The Prothonotary Warbler was seen Monday night, April 18th at 5:00 p.m. at the same location at Tiny Marsh by several observers. It has not moved from the original location. I have not received any reports today but just back from a canoe trip into Minesing Swamp so was out of touch for most of the day. It turns out that the last two Simcoe County records for this species were in June, 1972. One at Minesing Swamp and recorded in a 1974 Inventory Report and one found dead in Midland on June 11, 1972. The report documentation was 31 years ago but the most recent observation was 33 years old. I had incorrectly used the date of the report instead of the date of the observation for the most recent sighting.
Bob Bowles ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gene Denzel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontario Bird-list" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 7:44 AM Subject: [Ontbirds]No luck with Tiny Marsh Prothonotary on Monday > Not being able to make Ron Fleming's OFO trip scheduled for the coming > weekend, we headed up to Tiny Marsh yesterday to take advantage of the > weather. A (very) few people were walking the banks of the canal at > Tiny Marsh yesterday, but nobody seemed to have any luck finding the > way-out-of place prothonotary warbler seen on the weekend. There > certainly is plenty of habitat there which mirrors places in Pelee or > Rondeau where this bird is often found. > The trip provided plenty of other good birds, including several pairs > of BLUE-WINGED TEAL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and HOODED MERGANSER. Numbers > of RING-NECKED DUCK, LESSER SCAUP were seen. Although no TREE SWALLOWS > were seen in the morning, they were becoming quite numerous by > afternoon. The OSPREY were working on their nest on the platform, and a > female NORTHERN HARRIER was flushed from along the dike trail carrying > prey. A pair of CASPIAN TERNS were hunting successfully. There were > numerous sparrows, including zillions of SONG and SWAMP, but also two > AMERICAN TREE. Only one YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER was seen, but no pine > warblers were heard or seen. There were a number of other species, but > the highlight of the trip was two SANDHILL CRANES which took off from > the field across the street from the main area and spiralled up into > the bright blue sky. > Here are Ron Fleming's directions: > > Taking the calculated risk of driving all the way of up to Tiny Marsh > in hopes > of seeing the first Prothonotary Warbler to occur up there in 31 years, > I > sacrificed my last hockey game of the season and dragged a reluctant > birder (my > 15-year old son Ryan) out of bed. Fortunately, the bird was right where > it was > last reported, though my son and I and another birder must have > initially > walked right past it at 8:00 this morning. > > > We bumped into a young birder from Barrie named Scott Watson who had > just > finished walking the full dike loop and, as seven Sandhill Cranes > noisily > passed, he informed us that he had seen the warbler when he first > arrived at > 7:00 a.m. We walked back toward the secondary parking area where we had > started > and - sure enough - there was the bird. > > > It was between 60 - 70 regular walking paces east of the base of the > Trotter > dike, spending most of its time feeding on the north side of the little > canal > that parallels the trail. It did not stray any farther east than the big > section of debris that almost dams the water about 100 paces east of the > parking lot (there is a very long wooden beam that angles eastward from > the > south shore at this point). > > > We had excellent views of the bird from 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. > > On the way up we had a Great Gray Owl sitting by the roadside on County > Rd. > #27, less than a km south of the Horseshoe Valley Rd. (Road #22). > Thanks to Bob > Bowles post yesterday mentioning that there were still several of these > owls in > the area, I had my birding antenna up. > > As we left Tiny Marsh we had two Wild Turkeys on the south side of the > Tiny > Flos Townline, about a km before reaching County Rd. 29, which is a good > alternate route home if you live in Barrie or south. (It runs all the > way down > to the Horseshoe Valley Rd., then you turn right, travel a short > distance, and > hook up with #26. Turn left, then soon afterward turn right on George > Johnston > Rd. (#28), which goes south through Minesing and past Snow Valley, > paralleling > Hwy. 400 southward.) > > > Ron Fleming, Newmarket > > Directions: Tiny Marsh is about a 20 minute drive northwest of Barrie > and about > 10 minutes east of Wasaga Beach. Exit Hwy. 400 at the Bayfield St. ramp > in > Barrie, then follow Bayfield northwest (left). Bayfield becomes County > Road 27 (do not turn onto #26 west toward Stayner and Wasaga). Keep > going north (straight). Take 27 north through the village of Elmvale, > cross the little Wye River, then look for Simcoe Road 6 and turn west > (left). The road quickly angles northward through the hamlet of Saurin. > Go a > short distance to 1st Conc., which is the Tiny-Flos Townline (a sign on > the left indicates the way toting Marsh). Turn west (left) on the > unpaved townline road and go 3.5 km to either the first parking lot on > the > right or another half km to the Interpretive Centre parking lot. > Professor Gene Denzel > Information Technology Program > Department of Mathematics and Statistics > York University 416-736-5250 > > _______________________________________________ > ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. > Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] > For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm > ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm >
