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Glenn Coady led our September walk at Colonel Sam Smith Park. The timing was perfect for a wide range of fall migrants, but the high pressure system that made for a beautiful day, encouraged most of the passerines to pass us by and cross the lake overnight. While we missed many of the species we would have expected to find, we were treated to great views of some less common species. This is the middle of the fall raptor migration. The hawks use thermals to assist their flight, so they don’t like to cross large bodies of water. When the winds are favourable, they will travel west along the Lake Ontario shoreline towards Niagara. The winds were right during the early part of the walk, and we treated to several Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harriers, an Osprey, and an American Kestrel.
Black-crowned Night Herons are by far the most common heron at Sam Smith Park, but we couldn’t find one. Instead we found Great Blue and Green Herons. By the end of the walk we had tallied 43 species, even though the list included only one warbler. Great views of an American Pipit, and a pair of Solitary Sandpipers and a Green Heron helped compensate for the lack of warblers.
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