Trip Leader: Fred
Participants: Fred, Bonnie, Judy, James, Arlene, Norah, Judith K, Judith B, Liz, Bruce, Jim, Becky, Bob and Anne Marie, Linda, Kirsten and Grace (17)
Hi Everyone,
The day, according to the gloomy forecasts, said rain and high winds. The winds were high (60 to 80 K), keeping many land birds hunkered down. The rain cooperated as drops started to fall at the end of the birding day, as we disembarked at the boat house. The warm weather (12 to 15 C) countered the cool of the winds, and the wind direction kept the waves low; they didn't restrict waterfowl viewing. Waterfowl don’t hide, that helped us, as well.
The waterfowl migration was in full swing and we made a point of visiting sites where we had a good chance of finding them. They were the focus of the day. We enjoyed two species of scoters in Wiarton, loved the Northern Pintail in the Independent pond, and enjoyed the majesty of the Trumpeter Swans on Grey 170. Unexpected birds always bring joy to the group, and ours were the Horned Grebe in the Port Elgin Harbour, and the Pied-billed Grebe in the wetlands by Shallow Lake. Other birds that excited us were a flock of Snow Buntings that couldn't buzz us any closer without hitting us, and the large flock of Pine Siskins that had us scrambling for better views A Bald Eagle did a relatively low flyover the Tim Horton’s parking lot in Hepworth, the 3rd Bald Eagle of the day, but the best show, happened as the curtain was falling on our outing. There were the 250 plus Sandhill Cranes on the road between Park Head and Hwy 21. Shortly after, we found another 200 in Elsinore on Hwy 21. The Park Head birds were interesting by their numbers and the extent of the area they stretched out in. The Elsinore cranes gradually flew off in separate flocks, heading to an unknown, common roosting site for the evening. What a spectacle it was!
Places visited:
1) Southampton River Mouth
2) Chantry Island from Beach Street
3) South Street by the lake
4) Horseshoe Bay
5) Miramichi Bay
6) Port Elgin Harbour
7) Independent Ponds.
8) Wiarton Sewage Lagoons
9) Wiarton Harbour
10) Wiarton Pump House
11) Division Street Feeders- Wiarton
12) Wetland by Shallow Lake, Grey County 170
13) Enroute.
If you wish to find the locations of individual birds, please contact sender.
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Trumpeter Swan (TRUS)
• American Black Duck (ABDU)
• Mallard (MALL)
• Northern Pintail (NOPI)
• Green-winged Teal (GWTE)
• Redhead (REDH)
• Ring-necked Duck (RNDU)
• Greater Scaup (GRSC)
• Lesser Scaup (LESC)
• White-winged Scoter (WWSC)
• Black Scoter (BLSC)
• Long-tailed Duck (LTDU)
• Bufflehead (BUFF)
• Common Goldeneye (COGO)
• Hooded Merganser (HOME)
• Common Merganser (COME)
• Wild Turkey (WITU)
• Common Loon (COLO)
• Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR)
• Horned Grebe (HOGR)
• Bald Eagle (BAEA)
• Northern Harrier (NOHA)
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)
• Sandhill Crane (SACR)
• Bonaparte's Gull (BOGU)
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Herring Gull (HEGU)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Common Raven (CORA)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• European Starling (EUST)
• Snow Bunting (SNBU)
• Pine Siskin (PISI)
• American Goldfinch (AMGO)
37 Species