Brier Island May 2023

Another year, another May weekend, and another trip to Brier Island. These are things we have come to look forward to over the last few years and with very few exceptions they typically come to pass. This year was a little different in that we had a couple new additions to the group and I think for the first time we weren't able to have a campfire because of the dry conditions that persisted throughout most of the Spring and all of the month of May.

Given the cold evenings we would have appreciated a fire to warm ourselves but it wasn't to be. The weekend was cool with persistent southeast winds which wasn't favourable for bringing migrant birds, you generally would want southwesterly wind for that. Still there were a fair number of birds on the island including many warblers of which Black-throated Green seemed to be among the more numerous.

Chestnut-sided Warblers were also fairly numerous although I wasn't able to photograph any on the island. I was, however, able to get a shot of a Bay-breasted Warbler which I was happy about since it's not a bird I see very often. 

Yellow Warblers are always common there and this singing male was among many in the alder thickets that make up a large portion of Brier Islands habitat for nesting birds.

                                       This female Northern Parula was also content to be in the alder thickets.

This year seemed especially good for Icterids including several Baltimore Orioles (one pictured here apparently gathering potential nesting materials), a male and female Bobolink (male pictured), and of course the ubiquitous  Red-winged Blackbirds (juvenile male) and Common Grackles.

Some other highlights that I wasn't lucky enough to photograph were an Indigo Bunting and White-crowned Sparrow in the same tree for a brief moment. An Eastern Bluebird made a short appearance as well. On the second night of my stay on the island the gang headed out after sunset to listen for American Woodcock and while more than one was heard, even heard to do their awesome aerial display, I unfortunately missed out. A few other highlights that I did get to observe were this Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Snowy Egret in the marsh.

One final highlight for me was this Boreal Chickadee on the edge of the pond at Pond Cove. This year the water was so low it was possible to walk the total circumference of the pond without getting your feet wet. Although I didn't walk the whole way round Gretchen and Carmen decided to make that historic trek.

By Sunday morning the skies were completely overcast and rain started by mid morning. We had prepared for the rain by erecting a tarp the previous evening and while it rained pretty steady as we packed up I think we were all a little thankful for it. As it turned out it wasn't nearly enough rain to quench the parched ground and have the foliage fully leafed out. That was all a couple of weeks ago on the long weekend in May.  By now we all know the rest of the story. But to end on a more positive note, the rain of the last few days has gone a long way to make most of us a lot more relaxed about the days ahead. Here's hoping the next few months are uneventful.