Greetings birders, For the past couple days my partner Dilia and I have birded a few spots in Bruce and Grey counties and had some nice finds I'd like to share.
This is rather lengthy, and I've attempted to include directions to each place. Feel free to ask if you need better directions however if they are unclear. Friday morning at MacGregor Point Provincial Park ( take Hwy 21 south of Port Elgin, turn right down Concession 4 and follow the signs to MacGregor Point Park ) we hiked the Tower Trail, which loops around the Ducks Unlimited Pond. A great spot as always, we quickly found a singing and clearly visible male *Purple Finch *near the tower, who put on quite a show for a while. Soon after he was distracted by a female Purple Finch, and went off after her. Heading south of the tower, we found a *Green Heron* and then saw many *Great Egrets* fly into the pond, and land somewhere in the centre. There were, at minimum, four counted. While walking along the southern fringe of the pond, we also were surprised to encounter a pair of *Black-billed Cuckoos*. And these weren't the only Cuckoos we saw -- more were seen today in other locations, which I'll get to later down this report. Also of note, white-tailed dragonflies were in huge numbers on this section of trail. In the more forested areas of the Tower Trail were numerous singing *Winter Wrens*, *Northern Waterthrush*, *Veery*, *Wood Thrush* and the usual *American Redstarts* and *Black-throated Green Warblers* one tends to expect in high numbers in this habitat. Later in the day we checked out the *Piping Plover* nest at Sauble Beach, where it appears the nest that was near 4th Street is now gone (perhaps predated), but the one at 5th Street remains occupied. Following this we went in search of the more reliable *Brewer's Blackbirds* along Northacres Road south of Wiarton (one road west of Hwy 6), and found a small flock of at least 6 at the junction of Boat Lake Road and Northacres Road. Many other birds were found here as well, numerous *Bobolinks*, *Eastern Meadowlarks*, and *Eastern Bluebirds*. Later in the evening I took a hike through the Biener Trails off Concession Road 10 between Port Elgin and Southampton (west of Hwy 21). It was a buggy experience on the less-groomed trails, and more tolerable on the groomed trails where woodchips were in place and the trail wide. Expected species were there: *American Redstart, Black-throated Green Warbler, Winter Wren, Wood Thrush* and a couple singing *White-throated Sparrows* were also heard. There's also a large flock of fledgeling *American Crows* here that don't seem to be too good at landing on trees yet. They're amusing to watch. A notable find here though was in the cornfield north of the forest lot, heard along the gravelled ridge trail -- a *Vesper Sparrow* was heard singing around 9:00pm, along with a *Savannah Sparrow*. On Saturday, in the morning we visited the *Piping Plover *nest at Port Elgin Harbour (take Green Street west from Hwy 21/Goderich Street to the beach) where the nest is still active. *Mallard* ducklings were to be seen as well as some recently fledged *Song Sparrows* at the breakwater. Later we visited what is becoming a favourite backroad birding spot of ours, the "J & I Sideroad" (some signs say "Sideroad JI" or "J/1 Sideroad") south of MacGregor Point park. To get to the spot, drive south from Port Elgin down Hwy 21, go west down Concession 12, take the first left on this narrow sideroad. About 300m in there's a bridge for a small creek, park just past this at a field entrance (its enough so others can pass). In the past we've seen Clay-colored Sparrows here but alas none this time, but we did immediately run into another unexpected *Black-billed Cuckoo*! It stayed to give great views and photos. A second one was later heard calling from a nearby woods whilst the first was still visible. A *Great Blue Heron* was wading in the creek, and also present were *Warbling Vireos, Boblinks, Tree Swallows, Yellow Warblers, *and a *Red-tailed Hawk* in addition to other usual expected birds. The activity at this spot never seems to disappoint. Our travels then took us through downtown Paisley, Ontario, where *Eastern Phoebe* and *Chimney Swifts* were heard calling. Much later in the day, we stopped over in a couple spots just inside Grey County. At Allen Park Conservation Area (take County Road 4 east of Hanover, turn right at Allan Park Road, follow the signs to the conservation area) we only got a short hike in but did get to hear an *Eastern Towhee* and heard a handful of *Blue-head Vireos*, one of which gave us great views by binocular -- but sadly not long enough for photos. These were heard along the trails called "Fireroad Run" and "Sleepy Hollow". Specifically, they were up in Red Pine trees. Finally, at Sulphur Creek Conservation Area (take Grey Road 10 south of Hanover, turn left on Grey Road 28 and the CA is on the left) the duck pond wasn't too populated with ducks, but plenty of young *Canada Goose *goslings and also numerous *Common Grackle* fledgelings as well. Surprise, surprise, we also found a lone *Black-billed Cuckoo* here. Also of note, a pair of *Belted Kingfishers*. If we had more time we would have hiked the trails a bit -- years ago we found a lone Indigo Bunting chick fallen from a nest, so we know at least they likely breed here. Overall a great couple days with some nice finds, and more cuckoos than I expected to see all year, let alone in two days. Good birding, Rob _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
