June 3, 2025
Birding
report
written by Barb Chouinard
The weather forecast was for a very hot day today but the morning was very cool and windy. It did not warm up until we were sitting having lunch at the Mississippi River shores in Almonte. It was beautiful by then.
Barbara and Bill, Ken, Ian, Carol and Allan and Barbc met up at the Eagleson Park and Ride at 7:30am. I was there early and managed to phish out from the bushes bordering the parking lot: a Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and a Gray Catbird. The Warbling Vireo just stayed where it was warbling away. We loaded up into two vehicles and were on our way to Almonte.
I checked the north side of the Queensway for the Red tailed Hawk that often seen sitting in a dead tree or snag after the Terry Fox exit. Not there today.
First stop was Burnt Lands Provincial Park. Traffic was busy on March Road and we parked in the two spots that are available. We headed along the trail. There was a lot of bird activity with many Sparrows calling. We had good looks at the Grasshopper Sparrow. It took a while to find the Clay coloured Sparrow but also, once we found it, we had good looks at it. There were many Field and Song Sparrows. There were several of us that ran Merlin as we walked down the trail. What a nice toy/tool. We could hear a Brown Thrasher, Merlin said it was a Brown Thrasher, but the bird just did not want to come closer for a good look. It was always a long way away. Thank you to Allan for bringing his scope on the trail. It was so nice so see some far away birds up a bit closer. Up in the sky, we had a raptor, a Broad winged Hawk. Then a bit later, we saw a Great Blue Heron flying across the Burnt lands. There were strings of Canada Geese in the sky. As we passed the concrete building on the trail, we kept our eyes out for the Eastern Towhee. Carol recognized the call and eventually we saw the pretty bird. We were also hoping to see a Vesper Sparrow but there were none here.
Ken suggested going down the “road” on the west side of Burnt Lands. This is very rough car/trail with lots of crater holes, many with water today. Last year this is the spot where the Vesper Sparrow was found. Not today. We did see a mystery raptor at Burnt Lands: Red tailed or Red shouldered?? We have to wait for the photos to be examined to find out: stay tuned. Bill and Allan are good drivers and we had no problems getting in and getting out of the rough road.
After about two hours we left the Burnt Lands. We had hoped to find sparrows here and we did: Song, Field, Savannah, Clay coloured and Grasshopper. In the next stop we would add White throated and House. I think Ian got some good photos of these along with Bill, and Ken and Barbara.
We continued down March Road with a right turn onto Ramsay Concession 12. Bill explained that this road turns into a trail and ends at Panmure. We heard many “Many “Sweet Canada Canada” bird calls along this road. We ended up at the paved turn-around and got out of our vehicles. We viewed the flooded trail which is common at this time of year. The marsh had several birds calling: Alder and Least Flycatchers. We heard a nearby Black and White Warbler and tried to find it but could not. This road is often a good spot for birds. Today there were lovely Yellow Lady’s Slipper in bloom. Barbara took photos of them and so did some of us.
From here we drove into Almonte and it was noon. Time for lunch and a health break. The sun was up and warming up everything. We sat at a picnic bench by the water. While we ate and chatted, we scanned for birds in the water: just Mallards and along the water: nothing. Allan did find us an adult Bald Eagle flying in the sky. Just beautiful. We were happy to see it.
From here we went on to the Almonte Lagoons. Walking in, we saw a sparrow on top of a pile of rubble. It was another Savannah Sparrow. Ken found a Killdeer. There were many Canada Geese in the lagoons. Some of the geese had young. We scanned the lagoons for something other than the geese. Allan found Blue winged Teal (I know several duck species were mentioned before it was settled what the ducks were) so I am not sure what the final ID was on the ducks. The ducks disappeared and several of us including me did not see them at all. Carol found a Spotted Sandpiper. There was a Hooded Merganser with a youngster that was learning to dive and hunt which was interesting to watch.
We decided there was time for one more stop. We headed to St George’s Anglican Cemetery. From Wolf Grove Road one turns onto Boland Road. From the corner the right side of the road is beautifully landscaped with Hostas and other perennials. A couple of years ago, we met the lady who lives directly across the road who is responsible for this very pretty roadside garden. Today we met her husband who is a very busy farmer with fields and cows. He had 14 calves this spring. He was very friendly also.
We parked by the cemetery and before we got out, Bill had spotted an Eastern Blue Bird; a very pretty bird in the sunshine. This was our target bird here and there were several flying around. We also saw and heard Eastern Meadowlark and Bobolink. More photos were taken.
We were happy with this stop. It was almost 3 pm and time to head home. We said our goodbyes. Bill took Golden Line Road to Old Almonte Road. In the car we mentioned that it was strange that we had not any Wild Turkeys yet today. Wild Turkeys are one of Bill’s “special birds”. I am not sure it is a favourite of Bill’s as one attacked Bill last year. But on the way home we saw a couple of Wild Turkeys. Also we saw a young heifer right on the country road. It was an escapee from the farm yard and we looked but there was no one nearby to let them know. Eventually we ended up on Richardson Side Road and with a bit of a drive we were on the Queensway getting off at Eagleson.
A most excellent birding day with many laughs and great birds. Ian kept us entertained talking about John Cleese, Monty Python and Ian’s real life experiences with British headmasters. This conversation was started by someone saying turn right and right again. I mentioned this how the Headmaster played by John Cleese in the movie “Clockwise” got lost by the British Saying “Right Right” as an affirmative, while the real directions were to go left. The movie is hilarious and one of those family favourites when my kids were growing up.
Thanks to Bill and Allan for driving and Barbara for her scenery photos. I think there were several ID photos to study to come from Bill and Ken and Ian (sparrow and hawk flying).
Species
Noted by Ken
1. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
2. Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)
3. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
4. Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
5. Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
6. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral
Pigeon))
7. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
8. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
9. Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
10. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
11. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
12. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
13. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
14. Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
15. Red-tailed Hawk (borealis) (Buteo jamaicensis borealis)
16. Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) (Colaptes auratus
auratus/luteus)
17. Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum)
18. Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus)
19. Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)
20. Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)
21. Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)
22. Warbling Vireo (Eastern) (Vireo gilvus gilvus)
23. Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)
24. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
25. Common Raven (Corvus corax)
26. Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
27. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
28. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
29. Northern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
30. European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
31. Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)
32. Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)
33. Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
34. American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
35. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
36. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
37. Purple Finch (Eastern) (Haemorhous purpureus purpureus)
38. American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
39. Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)
40. Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
41. Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida)
42. Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)
43. White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
44. Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
45. Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
46. Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)
47. Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)
48. Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)
49. Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
50. Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
51. Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
52. Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla)
53. Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
54. Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla)
55. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
56. American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)
57. Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)
58. Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica)
59. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
No comments:
Post a Comment