It was raining in the morning, so we slept in until 7 am. Bill prepared his egg and cheese dish, as we were in no hurry.
We decided to give Hillman Marsh a try, thinking that the marsh and shorebirds would not be bothered by the rain.
We donned our boots and raingear and hiked in to the viewing area. Bill set up the scope and announced that there were good numbers of Bonaparte Gulls, American Wigeons and Blue-winged Teals.
Barbara set out to our right and called for us to come. She had spotted a Virginia Opossum. We all hurried over but got covered in mud as we crossed the churned-up path. The Opossum was moving really quickly behind the trees, so we only got terrible photos.
Bill and Hilda decided to head for the covered observation blind, but Colin and Barbara decided to hike all the way around the pond.
From the blind, we could see lots of Gadwalls, and a few Buffleheads, Green-winged Teals and distant Greater Yellowlegs. The hikers got some geese families, a few Northern Shovellers and a group of American Coots. A Great Egret also flew over the pond.
The rain was letting up, so we decided to head for the Park and check the Sanctuary for a possible Kentucky Warbler. Just outside the gate, we saw some birders scoping the lake, so we pulled in. They had spotted an Eared Grebe. They also told us that the Kentucky was now being reported from the Park Orientation area just inside the gate. So, we joined a couple of dozen other birders in a stake out. But the warbler eluded us.
We drove to the Visitor Centre and checked the sightings board in the tent while we ate our lunch.
The Yellow-throated Warbler had been seen on Shuster Trail, so we decided to concentrate our efforts there. We soon met a Toronto birder who had obtained great photos not ten minutes before. The rain had forced it out of the treetops to forage in the pond. But alas, it had departed, not to be seen again. We stayed for an hour, and got some good birds – Northern Parula, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Waterthrush, Swamp Sparrow and Blue-headed Vireo. Barbara and Bill hiked all the way to the east beach on Lake Erie where the large waves were pounding the shore.
We heard that other birders were staking out a Worm-eating Warbler on Woodland Trail, so we decided to try for it by joining the stake out. Others reported that it had been seen earlier, but we were not so lucky.
So, we returned to the Visitor Centre and chatted with a friendly Park Warden.
We were a little disappointed that we had done three stakeouts and dipped on all of them. But then, we thought about all the good birds we had seen, and our happiness returned when we spotted a nearby Gray Catbird. We returned to our Air B&B, cleaned off the mud, and headed out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.
