Big Day - May 20-21, 2012 Posted on May 22, 2012 at 02:06:50 PM by Geoff Carpentier
Pete Hogenbirk and I did our Big Day starting 6 p.m. on Sunday and finishing 6 p.m. yesterday. Our route covered Presqu’ile, Brighton Wetlands, Villiers, Carden, Prospect Marsh, Cannington and Nonquon lagoons, Thickson's Woods, Cranberry Marsh and Second Marsh. Pls email me privately for directions if you want them.
We tallied 159 species in the end, the last being a Pine Warbler at my house. Our pace was frantic until about 9 a.m. when we had tallied about 140 species but things dropped off rapidly as shorebirds failed to materialize and no overnight flight of migrants was evident.
Highlights included:
20 species of waterfowl
5 species of herons – including Great Egret at Presqu’ile and Least Bittern at Prospect Marsh
3 species of rail – including Yellow at Carden which was calling unsolicited at 2:45 a.m.
Sandhill Cranes in two locales at Carden
Both cuckoos - Yellow-billed at Cannington and lots of Black-billed at Carden
3 species of owl – Long-eared (2), Barred (2) and Screech (1)
6 species of woodpeckers and 7 flycatchers
Loggerhead Shrike – box 10 on Wylie Rd.
Yellow-throated Vireo – Carden
21 species of warblers – male Brewster’s on Wylie Rd + 6 Golden-winged and Orange-crowned, Canada and Cape May on Alvar Rd and Canada near Prospect Marsh
9 sparrows including many Grasshoppers and Clay-colored on Wylie Rd.