Stéphane’s Blog for May 07, 2011

Exciting Bird!

Once again, the weather has been swinging between overcast with rainand clear skies and bright sun! Yesterday, May 6, was the gray day, with very little bird activity. In the entire morning, only one small wave of warblers was seen, mostly Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, but with the first Cape May Warbler of the year in it!

We also detected the first Great Crested Flycatcher, first American Pipit, and first Field Sparrow. A Great Horned Owl was seen as we opened nets at dawn.

Today was clear and beautiful. However, besides Black-capped Chickadees, there were very few birds around. Maybe it was the cool northwestern wind… Waves and waves of Chickadees were moving through, when, suddenly, a different call rang from the top of a cedar: a Boreal Chickadee! Incredibly enough, it was heard again in the afternoon and, finally, seen! It is a great bird to have at Cabot Head, the second ever sighting (the first being last fall), much to the delight of Rod Steinacher, Ted Cheskey, and the participants of the Birding Workshop.

Other exciting birds of the day include: the first Baltimore Oriole and Bobolinks. Another Golden Eagle was seen, different from the other 2: it was a young with extensive white patches under its wings, but also, though smaller, white patches on the upper parts of its wings. To have at least 3 Golden Eagles spending some time on the Bruce is quite significant, given the low population in Ontario.

Early morning, a coyote was lazily walking along the shore of Wingfield Basin. Later on, it was a Black Bear, grazing for more than 20 minutes, on a patch of grass near the basin.

All in all, quite a good day!

Stéphane