Black-billed Cuckoo (Coulicou à bec noir)

     Every Thursday and Sunday I monitor a route for rare, a local land trust and research facility. Miriam always accompanies me on the Sunday route and before actually embarking on our survey we always check in with the guys who are operating a banding station. Last week we arrived just as they had banded a Black-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus erythropthalmus.

     This species is unusual in that it feeds readily on tent caterpillars, a prey which most other species avoid. Periodically, tent caterpillars which are moderately sized species in the genus Melacosoma and in the moth family Lasiocampidae, are irruptive and this year appears to be one of those times.

     Subsequently, Miriam and I heard a Black-billed Cuckoo during our walk and three others had been banded last time I checked. So, there appears to be a correlation between a tent caterpillar outbreak and the abundance of Black-billed Cuckoos. Quite how this knowledge becomes known to the cuckoos I am unable to explain.
     Mayapples Podophyllum peltatum are now in flower and the forest floor was adorned with this species.

     Bracket fungi, which for some reason hold a special fascination for me, were commonly found, some quite magnificent in their size, colouration and structure.

     These organisms are among the many groups of fungi that comprise the phylum Basidiomycota. Ultimately they cause the death of the tree, thereby returning its nutrients to the cycle of growth in a healthy forest.

Baltimore Oriole (Oriole de Baltimore) Building a Nest

RIM Park 

Waterloo, ON

8 May 2015

                                              

     Spring has truly descended on Ontario and the woods are filled with the sounds of migrants arriving back from the areas to the south where they spend most of the year. It is sometimes easy to slip into the fallacy of thinking of these birds as "our birds" but in fact they pass the greater part of their lives elsewhere.

     Baltimore Orioles Icterus galbula are suddenly everywhere and this morning we observed this female building her familiar long, pendant nest.

     The male seemed to be content to perch, preen, sing and watch!

     Yellow Warblers Setophaga perechia seemed to be everywhere and we were rarely out of earshot of a singing male. 

     Killdeers Charadrius vociferus were seen on rocky outcrops along the river and this picture shows the effectiveness of its camouflaging plumage.

     Imagine how difficult it would be for a hawk flying over to detect this bird from the air. In order for us to first detect them we had to wait for movement.

     In addition to the avian migrants the woodlands and meadows are bursting with new growth, and here are just a few of the species of wildflowers we observed.

Large-flowered Trillium Trillium grandiflorum

Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara

Trout Lily Erythronium americanum

Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum

Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris

Emergent Skunk Cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus

Skunk Cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus