We started the week with a full day of birding to finish off the Global Backyard Birding Count. We walked 9.3 km, the most we have on any day this year so far. We didn’t add any new birds but we did spend a delightful 20 minutes watching two Pileated Woodpeckers feed at Pinehurst Park. The male has the red crest all the way to the beak, and a red malar stripe and in this pic seems to be having a bad hair day LOL. The female in the foreground has a crest that only is on the back of her head. See the difference?
Tuesday Jerry opted to stay in waiting for his fixed camera to be delivered so I ventured down to the Trail and managed to see my first Common Grackles of the year. One bird ahead of Jerry!
Wednesday was a warm day and we managed to fit in a few walks between caretaking duties for Jerry’s mom. We added an early or over-wintering Yellow-rumped Warbler and Jerry managed to get better pics of many ducks along the Bay walk. On Thursday we took a drive down to Rondeau and the Glencoe area and managed to add 3 more birds, Swamp Sparrow, a very early Eastern Meadowlark and Killdeer. The Glencoe area is known for Golden Eagles and we have now driven it a few times unsuccessfully, but we did end the day near a site for Short-eared Owls and stopped for a quick few pictures to end our day.
Friday was another beautiful day and with few birds to chase we stayed local and walked some of our favourite trails. We didn’t add anything new but it was nice to be out in the sun and walking. Late Friday reports came in for a possible Bullock’s/Orchard Oriole in Toronto. Bullock’s would be the “western” version of our “eastern” version Orchard Oriole. The expert’s studied pictures, gave opinions, better experts weighed in and the bird was declared a Bullock’s Saturday morning. We were in Niagara Falls for the day for a family gathering but knew we would have to head out first thing Sunday morning. The alarm went off at 5:30 am and we were out of the house by 6 and in Toronto at 7. We saw the bird at 7:30 thanks to Margaret’s keen eye! in a few different trees as it moved around to feed. Rarity #11 and bird #145 The bird had been coming to a jelly feeder since January 7 but never reported. With the secret out, it was quickly decided to set up another feeding station away from the home in nearby High Park that the bird was also frequenting so that birders would not be near the homes. The Ambassador program that the OFO (Ontario Field Ornithologists) started a few years back has been very successful at making these rarities accessible but also keeping impacts on local residents to a minimum and making sure that it is a positive experience for everyone and the bird is also protected. A local birder approaches the homeowner, discusses any issues, whether they even want visitors etc, what times or constraints for visiting and the option to collect fees to offset damage to lawns, seeds/food for the birds, or local charities. Before this program was initiated it was a bit of a free-for-all at a rarity siting and inevitably bad behaviour from a very few visitors would piss off the locals and in one extreme case, led to a farmer killing an owl to stop birders from coming. The program was started to make sure nothing like that happened again. We would have loved to hang with the other birders and chat and enjoy the bird more but we are always cognizant of what the local people are thinking with 20 people suddenly hanging on the street so we had a quick chat and left the area.
We also added a Wood Duck and Jerry saw his first Common Grackle to bring us even again and then we stopped at Colonel Sam Smith Park on the way home to add American Pipit which we forgot to look for on the previous two visits. A nice end to week 8! In the past 8 weeks we have driven 10,000kms and walked 174km.
Week 8 11 rarities seen this year 8 more birds added 146 species seen (J&E)