Bird Protection Quebec "Field Trip"

Saturday, February 1  – samedi 1 février

Ste-Marthe, St-Clet, Ste-Justine

Guide: Wayne Grubert - 450-458-5498 - e-mail 

8:00 a.m. Meet at Hudson Inn, exit 17 off Highway 40. From Montreal, take Highway 40 west towards Ottawa. Allow an hour’s drive from Montreal. Looking for Snowy Owls, Rough-legged Hawks, Snow Buntings and other open-country winter birds. Bring warm clothes for standing around or taking short walks (or in case weather conditions dictate a complete change of itinerary). We will try to keep the number of cars to a minimum; therefore, car-pooling arranged ahead of time and/or at our rendezvous would be greatly appreciated. Half day.

8 h 00 Rassemblement au Hudson Inn, sortie 17 de l’autoroute 40. De Montréal, prendre l’autoroute 40 ouest, en direction d’Ottawa. Prévoir une heure à partir de Montréal. Espèces recherchées : Harfang des neiges, Buse pattue, Bruant des neiges et autres oiseaux d’hiver. Apporter des vêtements suffisamment chauds pour de courtes marches et permettant de passer du temps à l’extérieur; prévoir également d’éventuels changements de plans, dus à la météo. Nous vous encourageons à faire du covoiturage en vue de limiter le nombre de voitures. Demi-journée.

Sightings for Thursday January 30

Québec, avenue St-David,  Great gray owl (Chouette Lapone) PHOTOS - Bruno Tremblay

Sightings for Friday January 24

Montréal: An Eastern Screech owl (Petit-duc maculé) was sitting on our porch this morning (in little Italy), corner Chateaubriand and Belle chasse).it seems unusual to us! It is still there, has been sitting there for at least a few hours already (we aren’t sure if it was there last night, we wouldn’t have seen it) - Karen
-------------------------------------------------------------
Montréal: The Fox Sparrow is still present at the Botanical Gardens, I saw it at feeder #3 at 15:30 as well as the White-throated Sparrow

Le bruant fauve est toujours présent au Jardin Botanique Je l'ai vu à la mangeoire 3 à 15h30 ainsi que le bruant à gorge blanche - Pascale Berthe
-------------------------------------------------------------
Varennes: At 4:40 p.m. today a Snowy owl sat atop a pole on Chemin du Lac, just east of blvd. Lionel-Boulet

À 16h40 aujourd'hui, à Varennes, un Harfang des neiges trônait au sommet d'un poteau, sur le chemin du Lac, un peu à l'est du boulevard Lionel-Boulet. - Michel Bertrand
-------------------------------------------------------------
Beauport: The Northern Hawk Owl is is still at the corner rue Du Gulf and Boulevard Lloyd Welch.

La Chouette épervière est toujours au coin rue Du Gouffre et du Boulevard Lloyd Welch à Beauport. - Serge Mailhot

"Introduction to Birdwatching" course

Champlain College in St-Lambert will once again be offering my "Introduction to Birdwatching" course as a part of their Continuing Education program this spring. The course begins on March 26th, 2014. For information, or to register for the course, please visit the following webpage - Sheldon

http://www.champlainonline.com/champlainweb/continuing-education/programs-courses/introduction-to-birdwatching-2/

Bird Protection Quebec "Field Trip"

Here are the details for the BPQ field trip for Saturday.  After reviewing all of the recent sightings in our region, I have decided that our best opportunity for a good variety of birds on Saturday will be at the Ste-Catherine Seaway Locks and Récré-o-parc in south shore Sainte-Catherine.  A Wood Duck and two Northern Pintails are being seen regularly in the seaway run-off basin just in front of the seaway locks.  Also two juvenile bald eagles and a number of Wild Turkeys have been spotted on the shore of Heron Island facing the Récré-o-parc. There are also several species of ducks and gulls in the open water between the parc and Heron Island.  We will also walk some of the trails of the park itself to see what we might be able to shake out of the trees.

Rather than meeting at the usual spot at Sainte-Catherine (the empty parking lot facing the road leading up to the drawbridge at the locks), we will meet just a little north-east of that spot on boul. Marie-VIctorin at a small parking lot in the Parc des Optimistes.  Here are the details.

DATE: Saturday, January 25, 2014
TIME: 8 am - Half Day.LOCATION: Parc des Optimistes, Ste-Catherine
MEETING SPOT: The parking lot at Parc des Optimistes, boul. Marie-Victorin, slightly north-east of the road leading to the drawbridge at the Seaway Locks..

Directions to the Parc des Optimistes, on boul. Marie-Victorin, Sainte-Catherine, QC
SEE Google Map http://goo.gl/maps/Eciv3

By car, via Mercier Bridge. At the south end of the bridge, take the left exit
(direction LaPrairie-132 east), drive 6.5 km, turn left onto Rue Centrale. Follow Centrale which will turn right on to Marie-Victorin Blvd. The parking lot is on the left, just past the road leading up to the drawbridge at the locks.

By car, via Champlain Bridge: Take the Champlain Bridge, take the first exit
off the bridge toward New York State (#15 south / #132 east); take Exit 46
(LaPrairie/Salaberry) and turn right on to Marie-Victorin Blvd. Drive 5.2 km and
arrive at the parking lot on the right just before the road leading up to the drawbridge at the locks. 

This will mostly be a walking trip.  Wear good footwear as some of the trails may be icy. Scopes are recommended for viewing on to the river and across to Heron Island.

For more information contact me at 450-462-1459, or on the morning of the field trip at 514-637-2141

Sightings for Monday January 20

St-Pamphile, rang des Moreau: Northern hawk owl, this afternoon around 1:15 PHOTO

Chouette épervière, cet après-midi vers 13h15 PHOTO - Jean-Guy Chouinard, Jocelyne Morin

Bird Protection Quebec "Field Trip Report"

Montréal Botanical Gardens -Saturday, January 18,  8:00 to 12:00

We were blessed with sunny skies, light winds and temperatures of -2° C to + 2°C. 14 participants worked hard to identify 12 species. The feeders had seed and that is where most birds were found but there were very few birds to be found. The bird of the day was a Cooper’s Hawk (Épervier de Cooper) who stayed perched in a tree for at least half an hour moving once to give us a view from the front. A couple of birders not with our group saw a Red-tailed Hawk (Buse à queue rousse) and mentioned having seen a shrike the week before. A couple of other birders described a bird to some of our group which was probably a Northern Shrike (Pie-grièche grise).

Here is our list for the day, 

Coopers Hawk                      1          Épervier de Cooper

Rock Pigeon                          4          Pigeon biset

Downy Woodpecker            6          Pic mineur

American Crow                    5          Corneille d’Amérique

Black-capped Chickadee   20         Mésange à tête noire

White-breasted Nuthatch  6          Sittelle à poitrine blanche

American Robin                   6          Merle d’Amérique

European Starling               6          Étourneau sansonnet

Dark-eyed Junco                6          Junco ardoisé

Northern Cardinal              5          Cardinal rouge

American Goldfinch            3          Chardonneret jaune

House Sparrow                   7          Moineau domestique

We had a pleasant walk and I thank all who joined me. Hope to see you out again soon.

David Mulholland

Sightings for Sunday January 19

Montréal, Millen avenue, corner of Chabanel in Ahuntsic: This Cooper's Hawk (Épervier de Cooper) came by yesterday and also this morning, roosted in the trees in our small garden for about 20 minutes.  We’re on Millen avenue, corner of Chabanel. - Peggy Killeen

Click PHOTO to enlarge

Sightings for Saturday January 18

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley: This afternoon, at the end of the rue des Mélèzes, there was a female Long-tailed Duck. There were also a couple of Barrow's goldeneye, a hundred Common goldeneye forty-five Hooded mergansers and thirty Common Mergansers.

Ce midi, au bout de la rue des Mélèzes à Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, il y avait un Harelde kakawi femelle. Il y avait aussi un couple de Garrots d’Islande, une centaine de Garrots à œil d’or, quarante-cinq Harles couronnés et une trentaine de Grands Harles. - Benoît Turgeon

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beauport: Boulevard Lloyd-Welch at ave. des Sablonnière Northern hawk owl was still present and very active.

Boulevard Lloyd-Welch, au niveau de la Sablonnière: la Chouette épervière toujours présente et des plus actives. - Diane Labarre

Bird Protection Quebec "Field Trip"

Saturday, January 18 - samedi 18 janvier
Montreal Botanical Garden - Jardin Botanique de Montréal
Guide: David Mulholland 514-630-6082 - e-mail 

8:00 a.m. Meet in front of the restaurant, near the entrance on Sherbrooke St.East.There is a charge for parking inside the gates. Looking for winter finches. Half day
.
8 h 00 Rassemblement devant le restaurant, près de l'entrée du jardin sur la rue Sherbrooke Est. Prévoir des frais de stationnement. Espèces recherchées : oiseaux d'hiver. Demi-journée.

Sightings for Wednesday January 15

3 Snowy Owls (Harfangs des neiges) and 

Snow buntings (Bruant des neiges) in Mirabel  today- Dwight Brown

Click photo to enlarge

Sightings for Saturday January 4

Mirable: My birding friends and I went looking for Snowy Owls (Harfangs des neiges) in Mirabel this morning. And we were lucky: while driving along Rang St-Dominique and Rang Giroux, we saw what we judged to be five different individuals! Owl no. 3 gave us the best sighting: I was in the second of two cars, and the owl swooped down over our friends' car ahead of us, entirely unbeknownst to them! It then alighted on a nearby hydro pole and uttered a disgusted-sounding call, giving us superb looks. Other good winter species included a flock of about half a dozen Gray Partridge (Perdix grise)and numerous Snow Buntings (Bruants des neiges). - Zofia
---------------------------------------------------------------

11 Snowy Owls (Harfangs des neiges) were around the general St-Clet area this afternoon. I heard that some idiots were down there with a toy mouse on a string today, I didn’t see them unfortunately but would certainly have pointed out their folly had I done so.- Mark Dennis

Bird Protection Quebec "Monthly Lecture, Meeting"

The Origin of Birds - presented by Prof. Hans Larsson

Monday, 13 January 2014

7:30 p.m. at Kensington & First Presbyterian Church, 6225 Godfrey Avenue, NDG

The origin of birds over 150 million years ago is nested within the carnivorous dinosaurs. Hans Larsen’s talk will explore some of the research in his laboratory that covers the ecological origins of birds:

What musculoskeletal adaptations make birds what they are today? What developmental mechanisms may have been at play millions of years ago? Are especially fast rates of evolution associated with the incredible diversification of birds to the nearly 10,000 species we have alive today?

Hans Larsson is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at McGill University. His background is vertebrate palaeontology and experimental embryology where he seeks to understand the interface between ecology, evolution, and developmental biology using the fish to tetrapod and dinosaur to bird transitions. Read something more about Prof. Larsson at http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/11/dr-chickenosaurus/