Nonquon Lagoons Birding Trip

My parents and I took a trip to Nonquon Lagoons in Port Perry, Ontario to see if we could spot any good waterfowl or shorebirds. They added a bird to their lifetime bird count! That's a pretty big deal when you've seen 212 different species and you haven't left Ontario. Here are two sketches I did from photos my dad took: The top is an adult black tern and the bottom is the juvenile version. 

Nonquon Lagoons is some sort of waste water treatment area. It smells like a public restroom. What makes it great (besides the smell :P) is that it's off the beaten path and doesn't get a lot visitors. You need to pony up $10 (per person) for an annual permit to visit the area, which is fenced off and locked. There isn't even any actual parking to speak off and it's at the end of a dead-end road. There are about half a dozen lagoons of varying smelliness and depth, which means there's something for just about any type of bird that likes water!

The town is doing some construction in the area so if you are thinking of visiting, you may want to go on a weekend when it's quieter. In the pic below on the far right you can see a big truck kicking up dust clouds. That guy was driving back and forth all day! He seemed nice and we waved each time he went by. Didn't seem to bother the birds but you never know. But don't forget to grab your permit(s) first! You need to go to the nearby transfer station (which may in fact be closed on the weekends, not sure) to get it, otherwise you can't get in. 

Also, July isn't the greatest time to go see birds. Spring/fall is best!

Here's one of the lagoons (courtesy of my iphone 3 + Instagram):

Plenty of bluets buzzing about. Here's a pic I took with my iphone 3 of a bluet shedding its old skin:

And here the list of what my parents spotted today:

Yellowlegs

Killdeer

Spotted sandpiper

Semipalmated sandpiper

Canada goose

Mallard

Herring Gull

Trumpeter swan

Black tern

Red winged blackbird

Hooded merganser

Red head duck

Ring billed duck

Goldfinch

Kingbird

Turkey vulture

Caspian tern

More of my watercolour stuff

-- Julia

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