Monday, April 8, 2013

Week 14 Paul's Update

I started this week of bird off with a long drive from Montreal to Peterborough with my two older boys. To break up the drive, we stopped at Presqu'ile Provincial Park. With the ice mostly off the marsh, the ducks were more dispersed and several species are now noticeably absent. Nonetheless, we found green winged teal and song sparrows to add to my year list. More birds were added with a couple of after-work drives on Monday and Tuesday when we spotted wood ducks and a solitary tree swallow.

My second most surprising find of the week was an American woodcock. I needed a break and took a walk behind our building on Trent's campus where there is a forested marshy area that borders some fields. I hadn't really seen anything (besides the odd crow flying by), and I was just about to head back to the office, when I took a break in the marsh, just enjoying the quiet spring day and then a woodcock exploded into the air and flew across the marsh in front of me. I topped this by seeing a great grey owl and 3 other new species during our long Saturday drive. With these 9 new species, I am now at 93 birds for the year.

85; Song Sparrow; 3/31/2013; Presqu'ile Provincial Park; Lake Ontario, Ontario
86; Green Winged Teal; 3/31/2013; Presqu'ile Provincial Park; Lake Ontario, Ontario
87; Wood Duck 4/1/2013; Otonobee River; south of Peterborough, ON
88; Tree Swallow; 4/2/2013; Ontonobee River; Lakefield, Ontario
89; American Woodcock; 4/5/2013; Forested marsh; Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario
90; Great Grey Owl; 4/6/2013; Near Wallace Point; Otonobee, ON
91; Killdeer; 4/6/2013; South of Keene, ON
92; Eastern Meadowlark; 4/6/2013; North of Keene, ON
93; White-Throated Sparrow; 4/6/2013; Little Lake Cemetery; Peterborough, Ontario

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