This morning I was able to find and view the Acadian Flycatcher previously reported at the Happy Valley Forest, thanks to another birder who was already on site at about 7:00 AM when I arrived at the sighting location and whose name I was unfortunately too self-absorbed to ask. The bird was working its way slowly up and down the small ravine where the creek is located, “singing” quite frequently. See directions below from Chris Kimber’s report of June 30:
Directions (partially lifted from previous posts) - 400 Hwy N to King Sideroad, W to 7th Concession, N to where it stops at 16th Sideroad (Google Maps users note that the road does not continue straight through here as shown by that site). Turn right and follow this road for ~1km until it ends at a cul-de-sac where the well marked narrow trail starts behind the Nature Conservancy sign - pass through narrow fenced trail entrance and walk about 2-300 meters to where a very small creek bed runs parallel to the trail and look and listen I actually found a second Acadian Flycatcher in another part of the Happy Valley Forest. This location is accessed a few metres south of the intersection of the16th Sideroad and the 7th Concession, on the east side of the concession road. There is a narrow parking area on the shoulder of the road here. The location of this bird is somewhat difficult to describe, because I did a lot of wandering on the many trails that crisscross this area. Basically, the location was about one kilometre, perhaps a bit less, along the main trail into this part of the Forest. Near the point where I saw the bird, there is a large log which has fallen across the trail, with a section cut out to allow access by cyclists and hikers. A piece of the sawn-out section of the log is a bit farther down the trail. I’m sorry – that’s the best description I can provide! The bird could be heard from the trail, and was seen about 20 - 30 metres off the north side of the trail. Some notes: (1) The “song” of this bird is not consistently described in any of the field guides I checked; if I had not had the help of the Unknown Birder, I probably would never have found the first bird. To my ears, the song (to me, “see-slip”) sounded somewhat like a squeaky hiccup, or the double squeak of a child’s squeeze toy. (2) Both birds exhibited a behaviour not mentioned in the guides – while fluttering from perch to perch, they made a peculiar twittering sound, and this was consistently repeated in both examples. (3) With reference to Kenn Kaufman’s “Advanced Birding”, from the Peterson series, the relatively broad appearance of the tail of the Acadian Flycatcher is mentioned as a minor distinguishing characteristic. This was absent on the first bird, apparently due to missing tail feathers, giving the tail a slightly crooked appearance. It was clearly visible on the second bird. Sadly, I dipped out on the Hooded Warblers and Red Efts… ;-) John Thompson Brampton, Ontario _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
