New Life Bird: Orchard Oriole

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Last Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so at lunch I decided to see if I could get my first Spring warbler. I headed down to Paletta Park to see if there was any activity there. As I completely expected, my first warbler was a Yellow-rumped Warbler. This happens to be the warbler I see the most (it seems to come early and stay late) and is the only warbler I had already seen this year. I saw one in Florida in February, and they look much the same in breeding and winter plumage.

As I was looking for a second species of warbler so I could actually add to my year list, I saw a flash of yellow streak across the path in front of me. I felt certain this was a Yellow Warbler, but as I didn't get a good enough look I couldn't count it. Further up the path I stood in an area surrounded by trees and bushes and saw quite a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a few Nashville WarblersBlue-headed Vireos, the latter of which I added to my year list.

Blue-headed Vireo

Striking out a little further along the path I cam across an Oriole that I thought was a female Baltimore Oriole. I took some photos and came across some other photographers. I told them about the Oriole and they said they thought it was a first Spring male. I came across the bird again and got a couple more photos then came across another bird watcher who thought it was an Orchard Oriole. It turns out this was the correct identifiation, as in my photos I can clearly see a distinct black bib on the throat, which the Baltimore doesn't possess.

Further along the path I saw some more Kinglets and a Yellow Warbler among the dogwoods off to the side. Beneath the Yellow Warbler in a dense bush was a male Common Yellowthroat, one of my favourite warblers from last season. A White-throated Sparrow flew into a tree directly in front of me, and there were several more Yellow-rumped Warblers overhead. I also saw a warbler I couldn't identify until I got home that turned out to be a Palm Warbler.

White-throated Sparrow

Yesterday was a pretty miserable day with a constant drizzle until early afternoon, so I didn't get out to see any birds. Today was bright and clear, although cool, so I tried Shell Park in Burlington to see what was about. Each of the last four or so times I have visited Shell Park I have seen Eastern Pheobes near a bridge over a stream, and today was no exception. There seem to be a pair constructing a nest right under the bridge.

I saw some more Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Nashville Warblers while walking through the park, and when I got back to the stream there were a pair of Blue-grey Gnatcatchers flitting the the trees above me. After watching them for a while a Palm Warbler flew in and the Phoebes were darting in and out. As I walked out I saw four or so Northern Rough-winged Swallows flying about, then saw two perched on a wire overhead.

Orchard Oriole

After Shell Park I decided to see if there were any Sand Martins starting to nest at Burloak Park. I did see a couple of swallows off in the distance, but nothing was near the bank. The two resident Red-necked Grebes were present, and a Belted Kingfisher flew silently along the shore. I spotted a Spotted Sandpiper on a pile of rocks a little ways off shore, but wasn't able to relocate it when I moved closer.

All-in-all, a very good start to the Spring migration. Hopefully some more warblers turn up in the coming days and weeks and I can expand my life list a little bit more. I am now at 156 birds on my life list, and 90 on the year.

Edit: Thanks to Ron for pointing out what I thought was a Nashville Warbler was actually a Blue-headed Vireo