Well, we did it. Here are some highlights from the Big Day...
At our firtst site of Rouge-Cloître, there were two gorgeous male Red-crested Pochards, and a Water Rail was calling from the reedbed. We actually managed to catch a glimpse of a handsome Green Woodpecker in the top of a snag, and a White Wagtail on an old red tile roof. A flock of about 40 siskins were in a clump of alders near a swampy stream bed.
The sun warmed things up by our second site of Boitsfort Cottony Pond, where we heard another Water Rail, saw about 15 more siskins, and heard a singing Goldcrest. The star bird must be the Cetti's Warbler that was heard singing from the pond-side shrub and reeds. True to form though, we couldn't spot him, even though he kept moving from one patch to another.
Significant by their absence, we didn't hear or see a single Blue Tit today, no Canada Geese, Kestrel, Stock Dove, Starling, or Song Thrush.