Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Townsend's Solitaire in NW Ont - May 24, 2002

May 23rd 2002
Ear Falls, NW Ontario

Dear OntBirds:

Today in the town of Ear Falls (along with the accumulation of snow!), the 
following were observed on a bird-walk around town (Morowski Lane, and 
Shelski Lane) by Glenn Desy, Sarah Wyshynski, and Lindsay Armer:

5 Yellow-headed Blackbirds (a little far east?)
1 Townsend's Solitaire (Sibley's does show lots of occasional sightings for 
this guy)
Harris’ Sparrows (migrants)
Clay-Colored Sparrow (only 1)
Northern Waterthrush
Savannah Sparrows
Lots of Chipping Sparrows in flocks

The Solitaire was observed by Karla Falk and Lindsay Armer at the corner of 
Birch and Aspen Streets (before the boat launch) for several hours on May 
23rd, and again at 5:30am on the 24th - it was flycatching.  The Sparrows 
and Yellow-head’s were observed at a feeder on the corner of Shelski Lane.  
The Waterthrush was eating worms from the parking lot on Morowski Lane.  We 
suspect the snowstorm to have kept the migrants here for awhile, and ‘blew 
in’ the yellow-headed blackbirds and T.Solitaire.
Ear Falls is located in NW ONT: (1) drive north along highway 17 just past 
Dryden to Vermillion Bay, (2) north along highway 105 (towards Red Lake).

-Lindsay Armer
smoky_the_bear@hotmail.com

PS: There’s some other great birding up here now (migrants), and June will 
be buzzing too (Palm, Blackburnian, Black and White, Nashville, Tennessee, 
Conneticut, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, etc. warblers; crossbills, siskins, 
grosbeaks, 3-toed and black-backed woodpeckers to name a few!).