An hour before the rain came

The weather forecast for this weekend is not very encouraging, rain basically, so I slipped out before first light to look for owls, then on to St-Lazare sand pits for a looksee.

Owls were absent, but they will be here soon, the pits were a mass of honking Canada Geese with three Cackling Geese, cackling in the background. In with the small Snow Geese flock was the adult Ross's Goose from last week so I took a few more record shots, not great but certainly better than I had managed previously.

Also at the pits, my first Northern Grey Shrike of the autumn, an immature which preened part way up the tree. I took the video clip below on 60x through the scope and at 3x optical zoom on the camera, not great but...

Aside from a few flyover Snow Buntings nothing much else was afoot, still not too bad considering the murkiness.

I'm hoping for a break in the weather later today or tomorrow to go out and try to find a Cave Swallow, there are lots being reported in Canada, surely here in south-west Quebec we have at least one!