Waiting for migration and a few new birds

It wasn’t long after retuirning from Ecuador that I was back on a plane and headed to Florida for my annual trip to Blue Jays Spring Training.  My main goal this year in Florida was to get me a Blue-crowned Parakeet or two.  I looked on several occasions during March of 2018 with no luck, but this year I was bound and determined to see them.  Yes, they are not yet on the ABA List, but they are wild enough to count as a Lifer in Florida.  I found a location on e-Bird that was recent within a few days so headed over one evening late in February and actually heard them squawking even as I was retrieving my binoculars and camera from the car.  It took me less than five minutes walking around the neighborhood near Lake Louise in St Petersburg before I found a cute pair of “lovebirds” high in a tree, with the sun at the perfect angle for some nice photos.  World Lifer 1127 and number 267 for my Florida List.

Another Florida Lifer, later in March was a Bachman’s Sparrow at the St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park,(quite the mouthful!).  It was a return trip to find a Bachman’s.  Sue and I had to wade through ankle deep, cold water to find the Red-cockated Woodpecker a few years ago when we were here.  This time out I heard and saw the woodpecker in flight, and later found three Bachman’s Sparrows, who were also singing and posing for a photograph in the mid-morning sum. Number 268 for Florida.

At home in Toronto I finally had a Tundra Swan sighting in Colonel Sam Smith Park.  In 2018 I added over 20 species to my favorite Toronto birding patch, so it was nice to add yet another new one.  A a few flocks flew low over the park and then a nice size flock landed in the lake.  Not as close as I would have liked, but a cool sight, none the less.  Below, you can see they have their landing gear out.

We also went looking for Tundra swans outside the city, as Sue hadn’t seen the ones at Col Sam, and in the process found a lovely Snow Goose:

We also enjoyed close up looks at the Snowy Owl back at Col. Sam:

It’s April 7 as I type this and still weeks away from the big migration push, but still new birds do show up every day and between now and the end of May I shall be all over the map.  Right now I am in Michigan, and will drop by Point Pelee on the way home; will be going to Texas in less than two weeks to finally try for the Colima Warbler; I’ll be down in Florida again at the end of April, and we will be going to Cape May for the Red Knot festival early in May.  Along with the warmer weather, spring brings hope of migrating birds and maybe a fall out or two.