Hello, and Riverwood + Erindale birds

[Reuven_M]

With little cloud and a north wind I was expecting a nice raptor day this afternoon, but just one local red-tail. The wind kept most other things down, except a few sparrows (2 fox (same place as Tuesday), 1 song, 3 white-throated, 5 white-crowned and 2 junco) and a massive flock (about 500) of grackles. Also some smaller blackbirds flying over (flocks of 15 and 4), but whether red-wings, rustys or cowbirds I don't know.

[Reuven_M]

Relatively quiet today again, but a couple nice birds.
The highlight was a female purple finch with goldfinches, my first of fall
4 vultures and 1 red-tail
1 kingfisher
2 downy, 1 hairy and 1 red-bellied woodpecker
2 phoebe
2 red-breasted nuthatch
1 of each kinglet
3 hermit thrush
2 yellow-rumped warbler
few sparrows: 4 song, 19 white-throated, 4 white-crowned and 1 junco
a large flock of blackbirds, mostly red-wings (about 100), but also a few grackles and at least 4 rustys

[Reuven_M]

I went down to Erindale for a bit to check for raptor migration, but my best bird was only sort of a raptor: a northern shrike!

Raptor migration was ok, but little variety:
1 accipter, 7 red-tails and 27 vultures

also 2 golden-crowned kinglets and 4 white-crowned sparrows

[Reuven_M]

Ok day today
3 golden-crowned kinglet
4 yellow-rumped warbler
5 song, 1 swamp, 5 white-throated, 7 whit-crowned, 7 junco

[Reuven_M]

Well, winter can't be far off... I found a tree sparrows with the juncos this afternoon. Not much else around:
2 red-tailed hawk
1 nashville warbler (getting late)
5 sparrow sp: 1 tree, 4 song, 2 white-throated, 1 white-crowned and 9 junco

[Vince]

I guess you'll just have to look in different places, Reuven. I'm sure you'll find new birds

[Reuven_M]

Actually, probably more to do with me not having much time in combination with the time of day and weather.

[Reuven_M]

I have the morning off school today, so I went down to Erindale for a couple hours. Much more activity than yesterday
At one point I heard an unfamiliar finch call overhead, but I could not find the bird making it  :x

3 downy woodpecker
lots of chickadees, at least 30
1 golden-crowned kinglet
2 hermit thrush
6 sparrow sp: 2 tree, 14 song, 1 swamp, 16 white-throated, 1 white-crowned, 20 juncos

[Reuven_M]

BOREAL CHICKADEE                
Easily my best bird at Erindale ever, and a totally unexpected lifer. Funny thing is that I was thinking about boreal chickadee right before I found it. The flock it was in (20 chickadee, 30 golden, 10 ruby-crowned kinglet, 1 nashville warbler) had so many chickadees that they were clearly migrants, and based on several reports this fall I knew that this was the sort of flock that a boreal chickadee would be in. Still totally surprised when that chickadee had a a brown cap! My post on ontbirds:

I found 1 this afternoon about 4:15 with a large flock of chickadees (about
20) and kinglets (about 30 golden and 10 ruby-crowned)
I first saw it close but only for about 5 seconds, after which I lost track
of it. I refound it about half an hour later (the flock was very spread
out), watched it for about a minute, and then lost track again, and didn't
find it again in another about 30 minutes.
It called once that I noticed, not nearly as similar to black-capped as I
expected, and it was clearly recognizable as different with the naked eye
from a reasonable distance.

Erindale Park is on the north side of Dundas St. just on the other side of
the Credit River as Mississauga Road. (between Mississauga and Mavis) From
the entrance, head to the furthest parking lot. From here, continue walking
past the gate (this area is good for sparrows), and turn left when you reach
the hill. Part of the way around the hill is a strip of shrubs and grass
cutting across the lawns, walk along it and down the path towards the river,
where there is an area of lawn (there is a little marsh on the right of this
area). The flock was around the edges of this clearing, but could be pretty
much anywhere in the area.
Location: http://goo.gl/maps/jK1I  

My notes in the field about 5 minutes after I saw it the second time:

brown cap
black throat smaller than on black-capped
darker grey nape area extending to just below the wing
orangey flanks, much darker than on black-capped
slightly brownish back and wings
smaller and stubbier than black-capped
very fluffy and chubby
call sort of like black-capped crossed with kinglet

Also:
about 15 turkey vultures
3 downy woodpeckers
1 white-breasted nuthatch
40 golden-crowned and 10 ruby-crowned kinglet
1 nashville warbler
6 sparrow sp: 1 tree, 1 fox, 7 song, 1 swamp, 1 white-throated and 20 junco

[Bird Brain]

BOREAL CHICKADEE                

Awesome!  Great sighting.  I will let my mom know about this as she visits Erindale Park frequently.

[Vince]

That's great Reuven. It's worth all the visits to the park.

[Reuven_M]

That's great Reuven. It's worth all the visits to the park.

Defenitely, I knew it was only a matter of time before I found something really good with all the nice birds in the past few years (golden eagle, short/long -eared owl, hoary redpoll (not found by me), brewster's warbler etc. etc.)

Today:
2 red-tailed hawk
1 red-bellied  and 1 downy woodpecker
1 white-breasted nuthatch
1 winter wren
15 golden- and 2 ruby-crowned kinglets
1 hermit thrush
2 yellow-rumped and 1 blackpoll (getting late) warblers
8 song, 6 white-throated, 1 white-crowned sparrows and 17 juncos
1 purple finch

[Reuven_M]

This morning at Erindale:
2 red-tails and 1 sharpie (chasing a red-tail)
3 hairy, 2 downy and 1 pileated woodpecker
9 golden and 1 ruby-crowned kinglets
6 sparrow sp: 3 fox, 18 song, 2 swamp, 5 white-throated, 3 white-crowned and a big flock of about 35 juncos (in the parking lot!)
1 purple finch (probably the same one as yesterday)

[Reuven_M]

A very good morning at Erindale. Highlights were a marsh wren (first for erindale/riverwood, strangely not in the marsh, but in a tiny patch of cattails near the playground), and 7 sparrow sp.
1 cooper's hawk
1 kingfisher
2 downy woodpecker
1 of each nuthatch
1 marsh wren
11 golden and 7 ruby-crowned kinglets
4 hermit thrush
3 chipping, 3 fox, 18 song, 2 swamp, 11 white-throated and 1 white-crowned sparrows and 42 (!) juncos
2 purple finch

[Reuven_M]

The wind clearly kept the birds quiet and in cover today.
1 vulture, 1 red-tail and 1 cooper's
1 brown creeper (I've seen incredibly low numbers of these this fall, less than 5, when usually I will see at least 25-30!)
6 golden and 1 ruby-crowned kinglet
2 song, 1 white-throated, 1 white-crowned and 10 juncos