Amherst Island

Yesterday I tagged along with the Teen group of the Kingston Field Naturalists, they were headed over to the KFN property to check the purple martin nest boxes. It was a lovely sunny day, along the way we saw a killdeer, many robins and redwinged blackbirds, Canada geese, common mergansers, and flocks of other ducks. On the shoreline of the property there were 3 big piles of ice that had been shoved up by the wind, always an amazing sight to see.

There were 6 Teens and 4 adults on the outing. Martin houses were tipped down and inspected, some swallow boxes were also cleaned out, and we looked for other things of interest. One snowy owl was hunkered down in the rocks, hard to see from a distance, we didn't go near so as not to disturb it. A rough-legged hawk and a redtail hawk were flying about, as well as some crows and ravens. There were signs of an abundance of voles, we even saw some scampering through the grass. Some owl pellets were found and examined, one of the boys gave me "the look" when I referred to it as owl puke. Anne does an incredible job with the Juniors and Teens. I've never been good with kids, but I think that one of the most important things that the KFN does is education for young people.

On the ferry ride back we looked for birds, didn't see any unusual species, but we did get some entertainment from a gull chasing a crow. The crow had a piece of fish in its beak and the gull was bound and determined to steal it from him. The resulting aerial acrobatics demonstrated what skillful fliers both these species are.