Thirty keen birders spent today, January 1st, in the Peterborough and Petroglyphs areas with by far the most open water ever seen on this trip. This resulted in few birds on the Otonabee River but several surprises elsewhere, including a male Ring-necked Duck on Stony Lake and 3 Northern Shovelers on the Lakefield Lagoons. Altogether 8 waterfowl species were found in the group total of 41. On Highway 28 we found a group of 40 Bohemian Waxwings. At least 30 Evening Grosbeaks and 40 Pine Siskins were at a feeder on Northey’s Bay Road. Up to 3 Red Crossbills were found in Petroglyphs Provincial Park along with Brown Creepers, both nuthatches and our 2nd Northern Shrike, which fed on a large dragonfly !
Other good finds were Sharp-shinned Hawk, a 1st-year Bald Eagle over Stony Lake; a single Snow Bunting, Glaucous and Great Black-backed gulls near the Peterborough Landfill site; 6 Horned Larks on Scriven Road, 3 large flocks of Wild Turkeys and 4 Common Ravens.
Dave Milsom, leader
Bohemian Waxwing (Karl Egressy)
Male Evening Grosbeak – Wikimedia
Red_Crossbill – male – Wikimedia
Horned Lark (by Karl Egressy)
