Sightings for Sunday March 15th

Chateauguay Ile St-Bernard: There were about 6 Tufted Titmouse (Mésange bicolore), 10 White-breasted Nuthatches, (Sittelle à poitrine blanche) and many Black-capped chickadees (Mésange à tête noire) to nobody's surprise. As we were watching them around the feeder, a Merlin (Faucon émerillon) flew out of the woods and over ustoward the marsh. Red-winged Blackbirds (Carouge à épaulettes) were the dominant specie, with about 50 around the marsh, and maybe double that around the whole island. But, the main event of the day was when I was walking back toward the feeder, a Northern Shrike (Pie-grièche grise) flew out of the reeds at the edge of the frozen marsh and up into a tree. It then began to chase one of the Blackbirds around the trees. It never did catch it, but it came mighty close. You had to see that Blackbird whizzing in and out of the trees. I was impressed by its acrobatical flying abilities. The Shrike eventually gave up. I did see it again later near the path along the river a bit south of the chalet, but that was after seeing a Red-tailed Hawk (Buse à queue rousse) soaring above the trees at the back of the marsh - Hal - click photo to enlarge

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Godmanchester, montée Smellie near the trail tracks: 6 Golden eagles, Northern goshawk, Rough-legged hawk, 12 Red-tailsed hawks, 3 Killdeer and a Northern shrike

près de la voie ferrée où j'ai rencontré Pierre Éthier, Charles Ménard et Luc Goneau. Par une journée radieuse, nous avons dénombré 6 (probablement 7) Aigles royaux, tous des adultes, un Autour des palombes adulte, une Buse pattue et une dizaine de Buses à queue rousse. Avant mon arrivée, Pierre avait vu 3 Pluviers kildir et une Pie-grièche grise.

Saint-Timothée: rte 132 a little east of (barrage des) Cèdres dam thousands of Canada geese, many Northern pintails and 2 Greater white-fronted geese

en bordure de la route 132 un peu à l'est du barrage des Cèdres. Il y avait des milliers de Bernaches du Canada, plusieurs Canards pilets à cet endroit, ainsi que 2 Oies rieuses (bec orange) - Pierre Bannon