Bassindale Birding : Back on Track! (Week 20 May 11th to May 17th)

This has been the most unreal (and stereotypicallly May) week yet this year!

The week averaged 62 species over the 4 good days (one night was completely rained out) and walked a total of 25.87 km. The best day was by far Friday night with 80 species including 9 new for the year and my first 2 hummers of the year! It was a lot of fun seeing all of the birds returned to the area and the calling of them was just as special as ever. The warblers and vireo were buzzing and a lot of flycatchers were flitting about in the trees. It was what some people call peak birding and this is definitely something I would love to have again and again.

Tonnes of migrants this week as well with 24 new species for the year in 1 week (180 as of Saturday) including 7 species of Warbler and this means lots of photo attempts (and some good ones too). this is the dream of any birder and I wouldn't think the week could get any better than the 80 species I seen on Friday, until my Big Day on Saturday apparently.

Saturday, my Big Day, and a big day it was!
Starting out on the property and it was a crazy morning with 84 species! The same area close to where the owls were nesting was just buzzing with the same Swainson Thrush and Ovenbird and it was amazing to see. The Ovenbird I seen was just hopping along the floor of the forest and what a treat to see a pair of Swainson Thrush along with it. From there I moved on down to find just a burst of Yellow Warbler and a pair of Yellowthroat calling from within the bushes. Around the one pond there were 3 Willow Flycatcher and a Eastern Kingbird in the mix as well. These were all fantastic finds but what hit hard was when I got to the willow trees. I counted about 6 species of Warbler within them and seen my first Chestnut-sided of the year! A few Blackburnian were in the mix as well, it was phenomenal to see the amount of Warbler in such a small area.
From there I moved onto the Sewage Lagoons in Townsend and found a quite a few shorebirds, including my very first Whimbrel and a pair of Short-billed Dowitcher. Along with a lot of Least Sandpiper and about 11 Semipalmated Plover. Such a treat to finally see my first Whimbrel!
From there I moved on to Rock Point PP. That was a lot of fun, warblers were buzzing and I found my first Black-and-white Warbler for the day, which is my favourite bird. Lots of Yellow-rumps and the Yellows were definitely the highest counts of the day!

Weekly Totals:
Species: 121
Individuals: 3,264