Hi everyone, Another great day at the Burlington-Hamilton area! The highlight this time was an adult male Harlequin Duck in perfect breeding plumage. The duck came into my (scope) view at about 12:30 as I was scanning the hundreds of ducks in the Canal (under Burlington-Hamilton Skyway Bridge, off Eastport Drive). It was keeping mainly to the East side of the Canal, while I was standing on the West side (the side of the Canada Center for Inland Waters). The large numbers of ducks present in the canal (Redheads, Lesser Scaup, Canvasback, Ring-necked, Long-tailed, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Goldeneye, RB Merganser, Black Duck, Mallards ...) are going to make the finding of this duck difficult, but definitely rewording!
To get there from the 403 - take the QEW to Niagara and get off right away at North Shore Boulevard (Burlington). At the first light take left and then take the first right to Eastport Drive. Go straight all the way and turn left again at the blinking red light next to the Canada Center for Inland Waters. Go straight ahead till the road ends and you have a dirt road (track) on your left. Follow this track for another 100m to the Canal. Be very quite at this point, as you can easily scare away all the birds. Other birds seen from the Spencer-Smith park and from the Travel Lodge: I did not see the King Eider from last week, though I was told that other birders did see it earlier. One Black Scoter (a first year type) was seen from the Travel Lodge after a considerable time of searching the other Scoters (WW and Surf). This bird is not easy to find and requires a scope. Other than that a similar variety of duck species as described for the Canal was present, with more Scoters but less of the other species. 5 Ruddy Ducks were also present as were 2 (wing-tagged) Trumpeter Swans. Ady Gancz, Guelph, ON. Ady Gancz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
