Date: 03/31/2012

Number: 1

Submitted by Don Davis and posted to ONTBIRDS list:

Hi All,


At just after 6 p.m. today, I heard the unmistakable, liquidy whistle of a Baltimore Oriole in the ravine behind my apartment. I'm still listening to it.

We usually have a pair on territory each year, but I've never heard (or seen) one THIS early.

I'm located just west of Keele, south of Lawrence, on Gulliver Road in North York (City of Toronto)

Good Birding,

Nancy Barrett
http://naturegirl99.redbubble.com/

goldengooseproductions@yahoo.com

I do understand that this is an extremely early report, and I also understand that the veracity of the report might be questioned.
I heard this bird on March 31st, just after 6 p.m., when the temperature had peaked for the day (5 C and sunny). It remained within earshot for about 30 minutes, and although I tried, I could not locate it visually.
Believe me, I wish I had been able to not only spot it, but photograph it. Unfortunately, it moved on (probably following the treed ravine) before I could visualize it.
I am very familiar with this species; as I mentioned, a pair nests close by every year and I also am inundated with the songs and the appearance of this species every spring at Point Pelee and throughout the nesting season in southern and central Ontario, and have photographed them often. I've been birding for almost 30 years.
It was not a Fox Sparrow, a Mockingbird or even a Starling. It was not, as someone suggested, another species of Oriole. It was such a familiar song (to be more accurate, it was a series of varied whistles, or partial song, repeated every 5 minutes or so). I stand by my identification of this bird.
I reported this to eBird as well.

Toronto, ON

Latitude: 43.7 Longitude: -79.4

Observed by: Donald A.
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