The last Moosonee installment - for at least 4 days

Hey! It's October 29th. -- the last day of our (Jenn and I) super-fantastic adventure in the north.

--- We left Moose Factory early in the day, taking a water taxi back to Moosonee. We found a place to stash our packs (train station) and wandered off in search of the Sewage Lagoons and Landfill. At least the 3rd Landfill I've brought Jenn to... If you can't win a girl over at a landfill, there's no hope for you.


List of Birds in Moosonee for the day:


Canada Goose     25
Northern Pintail     6
Green-winged Teal     2
Greater/Lesser Scaup     100
Black-bellied Plover     4
Greater Yellowlegs     3
Dunlin     30
Ring-billed Gull     20
Herring Gull     100
Thayer's Gull     1
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Downy Woodpecker     1
Hairy Woodpecker     2
Northern Shrike     1
American Crow     8
Common Raven     X
Black-capped Chickadee     X
Boreal Chickadee     20
Red-breasted Nuthatch     X
European Starling     X
Snow Bunting     X
White-winged Crossbill     50
Common Redpoll     200




In general, the sewage lagoons were really slow. No shorebirds, limited ducks (scaup etc) plus a Rough-leg and a Red-tail. 


The landfill was quite fun. (I think Jenn would agree with that statement.. Right Jenn? Jenn?) Another Juv Thayer's Gull have pretty good views, along with a Juv. Great Black-backed Gull. Lots of bear tracks around the dump, but no luck with seeing one. The ravens also put on a pretty good show. 


While walking down the road to the dump, a garbage spill had attracted a large group of Gray Jays, which provided us with some entertainment. The birds up there don't know that people=food. I remember spending some time in Thunder Bay a few years ago in a similar situation (I was throwing trail mix at birds, to no avail). 


Still lots of finches on the move, with crossbills and redpolls flying past, but no surprises!

----------------------

We boarded the train, which was moving at 5pm. We had about 2 hours of daylight to watch the telephone poles, which was fruitful. Considering the fact that we were watching from a train. Noteworthy was 4 Northern Hawk Owls and a single Great Gray Owl. The Great Gray was flushed by the train, somewhere close to the tracks, so we really only got to see it flying away. Not the best, but what can one do!?

----------------------

And that's all she (I?) wrote! A really fun adventure with my good-looking girl :) .. now all we have to do is go back sometime when everything is open in town! (And when there are 10000 more shorebirds to look at). At least we know more about what we're doing, for the future!

(Best I can do for photos) Not exactly taken from the train. One major goal this winter: better raptor photos needed! Maybe i'll have some time to get my real website back online too!