Wet Woods April 14-20

[Trillian Flummox]

A few birds this morning before the rain:

Brown Thrasher (1 on east side singing from tree tops)
Belted Kingfisher (flying across the north field, heading for Unwin bridge area)
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (so many it's hard to keep track)
Eastern Pheobe (2 in south/west field)
Tree Swallows (only 4 today, very overcast and few bugs flying)
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren (3 in various wet spots around the central woods)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2 on west side, 1 on the east)
Golden-crowned Kinglets (still lots but numbers seem to be dropping)
Hermit Thrush (3 on north/west side)
Tree, Fox, Song, Swamp, White-throated & Field Sparrows
Pine Warbler (1 at the north/west corner across from Unwin bridge; he then flew across street behind white trailer)

Weird that after finding 4 Yellow-rumped Warblers on Saturday, I couldn't find any today!
And a special shout out to Rick - Leon found a Swainson's Thrush this morning!   -Kris  

[thouc]

There was a report of a Swainson's Thrush near Belleville on Ontbirds so they seem to be very early this year. Strange considering the late spring, but I guess a push of warm air is all it takes.

[TheGlue88]

Hi -- as a novice birder trying to improve, this board is invaluable as a resource.

Thanks to everyone for the posts and pictures.

cheers,
john

[Bluffs Birder]

Hi John and welcome to the board.  Please do not hesitate to report your sightings, make comments or ask any questions you may have.  Birders are a real friendly bunch.

Walter

[rickeckley]

Yes!!!  My Thrush-ing skills have been vindicated - by none other than Senator Leon - so fun this whole birding thing we do...

[paul_reeves]

April 16th.

Nothing unusual today although I did see the first of what I assume will be many, MANY, White-crowned Sparrows. I also ran into Leon and he told me he saw a Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak but I didn't see it. I also saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers and at 5:30 the Pine Warbler returned to where I photographed him a couple of days ago.

[vivekgk]

April 18th (around 1:30 pm):

Pine Warbler (singing and seen well-initially near Unwin Ave then moved towards parking lot)
Wilson's Snipe (in flight)
Tree, Song, Field, Vesper and White-throated Sparrows
Hermit Thrush
both Kinglets
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Flicker
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers

Met Leon who said he saw a Veery (looked for it later but no luck).

[vivekgk]

April 19th:

Veery-around 12:15 pm- just beyond the first large wet area behind the parking lot-associating with a Hermit Thrush.

Palm Warbler-4:30pm-with a group of chickadees and Yellow-rumps at the corner of Unwin Avenue and the Outer Harbour Marina Road.
                    Very active-pumping tail every few seconds.

[vivekgk]

April 20th:

Blue-winged Warbler- Heard only- Unmistakable strident "bzee-bzzz" song heard 3 times between 12 and 12:05 pm, from dry dogwood tangle near the flooded thicket in the centre of the woods. I searched for a couple of hours with no luck.

Palm Warbler-Observed adjacent to the fence along Unwin Ave, about halfway to the marina turnoff- pumping tail-active-flew back and forth along the fence a few times.

Pine Warbler- Beautiful male observed for 15 minutes behind the small food stall outside the park entrance-trilling song heard many times.

White-crowned Sparrow- With a group of White-throated Sparrows in the flooded dogwood thicket-song heard twice.

[Rotarran]

It was really quiet today...didn't stick around for long.  Saw some RCKinglets, first of year for me.  Also saw a Hermit Thrush skulking about in the brush.

[Dinusaur]

It was indeed very quiet - didn't see any hermit thrush or kinglets during my stay between 10 AM and 1 PM. However, I got to see a few yellow-rumped warblers, a mocking bird, and one most likely a pine warbler (waiting for confirmation).

[vivekgk]

Hi dinusaur,

The bird in your photograph is a Palm Warbler- it has yellow undertail coverts bordered by a square black base.
Pine Warbler would have white undertail coverts bordered by an often indistinct black "v" shape.

Cheers,
Vivek

[Dinusaur]

Wow, thanks Vivek. I have so much to learn; every little thing on a bird has its significance in ID'ing it; isn't it?

[Laurel]

April 20th

Yellow-bellied sapsucker (female)
Ruby-crowned kinglets (male and female)
Yellow-rumped warbler
Pine warbler
Raptor I'm fairly sure was a kestrel
Northern flicker
Brown creeper