Thursday, May 19, 2011 Kingston

5:30 am

The temperature is +15 C, with a high predicted of +18 C.

From the Environment Canada website:

Today A few showers ending this morning then cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 18. UV index 4 or moderate. Tonight Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this evening. Low 12. Normals Max: 20°C Min: 10°C

Showers is still the key word, but if it looks like we can get some birding in we will give it a try.

6:00 PM Birding

We were hoping to get some birding in today before noon as the forecast for the afternoon is rain and thunderstorms. As it turned out it was a great day for birding, period. One of our best Canadian birding days. We had 4 separate trips. The first was the Rideau Trail in Kingston. The second was to a section of the Kingston & Pembroke trail north of Kingston. Then in the afternoon we returned to the Rideau Trail and then we headed out to a different section of the K&P trail. Overall we saw a large number of birds, some lifers for us. Now to try to sort this all out.

Rideau Trail, Kingston (am)

• American Goldfinch
• Yellow Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler [lifer]
• Chestnut-sided Warbler [lifer] (3)
• American Redstart
• Northern Cardinal
• Philadelphia Vireo [lifer]



American Goldfinch

K&P trail, just north of Unity road (am)

• Baltimore Oriole (2)
• Eastern Meadowlark [lifer]
• Bobolink [lifer] (2)
• Song Sparrow (3)
• Warbling Vireo [lifer]
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak (2)
• Gray Catbird
• Yellow Warbler (2)
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Great Blue Heron
• Carolina Wren
• Mourning Dove
• Wood Thrush [lifer] (2)
• Yellow-throated Warbler
• Blue Jay (3)
• Red-winged Blackbird (2)



Song Sparrow

 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 



Chestnut-sided Warbler

 



Snowbirds

 

On the road back to Kingston

• Wild Turkey

Rideau Trail, Kingston (pm)

• Baltimore Oriole
• Downy Woodpecker
• American Goldfinch (4)
• Black-capped Chickadee



Black-capped Chickadee

 

Lake Ontario, Kingston (pm)

• Eastern Kingbird
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Double-crested Cormorant (14)
• Mallard (2)
• Red-winged Blackbird (4)



Philadelphia Vireo

 

K&P trail , just north of Burbrook road (pm)

• Eastern Kingbird
• Eastern Towhee [lifer]
• Killdeer
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Bobolink (2)
• Black-and-white Warbler
• Baltimore Oriole
• Yellow Warbler
• Song Sparrow
• Cedar Waxwing (5)



Black-and-white Warbler

 

That looks like 7 new lifers for us, bringing our global total to 596 different species. There were also 5 new Canadian lifers (i.e. birds that we had seen in at least one other country but had never been seen in Canada). They were the Northern Cardinal, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Yellow-throated Warbler, Carolina Wren, and the Black-and-white Warbler. Our total number of Canadian lifers is now 192. It really helps to be birding in a totally different area from our previous activities. It also helps to have 2 experienced birders with us to aid in both the spotting as well as the identification.