Good Day, Sunshine!

Had a good day in the sunshine through the leaves of our forest today. Not a very high species count, though I was only out for about 50min, but it was a good day for the less common birds. With a total of 7 wablers on the count, 3 were good birds. There were 2 Blue-winged Warblers seen, a fairly uncommon bird in the county even in spring, but they do nest on the property every summer. Their 'Bee-Bzzzz' call can often start to get annoying in early summer bacuase they do it continously.

Not the best picture in the world but not to bad, other then the stick that got right infront of its neck.

Another good warbler on the trip was an early Blackpoll Warbler. This warbler is extremely hard to ID from the Bay-breasted Warbler in fall. The easiest way I find to tell the difference is to look at the feet/legs, if they are solid black, they are bay-breasted, if they have any yellow on them (usually on the feet), it's a blackpoll. The only other time to tell the difference between them if they are first fall birds, is if they have an excess of their colouring, for example, if they have a lot of pink'ish or orange'ish on the flanks, it is probably a bay-breasted, if it has a lot of striping, it is probably a blackpoll. But there are some blackpoll's with a little pink of orange on the flanks, and some bay-breasted with a little striping.
The third good warbler on the walk was a Connecticut Warbler. This is a first for year bird for this year for me. It was flushed up from the undergrowth and landed on a branch about a meter for a brief couple of seconds before it went back down a little further away. This was a fairly exciting bird for me because there are very few migrating through, though in fall you are a lot more likely to find them then spring migration, they still arn't very likely to be found. This is also because they like to stay close to the grown in the undergrowth and the only way to find them typical is by flushing them.
And a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher as I'm walking back to the house is a nice treat as well. They can be somewhat common during migration but I still don't find many on the property most years, Probably an average of about 2-3 a year.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11299207


I also went birding yesterday afternoon to Strathroy Sewage Lagoons looking for the American Avocet reported there the day earlier. Sadly, didn't have any luck with the Avocet, but did get Blue-winged Teal, a juvenile Green Heron, and a juvenile Bonaparte's Gull. There were a lot a shorebirds there as well, including Semipalmated Plovers, lots of Pectoral Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and 2 Stilt Sandpipers to bring the day together.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11298061


All in all, a good, sunny, two days of birds.
Good Birding!