This morning I found a Willow Flycatcher in the GENERAL area of the marsh south of the old Nortel, where the species has been reported previously. "My" bird, however, was actually about a kilometre west of the marsh itself in dry relatively open country. There was an empid with essentially no eye ring in the marsh, but despite being conspicuous, active and even aggressive, this other bird never called, so I couldn't tell its species. The marsh was otherwise disappointingly quiet when it came to specialty marsh birds such as rails and marsh wren. I guess arriving at a marsh at 8:15 AM (as opposed to say 6AM) just won't cut it at summer solstice time.
Directions: Take 417 west, exit north on Moodie then immediately turn left onto Corkstown and pull off right away in order to park near the bike path entrance. Walk west down the bike path for a km or so (perhaps a bit less) then turn right at the gap in the fence. You'll immediately come to a T junction in the trail--the marsh stretches in both directions. Go left. This trail curves north but look for a fork with the left "prong" rather obscure. Take this prong--it goes generally west skirting the cattails to the south. Continue for a km or so (habitat becomes dry and quite open)--you'll be skirting the tree line that borders the bike path to the south. The trail starts to bear right away from the treeline, then left in a kind of flattened S curve. After the S curve you'll have a fence on both sides: wire with wooden posts to the north and chain link to the south. The Willow Flycatcher was at this S curve. Paul Matthews, Ottawa _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
