Hi Everyone
Just back from a week long birding trip to Northern Ontario. Most days
were sunny and warm with light winds out of the south. We were hoping for
some major fronts to bring in something more unusual. Luckily, on Friday,
September 15th, winds shifted from the north and birding was great
especially on Shipsands Island located at the mouth of the Moose River and
James Bay. We spent the day birding the north end of the island. We arrived
on an incoming tide and watched 1000's of shorebirds mainly Dunlin (5000),
Sanderling(3060), Pectoral Sandpiper (1760) and Black-bellied Plover (620)
as they fed and rested on the mudflats. Other shorebirds included American
Golden Plover (250), Baird's Sandpiper (4), Hudsonian Godwit (38) and only 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper. The morning was filled with excitement as 2
Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 8 Northern Harrier, 3 Bald Eagle and 1 Short-eared Owl
created havoc among the shorebirds, American Pipit, Horned Lark and Savannah
Sparrow. Other birds of note included, Bonaparte's Gull (500+), Black Tern
(1), Great Black-backed Gull (2), Common Redpoll (12), White-winged
Crossbill (3), Lapland Longspur (100+), Horned Lark (300+),American Pipit
(175+) and Red-tailed Hawk (1). As we stood for hours watching all of this
activity, it was hard to believe that we were in Ontario and watching the
tide going out! We also had 1 Beluga Whale surface near the freighter canoe
as we returned to Moosonee!
The Moosonee Sewage Lagoon, new since 2000?, had 23 Redhead and 1 American
Coot on Sept. 13th. White-winged Crossbills were widespread, from Cochrane
to Hearst and from Smooth Rock Falls to Fraserdale. Small numbers of
White-winged Crossbill were observed both at Moosonee and Moose Factory and
1 Pine Grosbeak was found at Moosonee, while Pine Siskins were only observed
in the Kapuskasing.
We birded most of the sewage lagoons along Hwy.11 but nothing to
interesting was noted but both Hearst and New Liskeard had Ruddy Ducks (6) &
(3) and the overall highest concentration of ducks. At Fraserdale, one Le
Conte's Sparrow was observed on Sept. 11th, while one Nelson's Sharp-tailed
Sparrow was observed on the first trip to Shipsands Island on Sept. 12th.
good birding
Bruce
Bruce Di Labio
400 Donald B. Munro Drive
P.O.Box 538
Carp,Ontario,K0A 1L0
(613)839-4395 Home (613)715-2571 Cell
Di Labio Birding Website
Courses and Field Trips
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bruce.dilabio/
