Lovely Le Conte's...

If I'm woken up by Rain and thunder in the middle of the night in mid May then you can be sure I'll be on the Toronto Islands later that morning! And so it was that I got the ferry to Hanlan's at eight. Clearly there had been the expected arrival, not huge but big enough to litter the place with grounded migrants. Most were Swainson's Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-crowned Sparrows. However, there were also good numbers of Lincoln's Sparrows, Gray Catbirds and other warblers, notably Northern Parula and Cape May.

I am always filled with anticipation once I get to the southern edge of the airfield fence for it is here that I've found some great birds in the past. I was not to be disappointed on this occasion because I immediately flushed a brilliant Le Conte's Sparrow fron the fence-side grass. Instead of disappearing though it tried to hide within the fence affording amazing views. Of course it was a failure at the hiding game - way too peachy for that sort of thing!


Here is a singing Le Conte's Sparrow. Not the one from today cuz I didn't have a camera with me! No, this one was in Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota a couple of summers back.


Another view of the same bird - little exhibitionists they are at times...

On my trudge I also saw a nice Black-billed Cuckoo and a rather smart White-eyed Vireo. I only made it to Center Island due to the sun getting to me a bit and me not having any sunblock. Us moth men shun the sun you know...