Thirteen waterproofed cheerful and enthusiastic naturalists spend two pleasant hours touring the nature sanctuary at Hastings Park the rainy morning of Saturday, November 9th.  A good variety of the expected winter birds were seen.  A Red-tailed Hawk solemnly surveyed the construction site of the new PNE Amphitheatre from the tower of one of the construction cranes.  An encounter with a female gingko tree that had produced a bumper crop of fruit led to a spontaneous discourse by one of the participants on the traditional Asian uses of the fruit.  At the end of the walk a splinter group successfully tracked down the Black Phoebe that had been seen in and around the sanctuary for the previous week or so.  Thanks to all who came out.

Doug Cooper

Photos by John Martin and Alex Leeder