Looking for Bluebirds at Cold Creek

Photo above taken last year at Cold Creek

EASTERN BLUEBIRD

Sialia sialis

My friend David Love told me about two weeks ago, that returning spring Bluebirds had been spotted in Vaughan, which immediately made we wonder if they had returned to the birdboxes at Cold Creek Conservation Area, on the 11th of King.   I visited Cold Creek on Good Friday to look for some, but only found a solitary Tree Swallow atop a box (see below, right).   

I returned to Cold Creek on Easter Monday but once again failed to see a bluebird.   I didn't see the Tree Swallow either.   What I did see while walking the northern trail, from the small pond back to the main entrance, was the Hermit Thrush, seen below.   It stayed in place long enough for me to get a photo, which helped identify it when I got home.   Hermit Thrushes are the only spotted thrushes that winter in the northern U.S., hence its early spring arrival in Ontario.

All photos by BarrytheBirder   

    More spring photos from Cold Creek...

 

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace