Friday, August 22, 2008

Birding Meewasin Park

At 8am I set out to Meewasin Park which is situated in
the city's north west and runs along the river. It has Poplar and Aspen trees, Chokecherry, Buffalo Berry , Silverberry. Willow and Red Osier Dogwood shrubs to name but a few.
I spent a few hours there, with my primary goal to find as many migrants as I could.
The Meewasin trail here just keeps on going, and I actually had to turn back after awhile otherwise I'd have gotten carried away and ended up having supper there.
When I first arrived at the park, it was alive with Robins. Probably 70-80 of them . It was hard to separate the occasional Catbird or Thrasher at times because they were in almost every tree or bush often with 2 or 3 young in tow.
On the east side of the riverbank I watched as a flock of Crows, 100 strong,took to the skies as a Great Blue Heron disturbed by their flight, veered off in another direction.
The only other birds I saw over the river were 5 White Pelicans and a couple of hunting Northern Harriers.
I did find a few Warblers under the tree canopy, but photographing them was pretty much impossible as they were 30ft up in the air flitting from branch to branch.
My prize for the day was finding two Olive-sided Flycatchers, one of whom was still giving its " Quick Three Beers " call, which I had only ever heard on a cd before, so that was great.

Here are a few of the highlights followed by some photos :

Black & White Warbler - 2 females
Magnolia Warbler - 1 female
Tennessee Warbler - 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 5
Wilson's Warbler - 1 male
Blackpoll Warbler - 1 fall plumaged male
American Redstart - 1 male, 2 females
Yellow Warbler - 6
Warbling Vireo - 4
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 2
Alder Flycatcher - 1
Least Flycatcher - 2
Northern Flicker - 4
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1 female
Purple Finch - 1 heard
House Finch - 60+ !
American Goldfinch - 2
Pine Siskin - 6
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Spotted Towhee - 1

Olive-sided Flycatcher :



Warbling Vireo :



Red-eyed Vireo :



American Robin ( juvenile ) :

9 comments:

John Theberge said...

Great photos. It's funny how you're further north than we are but you seem to have a lot of birds that we don't. It must be because you're further west.

Shelley said...

The juvenile robin was my favorite- loved seeing his spotty chest!

kjpweb said...

The Vireo is gorgeous! And you don't have to wonder how they came up with the name! ;)
Cheers, Klaus

Nick S said...

Thanks guys. Yes, we do have quite a variety up here, but there are many you have that I wish we got :-)

The Birdlady said...

These photos are astonishing, as always! The vireo is to die for!

Rocky M said...

Nice work Nick ! Glad you were able to get that OS Flycatcher.

Have a fun time at LaclaPeche !
Rocky

Nick S said...

Thanks Rock ! Hopefully it will prove to be a productive few days :-)

Nick S said...

Thanks, glad you liked him :-)

2sweetnsaxy said...

Sounds like you had quite the day and some wonderful shots to show for it.