Trip Leader: Bonnie
Participants: Fred, Bonnie, Wayne, Judy and Jim, Dorothy, Margaret, Liz S, James, Ralph and Mary Anne, Werner, Norma, Stewart, Arlene, Norah, Alice and John, Doug P, Liz A, Bruce E, Doug and BJ, Jim P, Joy, John and Kay, Bill K, Kerry, Melitta, Linda and Bob, Connie, Becky, Bob + Anne-Marie, Beryl P
HI Everyone,
Yesterday’s, all day eat and bird outing went very well. Starting with breakfast and working our way through supper, we had a wonderful eclectic mix of incredible tasty foods to eat the entire time. The pot luck concept seemed to bring out the best in everyone with their culinary skills. Wow, what a selection! This coupled with Bonnie’s and Wayne’s wonderful way of making us feel comfortable, relaxed and contented, made for a great a experience. Thank you, Bonnie and Wayne for making our day so pleasant and happy.
Thirty-eight people attended, yesterday’s outing.
We saw 79 species of birds yesterday. It was an 8 sparrow day, counting the Dark-eyed Junco while discounting the house sparrow as one of, the in crowd. And boy, that Vesper Sparrow, did he ever entertain. He gave us great long looks and sang loudly and clearly for us, A great bird just to see without the show he put on. The Purple Finch, is there anything more beautiful than a Purple Finch sitting with the sun basking in its bright cranberry colours? And a question, is seeing 9 Pine Siskins in a platform feeder inches away from the window some kind of record for a house feeder? And the poor American Woodcock. He is supposed to close the day with his display, and to great accolades from the parting crowd. He did his best and he did entertain. But as were leaving, along came two Sandhill Cranes in the dark night but still blue sky above, flying by, upstaging him, as the curtain closed on the day.
Thank you, Margaret for looking after the check list for us.
The weather was wonderful, starting out at about 0 C and getting up to 11 C. It was sunny all day and the winds were light. The shoreline except for Baie du Dor was mostly frozen making birding along the shore difficult.
Take care,
Fred
Places visited:
1) Bonnie and Wayne’s Home
2) The J/1 line
3) Baie du Dor
4) Saugeen / Brucedale Waterfront
5) The Hunt Camp
6) Duck’s Unlimited Pond
• Cackling Goose (CAGO) -1
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Mute Swan (MUSW)-3
• Wood Duck (WODU) -1
• Gadwall (GADW) -2
• American Black Duck (ABDU) -6
• Mallard (MALL)
• Blue-winged Teal (BWTE) -2
• Northern Shoveler (NOSH)- 2
• Redhead (REDH) -3
• Ring-necked Duck (RNDU) -1,5
• Bufflehead (BUFF)1,2,3,6
• Common Goldeneye (COGO) -4
• Hooded Merganser (HOME) - 2
• Common Merganser (COME) -4
• Ruffed Grouse (RUGR) - deceased- road Kill
• Wild Turkey (WITU) -1
• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO) -3
• Great Blue Heron (GBHE) -1.3,6
• Great Egret (GREG) -1
• Turkey Vulture (TUVU) -1,2
• Osprey (OSPR) -3
• Bald Eagle (BAEA) -3
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) -2
• Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) -3
• Sandhill Crane (SACR) -1. 3
• Killdeer (KILL) - 3
• Wison's Snipe (WISN) -2
• American Woodcock (AMWO) -1
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Herring Gull (HEGU) -3
• Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG) -3
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI) 2, 6
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSA) - 1,2,5,
• Downy Woodpecker (DOWO) -1
• Hairy Woodpecker (HAWO) - 1
• Northern Flicker (NOFL) - everywhere
• Pileated Woodpecker (PIWO) -1,6
• American Kestrel (AMKE) 1,2
• Merlin (MERL) -1,4
• Eastern Phoebe (EAPH) -1,2,5,
• Eastern Kingbird (EAKI) -1
• Blue Jay (BLJA) -1,2,4.
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Common Raven (CORA) -2
• Tree Swallow (TRES) -2
• Barn Swallow (BARS) -2
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH) 1,2,4,5,6
• Red-breasted Nuthatch (RBNU)-1,2
• White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU) -1,2
• Brown Creeper (BRCR) -1,2,
• Golden-crowned Kinglet (GCKI) -1,
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI) -1, 5
• Eastern Bluebird (EABL) -2
• American Robin (AMRO)
• Gray Catbird (GRCA) -5
• European Starling (EUST)
• Yellow-rumped Warbler (YRWA) -1
• American Tree Sparrow (ATSP)-2
• Chipping Sparrow (CHSP) -1
• Vesper Sparrow (VESP) -2
• Savannah Sparrow (SAVS) -2
• Fox Sparrow (FOSP) -1
• Song Sparrow (SOSP) -1,2,5
• White-throated Sparrow (WTSP) -1
• Dark-eyed Junco (DEJU) 1,5,6
• Northern Cardinal (NOCA) -1
• Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)
• Eastern Meadowlark (EAME) -2
• Rusty Blackbird (RUBL) -5
• Common Grackle (COGR)
• Brown-headed Cowbird (BHCO) -1
• House Finch (HOFI) -1,2
• Purple Finch (PUFI) -1
• Pine Siskin (PISI) -1
• American Goldfinch (AMGO) -1
• House Sparrow (HOSP) -1