August 11, 2026
Birding Report by Jane Burgess
We met at Andrew
Haydon Park, when Bill, Barbara and I arrived, everyone else (Barb, Guy,
Eleanor, Alan and Carol) were already there. I asked Eleanor anything
good, Wood Duck, Mallard and Canada geese, nothing else. No shorebirds.
D. Simpson later pointed out a Green Heron. Guy and Barb had
already seen 2 Green Herons when they went down to see the Greater White
Fronted Goose. A Great Egret flew in and of course there were
Ring-billed Gulls flying about. Ann joined us and Ian came walking up
the path.
After a lot of chit chat, we decided to check out the Purple Martins and then go to Shirley's Bay. No Purple Martins.
We
drove up to see the one Osprey on the nest, took a few photos and drove
to Shirley's Bay. While we were parking we noticed a Cedar Waxwing.
Eleanor found a single Spotted Sandpiper. A pair of Double-crested
Cormorants flew by. Again we stayed there for a while, I think Guy and I
were the ones that walked around checking for more birds, well there
just were not. Ann said she couldn't stand around, she would drive
around. That was the last we saw of her. While we were leaving the
parking lot a Gray Catbird made itself known then came out to look
around.
The group decided they wished to drive
directly to Constance Bay via March Road rather than March Valley etc
route. Well we found out that was a big mistake, construction held us
up for at least 30 minutes, maybe it was shorter than that but it
definitely felt like 30 minutes. While we were driving up to Constance
Bay we got a call from Ian wondering where we were, guess he did not
have to wait to be let through the construction.
We
stopped to look for Eastern Meadowlarks, the only one to see one was
Barb Chouinard. We drove to Bruce Di Labio's place. The house opposite
him had a good feeding station -- Cedar Waxwing, Black-capped Chickadee
and Chipping Sparrow. At Bruce's place a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers,
Blue Jays and a Hairy Woodpecker. We stayed a while hoping for
Red-headed Woodpeckers, nope nothing came in. We decided to drive
around, Bill said lets try the trail we saw them at last year, we saw a
doe and twins. A man who lives close to the trail warned us about a
buck. We left the trail and drove some more. Bill suggested a
place for lunch, Barb C. had suggestd the day earlier we all bring
chairs, so we could listen to me talk about my SE Asia trip. We all sat
around, not Guy who decided to stand and we chatted, yes about my trip
but other things as well, soccer but more interesting AI and the Pompei
Papyri. Guy had read the book when he was in his 20's but the
interesting part was how AI helped those people to read them. That Guy
is an interesting guy. While I was talking about PNG and how I had
green long beans, Guy knew just how long those beans were -- they grow
up to 3 feet long, when I saw them they looked much longer than that.
When I saw them in PNG my take was if I had bought just one, it would
probably last a week at my house. Barb surprised me by bringing some
cupcakes that had on the 4100,Congrats. Slow me thought all our
birthdays don't add up to 4100. Dah, how slow I am, the 4100 referred to
the life list number. So thoughtful. We all enjoyed the cupcakes.
Thank you Barb. Eleanor announced she had heard a Red-eyed Vireo.
Time
to get birding again, we drove over to Bruce's place. Crows were at
the feeder. We watched for a while and then we decided to go, I went
back to tell the others, Carol and Barb were watching Blue Jays. Wait a
minute says Carol, that one is not a Blue Jay, YES a juvenile
Red-headed Woodpecker. Lots of photos later. The mature ones did not
come in, but we got to see a Red-headed Woodpecker. Ian, Carol and
Alan left us at this point
We drove home via
Thomas Dolan and stopped at Constance Creek. As we drove up a Great
Blue Heron flew off. As we were getting out of the car we saw two Barn
Swallows. No ducks on the water, but there was a juvenile Osprey on the
nest, an adult flew in and there was another adult calling. Eleanor
saw a Swamp Sparrow.
We then went to Berry Side
Road. Eleanor saw a Green Heron fly in, while we were looking at where
the duck was. While walking to the vehicles another Green Heron flew
in, landed relatively close to us, then left -- making it the 5 Green
Heron of the day. Barb and Eleanor took a different way home than us.
We checked out the lagoons on March Valley Road, a family of ducks. We also saw an Eastern Kingbird on our way home.
It
was a relatively quiet day -- just a couple of American Robins, no
Red-winged Blackbirds, no Tree Swallows, very few sparrows. They must
know something we don't know. Time to head south.
Species Seen
- Wood Duck
- Green Heron
- Great Egret
- Mallard
- Ring-billed Gull
- Greater White-fronted Goose
- Canada Goose
- Double-crested Cormorant
- European Starling
- Mourning Dove
- Osprey
- American Robin
- Turkey Vulture
- Cedar Waxwing
- Gray Catbird
- American Crow
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Common grackle
- Downy Woodpecker
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Bald Eagle
- Song Sparrow Rey-eyed Vireo
- Common raven
- Northern Cardinal
- Eastern Phoebe
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Kingbird
- Barn Swallow
- Great Blue Heron
- Eastern Kingbird
- American Goldfinch
- Swamp Sparrow
Critters Noted
- White-tail Deer
- Bullfrog
