At 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 20th, 2005 this is the HNC birding report:
SNOW GOOSE GRAY PARTRIDGE FIELD SPARROW WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe King Eider Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Bald Eagle Cooper's Hawk Northern Goshawk Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Great Horned Owl Pileated Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Shrike Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Gray Catbird Fox Sparrow Brown-headed Cowbird Common Redpoll Despite or due to cold temperatures, birds continue to show up in the Hamilton Region. There have been some great reports this week. Last Friday, a WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL made a one day appearance at a feeder near Appleby and New Street in Burlington. Unfortunately it has not been seen since however stocking the feeders would be advised as birds are always on the move. Another good winter bird visiting a feeding station is a FIELD SPARROW. This sparrow has been around since the Christmas bird count and was relocated last Sunday. It is at the RBG Arboretum on Old Guelph Road. The bird was seen at the bottom of the hill leading from the Nature Centre. It was feeding with some tree sparrows close to the fenced in garden on the Captain Cootes Trail. Another feeder that is productive are the feeders at the parking lot at the Valley Inn in the Hendrie Valley. Today a Fox Sparrow was present here and up until a week ago a Brown headed Cowbird and White-crowned Sparrow. A further walk down the trail to the boardwalk was successful in producing the resident Gray Catbird and a marvellous Pileated Woodpecker. Earlier in the week Winter Wrens were heard here. Of course the GRAY PARTRIDGE continue to elude most of us but were seen by lucky birders last Sunday. Attempts today resulted in a big fat zero however I saw an immature Bald Eagle soaring over the airport property. Speaking of eagles there have been many reports of Bald Eagles over the bay and from the Dunville area. Two adult bald eagles and one first year are in the vicinity of the harbour being seen at the High Level Bridge, Woodland Cemetery, LaSalle Park and over the bay. Bald Eagles were also reported from the Dunville area along the Grand River. Ducks, the ever faithful component of the Hamilton birding area are still around however this week cold temperatures have forced some out to the lake as the bay is freezing over. King Eiders are still seen at Gray's & Green Road. All three scoters were seen well off of Grays road and L.P. Sayers Park last weekend. A Common Loon was still present at LaSalle Marina and all week a Snow Goose was present at Spencer Smith Park. Glaucous and Iceland Gulls are now seen on the ice that covers the bay. Hawks and Owls are still making news as well. Yesterday a pair of Coopers Hawks flew over Walkers Line and Fairview, a juvenile Northern Goshawk was seen in the Shell Park area and as well the pair of Great Horned Owls that have been present on the north end of the pipeline were seen again at dusk on Tuesday. A quick tour through Flamborough for owls came up with Northern Shrike, Pileated Woodpecker Golden-crowned Kinglet and Common Redpoll in the Beverly Swamp Area. To wrap up a report of Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpecker came from North Oakville. They seem to be popping up in a few places. That's the news for the week. Keep up the emails! Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
