Chronicles of an Ontario Birder: March and April birding on the Bruce

March and April birding on the Bruce

Yikes, I haven't updated the blog in two months!! Horrible... My main excuse is my New weather blog, I've put most of my effort into writings posts on there recently.

I plan on posting more yardbirding posts like I did last year, as I'll be around home for most of May. Just so I don't jump into it though, I'll give a quick update on my spring.

Early March was great this year. Unlike some birds that arrive around the same time each year (species that migrate based on the length of daylight) , the early migrants like dabbling ducks, robins, woodcocks will migrate north depending on the weather. This can be very drastic year to year... take American Woodcock for example. My earliest arrival was March 2nd, and my latest was March 28th! That's almost a difference of a whole month, which can be agonizing for a birder anxious for spring if it's on the later side. Luckily the spring of 2021 decided not to be too cruel to us bird people, on March 10th we got a massive surge of warm air and most of the snow in Bruce melted. I made several trips down to South Bruce that week and got a lot of First Of Year (FOY) birds including; Killdeer, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Snow Goose, Cackling Goose (39 of them!), Tundra Swan, Song Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark and Turkey Vulture.

Turkey Vulture

Tundra Swans

Song Sparrow

After that there was a bit of a lull, as southern Ontario was hit with a week of cold weather and even a bit of snow. The next big push came around the 25th, but it was pretty quiet for a week.

Then we got another surge ot warm air and new migrants. Birding around my patch started to improve, with FOY birds including; Fox Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Flicker, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Eastern Pheobe, Pied-billed Grebe, Canvasback and Double-crested Cormorant.

Pied-billed Grebe

Northern Flicker

Canvasback

The first 10 days of April were spectacular here, with numerous highlights. For 5 days Ontario was blasted with south winds, and the temperatures were reminiscent of mid July. Even at my place, the daily highs exceeded 20°C, with the warmest day closing in on 28°C. Although it was nice seeing new birds, it was too much too fast. A lot of trees started coming out, also I spent way too much time outside and ended up getting a mild heat stroke. Anway the birding was great. I'll go day by day for highlights;

- April 4

6 FOY. Purple Finch and Eastern Towhee in the yard. A quick check at Isaac Lake turned up other new birds.. Blue-winged Teal, Wilson's Snipe, American Bittern and Rusty Blackbird.

Blue-winged Teal

Wilson's Snipe

- April 5

3 FOY. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the yard, then Tree Swallow and Great Blue Heron at Isaac Lake.

Tree Swallow

Great Blue Heron

- April 6

2 FOY. A flock of Evening Grosbeaks flew over the yard, then later in the day I had a Bonaparte's Gull at Oliphant.

Evening Grosbeak

- April 7

4 FOY. I had Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Common Loon and Pine Siskin in the yard during my morning watch. Also a big highlight was yard lifers Trumpeter Swan and Cackling Goose (188, 189). I've looked at 1000s of Canada Geese, so finally getting a cackling was sweet. That evening I went out and tried for owls in my yard.. wham! Lifer Long-eared Owl! Obviously it was also a yard lifer (190).

Common Loon

Cacklers with CANGs

Long-eared Owl

- April 8

3 FOY. The day started off fairly quiet, just the usual characters around the yard.. then as I was eating dinner I got a alert about a Eurasian Wigeon at Isaac Lake! I flew out the door... without my keys! Long story short, I got the bird, a beautiful male hanging out with some American Wigeon. This was a lifer for me, and a milestone one at that ~ my 300th Ontario bird. After that I saw Vesper Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow in the marsh.

Eurasian Wigeon

Vesper Sparrow

- April 9

3 FOY. During my morning watch I picked up Osprey, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Greater Yellowlegs.

Osprey

Yellow-rumped Warbler

- April 10

4 FOY. Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow and Hermit Thush in the yard, then a Pine Warbler down the coast from my place in the afternoon. Notably my first day of the year with a yard eBird list over 50 (link Here)

Chipping Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow and juncos

After the 10th there was another lull in migration that lasted 14 days, as the tempature cooled and the wind shifted north again. There were still highlights during this time though. The best was on April 14th, when I received a text from Jarmo Jalava informing me that he was watching a Short-eared Owl just down the road from my place. I raced down and enjoyed watching it catching thermals over a field for a few minutes. This was a yearbird, and also the 8th owl species I've seen in my patch (what will be 9?!). After the owl had left, I picked up my first Brewer's Blackbirds of the year on Red Bay Road.

Short-eared Owl

Male Brewer's Blackbird

Female Brewer's Blackbird

Migration picked up again on April 24th, so again I'll do a list day by day of my sightings.

- April 24

3 FOY. In the morning I saw a Broad-winged Hawk circling above a marsh on my road. Later in the day I picked up Virginia Rail and Sora at Isaac Lake.

Broad-winged Hawk

- April 25/26

The calm before the storm.

- April 27

6 FOY. A low pressure system brought strong south winds all the way from the gulf coast... and with it.. birds! I got a Palm Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler in my yard as soon as I went outside, then headed over to Petrel Point and saw Brown Thrasher and House Wren (among other things). Later in the day I got Lesser Yellowlegs at Oliphant, Barn Swallow at Isaac Lake and Caspian Tern at Sky Lake.

Brown Thrasher

- April 28

2 FOY. Black-and-white Warbler in the yard, then a Northern Waterthrush singing down my road.

- April 29

1 FOY. Northern Rough-winged Swallow over my yard (#100 for the yard this year).

Back to the present, April 30th. As I'm writing this it's cold and windy outside and there are relativity few birds around. Things are meant to pick up on Sunday though.

For those interested in donating to help birdlife, I'll be participating in the Great Canadian Birdathon this year. I will be doing a big day in my 5MR this May to raise money for Birds Canada and the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory. Click on the link below to find out more!

~ Link to click ~

Oh yeah, I'm also doing a semi-serious hawkwatch in my yard & have been keeping everything on an excel spreadsheet. This post is already long enough, so I'll save all the details for a future one. I'm up around 450 raptors for the season though, which I think isn't too shabby! I'll put a bunch of photos below.