A bike ride through Neys Provincial Park

I swung through Neys Provincial Park for a few hours this morning. The gate was closed so I was obliged to cycle from the CPR tracks down to the beaches (about 4 km). The woods were full of the songs of kinglets (both species) Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows. Four Palm Warblers brought the warbler species count to an unremarkable two.

Mottled Snowshoe Hares and female Ruffed Grouse foraged along the roadsides. Male Ruffed Grouse could be heard drumming from within the forest at several places.

[click on images to enlarge]

A nice surprise was a male American Three-toed Woodpecker that was noisily foraging on a spruce trunk in the camp ground (site 80e if you must know). I don't see many of these outside of winter.

Here are the bird totals as processed through eBird.

Location:     Neys Provincial Park
Observation date:     5/10/11
Number of species:     29

Bufflehead     5
Common Merganser     2
Ruffed Grouse     8
Common Loon     3
Great Blue Heron     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1
Broad-winged Hawk     3
Ring-billed Gull     3
Herring Gull     2
Mourning Dove     1
Downy Woodpecker     2
American Three-toed Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker     2
American Crow     12
Common Raven     3
Boreal Chickadee     1
Red-breasted Nuthatch     13
Golden-crowned Kinglet     10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     35
American Robin     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler     18
Palm Warbler     4
Chipping Sparrow     2
Song Sparrow     4
White-throated Sparrow     17
White-crowned Sparrow     2
Dark-eyed Junco     2
Red-winged Blackbird     1
Pine Siskin     1

More new arrivals

At last it's starting to look and sound like May. In our yard this afternoon a Rose-breasted Grosbeak joined a flock of (100+ and growing) Purple Finches.

[click on images to enlarge]

Yesterday at the mouth of the Pic River there were 30 or so Green-winged Teal, a pair of Blue-winged Teal and two male Redheads. On Heron Bay Road there was a lone Broad-winged Hawk

A Greater Yellowlegs was the only shorebird evident in Peninsula Harbour yesterday morning.

Iceland Gull in Peninsula Harbour

After being away in the US southwest for the last few weeks, I'm just getting caught up with the changing season here on the north shore. The most unusual bird I found today was a first spring Iceland Gull in Peninsula Harbour in the Town of Marathon.

[click on image to enlarge]

Winter meets spring, at last!

This morning, a lingering "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll in our yard found itself in the company of flush of new arrivals.

[click on images to enlarge]

Some recent spring arrivals in Marathon

Canada Goose (37) - 04/12
American Black Duck (2) - 04/13
Mallard (2) - 04/12
Ring-necked Duck (11) - 04/13
Bufflehead (3) - 04/13
*Common Goldeneye (8) - 04/13
Hooded Merganser (1) -  04/11
Common Merganser (3) - 04/11
Turkey Vulture (1) - 04/11
*Bald Eagle (1) - 04/11
Northern Harrier (1) - 04/11
American Kestrel (1 + 1) 03/22, 04/12
Merlin (1) - 04/13
*Wilson's Snipe (3) - 04/13
American Woodcock (1) - 04/12
Ring-billed Gull (37) - 04/13
*Herring Gull (280) - 04/13
*Glaucous Gull (1) - 04/10
*Mourning Dove (4) - 04/13
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1) - 04/09
*Downy Woodpecker (2) - 04/13
*Hairy Woodpecker (2) - 04/13
Northern Flicker (1) - 04/11
*Pileated Woodpecker - (2) - 04/11
*American Crow (12) - 04/13
*Common Raven (46) - 04/13
*Black-capped Chickadee (2) - 04/13
*Red-breasted Nuthatch (1) - 04/13
*Brown Creeper (1) - 04/13
Winter Wren (1) - 04/13
American Robin (1) - 04/12
*European Starling (45) - 04/13
American Tree Sparrow (12) - 04/13
Fox Sparrow (2) - 04/13
Song Sparrow (5) - 04/13
*Dark-eyed Junco (65) - 04/13
*Northern Cardinal (2) - 04/12
Common Grackle (2) - 04/13

*Species present through the winter

Lake Whitefish from Lake Superior

This is a Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) caught through the ice on Lake Superior, yesterday. The presence of an adipose fin (between the dorsal and the caudal fins), among other characters, indicates its close relatedness to other salmonid fishes of which we also caught (in the same area) Rainbow Trout, Coho Salmon and Lake Herring.

All of these species feed heavily on Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax), an invasive forage fish in Lake Superior.

This is one of my favourite fish to eat.

Glaucous Gull in the Town of Marathon

This Glaucous Gull was in the company of 50 or so Herring Gulls in Marathon today. Nearby I saw two Snow Buntings and an American Kestrel - new birds for the season.

[click on image to enlarge]

Redpolls swarm our yard after the storm

As seen in our yard today (make sure your volume is turned up!)...

Birds about town...

There hasn't been much change in recent weeks. The are still good numbers of Common and Hoary Redpolls around town. Dozens of pairs of Herring Gulls are staking out territory on Skin Island, in Peninsula Harbour.


[click on images to enlarge]

Bohemian Waxwings

"Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll

Here are today's sightings as processed by eBird:

Location:     Marathon, Ontario
Observation date:     3/10/11
Number of species:     16

Bald Eagle     1
Herring Gull     275
Glaucous Gull     4
Downy Woodpecker     2
Hairy Woodpecker     2
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Common Raven     65
Black-capped Chickadee     3
European Starling     2
Bohemian Waxwing     20
Northern Cardinal     3
Pine Grosbeak     16
Common Redpoll (flammea)     92
Common Redpoll (rostrata)     9
Hoary Redpoll (exilipes)     13
Hoary Redpoll (hornemanni)     3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/canada)

Black-backed Woodpecker at Dorion

Thanks to Susan Fagan for sharing this photo, taken today near Dorion.

[click on image to enlarge]

Thin ice on Peninsula Harbour