The Dorset Connection...

A long long time ago I used to work at Portland Bird Observatory in Dorset, UK. I was the assistant warden and I lived in the lighthouse. I loved it there and got to know quite a few amazing people, some of which I'm still in contact with today. I recently received an e-mail from a guy I remembered from this bygone time saying he and his wife were to visit and would I find some time to go birding with them. Well, of course! So I met them on Toronto Island this morning. Unfortunately it really was almost birdless and we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with anything! Still, we had a good time chatting about old times whilst I caught up with some interesting Portland gossip - always lots of that to be had...

Above is a Least Flycatcher. This is generally the first empidonax flycatcher to arrive in this area and is by far the most common. Pretty easy to identify, even if not calling or singing.


There were quite a few handsome White-crowned Sparrows out and about, but still not as many as there should be at this time. This is one of my favorite sparrows - very snazzy in their pied golf caps!


We stumbled across this nice breeding-plumaged Greater Yellowlegs on the beach. Not a common bird on the Islands by any means...


This crispy fresh male Bobolink was a pleasant distraction, but wouldn't allow close approach, unfortunately. It still had lots of buffy edges to the mantle and wing feathers, all of which will soon be lost through abrasion.


Offshore there were several Caspian Terns patrolling the beach. Noisy but nice, if you see what I mean.