After the successful Western Tanager chase, Ezra returned back to southern Ontario in William's car and I drove back home for a sleep in a bed that wasn't the front seat of a car. The following day (April 25th) I "slept in" until 7:30am... and it felt fantastic. After waking up I took my dog for a walk down my road and encountered two yearbirds along the way, Green Heron and Northern Waterthrush. A few rarities were still kicking around southern Ontario, with the best ones being Snowy Egret and Kentucky Warbler. If I was in the south, sure I would have chased them. But they are both code 3 birds that show up numerous times in a spring, so it didn't seem worth a 3+ hour drive...
Instead I decided to bird the west coast of the Bruce and look for migrants and rarities. I was joined for most of the day by Andrew Keaveney, who happened to be up at his cottage on the peninsula. We started off by walking Sauble Beach in search of Piping Plovers, since this is normally around the time when they start coming back. I hadn't heard of any being seen at Sauble so far, but they had returned to a few other breeding locations in Ontario so it seemed worth a shot. We walked up the beach for a few kilometers, not seeing much aside from some gulls and a few loons. Near the north end of the beach I spotted a Dunlin, and I was about to keep going, when something flushed it and it flew down the beach towards me. A smaller, sand coloured shorebird flew along with it... Piping Plover. The two birds landed right in front of me and began foraging, acting like the best of buds. The plover was a nice yearbird and always a species I enjoy seeing. Honestly though I was quite happy with the close views of an alternate plumaged Dunlin, as I hardly ever am able to get close to them (Bruce shorebirds are weird).
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| - Piping Plover |
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| - Dunlin |
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| - Amigos |
For the rest of the morning/afternoon we worked the shoreline along the coast in the Pike Bay area, stopping frequently to look for migrants. Large numbers of Chipping Sparrows were around, with some Vesper, Field and White-crowned Sparrows mixed in. Kinglets of both species were numerous all along the coast, as were Yellow-rumped Warblers. At one particularly productive spot we had;
- 2 Fox Sparrows
- 1 Eastern Towhee
- 2 American Tree Sparrows (getting late)
- 1 Least Flycatcher
- 40 Yellow-rumped Warblers
- 1 Black-throated Green Warbler
- 1 Yellow Warbler
- 7 Pine Warblers
- 1 Cape May Warbler (yearbird)
The Cape May and Least Flycatcher were both pretty early for Bruce, definitely my earliest records (normally May 10th or so)....
It started getting colder as the day went on and the precipitation was getting heavier as well, so we called it quits around 4pm clock and I headed home. In the evening it cleared up to I drove over to Isaac Lake to search for some yearbirds. It was a crisp evening for sure, but there was still a lot of activity in the marsh including an American Bittern, 6 Virginia Rails and my first Sora of the year.
Not too bad for a day of birding around home.
Today I mainly caught up on work around the house and I didn't do much birding, although Dad did spot a Broad-winged Hawk flying over the yard... So I got one yearbird for the day. Tomorrow my car will finally be done at the mechanic and will be chase ready again... right in time for May. On Friday I will be heading down to Point Pelee, where I will be staying at an OtenTik in the park with a few other birders until late May... getting pretty hyped!! Until then I will probably stick around Bruce... Unless a rarity shows up of course : )
Ontario Yearlist @ April 27th - 247
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