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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_KZFcroE1LauSk7Zmsx+8RA) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Ken McKenna Box 218 Stellarton NS B0K 1S0 902 752-7644 Hi all Charlie Kendell, Rick Ferguson and I took a trip from Stellarton- Sober = I. and return Sunday Mar. 14 via Rte. 374. The birding was a little = quiet at times, but still a nice trip for the hike at Sober I. alone. We = had left before dawn hoping to hear Great Horned Owls in the Nancy's = Celler area, but no luck and maybe we should have spent another hour in = bed!=20 The Trafalgar -Liscomb Sanctuary area were still teaming with finches = as per all winter. In addition to the usual WW Crossbills, Pine Siskins = and Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches were seen today, the first time in = our trips through here this winter. At one of our first stops to check = out a Raven for a possible nest, we were surprised to hear a BROWN = CREEPER give one perfect rendition of its breeding song. That was it- = maybe it was a dawn announcement.=20 Logging activity was very active in the sanctuary and soon there will = not be any conifers left for the crossbills. Several woodpeckers were = heard drumming, but our first visual contact with woodpeckers was just = south of the south end of the sanctuary- Lochaber Mines, where we = followed 2 flying PILEATED WOODPECKERS which travelled over 2 Km toward = Malay Falls before we lost them and clocked them about 40Km/hr.=20 Sheet Harbour had singing SONG SPARROWS and a few ROBINS dotted a lawn, = but we had those species on previous trips and likely were = over-wintering birds. A swimming mammal below the West River (Sheet = Harbour) Falls came ashore and we were able to ID it as a Mink just = before it ducked behind a rock on the bank.=20 At Sober I. many winter ducks remained, but we did not see any HARLEQUIN = which had been seen on previous trips this winter. A nice flock of 40 = BLACK SCOTER and 35+ LONG-TAILED DUCKS were the most numerous. We did = not see any PURPLE SANDPIPERS on the falling tide, but about 8 = RED-NECKED GREBES was the most for this species all winter. Charlie = observed a GREAT CORMORANT in breeding garb flying to the cliff on the = Sheet Rock- island with the lighthouse. It later moved to the grassy = area around the light and was observed picking up plant material and = flying back to the cliff with the material in the bill.. Seems a bit = early but we took this as evidence of nest building although it could = have been some sort of courtship ritual. Since this species spent the = winter in the area, it clearly had an advantage in getting an early = start to the breeding season. I noted after that Great Cormorants were = already reported with nest with eggs for this square. In all we = observed about 16-20 Great Cormorants on a couple of locations off Sober = I. The trip back on Rte. 374 was fairly uneventful, with a few roadside WW = Crossbills and a roadside Red-tail Hawk in a different location from one = we had on the way down. An unidentified accipiter was noted flying above = the Governors Lake fire tower, but we lost it in the bright sunlight = befoe we could come to a conclusion.=20 cheers Ken --Boundary_(ID_KZFcroE1LauSk7Zmsx+8RA) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18876"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Ken McKenna<BR>Box 218 Stellarton NS<BR>B0K 1S0<BR>902 752-7644</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Hi all</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Charlie Kendell, Rick Ferguson and I took a trip from Stellarton- Sober I. and return Sunday Mar. 14 via Rte. 374. The birding was a little quiet at times, but still a nice trip for the hike at Sober I. alone. We had left before dawn hoping to hear Great Horned Owls in the Nancy's Celler area, but no luck and maybe we should have spent another hour in bed! </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial> The Trafalgar -Liscomb Sanctuary area were still teaming with finches as per all winter. In addition to the usual WW Crossbills, Pine Siskins and Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches were seen today, the first time in our trips through here this winter. At one of our first stops to check out a Raven for a possible nest, we were surprised to hear a BROWN CREEPER give one perfect rendition of its breeding song. That was it- maybe it was a dawn announcement. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Logging activity was very active in the sanctuary and soon there will not be any conifers left for the crossbills. Several woodpeckers were heard drumming, but our first visual contact with woodpeckers was just south of the south end of the sanctuary- Lochaber Mines, where we followed 2 flying PILEATED WOODPECKERS which travelled over 2 Km toward Malay Falls before we lost them and clocked them about 40Km/hr. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Sheet Harbour had singing SONG SPARROWS and a few ROBINS dotted a lawn, but we had those species on previous trips and likely were over-wintering birds. A swimming mammal below the West River (Sheet Harbour) Falls came ashore and we were able to ID it as a Mink just before it ducked behind a rock on the bank. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>At Sober I. many winter ducks remained, but we did not see any HARLEQUIN which had been seen on previous trips this winter. A nice flock of 40 BLACK SCOTER and 35+ LONG-TAILED DUCKS were the most numerous. We did not see any PURPLE SANDPIPERS on the falling tide, but about 8 RED-NECKED GREBES was the most for this species all winter. Charlie observed a GREAT CORMORANT in breeding garb flying to the cliff on the Sheet Rock- island with the lighthouse. It later moved to the grassy area around the light and was observed picking up plant material and flying back to the cliff with the material in the bill.. Seems a bit early but we took this as evidence of nest building although it could have been some sort of courtship ritual. Since this species spent the winter in the area, it clearly had an advantage in getting an early start to the breeding season. I noted after that Great Cormorants were already report