Birding on My Local Patch

Nature Notes for July 22, 2011

I hadn’t been to the A.K. Sculthorpe Marsh Trail in almost a month. Since I consider it part of my “local patch”, it was high time that I made a visit. This spur of the Waterfront Trail at the east end of Port Hope runs between Lake Ontario and a small cattail marsh.

The east end of the trail is the mouth of Gage’s Creek. There are large trees along parts of the trail while other parts have primarily red osier dogwood shrub.

Of course, I seldom walk without carrying binoculars, so this was also a birding outing. I have often written that you never know what birds might be around the next corner. Last Saturday evening (July 16) produced a bonanza.

Before we got out of the parking lot onto the trail, a Belted Kingfisher made his presence known by his loud, rattling call. These birds dig nest holes into dirt banks. He might have been nesting either along the Lake Ontario shorecliff or in the much lower banks along Gage’s Creek.

A Swamp Sparrow, which has been singing at the west end of the marsh all season, was still in full song. There has also been one at the east end of the marsh, but on this evening, his area was quiet.

The marsh itself now has very low water levels, quite a contrast to earlier in the spring when the water was as high as I have ever seen it. On closer inspection, a bump in the pond proved to be a fairly large snapping turtle. Quite small frogs could be seen as little shining bumps in the muck. Probably because of the frogs, a Black-crowned Night Heron and a much smaller Green Heron were found hunting along the edge of the cattails.

The low water levels had forced the normally secretive rails into the open. For the first time in several years, both a Sora and a juvenile Virginia Rail could be seen among the cattails here.

The only shorebird in evidence was a single SpottedSandpiper. This muddy marsh is now quite good shorebird habitat. Since there is not much of this type of habitat locally, we will be keeping a close eye out for southbound migrant shorebirds here.

A few Northern Rough-winged Swallows and Barn Swallows were foraging for insects over the marsh. Suddenly, every small bird in the area was in the sky making a terrific commotion. This is the birders’ cue to look for a raptor. Sure enough, there it was: a Northern Harrier flying through.

On the lake and at the mouth of Gage’s Creek, we found a total of eleven Bonaparte’s Gulls. This small gull with pointed wings has been quite scarce on this part of Lake Ontario’s shore line for the past several years. It was good to see them back. Bonaparte’s Gulls nest in the Boreal forest and the Hudson’s Bay lowlands, so are seen as migrants in our area. These birds were the young-of-last-year, and would not have bred this year.

On closer inspection, one bird in this gull flock was a bit different: slightly smaller, finer bill, a dark “cap” on the head. It was a Little Gull. Although Little Gulls are common in Europe and Asia, they are rare in North America. Although a pair did nest in Second Marsh in Oshawa about fifty years ago, most North American Little Gulls probably nest in remote areas where they are not easy to detect.

The Little Gull was the sort of treat that all birders hope for when they take to the field. This one was quite close to shore and on the water, so it was easy to study.

It might not be there now, but perhaps some other bird will arrive to gladden the heart of an observer. All you have to do is visit often and pay attention.