Première paruline du printemps

Westmount sidewalk Mallards Anas platyrhynchos

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis

bright White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

drab White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula

Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis

  A fruitful warbler quest today, in gloomy weather that was decidedly Novembery, in that the cold felt ascendant, rather than yielding. A Palm Warbler was mixed in with some Dark-eyed Juncos below the lookout at the Westmount Summit, but the flock scattered before I could pick through it, when some dog-walkers came by at just the wrong moment. The Brown Creeper action at the summit has calmed down a bit - there were upwards of a dozen on April 18, cavorting along the trails.

  I encountered another creeper at the summit, unfortunately not the good kind. I was horrified to see a portly caucasian gentleman (40-50 years old) with a red ball cap and black hoodie taking a shit off the large cement blocks that sit at the centre of the summit woods. He skulked off without wiping when he was done, like a loathesome troll. And I thought that only happened in Korea.

  One Winter Wren was spotted among the rotting logs near Avenue Oakland, easily identified by its double-tap Song Sparrow 'chimp' call. Another two Winter Wrens were in the Mount Royal Cemetery - one on the hill above the cannons, and one on the Pine Hill Side up against Chemin Remembrance.
  Another Palm Warbler was flitting through the treetops near the tall pines in E5, this one trying to follow around a mob of Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Hopefully the warbler faucets will be yanked open soon. Make it rain, warbler gods, make it rainnnnn!

NDG + Westmount, (Westmount Summit), [two cemeteries], April 20, 2017: 32 species on the day
Mallard-2 on a Westmount sidewalk!
Turkey Vulture-[6 to 8]
Cooper's Hawk-[1]
Peregrine Falcon-[2]
Ring-billed Gull-2 [12+]
Rock Dove-2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker-(1)
Downy Woodpecker-1 (1)
Hairy Woodpecker-(1)
Northern Flicker-7 moving through upper Westmount (4) [35+]
Pileated Woodpecker-(1 heard)
Eastern Phoebe-(2 heard) [1 heard]
American Crow-3 (4) [20+]
Common Raven-2 [1]
Black-capped Chickadee-6 (10+) [15+]
Brown Creeper-(2) [12+]
White-breasted Nuthatch-(2) [6+]
Winter Wren-(1) [2]
Golden-crowned Kinglet-(2) [6]
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet-(7) [20+]
Hermit Thrush-(3)
American Robin-(4) [12+]
Palm Warbler-(1) [1]
Northern Cardinal-4 (1)
Chipping Sparrow-4+ heard (3) [6+]
Song Sparrow-1 (1) [3]
Fox Sparrow-(none today but five on April 18)
White-throated Sparrow-(8) [11]
Dark-eyed Junco-3 (20+) [60+]
House Sparrow-6
American Goldfinch-3 heard (2 heard) [8+]
House Finch-(3 near the Oratory)