It had been a few weeks since an earlier and very successful trip to the same area, and after finding myself with a couple of days free, I headed up in the morning with the plan to spend two days. After sleeping in (damned alarm didn't go off ... or maybe I set it wrong, anyways) I headed out the door at close to 5:00 am (I had planned 3:00am) I drove the 4 hours north with much anticipation. I headed up along a gravel road about 15km, then up a cart track another few km's and found a likely spot with a few birds showing and calling. My first bird of the day was a super gorgeous Northern Parula and then an inquisitive Black-throated Blue Warbler. I could hear a Black-backed Woodpecker calling and hammering close by (maybe it was a Three-toed, but I'm not sure) but I couldn't locate it for an image ... maybe next time. Throughout the day I saw and I photographed several songbirds including Canada Warbler, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Mourning Warbler and a few misc other birds. The original plan was to get a hotel late in the day, but by 7:00pm I was rethinking the plan .... I had had a decent day, so decided that I was going to head home to have a nights sleep in my own bed - 4 hour drive back, and yes a long day, but a good one !!!!

Around this time last year I made a couple of trips to the same general area searching for, and photographing what for me are the glamour boys of the bird world ... namely Warblers and other songbirds. Over the two days I spent in that area I did see quite a few of our targets but sightings were down from last year, unfortunately. Still ... we all have good days and bad days, but still amazing to visit the area .. other than the black flies and mosquitoes  of course:). 
All said and done, it was a reasonably successful trip with numerous sightings of Canada Warblers, a few Ovenbirds, a few Chestnut-sided Warblers, and one or two Black-throated Blue Warblers, Northern Parula, Mourning Warblers, American Redstarts and a few others. Strangely enough a couple of the birds that were common last year were not around ... Blackburnian Warblers and Black-throated Green Warblers. They may of course have been keeping a low profile during the time we were there, but we would still have expected to have heard their unmistakable calls. Maybe my next trip in another week or so will be more successful with those two. I hope 

Now that spring is well & truly here I will be doing a few extended birding trips throughout Southern Ontario and likely into Quebec. Every year during either spring & summer, I take a 2 or 3 day trip and drive the back roads up between Ferndale Flats & Tobermory in search of interesting birds. This year, along with a friend, I headed up earlier in the year than usual and was rewarded with several good sightings. The stars of the show was, without question, multiple sightings of different Golden-winged Warblers - which BTW was our principle target bird. To say we were delighted is a huge understatement. Over the years, for me, these super gorgeous birds have been very difficult to locate and photograph. I have seen them at Carden Alvar and along a trail near Milton, but this area was new to me.
We also saw, and some cases photographed, Black-throated Green Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, Canada Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Ovenbird, Black & White Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat This covers the warblers, which BTW puts my warbler YTD list to 30. Also seen were Phoebe's, Great-crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting and a few Sparrow species.

Every now and then I take the opportunity to explore areas that I had never been to before - you never know what you are going to find.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes all I did was wear out some shoe leather. Today was a mix of both I suppose. My first stop this morning was a woodlot and pond on the south end of Cambridge and just off Drinkwater Drive (near Myers Road) - I spent the next hour exploring the trails and pond edge, but other than a few Yellow Warblers, Robins, Song Sparrows and a Blue Jay I didn't have much to warrant hauling out a camera. Next on my list was Meister Tract ... I'm not sure why I have never come across this property before as I have driven down this road many times, (which is on Sager Road close to Highway 8), but it had great habitat and I was quite hopeful as I started out. The lot had a circular trail, that although I didn't walk it all seemed to loop through and around, and looked "birdy". Anyways I didn't see a lot but as I was beginning to doubt that there were any songbirds here at all, an Ovenbird popped out and gave me a  few great poses over the next minute or so. Sadly this was the only significant encounter, so I left with the thought this might be worth another visit in the next few weeks.

Absolutely no question - May is my favorite birding month and again, no question that songbirds, and especially warblers, are my favorite birds. Today was another outing with warblers and other songbirds in mind. There are lots and lots of great places in SW Ontario (without going to Pelee, Rondeau or Long Point) to find these migrating gems. As they make their way north and settle in their traditional breeding spots, and some which pass through and give us views of their spectacular beauty in their breeding finery.   Along with a birding friend, we hiked a few of the local trails and were rewarded with some superb sightings and photographs. I think todays highlight must have been a few sightings and glimpses of one of my favorite warblers - the elusive and quite rare Brewster's Warbler (a hybrid sub-species of the the Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warbler). He didn't pause long a any one spot but a little patience and I managed a couple of half decent images. 
Other nice birds spotted (some photographed and some not) were Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Indigo Bunting Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Gray Catbird and one or two others

On Sunday morning, with limited time, I checked out a sometimes excellent location in the early - mid point of the spring migration - Tilts Bush (directions in my Hot Spots page) A scouting visit a couple of days before had found a Pine Warbler & several Hermit Thrushes, but today none of these species showed, but a Veery did, so this one made up for the lack of the others, being that it was a FOY (first of year) for me.
Monday Morning I visited Currie Tract, another location highlighted in my "Locations & Hot Spots" page. At a spot along the trail a ways I sat for couple of hours and had a bumper amount of flybys and short visits to my location. Birds seen (but unfortunately either not photographed or crap photographed) were Gray Catbird, Eastern Towhee, American Redstart, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue-winged Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler. I did however get images of Least Flycatcher & Pine Warbler, so all in all a decent day ... but it's early days in spring migration  so "stay tuned" :) BTW my YTD birds is over 150. 

Although it wasn't our first plan, we decided to check one or two of the Halton Region Tracts. One of the ones I've always favoured is Robertson Tract, and shortly after arrival and setting out on the trail we found an active pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Strangely, or maybe not so strange, is I have seen Yellow-bellied in almost the same spot for the last 4 years at about this time of year, so maybe being less of a surprise than expected, it was a lot of fun to watch and photograph these incredibly interesting birds. Other sightings were Palm Warbler (2), White-throated Sparrows (6), Song Sparrows (1), Golden-crowned Kinglets (2), Ruby-crowned Kinglets (3), Blue-winged Teal (7) and a single Gadwall. Unfortunately the only images here today were the Sapsuckers and the Teal, but we were very pleased at being able to capture some pretty good images from these two. 
After a quick coffee we headed to Cambridge to hopefully photograph Pileated Woodpeckers. Yesterday when I was here I could see that a male was actively working an old dead tree. Thankfully, a male Woody was back in the same tree excavating a nest hole and after getting into secluded spot some distance away we watched and photographed both the male and female over the next while. It was very educational and entertaining as it appeared that there was a distinct "plan" that the Woodpeckers were following (so-to-speak). They had excavated two interconnecting holes about 18 inches apart and was using the upper hole as a lookout. They would be in the bottom section excavating, then periodically go to the upper hole and poke a head out and scan the area for sometimes 10 minutes, then return to work in the lower section.