Bird Protection Quebec "Field Trip Report" Saturday February 27

21 birders joined the field trip in the Mirabel area this morning. We were lucky and had good weather, cold but with little wind – except at the end of the trip by the landfill where the wind picked up and made it a bit more challenging to scout the hundreds of gulls for the goodies…

 We started the morning in the fields on Rang St Marie and St Dominique, where we visited the Snow Bunting banding station. Thanks to Liette and Gay for organizing this and welcoming us! While no Snow Bunting was banded while we were at the station, the visit was greatly informative and fun.

Along rang St-Marie, we got good looks at 2 Snowy Owls perched on a roof and on a pole. Everyone also enjoyed great views of Horned Larks and of a Northen Shrike. On the way back, Sheldon and Darlene spotted 4 Gray Partridges flying away. After some time, we managed to locate a group of 13 birds and enjoyed them for a while while they were foraging and running in the fields.

We then headed to the Landfill where gulls, crow, ravens and bald eagles did not disappoint.  4, maybe 5, Bald Eagles were around and put up a great show. Difficult to estimate the number of gulls as most were hidden in the landfill but it was in the thousands. A number of Glaucus Gulls were around, easy to spot roosting or in flight, but it was only in the last minutes that we managed to get good views of an Iceland Gull that everyone could enjoy.

Thanks to all who joined and made it a great morning. Below is the list of 20 species of birds observed, including a group of Common Redpolls observed as we were leaving the landfill. - Frédéric Hareau

13 Gray Partridge, 1 Wild Turkey, 4 Bald Eagle, 2 Red-tailed Hawk, 50 Rock Pigeon, 200 Herring Gull, 3 Iceland Gull, 50 Glaucous Gull, 500 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Snowy Owl, 2 Downy Woodpecker, 1 Northern Shrike, 44 American Crow, 32 Common Raven, 7 Horned Lark, 2 Black-capped Chickadee, 500 European Starling, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 2 Dark-eyed Junco, 200 Snow bunting, 20 Common Redpoll (seen as we were leaving the Landfill), 1 House Sparrow

13 Perdrix grise, 1 Dindon sauvage, 4 Pygargue à tête blanche, 2 Buse à queue rousse, 50 Pigeon biset, 200 Goéland argenté, 3 Goéland arctique, 50 Goéland bourgmestre, 500 Goéland marin, 2 Harfang des neiges, 2 Pic mineur, 1 Pie-grièche grise, 44 Corneille d'Amérique, 32 Grand corbeau, 7 Alouette hausse-col, 2 Mésange à tête noire, 500 Étourneau sansonnet, 1 Bruant Hudsonien, 2 Junco ardoisé, 200 Bruant des neiges, 20 Sizerin flammé, 1 Moineau domestique