Today proved a good choice for a bird outing with sunny skies and light breezes.
Our destination was the Trent River Estuary on the south side of Royston. Here, you have woods, grasses/bushes, streams/river and estuarine flats - a nice variety of habitats for birds. We even had a quick glimpse of two otters as they sped up from the river to the bushes on the far side.
Most birds noted were found in the woods/bushes - no shore or sea birds were seen other than gulls, so we must still wait a bit for the overwintering birdlife. We were happy, though, to see a few American Kestrel flying overhead and briefly perching in far-off trees. In all, 17 species were noted: White-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Swallow sp., Spotted Towhees, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Finch sp., Anna's Hummingbird, Stellar Jays, Common Ravens, Northern Flickers, European Starlings, Turkey Vultures, American Kestrel, Great Blue Heron and gulls sp.
Photos were provided by Anna-Maria L. and Dawn M.
1. Birders along the Trent River 2. Northern Flicker
3. White-crowned Sparrow juvenile 4. White-crowned Sparrow adult
5. Common Raven 6. European Starlings
7. Golden-crowned Sparrows 8. Great Blue Heron
9. Red-breasted Nuthatch 10.Turkey Vulture juvenile in flight
11. estuary scene 12.group photo
13. American Kestrel 14.American Kestrel in flight
