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--=====================_603740703==.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed 1 December 2010 Ian McLaren and I did quite a bit of driving on this first day of the winter birding season. We first went to the Truro area where, upon available evidence, all the geese seem to have migrated. There were no flocks in the air, none on Minas Basin or Salmon River, none in any of the fields formerly frequented. And so, accordingly no Greylag Goose. We did, however, see a Rough-legged Hawk near Lower Onslow, and a flock of 30 Horned Larks off Shore Road (sorry about that Tuma!). In Truro there were two American Coots at the Kiwanis Pond. We saw the Tundra Swan on First Lake in Sackville. We saw a male Barrow's Goldeneye in the Bedford Basin. We searched the shrubby margins of Maybank Park in Dartmouth, but saw no birds at all. As we were leaving we met Chris Pepper who was about to begin his search, and he informed us he'd just seen and photographed the Prairie Warbler that he'd found a few days earlier. The warbler is located at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church at the corner of Main and Caledonia in Dartmouth. The bird was located along Kuhn Drive, an unpaved road which runs east of the church, parallel with, and eventually joining, Main Street. Go to Google Maps and you will see the road indicated. The warbler was feeding on the north side of the road, low down, near a large mud puddle in the road. The main parking lot for the church is located to the north of the church, and we saw the Lark Sparrow that Chris reported from several days earlier, at the edge of the parking lot, scratching in the gravel. We then checked the edge of Dorothea Drive, but the shrubs were empty. At Bisset Lake there were few ducks, as the tide in Cole Harbour was out, but there was a drake Green-winged Teal, 3 American Coots, and 3 female Lesser Scaup. An Iceland Gull and a flock of Common Mergansers were further out, with some Greater Scaup. We looked at the shrubby pathway off Hastings Ave. in Dartmouth, but it was very quiet, but we saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk circling above us. Birch Cove Park was quiet, but we had White-breasted Nuthatches and a Northern Ccardinal at Lakeside Terrace. Sullivan's Pond was fairly quiet, with 35 American Wigeon, but no Eurasian Wigeon. At Point Pleasant Park we found two Pine Warblers at Black Rock Beach, and offshore there were Black Guillemot and a Great Cormorant. We noted two Bald Eagles at a distance. We finished our day with 47 species, a lovely way to begin the first day of winter birding. (Note: it was our strong impression that there were very few sparrows anywhere, and that the wild food crop was quite poor. I'm predicting that the number of sparrows and juncos on this year's Christmas Bird Counts will be less than average. I believe the heavy five-day rainfall in early November hit the sparrows hard. I lost 90% of the birds that had been at my feeders, as the millet rotted as quickly as I could put it out.) Good winter birding, Blake ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blake Maybank maybank@ns.sympatico.ca 902-852-2077 Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds" http://nsbs.chebucto.org Organiser, Maritimes Nature Travel Club http://tinyurl.com/naturetravel author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia" http://tinyurl.com/birdingns Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers: http://tinyurl.com/mr627d White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada --=====================_603740703==.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <body> <font face="Times New Roman, Times"><b><u>1 December 2010<br><br> </u></b>Ian McLaren and I did quite a bit of driving on this first day of the winter birding season. We first went to the Truro area where, upon available evidence, all the geese seem to have migrated. There were no flocks in the air, none on Minas Basin or Salmon River, none in any of the fields formerly frequented. And so, accordingly no <b>Greylag Goose</b>.<br><br> We did, however, see a <b>Rough-legged Hawk </b>near Lower Onslow, and a flock of 30 <b>Horned Larks </b>off Shore Road (sorry about that Tuma!).<br><br> In Truro there were two <b>American Coots </b>at the Kiwanis Pond.<br><br> We saw the <b>Tundra Swan </b>on First Lake in Sackville.<br><br> We saw a male <b>Barrow’s Goldeneye </b>in the Bedford Basin.<br><br> We searched the shrubby margins of Maybank Park in Dartmouth, but saw no birds at all. As we were leaving we met Chris Pepper who was about to begin his search, and he informed us he’d just seen and photographed the <b>Prairie Warbler </b>that he’d found a few days earlier. The warbler is located at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church at the corner of Main and Caledonia in Dartmouth. The bird was located along Kuhn Drive, an unpaved road which runs east of the church, parallel with, and eventually joining, Main Street. Go to Google Maps and you will see the road indicated. The warbler was feeding on the north side of the road, low down, near a large mud puddle in the road. The main parking lot for the church is located to the north of the church, and we saw the <b>Lark Sparrow </b>that Chris reported from several days earlier, at the edge of the parking lot, scratching in the gravel.<br><br> We then checked the edge of Dorothea Drive, but the shrubs were empty. <br><br> At Bisset Lake there were few ducks, as the tide in Cole Harbour was out, but there was a drake <b>Green-winged Teal</b>, 3 <b>American Coots</b>, and 3 female <b>Lesser Scaup</b>. An <b>Iceland Gull </b>and a flock of <b>Common Mergansers </b>were further out, with some <b>Greater Scaup</b>.<br><br> We looked at the shrubby pathway off Hastings Ave. in Dartmouth, but it was very quiet, but we saw a <b>Sharp-shinned Hawk </b>circling above us.<br><br> Birch Cove Park was quiet, but we had <b>White-breasted Nuthatches </b>and a <b>Northern Ccardinal </b>at Lakeside Terrace. Sullivan’s Pond was fairly quiet, with 35 <b>American Wigeon</b>, but no Eurasian Wigeon.<br><br> At Point Pleasant Park we found two <b>Pine Warblers </b>at Black Rock Beach, and offshore there were <b>Black Guillemot </b>and a <b>Great Cormorant</b>. We noted two <b>Bald Eagles </b>at a distance.<br><br> We finished our day with 47 species, a lovely way to begin the first day of winter birding.<br><br> (Note: it was our strong impression that there were very few sparrows anywhere, and that the wild food crop was quite poor. I’m predicting that the number of sparrows and juncos on this year’s Christmas Bird Counts will be less than average. I believe the heavy five-day rainfall in early November hit the sparrows hard. I lost 90% of the birds that had been at my feeders, as the millet rotted as quickly as I could put it out.)<br><br> Good winter birding,<br><br> Blake<br><br> <br> </font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> Blake Maybank<br> maybank@ns.sympatico.ca<br> 902-852-2077<br><br> Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds"<br> <a href="http://nsbs.chebucto.org/" eudora="autourl"> http://nsbs.chebucto.org<br><br> </a>Organiser, Maritimes Nature Travel Club<br> <font color="#0000FF"><u> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/naturetravel" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/naturetravel</a></u></font> <br><br> author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia"<br> <font color="#0000FF"><u> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/birdingns" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/birdingns<br> </a></u></font>Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers:<br> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/mr627d" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/mr627d</a> <br><br> White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada </body> </html> --=====================_603740703==.ALT--
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