Queen's Park

[angieinto]

I probably won't get back over to next week. Busy with "year end" at work and now I've come down with a head cold.  

[strimackus]

Argh!!

There was a lot of activity in the park this morning as I passed through on my way to work. Unfortuntately, this was the one morning that I didn't have the time to stop and look around. Very frustrating.

In the few minutes that I did look around I saw:
Pine Warbler (this ID was very rushed so I may be off)
Hermit Thrush
White-throated Sparrow

Also, I believe I saw a vireo that I couldn't identify and I'm sure there was other stuff going on because I heard a bunch of calls I wasn't familiar with.

I'll try to get back at lunch and post with more details.

[strimackus]

I saw a couple Baltimore Orioles and a Yellow-rumped Warbler in QP this morning. About 100 Blue Jays flew over while I was birding in the park. Also, the female Red-winged Blackbirds seem to be out in full force now.

[angieinto]

I love Orioles!! Saw my first pair for the year yesterday close to home.
I gotta get over to Queens Park this week.

[angieinto]

I couldn't wait til tomorrow, I took a quick walk through around 11am. I also saw about 30 Blue Jays fly over, and a hawk soaring around off in the distance, not sure what kind, but from a distance I would guess Red-tailed. On my way back to work I lucked out and saw the female Oriole and I watched her for awhile before I had to get back to the office.

[BC]

I managed to get to Queen's Park today for a late afternoon stroll. The windy conditions weren't great but I saw a single female Yellow-rumped Warbler, two male Baltimore Orioles (having a singing contest), a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and three Chimney Swifts (overhead).
The usual suspects were present including the Downy Woodpeckers.

[BC]

A quick tour of the park around 6 pm was notable for the number of noisy Red-winged Blackbirds. I might have been in a wetland.
Wind and new foliage made viewing tricky but I noticed a bird lift off of the ground and land on a limb about 15 feet high. It was my first Ovenbird of the year and my first ever for Queen's Park.

[angieinto]

I've been home sick most of the week and haven't been able to get over.
Hopefully some of these beauty's are still around next week.

[strimackus]

This morning was pretty productive. Between 8 and 9 AM I saw:
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Northern Parula
Nashville Warbler
Swainson's Thrush
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

As well as the usual suspects.

[angieinto]

Holy crap!! I so need to get over there, I had an early meeting this morning and couldn't.

[Matthew Strimas-Mackey]

The migrants weren't in as great abundance today compared to last week, but I still saw 8 warbler species and my first Least Flycatcher of the year. The park was dominated by Magnolia and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. Full list:

X   Rock Pigeon
1   Downy Woodpecker
1   Least Flycatcher
2   Red-eyed Vireo
1   Golden-crowned Kinglet
2   Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2   Swainson's Thrush (a lot of other thrushes heard but not seen)
X   European Starling
5   Chestnut-sided Warbler
13   Magnolia Warbler
2   Black-throated Blue Warbler
9   Yellow-rumped Warbler
2   Blackburnian Warbler
3   Bay-breasted Warbler
5   Black-and-white Warbler
1   American Redstart
1   Scarlet Tanager
X   Red-winged Blackbird
1   Baltimore Oriole
X   House Sparrow

[angieinto]

Still a great list!

Warblers are really new to us, we really want to see a Blackburnian Warbler, I am bringing my binoculars with me tomorrow morning.
I did see an Oven Bird outside my office when I came back over, first time, so that was nice.

Nice to meet you this morning.

[ostrich]

I have heard in the past that there is an active red-tailed hawk nest at Queens Park - is anyone aware of this nest ?

[Matthew Strimas-Mackey]

@ostrich: I haven't seen it myself. It's south of the legislature buildings and I usually bird north of the buildings. Here's something I saw in another post from May 11 that you might find interesting:

i saw the red-tailed hawk nest on the south lawn (there are 3 pines on the east part of the lawn close to QP's front doors. you can see the nest in the tallest of pines). didn't have time to go to the north lawn.

[shorebird]

I'm around Queen's Park often and I'm kind of new to birding, but how often do the birds stick around in the park? Are they only here until May?