Greetings all,
About 30 birders showed up for today's Cobourg Harbour/ Presqu'ile
field trip. Birders came from as far as the Kingston Area,
Peterborough, the GTA and the Bruce to enjoy a fantastic (weather
wise) day in the field - Gull Island in just a shirt in mid
November!. No major rarities were found but we did see 72 species
with several nice birds.
Cobourg harbour was fairly quiet but allowed for nice views of various
waterbirds including Am. Wigeon, Ww Scoter, Am Coot, Snow Bunting and
close scope views of a single Common Redpoll. Our only pigeon and
house sparrow were here too!
At Presqu'ile we checked Beach 1, then walked out to Owen Pt. and
around Gull Island, then to the Lighthouse area, Gilmour's yard and
the causeway marsh. Most of our birds were found in this portion of
the trip. Highlights included all three scoters among most of the
common ducks, a single R-t Loon north of Gull is., 5 Killdeer, 3 White-
rumped, 4 Pectoral, 8 Dunlin, 25+ W Snipe all on the mudflats off the
causeway - amazingly no shorebirds were seen on the beach or Gull Is.,
although some birders reported a big flock of Dunlin and some
Sanderling earlier in the day. Two immature Snowy Owls on small
islands and shoals off Gull Is. were the highlight for most,
especially given the great views we had. Several Cedar Waxwing flocks
were noted and one party found some Bohemian's near the Camp Office.
Eight pipits and 20 Snow Buntings were also on Gull Island. Two W-t
Sparrows at Fred Helleiner's place and a single Fox Sparrow at Bill
Gilmour's garden, as well as siskins rounded out the list.
We also checked Gosport hoping to see the long-staying Hudsonian
Godwit, but it was nowhere to be seen.
Thank you to all for coming and I really hoped you enjoyed Presqu'ile
and all it's great places. Thanks also to Ron Tozer for being
deputized as co-leader, and all the generous birders who shared their
skills, scopes and kindness with the group.
Cheers,
Doug McRae
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