Lorne Henderson CA and Discovery Park, Petrolia


 On this mild dreary Good Friday I thought I'd stick close to home and check out LH CA .  I have been here in the past with not much luck. I haven't been here in Spring so I wasn't expecting much.  Boy was I wrong!  This is a fabulous natural area with a variety of habitat from Cedar groves to Maples, to farm fields, to wetland to waterways!  I hiked all the way in almost 3 Km, thinking I'm not going to be able to photograph any birds, I hear them but they are so small and fast, I can't photo them.  I was almost at the entrance, I could see my car, when all of a sudden I felt like Snow White!, the birds were surrounding me and I got some good looks and some decent photos.  I got good views of Brown Creeper Certhia americana, Yellow Rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata, a first of year Pine Warbler Setophaga palmarum, as well as both Golden crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa and Ruby Crowned Kinglet Corthylio calendula .  

Also a very well camoflaged Eastern Cottontail Rabbit Sylvilagus floridanus , appropo for Easter!

Golden Crowned Kinglet

Ruby Crowned Kinglet, super fast little buggers


Brown Creeper also expert at camo!
1st Spring wildflower, Sharp Lobed Hepatica Hepatica acutiloba

After stopping at Timmie's for a coffee and a bathroom break, I went on to Discovery Park where I saw my FOY pair of Yellow Bellied Sapsucker Sphryapicus varius  I haven't really had a good view of these beautiful woodpeckers in years and I was happy to see a pair together over the water.  I also almost stepped on 1 adult Garter Snakes Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis..gotta remember to look down!
All in all a good day birding, even though the weather called for a rain day, weather held out til the afternoon when we got a short but intense thunderstorm.  I will definitely be Lorne Henderson to my roster  more often as it is only 10 minutes from home.




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