Spring Migration 2023: Part One!
The spring migration is on in Toronto! The past month has been exciting as the early migrants started showing up, and then in the past few days the trees have exploded with the arrival of the Warblers. As I write this we’re right in the middle of peak migration, so I’m calling this post “part one” because I expect to see a lot more in the next week. Here are my highlights from late April and early May:
First up is a Yellow Warbler. Although there are a few other Warblers to be seen before the Yellow arrives, it’s such a distinctive bird that it really does announce the start of the migration season for me. Obviously its bold yellow color stands out amongst the brush , but it also has an incredibly loud and distinctive song that calls attention to itself.
I was out before sunrise on a rainy April morning, and it occurred to me that if I saw a bird I would have no idea how to capture it in such low light. So I spent a few minutes practicing with really high ISO settings on my camera to see what was possible, when suddenly I saw this Palm Warbler very close to where I was standing. I was so fortunate that my camera was set properly, and snapped this really colorful photo before it flew off. Its now one of my favorite photos.
The technical term for this is a “butt shot”, but what I really wanted to capture was the red on the top of this Ruby-crowned Kinglet. These guys move so fast through the trees that they hardly ever pose long enough to get a good picture, and then when you do, its even harder to capture that beautiful “ruby crown” on the top of their heads.
One of the best parts of this time of year is that you don’t need to go far to see a neat bird. This female Eastern Towhee showed up in my yard, hanging out underneath my feeder, while I was cooking dinner.
I debated giving this bird its own post entitled “My Favorite Bird”. The Blackburnian Warbler is an absolutely striking Warbler, with a black and white body and a blaze-orange head. It was one of the first birds I ever saw that actually to my breath away when I first saw it. This year a good friend suggested we go to a really good spot he found, which was really just a pond in the middle of a gigantic housing development. I can’t complain though, because we were fortunate enough to get lots of great looks at several Blackburnian Warblers.
To close, you can’t talk about the Warbler migration without having a picture of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. For every Blackburnian in the trees, there’s about 10 Yellow-rumps (or “butter-butts” as I’ve heard them called). This particular bird is a very striking male, and he didn’t seem the least bit concerned that I was there. I took this photo at the end of my walk on a lovely Spring morning, and its the type of photo that makes me excited to go back out again the next day.