Blue-winged Teal (male)
June is my favourite month of the year. This is the month when most insects begin to emerge, their bright wings bringing life and colour to forests, meadows, ponds and backyard gardens. Birds are in full song, and the air is fragrant with all the flowers in bloom. While butterflies and dragonflies become my main focus this time of year, this month I had a second agenda: to continue to look for evidence of breeding for the third Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. Since I am still working from home as a result of the pandemic, I devoted my morning weekday walks to looking for birds and my longer weekend excursions to looking for all types of wildlife, particularly dragonflies. I thought birding would become boring once migration ended and the resident birds settled down into the more predictable routine of nesting season, but to my surprise I was wrong.
The month began with some good finds at Sarsaparilla Trail on June 1st: a Common Gallinule sitting out in the open on the far shore (the first one I’d seen here in three years), a Virginia Rail calling, a Wood Thrush lurking in the woods near the picnic shelter, and a singing American Redstart. The mallards on the pond had already successfully bred here as evidenced by the single mallard duckling swimming with its mother.
The next morning I visited a different part of Stony Swamp, Old Quarry Trail. I was delighted to hear not one, but two Marsh Wrens singing in the large central marsh – this is the first time I have ever heard them here. I also found three Black-and-white Warblers, at least nine Common Yellowthroats, two American Redstarts, a Yellow Warbler, and a Chestnut-sided Warbler which were all likely residents rather than migrants. My best finds, however, were a singing Mourning Warbler in the tree line bordering the south field and two Black-billed Cuckoos calling in different areas! One was heard in the woods on the north part of the trail system while the second was heard in the field on the south side. As usual, I was not able to track either cuckoo down close enough to see it. I also had a cuckoo at Steeple Hill Park on June 4th, which is the second time I’ve heard one there; it would have been great if it had stayed to nest there, but with no further observations it appears to have been a migrant.
The Beaver Trail is one of my favourite spots for birding, and it took me until June 7th to visit. I found more singing warblers – including Ovenbird, Pine Warbler and two Black-throated Green Warblers – a singing Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a singing Veery, and an Eastern Kingbird on its nest! I didn’t think the outing could get any better than that until I was walking toward the Wild Bird Care Center and startled a large hawk from the ground right beside the trail…it was so well camouflaged that I hadn’t even noticed it. I saw where it landed and did a double take when I realized it was not a Cooper’s Hawk at all but a juvenile Northern Goshawk!
Northern Goshawk
Unlike the similar-looking Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, as soon as I saw this bird I was certain it was a goshawk. Not only was it huge with much heavier spots on its belly, it had a distinct white eyebrow with a pale face and a small chestnut-coloured patch on the cheek that Cooper’s Hawks lack. This is the second juvenile I’ve seen at the Beaver Trail, and the third one I’ve seen in Stony Swamp over the years. I suspect that they are breeding somewhere nearby, though I’ve never been tempted to wander off-trail to find out! Unlike the smaller hawks, which normally fly off as soon as they see me looking at them, this one didn’t seem at all interested in me at all once it had settled onto a distant branch. I spent several minutes edging toward it obliquely while keeping a couple of trees between the two of us. As a result, I was able to get close enough for a decent photo!
The next day I abandoned the birds of the forest to look for birds of the open pasture. In 2018 I’d discovered a singing Willow Flycatcher at the north end of Kristina Kiss Park, which follows a channel of the Monaghan Drain between Eagleson and Terry Fox and terminates at a pasture visible from Terry Fox. There are a few willow trees in the area, and the Willow Flycatcher must have found the area to its liking as I’d heard one in both 2018 and 2020, then later found three in August 2020! I’d already heard one singing here in May and was hoping to find higher evidence of breeding. To my surprise I heard not one, but three different Willow Flycatchers singing from the trees near the hydro cut! I stood in one spot and could hear their sneezy “fitz-bew!” calls coming from three different areas! This made me wonder if last year’s young had returned to the same spot with their parents.
Willow Flycatcher
Other birds heard in the area include Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Kingbird and, in the cattail-choked channel itself, a Virginia Rail. I was also happy to see a Spotted Sandpiper and Black-crowned Night Heron in the same channel. On a return trip on June 18th I actually saw the Virginia Rail out in the open briefly and managed to get a photo. That day I also heard a total of four Willow Flycatchers singing in the willow trees around the hydro cut, although I was not able to gather any further evidence of breeding, such as mating or gathering nesting materials.
Virginia Rail
I returned to Stony Swamp on June 10th with another visit to Old Quarry Trail. The cuckoos and Mourning Warbler were gone, but I did hear three wren species singing there: two House Wrens in the open areas, a Winter Wren in the woods, and three Marsh Wrens in the marsh! I wasn’t able to find any further evidence of breeding for any other species here.
On June 16th I visited Monaghan Forest for the first time in eleven days – I wanted to check on the Northern Waterthrush I’d heard singing there on June 5th and see if I could find further evidence of breeding. Unfortunately most of the large wet forest pools had diminished substantially since my last visit, and I did not hear or see the waterthrush. However, I did find the two male Indigo Buntings in the hydro cut again, and one had found a female! They both became agitated when I stopped to take some photos, which is a higher breeding code than the territorial displays I’d seen previously.
Indigo Bunting
The male was beautiful, showing hues of aqua as well as the deep indigo colour it is named for.
Indigo Bunting “chipping” at me in agitation
Other highlights include two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers bringing food to a nest cavity, a singing Winter Wren, five Great Crested Flycatchers singing, three American Redstarts, and one Black-throated Green Warbler singing. I was also happy to see and photograph an Eastern Wood-pewee singing in the hydro corridor – these flycatchers are usually found within the shadows of the tree canopy and are far more often heard than seen.
Eastern Wood-pewee
On June 17th I spent some time at Bruce Pit. This is another fantastic spot I discovered during the pandemic – while I had visited it in the summer months for odes and butterflies many times, I had no idea the birding could be great as well. I found evidence of breeding for a number of common species: Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers were both swimming in the pond with their young, a Cedar Waxwing feeding on berries passed one to its mate, a chickadee foraged for bugs and stuffed them into the bills of its newly fledged young, a male Baltimore Oriole was still bringing food to its nest. Many birds were still in full song, including a Yellow-rumped Warbler; it appears there are two here, one whose song ascended the notes of the chromatic scale (similar to a Prairie Warbler, which is what I thought it was until I saw it) and one with a normal, sweet-sounding two-part trill. I only heard the normal one on this visit, though both were singing along the same trail on the 28th of June. While I’ve heard Yellow-rumped Warblers in the breeding season before, it is usually not within the city but rather the outskirts in places like Marlborough Forest and Morris Island.
Even more interesting than the Yellow-rumped Warblers were the Blue-winged Teal. The male and female were both present, and I saw them mating briefly in the water! They then swam to the beaver lodge where I was able to photograph them separately. I had hoped to find them later in the season with young of their own, but this was the last time I saw them; indeed, none were reported at all in the month of July, though a pair was seen again at the beginning of August.
Blue-winged Teal (male)
Jack Pine Trail also turned out to be a good spot for breeding birds this month. I first headed there on the 18th; it was another gray day and I was hoping to get some birding in before the rain. I also wanted to check the stream at the back of the trail for Arrowhead Spiketails, but had to curtail my outing once the black clouds moved in and I heard thunder in the distance. Still, I found my first confirmed meadowhawk species of the year, a Band-winged Meadowhawk (it seems so early!), and heard a singing Eastern Towhee. The best part was watching a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches foraging and realizing that one was a fledgling waiting to be fed; when I offered them some food, the adult immediately took a peanut from my hand and fed it to the fledgling!
Band-winged Meadowhawk
I returned the following day to sunshine and blue skies. Even early in the morning the bugs were flying by the time I arrived at the alvar at the back of the third loop – I saw Sedge Sprites and a Northern Cloudywing. This Robber Fly caught my attention; it was a new one for me, and goes by the name of Efferia aestuans. It has no common name, despite the fact that it is the most likely Robber Fly species to land on humans. The female can be identified by its long ovipositor.
Efferia aestuans (female) – what looks like a stinger is actually an ovipositor, or egg-laying structure.
The birds were also active. The male Eastern Towhee was singing out in the open when I arrived, but soon vanished when I tried to take a picture. I heard a couple of White-throated Sparrows singing, but only one Field Sparrow. I heard two Chestnut-sided Warblers singing fairly close together, and managed to photograph one.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
I heard a wren give a scolding call and started pishing to see if it would come out into the open. It did not like that at all, and grew more and more agitated as I got closer, flitting from branch to branch. A second wren vanished quickly into the shrubs; I think I must have gotten too close to the nest. I quickly took a picture and backed away, as I didn’t want to disturb them if the nest was that close.
House Wren
The wren wasn’t the only bird to respond to my pishing – a Chestnut-sided Warbler and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird did too! I was surprised to see the hummingbird, as I’d never had one at Jack Pine Trail before. It was a male, but wouldn’t face the sun and show off the brilliant crimson throat.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
I left the alvar and then spent some time wandering around the area behind the creek. I didn’t see any spiketails, and even dragonflies were hard to find – I found a Dot-tailed Whiteface perching in the vegetation and saw a Common Baskettail flying overhead and that was it. Butterflies were easier to find, with White Admiral, Common Ringlet, Northern Crescent, Hobomok Skipper and Long Dash Skipper flying in the open field areas and Northern Pearly-eye and Little Wood Satyr flying in the sun-dappled woods. My most interesting find was Goldenrod Crab Spider covered in dew:
Goldenrod Crab Spider
I noted two other interesting birds before I left: a Wood Thrush calling in the dense trees near the stream and a Broad-winged Hawk closer to the bird feeder. I heard the metallic “pip, pip, pip” of the Wood Thrush but couldn’t locate it visually; this is one species for which I was trying to find a higher level of breeding evidence. The Broad-winged Hawk was actually perching in the woods, and I found it through the agitated alarm calls of several chickadees and a Northern Flicker. I ventured off-trail and located it in a small open area before it flew away. It was entirely silent, although I’ve heard them calling while soaring overhead in summers past. I’m sure they bred here in 2019, as on July 21, 2019 I heard two birds calling incessantly in the woods, assuming they were youngsters as the calls were a shortened “chick-EEEE”, instead of the longer, whistled “chick-EEEEEEEEE”; a short time later I heard the full call of a third bird soaring in the sky. This is another species for which I’d like to obtain a higher level of breeding evidence; after today’s encounter I could only list it as being in the appropriate habitat.
I had better luck with Eastern Towhee, of all species – on my return trip on June 29th (the day I encountered the fisher!) I visited the alvar and noticed a streaky juvenile bird in a grove of trees near the junction of two paths. Although I’ve often seen White-throated Sparrows here, this was bigger, and had white patches on the wings and on the outer tail feathers.
Juvenile Eastern Towhee
As streaky juveniles are not something I encounter often, I had to ask my fellow atlassers for their opinions and was delighted when our Regional Coordinator Aaron confirmed that not only was it a fledgling Eastern Towhee, it is the first confirmed breeding evidence of this species in our atlas square! The male Eastern Towhee was vocalizing in a tree not particularly close by, and although I never did see the female at Jack Pine this year, doubtless she was close by searching for food. This was one of the best surprises of the month; coming across a fledgling of an uncommon bird such as this really makes collecting atlas data rewarding.
Other evidence of breeding seen on the same date included a female Common Yellowthroat gathering nesting material, and a recently fledged Blue Jay fluttering its wings and making begging noises while its parent was foraging for food. I heard many singing birds such as Scarlet Tanager, Pine Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Ovenbird, Purple Finch, House Wren, Alder Flycatcher, and Eastern Wood-pewee but was not able to find higher evidence of breeding.
On the last day of the month I returned to Monaghan Forest. Here I found the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker still bringing food to the same nest cavity, and witnessed a Killdeer doing its famous “broken wing” distraction display. Killdeer often pretend to be injured in order to lure predators away from their nests; this one scooted away from me quickly, acting not so much as if its wing were broken than as if it were somehow magnetically attached to the ground and couldn’t get airborne!
I also refound the Indigo Bunting pair in the hydro cut; both the male and female became agitated when I started pishing. It was nice to see the female out in the open, although the dark day didn’t make for the best lighting.
Indigo Bunting (female)
A male Common Yellowthroat in the same area became equally as agitated.
Common Yellowthroat
There were no hawks or swallows at all in the quarry area; I had been hoping the Bank Swallows I’d seen here last year would return, but it appears that at this point in the breeding season that they won’t be using the huge sand piles to nest here this year.
So far I’ve had a fantastic time collecting data for the atlas, and have found it rewarding to revisit the same areas in order to find higher evidence of breeding for different species each time. It’s been a month of surprises, with many exciting encounters and memorable moments. Atlassing has added a dimension to birding that makes it so much richer than just going out and identifying as many species as possible – it’s about slowing down, spending time with the birds, and watching their behaviour. It’s hard to believe that nesting season is coming to an end for many species in just a few short weeks!
The Pathless Wood 