April 7, 2024
Before the actual surveys begin later this month, we visited the site to see the lay of the land and to mark some waypoints for future use.
The site is about 15 km south of Smiths Falls, east of Hwy 15. We passed a pond along Hwy 15 with two Trumpeter Swans.
We checked out the sites from the corner of Settlement and Portland Roads, working northward, then doubling back to check the larger southern site, SFalls 166I.
Since it was mid afternoon on a sunny day, birding activity was low, except for the many Turkey Vultures. On Portland, we saw a Ruffed Grouse cross the road. Then we stopped where we heard the loud songs of Chorus Frogs. We also saw a Bull Frog there. While Bill did the GPS work, Barbara collected bottles, cans and garbage along the side of the road.
We evaluated the sites as follows:
SFalls 164A good shrike habitat
SFalls 164B good habitat in south, mediocre in north
SFalls 163E good habitat
SFalls 163J poor habitat due to lack of perching sites
SFalls 166I poor habitat due to lack of perching sites
We went home via Co Road 8 and checked Bellamy Lake for waterfowl, but there was nothing there yet. We took Richmond Road, stopping at the traditional Upland Sandpiper site. Here we spotted an Eastern Meadowlark close to the road, but it moved much further back where we obtained a photo.
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