Maplewood: September 19th 2009

I was at Maplewood Conservation area for about two hours during the evening and just like last weekend there wasn’t much happening.

The best bird of the day was a group of four Yellow-rumped Warblers; all in first winter plumage. They were busy gleaning insects off of the branches and leaves of several trees near the shoreline approximately 25m west along the path once you’re across the bridge. I am particularly pleased with this sighting as I was able to identify them from their call (“a dry, husky chwit with slightly rising inflection” according to Sibley’s) before they came closer to the path and visual observation could be made. This has personally reaffirmed my commitment towards studying bird songs (I use the “Stokes Filed Guide to Bird Songs-Western Region” as well as Cornell’s “Bird’s of North America”) in addition to reviewing the field guide. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any pictures as the birds could not sit still long enough for me to line up my camera with my binoculars.

Nearby where I sighted the warblers this deer, a common occurrence at Maplewood, was busy grazing close to the waterline:

It was high tide when I checked out the mudflats and once again there was a group of American Widgeon, Northern Pintail, and some Mallard out on the water. Most appeared to be resting and a few were preening.