This may be of interest to someone. I just had a banded male House Finch at my feeder. The band was bright pink. The feeder is at 3 Sims Crescent in Toronto. (Nearest intersection - Albion Road & Islington Ave.) From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat May 7 15:32:48 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from smtp105.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp105.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.36.83]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 2046164B49 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 7 May 2005 15:32:48 -0400 (EDT) Received: from unknown (HELO usernojm80dlji) ([EMAIL PROTECTED]@24.100.72.132 with login) by smtp105.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 7 May 2005 19:47:07 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Tyler Hoar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 15:47:06 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Subject: [Ontbirds]Oshawa Second marsh area X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 07 May 2005 19:32:48 -0000
A productive morning around the Oshawa Second Marsh area. A total of 106 species observed. Several flocks of Little Gulls( 3 to 9 birds) engaged in courtship were observed over the marsh. Little Gulls do their courtship flight throughout the day, with between 6:30 and 8:30am being the easiest time to see the bird over or resting in the Second marsh. The courtship flight occurs between 100 ft and 800+ ft over the marsh area. If you hear EKey Ekey Ekey calls but see no birds then look high above you for courting birds. A total of 25 different Little Gulls were Observed today. Most of the Little Gulls stay on Lake Ontario when not doing courtship flights. The gulls are plucking up emerging midges from the surface within the large Bonaparte's Gull rafts. These feeding rafts can range from immediately adjacent to shore to 1-2 km offshore. Also in Lake Ontario were Common Goldeneye, White-winged Scoters, and both Common and Red-throated Loons Within the Second Marsh the waterfowl numbers have dropped, however the species diversity remains the same. Most common waterfowl this morning were Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal and Gadwalls. Also present this morning were 5 Ruddy Ducks, a pair of Wood Ducks, 2 Redhead drakes and three American Wigeons. There were four species of terns present in the marsh this morning( 6 Common, 3 Caspian, 3 Black and 1 Forster's). Other species present included 1 Green Heron, 9 American Coots, 12 Virginia Rails, 2 Sora, 3 Pied-billed Grebes and 1 American Bittern. A Merlin was seen twice chasing swallows over the Second marsh. There were several newly arriving passerines this morning with the best spots being the Cool Hollow area of the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve (adjacent to the se corner of the Second marsh) and either side of Ghost Road Woods ( forest on north side of second marsh adjacent to Colonel Sam Drive) Highlights 10 Species of Warblers including 1 Northern Parula, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 1 Common Yellowthroat and lots of Yellow Warblers. 8 Species of Sparrows including 25 White-crowned, 1 late American Tree Sparrow and 1 Clay-colored Sparrow. The Clay-colored was along the marsh trail between the east platform and Cool Hollow. several Bobolinks, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Least Flycatchers single Eastern Kingbird and Indigo Bunting Resident pair of Northern Mockingbirds For a trail map of Second Marsh visit com (http://www.secondmarsh.com). There is a link on that site that will take you to a trail map for McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve. Directions: Exit from the 401 at the Harmony Rd. Exit (419) in Oshawa. Go south on Farewell St. to Colonel Sam Drive. Go east on Colonel Sam Drive to the parking lot at the GM Headquarters. Park in the west parking lot close to the marsh. The east platform is located here. To see the Lake Ontario waterbirds proceed along the path from the parking lot south to the lakeshore. Tyler Hoar Oshawa
