Weather: Sunny both days. Lows of 8C and highs of approx 18C
Location: At Home & at Grass Lake
Spring (at least a warmer version of it) is now here ... at last. Played around with some Grackle shots out of my Patio doors .. they are an interesting bird, with awesome shades pf blue. After work I headed over to Grass Lake to see if the Sandhills were around and as I arrived I noticed one flying incredibly high circling the lake, and who eventually made a spectacular descent and landed out of site (wings and legs pushed out front making the radical change in speed required for landing). As I was waiting for a flyby I noticed movement below me along the edge of the marsh, and after waiting a significant amount of time the "culprit" eventually made a brief appearance, allowing a couple of OK pics. At first I had thought it was a Sora, until I realized the beak length and it became obvious that it was a Virginia Rail. Actually there were two of them, but the second didn't show in the open.
April 25th - 26th 2015
Weather: Sunny both days. Lows of 0C and highs of approx 12C
Location: Around KW
On Saturday I took a local spin around a few of the potentially good locations, with mixed success. Huron Park in Kitchener produced yet another Pine Warbler, a few RC Kinglets, (2) Kingfisher as well as a few Yellow-rumped Warblers (who weren't cooperating and generally kept their distance). From there headed over to Grass Lake, but other than some distance shots of (3) Eastern Bluebirds, and not forgetting the increasing abundance of Savannah Sparrows along the fence line. Sudden Tract was the next stop (I wish I kept going) with almost nothing showing. Ended up at Tilt's Bush in Kitchener and had an amazing showing of primarily Ruby-crowned Kinglets - at a guess I would say there was around a dozen of them working and and feeding along the creek. I also had a Pine Warbler show up and was very actively feeding along the creek edge. Sunday, I went out with a good, and long time friend, Carlos (who isn't a birder) and toured around north of here looking for photo opportunities (a few samples in my Flickr page) .
April 19th 2015
Weather: Sunny, but turning cloudy later (10C at 9:00am)
Location: Around KW
Due to family related commitments (It was my 5yo Grandson Simon's birthday) I was not able to venture too far, which is often as good a plan as any. It was a tad windy and as I dropped in on a few likely spots I discovered that there was not much moving (I expect due to the windy conditions), so after visiting Huron Park, Freeport Hospital area, Riverside Park I was totally empty handed. Last stop, I planned, was Tilt's Bush, but as there was less than a likely chance things would be different here I went armed with only the binoculars. Yet ANOTHER lesson learned today ... ALWAYS carry a camera!! At the end of the boardwalk at Tilts Bush I found, within a few minutes (2) Pine Warblers, (2) Ruby-crowned Kinglets, (3) Northern Flickers and (1) Brown Creeper. However I did pop back after our family lunch (this time with camera & long lens), and although not the activity I had witnessed earlier in the day, I still managed to spot one of the Pine Warblers, (2) KInglets & (2) Brown Creepers, but it took me a couple of hours to come up with that. I spoke with a couple who said they had spotted a flyby of a Pileated Woodpecker.
April 18th 2015
Weather: Sunny
Location: SW Ontario
Checked out a few places around the Lake, but it was generally a little slow. Saying that, still managed a few decent sightings. Opposite is a Hermit Thrush that I spotted and it gave a few seconds of opportunity, and fortunately for me one of the shots was pretty sharp. Other sightings as per the small gallery below. One of the highlights was a photographic first for me - a Purple Martin seen at Ruthven in Haldimand County.
April 13th-15th 2015
Weather: Sunny
Location: Around Kitchener, Ontario
It's been a great start to the week, with the warmer weather, what started off as a trickle of new birds arriving is now in full swing. Locally, around Kitchener, I've seen several new arriving birds - Sapsuckers, Flickers, Creepers and yesterday morning at Huron Park a Pine Warbler. I popped over to Grass Lake on a couple of occasions to see the Sandhill Cranes (I spotted 4 on Monday & a single flyby of another bird Wednesday). I'm told that six birds are at Grass Lake, so with a bit of luck we'll see lots of chicks. I cruised the gravel road looking for the grassland birds that visit every year and spotted (3) Savannah Sparrows, a few Tree Swallows, but no Bluebirds ??.
April 12th 2015
Weather: Sunny +2C (6:30am) & +14C (14:00pm)
Location: Long Point, Ontario
With the warmer weather promised and good reports from OFO re Long Point .. it seemed a like a great idea. Steve & I headed out early this morning, heading to one of our favorite Spring locations. Generally we were not disappointed with, I think, above average sightings. First stop was Old Cut Banding Station, which produced almost right away a couple of Eastern Towhees, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and one or two Brown Creepers. During our stop at this location we ventured into the Conservation Area, but it was pretty dead of all avian activity, but as we circled back around to the Old Cut there were several more Brown Creepers (they were everywhere), Golden-crowned & Ruby-crowned Kinglets. We had hoped for Rusty Blackbirds and possibly Vesper Sparrows, but these were not around (as far as we could see anyways). We did however see our first Chipping Sparrow of the year. From here we headed over to Bird Studies HQ property and saw an Eastern Pheobe and several Northern Flickers. Down in the lake a few Buffleheads were visible, but as usual, pretty cautious. We stopped by one of many Tree Swallow colonies and had a blast trying to get a decent flight shot (one of my poor tries below). From here we visited Port Rowan Wetlands, but other than a few more Buffleheads, there wasn't too much to see. Last stop was the back road behind Baccus Woods where we spotted another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a very cooperative Pheobe and the first of the year, for us, Hermit Thrush. Other sightings were Bald Eagle, Great Egret, Hooded Merganser, Tundra Swans, etc etc. Nothing even remotely close to a National Geographic entry (as if :)), but it was a good day anyhoo!!
April 11th 2015
Weather: Sunny +4C (8:30pm)
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Thanks to a friend I was given the "heads up" on possible owl opportunities in the Hamilton area. Apparently Windermere Basin was where a Saw-whet Owl was thought to be, but after an hour or so checking out all the typical roosting spots for the Saw-whet I was out of luck. However, although I didn't get many pics (my subjects were not cooperating - just as I was focusing or spinning around to line things up they would generally high tail it - some days are like that !!) I did have a couple of decent sightings - Eastern Bluebird and a Northern Flicker. Other items were Kildeer, Tree Swallows, Song Sparrows, Greater Scaup, Cormorants, Cowbirds (hanging around the nesting tree swallow colony ... mmmm!), Robins & Grackles. I was also given the location of the Great Horned Owl fledglings, so after much going around in circles trying to find the section of the trail I did finally get there and was ultimately able to get a few shots of these gorgeous, cuddly (well maybe not cuddly) youngsters - to be honest based on the location I thing I had more twigs and branches than owlets :). Later in the day, in Kitchener (Wilson Ave) I spotted a Kestrel (nice bonus for the day), albeit a long way off.
April 5th 2015
Weather: Cloudy, with a chance of flurries (yuk) 0C (8:00pm)
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Outing had been planned all week, so even though the forecast was less than good, Steve & I decided to go anyways. We had planned a trip to some of the Toronto birding locations, starting off at High Park, just of the Gardiner and fairly close to the CN Tower. The targets were Wood Ducks and Evening Grosbeaks, both of which were being sighted almost daily. I had never been in this Park before, so after driving around the park for a while we spotted an area near the south end that had a pond, and several Wood Ducks. Other sightings were a Gadwall pair, Chickadees, Song Sparrows, Red-tailed Hawk (we just missed the photo opportunity where the hawk made an unsuccessful attack on a squirrel). After an hour, and no Grosbeaks, we headed to Humber Bay West, and a had a good hour watching & photographing Greater Scaup, Common & Red-breasted Mergansers, Red-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe and a Common Loon. Next stop was Sam Smith Park, but soon after arrival the snow started, so headed out, but did see a few Red-necked Grebes, Long-tailed Ducks and a couple of American Black Ducks.
April 4th 2015
Date: Saturday April 4th 2015
Weather: Sunny +2C (8:30pm)
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Cooler morning after the last couple of days of spring-like weather. Headed to the Hamilton area to see if I could spot the Neotropic Cormorant that is being seen along with the ever increasing returning numbers of Double-crested Cormorants - a couple of weeks back there were only one or two to be found, but now there seem to several hundreds. I scanned the roosting colonies with binoculars for a significant amount of time, but was unable to spot this rarity.
I had read on ebird that a Common Loon was being seen at La Salle, and a few minutes after arrival I was able to capture a couple of shots before he dove and I was unable to spot him again, La Salle also had several Horned Grebes and a few Red-breasted Mergansers. I also visited Windermere Basin and spotted my first of the year Tree Swallows (approx 10)
In the last couple of days I was able to confirm that the Sandhill Cranes are back at Grass Lake and that the Fountain Street Ospreys are also back .
Been reading about a great Spring Migration location, that as yet I had not considered but I think this spring it will be on my agenda. This would be Magee Marsh in Ohio, near Toledo. Based on what I've read is that the best time to visit this area is mid May ... of which I'm really excited. Pelee, as I've mentioned several times, is the Spring hotspot in Ontario - The Pelee Festiva is approximately three weeks long and I plan to be there at least one or two days during Festival. l