Trip Leader: Stewart, assisted by Nancy and Doug
Participants: Fred, Judy D, Margaret A, James, Werner, Stewart, Nancy, Arlene, Norah, Judith B, Doug P, Liz, Bruce, Doug and BJ, John and Kay, Bill K, Linda and Bob, Becky, Bob and Anne Marie, Caroline E, Christine Mc, Lynne, Shirley H, Anita and Bob. (29 people)
There were many people to thank for providing this birding day for us. Thank you, Stew for organizing a wonderful day for us. He organised this day as a thank you from the Bruce Peninsula Birding Observatory for the BBC support of their fund raising banquet, and he used their property and facilities as part of the thank you. Stew, you certainly did that well, incorporating the bird banding station as part of our day. Thank you, Stephan for showing us some of the captured birds explaining the banders’ operating procedures, telling stories of the birds' life histories, and how they migrate, etc.
Thank you, Stew and Nancy for providing some great Off Shore Bakery treats for us at lunch time; the treats were well received and enjoyed by all. We also enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Nancy as well.
Thank you, Doug for introducing us two new Nature Conservancy of Canada properties near Tobermory that could hold some strong birding opportunities for us in the future, and for assisting with your leadership in other ways. Thank you, Margaret for keeping the day’s bird list for us.
The following birds were all seen on the BPBO property. The bird species of the day was Lincoln Sparrow, that showed up in good numbers, with good views, and hopefully some great pictures from our photographers yet to come. We hit a pocket of warblers that provided great entertainment for us. The banders also had a good run on birds with Grey-cheeked Thrush, Swanson’s Thrush, Red-bellied Woodpecker, American Redstart to name a few. I can remember when Red-bellied Woodpeckers were considered a southern bird and now we had one caught, near the tip of the peninsula that was probably migrating from farther north. We saw 3 kettling raptors that were most likely Broad-winged Hawks which were specks in the sky.
The day was mostly cloudy, warm with temperatures reaching 24 C, and with mild winds.
A group of us are on our way to Kingston tomorrow to take in the field trips and the AGM.
Take care,
Fred
Places visited:
1) En Route
2) Wiarton Sewage Lagoons.
3) Bruce Peninsula Birding Observatory
4) Skye Lake
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Wood Duck (WODU)
• Mallard (MALL)
• Redhead (REDH)
• Lesser Scaup (LESC)
• Common Merganser (COME)
• Red-breasted Merganser (RBME)
• Ruffed Grouse (RUGR)
• Wild Turkey (WITU)
• Common Loon (COLO)
• Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR)
• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO)
• Great Blue Heron (GBHE)
• Great Egret (GREG)
• Turkey Vulture (TUVU)
• Osprey (OSPR)
• Bald Eagle (BAEA)
• Northern Harrier (NOHA)
• Probable Broad-winged Hawk (BWHA)
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)
• Sandhill Crane (SACR)
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI)
• Red-bellied Woodpecker (RBWO)
• Northern Flicker (NOFL)
• Merlin (MERL)
• Blue-headed Vireo (BHVI)
• Red-eyed Vireo (REVI)
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Common Raven (CORA)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• Red-breasted Nuthatch (RBNU)
• Gray-cheeked Thrush (GCTH)
• Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)
• American Robin (AMRO)
• European Starling (EUST)
• Cedar Waxwing (CEDW)
• Tennessee Warbler (TEWA)
• Nashville Warbler (NAWA)
• American Redstart (AMRE)
. Yellow-Rumped Warbler (YRWA)
• Chipping Sparrow (CHSP)
• Song Sparrow (SOSP)
• Lincoln's Sparrow (LISP)
• White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)
• Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)
• American Goldfinch (AMGO)
50 species of birds were seen.