After trying failing to find the Bronte Creek Prothonotary Warbler in the
late afternoon I birded Rattray Marsh for an hour before for sunset and
found a Prothonotary Warbler feeding among a maze of fallen logs at the edge
of a flooded area of woodland adjacent the north end of the marsh. It was
in bright "male-plumage" and was singing intermittently during the 15
minutes I had it under observation.
It was located about 80 feet from the board walk and was seen from the
boardwalk about 100 feet west of the bridge over Sheridan Creek. This is
first bridge going right at the trail from the bottom of hill of the end of
Bexhill Road. This is very close to the location where I saw one several
years ago and about the same date.
The Eastern Screech-Owl was sitting the hole near the west of end of the
same boardwalk where it has been seen, and obviously nesting for the last
three weeks.
I heard Soras calling from cattail marshes south of the bridge and also
at Turtle Creek.
Three Black-crowned Night-herons landed in the large deciduous trees just
north of the bridge as I was leaving the area about 8:30 p.m.
Directions:
Go south down to the end Bexhill which runs south of Lakeshore about 5
long blocks east Erin Mills Parkway; park at the metal gate The marsh and
knoll trail start at the bottom of hill from the parking area. This gets
you into, more or less, the middle of main area of the marsh. Find a street
map to orient yourself and/or follow the the trail map inside the park. For
those who want to visit Rattray Marsh Conservation Area for the first time
or simply want to know where all the trails area, Mississauga has a map of
the marsh and surrounding trails on their web site:
'http://www.creditvalleycons.com/recandleisure/maps/rattray.pdf'.
Note that a marathon race is happening tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m.
along the lakeshore so getting to Rattray Marsh from the east might be a bit
of a challenge. My suggestion is to park along the western side of the CVC
Rattray area at the intersection of Meadow Wood Road and Sheridan Creek or
continue south along Meadow Wood Road, then onto Bob-O-link then onto Old
Poplar Road to Watersedge Road. Meadow Wood Road runs south of Lakeshore
four blocks east of Southdown Road.
Wayne Renaud
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