Good morning
Yesterday Ian Cannell took Jay Peterson and myself to the Opinicon Road area and we had a very nice day of birding while we found 98 species of birds with again the best find being 5 Loggerhead Shrikes. We were fortunate enough to observe the parent birds feeding 3 newly fledged young, We watched these birds no more than 50 yards in front of us as we stood on the road. We watched as one parent sat on a Juniper branch very close to the fledglings and didn't move as the other parent continuously flew out, found food and came back and fed each fledgling in turn. The guarding bird may have been concerned as there was a pair of Northern Harriers hunting very close to and over them or that was normal behaviour.
Other birds of interest to us were observed including 11 Common Loons, Pied-billed Grebe, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, 2 Osprey, 4 Ruffed Grouse including a lone tiny chick crossing a paved road, 7 wild Turkeys, Semipalmated Plover and Sandpipers, Upland Sandpiper, Black Tern, Black-billed Cuckoo, 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers plus nest, 4 Pileated Woodpeckers, 2 up close, 7 Common Ravens, both Nuthatches, 9 Great-crested Flycatchers, 4 Eastern Wood Pewees, 6 Eastern Phoebes, 9 Eastern Bluebirds, Wood Thrushes, 2 Yellow-throated Vireos, 81 Red-eyed Vireos (undercounted) plus a nest, 16 Warbling Vireos, 13 Warbler species including 5 Golden-winged Warblers, 2 Black-throated Blue warblers (2 males together (inches apart) singing and apparently on territory (strange)), Blackburnain Warbler, 8 American Redstarts, 6 Pine Warblers, 12 Cerulean Warblers, 15 Ovenbirds, Northern Waterthrush, 30 Chipping Sparrows, Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
The weather was pleasant and surprisingly we did not encounter many Mosquitoes, I had 2 on my hand and that is all I saw all day. By far the best area of birding was along Opinicon Road with some of the surrounding roads adding to our birding enjoyment. Best thing about these outings is the great company, important for an enjoyable outing if you are lucky enough to have that.
DIRECTIONS:-
OPINICON and CHAFFEYS LOCKS ROADS
Exit Hwy 401 at Exit #617 just east of Kingston (County Rd 10 or Perth Road) and drive north approximately 30 km to just south of Raymonds Corners or past the small town of Perth Road to Opinicon Road.
Opinicon Road becomes Chaffeys Locks Road at Chaffeys Locks.
