April 29th – NE Wind Holding On – Haldimand Bird Observatory

First Northern Waterthrush of the year. -J. Furber

It was a little like A Tale Of Two Cities or, maybe, Down and Out In Paris And London or…..the bottom line is that I got to do some good birding at two divergent sites today: Fern Hill School Oakville Campus and then Ruthven.

Nancy was covering Ruthven in the morning but was shorthanded so she didn’t get a census done. She did manage to handle 51 birds and play host to 40 visitors (38 of them students) so I guess that’s ok. Among the notable birds she found was the first Northern Waterthrush of the year.

I was at the Fern Hill Campus in the morning, so when I returned to Ruthven in the afternoon I decided to do a census. What a treat! I had the whole park to myself, the sun was coming out, the cold NE wind (which has been blowing tenaciously for a few days now) was dropping, and it was warming up. The Fox Den Trail was a delight, alive with birds: Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, Winter Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, the first Least Flycatchers of the year. There were even 2 Greater Yellowlegs on the gravel spit. It was interesting to watch these small birds – they were all busily foraging. Half an hour after the sun sets they will take off and head north – they were fueling up. And this means that way to the south of us, other birds/species will be doing the same….and may end up at Ruthven by morning. Something to get out of bed for at 4:30 AM!

Ruthven; Banded 37:
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Brown Thrasher
1 Northern Waterthrush
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
10 White-throated Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
7 Brown-headed Cowbirds
7 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 48 spp.

Fern Hill Oakville:
Katherine and I put up 3 nets this morning despite the wind and hoped for the best. It was Grandparents’ Day at the school and there was a lot of excitement about the field studies course (which includes banding) that Katherine is running. Many of the students are keen to take part and learn. Right now we are banding out of the back of Katherine’s car – but hopefully, down the road, she will get a small building like the one at the Burlington campus.

Cooper's Hawk investigating a Dark-eyed Junco in the net right below it. — Cooper’s Hawk investigating a Dark-eyed Junco in the net right below it.

Early on the excitement was provided by a Cooper’s Hawk which almost flew into the net after a junco. It veered off at the last moment and sat in a tree directly above its quarry looking a little puzzled.