Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report for Saturday November 1st

Montreal

On a beautiful sunny morning, with temperatures going upfrom 0 to 5 Celsius, 14 birders joined in for a visit at Parc-Nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies. Just as I arrived in the parking lot, some birders had already founda scoter on the river, in front of the parking lot. The bird wasi dentified as a Black Scoter: our bird of the day.

We then proceeded with the walk in the park, but the birds were scarce. We nonetheless managed to get a good variety, thanks to the birders present who all contributed to finding species. A special thanks goes to Daniel Ouellette, whose ear caught at least four additional species, not seen nor heard by anyone else. At some point I was reminded of the late hour and, with Jean Demers, we initiated a quick walk back to the parking lot. Other birders stayed behind and enjoyed a show of two Red-tailed Hawks and one Rough-legged Hawk.

Afterwards, six of us continued on the field trip, birding at three spots along rivière des Prairies. The last stop (47th Avenue) was the most interesting. There, among other birds, three White-winged Scoters, four Buffleheads and a raft of Common Goldeneyes awaited us. We managed to add seven species to the list of the morning.

Here is the complete list (42 species): Canada Goose (70), Gadwall (2), American Widgeon (10), American Black Duck (10), Mallard (25), Green-winged Teal (8), Lesser Scaup (4), White-winged Scoter (3), Black Scoter (1), Bufflehead (4), Common Goldeneye (30), Double-crested Cormorant (12), Great Bleu Heron (2), Cooper's Hawk (1), Red-Tailed Hawk (2), Rough-legged Hawk (2), Ring-Billed Gull (125), Herring Gull (1), Great Black-backed Gull (3), Rock Pigeon (2) ,Mourning Dove (1), Downy Woodpecker (4), Hairy Woodpecker (2), BlueJay (1), American Crow (8), Black-capped Chickadee (30), White-breasted Nuthatch (1), American Robin (25), European Starling (70), American Pipit (1), American Tree Sparrow (7), Dark-eyed Junco (15), Snow Bunting (2), Northern Cardinal (4), Red-winged Blackbird (15),Common Grackle (1), Purple Finch (3), House Finch (1), CommonRedpoll (4), Pine Siskin (15), American Goldfinch (20), HouseSparrow (5).

A warm thanks goes to everyone for participating actively to this morning's Field Trip.- Diane Demers