Today, Wednesday, January 15, Tony Bigg, Geoff Carpentier, Bob Prentice and myself went in search of a few things we had missed during our annual New Year's Hamilton -Niagara run. We managed 60 species today.
We missed the King Eider and Barrow's Goldeneye in Stony Creek again. But conditions were poor with the offshore winds and chop. The ducks were quite far out. Perhaps the birds we were looking for, still could be there. There were lots of White-winged Scoters, Common Goldeneye and Long-tailed Ducks to search through at the ends of Gray's, Green and Fruitland Rds. However, this time we did find the Wood Duck in the Desjardin Canal (a male Green-winged Teal was there, but no Blue-winged Teal). Black-headed Gull was in Queenston (at 1:15 p.m.) and the Harlequin Duck was in Fort Erie. On the way home, Tony, Bob and I stopped (at 7:15 p.m.) for the Black-crowned Night-Herons in Toronto on the Don River by the Queen Street bridge and found one hunting just upstream from their normal daytime roost. Directions: Dejardin Canal - going west on Main Street in Hamilton, turn right on Cootes Drive, then right on Olympus, go over the canal and turn immediatedly left following the canal to the place where the ducks are fed just before the old greenhouses. Queenston-(copied from a previous post ) 405 Hwy. to last exit before the border which leads to the Niagara Parkway. Left on Niagara Parkway, continue down the hill and then make a right on Dumfries St. This will take you to the parking area for the boat ramp. Take the trail up-river a couple of hundred metres until you see two stone structures across the river with a waterfall a little further on. The Black-headed Gull was flying back and forth in this area, as is its custom. Caution: The trail is ICE and has a thin snow cover. Fort Erie- From the Niagara Parkway under the Peace Bridge drive north (towards Niagara Falls) to the second pull off/parkette. This is still within sight of the Peace Bridge. Queen Street Bridge, Toronto:- From the Gardiner go north on Jarvis to Queen, go east on Queen to the bridge. Park (not on the bridge) and walk to the middle of the bridge on the north side. The night-herons root during the day on the over-hanging willows (?) on both sides of the Don River. Tonight, one night-heron was seen from the bridge but further upstream hunting from under the over-hang of the west bank. [There is enough light from the Don Valley Parkway to illuminate the area.] Anne Anthony Peterborough "Anne Anthony" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
