31st May 2018
27th May 2018
Todays sightings ... Great-crested Flycatcher, Ovenbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and of course, Canada Warbler.
May 26th 2018
Today was a local jaunt around some known habitats (most of them not too well known) and luck was somewhat on my side as I managed a few decent sightings and shots.
May 23rd & 24th 2018
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. |
May 21st 2018
May 20th 2018
Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description
May 19th 2018
Next stop Lakeside park in Kitchener .. nothing much around other than a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Warbling Vireo. ... Heading to Grass lake ?
About this time of year I can usually find a Grasshopper Sparrow, amongst several Savannah Sparrows, at Grass Lake but like the rest of my morning luck they were either staying hidden or had yet to arrive, but while I was here I did see several Savannahs, a few Bobolinks and a few Chipping Sparrows ...
May 18th 2018
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. |
May 17th 2018
Today I went to Halton area looking for songbirds and found a few including Yellow Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Redstarts, Veery and a very inquisitive and cooperative bird ... a pair of Yellow-throated Vireos.
May 16th 2018
This was certainly true earlier today - I went to Paletta Park in Burlington following a tip that said there was a Tennessee Warbler located here. I trekked around the park with little success until I came to big old willow tree (and an adjacent tree) and sure enough, not only was the Tennessee here but several other songbirds as well including Northern Parula, American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Warbling Vireos and another one or two that I'm having trouble recollecting as I write this. Anyways a good couple of hours, but I wish they were easier to shoot
May 14th 2018
One of the few negatives at places like Pelee is that the brush and undergrowth in general is not groomed (nor would we want it) so even though the birds were low they were often quite hard to see, and consequently quite difficult to photograph. Saying that I did "shoot" a few and saw many more. Notable sightings/photographed were Black-throated Blue Warblers, American Redstarts, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warblers (hundreds), Chestnut-sided Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Black & White Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Orchard Oriole, Swainson's Thrush, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Barn Swallow, Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird and a few misc others. As I said earlier plenty of birds, but few decent images.
May 11th 2018
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 |
May 7th & 8th 2018
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. |
May 5th 2018
Other birds (songbirds) spotted around the park were Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Hermit Thrush and both Kinglets. (I might have missed a couple), so all in all I was pretty "chuffed" by the species seen, but disappointed that not too many good shots resulted. ... maybe tomorrow :)
May 2nd 2018
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. |
May 1st 2018
I had heard that the Savannah Sparrows had arrived in numbers out at Grass Lake, one of the best spots locally to find this cute Sparrow, and sure enough I counted at least 20 individuals within 15 minutes of my arrival. I had hoped for maybe a Grasshopper Sparrow or two but as I seem to remember they come a bit later. What I did see was a bird (two in fact) that I wasn't expecting yet and that was Bobolinks - there was a pair, very briefly, hanging out along the gravel road next to the towers, and were too quick for me, so no images to show here. The Osprey pair seems to have settled in and are currently doing a spring renovation of the nest, and the Bluebirds are zooming back and forward between the hydro lines and the nesting boxes. Other birds around were Song Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlark, RWB's & Cowbirds, but no visible Sandhill Cranes (surprising) .