Hello, and Riverwood + Erindale birds

[Reuven_M]

Lots of stuff around this morning at Riverwood. Nothing particularly notable but 58 species is a pretty good count for here.

2 common loon
1 least, 1 great crested (FOY), 1 phoebe (breeding at chappell house)
1 blue-headed and 3 warbling vireo
3 tree, 6 barn and 15 cliff swallow (newly arrived at their nests under the 403 bridge)
10 house wren
12 gnatcatcher
6 ruby-crowned kinglet
8 catbird
11 warblers: 13 nashville, 4 yellow, 1 chestnut-sided(FOY),2 black-throated blue, 25 yellow-rumped, 3 black-throated green, 2 blackburnian, 2 pine, 15 palm, 8 black-and-white, 1 ovenbird
6 sparrows including 1 field, 1 swamp and a rather late junco
7 rose-breasted grosbeak and 1 indigo bunting (FOY)
2 baltimore oriole

[Reuven_M]

Visited Riverwood yesterday with Will, we saw not too much, but did find a solitary sandpiper, field sparrow and a veery that I didn't see.

Quite good today, although numbers were rather low.

1 common loon
1 spotted sandpiper
1 pileated
4 flycatchers: 1 least, 1 great crested, 1 kingbird, 1 phoebe
3 blue-headed and 1 warbling vireo
rough-winged, tree and barn swallows
9 warblers: 1 nashville, 5 yellow, 1 black-throated blue, 7 yellow-rumped, 2 blackburnian, 2 pine, 1 palm, 1 bay-breasted(FOY), 1 redstart
just white-throated, chipping and song sparrows, but there is a white-crowned at my feeder right now
2 scarlet tanager (FOY) and 6 rose-breasted grosbeak
4 baltimore oriole

[Reuven_M]

My best day so far this year, with 68 species total and 17 warbler sp. Most of the birds were around the little stream south of the marsh south of the Burnhamthorpe road bridge.

1 spotted sandpiper
4 flycatchers: 1 traill's (FOY as I haven't heard either species yet), 5 least, 1 great crested, 3 kingbird
8 warbling vireo
rough-winged, tree, barn and cliff swallows
3 veery, 1 swainson's (FOY) and 1 wood (FOY) thrush
17 warblers: 1 blue-winged (FOY), 15 nashville, 21 yellow, 8 chestnut-sided, 3 magnolia, 2 cape may (FOY), 2 black-throated blue, 40 yellow-rumped, 4 black-throated green, 4 blackburnian, 2 pine, 6 palm, 1 bay-breasted, 11 black-and-white, 2 redstart, 1 ovenbird, 1 canada (FOY)
12 white-throated and 5 white-crowned sparrow
4 scarlet tanager and 11 rose-breasted grosbeak
13 baltimore oriole

[Reuven_M]

Loads of birds this afternoon, 76 species is likely my record, and it included about 300 warblers of 19 species.

2 wood duck
3 common loon
1 great blue heron
~15 chimney swift
6 hummingbirds (FOY)
1 pewee (FOY) and 3 great crested and 6 least flycatcher
3 blue-headed, 5 warbling and 7 red-eyed (FOY) vireos
rough-winged, tree and barn swallows
1 brown creeper
4 ruby-crowned kinglet
3 veery, 1 swainson's and 1 wood thrush
1 cedar waxwing (FOY)
my more or less approximate numbers of warblers: 3 tennessee (FOY), 38 nashville, 9 parula, 21 yellow, 49 chestnut-sided, 37 magnolia, 3 cape may, 11 black-throated blue, 39 yellow-rumped, 17 black-throated green, 19 blackburnian, 4 pine, 2 palm, 6 bay-breasted, 17 black-and-white, 5 redstart, 3 ovenbird, 1 northern waterthrush (FOY), 1 yellowthroat
7 white-throated sparrow
2 scarlet tanager, 1 indigo bunting, 4 rose-breasted grosbeak
7 baltimore oriole

[Reuven_M]

Another great day at riverwood:

1 common loon
1 great blue heron
the cooper's is still incubating
2 swifts
2 hummingbirds
7 least, 1 great crested flycatcher
5 blue-headed, 11 warbling, 4 red-eyed vireo
1 ruby-crowned kinglet
1 veery and 1 swainson's thrush
18 warblers: 1 blue-winged, 3 tennessee, 11 nashville, 3 parula, 25+ yellow on territory mostly, 4 chestnut-sided, 9 magnolia, 1 cape may, 2 black-throated blue, 11 yellow-rumped, 5 black-throated green, 10 blackburnian, 2 pine on territory, 1 palm, 12 black-and-white, 5 redstart apparently on territory, 2 yellowthroat, 1 canada
1 lincoln's, 1 swamp (seems to be on territory, never seen one in summer before here), 2 white-throated, 2 white-crowned sparrow
2 scarlet tanager, 12 rose-breasted grosbeak (mostly seemed to be on territory), 1 indigo bunting (singing in normal breeding spot)
12 baltimore oriole

A highlight and a "lowlight" was a coyote seen well and long... as it limped along on the other side of the river  

The mosquitoes are out  :x

[Reuven_M]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By far the best day I've ever had here, I spent over 7 hours birding Riverwood this morning and Erindale and the University this afternoon.
Normally point blank range views of a lifer would be the highlight of my day, but I spent less than 5 minutes watching the yellow-billed cuckoo before going and enjoying more of the hordes of warblers.

The fog was pretty heavy much of the day, meaning a lot of warblers up in trees went unidentified.
Most of the higher counts are not exact, but rather a combination of estimates and exact counts.

1 wood duck
2 spotted sandpiper
1 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (lifer!)
3 hummingbirds
1 pileated
1 pewee, 1 kingbird, 7 least and 3 great crested flycatcher
1 YELLOW-THROATED, 4 blue-headed, 10 warbling, 2 Philadelphia (FOY), 20 red-eyed vireo
rough-winged, tree, barn, cliff swallows
7 swainson's thrush (very bizarre was  3 moving through the canopy foraging)

21(!!!) warbler species: 6 tennessee, 1 ORANGE-CROWNED (FOY), 47 nashville, 6 parula, 44 yellow, 46 chestnut-sided, 46 magnolia, 2 cape may, 2 black-throated blue (shockingly low number!), 49 yellow-rumped, 30 black-throated green, 27 blackburnian, 2 pine, 3 palm, 24 bay-breasted (but no blackpoll!), 39 black-and-white, 26 redstart, 4 ovenbird, 1 MOURNING (FOY), 1 yellowthoat, 4 canada. Also at least 100 more went unidentified because of fog/distance/I can only look one place at a time.

3 savannah, 5 white-throated, 6 white-crowned sparrow
9 scarlet tanager (all males!), 11 rose-breasted grosbeak, 4 indigo bunting, 21 baltimore oriole

75 species in total

Extrapolating to the areas I didn't cover, I'd say 2500+ warblers, vireos and flycatchers in the natural areas between Dundas and the 403 along the credit river.

[Reuven_M]

I don't think there was any migration (coming or going) last night, so much of the same birds, but I only had about 2 hours with light enough rain.

3 hummingbird
5 least, 1 great crested, 1 kingbird
3 blue-headed, 6 warbling, 1 philadelphia, 11 red-eyed vireo
3 swainson's thrush
18 warblers: 5 tennessee, 9 nashville, 2 parula, 14 yellow, 18 chesnut-sided, 14 magnolia, 1 cape may, 1 black-throated blue, 9 yellow-rumped, 7 black-throated green, 8 blackburnian, 5 bay-breasted, 12 black-and-white, 9 redstart, 2 ovenbird, 1 northern waterthrush, 1 wilson's (FOY), 1 canada
3 scarlet tanager, 6 grosbeak, 1 indigo bunting, 4 baltimore oriole

despite the weather, still a very good day, but not nearly as good as yesterday. Weather looks like very limited migration again tonight, hopefully I'll be able to cover some areas I haven't yet before all these birds move on.

[Reuven_M]

Another excellent day in not-so-excellent weather:

2 swifts
6 least, 1 great crested, 3 kingbird
12(!) blue-headed, 7 warbling, 2 philidelphia, 6 red-eyed vireo
1 bank swallow among the trees, barns and rough-wingeds. This is a year bird, and an extremely overdue first for me for erindale/riverwood
2 swainson's thrush
20 warbler sp: 1 blue-winged (my 3rd this spring!), 2 tennessee, 18 nashville, 8 parula, 21 yellow. 35 chestnut-sided, 22 magnolia, 4 black-throated blue, 38 yellow-rumped, 24 black-throated green, 24 blackburnian (at one point I had 4 adult males in one binocular view!), 1 palm, 2 bay-breasted, 1 blackpoll (FOY, strangely in the same little patch of small cedars I had my FOY in 2010), 4 black-and-white, 10 redstart, 1 northern waterthrush, 2 yellowthroat, 1 wilson's, 2 canada
1 swamp sparrow
11 rose-breasted grosbeak, 1 indigo bunting, 4 scarlet tanager
4 baltimore oriole
I spent far too long trying to identify a house sparrow! In my defense, it was in a bizarre spot: way up a tree in the middle of a completely natural area.

[Len Manning]

That's a good list.
Fairly solid numbers of Blackburnian and Chestnut-sided. Nice.

[Reuven_M]

Both those species have been very common this year so far for some reason.

[Reuven_M]

Been rather quiet the past couple days, but still found some nice stuff, highlights being 13 warbler sp. including canada, lincoln's sparrow and scarlet tanager.

[Reuven_M]

Happy to finally see some new migrants, and even happier to finally have some nice weather  
Excellent variety today, even if numbers were way down from last weekend's fallout.
Perhaps the most unique sighting was one small tree at Riverwood with one of each  Oreothlypis species  (nashville, tennessee, orange-crowned) in it at eye-level. Rather odd considering how scarce those 3 species were today otherwise.

1 great blue and 1 green (FOY) herons
4 chimney swift
long, incredibly close looks at a male pileated
4 flycatchers: 3 least, 1 pewee, 1 kingbird, 2 great crested, plus one other Empidonax
1 blue-headed, 11 warbling, 4 philadelphia, 4 red-eyed vireo.
plenty of thrushes: 1 wood, 12 swainson's, 7 veery
1 mockingbird
22 warbler sp (my highest number ever!). 1 tennessee, 1 orange-crowned, 4 nashville, 8 parula, 21 yellow, 26 chestnut-sided, 22 magnolia, 1 cape may, 15 black-throated blue, 17 yellow-rumped, 7 black-throated green, 27 blackburnian, 2 pine, 5 palm, 15 bay-breasted, 4 blackpoll, 10 black-and-white, 22 redstart, 8 ovenbird, 5 yellowthroat, 1 wilson's, 5 canada
7 sparrows: 2 lincoln's, 1 swamp, 1 savannah, 2 white-throated, 11 white-crowned (+ song and chipping)
1 tanager, 1 bunting, 4 grosbeak, 11 baltimore oriole

[Reuven_M]

Very few migrants today and yesterday, but I did find my 3rd(!!!!) yellow-throated vireo of the spring yesterday, and the first mourning warbler arrived on territory at Riverwood today. Indigo buntings and redstarts are now common in Riverwood.
Today I only had 2 migrants - a pair of common loon flyovers.

[Reuven_M]

Some more migrants today, I would have seen more but forgot to set my alarm and didn't get out until 7:00

cooper's hawk still seems to be incubating
1 olive-sided (FOY), 3 least, 1 willow, 1 great crested flycatcher, 1 phoebe, 1 pewee, 1 kingbird (the kingbird, willow and olive-sided must be migrants, the others could be breeders or migrants)
1 grey-cheeked (FOY) and 1 swainson's thrush
2 tennessee, 2 nashville, 1 parula, 1 chesnut-sided, 2 magnolia, 1 black-throated green, 3 blackburnian, 1 wilson's warbler
2 scarlet tanager

+ various breeders I didn't really count (e.g. red-bellied and downy woodpecker, warbling and red-eyed vireo, carolina and house wren, gnatcatcher, catbirds, yellow warbler, redstart, yellowthroat, grosbeak, indigo bunting, baltimore oriole)

+ raccoon, deer, brown snake, american toad, green frog, cabbage white, unidentified dragonfly

[Reuven_M]

Some definite migrants at Riverwood this afternoon:
2 tennessee, 1 parula, 2 blackburnian, 1 black-throated green, 1 myrtle (rather late) warblers
1 lincoln's sparrow

Very high numbers of red-eyed vireo, including one flock of about 15, clearly migrants.
Also plenty of interesting breeders around, highlights being redstart, yellowthroat, indigo bunting, grosbeak, cooper's hawk, pewee