To say I was excited to get up at 4:45 am would be an exaggeration but I thought it would be a good idea to hear the dawn chorus. After breakfast in the dark (need my energy) I slipped out to the backyard to be greeted by all the eager early birds. To my disappointment the dawn chorus was a dud. Only the usual suspects were singing and even that was thin. This was a fore-shadowing of my whole day. I cannot remember the last time I had to work so hard for so few birds.
I could always count on Robins. They had been singing since 4:00 am. And the Grackles had already claimed their territory by the feeders making the Chickadees, Nuthatches, Mourning Doves and Red-winged Blackbirds wait their turn. I didn’t spend long in the yard but made my way along the ridge north of the Dufferin Marsh. I was greeted by a plethora of Yellow Warblers and Catbirds. A Swamp Sparrow was singing in the same place it does every year and I was lucky to see it up close, head tilted back and “chipping” with abandon. My husband Gary used to say it sounds like a Singer Sewing Machine. Does anyone remember what that sounds like? There were lots of Swallows diving over the marsh and one of them was a Roughed-winged Swallow. That was a satisfying bird.