Trip Leader: Alfred
Participants: Fred , Bonnie, Judy, Margaret, Liz, James, Werner, Blain and Marg, Carole, Norma, Stewart, Alfred, Arlene, Norah, Jim, , Judith, Peter, Dougl, Kim , Liz , Bruce, Mike, Doug and BJ, Kay and John
Hi Everyone,
Thank you to Alfred for leading a great hike today. We concentrated on the areas from Dyers Bay Road up to Singing Sands Beach on the Bruce Peninsula. Thanks to Alfred, we had the best day ever in our history on Dyers Bay Road and Bartley Drive.
Twenty seven of us experienced many highlights and there were some spectacular ones:
On Bartley Road, there was bare tree top which was visited in a relatively quick sequence by a Brown Thrasher, followed by a second one, then came a well received Eastern Towhee followed by an Indigo Bunting. There was a fly past of 5 migrating immature Broad-winged Hawks identified by Alfred. The immatures migrate later according to Alfred and were on time. Also, there was an Alder Flycatcher who was singing non stop in an exposed position. Oh, did I mention that we had 68 Cedar Waxwings sitting in a tree.
On Dyers Bay, we had 3 scopes going at once and in one we had an American Bittern, in the second a Wilson's Snipe and in the 3rd we had a pair of Sandhilll Cranes with one young. In the background was a Brown Thrasher singing loudly and in front of us was a coy and secretive Sora Rail calling who exasperated the 27 of us as we tried hard to find him. This was at the spot where 2 ponds are across the road from each other. All this action was happening at the same time. Not bad, eh!
And then on Crane Lake Road in the grassy area there was a drama being played out. A Black Bear was taken on by 2 Sandhill Cranes with a young one. The first one went ahead with the bear following and then turned on the bear, and the second SACR was pecking the bear on the butte relentlessly forcing him to run. Both Cranes had their wings up and the bear was intimidated and wanted out of there. Great fun, watching with the SACR's winning hands down. Smiles everywhere from the crowd.
It was a grand day, at times hot with temperatures varying from 19 to 25 C. Sunny with moderate winds and a little breezy on the fields of Crane Lake Road.
We had lunch at the Crane Lake parking lot at the end.
63 species of birds were seen.
Best comment of the day was from Doug who said, "I have never birded with such a relaxed group of birders before."
Places visited.
1 - En Route
2 - Dyer's Bay Road
3 - Bartley Drive
4 - Lyndsay Road 40 - Sparrow Fields
5 - Crane Lake Road
6 Singing Sands.
• American Bittern - 2
• Great Blue Heron -2.6
• Canada Goose
• Mallard -2
• Blue-winged Teal -2
• Turkey Vulture
• Broad-winged Hawk -3
• Red-tailed Hawk -6
• American Kestrel -6
• Virginia Rail -2
• Sora -2
• Sandhill Crane -2,4,5
• Killdeer
. Upland Sandpiper
• Ring-billed Gull
• Mourning Dove
• Rock Pigeon
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird -3,6
• Northern Flicker
• Alder Flycatcher -3
• Great Crested Flycatcher -3,6
• Eastern Kingbird
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Blue Jay
• Common Raven
• American Crow
• N Rough-winged Swallow -2
• Bank Swallow - 2
• Tree Swallow -1.2 3.6
• Cliff Swallow -2, 5
• Barn Swallow -2.3
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Eastern Bluebird -2,5
• American Robin
• Gray Catbird
• Brown Thrasher 2,3
• European Starling
• Cedar Waxwing 2.3.4
• Blue-winged Warbler -4
• Golden-winged Warbler -4
• Nashville Warbler -6
• Yellow Warbler 3,6
• Chestnut-sided Warbler 3, 4,5,6
• Magnolia Warbler -6
• Black-throated Green 3,4,5
• American Redstart -5
• Ovenbird 2,
• Common Yellowthroat -3, 5
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting -3
• Eastern Towhee -3
• Field Sparrow -3,4
• Clay-coloured Sparrow -4
• Chipping Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow -1,2
• Song Sparrow
• Eastern Meadowlark -2, 4,
• Bobolink -2
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Baltimore Oriole
• American Goldfinch
Any errors or omissions, please contact sender.