Friday, May 30, 2014

A Cute Kind of Day

Last weekend I did some exploring in the general Barrie area with Peter Mills. For the most part, we had little luck in finding our targets, but two experiences to bookend the day made it worthwhile.

Our first stop was at Wasaga Beach to track down the regularly nesting Piping Plovers, a lifer for me. They were very easy to find as the nests have been covered in wire cages to protect them from large predators, but views were very unsatisfying. Luckily, we soon came upon a rather tame plover foraging outside the area enclosed by protective fences.




Although we only saw 3, at least 6 birds (3 pairs) are nesting here this year. If there was a competition for the cutest bird in Ontario, I think these guys would win.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet but interspersed with nice sightings such as Yellow-throated Vireo, many Black Terns, Common Gallinule, Sora, several Northern Water Snakes, and a few common dragonflies that were firsts for the year.

Later in the evening as we walked along the waterfront in downtown Barrie, we noticed about a dozen people were photographing something in a grassy area next to the train tracks. As we got closer, two fox kits were very apparent as they lounged on the grass outside their den!



Not really what you expect to see in the middle of the city!

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