My Bird of the Day

Hidden Valley Rd, Burlington, ON. April 19^th. 2021.  I get much of my exercise hiking and exploring a steep-sided, flat-bottomed river valley not far from home. It has special appeal this week with emerging spring flowers and the way that you can watch the forest’s upper levels freshening to a haze of watery green.

Today, working my way up a faint bank-side track about twenty metres above the tumbling river, movement up ahead caught my attention: upstream, eye-level to me, was a Bald Eagle heading my way in purposeful flight. It was the sort of looking-straight-at-you image that belongs in a National Geographic centre spread: all-white head, yellow bill, black wings and white tail, it swept past me and left, turning and adjusting to follow the river’s course.  I assumed it was scouting for an easy meal, an inattentive Musk Rat or Beaver perhaps, or a fish which they will just pluck from the water, not diving as an Osprey would. Whatever its purpose, for me it was a quick fly-past and gone, or so I thought – until I met up with it again. 

This time it was a different kind of surprise. I was now on the flat lands of the valley floor and trying to focus on some mystery bird sounds, a Pileated Woodpecker maybe. I found a comfortable log for a seat and settled in to wait, something might come my way.

I wasn’t sure about the woodpecker but could hear a Red-tailed Hawk’s coarse scream, high overhead, it was indignant about something. And then came an answer, a responding thin, piping stutter that I knew meant Bald Eagle.  A call that is perhaps the worst-matched bird sound ever: that the mighty arrow and olive-branch carrying symbol of the United States should speak in such a pipsqueak voice is pure irony. Perhaps the Red-tailed Hawk was goading the eagle to compare voices, to see who really rules the roost.

Perched high in the tops of a couple of budding Red Oaks were three Bald Eagles, one adult and two youngsters just a few branches away. I watched them for a long time and they did what Bald Eagles do more than anything, sit around and watch the world go by.

The presence of these three raises many questions, mostly around who belongs where and with whom. They may all be siblings with one old enough to have reached adult plumage. Or was this an adult with offspring from previous years? If so, where did they come from?  Bald Eagles are starting to gain a toehold around this end of Lake Ontario and these are part of that dynamic expansion.

Grey Doe Trail, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton ON. April 11^th.2021. Steady rain kept me staring out the window for much of this morning but when I checked the radar map at 10.45 it seemed that the narrow band of heavy rain was about to leave us behind. Thirty minutes later I was at the start of a delayed transect hike. ( For an explanation of what I mean by transect hike, follow this link. There will be many more of them in the weeks ahead.)

The washed landscape still made little trickling noises as thin sheets of runoff found their way to ground and the air felt soft and almost silky. I enjoyed walking familiar trails with not another soul around. 

Making my way through a forested area, notable for a large grove of towering White Pines, there seemed to be bird sounds all around. Many familiars like: American Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, Brown Creeper and some quite mystifying, little call notes and fragments that made no sense to me. And strangely, I thought, the short dryish trill of a Pine Warbler. But if credible, it came from rather a long way off so was easy to discount this early in April. Pine Warbler is one of the first warblers to arrive in spring; but not yet, more likely in another ten days or so. 

But it wouldn’t go away, that trill, it grew louder and more certain and in time I could see a fluttering speck of yellow, busy against the sombre green of a pine. It really was a Pine Warbler and the longer I watched the closer it came and, bless it, was content to linger long enough to allow some photos.

A pretty little bird, not one of the gaudiest among the warblers to come, but a bright spark that certainly lifted my day

On the return leg of my transect circuit I passed under another grove of White Pines and again heard Pine Warblers, so I guess they’re back – I can’t argue. My Bird of the Day.

Lemmonville Rd, Burlington, ON. April 9^th. 2021.  I set out before breakfast to see if I could find a group of Wilson’s Snipes who had settled into a nearby wet field, as they do every April around this time. I was able to find just two: one busying itself probing deeply for some wriggly invertebrate meal, the other was almost overhead, doing its aerial territory-claiming display.

The snipes were a nice start to a day that was to produce several firsts. Not far from the snipes was a large flock of Rusty Blackbirds and, like the strutting Common Grackles of a month ago, they are interesting to watch when they choose to pick-and-flick for food around watery margins. If I had to sum up Rusty Blackbirds I’d say they are: Rather uncommon and we only ever see them during spring or fall migrations; Generally browny-black; Not songsters at all, managing only a funny squeaky sound like a gate-hinge that needs oiling; And having a startling white eye. It helps to see them periodically, for a refresher, because they can be confused with grackles. Above is a photo of two males and a female.

I stopped at another flooded field and was pleased to see two wading Greater Yellowlegs feeding and picking their ways delicately, like a couple of high-stepping ballerinas. They are on their way to their swampy muskeg breeding grounds of central Canada and southern Alaska.

 A low-flying Cooper’s Hawk panicked the yellowlegs and they left in a hurry, far beyond my line of sight leaving me to enjoy a pair of Blue–winged Teal, a duck that is better described as locally infrequent rather than rare. The yellowlegs and teal were both first-of-the-year sighting for me.

On a woodland-edge walk much later in the day, I binocular-checked a nearby communication tower and was pleased to see that a pair of Ospreys had returned to reclaim their nest site from last year. They weren’t there yesterday so I assume they had only just cleared immigration.  The communication industry doesn’t like the way Ospreys appropriate the tops of cell towers and has taken to removing the nests and installing exclusion barriers. This nest is now active and I hope the industry shows the good grace and sense to leave it alone, it is illegal to interfere with an active nest. Finally, and My Bird of the Day, was a Field Sparrow heard singing its sweetly distinctive ping-pong-ball-coming-to-rest song, close-by but unseen, another first-of-the-year but plenty more of them to come, and they’re always welcome.

Flatt Rd, Burlington ON. April 6^th. 2021.  The sudden sweep of a shadow across my path is a birding clue to be taken as a challenge. Invariably it’s a large bird, soaring, a gull usually, but sometimes an eagle, crow or hawk. The challenge is to react quickly, spin around and figure out where it is in the wide skies above – or was. Following the shadow’s source will often add a sighting that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

This afternoon I was exploring a long up and down path through a quiet forest of oak, maple, and beech. Quiet because it is still early, it’ll be three or four weeks before a filling-in of the leaf canopy and the flood of migrants bring their bird-song. For now the forest floor is open, bright and soon warmed. A few early flowers had unfolded making the most of the available light, this Round-lobed Hepatica caught my attention.

It was as I was paying attention to the forest floor that a couple of dark shadows scudded past. I looked up to see a convoy of Turkey Vultures drifting over and as I watched they decided they’d had enough for a while and settled to rest in the top of a White Oak. I moved closer to watch as they spread their wings as if to dry them out. They didn’t stay long just long enough, curious enough and attention-grabbing enough to be My Birds of the Day.

Bulls Point Trail, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton ON. March 29^th.2021. It was a ‘should-have-worn-gloves’ morning as three of us set out for a hopeful circuit through woodlands, the brisk north-westerly seemed unfair and probably dampened bird activity, we were happiest when we were out of its cruelest cut.

We were half way around our planned circuit when we found an endearing pair of Eastern Bluebirds. They were unconcerned by our presence allowing a careful photo-ops approach.

It’s not hard to understand why bluebirds are so popular, it would be hard to improve much on the male Eastern Bluebird for colour in particular and overall cuteness in general. His mate is a little less eye-popping but her evident, albeit muted, similarity makes the species popular for studying the different behaviours and appearance of the sexes, something not always easy for newer birders.

Their bounce-back from relative scarcity in the 60s and 70s is partly (perhaps largely) thanks to the popularity of erecting nest boxes. So popular, that there are many organisations devoted to creating bluebird trails and thereby encouraging the growth of bluebird populations. Who could possibly object?  Bluebirds have recovered well and are so easily observed and studied that I suspect many graduate degrees have been earned on the back of Sialia sialis.

We continued on our way and racked up thirty or so species with few surprises. At a nice lookout spot a male Red–bellied Woodpecker came close to us, I think he thought we were bringing food, as many do at this spot, if so he was disappointed. He, like the bluebird, was spectacular in his spring, breeding, plumage designed to impress a mate and hold his ground.

The day produced a few more notables: newly returned Killdeers and Belted Kingfisher, and a vocal Cooper’s Hawk that swept past clacking loudly to let us know he was master of that neck of the woods; but otherwise nothing totally unexpected. The Eastern Bluebirds were My Birds of the Day, I’d known that from the moment I first saw them.