Mer Bleue & Open Country with Tony Beck

Thursday Apr 12, 7:30 am

We met at Dolman Ridge Road.  Today there were Peter, Paul, Heather, Rick, Al, and new members Pavel and Antonia, plus Tony and me.  Nina was still looking after sick cats.

There were Dark-eyed Juncos all over, Blue Jays, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Mourning Doves and American Tree Sparrows at the feeder.  We saw a Brown-headed Cowbird in the tree tops.  Tony heard a Fox Sparrow and then we saw one under the feeder.

We went a short way down the road and saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (FOS) on a utility pole.  We also spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch gathering nest material.  There were several Song Sparrows and Black-capped Chickadees along the road.  We also had good looks at a female Purple Finch which was singing.

Before leaving, we also picked up Hairy Woodpecker, American Crow and American Goldfinch in the feeder area.  Some of us heard a Ruffed Grouse, so we ventured down the trail to look for it without success.

We left and drove to the Navan Arena where we set up car pools.  From there we went down Trim Road to Perrault.  We stopped at the farm and picked up European Starling, House Sparrow, Killdeer and Wild Turkey.  At the corner of Milton Road, we had a Red-tailed Hawk soaring quite close to us.  We saw a few more distant Wild Turkeys and Rick spotted a Northern Harrier.

Further along Milton Road, we were able to count about 14 Sandhill Cranes in the distance.   At the corner of Smith Rd, were were able to observe the Common Raven on the nest on the silo.  On the other side of the road, Rick heard an Eastern Meadowlark and we soon got on it.  Back near the Raven, there was one more Sandhill Crane.

We drove over to Colonial and Dunning to look for Snow Geese, but they had all departed.  We had to be content with a Turkey Vulture.

We turned onto Regimbald, still looking for Snow Geese, when a Northern Flicker (FOS) flew by.  We also saw another Northern Harrier and an American Kestrel.

At Giroux Ponds, Rick spotted a Northern Shrike on the south side. 

On the north side were 4 Ring-necked Ducks and a couple of Green-winged Teal.  The pond on the south side had lots of Common Mergansers and we also saw a Merlin, a Killdeer and a Lesser Scaup.  A Tree Swallow flew overhead.

We returned to Dunning where we had scanned the geese before.  We were able to confirm Heather's sighting of two white-headed geese, apparently blue morph Snow Geese.