Hello Birders, At 7pm this evening my husband Derek and I saw an American White Pelican at the Brick Ponds in Woodstock. This is a life-bird for both of us, so we were surprised at how big this bird is. It has a small grey patch on the back of its head, so we assume it is a young bird. We have in previous years seen one or two Great Egrets at Brick Ponds, and of course the ubiquitous Canada Geese - there are at least two large families currently. Good Birding, Sylvia Roe
Directions: Take highway #59 north from 401 (exit 232) past Canadian Tire to Parkinson Road. Turn right on Parkinson, turn left onto Springbank Avenue at the first stop light. Brick Ponds are intersected by Springbank Ave, the Pelican was on the east pond. There is no parking on Springbank, although people were stopping with hazard lights for a few minutes to view the Pelican and a Great Blue Heron. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Jun 19 10:48:51 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mh1.kwic.com (mh1.kwic.com [205.150.58.4]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3EC0643BC for <[email protected]>; Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:48:50 -0400 (EDT) Received: from OWNER2TGDMY0NU (adsl-216-94-26-93.kwic.com [216.94.26.93]) by mh1.kwic.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id j5JEo8Q52428 for <[email protected]>; Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:50:08 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "john miles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:50:10 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-RAVMilter-Version: 8.3.1(snapshot 20020109) (mh1.kwic.com) Subject: [Ontbirds]OFO trip June 18th X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 14:48:51 -0000 25 OFO members and friends gathered at the entrance to the ST. Clair National Wildlife Area where we were joined by John Haggeman of the Wildlife Area Staff who took us around to the various locations where King Rails had been reported this spring. None responded to the tapes but several Least Bitterns were heard. A good numbers of Forster's Terns were frequenting one area offering excellent views. Yellow-headed Blackbirds have not been overly abundant this spring at the Wildlife Area and with the wind blowing usually stay low. John tried one spot along the south road where they often are found even when it is windy but none showed although an American Widgeon was seen. We bid John adieu and thanked him assisting us and headed for Hillman's Marsh. At Hillman's a group of 7 Common Egrets were seen and Yellow-billed Cuckoos kept popping up. We did not find the previously reported Tricolored Heron but a group of 27 Great Blue Herons went air borne as we were leaving. We had lunch at the Sanctuary Picnic area at Point Pelee with Orchard Orioles overhead and the flyby of a Giant Swallowtail. A walk a round of the Nature Trail south of the Visitor's Centre fed a lot of mosquitoes. The usual spot at the entrance to the Delaurier trail had a reluctant Yellow-breasted Chat calling sporadically for those fortunate to know the calls which were not regular. The trip over to Erieau was uneventful. At the dock a good number of Turkey Vultures were on the shoreline across the channel. After a break at the park store at Rondeau the diehards picked up singing Scarlet Tanager and Wood Thrush while driving towards the Park Nature Centre. On the Tulip Tree Trail we had excellent views of the pair of Prothonotary Warblers as they were going to and from the nest box. The group formally broke up at 7 pm after recording 72 species on a slow birding day. John Miles
