Cycloparc PP&J north from Campbell's Bay

July 1, 2013

After watching our daughter-in-law and grandsons run in the Canada Day races (5K & 1K), we drove to Campbell's Bay to finish another section of the PP&J bike trail. 

The trail is incredibly birdy and we would recommend it to anyone.  Warblers and thrashers are common.  There are a few marshes, where Virginia Rails seem to abound.  We got really excited while photographing one, when we got a glimpse a smaller black rail.  I was thinking Black Rail, until I looked up downy young Virginia Rails and found them to be all black.  We got our first decent photographs of Sora too.

We also had several raptors, including Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel and a juvenile hawk.  In one photo, it look like a Northern Goshawk, but in others, it looks like a Northern Harrier.  Well, it did fly our of sight for a while, so perhaps it was two different birds.  It was being harassed be four or five Red-winged Blackbirds.

The flycatcher did not sing, but it responded to a Willow Flycatcher song and ignored the Alder.  There were also several light brown birds that jumped across the trail and disappeared.  I have to assume they were thrushes.

Bird List

1. American Kestrel
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Red-tailed Hawk
4. Northern Flicker
5. American Robin
6. Red-winged Blackbird
7. Yellow-Warbler
8. American Crow
9. Eastern Kingbird
10. Ring-billed Gull
11. Brown Thrasher
12. Common Grackle
13. Great Blue Heron
14. Virginia Rail
15. Common Yellowthroat
16. Savannah Sparrow
17. Song Sparrow
18. Gray Catbird
19. American Redstart
20. Eastern Meadowlark
21. Willow Flycatcher
22. American Bittern
23. American Goldfinch
24. House Wren
25. Cedar Waxwing
26. Rock Pigeon
27. Bobolink
28. Northern Harrier
29. Mallard
30. Sora
31. House Finch
32. European Starling