Good Morning Yesterday Ian Cannell and I birded Algonquin Provincial Park and though we did not find a Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker or Boreal Chickadee we think we did fairly well anyway.
It started with 9 Common Ravens flying west together over Hwy 60 just west of the West Gate and went uphill from there. We started finding flocks of American Goldfinches from just west of the West Gate at 8:30 am to Km 40 and by then we had totalled 675 birds in flock sizes ranging from 100 to 25 (undercounted for sure as vehicles put birds up before we could ID them) and we also added 60 more at the Visitor Centre and at the winter gate on Opeongo Rd. Some more good birds were 2 more Common Ravens, 5 Gray Jays, 5 Red and 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, 4 Pine Grosbeaks (2 at Visitor Centre Parking Lot and 2 at Spruce Bog Trail Parking Lot), 11 Purple Finches, 4 Red Crossbills (2 at Visitor Centre Parking Lot and 2 at Spruce Bog Trail Parking Lot), 7 White-winged Crossbills (5 at the winter gate on Opeongo Rd and 2 at Spruce Bog Trail Parking Lot) and 24 Evening Grosbeaks(19 at Visitor Centre and 5 near the winter gate on Opeongo Rd) and 1 Pine Siskin only, at the Spruce Bog Parking Lot. We also received a reliable report of 2 Bohemian Waxwings making a brief appearance at the Visitor Centre parking lot at 2 pm and a Pine Marten was reported to us that was seen at the winter gate on Opeongo Rd. Norm Murr Richmond Hill Ontario, Canada You can't see birds if you don't go out but sit and wait for others to find them. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists

