Early Morning Bird Walk Hazlet Lake May 15

     Today's early morning bird walk took place at a private property known as Hazlet Lake. Hazlet Lake is a shallow prairie lake whch covers about 50 hectares.Water drains in and out of the lake , but its water level flucuates and is low right now because of several dry years. An esker running northeast is on the west side of the lake. Since the soil in the esker is rather poor, very scuby aspen and a variety of shrubs  cover the ridge. This view gives most of the lake and was taken from the ridge.

       This property has been farmed but the land on the ridge was never developed ans was probably used for cow pasture at one time. Therefore much of the property has been undisturbed. The present owner is a naturalist so the area is left to take care of itself except for a small private golf course and a residence.

    All in all it is an excellent bird habitat area . So at this time of year many birds are found and the owner could point out many active nest sites. The picture of the birders is taken from one of the fairways. With a mix of treed and open areas many birds find this excellent habitat.

Our hostess Dorothy, provides a detailed tour of the property.

      

    So a very rewarding hour from 7:00AM to 8:00AM was experienced by 5 birders. The sky was mostly clear, wind calm and temperature around 12 C.

  We saw northern shovellers, great horned owl, clay colored sparrow, white throated sparrow, white crowned sparrow, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, white breasted nuthatch, tree swallow, starling, black capped chickadee, crow, yellow bellied sapsucker red -winged blackbird, magpie, northern flicker, mallard , cowbird, pigeon,Canada  geese, red tailed hawk as well as a porcupine.