L Jun 19

HI Everyone, Leader: Doug Pedwell Hosts: Nancy White and Stewart Nutt

Participants: Fred Jazvac, JIm and Judy Duncan, Ian and Margaret Anderton, Carole Lupton, Norma Nanni, Stewart Nutt, Nancy White, Alfred Raab, Peter and Arlene Richards, Norah Toth, Peter and Judith Buxton, Doug Pedwell, Doug and BJ Martin Bill Klein, Mike Pickup, Vickie Cooper, Marilyn Ohler, Becky Grieveson, Lynne Richardson, Marshall Byle, Kian Jasper, Linda Neilson-Jones, Barb Palmer, (29)

Nancy and Stew, what a wonderful job of hosting our birding day. You were well organized, and put in a lot of effort in setting this party up. Food was bought, the cottage was prepared, and a back up venue was booked in case of rain. A situation was set up where the BBC shared a meal, smiled a lot and enjoyed each others company. Somehow through all of your fatigue, you smiled the whole time. Thank you!

Doug, thank you for taking us to the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Cape Hurd Nature Reserve, and Escarpment Biosphere’s Conservancy’s Alvar Bay Nature Reserve, two new areas we have not seen before, areas that left us with positive feelings for the plants, animals and birds living in those areas. A moment I particularly enjoyed was when Doug said, “What birds are you hearing?” People then started to shout out the names of song birds that performed for us.

Also, thank you to the BBC members for demonstrating the vast knowledge we as a group have. Kudos for contributing to our learning. It was enjoyable to watch Barb Palmer share her plant knowledge, Bill Klein telling us the Latin names of some of the plants, and others contributing plant names, and finding birds along the way. The scenery inspires learning.

FYI, here is a success that you all would like to know about. Simon did find his 200th bird on the Bruce for the year. After they left for home, they found a Black Tern for number 200, and then went to Sauble Beach for Piping Plover to pick up number 201, Here they are below sharing Simon’s success.

Thank you, Becky, for sharing this successful moment with us.

We separated into different groups after visiting the nature reserve in the morning and kept different bird lists. In the birds of the day category were, Upland Sandpiper, a Peregrin Falcon feeding found by Lynne, a Sora on a nest, a Brown Trasher putting on a show and a, breeding Black-throated Green warbler on territory. If you have a list of birds that your group saw, please forward it to Kiah and I will get the birds seen out to you.

The weather consisted mostly with on and off rain, and temperatures ranging between 17 and 13 C.

Areas visited were north of Berford Lake to Tobermory.

Please note there are 5 swallow species on the list, 6 woodpecker species, 5 thrushes, 5 sparrow species, and 14 breeding warblers found in our area. That latter would be good to look at since that is useful information to know. There are some great individual finds in there as well. Combining the lists produced 102 species seen on the day by the various groups that went out.

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Mallard

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Ruffed Grouse

Wild Turkey

Pied-billed Grebe

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Sora

Virginia Rail

Common Gallinule (only Kiah)

Sandhill Crane

Upland Sandpiper

Wilson's Snipe

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Caspian Tern

Common Tern

Common Loon

Double-crested Cormorant

American Bittern

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Great Egret

Turkey Vulture

Northern Harrier

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

American Kestral

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Eastern Wood-pewee

Alder Flycatcher

Eastern Pheobe

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Warbling Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Bank Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

House Wren

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

Eastern Bluebird

Veery

Hermit Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Wood Thrush

American Robin

Grey Catbird

Brown Thrasher

European Starling

Cedar Waxwing

American Goldfinch

Purple Finch

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Eastern Towhee

Bobolink

Eastern Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brewer's Blackbird

Common Grackle

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Golden-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Pine Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Northern Cardinal

Indigo Bunting

House sparrow

Total : 102

Fred