Feeder walk

Daybreak was hard to observe in Stratford on January 21 due to heavy fog. Nonetheless, 25 SFN members braved poor visibility and slippery trails to see what birds could be found in and around the feeder stations in the T.J. Dolan Natural Area in the city’s west end.

The first photo, taken by Chris Polkiewicz, shows the main group before they headed out from the John Street parking lot at 9 a.m. A smaller contingent departed from the Jenn-Ann subdivision at 9:45 a.m. for a shorter walk to the feeders in the buckthorn grove near the cemetery path on the north side of the river.Both groups adopted a leaderless, democratic approach, resulting in a series of divisions and mergers which make it difficult for this reporter to say home many folks completed the full circuit or to total up what was seen. However, confirmed sightings by one or more of the meandering SFN birders included:

Mallards, American Crows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, House Sparrows, and at least one American Tree Sparrow and one House Finch. One sub-group of walkers spotted a racoon sleeping in a tree along the upper path than runs below the Jenn-Ann subdivision. Harald Scholz noted that the scarcity of wildlife sightings might have had some correlation with the chattering among the participants.

Most of the walkers eventually made their way to the Johnson/McKay home on Cody Drive, where coffee, tea and juice were available along with mini quiches, croissants, muffins, cinnamon buns, cookies, fruit and cheese. Lots of finger-licking, lip smacking and conversation followed. The last 4 photos were taken at the social.