were all great birds, challenging and rewarding, but somehow it was the Great Crested Flycatcher that was part way through it’s post breeding molt but still quite colourful, that made me exclaim Wow! For my young companion his BotD was the Ovenbird for the same equally good reason, it made him say wow!

August 19 2012.  Bruce Trail, Walkers Line, Halton ON. I stumbled upon early signs of another chapter in the birds’ year today, the southbound, or fall, migration of warblers, vireos, flycatchers and the like.

I set out quite early to continue my study of fern species.  After a rather long, uphill and mostly unproductive search, I was returning along a well travelled hiking trail when I heard a familiar, rather liquid chip note coming from a small goldenrod and dogwood break in the forest.  I paused and tried a chip note of my own in return expecting a Common Yellowthroat to react.  To my surprise a young Canada Warbler popped up, and then another. And as I watched I realized there were many more small birds flitting around including: a Willow Flycatcher (probably, although it could have been a Least or Alder Flycatcher; they’re almost indistinguishable at this time of year) two or three young Bay–Breasted Warblers, a couple of Orange–crowned Warblers and best of all, a Wilson’s Warbler.

Later while still looking for ferns at another site, I apparently offended a family of White-breasted Nuthatches who were soon reinforced by a very vocal Red–breasted Nuthatch and two Scarlet Tanagers.

It was a successful fern day in the end and the Wilsons’s Warbler with its natty black cap carried the day.  They are one of those fleeting warbler species that we see in May, if we’re lucky, on its way to the alder and willow swamps of Hudson Bay lowlands.  It’s a privilege to see them at any time; and especially good today.

Footnote:  Wilson’s Warbler today, Wilson’s Snipe a couple of days ago. Wilson’s Phalarope on May 5th.  If I get to see and report on Wilson’s Petrel  and Wilson’s Plover we’ll have a complete set.