Trip Leaders: Margaret, Carole, Norma, Arlene.
Participants: Fred, Bonnie, Judy D, Margaret, James, Ralph and Mary Anne, Carole L, Norma, Alfred, Arlene, Norah, Alice, Judith B, Doug P, Helen P, Doug and BJ, Jim P, John and Kay , Judy W, Bob and Anne Marie, Bev, Joan (26)
The Crew that likes to call themselves "The Chick Car” took over the reins today, and led us to a wonderful day of birding. We saw 63 species of birds, ate royally at Margaret’s house for lunch with fruit, pastry goodies of several delicious varieties, cheese with crackers. Thank you women for looking after us so well both in the field and at the lunch table. Although we had dessert at lunch, the other savoury moments were of the birding variety. A Northern Shrike, Sandhill Cranes backed the single Northern Shrike by getting some group work done. There were several spectacles of large flocks of Sandhill Cranes, some numbering between 400 and 500 birds. American Tree Sparrows showed up,reminding us that winter was on its way. The waterfowl migration also entertained us, with Scoters, 3 kinds of grebes and a flotilla of Redhead’s.
Places visited were:
1) The Independent Pond
2) The Amphitheatre
3) Elsinore Road
4) Chesley Lake,
5) Margaret’s
6) LIz’s
7) Horseshoe Bay
8) Enroute
Birds seen were :
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Mute Swan (MUSW)
• Wood Duck (WODU)
• American Black Duck (ABDU)
• Mallard (MALL)
• Northern Shoveler (NOSH)
• Green-winged Teal (GWTE)
• Redhead (REDH)
• Ring-necked Duck (RNDU)
• Lesser Scaup (LESC)
• White-winged Scoter (WWSC)
• Black Scoter (BLSC)
• Bufflehead (BUFF)
• Common Goldeneye (COGO)
• Hooded Merganser (HOME)
• Common Merganser (COME)
• Red-breasted Merganser (RBME)
• Ruddy Duck (RUDU)
• Wild Turkey (WITU)
• Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR)
• Horned Grebe (HOGR)
• Red-necked Grebe (RNGR)
• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO)
• Great Blue Heron (GBHE)
• Turkey Vulture (TUVU)
• Osprey (OSPR)
• Bald Eagle (BAEA)
• Northern Harrier (NOHA)
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)
• American Coot (AMCO)
• Sandhill Crane (SACR)
• Greater Yellowlegs (GRYE)
• Pectoral Sandpiper (PESA)
• Bonaparte's Gull (BOGU)
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Herring Gull (HEGU)
• Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG)
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI)
• Downy Woodpecker (DOWO)
• Merlin (MERL)
• Northern Shrike (NSHR)
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Common Raven (CORA)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• Red-breasted Nuthatch (RBNU)
• White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU)
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI)
• Eastern Bluebird (EABL)
• American Robin (AMRO)
• European Starling (EUST)
• American Pipit (AMPI)
• American Tree Sparrow (ATSP)
• White-crowned Sparrow WCSP)
• Dark-eyed Junco (DEJU)
• Northern Cardinal (NOCA)
• Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)
• Rusty Blackbird (RUBL)
• Common Grackle (COGR)
• American Goldfinch (AMGO)
• House Sparrow (HOSP)