Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: rickeckley on April 07, 2013, 09:34:17 PM
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Early migration was in full swing today at the Spit. Highlights included:
Trumpeter Swan
Red-Tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Snipe
Woodcock
Sapsucker
Flicker
Phoebe
Kingbird
Creeper
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Mockingbird
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow (it seems impossibly early, but I got several long looks for the ID)
Brown-Headed Cowbird
All of these were in the Wet Woods, many of them on the path behind the parking lot nearest to Unwin Ave.
If i get more time, I can respond to specific questions about where I found each one.
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Are you absolutely sure about the kingbird? This would be a ridiculously early sighting (they winter in South America and don't usually show up until the very end of April)
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I chased down the bird for about 45-minutes around the open fields south of the wet woods trying to get a positive ID. Kingbird was my call after a number of sightings and querying other birders, but it's true, Rueven, I wasn't completely sold myself. Still, I did try to rule out the other possibilities or I wouldn't have posted it. In the end, I'm happy to ere on the side of caution and hope someone else can either confirm or offer another possibility. I appreciate you keeping me on my game and questioning myself. Another forum member was shooting a lot pf photos much of the time I was out there today. Perhaps he can shed light on this with a pic.
Rick
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Obviously you know what a phoebe looks like, but that is by far the most likely possibility. They can look surprising dark and bicoloured at times (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eDsYe_W-c-E/R ... _0029b.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eDsYe_W-c-E/R1RY6RaBGCI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/PmRKCUKINH4/s1600-R/Phoebe-Eastern%2BIMG_0029b.jpg))
The easiest way to distinguish the two is probably the white tip to a kingbird's tail. If you didn't see this in 45 minutes, it was most likely not a kingbird.
The calls of these two species are also very different - phoebe's have a pretty nondescript chip note while the metallic calls of Eastern Kingbird are very distinctive
Reuven
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I was the photographer that rickeckley is likely referring to. In my pictures I only managed to capture the Phoebe.
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Hi Rueven,
Everything you said makes sense. This was most likely a mis-ID on my part. I never heard a call, so that can't help in this case, but your posted picture and my own subsequent research helps me see how dark and contrast-y some Phoebe's can indeed look - not what I'm used to and likely the main reason for my mistake. Thanks for your assistance.
Rick
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No problem! I made a very similar mistake when I started birding (I thought a Kingbird was a Black Phoebe), and didn't realise for a long time because I didn't have anyone to tell me that black phoebe isn't found in Ontario.
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...still, even without the Kingbird, it was a marvelous early migration day on the Spit. Seeing a Kinglet means the Spring Migration Show is really on the road...hopefully you can get out soon and enjoy some more of the early fun...