[Ontbirds]Yellow-throated Warbler in Jack Darling Park, Mississauga

[Wayne Renaud]

   It looks from this morning postings on Ont.birds that this is indeed the
big warbler weekend we've been waiting for.
   At approximately 7:15 am this morning I found a Yellow-throated Warbler
feeding in a willow on Birchwood Creek which runs south along the east edge
of the park.  It was just east of a small maintenance shed along the
driveway which runs south off lakes down to the main parking are along the
lake.  The creek is not really obvious from the road and does not occupy a
huge area but contains a lot of dense overgrown understory aka a typical
Carolinian woodland.
   Also in the area was a male Orchard Oriole and Gold-winged Warbler ( the
later just north of the washroom building adjacent to the sw parking lot).
I also swung through lower Turtle Creek (w edge of Jack Darling Park) and
did most of the trails of Rattray Marsh marsh as well as the woods behind
Greenglade School.   By the time the rain started I had 21 species of
Warblers including Mourning (2), Connecticut (1), Bay-breasted (2), Wilson's
(3), Northern Parula (4) and small numbers of Yellow, Nashville,
Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Pine, Tennessee,
Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Common Yellowthroat , American
Redstart, Northern Waterthrush and Ovenbird.
   Also I record all five species of vireo: Red-eye, Warbling, Philadelphia,
White-eye and Yellow-throated.
   Also a single Little Gull in breeding plumage was seeing flying west with
flock of 11 Bonaparte's Gulls.
   At Rattray Marsh, I had lot of help this morning from several keen birds
whose names I am sorry to say I did not write down.

Directions:
      Go south down to the end Bexhill which runs south of Lakeshore about 5
long blocks east Erin Mills Parkway; park at the metal gate  The marsh and
knoll trail start at the bottom of hill from the parking area.  This gets
you into, more or less, the middle of main area of the marsh.  Find a street
map to orient yourself and/or follow the the trail map inside the park.
Jack Darling Park runs from Lakeshore to the lake about 3 blocks east of
Bexhill; the se parking lot will get you relatively close to Birchwood
Creek. 
      For those who want to visit Rattray Marsh Conservation Area for the
first time or simply want to know where all the trails area, Mississauga has
a map of the marsh and surrounding trails on their web site:
'http://www.creditvalleycons.com/recandleisure/maps/rattray.pdf'.

Wayne Renaud