Despite the morning rains I went out to Toronto Island again today. I took the 8.15am ferry to Hanlan's point, and because of the drizzle I decided to start off at Hanlan's point beach to look for shore birds. This turned out to be fruitful. 7 shorebird species (including two Baird's) were seen, although not in great numbers.
The rain had stopped before noon, and so when I as heading back to the ferry dock to head home around 1pm, I was surprised by a high activity among the songbirds. Warblers and vireos were racing from tree to tree in large groups in the area between the southern tip of the Airport fence and Hanlan's point ferry dock. And so, instead of going home I spend the whole afternoon in this region. Lots of song birds were still very active near the ferry dock, just before sunset, when I left the Island. In total, 14 warbler species were seen, and some other nice birds. Compared to yesterday, there were some new arrivals: Ruby-crowned kinglet (a few), dark-eyed juncos (a few), palm warblers (many), black-throated green warblers (many), and yellow-rumped warblers (many).
Notable birds:
Semipalmated plover (1-3)
Black-bellied plover (1 ad + 2 juv)
Am. golden plover (5)
Sanderling (5-10)
Least sandpiper (5-10)
Semipalmated sandpiper (2)
Baird's sandpiper (2)
Magnolia w. (many)
Cape May w. (1)
Blackburnian w. (a few)
Blackpoll w. (a few)
Bay-breasted w. (many)
Nashville w. (a few)
Am. redstart (a few)
Wilson's w. (a few)
Black-throated green w. (many)
Palm w. (many)
Tennessee w. (a few)
Yellow-rumped warbler (many)
Chestnut-sided w. (a few)
Common yellowthroat (1)
Philadelphia (many), Warbling (a few) and Red-eyed (many) vireos.
Least (3) and Olive-sided (1) flycatchers
Northern mockingbird (2)
Scarlet tanager (1)
Gray-cheeked thrush (1)
Ruby-crowned kinglet (a few)
Dark-eyed junco (a few)
Am. kestrel, sharp-shinned and Coopers hawks, and a Red-tailed hawk.
Highlight of the day: Getting good views and close-up photos of some shorebird species that have MEGA-rarity status back home in Sweden. And, Baird's sandpiper was a lifer for my Canada list :-)
