M Sept 7

Trip Leader: Fred

Participants: Fred, Judy D, James, Carole L, Norah, Alice, Judith, Liz, Bruce, Jim P, Joy, Bill K, Judy W, Becky, Bob and Anne Marie, Dennis Murray, Lydia Ernst (18)

We started our fall schedule in good fashion with 18 of us seeing 58 species of birds. In the best bird category, we had an American Pipit, an early Common Goldeneye, and Greater Scaup. In the oooh and ahhh department, we saw a gigantic flock, of perhaps a thousand ducks fly overhead and land in the Independent Pond. That happened about 8:30 a.m. They flew in from the fields where they were feeding. Another moment that got our attention was a Red-tailed Hawk sharing the same tree with a Merlin. While the waterfowl migration has not really started yet, we did see twelve species of waterfowl.

Thank you to Bob and Anne-Marie for notifying us about the shorebirds in the Independent Pond, and thank you to Judy Duncan who kept the day’s bird list for us.

It was a hot day with temperatures ranging from about 22 C to 29 C. Winds were light and we had some cloud cover for most of the morning.

Take care,

Fred

Places visited:

1) En Route - Part of which included the area between Salem Road and Allenford

2) Independent Pond

3) Oliphant, near the fen.

4) Wiarton Sewage Lagoons

5) Chantry Island at Beach Road

6) Miramichi and Horseshoe Bays

7) Chalmer’sPond

• Canada Goose (CANG) - 5,6.7

• Wood Duck (WODU) -4, 6.7

• American Wigeon (AMWI) -2

• American Black Duck (ABDU) -2.7

• Mallard (MALL)

• Northern Pintail (NOPI) -2

• Green-winged Teal (GWTE) -2

• Redhead (REDH) -2,4

• Greater Scaup (GRSC) - 4

• Common Goldeneye (COGO) - 4

• Hooded Merganser (HOME) -4

• Wild Turkey (WITU) -1

• Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR) -4

• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO)- 5

• Great Blue Heron (GBHE) - 7

• Great Egret (GREG) - 2,3,6

• Green Heron (GRHE) -3

• Turkey Vulture (TUVU) -1

• Northern Harrier (NOHA) -3

• Accipiter sp. -1

• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) 4,1

• Sandhill Crane (SACR) -1, 3

• Semipalmated Plover (SEPL) -7

• Killdeer (KILL) -7

• Spotted Sandpiper (SPSA) 3,7

• Greater Yellowlegs (GRYE) - 7

• Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE) -2.7

• Least Sandpiper (LESA) -7

• Pectoral Sandpiper (PESA) -2

• Semipalmated Sandpiper (SESA) -7

• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)

• Herring Gull (HEGU)

• Caspian Tern (CATE) -3,6

• Rock Pigeon (ROPI) -3

• Mourning Dove (MODO) -1

• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI) -3

• Northern Flicker (NOFL) 1.3

• Merlin (MERL) - 3

• Eastern Phoebe (EAPH) -1

• Red-eyed Vireo (REVI) -3,5

• Blue Jay (BLJA) -1

• American Crow (AMCR) -1

• Common Raven (CORA) -3

• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH) -2,5

• White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU) -2

• American Robin (AMRO)

• European Starling (EUST)

• American Pipit (AMPI) -7

• Cedar Waxwing (CEDW) -3

• American Redstart (AMRE) -3

• Yellow Warbler (YWAR) -3

• Song Sparrow (SOSP) - 4

• Swamp Sparrow (SWSP) 4

• Northern Cardinal (NOCA) -4,

• Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL) -1

• Eastern Meadowlark (EAME) -1

• American Goldfinch (AMGO)

58 species of birds were seen.