It was very convenient that we got a warm break in the weather for yesterday’s Urban Birding field trip. Had it been today (Sunday), it would have been a completely different story! 13 birders participated, including three McGill students (two from South Africa and one from Connecticut).
We started out from the Costco parking lot at Bridge and Mill Streets in Pointe-St-Charles, heading out to Cite du Havre, where we explored a great extensive park that stretches from Habitat 67 eastward beyond the Concorde Bridge. The narrow spit of land has trails and a number of belvedere style lookouts along both sides of the water. This looks like a park that warrants further investigation at other times of the year. From there we explored the Technoparc area between the Bonaventure Expressway and the rail yards in Pointe-St-Charles. From there we headed to Nuns’ Island where we first explored trails on the Pointe-Nord section followed by the wooded trails around the artificial lake on the island. Mild temperatures and light winds made for a very pleasant day of birding.
Our Bird of the Day was a Northern Mockingbird found atop an evergreen tree in the area behind the Bell Complex on Pointe-Nord of Nuns’ Island. (Thanks to Doug for his eagle-eye spotting on this one).
We finished the morning with a total of 15 species, including a couple of nice surprises, including a much discussed Cooper’s Hawk that we were desperately wanting to turn into a Northern Goshawk. Here is our list for the day
Common Merganser 50
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 25
Rock Pigeon 200
Downy Woodpecker 8
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
American Crow 12
Black-capped Chickadee 20
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
Purple Finch (female) 1
House Sparrow 75
Thanks to everyone for contributing to a fun morning.
Sheldon Harvey
