Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Dinusaur on August 11, 2013, 10:31:18 PM
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Out on a whim I decided to participate in a field trip organized by Ontario Field Ornithologists at Lynde Shores Conservation area on Aug 11, 2013. By the time I arrived at the parking lot around 7:45 AM after driving about 55 kms, 20+ participants already started heading out into the trails. Some had big glasses for photographing birds, some just had portable binoculars while a few others brought their birding scopes; all in all a great enthusiastic bunch. Like me, there are a few who were there for the first time and thus apprehensive about the whole trip. Right at the start, from the bridge over the creek we saw a great blue heron, some wood ducks, mallards, and a few other water birds. Along the trail we heard a slew of different bird calls and songs. To the un-initiated like me who can't tell the difference of a chipmunk chattering from a chickadee's, they were just bird songs, however, a few experts in the group could tell which specific bird the call or song was coming from. Amazing stuff. I need to brush up my knowledge on bird songs. It is a great help locating the bird that you are interested in, particularly in dense thickets like the ones we were in today. Along the way we clearly saw a Baltimore Oriole, some yellow warblers, fly catchers and heard a lot more different species of birds. At the end I separated from the group and headed along the shore on the south side of the Cranberry Marsh, a challenging trek, however it was very rewarding. I managed to grab a few good shots of Cedar Waxwing, Great Egrets, Goldfinch, Caspian Tern, eastern kingbird and even some in flight shots of a few kingfishers. It was fun and will do it again before the warblers leave our shore.
Cheers.