April 8, 2024
Birding report by Barb Chouinard
It
was a beautiful sunny morning when we met up at the Bowmans’ home at 8
am. It was 4 degrees which finally indicated a warming trend.
With Ken driving, Barbara and Bill and Ken and Barb headed south.
Thank you for driving Ken, it was a long day. With Jane away or almost
home, Barb did the bird list and wrote this report. TODAY I was hoping
for Common Loon and Snow Geese.
The
weather forecast was for a sunny and warming morning with some clouds
moving in after midday. Clouds along the St Lawrence were not expected
until 3 pm
or so. The eclipse was to occur between 2 to 4 pm. Barbara and Barb
in the backseat of the vehicle could see as the day went on that the
east end of the sky showed some high cloud cover with a blue sky
directly ahead. We hoped that we should be OK for good
clear skies for the eclipse.
This morning the Bowmans’ street was full of birdsong. Northern Cardinal and House Finch were also viewed.
We
drove on the 416 directly to the Johnstown church parking lot to look
at what was along the St Lawrence. There were Ring billed Gull,
Bufflehead, Herring Gull and Common Merganser in the water. A Bald
Eagle was spotted flying by. Ken said take a look at the factory roof
which is west of the bridge to the US. In the past we have Peregrine
Falcon here. No Peregrine, but an Osprey was perched
on a corner of the roof. A car pulled up beside us. Two gents were
there to take a look around. They were not birders but one fellow was
from Red Deer, Alberta and was here to view the solar eclipse today.
The other was from Ottawa. The St Lawrence was
in the Path Of Totality for the eclipse today and so all the riverside
towns were braced for crowds visiting the Seaway to view the eclipse.
We also had the same plan to experience the eclipse.
Then
another vehicle drove up and Janet McCullough (Bill and Barbara know her) and another
birder asked what we were seeing. She told us about the trail by the
big plant
nearby where the Osprey was sitting. We did not know about this trail
so we thought we would “check things out”.
One
has to drive west a few hundred metres west on Highway 2 and then turn
left for the marina and continue past the marina restaurant
to the public parking area for the short trail. The marina restaurant
sign has “Bakery” on it also. So we should check this out when the
place is open for the season. Unfortunately, the gate for the trail
was padlocked. The area looks good for future
birding. We loaded up and suddenly we could see the Osprey flying low
and it took a hard dive into the water, with a considerable splash.
It did not look like it had come up with anything to eat but then a
Bald Eagle swooped by and interacted with the
Osprey. Maybe an opportunistic move by the Eagle just in case the
Osprey had caught something. They swooped around each other. Photos
were taken. It was quite impressive. Then the two flew off.
We
headed east. Our plan was to bird along the St Lawrence at our usual
spots and at the same time see how many people were gathering
for the solar eclipse (which was to happen between 2 to 4 pm). It was
still early, but one never knows. Thousands of people were expected for
Kingston, Brockville and Cornwall. Our original plan was to view the
eclipse at the Morrisburg Waterfront Park.
We
spent the morning with stops at several of our regular birding spots
along the St Lawrence: Cardinal, Iroquois, Galop Canal and
Saver/Griswold
Road. Common Loons were viewed here, Yipee!. We picked up a species
or two at each stop. There were not a lot of birds around. At the
Galop stop there was a gent all set up for the eclipse with a scope. It
was windy there and he looked cold already
sitting there on the west point. We briefly chatted. The gent had a
four hour wait in that exposed spot. So hopefully he lasted the wait.
It was a cool wind along the river. At the morning continued we could
see groups of people assembling along the
St Lawrence. Some on private property. We stopped at the Morrisburg
but it was totally packed with humanity and there were no parking spots
available. We continued on. Too many people, dogs and everything. Not
for us.
At
Upper Canada Village, there was a line-up of cars to get in and a sign
that said “sold out” for parking spots. Other parks along this
stretch were closed. We drove by the Migratory Bird Center turnoff and
it looked quiet. We drove on.
On
Ault island there was a huge eclipse party going on at a private
waterfront home. It was 12:30 or so and we had our lunch at the
western dead end of Wilbruck Drive on the island. Several cars came in
and parked at this turnaround. Two young fellows arrived in a car and
went down to water on the private property. Turns out they were from
Ottawa. They spent some time picking up garbage
on the private property . They said that if anyone official came by
they had improved the property by picking up the garbage. Smart guys. A
lady driving a van with a bunch of kids also stopped by. The kids
briefly unloaded with a soccer ball. They loaded
up shortly after, maybe to look further around and then they came
back. We had a lovely lunch outside on our camp chairs. The birds were
scarce though. The causeway at Ault Island had a couple of groups of
people on a picnics There were a few waterfowl
around here including some lovely Ringed necked Ducks.
We
continued east as the blue skies led us. We wondered about the Long
Sault Parkway. Would it be open. NOPE. There was a huge bunch
of traffic and people at the west entrance.
We
thought we would continue on. It was just before two pm. We figured
that the east end of the Long Sault Parkway would be open as
far as the turnoff for the Moulinette Island Causeway to the
residential island. It was very busy at this east entrance with lots of
people parking on the roadway and as we thought, the Parkway was closed
after the turnoff onto the causeway to Moulinette
Island. The causeway had just a handful of cars parked along the
roadway and the park/beach was pretty empty. This looked promising.
Time was moving. We quickly birded Moulinette Island. A Turkey Vulture
was seen. On the way out we parked along the Moulinette
Island Causeway. It was perfect for us. No mobs of people and we
could just go over the aluminum road guardrail and there was a picnic
bench waiting for us.
It
was time for the eclipse. The eclipse glasses came out. I had picked
these up at the Michigan State Planetarium anniversary party
last month. The glasses were to code and ISO approved. We shared the
glasses. As the eclipse progressed we followed the movement of the
moon’s shadow across the sun. At first the moon’s shadow looked a
biscuit bite, then a bigger bite. Then a thin line
at about 10 percent. It quickly became twilight, it was awesome. We
could view the corona. Ken played an eclipse music playlist on his
phone. The house of the rising sun, Here comes the sun, etc. Thanks
Ken. The Bowman’s super idea to bring a vintage
bottle of champagne to celebrate this moment was great. We had the
perfect eclipse experience. Good company and good music to watch the
awesome celestial dance in the sky from sunshine to twilight and back to
sunshine along with some bubbly. Thank you Bowmans.
They even brought wine glasses. It was a humbling experience to see
the eclipse. And it was wonderful.
We followed the eclipse wearing the glasses. Photos were taken. Soon it was over. It took no time to get out of the area.
We
stopped at a nearby gas station and Barbara and I joined the wait line
for the single bathroom. Word went out the bathroom was out
of tissue. One woman in the line up brought out a roll of toilet paper
from her purse and shared it with everyone in this lineup. The
question in my mind is who carries a full roll of toilet paper in a
purse? No matter, it was appreciated.
But
we were not done birding yet. Ken found looked at postings a found a
nearby location where Eastern Bluebirds had been seen lately.
We went to the farm fields and to Beckstead Road where the Bluebirds
had been reported. We stopped for an American Kestrel and Barb saw a
Bluebird. A gent stopped and told Ken that he had just put 6 Bluebird
boxes on Don’s Road. We headed there. Don’s
Road turned out to be a long road. Along this road we found one house
that had many feeders. In a nearby field we found an Eastern
Meadowlark. We could hear Killdeer. It was beautiful area. We spoke
with one lady out for an evening walk on the road and
she told us that after a curve in the road was her bungalow and just
beyond her house were the Bluebird boxes. This was near the end of
Don’s Road. We watched a pair of Kestrel’s here and looked for the
Bluebirds. Nope, none were seen here. We continued
homeward.
We
turned left at the T-intersection on to Stormont and Glengarry Country
Road 11. We drove by a swamp. The gent we had met before was
there also. He came over and asked if we saw the Wood Ducks in this
flooded swamp area. Yes we had just spotted them. The gent, Hans van
der Zweep, was very helpful. This area would be good in spring
migration next month. Another new spot.
We
continued on homeward. We made a couple of turns onto Stormont,
Dundas and Glengarry CR 7 we crossed Boyne Road and just before the
sign for Badger Excavating right by the road there was a quarry filled
with SNOW GEESE!! There were Blue Morphs also and some Canada Geese.
We estimated around 700 were on the bank of the sand quarry and in the
water. The geese were close to us. We had
smiles on our faces. Photos were taken.
It was a wonderful end to a memorable day. Thank you Bill and Barbara and Ken for the photos to follow in separate emails.
Eclipse photo by Ken Ball
Birds Seen 40 species
American Robin
Song Sparrow
House Finch
American Crow
Ringed billed Gull
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Common Goldeneye
Red tailed Hawk
Red winged Blackbird
Osprey
Common Loon
Herring Gull
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Scoter sp (possibly Black)
Bald Eagle
Common Grackle
Rock Pigeon
Mallard
Mute Swan
Mourning Dove
Cedar Waxwing
Bohemian Waxwing
House Sparrow
Double crested Cormorant – crests viewed – photos
European Startling
Black capped Chickadee
Ring necked Duck
Dark eyed Junco
Northern Flicker
Turkey Vulture
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Common Raven
Wood Duck
Eastern Meadowlark
American Goldfinch
Eastern Bluebird
Snow Geese along with Blue Morphs
Other creatures
Wood Frogs heard – thanks Bill
Noted that Downey and Hairy were not seen