May 1 to 15: Greater White-fronted Goose, Wilson's Phalarope...

Even if it's been a cold, dark and wet month of May, the birding has been good.  The sun almost didn't show up but at least the birds did.  The sad part is that almost all our migrating birds are here now and the month of May is almost gone.

Here are a few highlights from the first half of the month of May 2017.  The second half of May will be featured in the next post.

First week of May:

The month started off right with a Horned Grebe on Porcupine Lake.  Although they are not common here, some were observed at Porcupine Lake last year in May as well.

Horned Grebe / Grèbe esclavon
Porcupine Lake (5 May 2017)

Second week of May:

I didn't go out as much as I wanted to during the second week of May but we did go for 1 day in Moonbeam. We went to the Moonbeam Sewage Lagoons twice (the first time was cut short by the rain) and saw many species.  I was happy to be accompanied by one of my friend who had never been to this spot. After the lagoon, we explored my favorite Moonbeam rural roads and found a Greater White-fronted Goose in a field with Canada Geese. It was my first one.

Greater White-fronted Goose / Oie rieuse
Moonbeam (13 May 2017)

The 14th of May marked the arrival of a few shorebirds. We saw 4 Short-billed Dowitchers, 4 Least Sandpipers and 2 Solitary Sandpipers at Gillies Lake Conservation Area in Timmins.

Short-billed Dowitcher / Bécassin roux
Gillies Lake, Timmins (14 May 2017)

Solitary Sandpiper / Chevalier solitaire
Gillies Lake, Timmins (14 May 2017)

The second week of May also marked the arrival of a lot of our warbler species including this Cape May:

Cape May Warbler / Paruline tigrée
Gillies Lake, Timmins (14 May 2017)

On May 15th we spotted a Wilson's Phalarope.  This was only my 3rd sighting in our area so far.  It was at a decommissioned lagoon along with Wood Ducks, American Wigeons and Gadwalls. The gate was locked so I had to take the photo from very far away.

Wilson's Phalarope / Phalarope de Wilson
South Porcupine (15 May 2017)

Wood Duck / Canard branchu
South Porcupine (15 May 2017)

The first 2 weeks of May were ok but the rest of May was even better (see next post)