The Victoria Birding Weekend Part II

Snapping Turtle

The following day my mom and I headed west to Dunrobin. Our destination was the Bill Mason Center, where we hoped to find the Virginia Rails that inhabit the marsh; my mother has never seen one before and needed one for her life list. First, however, we stopped at the bridge on Huntmar to see if the Northern Rough-winged Swallows were there. We found two of them, although we only got a brief glimpse of them flying upstream. We also saw three Turkey Vultures and one Red-tailed Hawk soaring over the ridge, and one Eastern Phoebe wagging its tail near the bridge. Birds heard but not seen included Least Flycatcher, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing somewhere across the road, Red-eyed Vireo and Common Yellowthroat.

A Day in Quebec, Part III: Luskville Falls

Our last stop of the day was the Luskville Falls parking lot where we followed the Equestrian Trail to a sunny meadow with a stream running through it. The vegetation was waist-high, but not especially dense, so we could easily cut our way through it to look around. We saw a few Northern Crescents and European Skippers in the grass, but it was the dragonflies that caught my attention. I found more immature whitefaces and some interesting dragonflies which seemed to be all red and black. I was attempting to get close to one of these dragons when I saw a clubtail land close by. Knowing that Larry was just as interested in the odonates as the butterflies, I alerted him to my find.

BioBlitz & Butterflies

On June 11, 2011, I participated in a BioBlitz in Russell, and spent the morning surveying an area which has been proposed for a new landfill. The people who organized the BioBlitz, many of whom live nearby, were interested in finding out how many different species of flora and fauna are present, and whether any are considered at risk. This area is mostly agricultural, with some forested areas and open, grassy fields. Bobolinks inhabit the grasslands and were of particular interest. This species, which nests primarily in hayfields, pastures, and wet prairies, has been declining in recent years because of loss of habitat, pesticides, climate change and farming practices. Farmers are cutting and mowing hayfields earlier in the season, and as a result, mowing-induced nest mortality has increased dramatically over the past 50 years.