March 29, 2023
Birding Report by Jane Burgess
While driving to Elmvale Acres shopping centre, there was thick
fog, oh no how long will this last. Barbara, Bill, Ken and I met up at
7:30 and were heading down Bank street 10 minutes later. I noticed Ken
had no camera mmm wonder why. He said he has 15,000 or so photos and
just under 200 videos to edit and just under 200 videos hence no photos
today, just too much work ahead.
On the way to
Winchester we saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly by. Barbara noted the fog
had dissipated. We missed the road going to the Wincester lagoons, so
we drove into town and headed north. Turned down a dead end street
facing a huge field of Snow Geese, this is what we wanted to see. So
many Snow Geese with a few Canada Geese mixed in the flock. We saw our
first Song Sparrow (saw a good number during the day), lots of American
Robins, a single American Tree Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay,
Black-caped Chickadees, a single Dark-eyed Junco, heard and saw
Red-winged Blackbirds (the males are here in droves). We decided we
should check out the lagoons, however they are still frozen hence no
geese.
At the Morrisburg dock, Ring-billed
Gulls and a Double-crested Cormorant. The stop at Tim Horton got us a
Merlin and Turkey Vulture. We drove up the Upper Canada Village Parkway
and saw our first Killdeer. Barbara saw an Eastern Phoebe and Ken saw a
White-breated Nuthatch.
The road to Ault
Island where there is water on both sides was still frozen, turning west
on the island we saw Hooded Mergansers on the St Lawrence. We turned
around and a Pileated Woodpecker or a Northern Flicker flew by. We did
not see where it landed, but we all heard it. So I played the songs of
both and we were in total agreement, it was the first song I played --
Northern Flicker. I saw the bird's west end as the bird flew east.
While
driving on highway #2, Ken spotted a Great Blue Heron, we turned around
so we all could see it. We all saw it, but the bird did not like us
looking at him so off it flew. Ken insisted we go into Farren Park, he
said John Ruddy always gets good birds there. The road was not good,
lots of snow, we proceeded slowly, but Bill thought it better we not go
any further, so he backed out. Quite challenging because the road had
lots of curves and it's hard to see where the road is given the snow.
But he was up to the challenge. At the end of the road who should we
see was, John Ruddy sitting in his car very focused on something.
Next
stop was Ingleside. We parked the car and headed to the water, we
noticed someone with a bicycle, of course there is a bike path and it
was kind of cleared of snow. As we approached the bike path the cyclist
left. There we saw many many thousands of Canada Geese with Bufflehead,
Common and Hooded Mergansers. The Hooded Mergansers looked so small
when they were beside the Canada Geese. We walked westward and noticed
two Snow Geese in with the Canada Geese. Far off in the distance on the
US side we see a white 'thing' in the trees, we will have to check that
out with the scope once we get back to the cars. Turning around and
walking eastward now we see more duckies, but really can't make out what
they are. The cyclist returned and we showed her a Snow Goose, to our
surprise, her response was there are many more in Winchester. Time to
go back for the scope. The duckies turned out to be Ring-necked Ducks.
Ken spotted something white in a tree again on the American side.
With the scope it is easily identified as Bald Eagle. We join Bill and
Barbara in the vehicle and have our lunch.
We
drive to the east end of the Long Sault Parkway to the bridge as it is
barricaded to prevent anyone from going further. Again lots of Canada
Geese, but we also see 2 Gadwalls, 4 Black Ducks, a couple of Wood
Ducks, American Wigeon and 1 Northern Pintail - such an elegant bird.
Then we drive to the east end of the Parkway, guess who we see there,
John Ruddy with 2 clients. We saw two Ring-billed Gulls chasing a
Herring Gull, a single Green-winged Teal and two Tree Swallows and of
course thousands of Canada Geese. There were lots of Northern
Pintails. At one point a falcon flew by, but we did not get a good
enough bead on it for identification. It was very cold scoping the
birds, in fact I could not face west, the wind kept blowing off my hood
and the scope shook too much and it was just too darn cold.
Where
to next, lets try Lancaster via Cornwall. The next stop was the
Saunders Hydro Dam Visitors Centre. Bill said to me, I have never
seen a bird here,l we saw 2 Double-crested Cormorants. Bill, Barbara
and Ken had never been inside the Visitors Centre so we went inside,
even if the sign on the door said closed. A man told us the facility
was closed but he would check with the people if we could come in for a
brief visit. The answer was yes, then he talked to us about the history
of the St Lawrence River, the lost villages etc etc. After that we
checked out the exhibits. I think we were there for about 45 minutes.
Back
to birding, we took the 401 to Lancaster to find there was absolutely
nothing on the water. It was time to head home via a circuitous route.
On one of the roads Bill and I saw a single Horned Lark and on
Concession #2 we had a Kestrel on the hydro line and of course it did
the Kestrel thing -- fly to another spot on the wire, then as we
approach fly again. Say we have not seen any turkeys, within minutes we
saw a far off flock of them.
Should we check
out St Isidore lagoon.. Driving down one of the roads, both Barbara
and I see a lone small duck the size of maybe a Pied-billed Grebe. We
tell Bill and he turns around, driving past there was no duckie, we
really did see it, maybe it flew. Bill drives up and bit and turns
around, there is a fast moving vehicle behind him so he pulls over.
Where did that bird go, Bill says I see them - two Hooded Mergansers,
they are divers so now we know where they were. We went to the
St Isidore lagoon, only birds we saw there was a single Wild Turkey and
some domestic fowl at the farm just as we approached the lagoon.
Driving down St Rose, I said it's weird we have not seen any Snow
Buntings, then well above the car, I see a medium sized flock of them.
We all checked out the 401 roadside for Red-tailed hawks, but no we did not see any,
For
March 29, we had a really good sized list -- 45. Well after Bill
checked the photos, it seems that there was a Redhead in the water at
Long Sault, so not 45 but 46. Darn good for March 29.
Species Noted
- American Crow
- European Starling
- Common Grackle
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Canada Geese
- Snow Geese
- Song sparrow
- American Tree Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco
- American Robin
- Mourning Dove
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Mallard
- Rock Pigeon
- Killdeer
- Ring-billed Gull
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Merlin
- Turkey Vulture
- Eastern Phoebe
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Hooded Merganser
- Northern Flicker
- Great Blue Heron
- Common Raven
- Common Merganser
- Ring-necked Duck
- Bufflehead
- Bald Eagle
- Gadwall
- Black Duck
- Northern Pintail
- Common Goldeneye
- Wood Duck
- American Wigeon
- Herring Gull
- Green-winged Teal
- Tree Swallow
- Horned Lark
- Kestrel
- Wild Turkey
- Snow Bunting
- Redhead
