Mid-May rare bird round-up for the Thunder Bay District

Some great birds have been spotted over the last week. Here are a few highlights, most of which were reported to the NWObirds email list.

• May 16th. John Schelling was birding at Chippewa Park in Thunder Bay in an area where he'd seen a male Scarlet Tanager earlier in the week. He caught sight of a duller, female tanager high up in the canopy. His photos revealed a very nice Summer Tanager, perhaps the 12th record for the Thunder Bay District.

[click on images to enlarge]

May 16th. Photos courtesy of John Schelling.

• May 15th. Somewhat out of range for the North Shore was a Brown Thrasher singing from an alder thicket at Peninsula Harbour in Marathon. 

May 15th. Town of Marathon.

• May 12th. Laurie McCollum, one of the operators of McCollum's Reflection Lake Resort at the south end of Lake Nipigon, had his camera set up on a tripod as he awaited the arrival of a regular flock of American Goldfinches. His preparedness paid off when a stunning male Painted Bunting landed on the feeder. The bird was seen up until the 14h. This is perhaps the fifth record for the District.

May 14th. Photo courtesy of Laurie McCollum.

• May 12th. Bob Ellis (who hosted a Painted Bunting in July of 2011) had a European Goldfinch visit his feeder in the Town of Marathon. It was in the company of a flock of Pine Siskins.

• May 11th-17th. John Woodcock reported a busier week of banding at Thunder Cape involving 338 individuals of 43 species. A highlight was a Golden-winged Warbler. 

• May 8th. Jon Pleizier submitted to eBird an excellent description of a Franklin's Gull flying past the observation platform at the south end Manito Miikana (Spirit) Trail in Pukaskwa National Park. This is a new species for the park and one of only a handful of sightings for the Thunder Bay District.

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Thanks to Bob Ellis, Laurie McCollum, John Pleizier, Brian Ratcliff, John Schelling and John Woodcock for sharing reports and photos of their sightings.