Britannia Conservation Area - Fall Migration with Tony Beck

Tuesday Sept 14, 7:30am.

Today there were Heather, Nina, Peter, Roger, Alex, Bob, me and Tony.

When I arrived, the others were scoping a Cooper’s Hawk on the far shore of Mud Lake that was being harassed by American Crows. There was also a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in the same area.

There were a number of Wood Ducks in close. Tony explained that most of the males were just starting to come out their eclipse plumage. We also saw an American Black Duck and a Pied-billed Grebe.

We hiked up onto the ridge, where we saw 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers right away. We saw an Eastern Phoebe and a Double-crested Cormorant. Tony could hear a Northern Cardinal giving it’s chip call, although we did not spot it.

On the narrow strip between the ridge and the road, we saw several White-throated Sparrrows, a young American Redstart and a couple of Tennessee Warblers.

Out on a rock in the river, we saw a female Common Merganser. We wondered how soon we would be seeing Red-breasted ones. Heather & Nina fed some seeds to the Black-capped Chickadees.

We crossed the road to the trail around Mud Lake, where some Ravens were kicking up quite a fuss. We saw a Black-throated Green Warbler and a Magnolia. We could hear a Gray Catbird just behind us. A Green Heron flew past one way, and an Osprey, the other. We saw a Northern Flicker too.

We hiked along to the bridge at the back ,where we saw an American Black Duck real close. I spotted an adult Black-crowned Night Heron roosting in a tree at the back.

We moved on and noticed a whole bunch of Turkey Vultures passing overhead, while Heather picked up a Golden-crowned Kinglet down low. Eventually, we all got on it. We cold hear a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and saw a White-breasted Nuthatch. I saw a male Northern Cardinal, and Tony spotted a female Scarlet Tanager.

We saw some Northern Parulas and another Black-throated Green Warbler. A Blue Jay was scolding us as we looked at some House Finches. This time we saw the Gray Catbird. Again, there were Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Tennessee.

Tony called “Raptor Alert” as a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew overhead. He pointed out the square tail and smallish head.

We made our way around to the filtration plant, then out to the river. We saw one of the Great Egrets, way on the Quebec side and a Spotted Sandpiper up close.

We checked out the shrubby trees alongside the filtration plant, and saw some more Yellow-rumped Warblers, and, notably, a couple of Pine Warblers.

On the grass, we saw a female Bullfrog, having earlier seen a Leopard Frog and several Green Frogs – a good day for amphibians.

We had a bit of time left, so went up on the ridge again. It started to rain, so we rushed for the cars to protect our cameras. But Heather, who had left hers at home, stuck it out and saw a Black-throated Blue Warbler ,a Gray Catbird and a Wilson’s Warbler.

The rain stopped, so we scanned Mud Lake again, and Tony found a Ringed-neck Duck, while I mistook a distant Pied-billed Grebe for a female Hooded Merganser.