Sightings for Thursday March 6th

Tadoussac, baie de Tadoussac: 2 Black guillemots (Guillemots à miroir), 85 Greater scaup (Fuligules milouinans), 70 Black ducks (Canards noirs), 2 Mallards (Colverts), 5 Red-breasted mergansers (Harles huppés), 1 Common merganser (Grand Harle), 9 Barrow’s goldeneye (Garrots d'Islande),15 Common goldeneye (Garrots à oeil d'or) - Renaud Pintiaux

Dundee, Pointe Hopkins on chemin Enneigé Menant: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) - Denis Hamel

Sightings for Wednesday March 5th

Otterburn Park, parc du Ruisseau - enter by rue Mason: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline) - Catherine Gouillard

Sightings for Tuesday March 4th

Boucherville, Parc des Îles de Boucherville: Great gray owl (Chouette lapone)

Chateauguay, rue Higgins: 2 Red-winged blackbirds (Carouges à épaulettes) 25 Mourning doves (Tourterelles tristes) around 13h30, Bald eagle(sub-adult) (Pygargue à tête blanche)(sub-adulte) passed overhead. Birds heard singing Northern cardinal (Cardinal rouge), Tufted titmouse (Mésange bicolore) - Pierre Bannon - click photo to enlarge

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, rue St-Jean-Baptiste: King eider (Eider à tête grise) - Dominique Lavoie

Sightings for Monday March 3rd

Montreal Botanical Gardens: Carolina wren (Troglodyte de Caroline) at feeders near The First Nations Garden - Jean-Sébastien Guénette

Sightings for Sunday March 2nd

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

Saint-Pierre de Joliette, rang Petite-Noraie: Northern hawk owl (Chouette épervière) - many observers

Berthierville, Île du Milieu also known as "commune de Berthier": Great gray owl (Chouette lapone) about 2km form the parking lot - Stéphane Guimond

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