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Following up on Jim Wolford's reports on shorebird numbers in the Eastern Valley, Wendy and took a run up on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I had mis-calculated the timing of the tide and we arrived at the Evangeline lookoff near the canteen right at high tide. No muddy shoreline; no shorebirds! We then moved along to the east end of the beach at the Guzzle, looking over to Boot Island - same thing! While we waited for the tide to fall, I walked through the meadow full of red clover, Queen Anne's Lace and goldenrods and noted 4 Black Swallowtails (2 male, 2 female), many Wood Nymphs (several 10's), and countless sulphurs and cabbage whites - it was a nice warm sunny day for the most part. The BLSW's were in almost constant motion so it was a challenge to get a decent pic. After half an hour of patient stalking, I was able to take a couple of shots of a male. I did have a net but had no interest in catching one. I will not be sending specimens in for the butterfly atlas since I think that we have progressed beyond that point, or should have. Also observed along the dyke here was an Osprey actively fishing until I tried to get its picture at which point it rapidly flew away, in the direction of Boot Is. Through the scope, I was able to find a group of 10 Great Blue Herons loafing near the shoreline in a southerly direction. Although most of the Seaside Goldenrod was still in bud, there were several plants in full bloom just behind the fishermen. Also on this side, there was a small group (about a dozen) of shorebirds, hunkered down in amongst the seaweed drift - mostly Least Sandpipers and 3-4 Semipalms. Three Semipalmated Plovers were seen on the shoreline on the north side of the fishing folk. We then proceeded back to the Lookoff, near the canteen. Although the mud flats were exposed, no shorebirds were roosting. However, they were flying by, going mainly to the west, in groups which ranged from 10-20 birds up to two flocks which must have numbered in the thousands. Remarkable, but it would have been great if they had come in to roost. After u-picking some end-of-the-season raspberries and buying some fresh Valley produce (the corn is sweet!), we met up with Harold Forsythe and another couple for the 6:30 PM tour of the Harriet Irving Garden. We tallied quite a list and thanks to Harold we learned a couple of new flora species! Finally, it was off to the Robie Tufts Nature Centre for the evening swift show. Unfortunately, nobody told the swifts about it, and after about 3/4 hour, the 8 observers had tallied ZERO swifts (observation time 8:00 - 8:50 PM). Sunset was around 8:20 PM. Cheers, Bob and Wendy McDonald Halifax
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