Early Spring Migrants 2016

Nature Notes for March 24, 2016

About a week after last month’s column appeared, the first avian heralds of spring appeared. Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds swarmed backyard feeders, eating furiously to recover from their migration from the southern U.S.

Many observers also started reporting American Robins. Although a few have been around all winter, some of these were newly returned migrants. For most of the winter, I have had a robin spending a lot of time in the mountain ash tree in my front yard. This bird is so used to us that he doesn’t even fly when we drive in the driveway and get out of the car. He just “chucks” at us a couple of times and goes back to eating the fallen mountain ash berries. If this is the same bird, he has recently acquired a mate. We’ve seen a female with him this past week.

Waterfowl are among the earliest migrants. They require open water, so follow the thawing ice as temperatures warm in the spring. Presqu’ile Provincial Park’s Waterfowl Festival was last weekend (March 19 and 20). Because of the mild spring, the lake and Presqu’ile Bay were ice free. Although there were waterfowl present, they were quite far out on the bay. Even with a spotting scope, they were difficult to see. Many of the ducks and geese have already moved further north. The huge rafts of Redhead and scaup that were present almost three week ago have mostly departed.

My husband, Roger, and I volunteered to man a viewing platform last Sunday for the Festival. Although ducks were scarce, we had some other good sightings. Just after we arrived at our post, a Peregrine Falcon flew through. It was very ambitious, making a run at a Canada Goose! It didn’t get the goose – no surprise here – but thoroughly frightened the small Bufflehead that were feeding nearby. When the Bufflehead took flight, we had a better idea of how many there were. Diving ducks are very difficult to count when they are feeding because only seldom are all of them on the surface at the same time.

Later in the morning, two Sandhill Cranes flew past our platform, calling loudly. They circled around and looked like they might land in the marsh, but circled again and flew away to the east. Sandhill Cranes are becoming more common in southern Ontario, so there is a chance that readers might encounter one. When they are courting, they are very noisy, so are easy to detect.

Two Pied-billed Grebes entertained viewers quite near the viewing platform. These small grebes nest in Presqu’ile marsh.

The previous week, Willow Beach Field Naturalists held an outing to search for waterfowl. Rice Lake was still partly ice-covered, with open leads. Off Harwood the group found a good variety of ducks – Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneyes and Northern Pintails, in addition to the ubiquitous Canada Geese.

GardenHill Pond held a surprise – a single Greater White-fronted Goose amongst the hordes of Canada Geese. There were also a few Cackling Geese. These are a small species of Canada Geese that have recently been designated as a separate species. There were also Northern Pintail, several Green-winged Teal and American Wigeon here.

An American Wigeon drake, one of many ducks seen on Garden Hill Pond on a WBFN Outing.
photo © Rob Lonsberry Photography

Many of us had our first Song Sparrows of the season on this outing. A Killdeer also appeared that day, calling its name as it flew over. A Belted Kingfisher was fishing in Close Point marsh.

On March 17, an American Woodcock, another early migrant, was calling at the A.K.Sculthorpe Woodland Marsh. Woodcock probe with their long beaks into the soil to feed on earthworms and insects. Immediately after this date, there were two very cold nights. If the ground froze again, this bird may regret that he migrated quite so early.

Although the weather forecast predicts a return of wintry weather by the end of the week (when this will be published) the birds tell us that spring is here.