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Hello All,
Wendy and I spent 4 days (Tues - Fri) travelling to and from and exploring Brier Island last week. Highlights of our venture are summarized below.
French Basin Trail in Annapolis Royal on Tues - immatures of several families of Pied-billed Grebes, Northern Shovellor, Wood Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Harrier, both species of Teal and a total of about 40 shorebirds including Least and Semipalm Sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, SB Dowitcher and Wilson's Snipe. On Fri on our return from Brier, we again walked the trail to find fewer ducks and shorebirds but we added Osprey, GB Heron, American Bittern and a Sora to our species list for this terrific spot! No swallows were evident on either visit.
On Brier, migration especially of warblers and empid flycatchers was as frantic as I've ever seen it there. The banding operation was in full swing and on Wed they processed over 300 birds. On the previous Sunday, they banded over 450 birds which the most ever in a single day on record. It is worth noting here that this station has been operating for nearly 30 years now so a significant amount of data is available to enable researchers to look for population changes during this period. Lance indicated that nothing too rare or unusual had been found; what was amazing was simply the volume of birds! We observed about a dozen warbler species with Wilson's being particularly abundant and empids were everywhere with Yellow-bellied being the commonest. The "best" bird for us were sightings of two separate Philadelphia Vireos!
There were not a huge number of shorebirds on the Ponds but notable were 2 Baird's Sandpipers and one Pectoral Sandpiper on the ocean beach at Pond Cove. A pelagic trip with Roy and Penny Graham of Mariner Cruises was outstanding as always - we saw a few Puffins along with thousands (tens of thousands...?) of Phalaropes; Red-necked were the predominant species but a few Reds were in the mix. Both Storm-petrels were seen with Wilson's the major species. One surprise was how few Shearwaters were observed and they were all Greaters. But the highlight of this outing was for sure the two humpback whales which breached one after the other about 50 m off the starboard side. Awesome! I was so amazed that I forgot to take a picture!! The sunset over the Bay as we headed back to Westport was breath-taking!
Several Monarchs and many Orange Sulphurs were the most noteworthy leps while all the ponds we visited had at least a few odes, the largest of which are the Darners. Common Green, Shadow, Canada and Variable Darners were all observed. I made no attempt to ID the several spreadwings, bluets and meadowhawks. Another ode with a very long flight period is the Eastern Forktail - we saw them on Brier and I observed my first one this year on May 28 or so.
We stayed overnight in Granville Ferry (or Granville Centre) at the Croft House B & B which we can recommend for price, ambiance and the superb breakfast!! They welcomed us to walk around the grounds (they have a DU-built pond a 5-minute walk from the house) where there were lots of birds. On leaving there on Fri AM we proceeded to Delaps Cove and walked the Bohaker Trail - we had been wanting to do that for years. A few warblers were seen but not much else. A lovely walk indeed!
Regards,
Bob McDonald
Halifax
--Boundary_(ID_8aWiszFcWXN4FbTukWl27A)
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Hello All,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Wendy and I spent 4 days (Tues - Fri) travelling to and
from and exploring Brier Island last week. Highlights of our venture are
summarized below.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>French Basin Trail in Annapolis Royal on Tues - immatures
of several families of Pied-billed Grebes, Northern Shovellor, Wood Ducks,
Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Harrier, both species of Teal and a total of
about 40 shorebirds including Least and Semipalm Sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, SB
Dowitcher and Wilson's Snipe. On Fri on our return from Brier, we again
walked the trail to find fewer ducks and shorebirds but we added Osprey, GB
Heron, American Bittern and a Sora to our species list for this terrific
spot! No swallows were evident on either visit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>On Brier, migration especially of warblers and empid
flycatchers was as frantic as I've ever seen it there. The banding
operation was in full swing and on Wed they processed over 300 birds. On
the previous Sunday, they banded over 450 birds which the most ever in a single
day on record. It is worth noting here that this station has been
operating for nearly 30 years now so a significant amount of data is available
to enable researchers to look for population changes during this period.
Lance indicated that nothing too rare or unusual had been found; what was
amazing was simply the volume of birds! We observed about a dozen
warbler species with Wilson's being particularl