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My birding/summer adventures blog is back!
Tomorrow I leave for job training on the shores of Lake Erie. I'm going to be doing flight shows and educational displays with raptors for the Canadian Raptor Conservancy. In June I'll be sent to work in Winnipeg at the Assinibione Park Zoo.
My summer bird adventures started last Saturday, with an early-rising trip to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens and Dundas Marsh with Alison. A beautiful male Common Yellowthroat was my first warbler of the year. We also saw lots of male and female Yellow-rumped warblers, yellow warblers, Palm warblers, a Spotted Sandpiper, lots of double-crested cormorants, Brown Creeper, and we heard a Red-bellied woodpecker. Later, in the gardens, we had a Sharp-shinned hawk fly by us, a male Black-throated Blue Warbler show of very closely for us, and encountered a giant female red-breated grosbeak on a bird feeder. The lack of pictures from the visit is Alison's fault; she didn't send me pictures of anything avian. Also, I didn't bring my camera on the trip.
During the past week I went for a few walks in the U of G arboretum, and had a great view of a male Baltimore Oriole
Me and Alison
At an preserved-tree art installation in the RBG. Such a pretty place.and Northern Flicker (and lots of cat birds). Unfortunately my camera battery is dead and the charger is in Toronto. The highlight of the visits was a brief view of a pair of Wood Ducks! So beautiful! I saw them through my binoculars as they crept deeper into the woods. They were lifers!
Coming home to Toronto I've been busy getting ready for the summer. I did take my mom birding in the ravine nearby, and it was surprisingly great for summer birds. First excitement occurred when a (juvenile, I think) Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over our heads and perched in a tree in front of us. My mom's second hawk sighting!
In the ravine we saw Yellow-Rumped, Yellow, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, and Black-and-white warblers. We also saw a ton of warblers/flycatchers/sparrows/other birds that I wasn't able to identify. There were at least three pairs of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks hanging out fairly low in the brush, which was nice. We heard a Downy woodpecker, but couldn't find it. My mom kept asking me if I was "sure" the Chickadee wasn't a woodpecker, haha. Her favourite sighting was the pair of Northern Cardinals that were calling quite loudly.
I wasn't
Birding at RBG
Actually, just being silly. able to celebrate migratory bird day at Tommy Thompson park today because of packing chaos, but I'm sure I will have great sightings working near Lake Erie. And starting tomorrow, my camera battery will be charged so I can document everything.
I've put up some pictures from when I stayed at the Tip of Long Point last summer that I never had a chance to post here.
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