BIRDQUEST2004

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.

Last night I had a great evening of birding at Mud Lake.  For those of you who are familiar with the area, the trail along the houses on Britannia Rd, south of the sumac field was alive with warblers.  Their were Palm, Yellow, Nashville, Bay-breasted, Black-throated Green and Blue, Parula, Pine, Black and White and hundred of Yellow-rumped.  I spent about 2 hours in the area and wasn’t ever disappointed.

I kept hearing a call that I’d heard before but just couldn’t see the bird or remember what bird went with that call.

Most people were away at Point Pelee so I was unsure who I could call and tell.  I called Tony Beck and told him about the mini warbler fallout.  He told me someone had just reported that a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Mud Lake.  That had to be it…..

Thanks, Tony for the heads up….

Next morning at Mud Lake on the short trail to the observation platform high up in the canopy we found a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Bird #239 on my Ottawa list.

Amazing how small they are, while I didn’t get an usable photo, we had some good views with binoculars.  I am still amazed how small they are beside a warbler.

Thanks to Kathleen, Carl And Mark Gawn was a great morning birding at Mud Lake.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are fairly common south of us but below is a better photo  of what your looking for.

A few days later at Thickson’s Woods we came across a rather vocal Gnatcatcher…..

Ciao for now