Hello, and Riverwood + Erindale birds

[Reuven_M]

It was very quiet, but I still had a number of nice sightings:
2 flicker, 2 creeper, 1 ruby- and 2 golden-crowned kinglet, 5 fox and 1 white-throated sparrow, 3 deer, a raccoon sleeping up a tree, my first garter snake this year and a green darner.

[Reuven_M]

I went out twice today between the rain, from about 10:00 to 11:30 and from 5:00 to 6:00. The best things I saw were:

2 wood duck
12 flyover cormorants
1 flyover great blue heron
2 vultures and 2 red-tails
5 flickers
many brown creepers and golden-crowned kinglet
1 hermit thrush
1 brown thrasher (only my second in Mississauga!)
1 chipping, 2 tree, 2 fox, 1 white-throated sparrow among many song and juncos
2 rusty blackbird (my first ever good look at spring birds)
a herd of at least 10 deer

[Rob'in'To]

Rusty Blackbirds?  Cool.  

I saw my first Fox Sparrow last fall and didn't even know it until I posted a pic on here and I believe you told me what it was.  Now I hope to see another, and this time KNOW what I am looking at.

I think Angie and I will be visiting Riverwood soon.

[Reuven_M]

You better look for the fox sparrow soon - they will probably be gone within a week!

Oddly changing weather today, but it was nice for a good portion of the 2 hours i was at Erindale and UTM. I saw:
4 wood duck
6 cormorant
1 GBH flyover
1 vulture, 1 immature cooper's and the pair of sharpies near their nest
All 5 breeding woodpeckers! (downy, hairy, red-bellied, flicker, pileated)
25+ brown creeper, surely more present as they are often hard to see
1 winter wren
40+ golden- and 10+ ruby-crowned kinglet
1 hermit thrush (singing!)
1 chipping, 3 fox, 6 white-throated sparrow
3 deer

The pine warblers have probably arrived at the spot they breed at the university, but they are impossible to see in the big white pines unless they sing, which they weren't today.

[Reuven_M]

I checked out Riverwood this afternoon to see if the mix of migrants was any different, and it wasn't really. Still did get a new year bird - broad-winged hawk flyover. Not very satisfying views though.

Other stuff I saw:
1 wood duck
6 flyover cormorants
2 cooper's hawk (1 adult on the nest, 1 juv. elsewhere)
1 vulture, 1 red-tail and 1 broad-wing
2 pileated and 5 flicker
30+ brown creeper
2 carolina and 5 winter wren
30+ golden and 5 ruby-crowned kinglet
7 hermit thrush
1 swamp sparrow (may be the wintering bird, it was in exactly the same spot), also 3 white-throated, 30+ song and 40+ junco

[Reuven_M]

When is this stupid weather going to change... More of the same today: cormorants, kinglets, creepers, hermit thrushes, fox sparrows, juncos... The only different thing was a swallow sp.

I still had 2 tree sparrows today! And still haven't seen migrant savannah, swamp, field, white-crowned etc. sparrows!

Also 5 deer and the weird pale orange grey sqruirrel

[angieinto]

We're hoping to get there this weekend....weather pending.  

[Reuven_M]

Mostly the same stuff this morning, but a merlin powering low over my head was certainly the highlight of this month so far.
Also a singing field sparrow giving great looks.

I think a lot of stuff left last night, I had no tree sparrows, juncos or fox sparrows, and only 4 creepers. Golden-crowned kinglet numbers were unchanged though.

[Reuven_M]

Migration is definitely gearing up, lots of birds today, although nothing particularly unexpected.

I started this morning about 7 by biking down to springbank park, where I found lots of savannah sparrows but not much else. I then came back to riverwood via erindale park. My total for the day of the most interesting sightings:

2 common loon flyovers
1 TV, 3 red-tails and 1 cooper's at the nest at Riverwood
1 red-bellied, 3 hairy, 5 downy and 12 flickers
2 phoebe
2 distant un-idable swallows
20 creepers
1 carolina and 2 winter wren
22 golden and 8 ruby-crowned kinglet
5 hermit thrush
3 mockingbirds
3 yellow-rumped warbler
4 tree, 8 chipping, 3 field, 12 savannah, 1 fox, 30 song, 3 white-throated sparrow and 10 juncos

edit: forgot to mention a beaver visible in the Credit from the Dundas bridge, the first I've actually seen in Erindale, as well as a meadow vole.

[lovemypt]

I checked out Erindale this morning and saw most of your regular sightings but I didn't see the yellow-rumped warblers which I was really after. What area do you see them in?

[Reuven_M]

Most of the migrants were actually at Riverwood, the yellow-rumped warblers were feeding in the mature woods at the back of Riverwood.

[Reuven_M]

Pretty good this morning at erindale:
7 wood duck
1 barn swallow
9 creepers
20 golden and 16 ruby-crowned kinglet
3 hermit thrush
2 chipping, 1 field, 1 savannah, 5 fox, ~25 song, 6 white-throated sparrow and ~25 junco
1 deer
1 cottontail

[Reuven_M]

Very good this morning from 6:30 to 9:30 in both erindale and riverwood, although I expected a little better.

1 wood duck
3 great blue herons flying over together
3 cooper's hawk
3 phoebe
4 tree and 5 barn swallow
8 creepers
2 carolina and 3 winter wren
11 golden and 20 ruby-crowned kinglet
5 hermit thrush
2 yellow-rumped and 3 pine warbler
3 towhee, 16 chipping, 2 field, 1 swamp, ~20 song, 16 white-throated sparrow, 22 junco
5 deer
1 beaver

[Reuven_M]

Not as much around today, but lots of pine warblers

1 wood duck
1 common loon flyover
1 phoebe
4 tree swallow
3 creepers
1 winter wren
3 golden and 17 ruby-crowned kinglet
2 hermit thrush
2 myrtle and 7 pine warblers
1 chipping, 1 field, 2 savannah, 20 song, 12 white-throated sparrow, 13 junco

[Reuven_M]

What a difference one day can make! Even though it was raining, windy and I didn't get out until 3 in the afternoon, there were loads of birds around in erindale and riverwood, including 7 new year birds.

1 osprey flyover
1 solitary sandpiper and 1 greater yellowlegs in the puddles on the main lawn at erindale. The yellowlegs is new for me for erindale/riverwood
2 phoebe
1 blue-headed vireo
9 creepers
1 gnatcatcher
3 golden and 17 ruby-crowned kinglet
7 hermit thrush
45+ yellow-rumped, 3 black-throated green, 3 pine, 1 palm, 3 black-and-white warbler
22+ white-throated sparrow