The opportunity for some after-work birding finally came to pass this week. Combined with some favourable weather, it looked like I would also get my first warbler of the year. Today, I also decided to pick up my daughter and when I told her of my warbler ambitions, she looked at me and asked "Do you think we'll see some butterbutts ?". My daughter is awesome...
Thickson's Woods has definitely come to life. However, the foremost lifeform you might notice is the number of midges. This year must be a good year for midge hatchings if these swarms were any indication. On Thursday, hundreds of swallows were around, gorging themselves on insects; mainly TREE SWALLOWS and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS.
There were signs of songbirds returning. The mornings must be something as there are a lot of reports of warblers in and around Toronto over the last few days. Of course, birding in the early afternoon only gets you a fraction of the bird action. However, I was happy to come up with HERMIT and SWAINSON'S THRUSH, many WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.
As for the first warbler of the year, it was a YELLOW-RU...I mean a MYRTLE WARBLER that I spotted with my daughter. I quickly followed that up with a PALM WARBLER. So with the first warbler accounted for, it looks like the birding "season" has truly begun. Good luck everyone !
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