Tuesday, June 22, 2010

In and around Maniwaki

June 19, 2010

At the cottage feeders, we have lots of American Goldfinches and Purple Finches, as well as Blue Jays, Hairy Woodpeckers and the odd American Crow. A ruby-throated Hummingbird has been spotted On the lake, there are the usual Common Loons (none nesting that we can see), a common Merganser with a dozen newborn ducklings, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, Common Terns and an unusually large number of Great Blue Herons.

We cruised the back roads stopping on Chemin St. Jacques, where there is a large swamp. There was lots of birdsong. With a little patience, we saw several American Goldfinches, a pair of Yellow-breasted Sapsuckers, a Yellow Warbler and a surprising Baltimore Oriole (never having seen one so far north before). We turned onto Chemin de la Montagne towards Maniwaki, and then left on a private gravel road that went through another swamp. Here we heard several Common Yellowthroats, but could not see a single one. Four Blue Jays came across the road in full voice. One again, patience paid off as I spotted an Alder Flycatcher in the shrubs and a Belted Kingfisher and Northern Flicker both flew in to check us out. We also had good views of another Yellow Warbler.
We turned up Farley Road and saw Barn Swallows on the wire and a Savannah Sparrow on a post. A couple of Turkey Vultures were circling overhead. We proceeded onto the Kitigan Zibi reserve and spotted an Indigo Bunting on a wire in full light. We carried on through Maniwaki to Martel’s Lumber. After a quick stop, we decided to check a small road to across the highway, Chemin Gendron, which skirted to edge of Lac Evans. We saw a Great Blue Heron in flight and a perched Bobolink on a fir tree. Then Barbara spotted a Wilson’s Snipe fly across in front of the car and land on the verge, where we were able to spot it peering out from the tall grass. We headed back through the reserve and saw a couple more Indigo Buntings and a Common Loon in the creek leading from Petit lac des Cèdres.

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