This afternoon I birded the nw shore of Lake Ontario between the Petro-Canada refinery pier and the Cement Plant pier. I located five Purple Sandpipers and one Dunlin feed at the water's edge on rip-rap (ie. concrete and stone breakwater) where it meets the concrete wall of the Cement plant pier. In the middle of the bay I found a male Harlequin Duck in full breeding plumage feeding about 100 meters from shore with a loose flock of buffleheads and Common Goldeneye. Also there was a Red-throat Loon in full winter plumage near a small group of Red-neck Grebes near the end of the Petro-Canada Pier. An early Snow Bunting was feeding along the beach and late Common Yellowthroat was found in dense willows along the small creek that runs into Lake Ontario just along west edge of Lakeshore Park.
Access this section of the waterfront trail (from which these observation were made) from Lakeshore Avenue between Erin Mill Parkway and Winston Churchill (the major landmarks are the Cement Plant and Petro Canada Plant). Both the Lakeshore Park and Lakeshore Leash-free Parks have parking areas adjant to Lakeshore Avenue. Wayne Renaud From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Nov 11 18:33:58 2004 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep3.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2FB674866F for <[email protected]>; Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:33:58 -0500 (EST) Received: from mainoffice (d141-159-105.home.cgocable.net [24.141.159.105]) by fep3.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 1E6E03BF1 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:33:47 -0500 (EST) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:33:49 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Subject: [Ontbirds] Female Harlequin Duck, Bronte Harbour/ Black-legged Kittiwake, Van Wagners Beach X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 23:34:00 -0000 This morning about 9:30 a.m. Rob Dobos and I had a female Harlequin Duck off of the bluff at West River Road in Bronte Harbour area. This duck has been present since Sunday. At about 12:00 p.m. during moderate north east winds a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake flew down the beach. Cheers, Cheryl Bronte Harbour: QEW to Bronte Road. Follow Bronte to the Lakeshore. Turn right (west) on the lakeshore to West River Road which is just over the bridge. Turn left on West River Road towards the lake. There is a small parkette here with Sovereign House on the property. The bird was out on the water here but flew west while we were there. Van Wagners Beach Directions: From the QEW highway, take the Hwy. 20 exit (Centennial Parkway); go north to the North Service Rd.; turn left and follow it onto Van Wagners Beach Drive; park at Hutch's Restaurant and scan the lake from anywhere near here. You may have to park west of Hutch's due to construction.
