Bird Protection Quebec Field Trip - Pointe-aux-Prairies September 27th

From 8 :00AM until 10 :30AM, Michel Beaupré and myself have birded parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies under slight rain, stronger at times, but otherwise fine temperature. We agreed that the Northern Shrike, seen along the eastern parking lot, should be our bird of the day, being a first of the season for both of us, and not having seen anything else exciting on the rest of the hike, as birds were very quiet.

I then made a few stops along rivière des Prairies. Some hunters were posted on both sides of the river in front of the 87th avenue, so it was pretty empty there. But I've finally found all of the Canada geese hiding from the hunters in front of the 42nd street. A total of 26 cormorants were also found standing on some of the rocks there as well as a few duck species.

Here is the complete list forthe field trip (30 species): Pied-billed grebe, Double-crested Cormorant (26), Great blue Heron(2), Canada Goose (350), Mallard (30), American Black Duck (20),Gadwall (10), Northern Pintail, American Wigeon (10), Green-wingedTeal (10), Greater Scaup (2), Common Goldeneye (6), Hooded Merganser,Ring-billed gull (20), Herring Gull (5), Great Black-backed Gull (5),Rock Dove (10), Downy Woodpecker (2), Northern Shrike, Blue Jay,American Crow (15), Black-capped Chickadee (15), Ruby-crowned Kinglet,American Robin (50+), European Starling (30), Northern Cardinal (2),American Tree Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow (2), Dark-eyed Junco(6), Red-winged Blackbird

Many thanks to Michel who came on this gray morning.

Diane Demers