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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_38khJYLTnbcTmT87o8jZZg) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable We attended the Nature Nova Scotia AGM and Conference in St Ann's at the = Gaelic College this past weekend. After the afternoon boat trip to the = Bird Islands, we drove to Hillsborough, near Mabou, to our B & B. After = a late dinner at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, as soon as we exited the = restaurant, we could hear and then see a few Chimney Swifts flying = overhead. We counted about 6 birds; it was 8:25 PM. After a 15-minute search for a possible roost location, we found it!! = It is a very small chimney at the back end of St Mary's Parish Church. = To find it, take the road to Mabou Coal Mines/Mabou Harbour just south = of the Red Shoe Pub. The Church which has a large steeple visible from = the middle of town is about 500 m along this road. Best viewing = conditions are from the front of the Renewal Centre, along MacDonald = Road, just behind the Church. We arrived here at about 8:40 PM and = already swifts were entering. I have no idea how many were already in = but we counted about 12 at 8:40. More swifts were still flying around = and from 8:52 - 8:55, another 10 entered. We saw no more swifts from = 8:55 until we left around 9:20 PM. While we waited and watched, one of = the Sisters from the Renewal Centre came out to talk to us. She knew = about the swifts (again there were "hundreds" a few years ago) but I = forgot to recruit her as a"Swiftwatcher"!! Shucks, missed a great = opportunity. And, unfortunately, I have no birding contacts in and = around Mabou. As an aside, considerable storm damage, not yet cleaned up, has caused = the closure of many of the Mabou Highlands trails as well as some on the = West Mabou Provincial Park. Too bad, since that was one of the reasons = we came home this way. One trail we did walk had Blackburnian Warbler, = Northern Parula and lots of Ovenbirds. Along the road from West Mabou = Harbour, we saw Eastern Kingbird (my first in years) as well as a field = with Bobolinks (very nice!). Got doc shots of both! Bob McDonald Halifax --Boundary_(ID_38khJYLTnbcTmT87o8jZZg) 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 8.00.6001.19046"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2>We attended the Nature Nova Scotia AGM and Conference in St Ann's at the Gaelic College this past weekend. After the afternoon boat trip to the Bird Islands, we drove to Hillsborough, near Mabou, to our B & B. After a late dinner at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, as soon as we exited the restaurant, we could hear and then see a few Chimney Swifts flying overhead. We counted about 6 birds; it was 8:25 PM.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>After a 15-minute search for a possible roost location, we found it!! It is a very small chimney at the back end of St Mary's Parish Church. To find it, take the road to Mabou Coal Mines/Mabou Harbour just south of the Red Shoe Pub. The Church which has a large steeple visible from the middle of town is about 500 m along this road. Best viewing conditions are from the front of the Renewal Centre, along MacDonald Road, just behind the Church. We arrived here at about 8:40 PM and already swifts were entering. I have no idea how many were already in but we counted about 12 at 8:40. More swifts were still flying around and from 8:52 - 8:55, another 10 entered. We saw no more swifts from 8:55 until we left around 9:20 PM. While we waited and watched, one of the Sisters from the Renewal Centre came out to talk to us. She knew about the swifts (again there were "hundreds" a few years ago) but I forgot to recruit her as a"Swiftwatcher"!! Shucks, missed a great opportunity. And, unfortunately, I have no birding contacts in and around Mabou.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>As an aside, considerable storm damage, not yet cleaned up, has caused the closure of many of the Mabou Highlands trails as well as some on the West Mabou Provincial Park. Too bad, since that was one of the reasons we came home this way. One trail we did walk had Blackburnian Warbler, Northern Parula and lots of Ovenbirds. Along the road from West Mabou Harbour, we saw Eastern Kingbird (my first in years) as well as a field with Bobolinks (very nice!). Got doc shots of both!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bob McDonald</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Halifax</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML> --Boundary_(ID_38khJYLTnbcTmT87o8jZZg)--
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