In spite of the forecast, ten very keen PBCers headed off
in hopes of finding some good birds in between the projected rain
showers for Saturday. We headed first for Paletta Park where it was a
bit foggy but was fairly birdy as the rain held off in the early
morning hours. We found the White-eyed Vireo without much difficulty
and nearly everyone had superb looks at it before we left. Other good
birds here included Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Black-
cr. Night Heron, Blue-headed and Warbling Vireos, Baltimore Oriole,
House Wren, and Belted Kingfisher. In total we had 9 warbler species
here with excellent views of both Northern Waterthrush and Northern
Parula Warbler. Other warbler species found here included Black-
thr. Green and Blue, Palm, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-White,
and Ovenbird.
From here the part-dayers and the full-dayers parted company
and the latter moved on to the Long Point area in search of more
migrants. Not long after arriving the rain started and conditions
became pretty bleak for finding birds but we did get our first Ruby-
thr. Hummingbirds and Rose-br.Grosbeak at Old Cut anyway. They had a
Hooded Warbler there but we decided to move on to BSC HQ before
finding it to search for the Little Blue Heron. Here we ran into Len
and Darlene, what a surprise, and Len then showed us where the Little
Blue Heron was hanging out, what a nice bird, even soaking wet,
thanks Len! A displaying Green Heron was also seen in the vicinity
with erect crest and intensive posturing, what a great time of year
to be watching birds! We then realized that with the flying Great
Blue Heron seen over the Grand River earlier that we had 4 heron
species for the day already, that event certainly does not happen
every year! By the end of the day (9pm would you believe?), we had 12
warbler species and nearly as many sparrow species, 10 to be exact.
It was a fairly balanced birding day except perhaps for the paucity
of waterfowl and shorebirds, which was likely more a function of
localized search effort than actual absence of species. But back to
the glorious details…….. We left Long Point after getting both
Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and a foraging Wilson's Snipe out in
the open at the BSC pond and headed west to Rondeau P.P.
It rained continuously on the nearly 2 hour drive from LP to
RPP and continued as we walked into the VC there to check out the
feeders. The feeders were hopping with bird activity and within about
10 minutes time of being there the Harris Sparrow showed up and posed
at point blank range for extended viewing opportunities. It was a
splendid male in nearly perfect breeding plumage, ahhhhh! The White-
crowneds, Chipping, and Lincoln's and other sparrow species looked
pretty good too! Then, as if magically at about 415pm, the sun came
out and blues skies became apparent around us, the bird activity
picked up as well needless to say. We tore ourselves away from this
area after getting killer looks at a Red-headed Woodpecker and an
American Woodcock, both on the ground beside the VC and headed for
the pony barn. In this area we found Gray Catbird, Swainson's Thrush,
and a very cooperative Prothonotary Warbler (the star of Len's
earlier photo efforts). We also got Forster's Tern, Common
Yellowthroat, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, and Tufted Titmouse in the
general vicinity. It was now after 5pm so we headed off for an
excellent pickerel dinner in Ridgetown but not before getting a Wild
Turkey crossing the road just outside the park gate. We finished the
day with 91 species, not a bad warmup for the Birdathon effort in a
few weeks! We had 4 thrush species for the day as well and likely had
5 but I decided not to include the brief glimpse I had of a probable
Wood Thrush while at Rondeau in the final day's total. Hope to see
everyone out next weekend, don't forget May showers and migrant bird
bonanzas frequently go together. Rainy days often have a
rewarding "birding rainbow" at some point during the course of the
day for those who persevere! BG
