At 9:15 p.m.on Thursday, Nov. 4th, 2004 this is the HNC Birding Report: PACIFIC LOON
Red-throated Loon Common Loon Horned Grebe Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Snow Goose Tundra Swan Wood Duck Green-winged Teal White-winged Scoter Red-tailed Hawk Golden Eagle Merlin Peregrine Falcon Wild Turkey Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs White-rumped Sandpiper Dunlin Black-legged Kittiwake Northern Saw-whet Owl Common Raven Eastern Bluebird American Pipit Nashville Warbler Tennessee Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler American Tree Sparrow Snow Bunting Purple Finch Pine Siskin Bird or bird(s) of the week PACIFIC LOON hands down. Sightings of Pacific Loon have come from a few points within the HSA. The most consistent sighting has come from Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby. An adult in moult has been seen daily including today, at various distances from shore. There are also reports of a second bird in this area. Another PACIFIC LOON sighting comes from the west end of Confederation Park where a bird in basic plumage was found on Monday. This bird was also seen again yesterday. Still another report comes from Port Credit area where an adult bird in moult was seen 150 yards off-shore and in the 'still-waters' of the wake of the sunken barge at the end of the breakwater anchored near the mouth of the Credit River. Added to the birds seen at Pelee and in Coburg there seems to be an influx of birds. Hopefully one of these birds will be seen this weekend on the HNC Fall bird count. Birds seen out at Fifty Point while looking for the loon include Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Horned Grebe, Snow Goose (blue-phase), White-winged Scoter, Black-legged Kittiwake, Dunlin, White-rumped Sandpiper, Nashville Warbler, Snow Bunting and American Tree Sparrow. Woodland Cemetery was great on Sunday despite on and off showers and quite a west wind. In the space of three hours a group of us had two Golden Eagles, many Red-tailed Hawks, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Tundra Swan, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Eastern Bluebirds, American Pipit, Yellow=rumped Warbler, Purple Finch and Pine Siskin. Later at the Valley Inn a Great Egret was still about as well as two immature Black-crowned Night Herons, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal and again we were fortunate to see a Golden Eagle passing through the valley. Out in Flamborough a sighting of thirty Snow Buntings near Westover Road was the largest number reported yet. On November 1st a flock of 10 Snow Buntings was flying above Rock Chapel Road just south of Highway 5. Also two Common Ravens flying south over Safari Rd between Brock and #6 Hwy. perhaps heading for those large quarries east of Brock Road. A feeder in the Beverly Swamp area is hosting some Wild Turkey. In the odds and sods department another good sighting this week was a late Tennessee Warbler at Princess Point. Tundra Swans, a flock of 35 were reported over Aldershot this week and one of the Hamilton Birders had a Northern Saw-whet Owl sitting in a magnolia tree in a back yard. That's all for this week. This Sunday is the HNC Fall Bird Count. Hopefully the wind and rain and the birders crawling all over the Hamilton Study Area will bring in something worth reporting. Have a great week, good birding. Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
