May 3 was the birdiest day that I have ever experienced at the Port Weller east pier. The weather conditions during the lead-up to May 3 were perfect for heavy migration, and the combination of warm south winds and a front across southern Ontario dropped huge numbers of birds. In particular, Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets made up the bulk of the birds. While very few rarities were discovered across Ontario during this widespread fallout event, the birding was nothing short of spectacular.
With my entire day free, I first checked the Port Dalhousie piers in the morning while waiting for the bands of rain to pass. I had never seen so many Bonaparte's Gulls in the harbour and on the piers; there were literally thousands of them. Ryan Griffiths was here at the time and marveled at the spectacle with me. We picked out a few Little Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls before I took off, itching to get to Port Weller.
Immediately upon arriving at the parking lot at Jones Beach, I could tell it was going to be a good day. The songs from many warblers and sparrows rang out and my eBird checklist reached sixty species in the first hour of my visit, as I poked around the woodlot at the base of the pier.
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Blue-headed Vireo - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
Birds were abundant along the edge of the woodlot and at any given point there were dozens of individuals to check out. While Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows made up the bulk of the birds, quite a few of the typical late April / early May migrants were present. This Winter Wren was quite cooperative when I exercised a bit of patience, and it soon popped up out of the brush pile it was inhabiting.
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| Winter Wren - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
My first good find of the day was a Clay-colored Sparrow, not far from the parking area at the end of Seaway Haulage Road. It was being quite skulky and photos were tricky. This was the second record of Clay-colored Sparrow for the pier that I am aware of, and the first spring record.
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| Clay-colored Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
Walking up the pier, it became apparent just how many birds were present. Tens of Hermit Thrushes and hundreds of sparrows lined the edges of the gravel path, warblers constantly flitted both in the shrubbery and in the middle levels of the trees, and the sheer density of White-throated Sparrows was something to behold. I estimated 1200 White-throated Sparrows on the pier, but truthfully there could have been double that. Birding without binoculars was the most efficient way as there was simply too much time wasted by looking at each bird in the binoculars! Fortunately the birds were accommodating, feeding down low, allowing this strategy to have utility.
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| Black-throated Green Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Pine Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Warbling Vireo - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Veery - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
Though there was a brisk east wind blowing, I walked up the exposed grassy mound south of the big pond. I hoped that with all the sparrows around something interesting would have found itself in that grassy patch. My hunch was correct as a Vesper Sparrow was feeding in the grass with oodles of Chipping Sparrows and a few Savannah Sparrows. This is the first record of Vesper Sparrow for Port Weller that I am aware of, an unexpected one for me! The grassy mound has been good to me over the last two years; my only Golden-winged Warbler, Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, Wilson's Snipe and now Vesper Sparrow records for the pier have all been from there.
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| Vesper Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
A little further up the east trail was yet another surprise in store. An American Bittern flushed from the small pond as I approached, circled around once, and landed back in the vegetation, safely out of sight. Another new one for my Port Weller list! It's always fun coming across American Bitterns in unexpected places during migration.
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| American Bittern - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| American Bittern - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
And the good birds kept on coming. Next up was a small streaky sparrow that flushed from some long grass in an area that I have checked many times for
Ammodramus sparrows. For the first time ever I was in luck, as a dapper little Grasshopper Sparrow materialized. I would later see a second Grasshopper. Yet another new species for the all-time Port Weller pier list.
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| Grasshopper Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
Sparrow really stole the show! I came across 13 individual species, and had personal high counts at Port Weller for all but 3 of these species.
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| Grasshopper Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Savannah Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Swamp Sparrow - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
Overall warbler diversity was low given the total number of individual birds present, and about 80% of the warblers were Yellow-rumped Warblers. That being said I still managed to pull out 15 warbler species, including a male Blue-winged and four different Northern Waterthrushes, as well as my first Blackburnian, American Redstart, and Ovenbird for the year in Niagara.
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| Black-throated Green Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Common Yellowthroat - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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| Black-throated Blue Warbler - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
One of the local Merlins made a pass up the pier, pausing to perch on a nearby snag and survey the buffet options. Like shooting fish in a barrel on a day like this, I'm sure.
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| Merlin - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
While my attention was focused mainly on the land birds there were still a few ducks here and there to look at. One Long-tailed Duck in particular was quite approachable on the canal side of the pier.
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| Long-tailed Duck - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
I ended up spending almost six hours on the pier and could have easily birded there the rest of the day, if other priorities hadn't dragged me away. It was quite the avian spectacle, and certainly one of the best "fall-outs" I had ever experienced in my life.
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| Veery - Port Weller east pier, Niagara Region |
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