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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.

 

Royal Botanical Gardens. Hendrie Valley, Burlington. ON. April 17 2022.  A cold start to the day, windy and barely above freezing, not the sort of conditions that suit insectivores and yet they continue to appear. Easter Sunday is the kind of day that brings out family groups, sometimes noisy, sometimes dog-entangled, the sort of company I’d rather avoid on a transect, so I started early. Warmly dressed but still my knuckles stiffened. It took a while to spot anything out of the ordinary although a now familiar Eastern Screech Owl sitting at its tree-hole door was an easy pleasure.

The surprise of the day was a Yellow–rumped Warbler a precursor to May’s mad warbler rush to come. Yellow-rumps are pretty hardy, they are just about the latest warbler to leave us (in mid October,) and one of the earliest to return. A mid-April, Yellow-rumped Warbler, although early, is not out of line. It is nevertheless welcome especially for its contrast to the still leafless winter-weary world. It wasn’t My Bird of the Day though because swallows got me first.

The swallows were three each of Tree Swallows and Northern Rough–winged Swallows. They were flying in swooping sweeps and loops, presumably chasing whatever airborne insects there were on this cold morning. Occasionally they’d settle together, catch their breath and swap notes before skipping up, out and away again. I rate them as My Birds of the Day partly for being here and partly for obliging me by perching right in front of me on one of their rest breaks.

Royal Botanical Gardens. Hendrie Valley, Burlington. ON. March 31, 2022.  A week ago, I caught the Covid-19 virus and it laid me low for five days, lots of sleeping and sniffling.  Notwithstanding the physical discomfort, I didn’t mind too much because through those days, the world outdoors was unseasonably wintery, even hostile. I bounced back yesterday, and today set out to do my first transect of the year in ‘the valley’ You might want to take a moment to read this post from September 2020 as a refresher on what ‘transects’ are all about.

Happily, in marked contrast to the past week, today was breezy, sunny and mild. Two hours of lively birding delivered many familiar bird-friends and a handful of ‘Oh-I-hadn’t-expected-that!’ surprises. The familiars included:  small flocks of Common Grackles, iridescent, assertive and noisy; four Trumpeter Swans, two of whom are the pair who raised three cygnets in the valley last year. They look comfortably at home on one of the ponds, and the other two seemed to be strangers, interlopers, hopefuls who patrolled the valley skies a couple of hundred feet above, looking for an unlikely opportunity. One of the ponds held Wood Ducks, Buffleheads and at least twenty Common Mergansers, the males looking splendid in an almost military crisp white trimmed with black and red.

I attributed a minor disturbance among waterfowl to a Merlin that swept through the valley and a familiar Eastern Screech Owl friend sat and watched the day go by from its roost hole.

And…. those unexpected surprises?  First was a high-overhead Belted Kingfisher, rattle-calling as it flew (and as they always do). I shouldn’t say it was entirely unexpected, just more of a ‘glad-to-see-you-back’ sort of surprise. That was topped a bit later by a pair of kingfishers, in flight, side by side and sizing up the valley. The ice has cleared out and there are fish to catch, so it’s time.

Another birder pointed out a single Golden–crowned Kinglet busy zipping all over the place foraging for early insects. To see one at the end of March is a pleasure even if not a rarity, their tininess seems out of place in a bare-sticks landscape without a sign of green. This is a tough little bird weighing in at about 6 grams and able to withstand our northern winter – at least some of them do and this one probably made it through not too far from here.

And then, My Bird of the Day was a male Blue–winged Teal on one of the valley’s ponds, it didn’t seem to have a mate but was in the company of a few early-returned Wood Ducks. I make the observation about lack of mate because we tend to see Blue-winged Teals on these ponds in pairs and quite a bit later in spring. A single teal this early is a touch unusual and rather added to my surprise and pleasure at seeing it.  This handsome pair was photographed on the same pond late in April seven years ago.

And finally, something I’ve never done before.  A good friend Dr. Anthony Ford–Jones, died today, recently retired and far too young. A husband, father, grandfather, and paediatrician, he was warm-hearted, optimistic and an always-interested-in-you type of person. He was not a birder by any stretch of the imagination, he sometimes sent me hopeless photos looking for an i.d and many times thanked me for these reads. This one’s for Anthony.

Royal Botanical Gardens Arboretum, Hamilton. ON. March 23, 2022.  There are many signs of spring, maybe too many. A look back over the last half dozen posts and it’s clear that I celebrate them all for a variety of reasons: Tundra Swans, Killdeer, Red-winged Blackbirds and Eastern Phoebes. Well, today I was reminded of another, a Northern Flicker.

I had decided to get out of the house on a mild day, to take a leg-stretching walk and see what a wet and windy night had blown in. It was a big day for American Robins, I think there must have been a migratory surge last night, they seemed to be everywhere. On the short and narrow grass boulevard of an unremarkable urban street, I noted about twenty male robins all standing to attention the way robins do and showing off their rich, chestnut breasts.

At the arboretum there were plenty of robins too: singing, calling and clucking to each other. But rising above their low-level clamour was the clear call of a Northern Flicker, just one. Flickers have quite a repertoire of calls, this was the almost defiant, stuttering KAY- KAY – KAY. It says “I’m here. Looking for friends. Anyone?”  It wasn’t the best photo-op, shooting up against a bright sky is rarely a good idea but I took a chance because this bird was almost my first flicker of spring.  Many more will follow, I usually count on there being lots of them by mid-April.

North Service Rd. Woods, Burlington ON. March 20 2022.  My birding worked as it’s supposed to today: I (or you could too) go birding, look, pay attention and something unexpected will usually pop up. Two specials today: A Snowy Owl this morning and an Eastern Phoebe this afternoon.  On this date, both would likely fall into the category of ‘unexpected-but-certainly-possible,’ so certainly worth dancing a little jig for.

The Snowy Owl took me by surprise, I was visiting a nearby marina where I had hoped to see early-returning Red-necked Grebes, (and did). But as I walked out to the end of the breakwater a dog-walker said, “Good thing you have your camera, there’s a white owl by the lighthouse – flying around” Right away I knew what he meant and ‘- flying around’! My heart started to beat a little faster. Not that I keep records very seriously but I hadn’t seen a Snowy Owl all winter and assumed that I probably wouldn’t. Late or not, in flight or not, a Snowy Owl is always a nice sighting and it must be said, a real privilege. Here it is – it didn’t fly – not for me anyway.

After lunch, I took advantage of this bright, if blustery, March day to follow up on a couple of possible sites where I nurse hopes that American Kestrels might decide to set up home this spring. The population of American Kestrels is on a steep decline and I really hope to find a breeding pair somewhere in my study area for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. There were no kestrels at either site but there’s plenty of time, it’s still early.

Despite rather muddy trails I made a loop around a nice old woodland, not expecting much in the way of birds but enjoying the still sleeping forest floor and the reaching twigginess of Sugar Maples, White Oaks, Shag–bark Hickories and Hop–hornbeams. And then quite unexpectedly this Eastern Phoebe did what phoebes do best, fly off and watch me from a safe distance.

The appearance of the first Eastern Phoebe is always notable and always a bit of a surprise. They are a flycatcher and you wouldn’t think there are any flies around to catch. I bless them for their optimism and also because they have a way of sitting still long enough and close enough that I often manage to get a decent photograph.

The Snowy Owl and the Eastern Phoebe were sightings of quite different times and places, but they were equally My Birds of the Day. For similar reasons; one taking winter back north to where it belongs, the other dragging spring along behind it.