I'm always surprised how quickly some birds turn around to start flying South again.
Shorebirds are the first ones to begin their migration back and true to form they have already begun!
The best part though is that I've seen the very early migrants in Waterloo county! Usually Waterloo doesn't see as many birds as the hotspots along the great lakes during spring migration and so we have to wait until the bulk of the birds move through before actually seeing any of them.
Last Saturday I biked down to Hespeler Mill Pond in Cambridge hoping to find an early shorebird. I was surprised to see 2 Lesser Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper. Not bad considering the time and location! It might also be a good indication that something good will be found here this fall.
The water levels are super low at the pond so it has a fair bit of great habitat for migrating shorebirds. The only problem for me will be to get down to there regularly.
This guy isn't migrating just yet:
A male Green-winged Teal has been hanging around the pond for a while:
Solitary Sandpiper already headed for South America!
Ditto for the Lesser Yellowlegs:
I could only find one of the Blue-winged Teals:
I was surprised by the number of Killdeers (40+) and that's not counting all the ones I couldn't see in the lily pads. Seemed like a high count for a species that shouldn't be migrating yet? And there were no juveniles among them...
