Birds of South Porcupine and Timmins: After a pause, migration is on again

Thursday, April 26, 2018

After a pause, migration is on again

It was a very cold and strange start of spring here in the Timmins area. After a few arrivals in the last week of March and the first few days of April, migration came to an almost complete stop during the first 2 weeks of April. The temperatures remained significantly below average every day until April 21st. A few days of south wind and warm weather from April 21 to April 26 brought us an important number of new arrivals and a larger number of previously arrived migrants.

Common Grackle during a snow fall
16 April 2018

As of today, our lakes are still 99% ice covered (with a few inches open in some areas near shore). Thankfully, we have a few rivers that offered a bit of open water to the migrating waterfowl. Here are a few of our arrivals:

First Yellow-rumped Warbler of spring
South Porcupine (23 April 2018)

First Rusty Blackbird of spring
South Porcupine - (26 April 2018)

With a very limited number of open water areas, we get to see a good congregation of waterfowl at Porcupine Lake where the Porcupine River starts (near Bannerman Park). Yesterday, I saw my first Pied-billed Grebe of spring (as well as our first American Coot) along with many species of ducks.

Pied-billed Grebe / Grebe à bec bigarré
Porcupine Lake @ Porcupine River (25 April 2018)

At the same location, we observed a Trumpeter Swan. It had been found earlier that day by someone in my neighbourhood and I was glad it was still there at 5pm. They are uncommon in our area so it was a big surprise. It was a new species for Porcupine Lake (species #165) and a new species for me in our district. I had only seen them in Southern Ontario and in BC.