Fletcher & Dow's Lake with JC Brding

 December 2, 2025

Biding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill and I met at Fletcher's Garden at 8:00 - I was a bit late and he was early. There were lots of birds around the feeder - White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and then the late arrivals about 5 House Finch.  Bill had indicated there had been a White-throated Sparrow there as well - I saw it later after walking around Fletcher.

We walked to the back feeder, we saw a couple of Chickadees, we walked through the woods, looking for owls, we came upon some Juncos and Cardinals foraging in the low vegetation.  Some American Goldfinch flew in.   We walked down the hill a bit, nothing, we walked over to the evergreens, nothing.  While leaving the woods we heard something in a pile of branches, we could not see any birds, the sound came from a squirrel eating right dead centre of the pile,  a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.  We saw several flocks of Canada Geese flying overhead along with a couple of American Crows.

It was cold so maybe those little birds are smarter than us and are huddled somewhere warmer.  We drove over to the agriculture building to use the facilities, just to get a bit of warmth.  My hands were quite red from the cold so I ran the hand dryer to warm them up.  I even put my mitts up to the hand drying to warm them up.  Sure that helped for maybe 2 minutes.

We are hardy or maybe just focused.  My goal was to get more than 14 species.  We walked down to Dow Lake, the lake looked frozen, but there had to be an open area because we kept seeing Canada Geese taking off.  We walked closer and found the open water, I thought just Mallards, wrong, not a Mallard in sight.  But Common Goldeneye and Lesser Scaup.  Bill had walked closer to the lake than me and he said Barrow's Goldeneye, in fact there were two of them.  Just before we left a Herring Gull flew in.  We heard a Common Raven above us.   Making a grand total of 15 species in our 2 hours of birding.

Time to go home.  I was hosting a birder get-together in the  early afternoon and had to do a few things before they arrived, mainly I wanted to get a few minutes of sleep (that did not happen).

Best bird of the day had to be the 2 Barrow's Goldeneye.  Easy to find amongst maybe 20 Common Goldeneye.  One can easily see the difference when you check out the photos.

Species Noted 

1. Dark-eyed Junco
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Black-capped Chickadee
4. Downy Woodpecker
5. House Finch
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Canada Goose
8. American Goldfinch
9. White-throated Sparrow
10. American Crow
11. Lesser Scaup
12. Common Goldeneye
13. Barrow's goldeneye
14. Herring Gull
15. Common Raven

Billings Bridge

 December 1, 2025

We hoped that the Harlequin Duck would still be around, but there was no sign of it.

Westmeath to Lake Doré with JC Birding

 November 18, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met at Eagleson Park & Ride.  We took two vehicles - Barb C and Ian in one vehicle and Bill, Barbara, Eleanor and I in the other. Of course the first stop was Antrim Truck Stop for their baked goods.

We drove to the Cobden boat launch, where we saw Hairy Woodpecker, Hooded Merganser and Mallards.  It was cold so Barbara, Bill and I went back to sit in the car.  I knew what Barb C was looking for and she and Eleanor found one -- Common Loon. We backtracked a bit to Foresters Falls Road.  Bill had a plan but there was a road closure so the plan changed.

We drove down Beachburg Road and we spotted some Hooded Mergansers on Little Lakes.  Eleanor pointed to a small parking lot.  Out came the scopes -- what - White-wing Scoter (good one and close). Well close is a relative thing, when we see White-wing Scoter at Shirley's Bay, they are usually very far away.  There were also common Goldeneye.  A common Raven flew by letting us know he was there.

We finally ended up on Pleasant Valley Road - oh we were happy.  Sandhill cranes about 300 of them.  Bill said there are some on the other side.  We drove up a bit and wow - at least a 1000 of them.  Various places along our route we saw smaller flocks of the Cranes.  In total we estimated we saw at least 2000 of them.  Let me get back to us seeing the 1000 or so, we see this huge bird in the tree in front of us -- Juvenile Bald Eagle.  During the day we saw at least 6 or 7 more.  With one we debated whether it was a Golden Eagle, no slight dihedral, Bill took a photo and said Bald Eagle.  I believe we saw maybe 2 full adults, the others various stages of juvenile.  I remember I think it was last year we saw some very dark large birds, it took a while before we came up with Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Bill was driving along and I asked him to stop.  There in the field was a large dark bird, we all thought turkey, but something was old about it.  Ian took a photo, another juvenile Bald Eagle.  Scratch Wild Turkey from the list. 

Of course while we were driving the roads, we saw many, many flocks of Canada Geese.

We had our lunch at the Westmeath Boat Launch.

Next up was Lake Dore -- this was a good stop. We brought our scopes to the shore.   We thought there were just 4 Trumpeter Swans. No, there must have been maybe 10 o4 12, because when we drove around the lake we saw more and more.  While looking at the first four, we noticed a Grebe mmm Red necked or Horned.  After the discussion all agreed it was a Red-necked Grebe because of how large it was and the size of the bill. At some point, I turned around and saw a Pileated Woodpecker, I called the others attention to it.  We were packing up, but Eleanor was still checking out of the water.  Come look at this, is this a gull or a long-tailed duck.  It was far, but definitely a Long-tail Duck, because of the long tail, head shape and how fast the bird was moving in the water.  

All and all an excellent day - Sandhill cranes in numbers, lots of Bald Eagles, Long Tailed Duck, Common Loon.   We were happy with the day, But any day birding is good, but today was particularly good.

Thanks Bill and Ian for driving.

Thanks for the photos.

Species Noted

1.     Black-capped Chickadee
2.     Dark-eyed Junco
3.     Canada Goose
4.     American Crow
5.     Ring-billed Gull
6.     Hairy Woodpecker
7.     Hooded Merganser
8.     Mallard
9.     Common Loon
10.     Common Raven
11.     Blue Jay
12.     White-winged Scoter
13.     Common Goldeneye
14.     European Starling
15.     Rock Pigeon
16.     Sandhill Cranes
17.     Bald Eagle
18.     Mourning Dove
19.     Snow Buntings
20.     American Goldfish
21.     Trumpeter Swan
22.     Pileated Woodpecker
23.     Bufflehead
24.     Long-tailed Duck
25.     Lesser Scaup
26.     Red-necked Grebe

Dick Bell to Richmond and Our First Snowy Owl

 November 15, 2025

We found our first Red-breasted Mergansers of the season along with a sleeping White-winged Scoter. On Rushmore, we saw our first Snowy Owl of the season.  Many photographers were traipsing across the private muddy fields to get close, but we stayed back.

Richmond to North Gower with JC Brding

 November 11, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I got a text at 6:00 a.m. indicating Eleanor would not be joining us.  So Bill (Barbara wasn't feeling 100%) and I went birding today and the first place we went was Akins road. We saw a mixed  flock of at least 200 Snow Buntings and Horned Larks.  Oh we were happy seeing those fellows.  We watched them for at least 30 minutes, always coming back to the same area for what looked like grit.  Bill will check his photos for Lapland Longspurs.

We then drove down Barnsdale Road  to behind Moodie Pond.  Before we got out of the vehicle, high in the sky we saw a Rough-legged Hawk.  We were hopeful that we may see it again as we would be going to the dump area.  We stopped behind the pond -- lots of Canada Geese, 15 or so Green-wing Teal and 1 Black Duck and of course Mallards.

We turned on Trail Road and stopped near the dump and were checking out Dark-eyed Junco and American Tree Sparrows, when we saw this larger bird (larger than a junco but not as big as a Blue Jay) clinging onto the fence, it had a longish tail and a killer beak.  OMG Northern Shrike, up close and personal.  We saw it  first in the chain link fence around the dump (see a not so great photo).  I have never seen a Northern Shrike  clinging to a chain linked fence before,  always on top of a tree. It flew and finally decided on a small shrub.  What a great find.  We were happy campers for certain.  

We then drove around to the other side of the dump and drove down Cambrian Road, there must have been 1000+ European Starlings filling up at least three or four trees (see Bill's photos).  On a light standard in the dump area,  there was one single Common Raven.

Next up - Moody Pond.  Well Barb C would have been happy, we saw one Common Loon. one Black-back Gull, Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls and 100's of Canada Geese.  On the way to the next stop we saw a small flock of Wild Turkeys.  Dobson Rd was a big disappointment - no birds.  

Next road was Goodstown road, there is this one home that has amazing bird feeders and today was not a disappointment - Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatches and Dark-eyed Juncos and then on the return trip we saw Northern Cardinal and Black-capped Chickadees.

We stopped birding at 10:50 to about 11:20 to listen to the Remembrance Day coverage that was on the CBC.

Bill asked where to next, my response was I don't know the name of the street, you know the place where we see Snow buntings and sometimes Lapland Longspurs on corn spills on the road -- good thing Bill and I have been birding a long while,  He knew exactly where it was - Lockhead.  We got there and parked beside Foster Farms - so many Rock Pigeons, Ring-billed Gulls.  The American Crows were definitely in the minority and so many Snow Buntings and Horned Larks.  We watched them and took photos, they were in the fields and close or  on the road.  Of course trucks and cars passed and  frightened them away, but they came back.  After we finished looking at the birds we drove further down the road past the North Gower Grains where there are about 20 silos altogether.  Bill was headed for the little hill that has lots of trees on it.  He started to say something but  didn't get out of his mouth, when a Red-tailed Hawk flew from the trees.  Bill got out of the vehicle but it was on a mission and  took off to places unknown.   We turned around and drove to the other end of Lockhead, a small flock of Snow buntings.  We decided we would go back and watch the show as we ate our lunch.  Sadly the Buntings and Larks had flown, except for a few.

The last stop was Richmond Storm Ponds.  My, oh my many many Canada Geese and Bill found one Hooded Merganser and two Mallards.

On our birding journey we saw many many Canada Geese in the fields and flying south.  Eleanor would have had a challenge estimating the number of Canada Geese for the ebird report.

We were home around 1:45.  I was cold and in fact I am still cold and it's 6:00, but we had a good day.

 The absolute best bird of the day was the Northern Shrike.

Species Noted

1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Dark-eyed Junco
3. Northern Cardinal
4. Canada Geese
5. American Crow
6. Horned Larks
7. Snow Buntings
8. Rough-legged Hawk
9. Green-winged Teal
10. Mallard
11. Black Duck
12. Tree Sparrow
13. Northern Shrike
14. Herring Gull
15. American Goldfinch
16. European Starling
17. Common Raven
18. Common Loon
19. Great Black-backed Gull
20. Wild Turkey'
21. Blue Jay
22. Mourning Dove
23. House Sparrow
24. Hairy Woodpecker
25. White-breasted Nuthatch
26. Rock Pigeon
27. Red-tail Hawk
28. Hooded Merganser