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Index of Subjects --Apple-Mail-2-620287347 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hello John and all, John may be referring to the ponds that we in Avonport call "The Clay Pits " on Farmer's Road (running parallel to the RR tracks). A number of years ago, from what I've heard, the ponds are the result of flooding the old L.E. Shaw clay pits, a project between Ducks Unlimited and Haliburton Farms. The dyke you mention was part of that effort. These were some of L.E. Shaw's original clay pits for the brick industry that existed here in Avonport before it was moved to Hants and Halifax Counties. The dyke end of the pond also serves as fenced off pasture, which makes it less accessible when the pasture is in use. It is always a good place for birds. On our stop at the Clay Pits NAMC day, we observed, in addition to several other birds like R-W Blackbirds, etc., 3 Eastern Kingbirds darting after insects in the air, also noted several Barn Swallows and a few Tree Swallows that were darting back and forth over the pond surface. Sherman On 14/05/2008, at 6:43 PM, john belbin wrote: > A late report on a visit to the large pond at Avonport Station > yesterday. > > This pond is difficult to get a good look at as it was created with > embankments that look like dikes, You could drive right past and > hardly see > the water surface. The other side being wooded and inaccessible except > through a private farm. However if you park and wander up and down > you can > actually get some limited but good views of most of it. I was quite > surprised yesterday when I made the effort. > > The first thing I noticed were 4 DC Cormorants, 2 were out on the > surface > feeding, the other two appeared to be nesting! One was occupying a > large > mound of vegetable matter that may have started out as a Muskrat > pile. It > would not move and when I became so annoying that I put up > virtually all the > other birds in the area, it simply crouched down. Its mate > similarly kept a > low profile very near by. > A GB Heron was feeding well when I arrived and was quite tolerant > until I > kept moving about to photograph it, then it took off. > Thinking about this afterwards, it is probably not as unusual as it > first > appears. This pond is only about 4Km from The Boot Island national > Wildlife > Area, where I believe both species breed, both locations being in > one of my > Atlas squares. > > There were also 6 Black Ducks, 12 GBB Gulls and at least 8 Barn > Swallows at > the pond. At least 10 Red winged Blackbirds were very active with > some > spirited chasing going on. A Red Tailed Hawk made a very low pass > but didn't > seem to bother anything very much. > > The number of Pheasants in the area is quite notable, I saw 7 Males > within > about 2 km of the pond, there must be quite a population. > > John Belbin - Hantsport > --Apple-Mail-2-620287347 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "> Hello John and all,<div><br = class=3D"webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>John may be referring to = the ponds that we in Avonport call "The Clay Pits " on Farmer's Road = (running parallel to the RR tracks). =A0 A number of years ago, from = what I've heard, =A0the ponds are the result of flooding the old L.E. = Shaw clay pits, =A0a project between Ducks Unlimited and Haliburton = Farms. The dyke you =A0mention was part of that effort. These were some = of L.E. Shaw's original clay pits for the brick industry that existed = here in Avonport before it was moved to Hants and Halifax Counties. The = dyke end of the pond also serves as fenced off pasture, which makes it = less accessible when the pasture is in use.</div><div><br = class=3D"webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>=A0It is always a good = place for birds. On our stop at the Clay Pits NAMC day, we observed, in = addition to several other birds like R-W Blackbirds, etc., =A03 Eastern = Kingbirds darting after insects in the air, also noted several Barn = Swallows and a few Tree Swallows that were darting back and forth over = the pond surface.</div><div><br = class=3D"webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Sherman<br><div><span = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; = border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; = font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: = normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; = -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; = -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; = white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div><br = class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"></span> </div><br><div><div>On = 14/05/2008, at 6:43 PM, john belbin wrote:</div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">A late report on a visit to the large pond at = Avonport Station yesterday.</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: = 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This pond is difficult to get a = good look at as it was created with</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">embankments = that look like dikes, You could drive right past and hardly = see</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the water surface. The other = side being wooded and inaccessible except</div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">through = a private farm. However if you park and wander up and down you = can</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">actually get some limited but = good views of most of it. I was quite</div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; = ">surprised yesterday when I made the effort.</div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "&g