Time for Tundras

Today, I spent part of the afternoon at Aylmer Wildlife Management Area, which is one of the best spots for viewing Tundra Swans in North America. I've been going here since I was in first grade, and I still look forward to going every year.

I estimated there were over 900 swans, which is a fairly large number, however is quite small compared to what I've seen in previous years.

As soon as I stepped into the blind, the first birds I noticed other than Tundra Swans were a pair of Cackling Geese. While not rare, they are still quite uncommon here is southern Ontario.

Compared to the nearby Canada Geese, the Cacklers were quite small and had stubby bills.

I also managed to find the immature Snow Goose that has been hanging around.

I was quite excited to find this one, as I missed it last year.

Ducks included Green-winged Teals, Mallards, Black Ducks, Common Merganser, American Wigeon, and the elegant Northern Pintail.

American Wigeon

Green-winged Teal and Mallards

Northern Pintail

There were a few blackbirds feeding on the corn.

It was fairly quiet woodland bird wise, but I still managed to find robins, starlings, Horned Larks, and a Downy Woodpecker.

I also found a few Killdeer today as well. There was also a Merlin on the way in.

It was a successful outing, and I managed to get my "Weekend Big Year" list up to 70. You can keep track of my total underneath the "About Me" section at the side of the blog.

Things should really start picking up soon!