Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Ed O'Connor on October 23, 2011, 05:43:53 PM
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Spent about four hours today just birding the Baselands on the Spit, and there was enough activity to keep me busy for most of that time. The greatest concentration of birds was in the open field just north of the other open field behind the guardhouse. I was walking down the dirt path that separates these two fields when I noticed a stand of phragmites in the one to the north and went in to have a look. There was a large mixed flock feeding on the ground in the grassy areas, and as I walked the birds lifted and flew to the phragmites and the low bushes before them. Eight different kinds of sparrows, including:
- Nelson's
- Song
- White-crowned
- White-throated
- Swamp
- Field
- Tree
- Dark-eyed Junco.
At the entrance to the Wet Woods, I'd seen an Eastern Towhee, to make it a nine-sparrow day.
Other birds in the big feeding flock included four warblers:
- Yellow-rumped
- Northern Parula
- Magnolia
- Nashville
Also seen in the flock were:
- Eastern Phoebe
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Goldfinch
- Chickadee.
Over in the field behind the guardhouse, I saw an Eastern Meadowlark light in the grass, and when I walked over for a better look, 11 of these beautiful birds flushed and formed a flock above my head and flew in a large circle for a couple of minutes whistling to each other.
On the way in, almost at the parking lot, there was a small flock of Hermit Thrushes, a Least Flycatcher, and a single Eastern Bluebird (male).
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Great birds!
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Thanks, and you too.