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We booked a room at the eco-lodge in Moose Factory, which was a perfect chance to un-pack our things and spread them around the room to dry (what else are hotel rooms for?). We then headed out for a day on the town.
It was clear we were late in the season, and the constant rains prevented any southern birds from being blown in. Not surprisingly. the bird life had a very boreal feel. Even less surprisingly, the best birds were on our way into the landfill. Landfills are awesome birding. We need more
Here's an example from the road/landfill alone:
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Dunlin 4
Ring-billed Gull 15
Herring Gull 50
Thayer's Gull 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Black-backed Woodpecker 1
American Crow 5
Common Raven X
Horned Lark X
Black-capped Chickadee 40
Boreal Chickadee 25
Red-breasted Nuthatch 20
European Starling 25
Snow Bunting X
Pine Grosbeak 25
White-winged Crossbill 75
Common Redpoll 250
Hoary Redpoll 1
Some notes:
--- Red-tailed Hawk was an adult, at the landfill itself.
--- Dunlin flew over the landfill road. Greater Yellowlegs was heard only
--- Thayer's Gull was a close-range juvenile bird that gave awesome views. Almost makes me wish my camera wasn't broken!!!
--- Boreal Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches were in large numbers around the island!!!! Black-backed Woodpecker flew over - rather poor views.
--- Snow Buntings everywhere! Much lower numbers of larks than Ship Sands, and no Longspurs in town.
--- Pine Grosbeaks were seen in Spruce around the dump. One of my favourite birds (first of the trip). More Crossbills here too
--- Large flocks of Redpolls seen around the island, but we had our best looks (by far) at flocks on the road to the dump as they fed on Birch. A gorgeous female Hoary Redpoll have us really good views. I wonder how many flew over us?!
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Come to think of it, the landfill and nearby road was pretty much the whole story! We had a Merlin fly over us in town - late? We bought some food at a nearby grocery store for dinner, and headed back to our hotel at mid afternoon. The cold front aspect of the storm started to move through, and strong (cool) west winds were blowing. Staying in the hotel room seemed like the thing to do, to end out day!
Final Moosonee post tomorrow - back to the town itself!
Everywhere in Moose Factory. Old photo though, stupid broken camera.
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Moose Factory side-story:
Walking the cold streets of town, narry a Snow Bunting to entertain us. Hunger set in. Food. We needed food. A light in the distance: A pizza hut/gas station combo!!!!!!!!
We ordered a full-sized dippin-strips pizza, which took 20 agonizing minutes to arrive. But man was it huge! We ordered it as a cheese pizza - with extra cheese - which was great for the first 15 minutes of eating. Near the end, it was getting to be a bit much. We probably ate at least a pound of cheese each (that's what it felt like). No more pizza hut for a while...........
http://www.pizzawars.net/reviews/pizzareview26.htm
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