Summer Series of Birding - Trip #6 - Saturday, August 16

This Saturday's trip will wrap up our 2014 Summer Series of Birding. We will be making our annual visit to 4 eastern Ontario sewage lagoons. This has become one of our most popular and productive trips each summer. On last year’s trip we had a total of 78 species.We’ll repeat last year’s route, starting at the St-Albert Lagoons, then on to Embrun. We'll take a lunch break at the Tim Horton rest stop in Casselman and then move on to the Casselman Lagoons and finally the St-Isidore Lagoons.

DATE: Saturday, August 16
TIME: 7:00 AM – Full day; combination driving/walking trip.
MEETING PLACE: The Hudson Inn parking lot in Hudson, Quebec - Exit 17 off of Highway 40. Please arrive early to be ready to depart at 7 AM sharp. We have a 90 km. drive from Hudson to our first stop in St-Albert, thus the need for the early start.

DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS: The detailed route for the day is available in a file in the "Files" section of the Songsparrow Yahoo group. The document includes links to the individual sewage lagoon information pages. Click on "Files" on the menu bar of the group page. Look for the 2nd file “BPQ Driving Instructions”. Click on it and the document E. Ontario Sewage Lagoon trip details.doc is there. If possible, please print out a copy to bring with you.

ITINERARY: We will visit 4 different sewage lagoons; St-Albert, Embrun, Casselman and St-Isidore. We'll be looking for shorebirds and marsh-dwellers, as well as songbirds, raptors, etc. that show up throughout the day.St-Albert and Embrun will easily fill the morning. We'll break for lunch at Tim Horton's in Casselman prior to heading on to the Casselman and St-Isidore stops. Bring your lunch or pick up something at a number of restaurants located at the Cassleman stop. Picnic tables, washrooms and gasoline are all available here.

There is a lot of walking at each site, particularly at St. Albert, the largest of the four sites. The lagoons are located in wide open, exposed areas, away from any facilities. They provide no shade or shelter from the sun or rain. So dress accordingly and bring along fluids and/or snacks. The grass can be quite wet, particularly early in the morning. Be equipped with suitable footwear. A couple of the lagoon sites have substantial amounts of ragweed present which may cause problems for people with allergy issues, so be forewarned.Spotting scopes will be very useful. Also, if you have portable two-way radios, please bring them along. They are excellent tools on road trips to stay in communication with others in the convoy. Car-pooling is recommended, if possible, as parking at a couple of the lagoons is limited. Cars may be left at the Hudson Inn parking lot if you are able to double up with someone

If you have any question, please contact me by e-mail, or by telephone at 450-462-1459. If you are delayed on Saturday morning, please call me on the BPQ cellphone at 514-637-2141. We will leave Hudson at 7 am sharp. Should you arrive late, you will have time to catch up to us at our first stop in St-Albert.This is a full day of birding. We usually do not get back to the Montreal area until quite late in the afternoon. Should you choose to leave the group at any point during the day, there is easy access back to Highway 417 from any of the sewage lagoon locations.We look forward to a great day of birding on Saturday. Sheldon