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Matts Landing, Heislerville, New Jersey. April  29. 2022. Although it takes nearly twelve hours of driving, a birding trip to the Cape May area has always been worth my while. I arrived this morning with the prospect of a full day of birding ahead, I was reasonably fresh and eager to get going having made an overnight stop just an hour or so north of Philadelphia.

It’s the geography of Cape May that makes it a birding hotspot.  The low-lying, well forested and marsh-girdled peninsula stands on the north side of the shortest crossing point of the wide Delaware River estuary.  It is on the Atlantic coastal route of spring migrants, millions of smaller forest and inland birds as well as shorebirds, all heading north.   It was already warmer than Ontario, perhaps three weeks ahead in unfolding spring.  It was bright and spring green although a touch cool especially exposed to the brisk west wind.

I made my start at Matt’s Landing, an out of the way, elevated, causeway with open waters to one side and enclosed ponds on the other.  It was a little after high tide which helped, because at low tide shorebirds disperse to feed on the millions of acres of exposed mudflats, while now, at high water they gather in large groups in peaceful refuges like these ponds.  The best spring-migrant days are yet to come but I was content with a fast-growing tally including many, easy to observe, Willets, Snowy Egrets, Semi-palmated Plovers, Dunlin, Sanderlings, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and, easily My Bird of the Day a Black-bellied Plover.

This single bird today (above) had me baffled for a while, I was in half a mind to call it an American Golden Plover.  Later with the luxury of internet in the comfort of a motel room, it became clear that it was a Black-bellied Plover. The two species look alike through the fall and winter months and my rather confusing bird was in mid-moult. It’s been some years since I last saw one and I remember now, from previous visits, that Black-bellied Plovers are abundant here in May; a week or two later and there would be no doubt. And, in any case, American Golden Plovers tend to migrate up the middle of the continent rather than along the Atlantic coast.

Later I followed a trail out over an expanse of salt-marsh. The wind rather took the fun out of it but birding was easy pickings: Ospreys on and around nest platforms, a flock of 14 Brant Geese, a Tri–colored Heron, many noisy Willets, a handful of Least Sandpipers and the sound (but not the sight) of Clapper Rails made it all very satisfying.

The weariness of my long drive faded.

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.