At 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 24th, 2005, this is the Hamilton Naturalists Club birding report:
Red-necked Grebe Horned Grebe * Turkey Vulture Tundra Swan Wood Duck American Wigeon * King Eider Harlequin Duck Black Scoter Bald Eagle Golden Eagle * Red-shouldered Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Wild Turkey Killdeer American Woodcock * Great Horned Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Eastern Phoebe * Fox Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Common Redpoll * denotes migrants occurring this week Its been a rather busy week with mixed weather conditions in the HSA. Many reports of migrants have come in throughout the week. The Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch has had a couple of good days this week with Turkey Vultures streaming through at a steady pace. Bald Eagles are also making their way north with many adults being seen at Beamer this week. The first Golden Eagle of the season was recorded on Tuesday. This particular day was good for people with scope vision as the birds were extremely high. Other birds seen at Beamer have been Red-shouldered Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and of course many Red-tailed Hawks moving through. While in the area a light and dark phased Rough Leg were seen cavorting on 8th Road West. Around the fields in the Grimsby area a few killdeer were seen. This week on the lake a whopping nineteen King Eiders were seen this week off of L.P. Sayers Park. Also seen down here were Black Scoters. Duck viewing has been excellent from LaSalle Park this week where today 31 Horned Grebes were seen and one Red-necked Grebe. Tundra Swans have been reported through the week. Four American Wigeons have also made a stop here. Wood Ducks are now present at Dundas Marsh and at Bronte Harbour the Harlequin Ducks have reappeared this week. On Tuesday, I had a good look at a twittering American Woodcock in the Walkers Line & Upper Middle Road area of Burlington. These birds should be present in all the traditional areas and may be worth chasing this weekend. Owls are sparse this week with only one Northern Saw-whet Owl being seen at Fifty Point Conservation Area this week. The Great Horned Owls have been reported again in the north end of the pipeline at Shell Park in Oakville. This is also the place where the pine warbler was seen again this week. Feeders this week have been busy because of the snow cover with reports of Wild Turkey, Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrow and some lingering Common Redpolls. To end off, an Eastern Phoebe was seen in the Irish Line area in the south end of the HSA, definitely a sign of things starting to move. This long weekend should get people out and about and finding some migrants throughout the area. Be sure to send along a posting to advise me of your sightings. Have a great long weekend. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
