Spring has really arrived since my last post, with many new migrants arriving every day. Here are some of my highlights from the last week.
I decided to go birding around the Kincardine area last weekend and it paid off, as I saw numerous new birds for the year. First I visited the Kincardine Lagoons, where the highlights were Common Loon, Ruddy Duck, Bonaparte's Gull, Hermit Thrush, Barn Swallow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Field Sparrow.
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| - Common Loon |
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| - Ruddy Ducks |
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| - Bonaparte's Gulls |
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| - Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| - Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| - Field Sparrow |
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| - Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| - Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
After that I went to the Inverlyn Ponds, where I saw 4 goose species (Canada, Snow, Ross's and Greater White-fronted).
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| - Snow Goose with Canada Geese |
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| - Ross's Goose (front bird) and Snow Goose (back bird) |
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| - Snow Geese (large guys) and Ross's Goose (little guy) |
On the way home I stopped at the flooded fields by Tara, there I spotted Greater Yellowlegs and Rusty Blackbirds.
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| - Greater Yellowlegs |
The last few days have been good for migration, very strong south winds, warm (16°C - 20°C) and rain. This weather system brought many migrants into my neighbourhood this past week, including Osprey, Great Egret, Blue-winged Teal, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Chipping Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Eastern Pheobes, Purple Finches and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
There are also some winter birds still hanging around, like American Tree Sparrow and Common Redpoll. One day I had 2 Hoary Redpolls fly in with the commons, which is always a nice treat.
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| - Great Egret |
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| - Osprey |
- Blue-winged Teal (back 3) and Green-winged Teal (front bird)
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| - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
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| - Eastern pheobe |
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| - Purple |
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| - Common Redpoll |
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| - Hoary Redpoll |
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| - American Tree Sparrow |
Every evening I have large flocks of blackbirds and ducks fly over my yard, they pass over right as the sun is going down... just to make it hard for me to ID them. Most of the ducks are Mallards, but I get a few Wood Ducks, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers.
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| - Mallards |
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| - Northern Pintail (one with the long tail) and Mallards |
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| - Wood Ducks |
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| - American Black Ducks |
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| - Common Grackles |
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| - Red-winged Blackbirds |
A Lark Sparrow was reported at a feeder in Tobermory yesterday, which is quite a good bird for the Bruce. I got a ride up to see it today with Jarmo Jalava (thanks Jarmo) and soon after we got there it popped up to the feeder, giving us great views. Lark Sparrows are pretty rare in Ontario, with only 1-3 are seen in the province each year.
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| - Lark Sparrow |
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| - Lark sparrow |
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| - Lark Sparrow |
This is the 2nd time I've chased a bird in Tobermory with Jarmo in the past 2 weeks, on April 11th we went up for a Yellow-headed Blackbird (we got it😎). Unfortunately the blackbird flew before I could get a photo, so just use your imagination for that one. Interestingly enough, all but two records of Yellow-headed Blackbird are from April 10-24.
Some neat wildlife I've seen recently that isn't avian (yes, I sometimes look at things other then birds) include Eastern Comma, Red Admiral, Eastern chipmunk and Northern Watersnake.
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| - Red Admiral |
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| - Northern Watersnake |
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| - Eastern Chipmonk |
Things are on the move, at this time of year you never know what the next bird will be!
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