This & That from Thickson's Woods

Inactive on the blogging front but busy on the birding front; that is the best way to describe the last couple of weeks. Slowly but surely, I have added more species to my year list via after work visits to Thickson's Woods. Of course afternoon visits are never ideal for birding but I have expanded my warbler list beyond yellow-rum..I mean myrtle and palm warblers. COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, BLACK-AND-WHITE, BLACK-THROATED BLUE , CHESTNUT-SIDED, MAGNOLIA and a BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, along with a NORTHERN PARULA were all observed this week and boosted my warbler species count for this year. I also had a nice SWAINSON'S THRUSH; nice in the sense that I could tell it was a swainson's and not a hermit thrush. Lots of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were moving through. A few CHIPPING SPARROWS, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW and an ORCHARD ORIOLE were all firsts for the year. Finally, the highlight for me and THE DAUGHTER was our first glimpse of the resident GREAT-HORNED OWL. The looks were great but when the owl started calling, well, it was just an excellent moment for us. However, from a strict birding perspective, the RED-BELLIED and RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were nice surprises for a place noted more for  small, flashy birds. Hopefully, I will post a few pictures from "the Woods" ( trademark, THE DAUGHTER ) as well as a recap of our trip to the Spring Birding Festival at Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto.