Hello,
For the 40 or so members that showed up at Van Wagner's Beach on a
picture perfect Saturday morning, it was a question of quantity of birds over
quality.
The winds were perfect for Jaeger watching, but unfortunately we were
looking into the early morning sun, and all the bird activity was on the far
horizon. We did manage to pick out a number of Bonaparte's Gulls, and flocks of
Long-tailed Ducks however.
Walking along the Waterfront Trail, we saw many Yellow-bellied
Sapsuckers, Brown Creepers, Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-crowned,
White-throated, and Chipping Sparrows.
The ponds and trails behind Hutches were good for Hermit Thrush,
Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher, Orange-crowned, Black-throated Blue, and
Nashville Warblers, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Field Sparrow, White-throated
Sparrow, and perhaps a hundred or more Juvenile White-crowned Sparrows, I
suspect the ratio of adults to juveniles was about a hundred to one in favor of
the juveniles.
The timing of our walk on the trail behind Hutches was fortunate for
one particular bird. A sharp eyed birder spotted something in a bed of Burdock.
On further investigation we found a Golden-crowned Kinglet with its wings and
breast feathers totally snagged. The bird was still alive, although it looked
like it was exhausted, and ready to give up, we gently untangled it, and it
flew a couple of yards into some nearby Goldenrod, where hopefully it can
quietly recover.
After lunch we took a trip to the Windermere Basin, to look for ducks
and shorebirds, there was lots to look at here, but a scope is a must to
identify the distant shorebirds and the large mix of waterfowl. Some of the
highlights here were a late Barn Swallow, and an Orange-crowned Warbler that
popped up and sat for a while on some Goldenrod, giving us great looks.
From the Windermere Basin we backtracked to Confederation Park, where
this year the birding was less than stellar, but we did add an Eastern Wood
Pewee, and Wood Duck to the tally.
There were just a couple of birders left when we decided to check out
the lake in a last effort to see a Jaeger. Fortunately for us Cheryl Edgecombe
was looking at two distant jaegers as we arrived at the Lakeland viewing area.
We both agreed that these were more than likely Parasitic Jaegers, as this is
the species that goes after gulls in a big way, and this is what these two
birds were doing.
At the end of the day we counted a total of 78 species, which is a
pretty good effort when the birding gets tough.
List of Species.......Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Wood Duck, Gadwall,
American Black Duck, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged
Teal, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, White-winged
Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Ruddy Duck, and Common Loon.
Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron.
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel,
Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon.
American Coot, Black-bellied Plover, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral
Sandpiper, Dunlin.
Bonaparte's Gull, Great-Black-backed Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and Herring
Gull.
Parasitic Jaeger.
Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker.
Easter Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe.
Blue-headed Vireo.
Blue Jay, American Crow.
Barn Swallow.
Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter
Wren, Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird,
Brown Thrasher.
European Starling, Cedar Waxwing.
Orange-crowned, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Nashville
and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Eastern Towhee, Chipping, Field, Fox, Song, Swamp, White-throated,
White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco.
Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.
I would like to thank everybody who took the time to make this trip so
enjoyable, and I hope to see you next year.
Cheers..........T.
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