This morning there were by my estimation more than 1000 Common Mergansers in Cooks Bay in Gilford.Their numbers easily out weighed the Goldeneye and Bufflehead Rafts. This is the largest concentration of Common Mergansers I have witnessed. Gilford is located at the Eastern most point of Hwy 89,east of Hwy 11.Follow all the way down to the Bay from either 400 ,11 or any other Road that travels north/south and intersects Hwy 89. Cheer's Garth/Innisfil From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Dec 16 16:54:31 2004 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep6.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0E606A0EF7 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:54:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from mainoffice (d141-159-105.home.cgocable.net [24.141.159.105]) by fep6.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 9245EFD1; Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:54:48 -0500 (EST) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:54:51 -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 cc: Betty Blashill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report, Thursday December 16th, 2004 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 21:54:31 -0000
At 5:00 p.m. on Thursday December 16th, 2004 this is the HNC Birding Report: GREAT EGRET NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL Great Blue Heron Harlequin Duck Long-tailed Duck Bufflehead Rough-legged Hawk Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet American Robin Northern Mockingbird Cedar Waxwing Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Brown-headed Cowbird Tis the season to be quiet, for now. Most of the birds reported this week are feeder reports however these too are important in the coming bird count season. The action seems to have centred this week around Toronto's High Park. This week the GREAT EGRET continued to be seen up until yesterday. Today the bird was not seen, even the Great Blue Herons seem to have given up the fight and left. Yesterday while hiking at the back of Christie Conservation Area on a trail accessed off of Middletown Road, I was fortunate to bump into a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL having a snooze in one of the cedars next to the trail. Also present there was a single Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos. A single Golden-crowned Kinglet was present in Patterson Tract on fourth Concession in Flamborough. At 4th Concession and Hwy 8 a dark phase Rough-legged Hawk was soaring around. A female Harlequin Duck was present at Fruitland Road last Friday. A check of Shoreacres for Red-necked Grebe was futile however there were thousands of Long-tailed Ducks sitting not too far out and a flock of Bufflehead there as well. Rattray Marsh in Mississauga, still had American Robins, Cedar Waxwings and a Swamp Sparrow lurking about. Nearby at Parkland Drive, two Ruby-crowned Kinglets were seen last Sunday. Feeder/backyard reports include a Northern Mockingbird in Oakville, Brown-headed Cowbird in Burlington, Winter Wren in Aldershot and my backyard is still hosting Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-throated Sparrows. This week marks the start of the Christmas Bird Counts. Please report any sightings you have to the hotline as we will be informing people in those areas of what to look for. Have a great week. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
