After returning from three days of birding at Point Pelee, where (aside from some great but islolated rarities) the migration was surprisingly "behind schedule" (i.e. it was painfully birdless at times), I was pleasantly surprised to find a good variety of migrants in the Newmarket area of York region when I got home. Walking my dog before work along the John F. Smith Trail just southeast of Mulock and Bathurst Streets the past two mornings, my first surprise was finding two male Scarlet Tanagers, a species that did not show up at Pelee (aside from one or two females) until Monday. This morning, in an agonizing "heard but not seen" situation, I listened to the distinctive "Bee buzz buzz" of a Golden-winged Warbler (or one of its hybrid variations) coming from a row of willows just past a fence that I did not have the heart or the free time to hop over. Apart from the expected Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers, there were also several Black-throated Green and Black & White Warblers, Warbling Vireos, Northern Orioles, White-crowned Sparrows and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. There was also one Tennessee Warbler, one Wood Thrush, an Eastern Kingbird, a local Belted Kingfisher, a pair of Gray Catbirds, an Eastern Towhee, and a very vocal House Wren proclaiming territory. Little more than a km northwest of this there are at least three Pine Warblers singing on territory in the deeper woods on the west side of Bathurst Street. Newmarket is halfway between Toronto and Barrie, situated between Hwys. 400 and 404. The John Smith Trail is just a little suburban trail that runs southward from the lights at Mulock and Sawmill Streets. At this time of year, many similar greenways can be surprisingly good corridors for migrating passerines. Ron Fleming, Newmarket
