Just a Little Fall Birding

In the absence of chase-able fall rarities, after another failed attempt at a Nelson's Sparrow in a marsh behind a housing development near Peterborough, this week, I birded at all the regular spots, including another trip to Coote's Paradise, where it was hot and dry and the path was a little more well defined.  No Nelson's Sparrow, but nice looks at a Northern Harrier hunting close to the ground.  That, and about a million Yellow-rumped Warblers, scattered around all the various birding spots I visited.  But there were also some other nice birds, including a Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Redhead and Ruddy Ducks.  I also had a Cooper's Hawk pose for me just outside my front door on a light post.  Probably the same hawk that killed and ate a small bird in my backyard yesterday.

But the best bird of the week was seen this morning on at the end of a bird walk in Colonel Sam Smith Park.  We had seen a good number of species already, including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe and Eastern Wood Peewee, and were heading to the parking lot when Bruce, a regular birder in the park, who peddles around on his  bicycle with his birding scope strapped to the handlebars, stopped us to ask if we had seen the Bittern.

In fact, we had not.  Earlier, we might had been looking right at it, while watching a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron at the pond, without even seeing it.  Though to be fair they do hide well in the reeds.  In fact, while others were looking at the Heron and Shovelers, I had been scanning the reeds for signs of rails or other such wading birds.

After a slight detour at the wrong marsh, Sue and I headed back to the pond and Bruce directed our gaze toward the far side, where we did, indeed see an American Bittern.  The rest of the group eventually found us and we all got good looks through another birders scope, and a few good photos.  For a few it was a Lifer, and for me it was number 252 on my growing Ontario Life List.

Depending on the weather tomorrow, we may get some birding in, though it looks like rain at this point, and next week I plan trips to Algonquin Park and Amherst Island, amongst other fall birding hotspots.  Oh, and of course, Florida in a couple of weeks, too.

Here, now, are some of the birds I did enjoy this week:

I also saw a few non-birds: