Text by Jane
Tuesday evening I received an email from Connie indicating that it would be cold Wednesday and to dress warmly. So I put on my winter coat, toque, boots and warm mittens. Thank you Connie we certainly did need them. Wednesday was cold, don't know what I will do when winter comes.
We
(Connie, Barb C., Sami and me) first birded on Jeanne D'arc Blvd and
there we found a small flock of House Finches with a single Purple
Finch. There also was a Hairy Woodpecker, several Downy Woodpeckers and
many Dark-eyed Juncos.
We drove down towards
Petrie Island, where we met Bill and Barb, who had been there for 30
minutes freezing while looking at the Green-wing Teal, single Northern
Shoveler and the many Mallards. We drove over the causeway and parked
our vehicles, then tried to determine (without using our scopes) who the
raptor was perched far in a tree. The photographers took their cameras
and finally a scope was brought out - Kestral. There was nothing
really special along the path; another fast moving raptor flew by, we
could not determine what species it was since it just kept on flying. I
guess only the bird knows for sure.
When we
were leaving the Petrie Island area, stop the car, look up, a Bald
Eagle. We drove down Jeanne D'arc again and the single eagle morphed
into two Bald Eagles. Great looks. We saw another eagle (or was it
just one of the pair) in the Giroux Pond area.
At
Giroux Pond, we saw lots of Northern Pintail, a Bufflehead, Common
Merganser (5) , Hooded Merganser (2), Blue-wing Teal (1) and a Double
Crested Cormorant. It was nearing lunch time, just too cold to have a
picnic outside so we headed for the Navan arena.
Next,
lets find us some Sandhill Cranes. We checked out Smith, Milton,
Perreault and finally Trim where we saw 24. It is always good to see
Sandhill Cranes.
Barb and Bill left us. We decided we should
check out Mer Bleue, we drove down Milton, stop the car I think I see
something. A Northern Harrier hovering, looking for food. Drove on a
bit further, stop the car and single Rusty Blackbird and a large flock
of Red-wing Blackbirds.
Next Farmers Way to
find some Wild Turkeys and then off to Mer Bleue. A single American
Tree Sparrow and 2 Fox Sparrows were feeding around the latrine area.The
Fox Sparrows were the last species of the day, an excellent way to end
the day.
Species Seen
Jeanne D'arc Blvd.
1. Rock Dove
2. Purple Finch
3. House Finch
4. Hairy Woodpecker
5. Downy Woodpecker
6. Dark-eyed Junco
7. House Sparrow
Petrie Island
8. Mallard
9. Black Duck
10. Green-wing Teal
11. Canada Goose
12. Northern Shoveler
13. Northern Cardinal
14. Ring-bill Gull
15. Merlin
16. White-crowned Sparrow
17. Black-capped Chickadee
18. American Crow
19. American Robin
20. White-breasted Nuthatch
21. American Goldfinch
22. Bald Eagle (2)
23. Common Raven
Reginbald
24. European Starling
Giroux Pond
25. Blue-wing Teal
26. Common Merganser
27. Hooded Merganser
28. Bufflehead
29. Northern Pintail
30. Double-crested Cormorant
Trim
31. Mourning Dove
32. Sandhill Cranes (24)
Milton
33. Northern Harrier
34. Red-wing Blackbird
35. Rusty Blackbird (2nd sighting for me this season)
36. Blue Jay
Farmers Way
37. Wild Turkey
Mer Bleue
38. American Tree Sparrow (first for the season for us)
39. Fox Sparrow (first for the season for me)
