Good Morning Yesterday Ian Cannell, Margaret Liubavicius and I went up to the Bruce Peninsula for an early morning start for what we hoped would be a good day of birding in that very interesting area. It was a beautiful day to be up there but did start with more of a March feel to it than the end of May. It was very cool and windy at first light with frost in some of the sheltered areas and stayed windy all day.
The wind seemed to have kept a high percentage of the grassland birds quiet and holed up some where and very few Raptors ( TV's excepted ) braved the high winds. Woodland birds were singing in some of the thicker woods but not as many as we usually hear and see when up there at this time of year. Despite the conditions ( not as bad as I painted except for the persistent wind ) we did come up with 91 species of birds. We started in the north at Dyers Bay Road and drove some of the roads southward and ended up at Sauble Beach and following are some of the birds we found. Black-crowned night-Heron, Mute Swan ( a first for us up there ), Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, many Turkey Vultures, Ospreys, Merlin, Wild Turkey, Sora, Sandhill Cranes, Upland Sandpiper, Red Knots, Piping Plovers, Common, Black and Forster's Terns, Black-billed Cuckoos, R-T Hummingbirds, B. Kingfisher, Y-B Sapsucker, E. Wood-Pewee, E. Phoebes, Willow, Alder and Great Crested Flycatchers, E. KIngbirds ( the most visible grassland bird yesterday except for Red-winged Blackbirds ), Tree, Rough-winged, Cliff and Barn Swallows ( not in large numbers ), C. Ravens, Brown Creeper, House Wrens, E. Bluebirds, Veery, Swainson's and Wood Thrushes, G. Catbirds, Brown Thrasher, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, only 11 Warbler species including Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, A. Redstart, Ovenbird, and Connecticut, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Buntings, Chipping, Clay-colered, Field, Grasshopper, Swamp, White-throated, and White-crowned Sparrows, Bobolinks, E. Meadowlarks, Rusty Blackbirds, 11 Brewer's Blackbirds ( 8 males and 3 females ) ( a record number seen by Ian and I up there ), and Pine Siskins. After birding various roads between Dyers Bay Road and Shallow Lake we then headed over to Sauble Beach. As soon as we walked out onto the beach we found the first Plover protective enclosure with a parent bird siting on it's nest. We then went around the taped area and found Red Knots and Semipalmated Sandpipers feeding and resting at waters edge. Proceeding north up the beach we spied 2 Piping Plovers near the water and then looked in the second enclosed area to see another Plover on it's nest and another one at waters edge. After talking to Kim Toews and other winter dressed Volunteer Plover monitors we observed another Plover on it's nest for a total of 6 Piping Plovers and 3 nests. Great little birds and hopefully an annual breeding group from now on. The nest sites are easy to find as they are in the centre of a cage like enclosure ( easy access for the birds and not really a cage ) surrounded by yellow caution tape and well signed as to what is in this area and asking ALL not to proceed past the tape. This enclosure protects the nest and Plovers from predators like Gulls, Raptors, Raccooons, Dogs as well as regular beach using human activity. The Plover guardians / monitors are and have been doing a great job of watching over the Plovers and also greeting and updating interested birders and non-birders alike as they arrive on the beach. In the last 3 years that we have gone to the beach to see the Plovers we have always been warmly greeted and updated about the birds. One thing I do want to mention. The Plovers could sure use more volunteers to watch over them as the volunteers we talked to had spent the whole day there on that cold and windy beach yesterday. If you wish to become a volunteer monitor, please contact the co-ordinator, Stewart Nutt. His contact information is: Cell Phone: 519-372-8588 Directions:- BRUCE PENINSULA OWEN SOUND is at the junction of Highways 6, 21 and 26 and is approx. 190 km / 118 miles northwest of Toronto, 120 km / 75 miles west of Barrie, and 210 km / 130 miles north of London. >From Owen Sound proceed west and then north on Hwy 6 to Wiarton ( approx. 32 >km / 20 miles ). Continue through Wiarton north on Hwy 6 and you are on the >Bruce Peninsula and you can bird any of the roads from Wiarton to Tobermory at >the northern tip of the peninsula. DYERS BAY ROAD, a favourite birding road is approx. ( 56 km / 35 miles ) north of Wiarton. Some other favourite roads are County Rd 170 at Shallow Lake, Ira Lake Rd, Bartley Drive, Lindsay Rd 40 and Crane Lake Rd. All these roads can be located in a Ontario Road Atlas. SAUBLE BEACH OWEN SOUND is at the junction of Highways 6, 21 and 26 and is approx. 190 km / 118 miles northwest of Toronto, 120 km / 75 miles west of Barrie, and 210 km / 130 miles north of London. >From Owen Sound proceed west and then northwest on Hwy 6 approx. 19 ½ km / 12 >miles to Hepworth ( south of Wiarton ). At Hepworth turn left ( west ) on >County Road 8 and proceed approx. 11 km / 6 3/4 miles to Sauble Beach. The Piping Plovers are between Eleventh St. and the north end of the beach. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON "Sils mordent, mords les" _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
