[NatureNS] Sandy Cove sightings

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Hi there,

	With the welcome arrival of sunshine!  late this afternoon, I 
decided to drive out to Sandy Cove Road, on the western approaches to 
Halifax Harbour, to catch a breeze and see if anything had arrived 
with Hanna.  I arrived there about 6:30.  I found a lively flock of 
some resident birds - both Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees, lots 
of Dark-eyed Juncos, and Golden-crowned Kinglets.  While I was 
watching them, Hans Toom and Laura Elliott came into view, on the 
return lap of their evening stroll.  While we watched the birds, we 
heard the weird whistles and chucks of a Canada Jay, and were 
delighted when one responded to Hans's pishing and flew in.  For a 
bird that is supposedly common and widespread, I sure don't see them 
often.  We worked over the flock of smaller birds, and found a couple 
of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a probable Nashville Warbler, and an 
intriguing warbler with a bright yellow, streaked breast which may 
have been a Prairie Warbler. After a brief glimpse we couldn't 
relocate it.   Later on I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler and a 
Common Yellowthroat in the alders.

	I continued down towards the cove, flushing a Northern Flicker from 
the roadside.  At one of my favourite stops I enjoyed a close view of 
a shy Porcupine lurking in the ditch.  It eventually moved off into 
the bushes.  Down at the cove, I could see the spectacular seas 
surging around Sambro Island, and clouds of gulls hovering over the 
distant ledges.  The only shorebirds were three Semi-palmated 
Plovers.  A juvenile Black-backed Gull probed at a small seal carcass 
in the shallows. (No Ivory Gulls in sight...)  While I stood and 
listened to the surf, a black Mink bounded into view on the other 
side of the channel, oblivious of me until it drew nearer, and disappeared.

	I left at twilight, with a few Spring Peepers calling as well as the 
late-summer crickets.

	Cheers,

	Patricia L. Chalmers
	Halifax

	

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