Bay-breasted Warbler male
The heat
also brought out the biting insects. Black Flies were the most notable,
followed by mosquitoes and deer flies. These brought back Adirondack memories from
the 1960s…
Chestnut-sided Warbler male
I spent
the best hours of each day (5 AM to 10 AM) out birding, mainly by bicycle. Ontario
Road 672 passes north-south by the east side of the Park, and was my main
survey route. This paved two-lane road got very little traffic because it did
not connect any towns at all. And it was quite flat. Perfect for moving about
on bicycle.
Nashville Warbler male (note partial chestnut cap).
Bicycle
birding is done mainly by ear. And on this particular field trip it was done
with the help of the Merlin sound app, which allowed me to use my cell phone to
detect the presence singing birds in real time. I would bike along route 672
and stop at spots with good boreal forest habitat or with lots of birds in
song. I would then bring out my iPhone, let it record for a minute or so, and
then match up what Merlin found against what I was hearing.
Northern Waterthrush male in song.
Although
Merlin does make mistakes, it also is very good at “hearing” singing birds that
I had difficulty hearing myself. “Cedar Waxwing” would pop up on the Merlin
app, and then I would look up and there were a small group of waxwings flying
over. Magic!
Ring-necked Duck pair at Esker Provincial Park.
The two
breeding birds Merlin really helped with were Golden-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper.
Because their songs are high pitched and also quite soft, my hearing aids
cannot usually pick them up. But they do not escape Merlin’s sharp ear.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet male with crest erected.
Merlin
also is good at distinguishing similar songs—like those given by two wood
warblers—Bay-breasted and Cape May. These are also easily overlooked because
they are weak and high-pitched. But Merlin did not miss them. They happily
confirmed that I could hear and identify each to species by song alone (in
earlier days I had had trouble separating these two).
Ruffed Grouse male on his drumming log.
I would do
bird surveys from ca. 6-10 AM and then return to camp for breakfast, after
which I would transcribe my Merlin data and personal results into my field notebook.
Ruffed Grouse foraging at roadside in the Park.
The wood
warblers in late May in northern Ontario are vocal. Here is a warbler sample from
a single early-morning survey based on
my bicycle-powered strip survey: 22 Magnolia Warbler, 13 Nashville Warbler, 11
Ovenbird, 9 Tennessee Warbler, 8 Northern Parula, 8 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 7
Blackburnian Warbler, 7 Bay-breasted Warbler, 6 American Redstart, 5 Cape May
Warbler, 4 Black-and-white Warbler, 4 Common Yellowthroat, 3 Yellow Warbler, 4
Chestnut-sided Warbler, 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler, and 1 Palm Warbler. That
is 114 individual wood warblers of 16 species, from 31 one-minute survey counts
along a single strip of route 672 about five miles in length.
Pink Slipper Orchid
One
morning, in a boggy part of Alfie Creek, I encountered a pair of American
Three-toed Woodpeckers, one of North America’s rarest boreal forest birds. Ontario
Province had only six breeding season reports for this species this year. American Three-toed Woodpecker male on a small cherry.
I found
both a male and a female, which I presumed were a mated pair. I hunted for this
species’ close relative—the Black-backed Woodpecker—but did not find this (more
common) boreal species on this trip.
American Three-toed Woodpecker female (black cap).
I spent a
lot of time listening for the loud and distinctive voice of the rare
Connecticut Warbler (which is a boreal bog forest breeder). I found lots of
likely habitat, but route 672 was, sadly, free of singing Connecticut Warblers.
Cape May Warbler male
Checking
the eBird map for clusters of sightings from recent years, I found a site about
an hour northeast of Esker Lakes in Quebec. I got up pre-dawn and drove the
back roads to the site.
Brown Creeper
Back roads
are great places to see wildlife early in the AM before the traffic starts.
Blue-headed Vireo
I came
upon two Moose.
A yearling Moose.
I came
upon two Black Bears.
A yearling Black Bear on the roadside allowed close approach for photography. This photo taken with my iPhone.
And I
glimpsed a Fisher (a large mustelid—an oversized mink about 3 feet long)
running across the road.
Greater Yellowlegs sounds off on a lakeshore in Esker Provincial Park.
Getting to
the site where I had found the cluster of Connecticut Warbler records from
previous years, I was disappointed to find no suitable habitat nearby. Why the
cluster of eBird records from monoculture planted Jack Pine? Strange! I did
walk along an ATV trail nearby, which took me through some nice mixed boreal habitat.
Here I encountered lots of wood warblers, but no Connecticut.
Philadelphia Vireo eating a small spider.
Kevin
Sasseville, a knowledgeable and friendly Esker Park staffer, took me under his
wing and gave me lots of useful intel about the park, the park’s wildlife, and
the natural history of the region. He had all sorts of interesting images and
recordings on his smart phone—which added to our list of birds present here—Northern
Saw-whet Owl, Eastern Whip-poor-will, American Woodcock, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Yellow-headed Blackbird (which he videoed walking into the maintenance office on a rainy day).
Bonaparte's Gull at Esker Park.
Kevin
introduced me to Mike Leahy, the local birding expert. I arranged to go out with
Mike and his partner Ann Black on my last morning before departure. I drove
down to Swastika, a suburb of Kirkland Lake, and met Leahy and Black at their home.
A singing male Alder Flycatcher in a clearing in the Swastika Municipal Recreation Area.
From their
home we took a very pleasant four-hour bird walk through the Swastika municipal
forest recreation area, visiting Elsie Lake. This is a place where Mike and Ann had
seen a Connecticut Warbler in July 2022. This morning we counted thirteen
warbler species (55 individuals) and had a Canada Jay, which was new for my
trip list. Other highlights were Alder Flycatcher and Mourning Warbler. Ann Black and Mike Leahy at Elsie Lake, near Swastika, Ontario.
It was
great to spend time with local experts who know so much about the geology,
botany, birdlife, and history of the region. Mike is a retired minerals prospector,
and knew this part of Canada like the back of this hand. This is big-time
mining and timber country. During our walk through the woods we could hear the low
industrial sounds of a nearby large gold mine that had been operating for more
than a century.
A male Mourning Warbler skulking and singing by a wet thicket of alders.
Rural Canada
is a place where “wilderness” and industry often are found standing side by
side. Stacks of White Birch logs, as part of commercial clear-fell operation near the Park.
I drove
the first leg home on early Saturday morning, passing for several hours through
thick smoke and haze from nearby forest fires. It was very unpleasant.
A male American Thee-toed Woodpecker flies from perch.
As I wrote
this blog at home, I checked eBird to see about this spring’s reports of
Connecticut Warbler from Ontario. A few migrant records from the far south, but
not a single breeding record for the species this year at this point (6 June).
These birds are very rare, and also Ontario has relatively few birders out
hunting for warblers on breeding territory. There is still work to be done! Red smog from a forest fire nearby on the start of my drive back to the US.