Brier Island - May 2025

 This is a birding trip we look forward to every year from the time it ends the previous year, always expecting to see something interesting and possibly new and in my case to get a decent photo of it.  Well the trip never disappoints, at least in terms of the experience and getting the gang together for another year.

This year was a bit of a let down in terms of bird numbers which you can never predict, and since the date generally has to incorporate a weekend in the month of May for everyone to participate things are always left to chance.  The weather wasn't bad, at least some sun and not a huge amount of precipitation. I think it may have been the south-easterly winds the previous days that kept bird numbers down.

Warbler numbers were very low in particular but there was a smattering of Black-throated Green Warblers which you can usually expect to find there. In reviewing past Brier Island posts this species always seems to have an entry.

Some of us missed out on the one rarity seen by others on the first day but were lucky enough that the birds returned, so we were able to have a sighting on the second day.  The species being a small group of Glossy Ibises that apparently had been in the area for a week or more.

Since bird numbers were down I had to resort to taking pictures of birders instead.

The following photo was taken at the end of a four kilometer hike as Allie, Mark and I made it to the end of the trail at the Western Light. There was a large number of Black and Common Scoters feeding in unison at Pond Cove which I failed to document, as well as a Green Heron which I flushed at Little Pond Cove and a few Cliff Swallows at the headlands near Hog Yard Cove.

The one bird I was able to capture on our hike was a lone Merlin sitting on a rock ledge along the trail.

The fog and mist rolled in on Sunday but we were able to find a few male Bobolinks in the marsh along the boardwalk. 

There were some Green-winged Teal in the little pond adjacent to the marsh as well as a Black Duck family.

There is not much more to report except some Eastern Kingbirds and a few shorebirds including some late Purple Sandpipers. We all decided to leave ahead of the rains predicted for Monday so the list ended up being a little shorter than we all had hoped. I will be presumptuous and speak for everybody when I say that we are all looking forward to doing it again in 2026.