You have to be some distance from Toronto in order to find Bobolink habitat. They nest in open fallow fields, tallgrass prairies and damp meadows.

I visited MARAIS DES LAÎCHES near Gatineau this morning and the fields leading to it are prefect Bobolink habitat.

My grandfather described the Bobolink as looking like a gentleman wearing a tux who has put it on backwards.

The Bobolink’s common name originates from a poem written by William Cullen Bryant back in the late 19^th century. William wrote about a bird he then called Robert of Lincoln. This name was shorten to Bob of Lincoln, and finally became the name it has today: Bob o’Link. The poem was written on account of the bird’s striking appearance. 

Long-distance migrant. Bobolinks travel about 12,500 miles round-trip every year, in one of the longest migrations of any songbird in the New World. From their northern breeding grounds they fly in groups through Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico toward their wintering grounds in South America. (allaboutbirds.org)

Other birds this morning:

Another resident here:

MAILBOX

 I particularly enjoyed the shot of the Brown Thrasher yesterday … looked like it was on its way home from a big party the night before.

NATURE POETRY

Summer wanes; the children are grown;
Fun and frolic no more he knows;
Robert of Lincoln’s a humdrum crone;
Off he flies, and we sing as he goes :
    “Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,
    Spink, spank, spink;
When you can pipe that merry old strain,
Robert of Lincoln, come back again.
                Chee, chee, chee.

– William Cullen Bryant

Miles Hearn