Not surprisingly, the sudden transition from wintry chills to summer-like
balminess has ushered in a whole new group of migrants in the past 48 hours.
Keith and Chris Dunn had some good spring arrivals in Keswick yesterday near
the south end of Yonge Street where it meets the western stretches of the
Holland Marsh (about 3kms south of Ravenshoe Rd.) Birds there included GREATER
and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, the first SAVANNAH SPARROWs of the spring, and an early
COMMON TERN.
I checked the same location this morning and found only two Greater
Yellowlegs remaining in the vernal ponds on the west side of Yonge, but added
to the mix in that same vicinity were two AMERICAN PIPITs, several SWAMP
SPARROWs, three CASPIAN TERNS, and six BARN SWALLOWs. Horned Larks were
widespread in the vegetable fields and there were at least six NORTHERN
HARRIERs hunting over the marshes on both sides of the Holland River. One male
was doing a courtship display which included passing a mouse to his mate in
mid-air after she had done several calls. There were three OSPREY in the area
as well, one of them carrying nesting material back to the nesting platform
west of where Yonge Street dead-ends at the marsh (just over the river where, I
believe, Bathurst dead-ends north of Queensville Sdrd).
Also today, Frank Pinella had a COMMON RAVEN at Stouffville Rd. & Leslie St.
and, while searching in vain for the Eurasian Wigeon at Reesor Pond in Markham,
he observed a single GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
Keith Dunn has had both Snipe and Woodcock doing aerial displays north of
the entrance to Silver Lakes Golf Course (Holland Landing) over the past three
evenings. WOOD DUCKs continue to show up at the Holland Landing lagoons
(presumably nesting there) and a very photogenic pair of HOODED MERGANSERs is
still lingering at the pond in Scalon Creek C.A. in north Bradford.
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
York Region is halfway between Barrie and Toronto.
From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Apr 21 22:03:17 2007
Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: from smtp.vianet.ca (smtp2.vianet.ca [209.91.128.42])
by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 1812763476
for <[email protected]>; Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:03:15 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (qmail 14279 invoked from network); 22 Apr 2007 02:03:14 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO ?209.91.149.28?) (209.91.149.28)
by smtp.vianet.ca with SMTP; 22 Apr 2007 02:03:14 -0000
User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.0.2006
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:01:13 -0400
From: Ron Tozer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: ontbirds <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Mime-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Subject: [Ontbirds]OFO Trip: Algonquin Park (21 April 2007)
X-BeenThere: [email protected]
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1
Precedence: list
X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 02:03:17 -0000
Forty-one OFO members and friends enjoyed a wonderful warm (22
degrees C.) birding trip in Algonquin Park today. As with previous OFO
trips here, our primary goal was to find the boreal species that birders
regularly seek in the Park. In the process, we were treated to a very
pleasant day of birding, with 57 species being tallied by the group.
A male and female Spruce Grouse were observed well by everyone north of
the register box on Spruce Bog Boardwalk. This was a lifer for several
people. A female Black-backed Woodpecker near Post 9 on that trail, and
another of these often elusive woodpeckers on a utility pole at Cache Lake,
were enjoyed by many members of the group, but missed by many others,
unfortunately. Four or five Boreal Chickadees at the north end of Opeongo
Road allowed fleeting views for most observers. As is often the case with
this chickadee, they were often frustratingly well-hidden in the black
spruce trees. Gray Jays were fed on Opeongo Road, near their nest where
large young will be fledging very soon. Common Ravens often flew over for
identification comparison with American Crows. Despite extensive searching
of areas where American Three-toed Woodpeckers have been observed
recently, we were unable to find one today; most of these boreal woodpeckers
may have headed back north following the largest winter irruption on record
in Algonquin Park.
First observations of this spring in Algonquin today included Osprey (two),
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Horned Lark (northern race), Vesper Sparrow, and
Savannah Sparrow. A rather early Barn Swallow at the West Gate was
seen there first on Friday. Interestingly, there still have been no Tree
Swallow sightings in Algonquin this spring, likely reflecting the increasing
scarcity of this aerial forager here, plus the extensive mortality among
migrant Tree Swallows that has occurred during cold weather this month.
Thanks again to all those who attended. It was a magnificent day to be out
birding.
Ron
