Song Bird Sunday

Where did the weekend go? As usual the weekend went by quickly but I ended up with some great weather and some great photo ops. Lets jump to Sunday and I will tell you about the great day I had with the Song Birds.

I decided to bird one of my local dirt roads to search for Song birds. It has been a pretty successful spot for me in the past and this year I'm trying to find more locations near home so I don't need to waste time drive. Foxtrap access road ends at a dirt road where many people have cabins but the habitat is perfect for a variety of birds.

As usually I started the morning off my grabbing a Tim's Tea and then decided to make a quick stop at RONA (local hardware store)...last year I spotted a pair of Yellow Warblers hanging out in the alders surrounding the parking lot. Since it was so close to my house I figured I would check there first.  I've been waiting for the return of these guys and people have been posting reports of seeing Yellows lately so my hopes were they had returned. Sure enough when I entered the parking lot there they were and provided some nice looks.

After spending sometime with them I headed off to my main destination. As I approached the end of Foxtrap access road to my disappointment a large band of fog was rolling in. I had only planned to be out for a couple hours so fog was the last thing I wanted to see as it began to suck the life out of the sun. So what can you do until it passes? Take shots of the fog :)

Lucky for me the fog past by quickly so off I went down the dirty road. One of my main species for the morning was the Northern Waterthrush. To date I had only see one once before but that is probably from lack of trying since they are common to the island. I pulled over near a small stream on the road. After a short wait one came out of the thick woods. There is something very striking about this bird. I didn't come away with many shots but it was nice to see one in the open.

One species I hadn't expected to see on my outing was the Wilson's Warbler but through out the morning they were abundant and of all the birds for the morning they provided the best looks.

Another surprise was a very short encounter with a Wilson Snipe. While driving and slowly scanning for Songs Birds out of the corner of my eye I noticed something standing in a farm field. I quickly stopped and slowly backed up to have a look. There he was standing so proudly. I was able to get out of the vehicle to grab a few frames at this low POV.

I had spotted many other species through out the morning which included Fox Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Savanna Sparrow, Black & White Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler and a pair of Northern Harriers but neither provided great photo ops. I did end off my morning session with a pair of White Throated Sparrows. Here on the island I think these are the best looking sparrows we have. I love the strips on the males head and the spot of yellow.

The morning had passed by quickly and it was time to head back home for some breakfast and over due yard work that needed my attention.

Check back soon as I will talk about where I went on Saturday...