Friday, May 20, 2011 Kingston

6:30 am

The temperature is +11 C, with a high predicted of +19 C.

From the Environment Canada website:

Today Cloudy with sunny periods and 30 percent chance of showers. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 19 except 14 near Lake Ontario. UV index 6 or high. Tonight Cloudy. Becoming cloudy periods near midnight. Low 12. Normals Max: 19°C Min: 10°C

We are planning for an all-day birding trip to Prince Edward county today. Hopefully the rain will hold off.

4:00 PM Birding

We went out to Prince Edward County for today's birding. The first stop was at the Prince Edward Point Conservation Area where we parked near the observatory. We then drove to the Point Traverse Woods where we had a delicious quick lunch before heading into the woods. Overall this was an incredible trip with lots of birds at each stop. The woods were alive with the sounds of birds and there were a number of birders on the many trails.

Drive to Prince Edward Point Conservation Area

• Baltimore Oriole
• Barn Swallow (12)
• Tree Swallow (4)
• American Kestrel
• Lesser Scaup
• Common Merganser (6)

Prince Edward Point Conservation Area

• Magnolia Warbler
• Chestnut-sided Warbler (3)
• Blue Jay
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak (2)
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• Yellow Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• American Goldfinch
• Baltimore Oriole (2)
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Black-and-white Warbler
• American Redstart
• Blackburnian Warbler [lifer] (3)
• Canada Goose (4)
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo [lifer]
• Turkey Vulture
• Tennessee Warbler [lifer]
• Carolina Wren
• Chipping Sparrow
• Tree Swallow (10)
• Barn Swallow (10)
• Cliff Swallow [lifer] (12)
• Eastern Towhee (2)



Yellow-throated Vireo

 



Red-eyed Vireo

 



Blackburnian Warbler

 



Tennessee Warbler

 



Tree Swallow

 



Barn Swallow

 

 

Point Traverse Woods

• Yellow Warbler (3)
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Downy Woodpecker
• Black-and-white Warbler
• American Redstart
• Eastern Kingbird
• Gray Catbird
• Scarlet Tanager [lifer]
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Great Crested Flycatcher (2) [lifer]
• Golden-winged Warbler [lifer]
• Purple Finch (Female)
• Surf Scoter (13)
• Baltimore Oriole (2)
• Chipping Sparrow



Eastern Towhee

 



Blackburnian Warbler

 



Yellow Warbler

 



Chipping Sparrow

 

This concludes 2 incredible birding days when we took 6 different trips. We were looking forward to seeing some warblers, but the two trips today at Prince Edward Point exceeded our hopes. Not only did we see a wide variety of warblers but we also saw a number of other birds for the first time. The vireos were a real surprise and delight. Trips like this motivate me to learn more about this hobby, both from the point of view of understanding the birds as well as learning how to identify and photograph the variety of birds, often under difficult lighting conditions.

We also saw a variety of birders, and equipment, and saw the nets for catching and banding birds as they arrive from the other side of Lake Ontario. I had a brief chat with a couple of experienced birders who were using Canon telephoto lenses and they recommended a particular lens for birding (Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM)

Another 7 new lifers for us, making 14 for the last 2 days, and bringing our global total to 603 different species. Our total number of Canadian lifers is now 201. This site was the closest I have seen to a professional birding site. Here is the URL for the area: http://www.peptbo.ca/

A very special thank you to our two guides! We had a lot of fun and look forward to more good times.