Julia Zarankin led our November 16th walk at Colonel Samuel Smith Park. It was a warm day for mid-November with a light westerly breeze. These would typically be good conditions to see a variety of small passerine birds, but they were mysteriously scarce. The mystery was solved as the walk progressed and we saw four raptors of three different species. All of them prey on small songbirds!
While we missed all of the recent marquee species, we found a nice variety of waterfowl and lingering summer residents including a Black-crowned Night Heron, Common Loon, and a Belted Kingfisher. A Merlin provided great close-up views late in the walk, seemingly unconcerned by the crowd watching below.
By the end of the walk, we had tallied 28 species:
|