BIRDQUEST2004

Mud Lake in Ottawa’s west end has been a draw for many Birders and Photographers for as long as I can remember.

In May it seems to be a magnet for migrating warblers and for a few weeks gives us and opportunity to see up to 20 species of warbler.

This year with a late spring, early arrival of birds with the leaves still budding has been a great year for viewing.

On Saturday, May 17th the birds were on the move and everywhere along the ridge and surrounding trees.

In the past week here are some of the warblers possible in the area:

AMERICAN REDSTART

BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER

BAY-BREASTED WARBLER

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER

BLACKPOLL WARBLER

BALTIMORE ORIOLE

BLACK-THROATED BLUE

BLACK-THROATED GREEN

BROWN THRASHER

CAPE MAY WARBLER

CEDAR WAXWING

CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER

MAGNOLIA WARBLER

NORTHERN PARULA

PALM WARBLER

PINE WARBLER

PURPLE MARTIN

RED-EYED VIREO

SCARLET TANAGER

EASTERN SCREECH OWL

TENNESSEE WARBLER

WARBLING VIREO

YELLOW WARBLER

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER

Eastern Kingbird

Four-Spotted Skimmer

Great Crested Flycatcher

I hope to add a few more species over the next few days but….Ciao for Now!

I just couldn’t get away to Pelee this year, just too many things happening.  I called good friend Bill Reid to see if he was interested in doing a 2 day blitz of Thickson’s Wood’s, Col. Sam Smith Park and Presquile Provincial Park.

We left at 4am Sunday and drove to Thickson’s for the morning and planned to go to Col. Sam in the afternoon.  We saw many migrants but not in the numbers we had hoped.

The Woods had decent numbers of Magnolia’s, Black-throated Green’s, Wilson’s, Parula’s, Ovenbird’s, Black-throated Blue’s and a lone Northern Waterthrush.

Colonel Sam had the same species but in much smaller numbers.  We had a great view’s of a male Parula and Chestnut-sided Warbler, that both responded to pishing.

We weren’t disappointed, we had 20 species of warbler that day and decided to return to Thickson’s the next morning.

The next day we spent 3 hours at their and although there were more birds they were mostly the same species as the day before.  We decided to leave for Presquile at 11am, stopped for a Tim’s and arrived at a little after noon.  It was a beautiful day and we went straight to the Lighthouse area but there were not many birds.  Checking Fred Helliner’s feeders we did see a beautiful Indigo Bunting as it came in for a snack. An Orchard Oriole also made and apprearance.

We decided to head for home and went back down the path towards our car. I’d just gone by the first observation deck when I heard Bill say “what’s that”…looking over his shoulder I saw a warbler launch into the air and I called out “oh my god it a Blue-winged Warbler”. We followed the birds path as it fed on bugs, making a full circle back to the path. Was it flew towards a log, I got ready for the image. You can imagine my surprise when a Cerulean Warbler landed, followed closely by the Blue-winged Warbler.

I won’t soon forget that hour, it great when birds co-operate….We even made a trip to an area I know holds a few Golden-winged Warblers. By the time we got there it was overcast and raining and the bugs were fierce but we did manage to see a Male.

The birds are in full migration now, get out to your favorite spot…Ciao for Now.