Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report – March 1st

Grenville: Today's trip in the Grenville area had been billed as an exploratory trip, the first in an occasional series of trips we will be having. It lived up to its name.

The snow was obviously a deterrent as far as number of participants was concerned. Including co-leaders Jacques Bouvier and Martin Bowman,, the trip began with 8 birders, but soon the road conditions led to 2 people deciding to return to Montreal post haste.

We had hoped to bird up chemin Scotch north of Grenville, but that plan had to be abandoned as the road had not been cleared of snow. The weather conditions certainly were challenging with heavy snow for much of the morning (though it finally cleared near noon). The temperature was around -6 degrees Celsius.

With the leaders plans scotched as it were by this lion of a March 1st, the trip began to live up to its name for real as Jacques and I set out on roads that we hadn't scouted north and east of Grenville in Argenteuil County. The departing two some certainly brought luck as is so often the case. Up till then only American Crows had been encountered. The next bird, which was missed by the co-leaders!, was an adult Bald Eagle in low flight over the 2 vehicles of the 4 remaining participants. Ultimately, this bird was chosen as Bird of the Day despite some real competition.
We took a concession road and found what we came later to realize was the only feeder station in Argenteuil County! No wonder there were birds there, including a textbook Hoary Redpoll that took the collective breath away. A little further along the same road, Jacques thought the habitat looked good, and so we stopped. Soon a bird was found hidden in a conifer and, with some difficulty, we were able to get an identifying look at an adult White-throated Sparrow.

Then came a long period of birdlessness in beautiful country. If only it had been a good year for winter finches!

We ended the trip by the Ottawa River, at first in Grenville and then in Hawkesbury. The river added 5 species for a respectable total of 19 species. The totals below are for Quebec birds unless otherwise noted.

Thanks so much to Jacques Bouvier for his superb birding and guiding and to everyone who came out to make something of a discouraging morning. It turned out to be a very good trip.

Merci beaucoup!

Species with totals: Canada Goose - 3 (in Ontario), Common Goldeneye - 1, Common Merganser - 3 (in Ontario), Bald Eagle - 1, Great Black-backed Gull - 1, American Herring Gull - 5, Rock Pigeon - 8, Mourning Dove - 1, Downy Woodpecker - 2, Hairy Woodpecker - 2, Black-capped Chickadee - 20, White-breasted Nuthatch - 1, Blue Jay - 17, American Crow - 4 (2 more in Ontario), Common Raven - 2, Common Redpoll - 6, Hoary Redpoll - 1, White-throated Sparrow - 1, Dark-eyed Junco 5

Martin

Sightings for Saturday March 1st

Hudson: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) was still present west of Hudson, viewable from Main Road 1.5km west of Finnegan's Market and hunting the fields between the road and railway. - Mark Dennis

Hatley: Gyrfalcon (Faucon gerfaut) 1km north of Hatley on chemin North or (Nord) - Denis Bergeron

Varennes, autoroute 30 exit chemin de la Baronnie: Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges)

Verchères, autoroute 30 exit Montée Calixa-Lavallée: Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges) - Michel Bertrand

Boucherville, Parc des Îles de Boucherville: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) at the edge of the pinède des Moyens-Ducthe near the road to the golf course. There were several photographers and one had released a Vole that was caught to attract the Owl - Denis Hamel - (please do not bait owls to photograph them)

Sightings for Friday February 29th

St-Clet, chemin Ste-Marie: Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges) 12:45 - Johanne Lapierre

Sightings for Thursday February 28th

Hudson, along the train tracks (that are illegal to walk along) behind Finnegan's market: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) along the marsh around 4h30PM today. The bird then flew across the fields to the northwest – P. Bannon - http://pbase.com/pbannon

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline) - Jean-Sébastien Guénette

Cap-d'Espoir, near Pointe du cap - Gyrfalcon (Faucon gerfaut) - Albini Couture

Sightings for Wednesday February 27th

At the border of Epiphany & St-Roch-de-l'Achigan, route 339: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) could be seen from chemin de la Ligne-Lapointe, please respect the private property of the street - Patrice Franche & Angèle Gosselin

Sherbrooke, lac des Nations: Lesser black-backed gull (Goéland brun), 2 Barrow’s goldeneye (Garrots d'Islande) - Renaud Baeta

Sightings for Tuesday February 26th

Hudson: It was overcast with light snow falling this morning and the conditions to seemed ideal for finding a Great gray owl (Chouette lapone). They were, and Don and I saw two just where Wayne said they would be, behind Finnegan's. They were busy looking for food. I hope they found something. - Barbara

Montreal, Henri-Bourassa & Ray-Lawson behind the Tim Horton: Northern mockingbird (Moqueur polyglotte) - André Provost
Montreal Botanical Gardens: European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant), Cooper’s hawk (Épervier de Cooper) - Régis Fortin

Sightings for Monday February 25

Boucherville: Alain Goulet and I birded Parc des Îles-de-Boucherville this morning. No sign of Great Grey Owl (last seen yesterday apparently) but we did get a single Barred Owl (Chouette rayée), Northern Saw-whet Owl (Petite Nyctale) and Great Horned Owl (Grand-duc d'Amérique). We also had great views of an American Kestrel (Crécerelle d'Amérique) devouring a mouse.

Cheers, A. Plimer

Sightings for Sunday February 24th

Hatley: I saw a Gyrfalcon (gray form) (Faucon gerfaut) in a field standing over his prey - a black duck on Chemin Nord, Canton de Hatley. I was able to observe the falcon for acouple of minutes and take some photos. I returned later to take more photos of the remains of the dead duck and interesting traces in the snow. - Sheila MacLean

Repentigny, rue Des Gouverneurs: Great horned owl (Grand-duc d'Amérique) - Richard Prévost - photo

Mirabel, beside autoroute 50 between the 15 and exit 1 to the airport: Snowy owl (Harfang des neige) – Daniel Belleisle - photo

Lafontaine, Parc régional de la Rivière du Nord: Belted kingfisher (Martin pêcheur) - Serge Chevalier

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), Hoary redpoll (Sizerin blanchâtre) - Louis Messely

St-Hugues, Domaine Ramsay: Barred owl (Chouette rayée) - Roger Roy

Bouchervill, Parc des Îles de Boucherville: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) near the canal between the boat rental and the golf course. Also seen - Saw-whet owl (Petite Nyctale), American kestrel (Crécerelle d'Amérique), Herring gull (Goéland argenté) - Michel Bertrand

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report – February 23rd

Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Morgan Arboretum: 12 birders, 14 species. Around -8 C, but felt warmer in the sun.

Bird of the day: Northern Shrike, perched at the top of a tree in Pullin's Pasture. (click photo to enlarge - M. Swoboda)

Runner-up bird of the day: Young male Pine Grosbeak, eating underneath the sunflower feeder at the Conservation Centre. Noteworthy because it was the first time any of us had seen this species at a feeder. It was very tame (a characteristic of this species, I believe) and we were able to watch it from a short distance away. A beautiful peachy colour. We looked for a band, thinking it may have been the bird Le Nichoir had released, but it didn't have one.

Species: Downy Woodpecker 1, Hairy Woodpecker 5 *(one male was banded), Pileated Woodpecker 2Northern Shrike 1, American Crow 20, Common Raven 1, Black-capped Chickadee 30,White-breasted Nuthatch 6, Bohemian Waxwing 1, Waxwing sp. 3, Northern Carninal 2, Pine Grosbeak 4, Common Redpoll 3, American Goldfinch 2

Rather quiet birdwise. As usual, lots of friendly dogs.

Cheers, Betsy

Sightings for Saturday February 23rd

Mont St-Hilaire: Gyrfalcon (Faucon gerfaut), Peregrine falcon (Faucon pèlerin) - Daniel Ouellette

Montreal, parc nature du Bois-de-Liesse: Eastern screech owl (Petit duc maculé) bois francs sector in the direction of boul. Hyman - Michel Juteau - click photo to enlarge

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant), Hoary redpoll (Sizerin blanchâtre), Common redpoll (Sizerins flammés), 2 American robins (Merles d'Amérique) etc.

Laval, Bois Papineau: in it’s hole behind the police station - Eastern screech owl (Petit-duc maculé) dans son trou habituel, derrière le poste de police. Great horned owl on it’s nest (Grand-duc d'Amérique) sur son nid. Not far from the feeders - Barred owl (Chouette rayée), Common redpolls (Sizerins flammés), American tree sparrows (Bruants hudsoniens), House finch (Roselins familiers), 4 Pileated woodpeckers (Grands Pics) etc. - Michel Bertrand

Verdun, rue Leclair at the lookout: Lesser black-backed gull (2nd winter) (Goéland brun 2ème Hiver) - Diane Demers

Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, on the open water west of the rail bridge: 2 Common loons (Plongeons huards) – R. Gregson

Pointe du Lac: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière)

Ste-Foy, south east corner of autoroute 40 (Charest) & 540 (Duplessis): Great horned owl (Grand-Duc d'Amérique) - Stéphane Blais

Hudson: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone)
I played a hunch this afternoon after reading the report about a great gray owl at Parc Les Iles de Boucherville and decided to see if any were around my favourite spot for this species west of Finnegan's Market in Hudson. I should probably buy a lotto ticket tonight because I found two within 5 minutes of starting out. This was at 1:30 p.m. in bright sunlight so I may try again later, nearer dusk, to see if there is more activity. My past experience with these birds has been that they are much more active on cloudy overcast days and tend to stick closer to cover on bright days like today so finding two in the open was actually a bit of a surprise (although not a great one if they are hungry). Unfortunately I cannot add them to my "growling" (green owling) BGBY listbecause I drove in the car to my starting point! Did manage to add a couple ofravens to that list today however. - W. Grubert


Darlene and I, together with Mary Ellen Graham, decided to explore some of the spots in south-western Quebec this morning, looking for a number of species that had been reported over the last week or so. It turned out to be a very successful day.

Ste-Catherine: 100’s Common Mergansers (Grand harles), Black-backed Gulls(Goéland marin), Mallards (Canard colvert) and Common Goldeneye (Garrots à oeil d'or). Darlene's keen eye scoping the water between the shore and Heron Island found a Barrow's Goldeneye (Garrot d'Islande) in a small group of Commons.

Chateauguay, rue Higgins: in The feeders and trees were alive with activity here. Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers wereeverywhere, as well as numerous American Tree Sparrows(Bruants hudsonien), Black-capped Chickadees (Mésanges à tête noire), White-breasted Nuthatch (Sittelle à poitrine blanche) and Common Redpolls (Sizerins flammé). We were rewarded with an excellent view of the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Pic à ventre roux). We hoped to find a Tufted Titmouse (Mésanges bicolore) but were unable to see it, although we did hear it nearby on two different occasions.

Valleyfield, at the end of St-Jean-Baptiste Street: Our next stop was Hungry Bay. The target here was the King Eider (Eider À tête grise) which has been seen in the area off and on for several weeks, including a sighting yesterday by Sylvie Vanier. Upon arriving we met up with Monique from the Chateauguay Birding Club. We could not locate the bird. Monique decided to call Sylvie and check the location with her. She indicated that yesterday's sighting was actually across the canal from Hungry Bay, at the end of St. Jean-Baptiste Street in Valleyfield. We headed there, and although the glare of the sun on the water made viewing a challenge, Monique found one unique bird in the midst of hundreds of Common Mergansers. All four of us agreed that the field marks matched. She had found the King Eider, although we all would have liked to have had a better look.

Saint-Urbain-Premier, close to civic address #9 on Highway 205, south-east of Sainte-Martine: Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges). Our species count for the day was 25. – S. Harvey

Sightings for Friday February 22nd

St-Lazare, in the pinery: American three-toed woodpecker (Pic à dos rayé)

Salaberry de Valleyfield at the end of St. Jean-Baptiste Street : King Eider (Eider À tête grise) Common goldeneye (Garrots à oeil d'or), Common merganser (Grand harle), Red-breasted merganser (Harle huppé) - Sylvie Vanier

Sightings for Thursday February 21st

Iles de Boucherville: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) - Serge Raymond - click photo to enlarge

Sightings for Wednesday February 20th

Montreal Botaical Gardens: European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) photo, Sharp-shinned hawk (Épervier brun), 24 Common redpolls (Sizerins flammé), 9 Goldfinch (Chardonnerets jaune), 21 Black-capped chickadees (Mésanges à tête noire), 4 Northern cardinals (Cardinals rouge), 3 American crows (Corneille d'Amérique), Downy woodpecker (Pic mineur), Hairy woodpecker (Pic chevelu) - Gilles Ethier et Monique Rouleau

Mirabel, rang Ste-Marie: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges), many Snow buntings (bruants des neiges) - Georges Néron photos

St-Vallier,
Chemin Azur: Snowy owl (Harfang des neige), 4 Gray partridge (Perdrix grise)
Montée de la Station: Northern shrike (Pie-grièche grise)
Chemin de Valléville: 35 Snow buntings (Bruant des neiges) - Marguerite Larouche

Sightings for Tuesday February 19th

Montreal, Île Notre-Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire De Townsend) – P. Bannon

Sightings for Monday February 18th

Chateauguay, rue Flanagan: Cooper's hawk (Épervier de Cooper) – T. Long

Sightings for Sunday February 17th

St-Rock de l'Achigan, behind 710 ruisseau St-Jean: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Gilles Cyr

Montreal,
Mount-Royal Cemetary: Eastern screech owl (Petit-duc maculé) - Louise Ladouceur-Côté
Montreal Botanical Gardens, at the feeders by the First Nations Garden: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), also seen Hoary and many Common redpolls (Sizerin blanchâtre et plusieurs Sizerins flammés), Cedar waxwings (Jaseurs d'Amérique) - Lucette d'Amours

Richelieu river (rivière Richelieu) between Chambly & Noyan winter Duck survey: Canada geese (Bernache du Canada) 2, Mallard (Canard colvert) 1071, Black duck (Canard noir) 175, Mallard X Black hybrid (Hybride colvert X noir) 3, Northern pintail (Canard pilet) 1, Ring-necked duck (Fuligule à collier) 1, Common goldeneye (Garrot à œil d'or) 125, Common merganser (Grand Harle) 541, Hooded merganser (Harle couronné) 26

Noyan region: Bald eagle (Pygargue à tête blanche) (adult), Eastern srceech owl (Petit-duc maculé), Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore), 6 Wild turkeys (Dindons sauvages) - Pierre Bannon & Sébastien Rioux

Cap-d'Espoir: King Eider (Eider À tête grise) - A. Couture

Sightings for Saturday February 16th

St-Clet & Ste-Justine area: 3 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges), 2 Rough-legged hawks (buse pattue) – D. Belleisle - photos

Mirabel: 3 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges) - rang Ste-Marie, rang St-Dominique, autoroute 50 near rang Ste-Marie.
rang Ste-Marie: Many Snow buntings (bruants des neiges) sear a grain silo - Roger Rousselles

Bedford-Philipsburg area,
Du rang St-Joseph: 2 Rough-legged hawks (Buses pattues)
route St-Charles & rang St-Henri intersection: Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore)
rang Larochelle: 6 Ravens (Grands corbeaux)
Also seen were: 11 Pine siskins (Tarins des pins) & 5 more Tufted titmouse (Mésanges bicolores)

St-Pierre-de-Véronne: Red-tailed hawk (Buse à queue rousse)

Verdun: 2 Ravens (Grands corbeaux) - Diane Demers

Sightings for Friday February 15th

Verdun, sitting on the ice in front of the Douglas Hospital: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) perché sur la glace en face de l'hôpital Douglas. - Pierre Bannon

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report – February 16th

Hudson: Eight birders braved -22 temperatures and saw 16 species of birds this morning in snowy Hudson. Fortunately the sun shone and there was no wind so birding was fairly comfortable. We spent the morning walking and at one point a furry German Shepherd took over leading but was eventually chased home. It wasn't until late morning that we finally saw the two birds of the day - Bohemian waxwings and Pine grosbeaks. Both species were hungry so everyone got greatlooks at these winter visitors feeding on Buckthorn and cranberries. Thanks to everyone who came out and to Wayne for his help. click photo to enlarge

Barbara MacDuff

The following is the complete list: Great-blacked backed gull 3, Mourning dove 12, Downy woodpecker 2, Hairy woodpecker 3, Blue jay 10, American crow 12, Black-capped chickadee 20, Red-breasted nuthatch 1, White-breasted nuthatch 6, American robin 1. Bohemian waxwing 10, Northern cardinal 6, Pine grosbeak 7, Common redpoll 40, American goldfinch 2, House sparrow 2

Sightings for Thursday February 14th

Laval, Boisé Papineau. Great Horned owl (Grand-duc d'Amérique) - Monique Rouleau & Gilles Ethier

Saint-Hyacinthe, autoroute 20 on a lamp post just after the sign Saint-Hyacinthe nest 4 exits: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Lucie Laperle

Sightings for Wednesday February 13th

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: Carolina Wren (Troglodyte De Caroline) at the First Nations Gardens - J.-S. Guénette

Sightings for Tuesday February 12th

Saint-Pierre-de-Joliette, 680 chemin du village Saint-Pierre Nord: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière) also in the area Common redpolls (Sizerins flammé), 1 Hoary redpolls (Sizerin blanchâtre)

Terrebonne, chemin des Milles Îles between the bridges for rtes 25 & 125 (ponts de la 25 et de la route 125): 100+ Great black-backed gulls (Goélands marin), 100+ Herring gulls (Goélands argenté), xx Ring-billed gulls (Goélands à bec cerclé), 12 Glaucous gulls (Goélands bourgmestre), 1 Lesser black-backed gull (Goéland brun), 1 Iceland gull (Goéland arctique) - Gilles Ethier, Doreen Hugues

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: 5 species of woodpeckers (espèces de pics)- Downy, Hairy, Flicker, Red-bellied & Pileated (mineur, chevelu, flamboyant, à ventre roux et Grand Pic) - Pierre Bannon - photos

Sightings for Sunday February 10th

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore), Northern flicker (Pic flamboyant), Song sparrow (Bruant chanteur), Pileated woodpecker (Grand Pic), Common redpolls (Sizerin flammé), Northern shrike (Pie-grièche grise) - Régis Fortin

St-Lazare,
chemin Cité-des-jeunes Northern goshawk (Autour des palombes), Rough-legged hawk (Buse pattue), 2 Red-tailed hawks (Buses à queue rousse)
montée Poirier: Pileated woodpecker (Grand Pic)

Ste-Marthe,
chemin Ste-Marie: Snowy owl (Harfang de neiges), American kestrel (Crécerelle d'Amérique)
Ste-chemin St-Guillaume: 1 Red-winged blackbird (Carouge à épaulettes) at a manure pile

Ste-Clet,
chemin Ste-Julie: Snowy owl (Harfang de neiges)
chemin Cité-des-Jeunes near montée Lanthier: Northern shrike (Pie-grièche grise)

also seen: 50 Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges), 8 Horned larks (Alouettes hausse-col) - Don-Jean Léandri

Sightings for Saturday February 9th

Mirabel,

Rang Ste-Marie: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges), 100+ Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges), 6 Gray partridge (Perdrix grises)

Rang St-Dominique : Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Chuck Kling - photos

St-Barthélemy, Montée Ouest: 2 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges) - Richard Prévost - Photo

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore), Northern flicker (Pic flamboyant), Song sparrow (Bruant chanteur) - Régis Fortin - click photo to

enlarge

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: Common redpoll (Sizerin flammé), Black-capped chickadees (Mésanges à tête noire), American goldfinch (Chardonneret jaune), Downy woodpeckers (Pics mineurs), American crows (Corneilles d'Amérique) - Ligia Paquin

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report - January 19th, 2008

Varennes, Vercheres and Boucherville

13 birders participated in today's cloudy and somewhat chillier than anticipated field trip. This was predominantly a driving trip taking us through the towns of Varennes, Vercheres and Boucherville.

There were several highlights throughout the day, including a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk on Montée du Lac in Varennes and a Red-tailed Hawk hanging out with a flock of Rock Pigeons on a Hydro tower on Chemin des Sucreries, seemingly getting along together just fine! A Glaucous Gull was seen by two of our birders along the waterfront in Vercheres.

A stop at Parc de la Frayere in Boucherville offered up a spectacular flock of 10 Pine Grosbeaks, a lifer for two members of the group. A final stop on rue de la Broquerie in Boucherville produced ananticipated European Goldfinch as well as a large flock of CommonRedpolls.

It was difficult to choose a single Bird of the Day, so the tie goes to the Pine Grosbeaks and the European Goldfinch, with honourable mention to the Glaucous Gull and Rough-legged Hawk.

We finished the day with a total of 28 species, slightly better than a two species to one birder ratio; very nice for a winter trip: Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, American Kestrel, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Glaucous Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, European Starling, Dark-eyed Junco, Snow Bunting, Northern Cardinal, Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, House Sparrow, European Goldfinch.

Thanks to all who turned out for a great day.

Sheldon

Sightings for Friday February 8th

Pointe de Yamachiche, Tranchée Pelletier: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière) - Serge St-Louis - click photo to enlarge

Verdun, across from the Douglas Hospital between 4 & 5pm: 10 Canada geese (Bernache du Canada), 45 Gadwall (Canard chipeau), 20 Black duck (Canard noir), 100 Mallards (Canard colvert), 1000 Common goldeneye (Garrot à œil d'or), 3 Barrow’s goldeneye (Garrot d'Islande), 7 Hooded mergansers (Harle couronné), 500 Common merganser (Grand Harle) - Pierre Bannon - Photos http://pbase.com/pbannon

Sightings for Wednesday February 6th

Cap-d'Espoir: King Eider (Eider À tête grise) - A. Couture

Sightings for Tuesday February 5th

Boucherville, 26 Jean-Cadieux at feeders: European Goldfinch (Chardonneret Élégant) - P. Casavant

Chateauguay, rue Flanagan: Cooper’s hawk (Épervier de Cooper) – T. Long

Sightings for Monday February 4th

Boucherville, 26 Jean-Cadieux at feeders: European Goldfinch (Chardonneret Élégant) - P. Casavant

Bird Cinema

Here is a link to videos of birds from all over the world http://www.birdcinema.com/index.php

Sightings for Sunday February 3rd

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Red-bellied woodpecker (Pic à ventre roux)

Verdun, across form the Douglas Hospital: 1 Bald eagle (juv) (Pyguargue à tête blanche), 1 Barrows goldeneye (Garrot d'Islande), 300+ Common goldeneye (Garrot à oeil d'or), 12 Common mergansers (Grands harle), xx Mallards & Black ducks (Canards colvert et noir), xx Great black-backed & Herring gulls (Goélands marin, argenté) - Gilles Ethier

Verchères: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) autoroute 30 east exit Calixa-Lavallée

Varennes, Montée de la Butte aux Renards: Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges), 3 Lapland longspurs (Bruants Lapon), Horned lark (Alouette Hausse-Col)
also seen in the area Sharp-shinned hawk (Épervier brun), Red-tailed hawk (Buse à queue rousse), Rough-legged hawk (Buse pattue), American kestrel (Crécerelle d'Amérique) 19 species (espèces) - Doreen Hughes

Bird Protection Quebec "2007 Big Year of Birding Contest"

The Big Year of Birding 2007 final results can be seen at this link

Click on photo to see all photos submitted to the contest

Sightings for Friday February 1st

Chateauguay,
rue Flanagan: Cooper’s hawk (Épervier de Cooper) – T. Long
rue Higgins: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), Northern flicker (Pic flamboyant) - Gilles Ethier

Bird Protection Quebec field trip cancelled

Regretfully........ for the first time in over twenty years, I have decided to CANCEL the field trip to the Mount Royal Cemetery for tomorrow......... Feb. 2nd. We will be hit with th 3rd major snow storm of the winter, predicted to leave upto 30 cm of precipitation. Parking would be very difficult in the area of the cemetery and knowing the efficiency of Outremont's workers.... there could be the possibilty of having to dig out your cars, at the end of our trip. In addition......... any plowing in the cemetery grounds, will just be starting, leaving us to slog along much of the route that I usually take. So enjoy your morning coffee and paper... ...and see you all soon ! - C. Kling

Sightings for Friday February 1st

Montreal: Red-tailed hawk (Buses à queue rousse) flying just about 6 stories high on St.Laurent Boul, right at the corner of Milton street. Beautiful markings underneath...the snow isn't grounding the bird! – A. Francis

Tuesday January 30th

No sightings reported, so I am just posting a photo of House Sparrows (Moineau domestique) - by Eric Bégin - click photo to enlarge

Sightings for Monday January 28th

Laval, Boisé Papineau: Eastern screech owl (Petit-duc maculé), Pileated woodpecker (Grand Pic) - Lucette d'Amours

Châteauguay, area around rue Higgins: 25 species (espèces) including - 3 Tufted titmouse (Mésanges bicolores), Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), Northern shrike (Pie-grièche grise), Sharp-shinned hawk (Épervier brun), 2 Ravens (Grands Corbeaux), 2 Songsparrows (Bruants chanteurs), Pileated woodpecker (Grand Pic) - Pierre Bannon

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame - chemin des Floralies: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) – H.. B. Boivin

Sightings for Sunday January 27th

Autoroute 20 Between Sainte-Julie & Mont Saint-Hilaire and autoroute 30 between Saint-Bruno & Varennes: 6 Red-tailed hawks (Buses à queue rousse), 2 American kestrels (Crécerelles d'Amérique), 3 Rough-legged hawks (Buses pattues), 4 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges), 1 Norhtern shrike (Pie-grieche grise) - Julien Brisson -click photo to enlarge

Varennes,
rang des sucreries: 2 Rough-legged hawks (Buse Pattue)
rang de la montée de la Baronie on a lampost off aoutroute 30: Gryfalcon (faucon Gerfaut) - Pierre St-Onge

Verchères, at the end afternoon: 3 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges) one was beside autoroute 30 exit Calixa-Lavallée, one beside autoroute 30 between the exit for montée de la Baronie & Verchères the other was visable in a tree near Chicoine-Larose - Claudette Archambault

St-Polycarpe,
Chemin du Troisième rang: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges)
Chemin Ste-Marie: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Georges Lachaîne et Élaine Presseau

Mirabel,
rang Ste-Marie: 3 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges)
rang Ste-Dominique: 1 Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges), Gray partridge (perdrix grises) - Richard Dumoulin

Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Beauharnois canal about 1km from its mouth: King Eider (Eider À tête grise) A. Quenneville

Sherbrooke, Lac des Nations just beside the path: Saw-whet owl (Petite Nyctale) - Serge Beaudette

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report - January 26th, 2008

Warning! Verbosity alert! Warning! (photos M. Swoboda)

Skip to the bottom if you want the "Reader's Digest Abridged Version" of our trip.

Today's field trip to the St-Clet, Ste-Marthe, Ste-Justine area turned out to bevery entertaining for all 19 participants who made the trip west despite aninauspicious beginning as ice fog seemed to be blanketing much of the area. This however only added to the enchantment as many of the trees and bushes were coated in beautifully formed crystals of hoar frost. For many of the veterans of this trip the complete lack of wind was a pleasant surprise and even early morning temperatures of -19C felt "balmy" in comparison with previous years. (By noon the temperature had risen to -9C)

Our first stop on Chemin Ste Julie produced a small group of a dozen horned larks with several Lapland Longspurs mixed in. Exact counts proved elusive as the birds ran between mounds of earth and wisps of fog. A little farther along a suspicious white "blob" on a snow drift turned out to be our first snowy owl of the day. It too looked a little ghost-like as its outline would fade in and out of the mist.

A stop to admire some of Richard Gregson's favourite birds (house sparrows) at a feeder proved fortuitous as a small group of snow buntings descended out of a clear blue sky to sit in a frost covered tree at close range offering everyone great views.

Turning on to Montee Ste-Julie we picked up our second snowy owl of the day on afence post. A bonus was a mixed group of several dozen horned larks and lapland longspurs. A northern shrike was seen by several participants lagging behind. Thank's to Clemence's "eagle-eyes" we then picked up a Cooper's Hawk partially hidden in a poplar tree and just after it flew away a pileated woodpecker made afly-by.

Several more decent sized groups of horned larks, snow buntings and lapland longspurs were seen throughout the morning including a group of 50 of the latterwhich landed temporarily in a small bush for what was an unusual view for manyof the participants. A very distant group of 20 or more corvids (most probably crows although a "croak" was heard at the time) was feeding on what appeared tobe a deer carcass as 5 or 6 of its brethren grazed unconcernedly nearby. A group of 5 coyotes several hundred metres down the road completed this interesting scene.

The last mammal sighting of the day was a small vole seen by most of the trip's participants being recycled into adult male snowy owl at close range. This birdsurely ranks as "bird of the day" even if the trip leader missed it as he"scouted" farther ahead. He'd like to think the other participants were pullinghis leg but there are photographs to prove it.

Our complete list of 20 species was: Cooper's Hawk 1, Rough-legged Hawk 1, Rock Pigeons 200, Mounring Doves 8, Snowy Owls 3, Downy Woodpeckers 3, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Pileated Woodpecker 1, Northern Shrike 1, Blue Jays , 3 American Crows 40, Common Raven 1, Horned Larks 100, Black-capped Chickadees 2, White-breasted Nuthatch 1, European Starlings 60, Lapland Longspurs 70, Snow Buntings 120, American Goldfinches 2, House Sparrows, 125

Many thanks to all who participated in what turned out to be a great morning

Wayne

Sightings for Saturday January 26th

Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges)
Saint-Vallier: Chemin d'Azur
Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse: 3 ième Rang Ouest
Saint-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud: 1 Montée de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, 1 Montée Saint-François - Mario Lavoie
Verchères: beside autoroute 30 exit Calixa-Lavallée - Claudette Archambault

Mont-Saint-Hilaire, la falaise Dieppe: Gyrfalcon (Faucon gerfaut), 30 Ravens (Grands Corbeaux) - Michel Bertrand

Laval, Bois Papineau: Barred owl (Chouette Rayee) north of the train tracks, Merlin (Faucon Emerillon) - Chuck Kling

Tadoussac, Haute-Côte-Nord: American three-toed woodpecker (f) (Pic à dos rayé), 14 Downy woodpecker (Pic mineur), 8 Hairy woodpecker (Pic chevelu),2 Boreal chickadees (Mésange à tête brune), 25 Black-capped chickadees (Mésange à tête noire), 2 Red-breasted nuthatch (Sittelle à poitrine rousse), 30 Common redpolls (Sizerin flammé), Gray jay (Mésangeai du Canada), Raven (Grand corbeau)
By the river: 5000+ Gulls (Goélands) with the majority being Iceland gulls (Goélands Arctiques), then Herring gulls (Goélands argentés), Great black-backed (Goélands marin), Glaucous gulls (Goélands bourgmestres), 100 Greater scaup (Fuligule milouinan), 300 Black ducks (Canard noir), 500 Common goldeneye (Garrot à œil d’or), 350 Barrow’s Goldeneye (Garrot d’Islande), 400 Goldeney sp. (Garrot sp.) 8 Bufflehead (Petit Garrot), 80 Red-breasted merganser (Harle huppé) - Renaud Pintiaux,Véronique Laplante et Piano

Sightings for Friday January 25th

St-Barthélemy,
Rang St-Jacques et Montée Ouest: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - photo
near Rang St-Viateur & Ch. Ste-Thérèse: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - photo - also seen in the area, Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges) - Richard Prévost - click photo to enlarge

Sightings for Thursday January 24th

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) - Sylvain Mathieu

Saint-Pierre de Joliette, at the top of a large Poplar tree at the intersection of rang de la Petite Noraie & du chemin du Village Saint-Pierre nord: (Chouette épervière) Northern hawk owl

Verchères: 3 Snowy owls (Harfangs des neiges)

Boucherville, chemin Anjou: Bohemian waxwings (Jaseurs boréaux) - Michel Bertrand

Sightings for Wednesday January 23rd

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame at the end of chemin des Floralies: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) - M. Bowman & G. Horgan

Montreal, Botanical Gardens at the feedes by the First Nations Gardens: Carolina wren (troglodyte de Caroline) - J.-S. Guénette

Boucherville, 26 rue Jean-Cadieux at feeders: European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) - P. Casavant

Sightings for Tuesday January 22nd

Montreal, Botanical Gardens at the feeders by the First Nations Gardens: Carolina wren (troglodyte de Caroline) - J.-S. Guénette

Boucherville, 26 rue Jean-Cadieux at feeders: European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) - P. Casavant

Sightings for Monday January 21st

Montreal Botanical Gardens, at the feedes by the First Nations Gardens: European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) - J.-S. Guénette

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame near the totem pole: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) - Gilles Ethier

Sightings for Sunday January 20th

Ste-Justine-de-Newton: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Régis Fortin - click photo to enlarge

Ste-Geneviève-de-Berthierville, rang Ste-Philomène: American three-toed woodpecker (f) (Pic à dos rayé) in a grove of red pines - J.C. Charbonneau

Mirabel,
rang Ste-Marie: 2 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges), Gray partridge (Perdrix grises), Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges)
St-Dominique: Northern shrike (Pie-Grièche grise), Rough-legged hawk (Buse pattue) - Lucette d'Amours

Saint-Barthélemy,
Rang St-Jacques: 2 Snowy owls (Harfang des neiges)
Rang St-Jacques & Montée Ouest: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges)

Montée St-Viateur at train crossing: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Richard Prévost - photos - click next to see more

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Pileated woodpecker (Grand Pic)

Saint-Constant, rang Saint-Simon: 35 Horned larks (Alouettes hausse-col) - photo, 300-400 Snow buntings (Bruants des neiges), 1 Lapland longspur (Bruant lapon), 1 Raven (Grand Corbeau), 3 Red-tailed hawks (Buses à queue rousse), perched side by side on the same branch. 3 other Red-tailed hawks (Buses à queue rousse) were along autoroute 30 in this area - Pierre Bannon

Vercheres, at the intersection of Mtee Chicoine Larose and autoroute 30: 2 Snowy owls (Harfangs des neiges) one north-east of the 30 the other was north on Mtee Chicoine Larose - Richard Dupuis

Terrebonne, boisé de la Coulée: Northern goshawk (Autour des Palombes) - Jonathan Roy

Sightings for Saturday January 19th

St-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Hungry Bay: Common mergansers (Grands Harles), Common goldeneye (Garrots à œil d'or), Herring gulls (Goélands argentés), Great black-backed gulls (Goélands marins)
chemin de la Baie: 7 Wild turkeys (Dindons sauvages)

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Red-bellied woodpecker (Pic à ventre roux), Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore) - Pierre Bannon

Varennes, chemin Pointe aux pruches near chemin de la Baronnie: perched in a tree - Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges), Snow buntings (bruants des neiges) – Lorraine Lef


Trois-Rivières, boisé des Forges du St-Maurice: here is a map to where Black-backed woodpecker (pic à dos noir), and an American Three-toed woodpecker (pic à dos rayé) was seen this week http://tinyurl.com/2xyf6r - Jacques Gélinas

Sainte-Marthe, chemin Sainte-Marie & la montée Sainte-Marie in a large Elm: Snowy owl (Harfang des Neiges) - S. Mathieu et G. Éthier

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report - January 19th, 2008

Montreal: Given the bone-chilling cold and frigid winds of past January outings to Parc Jean Drapeau, today's outing was downright pleasant! Sunshine, light winds and a temperature of around -3 made for a very pleasant walk around both Ile Notre-Dame and Ile Ste-Helene this morning for 17 birders. Bird life on the islands was quite quiet today, with a final total of 16 species. More on that in a moment.

We even finished the morning in flat-out comfort as we were warmly welcomed in to the ground floor reception area of the Biosphere where bathrooms and vending machines with hot coffee awaited us!

Our target bird of the day was the Townsend's Solitaire which has been putting in appearances on Ile Notre-Dame for a few weeks now. Our search, as a group, came up empty but upon returning home and sitting down to write up this report, I was happy to find the following e-mail from Steve Charlton.

"Congratulations, Sheldon - you can now put the Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) on the trip list! You might use the following words ..after our group moved on, I stayed behind and continued to look for it. I eventually found it not far from where we had been looking as a group.

Actually I flushed it about a third of the distance going from the Concord Bridge to the totem pole, on the left. It flew across the frozen stream and dove into a group of conifers on the other side. The sighting wasn't a particularly rewarding view, but as I had seen the bird before out West, I recognized it. As I was watching for it to re-emerge, Pierre Bannon's group came along and joined in the hunt by walking around the group of trees, catching only fleeting glimpses of the bird for the first 10-15 minutes. I guess the bird decided that it was hassled enough, because it suddenly flew out into fullview and perched on a dead snag. At that point, everyone had about as good a view as was possible in the poor light. I left the group watching the bird and taking pictures, to see if I could find you guys again, but when I got back to the parking lot, mine was the only car left. Anyway you can now add it to the trip list...A few of our group actually decided to return to the area after the formal field trip came to an end. No doubt we'll hear from them later as to whether or not they were successful.As for the rest of our sightings, here is the list.

Mallard, Common Merganser, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull,Rock Pigeon, Downy Woodpecker, American Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, EuropeanStarling, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to Steve for his persistence being rewarded with the Solitaire sighting.

Next week out to the wilds of Ste-Marthe, St. Clet and Ste-Justine. Hope to see you there.

Sheldon

Sightings for Thursday January 17th

Montreal, Mount Royal Cemetary: I went for a quick look in the Mt. Royal Cemetery at 8am today. Not much doing.... but just before leaving, I decided to drive up towards Mt. Murray, to see if I could locate a fox. On the way up I heard a huge racket coming from a group of crows. I turned the car around.... and wouldn't you know... I came across a Great Horned owl (Grand-duc d'Amérique), perched in a large conifer... not too far from the military section. click photo to enlarge

I managed a number of photos, just before the crows got him to move. It didn't go very far... and I found it perched on a snag , in the largest conifer in the G7 sector... the sector that is really like a large plateau, just west of the office I took a good 40 shots from a distance of close to 100 feet. The bird was perched on a snag in that conifer, about 45 feet above the ground... facing the morning sun I spent probably 45 minutes with it ..... and I think that it may still be there now.... the crows have , for the most part, lost interest.... and were returning to harass the owl only from time to time. This is the first time I've had a "Horned " on the property since the 24th of March, 2005 - Chuck Kling

www.pbase.com/hootpix ......Great horned owl still seen there at noon

Baie-du-Febvre, chemin Janelle: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges), Rough-legged hawk (Buse pattue)

Varennes, near autoroute 30 about 3km east of the exit for chemin de la Baronnie: Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) - Michel Bertrand

Sightings for Wednesday January 16th

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) - Pierre Bannon - photo

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (troglodyte de Caroline), Cooper’s hawk
(Epervier de Cooper), European Goldfinch (Chardonneret Élégant) - Sylvain Sabourin - click photo to enlarge

Sightings for Tuesday January 15th

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) - click photo to enlarge
Ile des Sœurs: Winter wren (Troglodyte mignon) - photo, Eastern screech owl (Petit-duc maculé) – photo - Pierre Bannon

Montreal Botanical Gardens: European Goldfinch (Chardonneret Élégant) - J.-S. Guénette

Lachine, at a suet feeder near the canal: Carolina Wren (Troglodyte de Caroline) - N. Giverne

St-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Hungry Bay: 100’s meters along the bicycle path - King eider (Eider à tête grise), Common goldeneye (Garrots à oeil d'or), 6 Wild turkeys (Dindons sauvages), 1 Northern shrike (pie-grièche grise) - Claude Roy

Sightings for Monday January 14th

Yamachiche, chemin Louis Gatineau & de la tranchée d’Isaie: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière) observed at 1pm - J. Gélinas - photo

Sightings for Sunday January 13th

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: I along with a whole bunch of photographers, spent a good hour photographing an adult Cooper's hawk (épervier de cooper). The bird was on a grassy patch of ground , under a conifer... between the Chinese garden and the Premieres Nations area, where the Carolina Wren has been seen.The Cooper's was standing upon what looked like a nice sized Rock Dove. It was eating at its own speed oblivious to the people who were only about 40 to 50feet away. A beautiful opportunity in excellent light for some fabulous captures! The immature Cooper's are always around in springtime... but the adults usually are seen high up in trees. To finish off a delightful morning.... We also had 2 European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant)at the feeder in front of the big lion sculpture. This bird (finally) was a new lifer for me. - C. Kling - click on photo to enlarge

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) near near the Totem across from the Casino – Claudie

St-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Hungry Bay: King eider (Eider à tête grise mâle de 1er hiver) photo - Régis Fortin

St-Gabriel: Black-backed woodpecker (Pic à dos noir) photo - Richard Prévost

Sightings for Saturday January 12th

Hungry Bay: (1st winter male) King eider (Eider à tête grise mâle de 1er hiver) - André Labelle

Hemminford, chemin Murray: Common grackle (quiscale bronzé), Sharp-shinned hawk (épervier brun), 2 Northern shrikes (pie-grièche grise), Merlin (faucon émerillon), American robins (merles d'amérique), Song sparrow (bruant chanteur), Tree sparrow (bruant hudsonien), Northern flicker (pic flamboyant)
chemin Fisher: 27 Wild turkeys (dindons sauvages) - André Provost

St-Barthelemy: Adult and an immature Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges).... far out in a field along Montee Ouest in St-Barthelemy. I tried to approach a little closer, over hard crusty snow... but broke through into slush and water , several times........ so no go ! - Chuck Kling - www.pbase.com/hootpix

Bird Protection Quebec's Field Trip Report - January 12th, 2008

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: Pleasant but windy weather brought out 27 birders to the Montreal Botanical Gardens field trip this morning. An impressive aerial display around the Olympic tower by two Peregrine Falcons (Faucons pèlerin), was an auspicious beginning to the trip. Two interesting sightings were made at the Amerindian pavilion feeder - a Carolina Wren (troglodyte de Caroline), and a very cooperative fox who carried chunks of ham from one side of the path to the other. Unfortunately there were very few birds at the feeders probably due tothe presence of a Merlin (faucon émerillon), who skimmed over our heads on 3 occasions.
We had a total of 18 species. Besides the birds mentioned above, there were: Gull(sp) (Goeland), Rock Pigeons (Pigeon bisset), American crows (Corneille d'Amérique), Pine grosbeaks (Durbecs des sapins), Red & White-breasted nuthatches (Sittelle à poitrine rousse et blanche), Common redpolls (Sizerins flammés), Hairy & Downy woodpeckers ( Pics chevelu et mineur), Black-capped chickadees (Mésanges à tête noire), European starlings (Étourneau sansonnet), House finch (Roselin familier), American goldfinch (Chardonneret jaune) One of our members saw a European Goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) at a feeder while waiting for others to arrive before the outing started.

Thanks to all participants for an enjoyable trip - Guy Zenaitis

Sightings for Friday January 11th

Hungry Bay: (1st winter male) King eider (Eider à tête grise mâle de 1er hiver) many Common mergansers, common goldeneye (grand harle, garrots a oeil d or) Herring gulls (goélands argenté), 1 Canada goose (bernache du Canada) – D. Paquette, R. Rousselle

Sightings for Thursday January 10th

Verdun, on the river across from the Douglas hospital: Harlequin duck (Arlequin plongeur), 7 Canada geese (Bernaches du Canada), other ducks – 20 Gadwall, black, Mallards, Common goldeneye, Common mergansers, Hooded merganser (Canards - chipeaux, noirs, colverts Garrots à œil d'or, Grands Harles, un Harle couronné) - Pierre Bannon

St-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Hungry Bay: (1st winter male) King eider (Eider à tête grise - mâle de 1er hiver) - Don-Jean Léandri - PHOTO

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) near the Canada pavillion (pavillon du Canada) - J. Michaud

Côte Sainte-Catherine: Northern pintail, Barrow’s goldeneye, 25+ Common goldeneye, greater scaup, 50+ Common mergansers, 5 Canada geese, Black ducks, Mallards, Gulls – Great black-backed, Herring, ring-billed (Canard pilet, 1 Garrot d'Islande, 25+ Garrot à oeil d'or,1 Fuligule milouinan, 50+ Grand harle, 5 Bernaches du Canada, Canards noir, Canard colvert, Goélands marin, argenté et à bec cerclé) - Gilles Ethier

Sightings for Wednesday January 9th

Hungry Bay: (1st winter male) King eider (Eider à tête grise - mâle de 1er hiver) - Régis Fortin -

click photo to enlarge

The Big Green Big Year

This is a low-key, friendly bit of birding rivalry that is not especially original but which seems appropriate in these days of carbon emissions and climate change. If you have ever felt even a tiny bit guilty about driving or flying to see a good bird (or several) why not join us in a year of carbon-neutral birding?

The Big Green Big Year has the acronym BGBY and is therefore pronounced Bigby* ... and it is simply a Big Year in which you only count those species seen within walking or cycling distance of your home or principle place of work. As simple as that, no dashing off to the far corners of the planet burning fossil fuels as you go.

Richard Gregson, Baie d'Urfé, Québec (Bigby coordinator)

Sightings for Sunday January 6th

Yamachiche, chemin Louis Gatineau & de la tranchée d’Isaie: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière) took off in a SW direction at 1pm - Gelinas Jacques - click photo to enlarge

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: 15 species (espèces) including - 30 Common redpolls & 4 Hoary redpolls (Sizerins flammés, et 4 blanchâtre), Carolina wren (troglodyte de Caroline), European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant), Pine grosbeaks (Durbecs des sapins), Sharp-shinned hawk (épervier brun) - Lucette d'Amours

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

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) was still there this afternoon (Sunday), in the exact same area mentioned by Andrew on Friday: near the big totem pole across from the Casino, in amongst a bunch of starlings and robins. It posed very cooperatively for its admirers (four of us at the time I was there). I wasn't able to find the Barred Owl that had been seen, but this still represents a gala start to the public transit component of my BGBY, since I went by metro! (In fact, if this warm weather continues as forecast, those of you who are doing a self-propelled BGBY should be easily able to get there by bike.) – Z. Laubitz -------------------------------------------------------------------

Hungry Bay: Common loon (Plongeon huard), Hooded merganser (Harle couronné), many Common mergansers (Grands Harles), Common goldeneye (Garrots à oeil d'or) - Sylvie Robert/Gilles Laperrière

Mirabel:
Rang Saint-Dominique: 17 Gray Partridge (Perdrix grises)
Giroux: 5 Gray Partridge (Perdrix grises), 8 Wild turkeys (Dindons sauvages)
Also seen in the area were at least 400 Snow buntings (Bruants des neige) - Michel Bertrand

Varennes,
montée Baronnie: Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges)
chemin de la Rivière aux Pins: 3 Red-winged blackbirds (Carouges à épaulettes) - André Provost

Sightings for Saturday January 5th

Pointe Claire: Today I had great views of a very tame Sharp-shinned hawk near the culvert in Terra Cotta Park, Pointe Claire. I was walking the dog and had a little pocket camera so took the dog home,picked up the stroger camera and went back...sure enough..still there. I posted some pictures on http://www.birdviewing.com/ He was so close to the trail that most shots cut off his tail. – S. Biship - click photo to enlarge

St-Clet: 3 Snowy Owls (Harfang des neiges) in the fields north of St-Clet. The first two were in trees either side of Ste-Julie by the first right hand bend after turning onto Ste-Julie from the 201. The third was on a fence post west of Ste-Julie about 200m after turning right at the T-Junction at the end of Ste-Julie, all were immatures, one has a very distinctive bonnet of head spotting - Mark Dennis

St-Lazare: Also seen, a Northern Goshawk (Autour des Palombes) at St-Lazare sand pits, perched up and showing very nicely, good to see Northern Goshawks are still present despite the decimation of the forests around St-Lazare. 3 Merlins (faucons émerillon) were present on roadside wires, one by Ste-Julie off the 201 and the other by Ste-Marie near St-Polycarpe. Northern Shrikes (Pie-grièche grise) were on Ste-Marie by the tomato greenhouses and on Montee Chenier off the Chemin de l'eglise - Mark Dennis http://qcbirding2008.blogspot.com/

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore), Red-bellied woodpecker (Pic à ventre roux), Northern flicker (Pic flamboyant) - Lucette d'Amours

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) near the the parking lot of Canada pavillion (pavillon du Canada). A Barred owl (Chouette Rayée) found south of the pavillion - Gilles Papillon

Sightings for Friday January 4th

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) was seen again in front of the Casino de Montreal in a mixed flock of Starlings (étourneaux), and American Robins (Merles d'Amérique), - close to the totem pole in Jardin Floralies. Also present in a row of conifers west of this site was a Barred owl (Chouette Rayee) - A. Plimer

St. Clet: I went out this morning, to the St-Clet area... in extremely windy conditions with much drifting snow on the roads. Finally managed to find a Snowy owl (Harfang des neiges) ... my 6th species of the season. It was an immature or female...impossible to approach... found on the ground in the cornfields, on Chemin Ste-Julie, south side, about half a kilometre, before Montee Ste-Julie. I managed a photo from a distance of about 150 metres. Also found a half dozen Horned lark nearby. Quite a dangerous morning to scan the rooftops of barns, since at one point I almost ended up off the road! - C. Kling www.pbase.com/hootpix

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (troglodyte de Caroline), 30 Common redpolls & 2 Hoary redpolls (Sizerins flammés, et 2 blanchâtre), 15 Pine grosbeaks (Durbecs des sapins), Cooper’s hawk (Épervier de Cooper), Red & White-breasted nuthatches (Sittelle à poitrine rousse et blanche), European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) – Luc Laberge

Sightings for Thursday January 3rd

Monteal, Ile Notre Dame: Townsend's Solitaire (Solitaire de Townsend) was seen again in Jardin Floralies in front of the Casino de Montreal on Ile Notre Dame. Also seen: Cooper’s hawk (épervier de Cooper), 2 Robins (merles), Golden-crowned kinglets (Roitelets à couronne Dorée), Brown creeper (grimpereau brun) and a Northern flicker (Pic flamboyant) on Île Ste-Hélène near the restaurant Hélène de Champlain - Don-Jean Léandri

St-Valère, rang 10 near Victoriaville: 2 Black-backed woodpeckers (f) (Pic à dos noir) in a wooded area of larches - Claude Roy

Trois-Rivières, at feeders between rues Papineau & Des Bouleaux: Eastern towhee (Tohi à flancs roux) photo- Jacques Gélinas

Boucherville, 26 Jean-Cadieux at feeders: European goldfinch (Chardonneret elegant) - P. Casavant

Sightings for Wednesday January 2nd

Ste.Marthe: There was an adult male Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges) on a pole in Ste.Marthe which got scared away by snowmobiles and we saw the immature along chemin Ste-Julie, northwest of St-Clet - S. Bishop click photo to enlarge

St-Clet: This morning a young, male, Snowy Owl (Harfang des neiges) was on a barn roof ridge along chemin Ste-Julie, northwest of St-Clet. This is the first one I have seen along the road this winter, unlike last winter when there were a number. It does sound like there are a few to be found in the larger area west of St-Clet. There were also 100+ Snow Buntings (Bruants des neiges) and a dozen or so Horned Larks (Alouettes hausse-col) along the road – L. Laviolette

Châteauguay, rue Higgins: 13 species including - Tufted titmouse (mésange bicolore), Red-bellied woodpecker (pic à ventre roux), Coopers hawk (épervier de cooper), American kestrel (crécerelle d'amérique), 9 Common redpoll (sizerin flammé) – Simon Chaloux
rue Flanagan: Coopers hawk (épervier de cooper) came by our feeders twice. The second time it went after a Mourning Dove (tourterelle triste) when it took off from where it was sitting. Don’t know if it got away or not – T. Long

Sightings for Tuesday January 1st

Montreal, Botanical Gardens: Common redpolls & 1 Hoary redpoll (Sizerins flammés, et 1 blanchâtre), Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline), House finch (Roselin familier), European goldfinch (Chardonneret élégant) - Lucette d'Amours