Greetings Ontbirders 18 members and guests enjoyed a fun day of birding at Presqu’ile for the morning, then a side trip to Peter’s Woods in the afternoon. Bill Gilmour helped me lead this field trip which tallied about 95 species.
At Presqu’ile we had a pretty good selection of expected migrants and residents, although warblers (14 spp) were a little scarce and some were heard only. An increasingly rare treat was seeing a beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker at the lighthouse, as well as at least 5 Red-bellied at various sites. Sadly Friday’s Piping Plover hasn’t been seen again but we did see 5 Semipalmated Plover and a number of Least Sandpipers as well as Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper. A morning haze made seeing birds on the offshore islands a bit difficult but we managed to spot a number of Black-crowned Night Herons as well as Common and Caspian Tern, Ring-billed, Herring and Bonaparte’s Gull. Other fun birds were Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting. While I couldn’t muster much excitement about it, a male House Sparrow was seen at a feeder near the lighthouse - a somewhat rare bird in the park! Peter’s Woods is a beautiful old-growth forest north of Grafton. We took an hour to walk the loop trail and enjoy the huge pine, oak and maples and wildflowers. Birds were less active at this time of day but there were several Ovenbirds calling, as well as more Scarlet Tanagers. Thanks to everyone for taking part - it was great fun and I hope to see you all again soon, Cheers, Doug McRae Doug McRae P.O. Box 3010 Brighton, Ontario K0K 1H0 613-475-5014 H 613-243-4161 C _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
