Directions: Thickson's Woods are accessed at the bottom of THickson's Road, off side road heading N, S of the 401 in Whitby.
Gene and Charlene Denzel 9 Idleswift Drive Thornhill, ON L4J 1K8 905-889-7888
It was a beautiful (but chilly)Easter morn to wander through Thickson
Woods. One of the Great HOrned Owls was posing in a great bit of
light, for a change. There were numerous Golden- and Ruby-Crowned
Kinglets, as well as Brown Creepers, bursting into the occasional
song. Hermit thrush, White-Throated and Fox Sparrows were active,
and a Winter Wren was singing now and then. The Yellow-Breasted
Sapsuckers were active, and Yellow-Rumped Warblers were busy high in
the crowns. While trying to locate a singing swamp sparrow down at
the marsh at the bottom of the woods, we were pleasantly surprised to
hear a Virginia Rail doing its barking call. We also heard the flight
call of a Common Loon, presumably flying past over the lake. Our hunt
for reported Pine Warblers was truncated by what appeared to be a
pair of Cooper's Hawks calling and buzzing around. We had no luck
with the also reported Towhee. Since the beavaer activity seems to
have moved up stream (see earlier post about the two dams on the S
side of Thickson further West), the usual pond at the bottom of the
road does not look like it will be maintained, probably changing the
habits of Kingfishers which can usually be found there.
The Meadow had lots of active Tree Swallows, some pairing up at the
houses.
The only shorebirds noticed were a couple of Kildeer on the mudflats
to the S of the road into the woods. There were some Gadwall and Blue-
Winged Teal mucking about as well. All in all, a nice harbinger of
goodies to come as the migration picks up.
