September 2, 2025
Birding Report
written by Barb Chouinard
Now to
answer the question that arises from the above.
YES we did see a Loggerhead Shrike.... flying. Bill called it out and the Shrike flew by and
out of sight for the day! We could not
re-locate the Shrike. We did not find
the structures that are way out in a particular field that home the birds
before they are released and also provide some food to the youngsters while
they learn to hunt prey. I did
recognize the area but the vegetation has grown so much, one does not see the
structures. They are still there as a
local farmer stopped to talk to us. He
farms on Nugent and told us the structures were still out in the wildly
forested field. We searched high and
low for Loggerhead Shrike and did not see another one.
So let’s
start with our hot but comfortable day.
Jane had a cold so she kept herself at home today. She has to rest up and conquer this cold so
she can leave for her Uganda Birding Adventure in a couple of weeks. We missed you Jane.
So four of
us (Ian and Barbara and Bill and Barb) left the Bowman’s laneway at 7:05 this
morning. It was sunny and cool enough
for a hoodie (Ian), long-sleeved T-shirt (Barb), a long sleeved shirt (Barbara)
and a light jacket (Bill). The sky was
blue with some clouds. Bill had a good
idea and had selected a route that kept us off the 401 to get the Napanee
Plain. The Barbaras were in the back
seats and Ian was riding shotgun. From
the 417 we took highway 7.
We looked
at a tree and there were about a dozen Turkey Vultures still in their night
roost by the looks of it. We wondered
what “collective noun could be used to describe this group. Ian quickly looked it up on the internet and:
A bunch sitting is called a
Committee of Turkey Vultures,
a bunch flying is a Kettle of Turkey
Vultures
a bunch munching on carrion is
appropriately called a Wake of Turkey Vultures.
So this was a Committee of Turkey
Vultures in the tree. Perhaps they were
planning out each Vulture’s surveillance territory for the day.
We continued on Highway 7 until
after Sharbot Lake and then headed south.
We continued on our way. We saw a Great Blue Heron and some Rock
Pigeons sitting on a silo. A group of
Rock pigeons is simply called a Flock of Pigeons. In flight they are called a Flight of
Pigeons.
There seemed to be a dearth of birds
around. It was strangely silent when we
stopped. I mentioned that MAYBE today we
will have a raptor day, since we were looking for a Shrike. Within minutes, while driving on a curve,
Bill spotted a raptor on the hydro wire.
We turned around and the bird was still there. This was just before Tichborne and before
Parham. Photos were taken and the ID was
a Broad winged Hawk. The hawk flew off
and we continued on.
The country roads were paved and
were hilly and curvy. Up the road we
spotted Bill’s favourite, about 4 Wild Turkeys.
The four crossed the road but the 5th still tried to cross
the road to follow the other 4. These
were youngsters but not poults. They
were pretty big. Hopefully the 5th
one made it across after safely. We
continued our drive.
On another curve I looked into the
marsh as we drove by and saw 3 Swans. We
had to go up the road a bit to find a turnaround and came back to the marsh to
check things out. The country road was
pretty quiet and narrow and curvy, so we parked at a no trespassing sign on a
gated lane on Mountain Road. No one was
around and the road was too narrow to park on the side of the road. Looking into the marsh we found 4 Trumpeter
Swans and a Great Blue Heron and two Common Loons.
We drove through places named
Tamworth and Parham. Ian would comment
that in the UK, there were towns with similar names.
We arrived at the Loggerhead Shrike
area. We drove down County Road 27 to
Nugent Road and slowly drove down the road.
We saw some activity in the bushes by the road. We got out and there were several Palm
Warblers each pumping its tail. Bill
also spotted a Cedar waxwing that was with the warblers. The roads and fields and crop edges were
mostly dried out. There was a field of
Soy beans that did not look that great.
Roadside bushes and trees were totally dried out. Fields were brown. This is a result of the drought Ontario is
going through this year. A farmer
stopped to talk with us and he lived on Nugent.
He said he had not seen the Shrikes but the shelter and feeding
structures were still way out in the field and said we could probably see them
on the adjoining cross road. Barbara was
down the road taking scenery photos and looking out for a Shrike. So we went back to County Road 27. We spotted an Eastern Kingbird. It was hot by now but there was a gentle
breeze. It was after 11 am and since we
had an early start today, everyone was starting to think about lunch and maybe
a bathroom stop.
Bill asked if we wanted to go to
this area that he had visited while on an outing with the Kingston field naturalists. Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Area (I may
not have the exact name of the place).
It felt like a winding route to get there. Several right turns and lefts and it seemed
that we did not go far. We found the
park and a Rustic Outhouse (one door did not close but swung open!). We used the “facilities”. There was a large pavilion with picnic
benches and it was shady to sit there and have lunch. There was an elevated observation
platform. I headed for this right away,
forget lunch!
The wide, beautiful marsh vista was
a huge surprise as it seemed too big for the several short roads we took to get
there. There appeared to be lots of
water here and we saw two Common Loons.
One was a juvenile and the other still had adult plumage. Ian spotted a Grebe and managed to get a
photo. It looked like a Red necked Grebe. We later saw three more. The marsh was so vast, that some birds were
far far away. A duck could not be ID’d
easily: it turned out to be a Mallard.
Over to a rock crop in the water
there were Ring billed Gulls, and a Caspian Tern. After lunch we went back to scoping out the
area we ID’d a Bonaparte’s Gull, A Greater Yellowlegs, and one small shorebird
that Bill said could be a Semipalmated Sandpiper. There was also a Wimbrel on the rocks. This was a lovely marsh/lake.
The place was pretty deserted but there
was a couple at the boat launch. They
were hauling their boat in. Barbara and
Bill met a fellow who said he and his dog visit the area frequently. He asked Bill, “How did you find this
place”. Ian and I were on the viewing
platform for quite a while. It seemed
like birds came and went. We heard Sandhill
Cranes in the distance several times but could not locate them. We heard either a Flicker or a Pileated give
several short calls and it felt the sound came from far away. Nope, in the tree nearby the viewing
platform, out flew a Pileated Woodpecker.
Go figure. By this time it was
shortly before 2 pm. Bill asked if we
wanted to visit Moscow Pond. SURE.
Well it felt like we did some time
travel. We went through Verona to get to
Moscow and Moscow pond. The pond trail
was rustic. Ian spotted a Common
Gallinule here. It was nice to see one today. We decided to head home as it would take 2
hours to get home and rush hour in Ottawa would be starting.
We headed home with smiles on our
faces. It was a most excellent day!
A big Thank You to Bill for driving
all day. It was great to be all
together.
Thank you to the good spotting too
and thank you in advance for the photos.
There were nice birds seen and no
critters except for a large Northern Water Snake.
Birds Seen
1. American Goldfinch
2. American Crow
3. Turkey Vultures
4. Great Blue Heron
5. Rock Pigeons
6. Osprey on nest
7. European Starling
8. Wild Turkey
9. Mourning Dove
10. Canada Geese
11. Northern Flicker
12. Common Loon
13. Trumpeter Swan
14. Common Grackle
15. Palm Warbler
16. Blue Jay
17. Cedar Waxwing
18. Song Sparrow
19. Eastern Phoebe
20. Eastern Wood Peewee
21. Loggerhead Shrike
22. Eastern Kingbird
23. Great Egret
24. Caspian Tern
25. Red necked Grebe
26. Sandhill Crane – heard
27. Red-tailed Hawk
28. Double crested Cormorant
29. Whimbrel
30. Semi palmated Sandpiper
31. Greater Yellowlegs
32. Pileated Woodpecker
33. Bonaparte’s Gull
34. Herring Gull
35. Black capped Chickadee
36. Common Gallinule
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