About 35 OFO members enjoyed a cool but dry day of birding the 'West
Coast of Ontario'. During the first hour at the beach we saw many waterfowl,
including all 3 Scoter species, both Common and Red-breasted Merganser flocks
mostly flying downlake, ~40 Common Loon in various groupings of 3 to 20 mostly
overhead angling inland. A few Horned Grebe, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead,
Common Goldeneye and Scaup kept us busy.
We walked around the first 3 lagoons seeing many more waterfowl
including a male Wood Duck and 5 American Coot plus 3 White-rumped Sandpiper,
~20 Dunlin and a Greater Yellowlegs. An Eastern Phoebe, Song, American Tree,
White-crowned, Fox and Vesper Sparrow were also seen.
At Pinery P.P. we had lunch at the Visitor's Centre whilst
birding(everyone saw several Tufted Titmouse). Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied
Woodpecker plus Field, Fox and White-throated Sparrow and a female Purple Finch
added interest. Along the river we saw several Am. Robin and Cedar Waxwing and
an adult Bald Eagle before driving to Burley bridge, where ~40/50 Hooded
Mergansers and 3 Pied-billed Grebe were seen along with a Red-tailed Hawk.
At Kettle Point the American Avocet was seen by all and 4 Red-necked
Grebe played hide and seek in the bay and we saw 7 Mute Swan and a great
Black-backed Gull southwest of the point.
Our last stop was at Cedar Cove marina where we watched ~10
Double-crested Cormorant, ~15 Horned Grebe, both Tundra and Mute Swan and a
Great Blue Heron. A flock of ~100 Tundra Swan turned inland as they flew over
us. A fitting end to a nice day and as most of the cars were heading up the
hill a few of us heard and then saw a flock of 9 Sandhill Crane fly right over
us and down the lake(one carload had seen 2 of these earlier in a field and as
we returned north we stopped to have a closer view).
During this day we had seen 23 Ducks, Geese and Swans, 3 Grebes, 4
Raptors, 3 Woodpeckers and 8 Sparrows for a total # of species of 77 tallied by
the group to-day.(I'm including a Northern Shrike at Army Camp Road seen by
Donald Pye on his way back towards the Pinery - e-mail advice).
Thanks to all the participants and especially my 'helpers' who found
so many good birds to-day - it's such a pleasure to 'lead' a group that is so
willing to share and help each other with finding and identifying the birds we
see.
Cheers! Maris
Maris Apse 10094 Red Pine Road, Box 22, RR #2 Grand Bend ON N0M 1T0 (519) 238 -
8415
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