The Usual Suspects

Last weekend, DW and I found ourselves at the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary, along the St. Lawrence Seaway, between Upper Canada Village and the village of Ingleside. It's the autumn migration and we wanted to see if there were any birds that we hadn't seen before, as they made their way to warmer climes.

Yes, we've really become avid bird nerds.

Actually, we were in that area because we had plans to paddle around Long Sault, just east of Ingleside. Getting in our kayaks was the impetus for the trip to this area, and being close to a bird sanctuary gave us a good opportunity to add to our Life Lists.

Okay, we really are bird nerds.

When we got into the spring migration season, we would make our way to Mud Lake or to Bruce Pit a couple of times a week for almost a month. Then, it was much easier to spot the birds because the leaves hadn't sprung yet.

During the spring migration, DW and I saw and photographed so many birds that we hadn't seen or heard before. There were so many varieties of warblers, plus vireos, redstarts, and so many more. It got to the point that I actually got bored with seeing yellow-rumped warblers that as soon as I focused on one, I'd often not bother even taking the picture.

So being now along the St. Lawrence Seaway, we expected to see all sorts of birds on their way south: preferably, birds we hadn't seen before.

I was a bit excited when my Merlin app picked up a Lincoln sparrow. I hadn't heard one before and I was anxious to capture one. Sadly, as much as I looked, I never saw one. The first sparrow that I saw and photographed was a song sparrow.

As we walked the trails around the sanctuary, we reached a boardwalk where we saw lots of birds on the railings that protected hikers from the swampy marshes to either side. As we slowed to take a closer look, we were first met with chickadees who seemed to be looking for handouts.

People had left seeds on the railings, as they often do at Mud Lake, and these chickadees seemed to think we had fresher seeds for them. DW was, in fact, carrying sunflower seeds, so these birds were in luck.

But I then saw some sparrows who didn't look like song sparrows, and my hopes were raised that they were Lincoln sparrows, and that I'd be able to have photographic evidence of our sighting. I snapped a bunch of photos, thinking that I'd identify them when we were back home.

But Merlin was telling me these particular birds weren't the Lincoln sparrow, but were sparrows I had heard many times before but had never photographed before: swamp sparrows.

So much for new birds on this outing.

In the approximate two hours that we spent on these trails, we spotted crows, Canada geese, mallard ducks, cardinals, gray catbirds, blue jays, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and more. Apart from hearing and seeing the Lincoln sparrow, there was nothing new.

DW managed to photograph a female common yellowthroat—a bird I photographed in the spring—and I heard the elusive northern flicker—a bird I've heard many times but have never captured with my camera—but there were no birds that captured our hopes of discovering.

We even saw yellow-rumped warblers, birds who had got us excited about the migration season earlier this year.

I can't complain. It was a good walk and warmed us up for our paddle. At Long Sault, we had a good excursion and saw even more birds (but still, nothing new).

The Long Sault video comes out on my YouTube channel on October 30.

Happy Friday!