9-10 June 2007
Saturday 9th was spent south of Huntingdon adding Clay-colored Sparrow and Ring-necked Pheasant to the year list. Frustratingly we drove past a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, or at least the group who ha been watching it, and we couldn’t find the grasshopper Sparrows although I was unsure of the site. It wasn’t a bad day, over 100 species again, but looking for a bird in somebody’s garden still feels like intruding. As it happened, the owners of the property were doing some gardening so I plunged in with my usual “parle tu Anglais”?, fortunately a little was spoken and, with the aid of my French version of Sibley, I conveyed the reason for my peering into their conifers. They were quite happy about it, even interested, so perhaps the sparrow/s now have a couple of guardians for the duration.
Sunday was Tremblant revisited.
The previous week a friend had chanced a Spruce Grouse scudding across the track and also managed a Boreal Chickadee, so we set forth with renewed optimism. The healthy Blackfly population kept most from venturing into the heart of the park so we cruised undisturbed the rough road to our first stop. We walked the trail, stopped and listened but had nothing much to show for it. A Rusty Blackbird was still in territory, probably a breeding pair. The usual boreal warblers were also occasionally vocal.
It was shaping up to be a hot day weather wise, but the birds were a bit scarce so we made do with a surfeit of Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, the odd one of which may still be stuck to the car’s front grill.
Our next stop was Lac Tador, or at least the trail to it. Eventually the “quick three beers” (yeh right, that’s just what is sounds like) was heard and the primary reason for entertaining the flies was found, Olive-sided Flycatcher. Below is a record shot from some distance, they are, fortunately, distinctive enough. Moving on we visited a short trail to a stagger-in camp site which has always been good (well once) for Boreal Chickadee. Unfortunately they did not know that but a couple of inquisitive Grey Jays fluttered around us. At this point the camera refused to take a photo until I reset it so I missed the chance. The second best photos are below, we also saw a Black-backed Woodpecker here.
We did a fair bit more exploring, using quieter tracks and trails, but the Spruce Grouse and chickadees just never appeared. The Ruffed Grouse were oblivious to us at times and we saw seven in total including the one below. The question is why do they cross the road even when you are creeping up on them in a two ton van! There are two answers here. They are either very stupid or very confident of their camouflage, I favour the latter.
We have a couple of trips planned in the next few weeks but summer is hoving into view and the likelihood is that birding opportunities will be few. I’ll be out anyway but expect fewer birds and more Butterflies and Dragonflies on these pages.
Following the weekend’s additions the year list is now 239. I have a potential 17 shorebird species still to find though and many fairly common autumn migrants to look for. If you have a good Quebec site for Sharp-tailed Grouse and are willing to share, please leave me a message, otherwise its Barraute at dawn. Thanks.
A view of the underparts of the North American race of Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica erythrogaster.
Pine Siskin, lots about at Tremblant.
The aforementioned Grey Jays.
A couple of views of Parc Mont-Tremblant.
A Ruby-throated Hummingbird atop a twenty five foot sappling, aren't digital cameras wonderful.
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