Hi all,
I met Mike Nelson at the commuter parking lot at Hwy#22/#81 just north of
Hwy #402 ~9:30 am to do some 'winter listing' - while our wives drove on to
Xmas shop in Port Huron.
There was a flock of ~250 Snow Buntings in the field NW of #402 and #81
intersection but we could not scope them for longspurs. En route to Rondeau we
encountered 3/4 small flocks of Horned Lark, 1 N. Harrier but not much else on
this blustery/bitterly cold morning. Unfortunately we arrived at the gates of
the park to find it closed due to a deer cull and so had to content ourselves
with walking the house/cottage areas outside the fence. We finally saw some
bird activity at #18084 Second St (Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, several Downy W.
both Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, 2 G.C. Kinglet. 3/4 D.E. Juncos, W.T. Sparrow
and N.Cardinal) - the owner welcomed us to view his feeders at the back of the
house.
Turning south onto Erieau Road from Bisnett we had a Killdeer flying
right at us and at Erieau we saw 6 D.C. Cormorant, several Ruddy Duck and
Hooded Merganser, 100+ Am. Coot, 1,000+ Bonaparte's Gull and 100+ Am. Tree
Sparrow in the weedy dune area. At Gore Rd off Bisnett, we added White-crowned
Sparrow and 3 N.Harrier and along New Scotland between Kent Bridge and Hill
St(Morpeth Road) a flock of 120+ Wild Turkey.
At #23171 Hwy #3 (west of Eagle) Mike spotted a 'different' looking
perched raptor so I executed a safe U turn to check it out. It was a beautiful
'Rufous' Red-tailed hawk - Sibley and other references call it 'intermediate
western form'.
We continued east towards Fingal(hoping to find Long-eared Owl) and as
we turned south on Iona Road going down into the wide valley we saw 2 soaring
eagles travelling west - they were both juvenile Golden Eagles. We did not
locate any owls at Fingal C.A. but Mike tallied our days count, which reached
~42 species - better than Xmas shopping!!
Cheers! Maris
Maris Apse 10094 Red Pine Road, Box 22, RR #2 Grand Bend ON N0M 1T0 (519) 238 -
8415
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