D Apr 6

Trip Leader: James Turland

Participants: Fred, James, Liz, Bruce, Jim, Becky, Kirsten and Grace

The weather forecast was gloomy, and if you looked out your front window in the morning, what you saw was discouragement to participate in an all day bird hike, however, eight hardy souls decided to show up. Typically of a BBC outing, there was keenness, laughter and smiles at the surprises that we discovered, as we went through our birding day.

There must be something about bad weather bringing out the birds. By the end of the day we saw 62 species of birds. Spring migrants, plus our local birds, provided a good mix of bird sightings. Golden-crowned Kinglets were out in great numbers, and were a photographer’s dream (except for their need to not sit still). We saw 20 species of waterfowl, four species of woodpecker including our first of the year, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, at least 6 Bald Eagles, of which 5 were immatures, 4 Great-blue Herons, 2 Fox Sparrows, an almost stepped on a Wilson’s Snipe, some beautiful Purple Finches, an Eastern Phoebe etc. The two birds that elicited the most enthusiasm from our group, were a Brown Thrasher bullying other bird under a feeder, and an out-of-habitat Vesper Sparrow on the side of a wooded road, just down from Bob and Anne-Marie’s place.

We all enjoyed the fruits of James’s enthusiasm, his previous scouting and knowledge of birds and nature in general. Thank you James for providing us a wonderful birding day. Also, thank you for today’s bird list.

Thank you Bob and Anne-Marie for your hospitality, and for the cookies that Anne-Marie left out for us. Oatmeal is my favourite.

The weather: Temperatures varied from -2 to + 2C, winds had gusts reaching 50 K. In unsheltered areas, cloud prevailed with snow in the early morning and some very light rain by the 3:00 p.m.

Take care,

Fred

Places Visited

1. 12th con and highway 21
2. Bonnies
3. Baie-du-Dore
4. The Ark
5. Mani and Bonnies Feeder
6. Kincardine Lagoons
7. Inverlyn Lakes
8. On Route

Canada Goose 1356

Wood Duck 6

American Wigeon 3

American Black Duck 13