Bassindale Birding : Snow... in May... C'mon 2020! (Week 19 May 4th to May 10th)

First things first, COVID-19 updates:

Haldimand and Norfolk County Parks opening last weekend. This did not mean the opening of banding again but it does look good for the people without property like my family. This we still need to social distance of course but this is definitely still awesome news for the whole county!
Hamilton parks and conservation areas reopened late on Friday. This is good for a few of my friends and fellow banders at Ruthven to bolster their year lists again! I will not be heading that direction anytime soon it seems but it is still good to see the birding lists flowing back through my reports.
ALL Provincial Parks are opening up for hikers by the end of the week this next week (May 11th to May 15th), this is good for us all! Selkirk will be opening (giving me access to the Lake again) and Long Point as well.

Thanks to Social Distancing all of us are now allowed to go back out since the curve has started to flatten and here in Haldimand it has been a while since we've had a new case. Phase 1 of Doug Ford's plan is in full swing as of the 11th and we are going to have lots of birds coming back after this disaster of a weekend, which, lets dive into the horrifying last week..

The weekday was averaging 40 species a day and the highest was only 45 species. Horrible numbers for this time of year and only 3 warblers, ugh. But, on a positive note, a lifer is definitely worth a mention! Worm-eating Warbler, an infrequent southern Migrant and the first eBird record of the bird in the county. I did not have my camera even though I tried to get a shot through my binoculars I was unfortunately not able to! That was legitimately the only bird I can say was a good find for the week with all of the bad weather and lack of sun at night.

On to the weekend.

Saturday was eBird's Global Big Day and it was also bad! The morning was -1°C and it snowed at about 11am. The day did start very early (I was awake at 5am). This is the first time I have ever went out in May with thermals on (and hopefully my last). The day started with the typical White-crowned Sparrows singing down the lane way towards the property and just a single Chipping Sparrow calling from not too far away. Farther into the wetland I figured it would be a slow day. There were almost no calling birds but luckily I was able to catch a look at a flyover Wilson Snipe (Lifer for me!). I moved on and still no birds, even the wetland did not give anything except for a First of the Year (FOY) Marsh Wren. I ended the day with a pair of Baltimore Oriole feeding off the hummingbird feeder. The final species count ended at 45 and 216 individual birds which is down drastically from last year's 96 species and 760 individuals.

Sunday, much much better! 19 more species than the day before (64), and including highlights like Palm Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Wood Thrush! The Yellow Warbler were definitely buzzing with the 22 individuals seen and the 33 Song Sparrow definitely pulled their weight. The Lake was fairly good on a little look seen a pair of Caspian Tern and had 5 Common Tern right above my head! This definitely felt more like the typical birding for this time of year!

Still awaiting more birds this week, hopefully we will see the Chestnut-sided Warbler and Red-eyed Vireo return soon and who knows maybe I'll be graced with a Canada Warbler! This week is supposed to be above 10°C all week (a little rain here and there except for Thursday which looks like we will be getting 10-15mm, oof) but hopefully 50+ species all this week, fingers crossed!!!

Good birding everyone, and stay safe!

Week's Totals:

Species: 83

Individuals: 1,787