Trip Leader: James
Participants: Fred, Bonnie, Dave, Margaret, James, Ralph and Mary Anne, Carole, Norma, Arlene, Judith, Judith, Liz, Bruce, Mike and Helen, Jim, Melitta
HI Everyone,
This was our last outing for 2012. We don't do a second hike in December since many of us participate in area Christmas Bird Counts. James Turland runs the KIncardine one and it is on the 3rd Thursday of this month just one day after what would have been on our not scheduled 2nd outing for December. If you get the urge to get out in that week, then email James and he will be happy to let you join in.
Thank you to James for leading a great hike today. The birds were hiding in the strong winds and the cool temperatures but never-the-less we had some great birds and found 36 species.
At Boiler Beach, the wind was blowing at 45 K, the waves were crashing in and in a spirit of adventure we had a great time walking the beach in those conditions. There were smiles everywhere. The highlights of the day were the gulls, especially at Point Clark where we saw an immature Glaucous Gull, an adult Great Black-backed Gull and an adult Icelandic Gull all lined up in a row and viewable together in a scope. This will probably be the only time this will happen to the BBC again. At Baie du D'or we had an immature Icelandic Gull sitting reasonably close by.
The weather: Flurries, a high of 1 C, winds of 45 K in the morning. The sky was overcast and the winds slowed to about 20 K in the afternoon.
The winter schedule will be out by the end of the week. Our first scheduled outing is the Saugeen Shores Christmas Bird Count on January 2, 2013. Email Norah if you are coming. She will assign you to an area and and the group of people you will be doing them with. Email her at ntoth@rogers.com
What a wonderful birding year it was. The Glaucous Gull we got today was probably BBC's 203rd bird of 2012. When Tony and Mary do their magic with the numbers, I will send all of you the list of this year's sightings.
Wishing you all much happiness and good health through the holidays and forever after that.
Take care,
Fred
Birds seen and places visited:
1)- en route
2)- KIncardine Sewage Lagoons
3) - Run off ponds in new survey near the sewage lagoons
4) - Boiler Beach
5) - Bruce's Beach
6)- Point Clark
7) - KIncardine Harbour
8) - The Arch - private property
9) - Baie Du Or
• Horned Grebe (HOGR) -4
• Wild Turkey (WITU)- 1
• Mute Swan (MUSW) -9
• Canada Goose -(CANG)
• Mallard (MALL)
• American Black Duck (ABDU) -9
• Redhead (REDH) 5 A flotilla of just REDH
• Lesser Scaup (LESC) - 2
• White-winged Scoter (WWSC)-4 (dead on beach)
• Common Goldeneye (COGO) - 3.4.6.7,9
• Hooded Merganser (HOME) -3
• Common Merganser (COME)- 3,4,6,9
• Red-breasted Merganser (RBME) -3.4.6.9
• Bald Eagle (BAEA) -1,9
• American Kestrel (AMKE) -1
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Bonaparte's Gull (BOGU) -7
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Herring Gull (HEGU)
• Iceland Gull (ICGU) 6,9
• Glaucous Gull (GLGU) - 6
• Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG) 4,6,9
• Red-bellied Woodpecker (RBWO) -8
• Downy Woodpecker (DOWO) -2,8
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• Common Raven (CORA) -2
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU)-2
. Red-breasted Nuthatch (RBNU) -8
• Dark-eyed Junco (DEJU)
• House Sparrow (HOSP) -8
• Common Redpoll (CORE) -8
• American Goldfinch (AMGO) -8
• European Starling (EUST)
Number of species seen - 36