The Black-necked Stilt is still hanging out at the Ridgetown Lagoons. I stopped briefly today to see what was there, and sure enough it was working its way through the pipe areas just to the right of the stand.
The bird has darkened up since I was there on November 11, and it reminds me of the one that showed up near Wallaceburg a few winters ago. There were also two dozen Northern Shoveler's, six Ruddy Ducks and two female Hooded Mergansers on the main lagoon. There were a few Tundra Swans and Canada Geese on the ponds to the north. To get to the Ridgetown Lagoons: From the lights in Ridgetown, go north on Erie Street, to Mitton Line and turn left. The lagoons are just down the road. YOU CAN NOT ENTER these lagoons. Viewing is good from the stand. Brett Groves Leamington, Ontario From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Dec 9 20:56:38 2004 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep4.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09EAF4807E for <[email protected]>; Thu, 9 Dec 2004 20:56:38 -0500 (EST) Received: from mainoffice (d141-159-105.home.cgocable.net [24.141.159.105]) by fep4.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id ADC774313; Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:00:34 -0500 (EST) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:00:42 -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) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Importance: Normal cc: Betty Blashill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - December 9th, 2004 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 01:56:38 -0000 At 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 9th 2004 this is the HNC Birding Report GREAT EGRET BARROW'S GOLDENEYE SNOWY OWL Red-throated Loon Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Tundra Swan American Wigeon King Eider Harlequin Duck Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Ring-necked Pheasant Wild Turkey Great Horned Owl Belted Kingfisher Pileated Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Tufted Titmouse Winter Wren Carolina Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Swamp Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Quiet on the homefront in early December. A couple of new birds are about. A BARROW'S GOLDENEYE was seen amongst the Common Goldeneye at L.P. Sayers Park off of Lakegate Road in Stoney Creek on Wednesday. Also see here were Bufflehead, all three scoters and two King Eiders. Off of Fruitland road, the same mixture of ducks less a Barrows and plus a female Harlequin Duck were reported last Sunday. Red throated Loons were also seen on the weekend. Further along the lake Red-necked Grebes are still being seen off of Shoreacres/Paletta Park in Burlington. The SNOWY OWL was last reported on Sunday from Pier 26 off of Eastport Drive. One hardy GREAT EGRET continues to be present at the Valley Inn along with Great Blue Herons and Hooded Mergansers. A Golden-crowned Kinglet was here also in the week. The feeder story of the week was the presence of a Ring-necked Pheasant at an urban neighbourhood in Hamilton near Centre Mall chalking up the yard list for this lister. Northshore of Cootes Paradise continues to host a number of Black-capped Chickadees in addition to two Tufted Titmice coming to the feeders along the trail. Dundas Marsh and Hydro Ponds still has some excellent winter species present with Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird and Swamp Sparrow reported from the Marsh and American Wigeon and Red-winged Blackbird present at the Dundas Hydro Ponds. Tundra Swans flew over the marsh on Sunday. Wrens continue to be reported from Rattray Marsh in Mississauga with Winter Wren and Carolina Wren hiding in the dense vegetation there. Out in the sticks today 60 Wild Turkey were seen today at Mackenzie Road north of Regional Road 29. Many winter rarities are still about Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo, Rufous Hummingbird, Wilson's Warbler. Surely there has to be some excellent goodie in Hamilton waiting to be found. Have a great week. Keep the sightings rolling, Christmas counts are coming up. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
